Many tears fell in our house yesterday; they are still falling today. We said farewell to our sweet boy Billy. He has been our companion for the past 14 years and was our first sheltie. He would have been 15 in April and led an eventful life... he was named for Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit adventurer, and it was a fitting name. He befriended everyone and every animal he met and seemed to have the disappearing act as one of his "gifts". He followed me everywhere when I was still riding horses, covering many miles on a daily basis. He continued to be my constant shadow around the house until his last day. If something was happening he wanted to be part of it; he hated being left behind. Though, in the past 12 months, he has aged very quickly losing muscle tone and strength and then his eyesight. He really did seem to miss having Katie around too.
It was in 1997 when we moved to the Gold Coast and I decided to get him obedience-tested to reduce his council registration fees that I found the world of dog sports. It was with Billy that I started to learn about competing with dogs. I started in obedience, he achieved his CD, and then I saw agility and embarked on another adventure with him at age 7... Who said you can't teach old dogs new tricks?! And he also taught me how much more effective training with positive reinforcement is. He was not a natural agility dog but managed to get his SAAD title before I retired him at 10. He would have loved the regular program.
We almost lost him when he was 8 years old after he went missing from Glenn's parent's yard in Kingaroy; he was found four days later over 200kms away by some forestry workers. He also slipped away one night from WAAG training, in the days before I discovered the endless benefits of crates. He was recovered trying to cross the Gold Coast Highway. His other near-death adventures included eating a box of rat poison, being run-down by an impetuous colt and coming face to face with an angry snake. But it was old-age that he couldn't dodge in the end.
With many tears we buried him next to Kate overlooking the dam in his favourite oil-skin jacket that he won some years ago at a Cross-Country Fun weekend hosted by Suncoast. He leaves us with many cherished memories. Glenn, Missy and I will miss him dearly, and I'm sure Jonty and Zoom will notice his absence too as our pack restructures itself again.
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