Shay’s Day

Our sweet girl Shay Shay turns 11 today! According to the Pedigree dog site she and I about the same age. It’s hard to tell exactly since labradoodles are not a breed and they never have doodle mixes on any of those websites. It’s kind of like having a name that was never made into a bike license plate. No matter how many times you search for yours you know it is not going to show up.

It is hard to remember life in our house before Shay became our queen. Carter was 12, and Russ was in his forties, oh so long ago.

We got Shay from down under labradoodles in Raleigh. We knew plenty of Shay’s cousins and loved their temperament. We had to have a recommendation from one of them to be considered to adopt Shay. She was one of three in a very small littler. Carter and I went over to Raleigh to meet the puppies when they were about five weeks old. The breeder was going to chose which one was right for us based on our visit.

Carter wanted the overly excited girl, but I secretly wanted the snuggly Shay and that is who we got. My father had given me a big check for my big birthday earlier in the month so I spent half of it getting Shay. She has been worth every penny.

Tonight Russ went to the store and bought a small package of ridiculously over priced steak tips. I cooked them up for her and she enjoyed them dramatically. She knew it must be her birthday because that is the only time there is steak in our house, let lone she gets it.

Happy Birthday to the best dog ever, the chairman of Ways and Means and proud ignorer of other dogs. We hope you have many more happy birthdays. You bring us great joy.