Sprocket: A Remarkable Beardie

Sprocket, a remarkable, though rambunctious Bearded Collie came to my Mom and Dad’s house when we already had 2 other dogs: an elderly Cocker Spaniel named Chico, and my beloved Border Collie, Molly.

At the moment I was with the Cameron family with their little girl Brooke and their Shepherd\Husky Mix Oskar and Yellow Lab Elmer.

One day the Camerons took us for a drive to my Mom’s house to meet Sprocket and Brooke, a toddler, was calling all the dogs “Puppy.”

Sprocket, at the moment, still a puppy, was adorable, lovable, and a wonderful playmate with Molly.

Sprocket, by the way, was named after the Fraggle Rock dog.

Later they came up with a DVD which was playing at Zellers and the first lines played were “Attaboy Sprocket” and the dog on the show came out.

(SPOILER ALERT) Near the end of the 2005/2006 year Disney came up with a remake of  The Shaggy Dog, in which Tim Allen’s character, a lawyer about to be elected D.A., is bitten by a Bearded Collie from Tibet, which makes him act like a dog at home, in court, and various public places before he turns into a Bearded Collie himself, which almost messes up his career and nearly messes up his marriage, but the spell teaches the man to be a better father and attorney. The movie came to theatres and I enjoyed the movie.

The Cameron family decided to move to Red Deer, Alberta, which meant I would move to Moncton... and later to Saint John, where I had stayed at the Delta as a child, shopping at its mall, and swimming in its pool. I thought of this as time to spend with family in the meantime, including the dogs. It was a heartfelt goodbye to Blake, Kansas and Brooke Cameron and their dogs, sad heartfelt moment 1 of 2... as one day Mom, Stephanie, and I went to the One Stop Superstore to go grocery shopping... and came home and noticed my dear Border Collie Molly was sneezing and pouring blood out of her nose.

We took her to Dr. Vessey’s office, which transferred her to the UPEI Veterinary College, who let us know she had a tumor and had to put her to sleep.

Everyone except me was crying, even my nephews and nieces.

Sprocket missed her so much he did not feel like eating for a long time.

On August 9th 2006, Mom and I took a drive to Saint John to visit L’Arche Saint John.

At the house were nice friendly people, lots of bedrooms, a garage about to be converted to an office, an office about to be converted to a bedroom, a small 2-keyboard organ, a TV, and a kitchen with a schedule.

I got a tour and we talked with my new housemates-to-be, and I told them about the recent tragedy, and one person got a tissue and cried.

I played the small organ, playing  Be Not Afraid, dedicating it to Molly.

Then we drove uptown to see of there were rooms at the Delta, and yes, there were!

We reserved our room, found it, and enjoyed it.

In fact, our room had a view of the Our Lady of the Assumption Church steeple and Martello Tower, under which my new house was located.

I used the pool and the mall, buying a black Timex Ironman at The Source by Circuit City, the CD Cars and the DVD The Shaggy Dog which I had seen the previous spring at the theatre.

After a night at the Delta we drove home.

Later we drove to Antigonish, intent on visiting their L’Arche Houses... and made an impromptu stop in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, where Sobeys and Big 8 Beverages were born, to visit a Border Collie breeder’s house, and picked out one of the Border Collies, named Ella because her registered name was Stellar Ella.

We drove to Antigonish, visited a L’Arche Day Program where I played the piano and talked with lots of friendly people, stayed at a hotel with a pool, drove back to Stellarton, picked up Ella, and came home.

This restored Sprocket’s appetite as he had a new friend.

The following October Mom and I flew to Toronto to attend our first Geneva Centre Autism Symposium, where we met writer Temple Grandin, took the subway plenty of times, shopped at countless malls and HMV stores, attended a Halloween parade, stayed at the Royal York, used its pool, and used its underground link to Union Station. This was my first Fairmont Hotel since the visit to Quebec with Dad and Me when we used the Chateau Frontenac and met Molly as a pup on the way home.

After these wonderful adventures, we flew home... and found out my move to L’Arche was a go.

After 2 weekends spent at L’Arche Saint John, I moved into McKim House, and on my door was a poster with pictures and signatures and a drawing another resident had drawn of me.

When I went home for Christmas, the dogs were happy to see me and we watchedNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation andA Christmas Story.

