Sunday 9 May 2010

The Sort of Stroke Flossie did NOT Want!

One of my neighbours, Louise, went to Canada and New Zealand over a year ago to work as a volunteer on organic farms. Her lovely Border Collie, Flossie, was taken care of by another neighbour, Alice. Alice still looks after Flossie as Louise is not returning to Mellerstain. Very recently poor Flossie suffered a stroke. She was quite poorly. Today I went to see her and was really happy to find that she has recovered remarkably well. Dear Flossie is quite old, around 13 years. That's around 100 or so in human terms I think. Alice and I went for a short walk with Flossie and you can see in this video how well Flossie is right now. I hope she continues to stay as sprightly as possible but I think she does not have too long left to enjoy the freedom of Mellerstain. A lovely animal. We love her very dearly.


I hope to have quite a few more gentle walks with Flossie and to give her the kind of gentle strokes she enjoys.

21 comments:

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Aaww, she's a lovely girl, and still sprite I might add for her age.
I wish you many more walks and scrichty scratchy's on the head with dear Flossie.

Stella Jones said...

Poor Flossie! She does look well now though and I hope she barks for a little while longer in this world Philip.
Blessings, Star

Barry said...

Flossie is a beautiful dog with a fine sheen to her coat and a lot of playful tail wagging.

Pauline said...

I did enjoy Flossie's lesson in possession is nine tenths of the law! She looks remarkably well and happy!

PhilipH said...

Tennessee, Stella, Barry and Pauline. Thanks so much for your kind words.

Flossie was unable to even stand a few days ago and looked very doleful as she lay on her blanket indoors. She is, so Alice says, a bit deaf. Quite amazing how much better she has become very recently.

Argent said...

At least Flossie has her good friends to take care of her - I could not envisage leaving my cats to go on an extended trip away from home under any circumstances.

PhilipH said...

Hi Silver,
Yes, Flossie will be in a loving environment and hopefully soldiers on for a good while yet.

I saw her at lunchtime today, Monday, and she was in excellent spirits.

thistledew said...

Hi Phil,
Delighted to see that Flossie is recovering. I sometimes think how life will be for me should I outlive my beatiful collie, Meghan.
Long may Flossie continue to wander at Mellerstain.
David & Meghan
Thistledew

Monkey Man said...

Dogs are so remarkable. What an amazing recovery for a 13 year old. Thank you for sharing this story and the video.

The Bug said...

What a great dog! Thanks for sharing her with us.

Land of shimp said...

Ah, poor Flossie, but she's doing quite well! I'm so glad the surrounding community helped give Flossie lots of people to look after her.

I don't know what becomes of us, or dogs, or anything, but I hope the Flossie's reward involves lots of sunny days, sticks and good souls to tell her what a good girl she is.

Thank you and everyone around her for loving her, and taking care of her. I know life gets in the way, and that Flossie's person did the very best she could in finding people to care for her.

Still, it makes me sad that Flossie's days are likely to close out without seeing her adored person again...until, perhaps, they meet again in the aforementioned hereafter :-)

Take care, Philip!

Cliff W said...

Hi Philip,

Hope you and Pat are keeping well.

Lovely uplifting post. You may have seen a post of mine a few weeks ago about a collie that we adopted because his owners were emigrating to Oz.

Take care

Shrinky said...

She certainly seems to be enjoying her twilight years, surrounded by much love and affection! She puts me in mind of my own beloved Bessie-Boots, a darling Border Collie who came to me at eight weeks old. She was my constant companion, and travelled with me every day to work, and back. I never quit got over losing her (she reached the grand old age of fifteen). Ahhhhh, happy days!

PhilipH said...

Thanks David. I too wish Meghan a long and happy existence. Hope you get lucky and a swarm of buzzy bees heads your way!

MM: Nice of you to drop by and thanks for your kind comment.

Dana: And thank you too for sending that card to my poorly ex-dance teacher. She is finding life very difficult right now but she is such a strong woman, I'm sure she'll soon chuck that zimmer frame away!

Alane: Thank you for once again saying precisely the right thing. At times I begin to wonder if you are not too good to be true ... but then again I know that you are a VERY true lass.

Cliff: Yep, I've read that post of yours and that was a truly great looking dog. Lovely photo. Thanks.

Hi Shrinky: I'm glad to hear that your Border Collie, Bessie-Boots had a long and happy life. I'm sure it must have been very hard to have to say goodbye to her. Have you another canine companion?

Snowbrush said...

My blue heeler was named Bonnie, and it suited her well in that she was beautiful but far from being a frou-frou female.

I have a neighbor now who has a border collie, and I often take him walking. Otherwise, I don't think he would get many walks, and I enjoy being with him

PhilipH said...

This breed is a delight, and so clever when handling sheep. I love 'em.

Snowbrush said...

Heelers, as you might know, herd by biting heels, so they're not used for sheep but only pigs and cows because sheeps' bones are too easily broken. I never thought about the differences in dogs' jaw strength until I had a heeler and became convinced that even if I could pry her mouth open enough to shove a pill inside it, I would risk breaking her jaw.

P.S. I'm about to make my fifth try to copy the text in order to prove that I'm "not a robot." Maybe if you set it so that you have to approve comments, this will be easier.

PhilipH said...

Hi Snowy,
I don't know how this ROBOT thing got here and I cannot get rid of it, BUT if you IGNORE IT and just hit 'Publish' it seems to work OK without entering any stupid code.

'Heelers' is unknown to me in the UK. All shepherds use Border Collies for sheep control and we have a tv programme now and again which shows sheep-dogs rounding up flocks or groups of sheep into pens and other tasks. Each shepherd uses verbal commands and whistling to direct the dogs actions. It's one of my favourite shows whenever a new series comes about. These dogs are simply wonderful to watch as they follow their master's commands.

PhilipH said...

PS,Snowy: you sometimes need to hit 'Publish' TWICE to push it through.

Snowbrush said...

Heelers are an Australian dog that was primarily created from dingos, collies, and Dalmatians. The reason for their creation was that the collies that the settlers brought from England couldn't stand up to the heat and rough terrain in which they were expected to function.

PhilipH said...

Thanks for that Snowy. I am grateful for your explanation and I can see why these Dingo x-breeds would never be let loose near a sheep, (or any animal come to that!).