It was with heavy heart that I said goodbye to my beautiful red border collie, Ski, who finally lost his valliant fight with epilepsy. I know he is better off now - hard as it is to say goodbye. My only regret now is that in the end, there were no silver bullets for Ski.

Words can't do justice to my special boy, who was the sweetest, kindest dog I've ever had the pleasure to share my life with. They say each being who comes into our life does so for a reason, and each has lessons for us that we need to learn. I would have rather learned nothing in exchange for more time with him, but it was not meant to be.

In his short life, Ski did not break any agility records, did not earn any tracking titles, did not finish his freestyle work, and did not complete any obedience titles. However, he loved all these sports, and the joy with which he did everything will remain etched on my heart forever. Ski did earn three CPE agility titles, although these seem insignificant now. What good are the titles without the dog? Thankfully we had fun - the fun we had earning them was priceless.

So, as you can see, Ski was not meant to set records, and his name will never be preserved in border collie history. But he had friends, lots of friends. In fact he never met a stranger. He even made friends with other dogs, including those that do NOT generally make friends with other dogs. He was kind to puppies, crawling on his belly to say hi, so as to put himself on their level. He was known for his "drive by hugs" - even with total strangers. Perhaps most importantly, he helped me get through some tough times in my life over the past 3+ years and I know the two of us bonded even tighter as a result.

Goodbye, Ski - I will send a piece of my heart along with you, so we can find each other again someday.