Shayla Jo Chadwick
May 15, 1995 – October 27, 2007

In our home, the title “Best Dog EVER” means something.  It’s a long running tease between the two humans living here.  In my husband’s mind, Shayla won the title within weeks of her arrival.  I held out a little longer in deference to my dog, Kristin, a shepherd mix who entered our marriage with me in 1974 and we lost to cancer of the spleen at age 11.

As I’ve gotten to know more dog people through golden and border collie rescue, agility and other dogsports…I’ve come to know the special language of the dog world.  I think what we’re describing as the best dog EVER, is often termed the “dog of our hearts”.  And even I came to admit…that dog was our Shayla Jo.

She came to us at a traumatic time and brought us her special brand of joy.  We marveled daily at her ability to learn, her energy, her focus and how she tried to understand every word we uttered.  She was the very definition of the term “biddable”.  She never tried her paw at herding or agility or any dogsport due to our concerns about an accidental injury (broken leg) at 13 weeks.  All those activities came later with our second and third border collies.  But she would tear across the yard after a tennis ball and return to drop it at our feet at seven weeks old.  She was so tuned in that she learned to lip-read words.  Her rate of learning everything was astounding – one or two repetitions and she had it down pat.  Shayla led us to our next border collie and the next (who can have just one?).  Even as a puppy Shay never did one thing wrong.  And she helped us raise her canine sister, by tattling whenever Tessa was gnawing on any wood furniture (her special passion until about age 3!)    Without Shayla my life would be completely different: no rescue, no agility, no dog friends, no three border collies underfoot.  This gifted dog was truly a gift in our lives.

We battled cancer (a tumor entwined with her urethra) with Shayla from April to October 26th, 2007 and I’ve come to realize we were very fortunate to have the time that we had, and her life - to the very end  - had quality.  So many dog lovers lose their friends much more quickly.  All our dogs are greatly loved and a huge part of our lives.  Our Shayla Jo will hold the “Best Dog EVER” title permanently, as it should be.  Forever in our hearts…