Happy Birthday, Princess!!

My sister started the whole idea of her. She had always wanted a dog. I wasn't too enthusiastic. After all, we were living between two states (like we still are). It just didn't seem practical to add a dog into the picture. However, she convinced our parents to let her get a Shetland Sheepdog.
We don't remember now how it was that she chose this particular breed. She probably saw it on one of her favorite Animal Planet shows. At any rate, we searched the classified ads until we found an advertisement for sheltie pups -- at a town an hour away. We almost didn't find the house. It was in a complicated subdivision and the directions we'd been given over the phone were confusing. After we circled the same section for half an hour, my dad was ready to give up, when I had the idea to turn down one last road. We did and found the right house at last.

My sister was only ten years old. She all but ran out of the car and into the house -- and if you knew how shy she was, you'd know she was really excited. I heard her squeal "Awwwww!" and followed as fast as I could. The furriest little cream colored fuzzball with floppy ears and little white paws was bouncing all over the living room. Gabrielle and I ran in circles trying to catch her, but she wiggled away every time. She was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen and I was as happy as Gabrielle when she went home with us.

She was so cute playing in the yard that day. Anytime she was still for a minute, she would curl up and start to nod off to sleep. Then, before two minutes had passed, she was bouncing away again. That night, of course, she cried and cried. We were trying to train her to stay in one particular room at night by herself, but somewhere around three in the morning, I had to go get her. I went downstairs, sat on the floor and put her in my lap. She immediately curled up in a little furry ball and fell asleep.

That was seven years ago. She went through all the chewing, digging, can't-possibly-stay-where-I'm-supposed-to stages and now she's just a good little dog. She loves to go for rides in an old doll stroller and she always wags her tail when she sees me. When she senses I'm feeling blue, she sits down beside me and lays her head on my knee. When I go for a walk, she runs after me to go too. Now I'm really, really glad my sister wanted a dog seven years ago. :)