Belle of the ball

I was invited to see a different world this past Sunday. A world that's "all about Shelties", at least according to my friends Cindy & Todd Palmatier.

Introducing "Belle". Belle is a 1 1/2 year old Shetland Sheepdog, but you probably shouldn't say dog in her presence. Remember, everything is agout Shelties.

They were participating in the Arctic Streakers NADAC 2008 Agility Trial, er, ah, ahem, Belle was. They were Belle's support staff. While Belle was waiting to perform, they waited in Belle's Taj Mahall. A pop up tent with carpeting, cot, chairs, cooler, you get the idea. Everything is about Shelties.

Belle is very playful in the mean time. Play with me. I'm very cute and full of energy. I love attention and that's what she gets from Cindy and Todd. When not out attending Belle related activities, Cindy takes her to work where everyone gets to interact with Belle. If you got a treat, you have a friend for life but remember, everything is about Shelties.

Belle was also sitting back and taking notes of the other contestants. She watched the ones that took the wrong tunnel, got distracted and left the course to interact with other dogs or find the extra interesting aroma of little piles the geese left behind. She wasn't going to do that.

She was going to run fast though. She's very light and swift. Cindy is her handler (or do I have that backwards) and gets to try and keep up with her. Todd is the guy attending, attending to everything. He's like the rest of us married guys, we do what we are told. I just noticed he's not in any of the pictures I took. He must have been busy doing stuff. Everything is about Shelties.

Run fast she did. Her Trial was over in less than a minute, but I think she wanted to go on longer.

All joking aside, Belle makes friends with everyone. Cindy and Todd are enjoying her with Belle activities and their activities of their own. They take her camping, fishing, to work, you name it. Their kids are grown and moved own with their lives so now they have the "Belle" of the ball and everything is about Shelties.