Uncontainable Love – My Dog’s Escapades

Four years ago, my dog, Rugby was born on a farm. I had no idea he was going to come into my life two months later. I was at the local County Fair when I got the call from my then husband that he had a surprise for me.

A close friend of mine was with me and I turned to her saying, "he got us a puppy." She looked at me like I was crazy. How would I know that when he didn't say that's what he'd done? Let me back up and explain why I knew this is what he'd done.

A couple months earlier, we'd had an incident in my neighborhood with a young guy creeping between houses in the wee hours of the morning. Our neighbor was getting ready to head to work when he saw this guy sneaking between the houses! There are only a handful of houses out here on our country road, so this guy and this car obviously didn't belong.

After that, we were all kind of on edge. So, I knew when I got the phone call that he had a puppy for me. We got over to our friend's house and sure enough, there was the cutest little puppy sitting in the living room! He was pretty skittish. That kind of concerned me. He was laying on the floor scooching around. I had kind of hoped to pick out my own puppy, but here he was.

Our new puppy

I took him home and we started thinking of a name. I honestly have no clue where the name Rugby came from. I've never played it, known anyone to play it or watched it. But there it was in my head as I looked at him and I knew it was his name.

I remember taking my first pictures of him. He was completely scared of the camera. It was pretty funny and sad at the same time. Oh, I forgot to mention he was a Border Collie/Collie mix. A beautiful red and white color.

Rugby became MY dog. Sure, he loved the entire family, but he was my shadow in everything! Wherever I went in the house, he was right there with me. This never let up, for one minute. He was such a smart dog! I'd never had a Border Collie before, but my first dog was a Shetland Sheepdog, which is in the same family. I thought he'd be perfect for agility games! Yes, he was that smart.

Rugby and K.D.

Two weeks before he turned two years old my then 5 yr old son came downstairs in tears telling me something was wrong with Rugby. I went and found him frothing at the mouth, staggering around and his pupils were dilated. My first thought was rabies. We're out in the country so there are bats everywhere. Since my little guy was so frightened, I sent him down to his room.

I got online and started researching his symptoms and asking other who have dogs if they'd heard of any of the symptoms he was showing. It was the weekend so I had to wait for Monday before I took him to the vets and it turns out he was having seizures. The vet looked him over and took some blood to run tests.

I put him on medication and it seemed to help. He would have a seizure every couple of weeks. I have to say, Rugby having a seizure was one of the worst things I've ever heard or witnessed. About 6 months after he had his first seizure I thought we were going to loose him one day when he had them over and over again. We added a medication and thankfully his seizures were under control again.

Rugby loved when I shoveled and he tried to catch the snow

He lived with these seizures for over a year. We went to Chicago last August and as always, Rugby went with us. He was always traveling with us. I just knew we had to keep his stress to a minimum. Unfortunately, being that he was my shadow, when I was gone for a day, he didn't handle it well. I let him out that night after having a couple of seizures, so he could go to the bathroom. Nothing unusual as he'd been to my in-laws numerous times. This time unfortunately, his seizures had affected him so badly, he took off and was hit by a car. It was horrible. The whole family was so sad. We buried him there on the property so we can always visit him when we go back.

My boys will be getting out of school the first week of June and we're looking for a new Border Collie. We're all pretty excited to have a new puppy around the house. I have a friend at work keeping an eye out because she has a Border Collie as well. I can't wait to share about our new addition once it's arrived!!

This tender memory is being shared and sponsored by DogFenceDIY, the dog containment system pros. Together we are promoting effective dog safety practices and wish everyone a fun and enjoyable summer!