The Story of Niamh
Niamh 1997-2006
On August 13th, 2006 we lost the greatest collie we ever knew, a collie who was my best friend, my Niamh of the Misty Meadow. We continue to miss her deeply and we continue to go through life without her wonderful presence. The effects of her life continue to be felt daily here. Niamh's Misty Meadow has moved into its future and in 2010 we hope to announce the coming of more puppies from our limited breeding program. A program geared towards improving our line of collies, continuing the lines we have and building our collie family to move forward with healthy, stronger collies to build our future upon. A future to keep our family in collies, improve the breed and to honor the greatest collie we ever knew, Our Niamh of the Misty Meadow.
"If you open your heart to let dogs in, you will eventually be blessed with a once in a lifetime chum. It isn't that you love your others dogs any less, but rather you love this one special animal more. The bond between the two of you is stronger, the connection deeper, the understanding clearer."
-Kristina Marshall from FOREVER FRIENDS- These words describe better than I could ever do what Niamh was to me and my life. Niamh (pronounced Neeve) came from a long line of Collie Champions. Her father is, Ch. Twin Acres Concert Master, and one of her ancestors was the great collie champion, Jokers Wild. As full of champions as her bloodline was, Niamh was a champion outside of the show ring. She was a gentle, loving, loyal Collie whose main purpose of life was to please and protect those around her. Niamh was the 'boss' of all the Collies we have here. She was extremely intelligent and knew the meaning, and believe it or not, the spelling of many words. Niamh would round up the other collies to go for walks, for baths, to go for rides and to quiet them down if they were out of hand. Her favorite daily event was ambushing the Mail Lady everyday as she drove up. She would lead the other collies in hiding until the mail lady came and then leap up barking joyously trying to surprise her. Niamh was extremely devoted to her master, Chuck and her collie mate Teddy whom she loved deeply. Of all the collies we've had here she was the greatest of them all. To honor her, we've named Niamh's Misty Meadow after her and in the future we hope to be able to breed our own, old fashioned farm Collies so we don't have to buy anymore. All of our Collies from now on will be Niamh's Misty Meadow Collies. We miss our gallant little Niamh and will always love her. Her name came from Irish mythology for it was the name of a Irish Goddess of family love and of true love (the kind of love that one has that makes their objective in life to please the one they love even if it includes great costs in pain or even death). We thought it fit Niamh's personality and time proved us correct many times over in our assessment. We are currently collecting all our memories and writing them down in story form to preserve our memories of Niamh and our other collies. This will help keep our memories of her alive.
It began with MacKenzie
Our first collie was a puppy we brought home named MacKenzie. Much like Albert Payson Terhune's Gray Dawn, our ol' Mic was big, bumptious and at one moment a loveable character and clown and at others he would do things that drove us insane and made us laugh. A big boy at over 80 lbs. he was a great Collie Chum whom we loved deeply. Unfortunately MacKenzie develope epilepsy and died during one of his seizures. Mac was our first collie and his unepected death broke our hearts. His death led to us finding Niamh who totally changed our lives forever. Niamh lived to be almost 10 and one morning suddenly died for reasons unknown to us. She is buried under our Apple Tree and under a huge Cedar tree is buried our wonderful ol' Mic. The pictures at the right starting at the top are; Niamh and her favorite human. The bottom is of Niamh in the center, Teddy her mate at left and Sadie is at the right.
Best Friends Forever!
Niamh and I were best friends. She died unexpectedly one Sunday morning as I held her in arms for the last time. As I called her name she came out of her shock and looked up at me one last time with love in her eyes and then gently slipped from this life. Niamh died as gently as she lived. She had a huge impact upon our lives bringing so much happiness, joy and love. With broken hearts we continue on without her now. But, she is still my best friend and as Albert Payson Terhune wrote so many years ago about him hoping for his collies meeting him when he passed from this life I look forward to the day when I will see my Niamh again. May God Bless her gentle soul and may we someday run together in the fields of heaven, surrounded by our human and collie family of Niamh's Misty Meadow.
THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
Rainbow Bridge Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to some- one here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who have been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body begins to quiver. Suddenly, he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together...
