My Dad Dave

 Hello my dear furriends,
    As many of you know from fb and from my friends Essex and Sherman's lovely post (http://keywestcollies.blogspot.com/_ ), my wonderful, gentle and strong dad dog, Dave passed away suddenly on Tues. Oct 30.  He was not sick. He was 13 1/2 years old.  Mom went out to the kennel to feed everypup supper and thought he was sleeping. He had pulled some hay out of his barrel and was lying down.  Mom was heartbroken to find that he had passed away while he was sleeping, probably an hour or so before Mom got home.  Mom brought him up on the enclosed porch because it had started to rain, then she let me come out to say good bye to him.  Mom said that he will be returning to us in a week or so in a very special box called an urn.  All of us are missing Dave very, very much. Mom says he was gentle strength, her protecter and the "center" of our kennel. I will try my best to help Mom and do the jobs that Dave did. I think we will all try.  Lakota is already trying to tell the other girl dogs that now he will watch over them. 
   I want to share some of my favorite pictures of Dave with you.

This was taken at an event in Willimantic a few yrs ago. That's my dad Dave in lead with Jasmine and me running in wheel.
These pictures were taken this March in Simsbury at a school demo at our FAVORITE elementary school! Again, my dad Dave in lead, this time with Lilly and with me working hard in wheel.  My dad started out running wheel for Mom. Then she found out that he ran great
in lead! After that, he got to run in lead almost as much as he did in wheel! He was amazing.  Everyone loved him, even  though many people would laugh at first when they found out his name was Dave. 
He was a rescue from Vermont. He came to live here in July 2002. Mom said she could always count on him whether it was to make new dogs feel welcome, be a good example at any kind of demo, or be the hardest working dog in her team.  She knew that he would not be running in the team anymore because of his age and told me that she was going to find it really hard to be out on the trail without him in the team.  Now we know his spirit will be running with us.
     This picture is Dave and his girlfriend, Jasmine. She is missing him a lot, so Mom has been giving her lots of extra attention.

My sweet dad Dave--wear your silver harness with pride and run North of the Rainbow Bridge! I know we will see it flashing in the light of every full moon. We will never forget you, Dave, and we know we will be reunitied with you someday! Know that we will always love you!

With love,

Skye