The Coming of Abby, part 3

Abby

The puppies were adorable, and they had very different personalities.  Abby was more outgoing, and CC was more shy.  Abby would pose for pictures, and CC would run and hide whenever I pointed the camera at her.  CC would peek out from behind a chair or around a corner, but only when I had the camera. I never did figure out what caused this reaction, perhaps she was like me, and just camera shy.

Abby on the left,CC on the right

They were both such pretty collies, that it was decided that we would take Abby and my sister would keep CC.  Knowing she was going to be ours, I fell in love with Abby a little more each day.  I couldn't wait to bring her home, but it was a little sad separating the sisters. However, since we live close by, Abby and CC were able to see each other often while growing up.  And as Abby grew up, we started taking her to dog shows.  We even entered her at the Collie Club of America National Show, and she won her class with my daughter handling her.  I was so proud of them both, as it was a very competitive class,with a lot of beautiful collies and top handlers.

At home, Abby fit in almost from day one. Our first collie, Lad, was 2 years old when she first came to live with us. He wasn't too sure about having a little sister in the beginning, but they became very bonded.  She used to hold the tip of his tail in her little mouth and follow him everywhere.  The bond between Abby and I grew stronger too, and before long she had to be by my side where ever I went.  She loved going to dog shows, and going in the ring with my daughter, but I was definitely her person.  She would only sit next to me on the couch, and would only sleep on my bed at night.

Abby and Lad

In time, both Abby and CC finished their championships, and it was decided that Abby would have a litter.  It took about a year, and we met a lot of different stud dogs and studied a lot of pedigrees, but we finally decided on the perfect sire for Abby's first litter.  While my sister had years of experience, this was my first litter and I was a nervous wreck.  I kept swinging back and forth between worry and excitement.  I couldn't wait to see the puppies, but I was terrified that something would go wrong.  All I knew for certain, was that I couldn't lose my Abby.

Then disaster struck, and we were pummeled by Hurricane Irene.  This storm decimated many towns along the East coast, and it left us without power for many days.  And in the middle of the night, by candlelight, Abby went into labor.  We spent hours waiting to deliver the puppies, but the first puppy was stuck!  You can read the entire birth story by clicking  here.

If you clicked on the link above, then you know the story of how Ryder, Kori and Luke came into this world. It was quite an experience for a novice breeder.  But I was so grateful that Abby was fine and we had three healthy, beautiful puppies to focus on.   Around this happy time was when our first collie, Lad, became very sick.  He was a special dog and words can never fully describe how heartbroken we were over his loss.  There are some dogs that touch our lives and their absence is felt for the rest of our days.  Lad was one of those dogs, and Abby loved him too. She grieved for him, and we could tell she missed him.  While Lad left a huge hole in our lives, Abby and her puppies comforted us, and helped us through that difficult time.