HA! Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I thought the hardest part of the challenge would be thinking of five facebook friends who might actually accept the nomination and not hold it against me for life - or worse, block me from ever tagging them in facebook again.
Instead, the hard part was choosing (a) the five dogs I would feature and (b) one photo of each dog. I've decided I will likely do my four rescued shelties plus one other rescue dog - probably Caleb, but maybe Sadie - but that could change, because...well....how can I leave out Charley? Or foster dog Lucy and all her pups? Or Mitzi? Or dogs who were in my life earlier, like Muffin and Sam and Emma? Or other sweet fosters like Isaac or Pepper? But I had to start somewhere, so I started with Belle.
Four hours and thousands of photos later, I finally selected this one as the photo to post for the facebook challenge:
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| Belle, the Singing Sheltie |
Belle was the first sheltie to come into my life. She was twelve when I met her, a crippled, skinny, sparsely haired girl (Belle, not me!) who had been rescued from a family's decision to euthanize after her very elderly papa passed away. Through the combined efforts of BC Sheltie Rescue and Little Paws Rescue, Belle was kept safe, fostered, received much needed vet care, and on Dec. 8, 2007, I adopted her.
(And because this is my blog and not a facebook challenge, I can post more photos of her!)
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| Belle at home |
She fattened up, became a floof ball, and loved to prance in the pasture of the small farm where we lived, or ride in my backpack when I went hiking. She liked to sing, raising her head high and yipping away as only a sheltie can. She brought sunshine and shelti-tude into my life and was a constant joy to have around.
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| Happy Belle in the pasture |
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| Belle, the Shetland Herding and watching over my foster piglets |
On June 8th, 2010 she was asleep in her bed when I took my other dogs for a walk, and when I returned she was just drawing her last gentle breath.
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| Belle in Black and White |
I still miss that girl, and I'm sure it was her spirit that led me to other shelties in need.
But those are stories for another day.
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| Belle in snow |
3 comments:
Thanks so much for telling us about Belle, she appears to be a sweet, loving little girl who really appreciated her Mum!
Beautiful Belle!
Trips down Memory Lane are bittersweet.
I was thinking of darling Belle just the other day - not just for her sweet self but for how I managed to fall down my icy back stairs while carrying her, weak as she was, back during the time she was my foster dog (thankfully neither of us was seriously harmed). I was also reminded that it was through Belle's adoption we humans became friends. Dear little Belle touched many lives. She was a special one, for sure, and The Singing Sheltie is a wonderful photo.
Thanks for the memories...
Deb S.
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