Birthday girl!

No, you haven't forgotten when Lily's birthday is. Or mine. Today is Shadow's birthday. She's turning the big 5!

I don't write much about Shadow, because she is so daggone easy, there aren't many stories about her. She is 13 pounds of pure puppy love. She is a purebred Shetland Chicocker (Shetland Sheepdog + Chihuahua + Cocker Spaniel) that we got from the pound as a puppy in September 2002. She (along with her less awesome sister) was a substitute for the baby we were trying hard to have. Jeff REALLY didn't want a dog (still doesn't for that matter)...but he just couldn't say no to a woman that had just had a miscarriage ;) I know when to ask for things. :) Shadow looked nothing like the dog I had imagined, but when I sat down on the floor with that big litter, she just jumped into my lap...hopped down to play...and then hopped right back up into my lap...like she belonged there. And she's been my dog ever since.

She doesn't bark...certainly never yipping. She doesn't pee in the house...unless we forget to let her out. She is healthy. She tolerates the kids without a snap or snarl. She won't even eat food that falls to the ground until she is told she can. Seriously. Lily will drop a tasty morsel 2 inches from Shadow's nose, and the dog won't touch it until we give her the go ahead. We don't have an electric fence or a chain or a regular fence, because Shadow doesn't leave the yard. Everyone who meets her wants her. If we would ever want to get rid of her, there would be a long list of people to take her. But we don't need to get rid of her. Because she is a wonderful dog. Jeff doesn't like her, but even he admits we couldn't have a better dog than her. He just wishes we didn't have one at all.

So Happy Birthday, Shadow! You may have been the runt of the litter...heck you still are the runt of our litter...but we love you lots. Okay, Mommy loves you lots. Lily is starting to obsess about you also. Andrew could kind of care less. But Mommy loves you.