“Dogs
are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or
discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is
to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”
—Milan Kundera  |
| Pepper, Fall 2002 at the Pittsburgh Collie Frolic |
What a difference eleven years makes for our favorite "foster failure." In the 'before' photo (2002), Pepper is about a year and a half old and suffering terribly from demodex mange. It took several years before she fully recovered, and many more after that until she grew in a typical collie coat (I sometimes think she'd rather have stayed hairless, since she hates grooming so much now). She was never meant to stay with us permanently, but she'd been in rescue for a long time already and was likely to stay there. She needed us, and we'd eventually discover we needed her.
In the video, Pepper is going on thirteen, is arthritic and is now mostly deaf, but she still knows how to have a good time with her golden retriever BFF Petie, even when he knocks her down in his excitement.
Many thanks to the amazing folks who volunteer their time with the Northeast Ohio Collie Rescue for bringing Pepper into our lives.
