Badger

Badger was my brother's Border Collie. I was introduced to him when I had to babysit while my brother was away on his honeymoon. He barked at me, as if he didn't like me. After a few days of feeding him and giving him water, we started to get along. He always trusted me from that day forward, even after months apart. He always knew who I was, even in his older years. I noticed, immediately, that he was a very smart dog.

He could pick up a trick pretty quickly, and you always sensed that he cared about you. He was well disciplined. I took him on many walks, and he never strayed. He was fast, the fastest dog I'd ever seen. He'd beat every other dog when it came to racing to fetch an object, oh and he'd always return it. You could also leave him in the yard without a leash, come back minutes or hours later and he would still be there.

Throughout his life, he had many friends. His closest friend was a pug named Nelly. She really cared for him. He had another friend named Ranger, but Ranger kind of annoyed him at times. His human mother abandoned him, so my brother raised him from that day onward. I don't think he ever saw his mom again. A cat named Lilah took to him, and they became friends for several years.

Badger had many yards that he enjoyed playing around in - The Moab yard, the Ogden yard, and a few Layton yards. When my brother went through a divorce, Badger was there for him. He was a strong dog. I remember going to the backyard in Ogden, and he was so excited to see me that he ran, placed his paws on my chest, and knocked me down. That dog loved playing in the snow. We'd get over a foot of snow in Ogden, and he'd dive into random snow piles and disappear for a minute.

I learned that I was allergic to dogs in my adult years while visiting the Moab house. I had difficulty breathing, and was scratching my eyes out. After learning this, our relationship kind of suffered.
While my brother was staying at my sister's house, Badger heard him leaving for work, so he decided to dig under the fence. He wasn't welcome back for awhile.

He liked to herd small children and other animals. For that reason, we tried to keep children away from him. There were two occasions when he went too far. He bit my wife's ankle, but it wasn't too bad. I think he was trying to direct her. He also bit a real-estate lady, pretty severely. It was unusual behavior.

One time, I was carpooling with my brother down to Moab. I was in the front seat, and somehow the dog jumped in my lap. I think he was trying to retrieve something that went by my feet. It got pretty frantic with a large dog wagging his tail in the front while we were going 65 mph.

In his older years, he could barely hear, and his back legs barely functioned. He was a shell of his former-self. He was still smart though, and he cared about others, these qualities never went away.
One morning, he wasn't able to get up. His legs no longer worked. My brother was just married for the second time, and this all probably happened at the right time. Badger made it to Heaven, he is no longer suffering. He was a good dog, and I will miss him. He lived a lot longer than I thought he would, which was driven by the love he had for others. I'll miss giving him gifts at Christmas, and I'll miss how much joy he brought to my mom.

If I ever own a dog, it would be a Border Collie, and I would want one just like him.