Fred
Manderian Mystic Shadow
Fred is DNA Normal by parentage for: CEA & NCL
Fred was last last to be born in his litter...whilst Tony was away on a mercy dash to the Vets with a little Blue Tricolour bitch that we just couldn't get going. Tony had a big surprise when he saw Fred in the nest! Tony said that he'd 'always' wanted a Blue/White dog....so he stayed.
Fred got his name because when he was born - and still wet - his hair was the colour of Mercury....both Tony & I are fans of the group Queen, so that's how the connection was made and Fred got his name.
Like his parents and siblings, Fred adored everyone and was shown quite a lot whilst he was a puppy, doing very well in the show ring, usually only beaten by his sister Fynn. As he got towards his first birthday it became apparent that he was going to grow just a little too much for the show ring, so that along with the fact that - at the time - Blue/White dogs were not that common and most judge's perception of a Border Collie was a Black/White dog, the decision was made to retire him from the breed ring. Fred didn't seem to mind at all.
One day, we noticed that his bark sounded odd....Fred had a very big bark anyway....but something wasn't right. The Vet investigated and found that there were nodules on his vocal chords which had to be removed. The nodules that is, not the vocal chords. Subequent testing revealed the these little lumps were benign but it did leave Fred with more of a hoarse-squeak for a voice, but he was OK.
Some years later, although we'd grown used to his unusual voice, it began to sound odd once more.. so straight back to the Vet. This time the news was not good. The lumps had returned, but this time they were not benign.. We couldn't put our beloved Fred through all that again, so the decision was made not to wake him up.
The house is so much less busy without Fred in it.