When Christmas came I got my usual items: A Border Collie calendar and a Dogs in Canada Annual... plus a surprise: tickets to a showing of Superdogs, the first since summer when I was between grades 9 and 10, afterBabe came to VHS and I saw the movies for the first time. It’s also interesting to note my nephews Brennan and Connor came too and enjoyed it. (SPOILER ALERT) They had DVDs of a movie called  Daniel and the Superdogs in which a troubled young boy who had just lost his mother to illness, was getting into too much trouble with his friends until he is helped by a Jack Russell Terrier who is a Superdogs competitor while volunteering at the animal shelter, and as a result they compete in the Superdogs competition in the end.

(SPOILER ALERT) When Easter came McKim House had a symbolic tradition on Good Friday: We watched the Disney DVDThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, because Aslan’s sacrifice in the end and his resurrection resembles the Passions in the Gospels read on Good Friday, and a week earlier on Palm Sunday.

Every time I came home to see Mom, all dogs would be happy to see me, including Ella, Sprocket, Chico, and Dillon, Jennifer’s Border Collie, now next door to Mom’s house in a newly-built house.

Sprocket licked my hand all the time, even when we watched TV and movies.

On the National Geographic Channel was a show calledThe Dog Whisperer with famous dog trainer Cesar Milan.

Every time I came home we watched a PVR recorded episode.

(SPOILER ALERT) This trainer had worked with famous celebrities, including the late Ed McMahon and writer John Grogan, author of the famous bookMarley & Me, which later became a tearjerker movie starringCars andYou Me and Dupree star Owen Wilson as Grogan andFriends star Jennifer Aniston as Jenny in which the famous Labrador Marley enters the family and causes all kinds of problems, but at the end of the dog’s life the family realizes what a great dog he was, despite all the problems he caused. I call this movie theTitanic of dog movies.

Some of Cesar’s techniques I used with Sprocket and later 2 Cotons de Tulear named Liza and Lupin, who entered our family in 2009 after Dillon, Jennifer’s Border Collie, had passed away at 14 years of age.

Later Jennifer got another Border Collie named Danny.

It’s interesting to note that later Stephanie, one of my sisters, got a Coton de Tulear named Mo, Lupin’s grandson in fact.

I try Cesar’s techniques with Mo too.

In summer 2017, I came to Moncton to see Mom and Dad, and the dogs.

Sprocket was very elderly but he still remembered me. He had completely lost his hearing. Before I was picked up on the way to the L’Arche Regional Picnic in Truro I gave Sprocket one last pat goodbye and he gave me one last hand lick.

At Hampton Bible Camp I prayed for Sprocket every night to myself.

When I came home I received a text on my BlackBerry from Mom that Sprocket had to be put to sleep on Wednesday, and I was sad.

I will miss him.

“A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if your rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel... extraordinary?” - Owen Wilson as John Grogan in the movie Marley & Me

The Days of Molly’s Life

Chapter 1: The Phone Call

Molly as a puppy with Simon, our Golden Retriever 

My last relatives were about to board the plane after Melody and Matt Taylor’s wedding. 

At breakfast I took the paper and opened it up to the classifieds.  On the Pets/Supplies section I saw this intriguing ad:

BORDER COLLIE PUPS.  IMPORTED PARENT.  BRED FOR FAMILIES/FARMS.  BLACK\WHITE, TRI-COLOR.  EXC. TEMP.  VET CHECKED.  APP. HOMES ONLY.  READY NOV. 12.   

I picked up the phone and dialed the number shown on the ad. 

The lady on the other end sounded about Jennifer’s age and cheerful. 

I asked about the puppies. 

She said there were 4 puppies, 2 of each color style, all female.  One of each was, in Cesar Milan’s words, “In the calm-assertive state”, and one of each was dominant. 

I gave Mom the phone, went downstairs, and played the guitar while Mom talked to the lady. 

Minutes later Mom came back down, the phone still on. 

I took the receiver and put it to my ear. 

What she said got me excited:

“Congratulations, Patrick!  You have just gotten yourself a Border Collie puppy!” 

After this I got the guitar and happily played my grad song!  Had this happened at the time I am writing this I would have played all the peppy songs from High School Musical 1, 2, and 3. 

Word of this spread all over my family and friends. 

I named this puppy Molly, after a Border Collie I saw on an agility match on tape before Melody’s wedding. 

Chapter 2:  The Puppy Pre-Look

For those of you who read and watched Marley & Me, this may sound similar to what you see and read when John and Jenny go to the farm to see the lab puppies to pick out Marley before going to the IHOP, except Marley was a boisterous mischievous Labrador pup and Molly was a gentle Border Collie pup who would not harm anyone or anything. 

My Dad and I went to Quebec City for CACL conferences and stay at the Chateau Frontenac. 

