Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2013 3:11 PM
Hi Toni:
I hope this email gets to you as I am not as computer/internet savvy as I'd like to be. I have meant to keep in touch and apologize for not doing so.
On the eve of our first anniversary as Abilene's forever mom and dad, we wanted to take the time to thank you again for placing Abilene into our family. She is such a wonderful companion. She is everything we had hoped for times 100. We never realized we could love her so much.
Over the course of this year Abilene has had obedience training, trick classes, agility, frisbee and a look at herding with more herding expected come Spring. She is a natural in agility (very athletic) and loves every minute of it. We love training and working with her. Abilene is so intelligent and learns so quickly that we are in awe. She keeps us young
Everything we do with our girl she excels in. She is everyone's best friend (human and canine) and is gentle and loving with toddlers as young as 10 months old through my 83 year old mother.
She loves her daddy and can be found sitting on Doug's lap numerous times a day. If anyone is found sitting on the floor, Abilene backs up and has a seat on their lap. She loves to be loved on, such an affectionate sweetheart. She is the life of our home.
Doug & Matt (our adult son that you met) enclosed our backyard this summer with a beautiful, study fence just for Abilene. She now has an enormous, safe, out door play area where we play frisbee, ball, practice agility, obedience and herding birds numerous times per day. We have put our yard to good use. She has no idea what a pampered, blessed pooch she is but that's ok, we love pampering her
I (Pam) love training Abiliene. She not only does agility (I have finally taken my trainer's advice and joined the agility competition class), but she loves learning any and everything I teach her with lots of positive reinforcement. One example of her obedience is that before she comes in from outside she knows she waits at the door until I "release" her to come in. She knows she sits on the rug inside the door and waits to be released. She has a keen eye and watches and waits for "release". I have even walked into the bedroom, ran around the living room and jumped up and down making noise and this little girl won't budge until she is released. Amazing! That is just one example of her outstanding ability to obey.
Doug also plays "hide and seek" in the house. That is one of her favorite games. She "waits" until he releases her with a yell from somewhere in the house and then she seeks him. Oh what fun they have.
Abilene loves her crate but sleeps on the floor next to our bed. When she hears one of us get up at night she is quick to move so we don't trip on her. She appears to have the ability to know that we are older and that she needs to look after us by keeping her ears open to our movement at night. She is a perfect dog. I mean it, she is perfect. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.
I know that if Abilene could talk she would tell you that we treat her like she was our beloved child and we have opened many doors so that she could have a happy life. She would tell you that she is extremely happy and content with her life and is grateful that you had confidence in Doug and I to take on the responsibility to be her human parents.
I neglected to mention when we met a year ago that I (Pam) was recovering from heart surgery. The surgery was just 2 weeks prior to our meeting. Abilene came at a perfect time in my (our) lives. She gave me "someone" to focus on other than myself. With her in my life, I didn't have time to have any pity party, I had my girl to take care of, and that I did. She is my dream come true. I know I can speak for Doug in saying that she is his dream come true too! Thank you SO MUCH for allowing us to adopt her. She has completed our family in more ways than words can state.
Well, I never meant to ramble on like I have. What I've written is just the tip of the iceberg on our little girl and what she means to us. As I type this email she is napping on the floor next to me. We just got home from her private agility class and Miss Abilene is worn out, for the moment anyway
Toni, you will never know how much Abiliene means to both Doug and I. I wish I could express it better but I can't find the words. She is our life, our joy, our friend and the best thing that has happened to either one of us. Thank you and thank Debbie for giving her the wonderful foundation that you instilled in her while in your care. She is the most amazing dog on this planet Earth! Most of all, we thank God that He let her be born and that He used you to rescue her for us.
Thank you from all of our hearts.
Doug, Pam and Miss Abilene
