Dear Nick,
What's new, Nickie Poo?!
Wow, can you believe it? By this Monday, July 30th, it will officially be a whole year since my parents and I drove all the way to Ohio to pick you up and bring you to your new home in New York! That was when you became our pet Collie and we became your forever family…
You were nearly nine months old at the time, still a puppy. Now an adult dog, you're still not too much bigger than you were when we got you, even after we gave you a haircut over a month ago, though it did make you look younger than you did then. Boy, were we surprised to see how grown up you looked when we came to take you home!
I hope your many relatives and buddies on the Collie farm had found homes of their own, too. After you left that farm space that you had to share with 100 other Collies, it must've been a relief when you finally came home to a large open yard for you to play in! However, I do know that you weren't relieved to be leaving the farm for good, at first.
I know that the car ride home from Ohio to New York was a bit traumatic for you. I mean, you held all your water in the whole ride home! And you even refused to go with us when we got off at pit stops. You even jumped back into the van at one point! All the other cars and motorcycles passing by on the adjacent freeway at each stop didn't make it any easier for you.
But after all of that, when we all got home, set you up in your area in the kitchen, and let you explore around the house, always supervised, you grew used to us. Now, you can go anywhere in the house and our backyard, the latter being your main domain as a true Collie should have!
Everyone loves how tame and well-behaved you are, even around kids, other people, and other animals (you know how finicky my cousin JJ and our cat Be-Be both can be at times…) Even after we got our other dog, Georgie, a few months after we got you, you two have learned to share your space, including your precious domain, and have become the best of friends (save the occasional spat over each other's toys…)
I am so proud of how, with a close family friend's help, you finally mastered the trick my mom always wanted you to do for her: giving her your paw to shake. Now (as long as you're sitting) you can do it even without being told so! You really have become our Lassie, which is the main reason why Mom decided to get a pet Collie in the first place. Seeing you do that for her, as she sees Lassie do at the end of every episode, was the greatest gift you could ever give her.
My family and I are so proud of how far you've come since we took you in.
Regardless of your certified Champion bloodline, you will always be our Champion for being so loyal to us and making us happy and proud of you every day. Aside from your very likely chance of being the only Collie on Long Island, New York, you truly are a special dog with everything a Collie has to offer. We haven't had a dog in our house for about a decade, and you, along with our mini poodle Georgie (our little ballerina) have proven to be worth the long wait!
(Also, I'm glad we decided to keep the name you were given at the farm. With it, we can always say that we don't have to wait until Christmas for St. Nick…)