I browsed at the local CD/DVD/VHS store Archambault, swam in the hotel’s pool, and watched TV and a Pay Per View movie on the hotel’s RCA 19” TV.

But the turning point was our trip home as we stopped at the farm where Molly was born. 

I was expecting to see some sheep or at least some livestock for the dogs to herd.  Dillon’s birth farm had some sheep. 

But there were horses, and not a single ewe, ram, or lamb in sight. 

The lady, named Rena MacLean, and a man who looked like Tim McGraw in Flicka, came to us, with 2 Border Collies and a black Labrador at their side. 

The smaller Border Collie, a tri-color, was Molly’s mother Clan. 

The bigger black and white Border Collie, kind of big for one, was Carlton, Molly’s Father. 

Rena then showed us a demonstration on how the 2 dogs would herd the horses the way these dogs would normally herd sheep. 

After the demo they led us, the 3 dogs at their side, to a basement. 

In the basement was a big box. 

In the box were 4 adorable Border Collie pups.  I picked out the calm black and white and picked her up. 

As soon as I picked her up she started licking my face as if to say “Please take me home!” which warmed my heart. 

My love of Border Collies started in Grade 9 when I first saw Babe and fell in love with Fly and Rex, the Border Collies who take the pig of the title under their paw and teach him how to herd sheep like them. 

Since seeing Molly I watched the above movie a lot. 

Chapter 3:  Molly’s Arrival/Wonderful Events

With Molly as a Puppy

November 12th, the date posted on the ad, finally arrived.

When night came, a dark gray Oldsmobile sedan pulled up. 

The lady came, Clan at her side, and Brandy, our across-the-street neighbor’s Scottish Terrier, started barking wildly until Mrs. Barkhouse had to take her in. 

MacLean came to me, Molly in her arms, and put her in my arms! 

Jennifer’s Jeep was still there, so I took Molly to a 2-year-old Brennan Kent, who said “Hi, Molly.  Good girl,” and fell asleep. 

I took her  in the house and introduced her to Chico, our 2nd Cocker Spaniel, Mabel, Melody’s Golden Retriever, and Emma, Mom’s first Bearded Collie, like Tim Allen’s character Dave Douglas turns into after getting bitten by the 300-year-old Tibet Beardie in the 2006 remake of The Shaggy Dog.  

This made the following events even more exciting, as with anyone with their first real dog. 

I saw Erin in the musical The King and I in the role of Tuptim, the same role Melody had 10 years ago. 

Then Melody and Matt had me spend a weekend with them in Kentville, Nova Scotia, and I brought Babe, Christmas movies, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. 

After this I came home and Molly was happy to see me. 

Christmas came up.  Here I got the CDs Much Dance 2000, Superstar, and Grammy Nominees 2000.  I also got a teal Timex Ironman watch with the new display and the CD of the soundtrack to Mame and the VHS The Santa Clause.  

Chapter 4:  The New Year

After the celebrations, back to routines, but boy, was I glad to be over school and homework, and boy, was I glad to have Molly!  Plus it is fun having Christmas and my Birthday, in fact January 7th, so close to each other! 

My Birthday, indeed, came, and me and a friend who was my TA in Bessborough School and my last 2 years in high school at Riverview High, browsed in Zellers where I used the listening posts, had a Pizza Delight buffet (the main reason my favorite pizza place is Pizza Delight), and went to the movie theatre to see Stuart Little, with Back to the Future’s Michael J. Fox and Nathan Lane, whom before the time I am writing this story, I saw in New York City on Broadway in It’s Only A Play during New York Christmas 2014. 

The following day, I started my first work since graduation and since I had Molly.  A friend of Dad’s hired me to do some lumber piling in a giant workshop that was as big as a hockey arena. 

There was a lot of saws, a sawdust-producing device which made a loud, consistent buzz, conveyor belts, and a huge chainsaw which moved in slow motion like a second hand on some clocks.  One of my co-workers was in my grad class and my 1999 yearbook proves it.  There were a few forklifts and lots of nice co-workers to chat with at breaks.  And when I came home Molly would be happy to see me. 

With the salary I bought a Panasonic 5-disc stereo with Sub Woofers, which is what Molly would have been at Quizno’s with a sandwich and suddenly started pumping Zumba music beats. 

Molly soon grew to be an adult dog, slightly smaller than Dillon. 

By the way, I should describe the 2 dogs. 

Dillon was a short-coated Border Collie with tri-color, and Molly was a long-coated Black and White. 

Soon Molly and I started walking together, her on leash, regularly around our neighborhood, and there were lots of friendly neighbors and dogs to see. 

