Prissy was born on a sheep farm outside of San Antonio, Texas in the spring of 2001. Her first owner, a cowboy named Jason, adopted her as a puppy, gave her the name Prissy, and had her for five very happy years. Sadly Jason passed away due to a heart condition and Prissy was adopted in the short term by a kind woman who lived near Houston but was a native to Thailand.
Unfortunately though this owner also had a heart condition and had to move back to Thailand to be with family. With very good intentions but a poor outcome, Prissy was left under the control of a well-meaning though not-very-knowledgable-about-dogs (and especially Border collies) real estate agent who was helping the Thai woman sell her house.
Those were bad times for Prissy. Later it was found out that Prissy had been left alone in the house for several months, with the realtor friend coming at first every day, then every few days, then Prissy was just left alone for a week or more at a time with food and water left out. Prissy was forced to break her potty training and never got to exercise or have social interactions for several weeks at a stretch.
Fortunately, my dear friend Patricia Hardmeyer discovered what was going on with the realtor and Prissy being neglected alone in her owner's previous home. As soon as she discovered this, Patricia wasted no time in getting Prissy into Patricia's own custody. Patricia is a teacher at a Texas children's correctional facility, and truly believes there are no throw-away lives, which she lives by the example of working relentlessly and tirelessly with both human children and animals that have been forgotten or discarded by the rest of society.
At that time, Patricia was working as the hospitality manager at a local horse boarding stable called Crutcher Ranch (Patricia often works two or more jobs to help subsidize all the extra mouths she has to feed). Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher, the owners of Crutcher Ranch, knew Patricia well, owned a hundred-acre horse ranch, and were both retired and living just the two of them in a large mansion on their horse farm. Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher willingly accepted Prissy into their home, with everyone thinking it would be a good match. Yet because their house was so large and Prissy recently had a bad experience that caused her to break her normal good house habits, the older couple rightly gave Prissy back to Patricia as the match just was not working as everyone had envisioned.
When the Crutchers had to return Prissy, Patricia then and there promised Prissy she would never again have to worry about having a safe forever home, and that she, Patricia, would always love Prissy and care for her. This is where I enter Prissy's story.
Three days after I lost to cancer my previous dog, an Australian shepherd named Roo, I was at Crutcher Ranch preparing my horse for a trail ride with my friend Patricia and some other folks at the ranch. It was customary for each person's dog to come along with the posse on our rides, but on this particular day Prissy very obviously hung around with me as I groomed and tacked up my horse. Even as Patricia left with the trail ride, Prissy stayed back at the barn with me as I had planned to work my mare in the arena and join the posse later in the trail ride. Prissy stayed with me the entire time and remained right with my horse and me even after we joined the already ongoing trail ride. After that episode, Prissy very obviously made it clear for several days in a row that she wanted to hang around me, singling me out at the ranch and befriending me in a profoundly obvious way.
For literally the first time in my life, I was without a dog since I had lost my Roo several days before to cancer. Patricia, in her wisdom, offered to let me take Prissy home to meet my husband Chris. Patricia explained to me Prissy's story, and that she had promised Prissy she had a forever home and would never again have to worry about being re-homed. Patricia told me "But I believe Prissy is telling me it is ok to let her go. Prissy has clearly chosen you."
Prissy and my husband Chris bonded very quickly, and continued to have an excellent father-daughter relationship. I first brought Prissy home and we adopted Prissy in August of 2007 when Prissy was six years old. Prissy gave us an additional decade of happiness, and was at my side for most of that time-- day and night. She was invaluable to me as a helper at the horse farm and at home.
Yes, I admit I became Prissy's slave, she trained me well. Especially during her last few silver years, our already close relationship deepened even further. There were some very precious moments of love and togetherness near the end of Prissy's wonderful life. Prissy remained vibrant, alert and healthy until the last day or two when it was very clear what decision had to be made. Our friend and veterinarian Dr. L.D. Eckermann put Prissy to rest on July 13, 2017.
The last three years of Prissy's life we had a good time learning sign language together because she went completely deaf. Dogs naturally excel at reading body language and Prissy learned our own sign language which I have now also taught to my existing two dogs, Prissy's adopted brothers.
Dogs really do add so much to life, don't they? I'm so grateful the original proto-dogs chose us some thousands of years ago and domesticated us, and I'm especially grateful Prissy chose to spend this past decade at my side.
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