We own four Shetland Sheepdogs: Lyric, Lily, Declan and Maggie. To mix things up just a wee bit, we also have a tri-color Collie named Dougie. They all get along real well, running, playing and frolicking around the large tract of land we reside on, a.k.a. the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm.

But, this brief post is about the first Sheltie named above, Lyric. On Dec. 29, 2007, she turned nine years old. She's a former show dog and actually earned two points towards the championship designation before she was retired from the ring. Seems the dog just didn't enjoy her show-life. She'd go into the ring but never really enjoyed it, never exuded the effervesence such a dog needs to possess. When her former owner realized Lyric really didn't want to revel in the show-life, she gave her to us. This was a fotuitous event for us, since we had just lost a Sheltie to a disease a while before. Oddly enough, Lyric was her sister! This wonderful dog has been with us for about six or seven years.

We've learned that Lyric enjoys two things in life:eating and staying in her own back yard. The former pleasure is evidenced by the fact that we need to "guard" the food dishes of the other dogs or she'll run over & steal their food; the latter when she only reluctantly gets in our blue van to go for a trip. And, heaven forbid we go to a dog show! Lyric must smell the powder, crates and various other odoors she remembers from her show days and really hates to venture into any dog show environment.

In any event, Lyric turned nine years old this past Dec. 29th. She's a great dog and always does everything she's asked to do. Her muzzle is a bit white with age, and she isn't as spry as she used to be. But, she's one fabulous Sheltie. We're so happy to have her as a member of the Presto dog pack!

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