Acer bean! "What a good lookin' pooch!" A complement that I heard many people say when they would meet Ace.
My husband and I took a road trip to western Nebraska to "look" at some puppies that we saw in the paper. (I saw "look" cuz I knew we were going home with one no matter what my husband said). We arrived at our destination and the people took us to a shed where 8 little fluff balls were running around. I had a hard time deciding with all the cutie pies looking for attention, but one stood out to me that was the most curious of all. A little tri-colored Australian Shepherd puppy. They all looked similiar. But this one stood out. He had a little white patch on the back of his neck that distinguished him from the others. I picked him up and said "this is the one." Held him in my arms and took the couple hour trip back home. We discussed names on the way home and came up with Ace. It just fit him. Short and simple.

Ace had it made on the farm. What was supposed to be just an outdoor farm dog, quickly turned into "Oh he can come inside for just a little bit", or "its cold out, better let the puppy in", or even "he can sleep in the house just this once.." Ace quickly became friends with the couch and yet we were okay with that. He grew and grew and was such a smarty pants. He picked up tricks very fast and we enjoyed showing off to the in-laws and to grandpa how obedient he could be. Ace was turning into quite the cattle dog as well. He loved helping us check cows and helping us sort the calves. He also minded the chickens and the local farm cat and him became best buds.

Ace's other love, aside from the cattle, was his tennis ball. He absolutely loved to play fetch or catch. Anything that involved catching a frisbee or stick or even just a stout tumbleweed, he was all for it! One day, however, we were playing catch and he jumped to catch his tennis ball and landed on his back foot wrong. He came back limping. I thought it was just a thorn for a bit and checked his foot and didn't see anything. The limp continued so we decided to take him to get it looked at. Turns out his had fractured a toe bone and that it would be just fine. So life on the ranch continued as usual. 

What supposed to be healing, eventually started to get swollen and something was not quite right. He wasn't using his foot anymore and using 4 legs, quickly turned into using mainly just 3 legs. Back to the vet we went and got another x-ray. "Well there's you're problem. He doesn't have any toe bones!" Was the explanation we were told. Turns out instead of healing, his bones began to re-absorb!

Easter weekend came and Ace became a tripawd and adjusted just fine. Life on 3 legs was pretty much natural to him and he took it like a champ. He was back at it helping with cattle and helping me shut the chicken coop at night. My chore buddy helped me feed the bottle calf and hay the horses. His legged healed with no problems and it was hard to tell he was even a tripawd!

A month later, we were out watering the garden. Ace was with me like always, begging for me to throw his stick for him. I kept putting it off, saying "hang on bud, I'm almost done in here." Glancing back at him to make sure he was leaving Blacky the kitty cat alone. Finally I finished what I was doing and I saw him rolling around like dogs do in the grass. I hollered "come'on big guy, lets go!" I kept walking but noticed Ace wasn't running up to me like normal. I glance back and see him upside down shaking, drooling and eyes twitching. He was having a seizure! I ran up to him calling his name. "Acer Acer! What's wrong, Hey big guy, Ace!!" I quickly picked him up and headed to the vet. Him shaking and non responsive the whole time. The vet said that it looked like he was poisoned and was showing the symptoms of it. He sedated him and hooked him up to fluids to flush everything out. 

My husband and I went home the night without my dog. The vet kept him there and said he was call us in the morning and tell us how he was going. That morning came and the phone call came. No progress. Ace was still unresponsive and not any better. The next day came. Still no progress. 3 days later. The same. He had definite brain damage and he wasn't going to get any better. We said good bye to my buddy that day.

2 days later here I am.  I not convinced that it was a poisoning. We looked everywhere. There was nothing that dog could have gotten into anything. He was with us, by our side all day that day. There was no way he could have gotten into anything. The way it happened so quickly, and there were no warning signs. He was a healthy happy day begging me to play with him to having a seizure 30 seconds later. I think there was more to it. Maybe a blood clot from his recent surgery. Maybe a brain tumor. I don't know. That's what bothers me the most. We don't know what he died from.
No dog will replace my handsome boy. We do plan on getting another puppy sometime soon. Maybe even name him Ace after him! 1 1/2 years was way too young to lose a dog. I wasn't done with him yet. He barely got started here on the farm. We still had many years together. I will miss my Acer bean.

Ace at 7 weeks with my husband.

Happy Fall!

Road Trip

Ace and the garden

Going to a walk as a tripawd

Day of seizure, last picture of him