Farewell Shiloh

Yesterday was Shiloh's last day here on Earth. In the early morning hours I was emailing my friend Kathy, sharing with her that the tide had turned and that I felt Shiloh was just living for me. When I got off the computer I saw Shiloh had chewed on the tumor growing between his toes and it was open and bloody. Now, in addition to losing control of his rear he was limping. Reduced to tears I called my vet and she agreed it was Time. We made an end-of-day appointment.
The remainder of his time at home revolved just around he and I and Dusty, his very best friend. We did a little Obedience, played with his Teddy bear and just hung out together. When it was time to go we took one last walk around our property.
My hubby took time off work and met us so he could say good-bye to Shiloh. My vet and the animal clinic was just wonderful and Shiloh's transition to the Bridge was peaceful. His ashes will come home to me in a few days.
I could write about his achievements but they already are well-documented. I'd rather write about what he meant to me.
Along with being a wonderful, beloved pet, he was also my partner and teammate. All those who compete in any venue understand that special bond that develops as you train and show together. Shiloh could ready\ my body language perfectly and I learned to read every flick of his ear or twitch of his whiskers to understand how best to perform. Obedience, as Melinda has said, is like dressage with a dog. In our best moments Shiloh and I were a beautiful team.
He was a workaholic. I had to use a timer during our training sessions as we'd have so much fun training it could go on for several hours if I wasn't careful. In spite of how well we did in Obedience, Shiloh loved Agility best. After our OTCH and competition at the NOI I promised him since he'd done so much for me we would spend the remainder of his career competing in Agility. He would have had a MACH if I could only remember the courses.
Shiloh taught me not to be so serious about competition. Along with exciting, spectacular wins Shiloh could NQ in amazing and sometimes embarassing ways. No matter the win or an NQ, he always gave me his very best. My favorite NQ memory is when we were at the NOI. All the "top dogs" had failed an exercise and Shiloh was turning in some pretty good performances. We were in the running for the finals. You compete in six rings on day #1, the scores are tallied and the top 32 go on to compete the next day in the finals. Ring 1-4 had gone really well for us. We were now in ring #5. All was going just fine until the Drop on Recall. The judge signaled for me to call my dog. I did, and in ran Shiloh, nice and straight. Then the judge gave the down signal. I gave him the Down command. Instead of a Down, Shiloh gave me a play bow. There he was, butt in the air, tail wagging, me looking at him and the judge kindly waiting to see if he would lower his silly rear end. Nope, not gonna happen. Our shot at the finals was over, but how could you get mad at that?
In agility Shiloh was known as the "butt biter". As he zoomed around the course he'd get more and more excited. I learned to run full out at the finish line as the applause would send him over the edge and he'd nip my rear. No contact is allowed in the ring so I needed to cross the finish line before, um "contact" was made with my behind.
Shiloh had the heart of a lion and an ego of a rock star. He showed me that dreams really can come true and gave so much of himself. He was the true essence of all the platitudes written about the heart of a dog. I still cannot believe that I will no longer hold him, see his expressive brown eyes or hear his silly talking noises. Time just went by too fast. I take great comfort in his beautiful son Moto. His name will live on forever in the AKC records for all his obedience achievements. But most importantly, I had 11 wonderful years with a silly, funny, headstrong, frustrating, amazing and wonderful dog. He is the true meaning of the saying, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."