Tribute to the Best Worst Dog Ever

Inspired after watching the movie Marley and Me, I decided to pay tribute to my own terror dog, Lucky, the Border Collie.

Most people have owned a dog at some point in their lives and I'm certain that they have also, at some stage, thought to themselves that their dog was the worst behaved dog ever. Well with Lucky, this was surely not far from the truth.

Lucky was the biggest pup in his litter and as time passed the trend of being big continued, he grew to the size of a frisky German Shepherd. Undoubtedly, he was one of the biggest Border Collies I've ever encountered. Even the local veterinarian was impressed with his size.

He's stature was only equaled by his affinity to do no good. I remember when I was younger, that I didn't own a single item of clothing that didn't have some sort of hole in it, due to Lucky's incessant jumping up on people and his need to play tug-of-war with anything wearable. I had ripped shirts, ripped denims (which were luckily in fashion at the time), ripped jackets and even some pretty mangled shoes.

On several occasions my mom wanted to give Lucky away - once owing to him destroying a lounge suite and another time with him ripping up the interior of my mom's BMW.

It's not like we didn't try to discipline him. We tried everything, from all the instructions that we had learnt in books written by well-known dog physiologists, to sending him to obedience school. Not even obedience school could break his bad behaviour and after only a few lessons he decided that he had enough, nipped the instructor on the hand and his expulsion was immanent.

Just to illustrate another clear example of defiance, I often took him for walks on a leash only to have him steal it away from me and have him, happily walk himself around - with leash in mouth. Lucky was his own master, and he did what he pleased. We thus had no choice but to put up with his mischievousness and deal with his misbehaviour. I’m certain the fact that he was the biggest of his litter, had something to do with him thinking that he was the Alpha Male of our pack and thus had a problem with us giving him authority.

Despite all this, we loved Lucky. He was a loyal dog and was always there for us. He was a terrific companion, a dutiful watchdog, who unfoiled at least two break ins at our Port Elizabeth home.

And when he fell ill and had to be put down; there was not a family member who didn’t have a tear in their eye. Its amazing how close you can get to dog. They develop their own personalities, their own little quirks and before you know it they’re no longer pets they’re members of the family.

RIP Lucky.