Following my bliss

I grew up in a small condominium with a dear older lady human. She loved me, and I loved her, but as I grew, it was too hard for me to stand being so confined. You see, i am a Shetland sheepdog, and my Scottish ancestors worked the hills herding sheep. I had never seen sheep, but the calling was still inside me. My human was a smart, compassionate person. She knew it wasn’t right to expect me to live with her. She sent me to a trainer, who also fostered dogs and found homes for them. Coincidentally, this trainer had a friend who had been watching people herd sheep with Border collies and Australian shepherds, and felt a calling as well. Somehow, it was inside her too. When we met, though, the human wasn’t sure. She liked girl dogs, and I was a boy. She had several dogs already. Could she afford another? But she couldn’t stop thinking of me. It felt so right! Finally we got together and decided it was a good fit. She took me to a farm, and there I met my first sheep! I lit up like the fourth of July! When I worked my first sheep, it was as if I already knew what to do. Now I get to work sheep once a week, and I’m learning all my herding commands so my new person and I can enter a herding trial someday. We are following our bliss! I’m so glad she’s my person, and she’s glad I’m her dog. I still think of my past human. I still love her, and am grateful she could find it in her heart to do what was best for me.