By Mary Lou Campbell with Kathy Keats

An era has ended at Boywood Border Collies.

On Thursday, Jan 7, 2021, I said goodbye to one of the kindest, most courageous, biggest-hearted dogs I have ever known.

I remember the day I picked her out.

I looked down at the brand new litter of Border Collies, their eyes still closed, saw a tiny little half-white, half-black face and said, “She’s mine!”

Little did I know the adventure she was about to take me on.

I named her Dyna, short for Dynamite.

Dyna was unusual looking, a tiny smooth-coated dog with huge upright ears and a subdued personality that often had people questioning whether she was truly a BC, but then again, Dyna never really fit the Border Collie stereotype.

I could’ve set Dyna on the porch with a ‘Welcome’ sign around her neck like a garden ornament and she wouldn’t have budged. Definitely not typical for a working-bred sheepdog.

Dyna came into my life just as my two older sheepdogs, Boy...

The hard part about these trips is you are leaving so much behind at home and only through the kindness of good friends can it be done. Just before we left, our old livestock guardian dog, Oscar, seemed to be developing a mild cough, but I had a bad feeling about it, as he had been on and off a bit for the last year. He was 12, a ripe old age for a dog with a lifestyle that generally allows for a life expectancy of around 8 years.

Oscar had been going down fast while we were away, and despite good friends who are vet techs, giving prednisone and other care to try to help him make it until we got home, a couple of days ago it was time to say goodbye. I haven't wanted to write until today, as I was having trouble wrapping my head around it. We have not had good luck with livestock guardian dogs (LGD) on these UK trips, losing our other 8 year old last year around the same time.

Oscar was one of those dogs who could look terrifying when necessary, almost 100 pound of solid muscle, and...