My Sweetie passed peacefully in her usual spot in our bedroom under palliative care from the ER from “a ticking time bomb” – a cancerous tumor that doesn’t show up in blood work and can’t be palpated until it expands as it leaks. By that time it is too late – the system is poisoned.

Such a bad puppy! Horrible! A submissive, natural born forger, Daisy was awarded “most improved” (worst) at dog school. The assistant trainer called her “Crazy Daisy.” In a move of independent thinking (in Sheepie parlance, innovative brilliance) when I called Daisy, she did a perfect sit straight – in front of the guy with meatballs in his pouch which he’d been giving her before class!  I mean, if you’re going to learn obedience, you may as well put it to practical use, right? Either that or, after having put a CGC on my dad’s 9-month-old Rough Collie the year before, I all of a sudden came down with a bad case of “handler error.”

What that trainer did not know was that my “Little Butterfly” wasn’t a bumper, she loved my Gramma, loved 7 toddlers, never snatched a cookie held at nose level, had a giant vocabulary and, though an “independent thinker”, always gave me eye contact intently.

Daisy got her CGC in the summer of 2006 and was a stellar therapy dog. Every day, Daisy spent long hours at the nursing home when Gramma entered with her last illness, cheering the staff until Gramma died December 26, 2006, and again in rehab when my mom broke her hip, and again for my aunt recovering from a serious operation. We were an extension of each other’s body. In our own yard, away from class… sparks flew between us when we did obedience in a way that was ethereal.

Most days Daisy and I drove up my parents’ long driveway to run free on many acres of woodland. Daisy brought much joy to an extended family, both human and canine. Though we had a rough start, we worked very hard at taming, training and confidence building, and Daisy became the “Amazing Daisy!” She became the perfect dog for this time of my life and I wouldn’t have had her any other way.

“To Daisy”

Your feet are so sweet. Your nose is like a rose.

Your ears are like little propellers that whir when you run.

Your head is a bed that I can lay my face upon…