Collin at 13 years and 11 months young —
a day before he earned his Golden Wings.

Paula sent this tribute about Collin on April 7, 2001— all the way from Rhenen,
a small town in the middle of The Netherlands.

Collin was born on March 8, 1987. The first time I saw Collin was when he was four weeks old. He and his five brothers where in a large 'cage' in the breeder's kitchen. When I looked over the edge, the first puppy who came to me tried to bark, but because he was so little he had to sit down first. Then he barked and fell over. This was such an amusing sight. I thought, "That's gonna be my puppy."
   
At the age of eight weeks, this pup with the nail polish spot on his right ear came to us. We went to puppy school and later to adult Golden school. Because we live close to the woods, we went there very often. This was great fun. Collin used to sniff a lot, dug holes and tried to catch something (it didn't matter what). On our daily walks he sometimes caught small animals, even when he was on his leash.
   
The first time he caught a mouse, he was acting very silly. When the mouse was in his mouth it squeaked. Collin was so surprised by the sound that he let the mouse go. Five minutes later Collin was still looking for him on the place he dropped him. He didn't understand that the mouse was already gone. You should have seen Collin's face! Birds and even frogs were not safe when he was around.
   
All his life he never stopped playing with his (our one from another dog) balls and chewing his bone. This bone was very special for him because every
evening, after his dinner, he had to chew on it. During the years that Collin lived with us, I've had some very difficult years, but Collin's sweet face always cheered me up. He was such a happy dog, always wagging his tail.
   
When he was 13 years and 10 months old, he didn't want to eat. We took him to our vet but he couldn't find anything wrong with him. "Maybe he has stomach cramps," he said. So he gave him some medicine. This didn't help at all so we went back to the vet. Then they did an echo sound of his spleen and heart and  saw what was wrong with him. He had large cancer tumors on both and nothing could save him. So we had to put him to sleep. This was a very difficult decision but we couldn't let our sweet guy suffer.
   
The next day the vet came to our house. When he entered the living room, Collin stood up, walked to him and wagged his tail. Then he went into his basket and laid down. We went to sit with him and while I was holding his head, I stroked him and talked to him until he went to sleep forever. He was 13 years and 11 months old. This was on February 9, 2001 but when I wrote this I still couldn't stop crying. We miss him so much and he will live in our heart and memory forever.