-- Anon. --
Teddy and Sadie
A year after getting Niamh, we found an older collie named Lakeside Sadie a Shady Lady. We brought her home and despite early differences with Niamh, the two became close friends. Sadie is loveable and a great part of our family. However, don't wake her up, for you will get the snarly treatment. Sadie's greatest role here was that as adoptive mother to the Collie Puppy we brought home the next year. Niamh's Misty Meadow Teddy, or Ted as we call him was quickly adopted by Sadie. She taught him much, mothered him, played with him and kept him occupied throughout his puppyhood. Teddy has grown up into a tall, lanky Collie whose personaily is pure sweetness. He deeply loved Niamh and for weeks after she died he moped terribly around the house. However, with the coming of the other Collies to our family Teddy once again found friendship and fun in his life again. Teddy is probably the only one who mourned Niamh as deeply as his master did. Together they spent many hours feeling very sad over the loss of the wonderful Niamh. Update-Sadie passed away in March, 2009 a grand old dame of a lady till the end. RIP Dear Sadie.
Email us at: The_Collies@Yahoo.com
The coming of Trevor, Lad, Brandy, Smoke and Hallie
After the loss of the gallant Niamh, we found two more collies to add to our family. We found them at Red Fern Farm Collies (see links page for they have some of the most wonderful collies you would ever want to add to your family. Of all those who have supplied collies to us, we most highly recommend this breeder for the old-fashioned farm collies (also known as rough coat or scotch collies and of course Lassie collies) we so love.) We went to get a puppy and came home with Niamh's Misty Meadow Lad or Laddie as we call him. He is a loveable character who loves action, is very, very smart and has a inner flame of determination that will carry him far. We picked him for he is beautiful and has the look in his eyes that Niamh had. Laddie has become Teddy's best friend and they spend the day running, playing, wrestling and all things collies do together. A unexpected surprise came with the coming of Laddie. A glorious, fluffy, stocky and sturdy collie named Trevor received a new home with us also. Trevor is a real gentleman. One of the most beautiful tri-color collies we've ever seen and he is the brother of Laddie's mother. Trevor quickly adapted to his new home and quickly attached himself to Niamh's heartbroken master. He quickly became his friend bringing much missed companionship, love and once again, smiles to the man who loved his dear collie chum Niamh. Trevor gets along great with his collie chums. He loves sleeping on the couch during his sleepy times with his toes in the air! :) Trevor especially likes old Sadie although he will at times run with Teddy and Laddie. Mostly he loves just being with his master and mistress and spending his time happily watching over his family. Since getting Trevor he successfully mated with Red Fern Anya and added his line to the Red Fern Farm Collies with their Red Fern Hannah and provided Niamh's Misty Meadow Collies with its foundation female (Our Brandy) so we can from now breed collies in order to keep alive his line and keep us in collies the rest of our lives. Our plans are not to breed intensely or to compete with our friends. We just want to breed just enough to supply ourselves with collies.WE are also gearing up to breed collies that are healthy, with normal eyes and will be a improvement to the collie breed) Above is our email address. We will keep updating this page as time goes by, chronicling the collies of Niamh's Misty Meadows Collies. Check back often! Do check out our pictures! We recently received the pedigrees to Laddie and Trevor. Much to our pleasant surprise we found that Trevor and Laddie are cousins to our Niamh! What are the chances of that!!!! On November 11th, 2006 Trevor and Anya mated. Then, on January 8th, 2007 Red Fern Anya delivered 11 puppies!!!! Unfortunately, two were delivered lifeless. Of the 9 puppies, 6 are tri-colors, 1 is a white-sable and two are sables. The first one born was the only tri-color female born, the puppy we have been waiting for. :) Brandy (Branwen of Niamh's Misty Meadow), made her entrance into the world. Since she will be a daughter of Trevor's, she will also be related to Niamh. See our links page to see Red Fern Anya. A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR FRIEND AT RED FERN FARMS for making this possible. BREAKING NEWS!!!!! Our wonderful friend at Red Fern Farm Collies has been very kind to us again! We announce the addition of two beautiful collies to our family!!! First, is Hallie. She is the beautiful sister of our Wonderful Trevor and the mother of our great Lad! She is almost the spitting image of Niamh! She is small and petite like Niamh and has many of her mannerisms! She is of course, also Niamh's cousin and we bring her home to be with our collie family with much joy! We also announce the coming of Smoke. He is our Lad's and Brandy's half-brother!!! His father is Marcus (lad's Dad!) and Red Fern Anya (Our Brandy's Mother!). So, in the future we will be able to breed with our two females and have the possiblities for Merles, Tri-colors and whites! We welcome our two newest additions to our family! We also thank our dear friend at Red Fern Farm Collies! May God Bless Her! THANK YOU!!!
Visit our friends at Red Fern Farm Collies for the nicest old-fashioned collies we've ever seen!
