In Which I Celebrate My First Christmas!

I honestly don't know what my human family did before I got here!  As was to be expected, I received the most presents - stuffed animals, pig ears - you name it.  In the spirit of Christmas, I did allow Panzer to keep his large bone (at least for now).  After we finished celebrating here, we all packed into the van and my mom drove me over to meet her mom for the first time.  She's not crazy about dogs and wouldn't let me in the house.  I charmed her anyway with my best behavior.

Trillium Artus Zum Soehrewald Nov. 21, 1997-December 14, 2009

I didn't update my story last weekend as my great great great great great great grandpa Artus was ill.  Now I know what my mom meant when she talked about the rainbow bridge.

Except for me, everyone has been really quiet.  My boy Bobby is growing a beard out of respect for Artus and my mom has been crying when she thought no one was looking. 

Panzer thinks he is supposed to be leader of the pack now....little does he know!

In Which I Set a New Record!

My mom says I'm starting to grow up - my ears are up and I'm getting a stripe on my muzzle! This afternoon I even managed to stay with my mom for a whole 30 minutes without trying too hard to run off and play with my toys and chase Panzer and great great great great great great great Grandpa Artus around the house.  But I was good (for me at least) only because my mom and I played games outside right before.  I flopped down on the ground multiple times and then ran across the yard to get her.  She thought that was  funny.  Humans are pretty easily amused. We watched White Christmas - we don't have snow here either but my mom says that's going to change this week.   

In Which I Learn More About My Family

My mom said that every year there is a big event where a bunch of dogs come home....and that 10 years ago when great great great great great grandpa Artus was very young, they decorated him.   I had a good laugh at that!

Anyway, they did a puppy evaluation there too.  (They seem to do a lot of puppy evaluations).  And Pam DymondWeed - who is the mom of Shelby2's sister and who had Adam and my mom at her house when Adam was even younger than I am - got one of the puppies.   It turns out that my boy Bobby (look how small he is) helped name him Phoenix.  What Pam never knew was that he was named after John and Bobby's kitten!  (I'm glad they didn't name me - they wanted to call me Lucia Drusilla!)

Why go into all of this boring history? Because it turns out that the little puppy turned out to be my grandpa!

In Which I Learn Who Came Before

During one of the brief moments that my mom was able to hold me captive today (she had the nerve to make me sit beside her on the couch!), she told me about a time 10 years ago (when great  great grandpa Artus was young!) when Tina, Bobby and she travelled to Long Island to do the puppy evaluation of a very special litter and Bobby came home with Shelby2.  Shelby2 was Bobby's special dog and she went over the rainbow bridge (whatever that is) just before Bobby turned 21 earlier this year. 

She also told me about Adam, who was her dog to end all dogs.  Adam was everything I'm not - calm, a good companion, very obedient, willing to please...

Adam came home from Oregon on July 4, 2000.   He and Shelby2 were great friends and he went across the rainbow bridge looking for her and never came back.   I gotta remember to stay away from that bridge!

My mom said that I have a lot to live up to but that I'm a very special girl with Shelby2's spark and Adam's great intelligence.

I'm still trying to imagine great great great great grandpa Artus being young.

In Which I Meet the "J"

My mom thought I looked a lot like this little puppy - what do you think?  That's my boy human in the picture with me.  I help him a lot.  Yesterday we wrote a paper for his international security course.  Don't know what he'd do without me!

In Which I Go Hunting!

Look what I caught!

In Which I Go To My New Home!

One day my sisters and I were "tested" and we were ready to go to our new homes. I was taken away after dark and after a very long ride ended up only about an hour away from New Zion. I immediately scouted out my surroundings and took possession. I have two humans - a very tall young man and a very short woman who keeps trying to take my picture. Actually I already knew her as she's the one who kept flashing a bright light at me on picture taking days at New Zion. But to my great delight I found that I was not alone - I met my great great great (something) grandfather, Artus, and my cousin Panzer! I adore Panzer but he's playing hard to get!

In Which I Am Born!

Here I am at 1 month of age!

I was born at New Zion Shilohs on Sept. 9th, 2009; my parents were Acer and Spirit. You can see pictures of my parents and other relatives at http://www.shilohshepherds.com/newzion/spiritAcer.htm

You can see more pictures of me and my 6 sisters at 10 days and one month.

I'm always the one with the pink collar with green polka dots!