A Really Exciting Weekend!

What a great weekend, I feel so blessed! It started with Friday as I was scooping poop and all five dogs swirled around me barking and playing. Five dogs is a lot but moments like that make it all worthwhile. Friday night sweet Dusty fell off the bed around 3:00 a.m. I heard the THUD, turned on the light and found him wandering around kind of dazed. He was fine, not even scared, just trying to figure out what the heck happened. Back up on the bed he went between Erik and I and then something so sweet happened: Dusty started to walk to the foot of the bed and up came Shiloh, herded Dusty back towards Erik and I, and he lay protectively at our feet ensuring Dusty's safety. Shelties are the BEST!
Saturday was an Obedience fun match. Blitz is doing OK but I could tell he didn't have the stamina to come along so it was just Moto this time. Another good surprise: Moto actually did an entire novice heeling pattern with attention! He only looked away once, during the fast, as we approached the gate. I was absolutely thrilled. Good attitude too! Stand for exam: perfect. Figure 8 - perfect (attention wise). Recall - quick and happy but he did a really sloppy finish which we will continue to work on. I only did one heeling pattern as we had success and I wanted him to realize THAT is what I want - good boy! Now that is he getting it we can begin the fine-tuning of correct heeling. Oh, he did great on his stays too. I was really really thrilled and proud!
Today the best news of all: The story of my very first dog, Sunny, was finally published in a book called "Tails from Beyond: the true story of our immortal pets". It's been years in the making. While I'm thrilled, proud and excited there is a lot of emotion there too. The after-life contact with my beloved dog was so personal and moving, and now it's out there for everyone to see. He'll be immortalized on those pages. Seeing such a close personal experience in print is very emotional and I can't really describe the depth of my feeling. But, I'm very, very glad and I hope this helps other folks dealing with the loss of their beloved furry or feathered friends.