Things I love about my dog

Here are some of the things I love about my dog, which are so wonderfully characteristic of the MAS (Miniature Australian Shepherd, aka Miniature American Shepherd) breed.   Today we spent two hours visiting as Therapy Dog team at St. Francis Children's Hospital .  And alas, she was not the star today. Willis the Newfie, and Heidi the Yorkie, in her Hello Kitty outfit were.

 But over and over I heard, "oh my gosh she is just so quiet and calm, is she always like this".......and tomorrow at the agility trial, or in agility class I will hear...."oh my gosh, she's so excited (and sometimes they say hyper), is she always like this".....and it's what I love...the ability to turn on the drive when needed, and to turn it off and be a soft soft dog also when needed.....

But then there is the 'other' Hope.   The Hope that we see in class and saw recently at her second agility trial.  This was a 'Teacup' Trial, for dogs 17 inches and smaller.   She was in 9 classes and placed in 8.  She won 4.  We were not perfect by any means, but she gained fans as the weekend went on, because of her absolute love of the sport, and her talent.

Here she is in action:

And with some of her ribbons from the two weekends.....

But at the end of the day.......she is love, and laughter, and she is Hope