Biddy

I remember when Husband Dear first bought home this tiny red fluff ball of a kelpie puppy. She was about 6 weeks old, maybe 7, and was a gift to our oldest boy as a 2nd birthday present. Yes, we were that family that gifted our son his first ever dog.

Now the puppy was part of a plan. I was about 2 months away from giving birth to our 2nd child. We thought a puppy would be a great way for him to learn how to treat a living ‘thing’ gently. It was the best thing we could have done. He loved her so well and gently.

Of course, he wasn’t really ever left alone with her either. She was our first family pet. Even for my Husband, who had always had working dogs, he had never really had one as pet. This dog become my running buddy. It was she, that made me ‘learn’ and become interested as a runner. Remember, she was a kelpie and had come from working stock. We had no fence and she need exercise! Lets just say I become pretty good at running as I took her morning and night.

She become bomb proof with 2 little boys always around. She was kind and gentle and just wanted someone to pat her. Her tactic was to sit next to you and place her head on your thigh. Perfect height that you automatically started to pat her. She also never came inside unless you invited her. My mother was the one that taught her to play ball. To the point that she was always focused on a ball. It has now left her with worn teeth from always playing ball and chewing on said ball as she bought it back to you.

Her antics continued even when we moved to our new place on the river. She finally had cows to bark at. Her contribution, with the rest of our working dogs is to be the rah rah, cheer squad to keep them excited and working hard. Even now, with dodgy hips she will still rah rah if she gets the chance around our little block. She refuses to come with us to the big block (bad memories of getting left behind unfortunately) these days.

That was 13 years ago now. About 3 months ago she stopped being my running partner. I still feel a little sad about no longer having her while I run. Her hips were too sore for me to pick her up into the car for my 5:30am runs with my buddy. She hasn’t been able to jump into a car for the last year or so.

Even now she will still just want to be with you and still place her head on your thigh to automatically pat her. Her hearing is gone and her hips are going the same way, but she is still our Biddy. Our first family pet dog.