I am not to sure of early happenings, but I am told that I was born in late June of 2001. They say I am part Border Collie and spaniel. I am a female. I know I had some brothers and sisters, but after birth we were separated. I don't remember much about my first year, except the unexpected event that placed me in the Lewiston, Idaho animal shelter.

The shelter provided me food, water, and a nice place to sleep. Oh, and they gave me a name. I now was officially Bugsy. Volunteers would take me for walks every day, which I enjoyed. There are lots of other dogs and cats here, but it is always very noisy. Is this going to be my permanent home? Every day people would come in to see me and the other animals. I was always excited to see the people and liked them to pet and talk to me, but they always went away.

I don't remember how long I lived in the shelter, but I will never forget what happened on June 17, 2002. I and another dog were moved into a pen to have some humans visit us again. Into the room walked two people, they looked at us and said some words. Both of us jumped up and down, barked, and enjoyed it when they petted us. Then they put a leash on me, and one of the humans took me for a walk. I was so excited. I just wanted to go as fast as I could to find new places to smell and check out. I am a working dog, and have lots of energy. They brought me back to the pen, and talked some more. What are they saying? I was so sad when they walked away to another room. Here they are again. They had big smiles on their faces. What is going on? They put another leash on me, and the man (Glenn) took me to his pickup and opened the
door and I jumped in. I saw Glenn and the girl (Susan) hug. I am officially adopted! And I am part of a family. I am so happy!!

Glenn and I started driving, and I just couldn't sit still. I paced back and forth in the small pickup. We drove and drove for an hour, and I got tired and laid down and rested my head on Glenn's lap. He petted me several times, and I fell asleep. Next thing I knew we stopped and I got up and looked around. Where am I? I saw a big barn, a tin shed, an old chicken coop, and a two story farm house. Glenn let me out of the pickup and said "this is your new home". I jumped out and ran around everywhere smelling things, wagging my tail, and enjoying the new surroundings. There is lots of room here and plenty of places to explore, and I like to explore. Susan came up this weekend and she has a new name for me, "Narley". Susan will be retiring soon and moving to the farm with Glenn and me. I can hardly wait.

Susan is retired and all three of us are living together now. Soon we would have 2 more additions to our family. Puddy Tat and Pearl, two very nice kitties. They became a big part of our lives, and I enjoyed their affections. Sometimes I would chase them, only to give up when they climbed a tree or crawled under the deck. Darn! Oh, if they happen to leave anything in their food bowls, I gladly finished it for them.

"The accident" on April 15, 2003. As you by now have gathered, I am an active one. There was so much to do, and one thing I liked was to chase vehicles on the road. One evening when it was becoming dark, I was on my way home and saw some lights on the road coming toward me fast. I thought I could make it to the other side of the road in time. WRONG. The pickup truck ran over my front left leg and paw, and I tumbled off the side of the road, down an embankment and into the field. It is not clear to me, but somehow I made it back to the farm and laid down by the big barn. The driver thought he had hit something, and returned to our house to tell us of
what he thought happened. Glenn immediately went up to the road to try to find me. He did find a clump of my hair along the side of the road, but no sign of me. He returned to the barnyard and found me laying down panting and in shock. He looked me over, and discovered some bleeding on my left front leg. By this time Susan was there, and Glenn told her he was going to take me to the vet. We drove the 20 miles to Dr. Andrea Miller's home and their basement where she attended to the animals. She cleaned up my would and wrapped it and told Glenn she could do no more, and should take me to the animal hospital in Spokane, WA. Glenn has to do some important farm work, so Susan drove me to the Pet Emergency Clinic in Spokane. They did some x-rays and discovered that I had two broken bones in my left front leg, and extensive damage to my left front paw. I underwent surgery in which they put screws in the two broken bones and cleaned my paw of dirt and gravel. The bones would heal just fine, but my paw would require frequent changes of bandages and healing ointment. While Glenn was working, Susan drove me to Dr. Miller's place daily for about a week, then every other day for another week. Finally, Susan and Glenn thought if they had the ointment and bandages, they could do the job. They did just that. Both of them took care of me until my injuries were completely healed. I thank them for the loving care they gave me during this ordeal. One more surgery remained. A toe had to be removed. That was done, and I healed just fine. I continued to see Andrea for my yearly shots and other small issues. She is so nice!

I continued to enjoy life with my family on the farm. Here are some of my favorite things to do: *Pickup rides to anywhere. Once we went to Glenn's morning coffee group and he parked by the curb as he always does and went inside for his coffee and chats with his friends. One particular friend pulled up behind me and instead of looking back to see who it was, I just looked in the mirror and saw him. He came into coffee and told all what had happened. They thought I was so smart.

