Once upon a time, there lived a gorgeous Beardie x Collie on a rugged, lush, mountaineous farm up in the north of New Zealand with a pack of other dogs and couple of horses. Her name was Vicki, and beacuse she was so full of spirit and energy, and a bit fearless, she enjoyed running free on the farm when her owner took her out for walks with the other dogs. Vicki was not to know that this same spirit for adventure would lead her to trouble.

One day, as she was running up the path that led them into the wild part of the mountain, Vicki’s energetic spirit overtook her. Throwing caution to the wind, she ran off, only to hurtle down a steep edge. Vicki survived the fall, but her front leg didn’t. It had to be amputated.

But this did not stop Vicki for long. She was barely back from the vet, and already she was straining to head back into the mountains, tail wagging as if nothing happened at all.

P.S. Vicki’s full name is “Victoria Bitters”, which is apparently a beer for “a hard earned thirst”. I’m not sure how Vicki feels about beer, but her mother was called Brandy, and her son is called Whiskey. You would be forgiven if you assumed alcoholism ran in Vicki’s bloodline, but as far as I know, it’s all purely accidental. As an aside, Whiskey belongs to us, and we named him thus before we knew about granny Brandy or Mom Vicki’s full name:-)