Things I'm thankful for

Yesterday, my people took Hamish and Rafe and were gone all day long. Our pet sitter came to play with us, and my favorite person in the entire universe, our neighbor Moni, came over too. But Tansy, Renzo, the kitties and I still missed our people. In the many hours I had to ponder, I came up with a list of things I'm thankful for and here they are

1. I'm thankful that my people decided that they wanted to see what it was like to train a border collie
2. I'm thankful that they got Tansy, since it meant another girl in the house AND that they decided to try sheep herding with us.
3. I'm thankful that my buddy Renzo was already here when I came to live with the people so that I didn't have to teach them everything myself
4. I'm thankful for my goofy little brother Hamish since he's my best playmate and friend
5. I'm thankful for Rafe because....well, right now I'll just be generous and be thankful that he's in the world
6. I'm thankful for the kitties because they make my people so happy
7. I'm thankful for all my fans and friends in the dog blogging community
8. I'm especially thankful to Opy and Charlie's people who do so much work for the dog blogging community and for Charlie for convincing me to keep blogging and for Opy for being an all around peach of a dog.
9. I'm thankful I haven't burned the house down or eaten anything that required surgery
10. I'm thankful for the sun when it comes out, for the snow when it falls, for the leaves when they turn colors and for the flowers when they bloom
11. I'm thankful that I get to learn flyball, agility and sheep herding and some tricks on the side
12. I'm thankful that the 2006 election is over so that the phone has stopped ringing with canned messages from candidates my people gruffed and complained about
13. I'm thankful for my walks, my toys and my good food
14. Most of all, I'm thankful for my people because they love me so much and I love them back just as hard.

Pippin the flyball dog

p.s. Update on efforts to determine the people's secret. We intercepted a phone call between the people and our herding instructor--it was hard to decipher, but we did learn that Dec. 9 is a key date. We have seen a piece of paper that seems to harbor important clues, but we haven't been able to steal it yet. Hamish is doing his best innocent, good boy impersonation to see if he can nab it. The people are talking a lot about crates and food.