Thankful Thursday

We wanted to post this on Thanksgiving, but it got too busy to get it done. It has been a very busy year for us at Sheltie Times and we have much to be thankful for here.

We are truly thankful for the time we had with Bailey. It was so very painful to lose him, but we were blessed with more time than anyone predicted we'd have.

Katy was truly a blessing to Bailey as a life companion, but even more so until the very end. She was so encouraging and loving to him when he was sick. I truly believe her love and encouragement was a big part of why he stayed with us so long.

We are so very thankful to the breeders who helped us in our time of grief to find Annie. She has been such a wonderful addition to our family.

We are so grateful that Katy has finally started to move beyond her grief. Annie has truly helped her move beyond her grieving process and Katy has provided help for Annie as well. We could not have asked for a better match.

Finally we are so very thankful for all our Blogville friends who are always so supportive and helpful. We are not as active as many, but we are always here in our heats.

Still here

Hi everyone. We are still around and things are going well, we've just been crazy busy. We've been reading blogs, but just haven't been able to get to Blogging. However, for the first time in years we managed to sign up for the Christmas Card exchange just before our reminder from Lassiter, Chase, and Benjamin who never forget to remind us, so we don't miss out on one of our favorite Blogville activities. Thanks guys!!!

Mom and Dad updated phones and computers and Mom is still adjusting to working with the new tech. She misses some of the old features which seemed to be a bit easier for down and uploading pictures. Dog Dad is much faster adapting to new tech.

This has been a busy summer and fall. Katy had her first dog vacation. Annie came to live with us and has been having an awesome time making her place in the family. Mom and Dog Dad had two weddings to attend and there always seems to be something going on.

For those of you who might be worried we haven't been writing about Annie because things haven't been going well with her, rest easy. Annie is everything we could possibly have wanted. While the breeder felt Annie was too shy for show, she is a bold and brave as we could possibly have wanted. Where Katy is shy and reserved Annie boldly steps forward, as Bailey always did shielding Katy from too much stranger attention. She is funny, loving, mischievous, and has been incredibly successful in drawing Katy out of her grieving. She has been everything we wanted and more.

While Katy has always been something of an introvert, what we feared would happen when Bailey died did, she withdrew into herself when he died. It has taken all of Annie's energy and determination, but she has Katy playing, running, and becoming more like the dog she was before Bailey got sick. Katy has also developed a protective streak towards Annie She does her best to keep her out of trouble and that is quite a bit of work.

Annie has reintroduced toys to Katy who gave them up when Bailey died. Annie is constantly pulling toys out of the toy chest to explore. She loves to play and in the last month I've noticed Katy returning to some of her old favorites. I even saw her steal Annie's favorite Platypus the other day. Stealing toys from each other was something she and Bailey did all the time. This was the first time Katy had taken the initiative with Annie.