*I really enjoyed my long walks with Susan. We would leave the house and walk (I would run sometimes) to the end of the field, over a mile one way. Often we would see a deer and I would chase him until I was out of Susan's sight, but I always found my way back. Once we saw an injured deer and I had to stay and protect him until the game warden came and took the deer away. I was so proud.

*Tugging on my rope with Glenn and Susan was fun. Catching a tennis ball that was coming off the roof was a challenge. I set a record of catching Glenn's tosses on one bounce for 15 straight times. I returned the ball to him each time. Just try to beat that!
*I love my bed in the living room. Glenn and Susan always kept it so clean and neat.
*When Susan was gone, I would sneak into where Glenn was sleeping and make noises until he would say that I could jump up on the bed and sleep with him. I almost always got my way. *Steak bones-what a special treat.
*Licking the cat bowls when they were almost finished.
I'm sure there are more, but those are the most important ones.

And now for the bad:
*All these animals I had bad experiences with. The issues are obvious. Skunks, porcupines, bees, and coyotes (one almost caught me, but thanks to Susan and Glenn yelling for me to run, I narrowly escaped).
*I hate going to the vet...
*Being left alone in my pen at the farm or in the house.
*Cheat grass. Had to go to the vet to have them removed. No fun at all.
*And most of all, I hate thunder and fireworks. I don't know of any dog that doesn't dread those noises. It hurts my ears, scares me, and takes 2 hours for me to calm down.
One would think that after my serious accident, I would not chase a car of truck again. For some reason, I continued to chase. One of my neighbors named me "Chaser." I didn't think that was funny. Glenn and Susan tried many things to rid me of this terrible habit. Nothing worked.

Life is good. Susan and Glenn are keeping me off the road the best they can, and my life is next to perfect. Then I notice Glenn putting things in boxes, lots of boxes. I wonder why he is doing that? One day a big truck backs up to the house and 3 large men loaded all of those boxes into that truck. Why? In a week or so, early one morning I noticed that Susan and Glenn were loading things into the car. The last thing they loaded was my bed. I am totally confused. Our friends Richard and Dottie showed up and did a bunch of hugging with Glenn and Susan. Then Glenn put me into the back of the car on my dog bed, and we drove off. We drove most of the day and spent the night in a motel in Jackpot, NV. None of us slept well. The next day was another long day driving to Laughlin, NV. The temperature when we arrived was 115 degrees. Man was it hot! Spent the night there and continued to a place called Surprise, AZ. We arrive July 25, 2014. As it turned out, this was to be our new home. I miss the farm and our kitties. I am happy with my new surroundings, because I am with Glenn and Susan.

I started hearing talk of "getting old" and all these medical conditions I know nothing about from Susan and Glenn's friends. As I reach 14 years old (91 in human years-so we were told), I realized what "getting old" was about. My joints began to ache (called arthritis) and my back hip joints started to hurt (called hip dysplasia). As the days, weeks and months go by, these things get much worse. Glenn and Susan take me to the vet several time, and the doctors start prescribing pills to help with the pain and discomfort. I think they helped for a while.

Now for the "tough part". As my injured leg starts to hurt more and more, and my back legs become "wobbly" and want to collapse at times, my life becomes an effort to endure the pain. Glenn and Susan walk me, but have to shorten the walks because I tire easily. They talk to me and try to comfort me, and I wish I could talk back and let them know what hurts and what feels good. At night I sleep outside because it is cool and quiet. One night I couldn't sleep and went to the open window by the bedroom panting loudly. My back legs collapsed and I had to be carried to my bed in the house. Things were getting worse fast. The next day Glenn noticed that I was having a hard time getting up-he had to help me stand on my back legs. My appetite was almost gone at this point. I could hear Susan and Glenn talking about me and what they should do. They decided we needed to see the vet. They carried me to the car and off we went. On the way, we drove around some familiar places like the dog park where Glenn would take me very early in the morning every day. We arrived at the vet. We waited a long time to see the doctor, but finally he saw us. At this point, I was in terrible pain and could not stand on my back legs at all. The decision was made. I could hear Glenn and Susan saying goodbye, how much they love me, how they will miss me, and I felt their hands pet me for the last time. Now I am at a place called Rainbow Bridge. My pain is all gone, I run and play with other animals, I have all the food and water I need, it is the perfect place except for one thing. Susan and Glenn are not with me. I wish that they will not be sad, for I am at peace now. I am so grateful for the wonderful life (14 years) and the love they gave me. Bless both of you.
I am waiting for Susan and Glenn to come and see me, so we can be together again.

We are so thankful for the wonderful years we had with Narley. We miss her very much. Much love, Glenn and Susan.