Our Story
This page started with Millie and Fly, two litter sisters who came to their forever home at seven years old from Mrs Murray’s Home for Stray Dogs and Cats on the 4th November 2011. Despite being in her senior years, Millie loved nothing more than getting up the Munros (Scottish hills above 3000 feet) bagging 21 one of them until she retired, passing away on the 23rd May 2018 just 6 months after her last Munro (a repeat of Ben Lomond) at the age of 13. Fly already suffered from arthritis when she joined our family, and this limited her hill adventures however she still loved going out on adventures exploring, and she especially loved the beach and swimming! She slipped a disc in her neck when she was 11 years old which required major surgery but she quickly bounced back from that making an amazing recovery. As her arthritis worsened she really started to struggle on her back legs and to help she was given a set of wheels which gave her a new lease of life enabling her to become more active. Eventually though things just became too much, and Fly left us on the 15th September 2019.
With her sister Fly not able to join her on her adventures, and Millie not getting any younger, we decided to add a third dog to our family. We returned to Mrs Murray’s and met a timid, underweight stray around three years old that just went round and round in circles. This scared girl we brought home on the 23rd September 2015. We named her Moss. Everything was new and scary to her and she had to learn everything from scratch, it was like having a puppy only with an adult dog. Thanks to Millie who she quickly bonded with she soon started to come out of her shell, Millie helping teach her recall and how to play though it was Fly that taught Moss her favourite game of tuggy! Moss shared Millie’s love of the hills, Millie’s last hill Ben Lomond was Moss’ 30th Munro! As of 2019, Moss has done 44 Munros and has became a fantastic hilldog. In Autumn 2018, Moss was honoured to be picked as the Ambassadog for Dog Friendly Angus and Dundee promoting Angus and Dundee as a dog-friendly destination and we enjoyed lots of adventures in our local area, sharing our walks, checking out dog friendly attractions and places to eat, and we had some amazing nights away Moss finishing her Ambassadog duties with a fabulous stay a Malmaison Hotel in Dundee!
Following Millie passing away it was clear Moss missed having another doggy companion joining her on her adventures, so on the 22nd September 2018 we brought home three year old Còinneach Beag (Scots Gaelic for Little Moss) from the Border Collie Trust GB. While he may have looked similar to Moss, hence the name, that was where the similarities ended! Unfortunately a hilldog he was not, long walks weren’t his thing and a high prey drive and desire to roam meant he couldn’t be off lead outside a secure area. What motivated him was canicross. Running was not something I ever imagined I would be doing but before I knew it I was buying running shoes and joining a local canicross club! The things we do to keep our dogs happy...
Of course, Moss was still without a companion for her walks. In August 2019 an advert on Facebook caught my eye. So many collies came up looking for new homes on, I’m not sure what it was about this one advert that caught my attention but I found myself contacting the person and arranging a meeting. A month later on the 21st September 2019, Zena a 14 month old failed sheepdog joined our family. It was a challenging introduction with Còinneach not taking too well to a new dog in the house, but a telling from Fly put him in his place and soon the two of them started to play together! Còinneach now adores his little sister, and Moss is loving having someone to join her on her walks! Zena is still a work in progress as she does like to chase things, that is fine when she is chasing her big sister but not so when she is chasing other things, but she loves her longer walks and has already done her first Munro!