Soon I joined the YMCA and worked out and sometimes there would be a German Shepherd there as a seeing-eye dog, and another worker-outer was, in fact, my Grade 8 gym teacher. 

On a certain day I would go to the pool for a family swim and sometimes I brought a mix tape I had made of new hits from the CDs I had recently gotten and play them there as I swam. 

Sometimes when I went out to work out Molly scratched at the back door, whining as if to say, “Please take me with you!” 

When I came home she came to me and whined as if to say “Where have you been?” 

The summer, again as with anyone with their first dog, was great! 

Melody hired me for the summer in Kentville as a TA for children with disabilities and I stayed most of the summer there. 

And due to the memory of the Christmas weekend, I remembered the way.  

Sometimes we worked with the children on musical terms and songs, and if they were well behaved, we would watch Blue’s Clues: Rhythm & Blue.  

We attended church at a Catholic church in Canning, Nova Scotia. 

Again, when I came back to Moncton for the weekend, Molly would be happy to see me and we would resume our walk routines. 

Chapter 5: Fall/Great Events

Molly (left) with Dillon

The fall came and Mom hooked me up with a great organization which had support workers take me and sometimes another person to make friends with to things like our favorite stores, the organization’s club with dance music and a 19” TV hooked up to a Super Nintendo system with Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and the Super Nintendo version of Super Mario Bros 2, to the local hockey games and basketball games, to the movie theatre to see Chicken Run and the live action remake of The Grinch with Jim Carey, bowling at a local alley, and local plays. 

I joined Special Olympics Basketball and I enjoyed this. 

I made a great friend named Robert McCoubrey who had an apartment with a 13” TV, a CD player, lots of VHS movies, and lots of dance music CDs.  He and I went to stores together, hockey games, and other local fun things. 

I bought the VHS My Dog Skip and I was touched by the story line and how it was much like this story and how it depicted a boy and his dog, a great neighbor, bullies-turned-friends, and plans to stop the war to bring their neighbor home. 

Christmas, indeed, came, and this time I got a mini-box, like a jewelry box, and in it was a note that read: “A 13” TV to Be Purchased” in block letters. 

We went to Sounds Fantastic, the same store I bought the stereo with the subwoofer with the Caledonia Forest Products salary the February before. 

There we bought a 13” Panasonic TV/VCR Combo. 

With this Molly and I watched movies together, sometimes joined by Dillon. 

Later Jennifer got another dog to join Dillon:  A badly mistreated Rough Collie, named Tessa, who looked then thin like one of those weird creatures you see in the Star Wars movies. 

Soon I started staying weekends with a support worker and his wife at their apartment.  Their names were Blake and Kansas Cameron.  They sometimes took another client and me to the local hockey games. 

Gram passed away and Mom and I flew to Toronto to gather her possessions, and we enjoyed this as there were subways, great places to see and think of Gram, lots of malls with CD/DVD/VHS stores to shop in, and listening stations to use. 

I bought CDs and a VHS here. 

Besides all this Erin was staying at the University of Toronto and Stephanie and Kyle also lived here. 

We got to see them lots and I burned my first CDs here. They are in a box under the shelf in the house at the time I am writing this story. 

When we flew home Molly was so happy to see me that we resumed walking routines. 

The support worker, his wife, and I stayed various weekends together at his apartment.  They moved to a house in the Mountain Road area and got a dog of their own:  A Shepherd-Husky mix named Oskar.  

Chapter 6: Moving Day/College Year

In summer I moved into their house.  I brought my TV, 5-disc stereo, phone, bed, and other things with me. 

They already had another boarder:  A Jehovah’s Witness named Gary Keays who also had his own TV, phone, and sound systems. 

On certain days the phone would be tied up as he listened to meetings from his Kingdom Hall. 

Guests, who were relatives of the Camerons’, visited sometimes and we went to Magic Mountain and other Moncton attractions together. 

The Camerons got another dog to join Oskar:  A Yellow Lab named Elmer, and they were both fun to be with. 

I started an Office Tech course at NBCC Moncton with help from a TA, also from Riverview High.

I would have routine classes, but homework was kept to a minimum. 

Sometimes I would spend the weekends with Mom and, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Molly was so happy to see me and we resumed our routine walks. 

The first weekend since moving day Mom and I went to the Albert County Exhibition to see a Border Collie demonstration put on by a Nova Scotia farmer and his dogs. 

Christmas, indeed, came, and Molly and I enjoyed it. 

