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When I was 10, I asked Santa for a wicker dog basket. I didn't have a dog.

When I was 12, I started a dog club in my neighborhood. I didn't have a dog. Other kids brought their dogs and I took pictures I cut from magazines. But I knew every breed and I read every dog book in the Hebron, Nebraska public library.

When I was 14, I tamed a wild neighborhood mongrel who became pregnant and had 6 puppies - all of which were paper trained at 3 weeks of age. I lived on the floor next to them until they all went to their new homes.

On Sunday afternoons I would walk up alleys and give treats to all the dogs in their kennels. I knew every one by name in the small farm town where I grew up.

I was born with an unexplainable love of dogs. Neither of my parents were animal lovers. It was a gift that God gave me.

So it seems like I've been in dogs all of my life.

I bred and exhibited toy dogs (Yorkies) for many of my adult years. Then, because I had come to love the performance sports so much, I acquired my first Sheltie in 2002. I was forever hooked. I'm sure there will be a Sheltie beside me when I die.

My first Sheltie was Delilah. A little Sable darling from a local breeder. No great acclaim. But she is forever the love of my life. She has taken me down so many roads that I could never have imagined just a few years ago. She introduced me to herding and to agility. And to the wonderful people that I met along the way. I can't imagine how I lived my life before her. She is there -- 1/4 of an inch from my face every morning when I open my eyes. Smiling at me and letting me know that it is the beginning of a new, exciting day.

Then along came Justice. I wanted a really good herding dog. I had come to love the way my dogs responded to the activity. So I went to Tammy VanDeusen (Faerie Shelties), one of the best herding breeders in the US.  And a year later Justice and I made a long plane flight home from Indiana. He is everything I wanted him to be. Loving, talented, (his beautiful Banchory mother is a herding champion) and most of all happy, happy, happy. He'll do anything you ask for a little praise! What a joy he is to work with.

My aged Yorkies have passed on now. They are waiting at the bridge.

So, in March of 2008 we added a beautiful little girl to our home. Tooralooraloora, daughter of 'Gairloch's King of Hearts' (one of my favorite Shelties of all time), came to live with us. She is still growing up and gets prettier by the day. She is my sweet, sweet, "Toody".

I work for Federal Express in Colorado Springs as a systems analyst. I love my work and - lets face it - it pays for my hobby :-) My dogs constitute my family. They share my food and my bed and my heart.

Keep an eye on us. I think we are here to stay!