Just A Post

This is one of those posts where I just ramble.

Prepared?

Zeke and I slotted into Obedience One last night. It was week three, but since he's already able to do pretty much everything we're covering in the class it's all good. He has moments of absolute brilliance, that dog- and then he turns around and is a total crackhead little shit. Ah... Gotta love him.

Tomorrow marks six months since Fletcher was put to sleep, and to make it worse some friends of mine had to put their border collie to sleep today because of lymphoma. It's fucking ridiculous and I don't get how unfair this is: including Fletch, that's four separate dogs from really good friends of mine that have been taken too soon in less than a year. And three because of cancer. Seiko with his osteosarcoma. Then Buckley with the supposed seizure. Then Fletcher with the nasal cancer. Now Bailey because of lymphoma.

And next Saturday is the first of October, which should have been Fletcher's first birthday and despite the fact I have a trial it's going to be quite a depressing day. I was feeling a bit down and while I wasn't sure if it would make me smile or cry, I've put together a bit of a video that I'll upload on his birthday. God I miss that dog. Every time I look at a photo or a video of him it makes me miss him even more, and it makes me both want another sheltie and never want one again at the exact same time. I love the breed, particularly the little terrier ones, but I don't know if it would be easy for me to not compare the new sheltie to Fletch- and not to mention the fact that I'm now totally paranoid about healthy dogs, and shelties make me nervous in that regard.

But there's no new dogs on the horizon for me for at least two years, so I don't need to fret over anything like that just yet.

To finish on a far less depressing note, Gold Coast trial on Sunday. Lots of friends going, lots of pics going to be taken, and it's Zac's debut which makes it super exciting. I got my Agility Click order the other day and have a lot of reading and watching to do, and today my FITPaws disk and peanut came along with the Get On The Ball Two DVD, as well as Charlie's Back on Track coat (which dad says makes him look like a knight's horse going into battle, but whatever). My leads should be coming at some stage next week and then we'll be all set with our bits and bobs.

Oh. And I've also realised that next year, Zeke's first trial could in fact be in early December, at the last fundraising trial for the year. The wonderful part about that, if he would in fact be eighteen months old for it? It's the Purple Fundraiser, with the proceeds going to fund research into canine cancer.