In the theatre I saw the movie Snow Dogs and I was amazed at how much like Molly Nana looks in the movie.  And so I bought the VHS of the movie. 

This spring Mom, Dad, and I went to Halifax and we stayed at the Holiday Inn Select and I had a room of my own! (Sorry Franck, Smyth Tribeca is better than this hotel)  I shopped at HMV, browsed at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, and attended Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica. 

I graduated from college in no time. 

Stephanie and Kyle got married at a Riverview United Church, and though it was in a church, the music played was not hymns, but movie and TV themes and rock hits so it sounded like the church scene from The Blues Brothers with the late James Brown as the Reverend.  But nonetheless it was great and the reception was fun as there was a piano, which I played. 

The Community College hired me for a year as a data person. 

I spent a weekend with Jennifer and Brian, Brennan and Connor, and Dillon and Tessa. 

Christmas came and it was unbelievable. 

And what made these holidays and celebrations all the more great was, you guessed it, Molly’s presence with me. 

After another great summer with Molly and with the Camerons I started work at another workshop, this time Moncton Pallet, and I knew most of the workers from school and Club Shades and hockey games. 

The Christmas that came I got another TV:  This time a Toshiba 19” TV/VCR.  That way when I spent the weekends with Mom, Dad, and Molly, I would not have to carry the Panasonic TV/VCR. 

Chapter7:  Move Plans/A Tragic Day/Moving Day

Molly at the Beach

After years of living with the Camerons, their little girl Brooke, and their 2 dogs, they planned to move to Red Deer, Alberta, which meant I would have to leave the Camerons, heartbreak #1 of 2. 

I moved out, saying goodbye to them, and though I would miss them a lot, on the bright side I would be with Molly for some more time, but unfortunately this was to be short lived, and I will tell you why later. 

We spent some time on the beach and in the trailer we had purchased earlier and continued our routine walks. 

Mom had moved from Alexander Avenue where Molly and I were reunited that November 12th to a countryside house in Indian Mountain.  She had also gotten another Beardie, as Emma had passed away of cancer before they moved.  This time it was an active boisterous male named Sprocket. 

He and Molly were playmates. 

One nice summer day, not expecting anything out of the ordinary or tragic to happen, we went to the Superstore for groceries and came back…only to discover that Molly was sneezing nonstop. 

We looked at her…she was pouring blood out of her nose. 

I thought This does not look good.

We rushed her to Dr. Vessey, who transferred her to the Veterinary College in P.E.I. 

While they took her there I stayed home and played hymns on my keyboard on organ, praying that she got better. 

They predicted 3 possibilities, 2 that could be fixed with time, and a cancer tumor, in which situation, they would have to put her down. 

I prayed, “Please, Dear God in Heaven, not a tumor.” 

The next day they called and said, solemnly, that it was a tumor, and they put her down. 

It’s times like this I am no Elsa because I thought I could not Let it Go. 

The next day we went to the beach to spend the day there with a BBQ and a swim in the beach, but all I could think about was how much nicer this would have been had Molly not been put down. 

Mom and I visited L’Arche Saint John, my new home-to-be and I got a tour of the house and told the people there about the recent tragedy and someone got a tissue and cried.  I played on the organ Be Not Afraid.  

After this Mom and I stayed at the Delta, shopping at its 3-story mall, and I bought the Cars soundtrack, the DVD The Shaggy Dog, and a black Timex Ironman watch. 

Later Jennifer sent us a website for a Border Collie place in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, and Mom and I went to Antigonish to visit the L’Arche houses there, stopping in Stellarton to see the pups along the way. 

On the way home we stopped there again…and purchased another Border Collie, this time named Ella, who stays with me when I see her. 

The move to L’Arche Saint John took place.  And when I spent the weekend or some days with Mom and Dad Ella would be happy to see me.  Although this meant there would be another Border Collie in our house, there was no replacing Molly, and I still wished she was still there to see my new housemates, and I still do and always will.  But things were looking up.  But Ella, too, was an angel.  She was very agile. 

This story is dedicated to my family, dogs, and people without whom this story would be a myth, a wives’ tale. 

The Days Of Molly’s Life is a paws-itively heartwarming story of a beloved Border Collie who comes into the heart of an autistic young man.  A young man adopts a Border Collie whom he loves to the very end and makes lots of friends and memories as a result.

To the reader:

If this story has persuaded you to want to own your own Border Collie, please consider that he/she will need exercise and not like to live in an apartment where there is nothing for him/her to do, as he/she will find his/her own job, and chances are he/she will think he/she has a “Double-O” license to destroy.