Just What is a Bearded Collie
A Beardie is springtime on snowflake paws. It's a happy grin, eyes brimming with innocence, and a calculating mind covered in a shaggy coat cleverly concocted to invite cuddling. It's an insistent paw stripping the blanket from your shivering shoulders and a chill, damp nose nuzzling your neck at sun-up. It's your shadow.
A Beardie has carefully concealed coiled springs for hind legs and believes that heeling at shoulder height is a perfectly acceptable practice. A Beardie can jump into the air facing north and come down facing south – removing your hat and kissing your ear in the process. A Beardie is devotion with a dash of devilishness, intelligence peppered with impishness and spirit, sparked with a sense of humour.
A Beardie is a study in contrasts. He can hear you take out your car keys from five rooms away but can't seem to hear you shout “come!” from 10 feet. The sound of running water in his dish brings him to the bathroom but the sound of running water in the tub results in his disappearance. He'll turn up his nose at his own dinner and gobble up someone else's – even though they're exactly alike, and you can always count on him to be well-behaved – except when you have company. A Beardie is a glorious whirlwind of flying fur, a non-stop wag with dog attached, or it's a pleading face in the window, a paw against the pane, hoping you'll reconsider and return. A Beardie is a “You're-not-alone” nudge under your elbow when you're feeling down and an inquisitive tilt of the head when you talk. A Beardie is an audience, a companion and a friend. Living with a Beardie may not always be easy, but living without one is impossible.
- by Alice Bixler