Shakespeare July 1995 – December 18, 2009


He wasn't a sheltie, he was a lab, but he lived with shelties most of his life. He came into my life in September of 1995 as a scraggly 9 week old puppy.. He was never supposed to stay mine, he was destined to do something bigger, he was supposed to be a guide dog for the blind and I was his puppy raiser. He was so smart, he just flew through his training. So fast that the school called him back a bit earlier than usual because they had someone who had applied that they thought would be a perfect match. He left me at the age of 12 months and flew through the completion of his guide dog training so that he was placed as a working dog 4 months later. I received a phone call about 8 months later. There was a problem, Shakespeare had just stopped working and nothing they did would convince him to follow any commands while in harness. The school took him back, worked with him for a month and decided he was a wash out. I received another phone call “would you like him back?” Thus began his journey as a pet and my traveling companion. He traveled with me and my boys to our first National at Virginia Beach in 1999. He quickly made friends with all our house mates. He went again in 2000 to the national in PA. We were on the elevator with Shakespeare when several of the ladies we had shared a house with the year before got on. They exclaimed “Shakespeare!!!”” and loved all over him…then we were at their floor and they got off. As the doors closed, the gentleman left in the elevator with us turned and smiled and said “Shakespeare! Popular dog!” He attended a total of 4 Nationals with me. The last one he went to was the St Louis. One of our housemates from the 1999 national wasn’t doing well and she wanted to see him so he came along. He made friends where ever he went, he just loved people. He loved traveling with us because he hated to be left at home. He had his faults, he farted like no other dog I’ve ever had and the smell could peel paint from the walls. One fond and funny memory was when my boys and I, along with Shakespeare, headed down to Panama City to go deep sea fishing and we were going to stay with a friend. On the way down, it started to rain so the windows were up. Shakespeare let one go and had us all gagging. I noticed that my youngest had gotten quiet. I looked back and just had to laugh. He had cracked one of the small side windows and had his nose sticking out. He also loved puppies. I only had one litter in the time he was here, but he had a ball. If a puppy was a little skittish of him since he was so big, he would lay down as flat and still as he could be and the puppies would finally start to climb over him, he loved that. There are so many stories, but there is no way to share them all, especially with the tears running down my face. I’m going to miss our nighttime rituals most of all. When my boys moved away, he moved into my bedroom from theirs. He had a blanket at the bottom of my bed that was his. At night, when he’d decided it was time for bed, he would pick up one of his toys and stand in the hallway, trying to give me the hint that it was time to sleep. If I got up and started turning off lights, he’d head on to bed to wait. If he thought I took too long, he’d pick up the toy and head back through the house to look for me. I’ll always remember him with a toy in his mouth. He used that as kind of his security blanket. I know he had a long, good life, 14 is fairly old for a lab, but I wanted him to stay longer. We buried him wrapped in his favorite blanket and with his favorite lamb toy. Rest well my sweet boy. There is a huge hole in my heart tonight.