The Preferred Agility Champion Title 2 (PACH 2): A quick journey

Selene’s diary: After Sophie went to heaven, I started going back to agility trials in October 2021, starting with the German Shepherd Dog Club Nationals in Missouri. The last time I was there, I was a puppy and Sophie was still with us. We were making rounds in Texas: Belton, Dripping Springs, Leander, Helotes, San Antonio and League City. We went twice out of state: Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Fayetteville, Arkansas in April, 2022. I had enough points and got my last double Q at the end of April in Belton, Texas for a second PACH, just 7 months of trialing, after taking 4 months off last summer. Of course, Dad bought me steak and a McDonald’s gift card.

Me jumping

My PACH 2 picture 

My brother went to heaven

 Storm’s diary: My brother went to heaven on April 16th. He had been sick and his health deteriorated very fast. X-ray showed he had something in his lungs and several medications did not help. Mom cried and cried, and I looked for him for days. I used to follow him around when I was a kitten and he was my best friend. 

Mom cried at night because she does not have a bed buddy anymore. I try to remember to jump on mom’s bed when I can. Mom would always call my name and ask if I want to sleep with her. 

Mom loved him the most. He came shortly after Sophie came and mom just lost Sophie not long ago and could not cope with losing him too.

I miss the good old times with him. Since I came when I was just days old, I spent my whole life with him.

Me when I was a kitten, with Sunrise

Sunrise was buried next to Sidney, Sophie and Sam

Sunrise sleeps with mom every night

We have a new sister!

Storm’s diary: Four days before Halloween in 2021, my canine siblings were barking outside. I looked outside and they were barking at a very tiny white furball. Dad dragged Selene in and Spencer was outside still barking. Mom went out and got Spencer in. She went back outside with oven gloves and picked up the furball. 

The day Sirius came

Mom had to take Selene and Spencer to an agility show and  Dad was going outside the front porch all weekend. I was wondering what that was. Mom came back Sunday, Halloween, and took the furball to the vet. She came back and said: “Surprise, it’s a girl!”. Dad almost passed out.

Mom then brought her inside and that was when I first got a good look at her. She was all white with black markings, just like Sophie. Mom was saying that Sophie might came back as a cat!

She was very playful and she screams really loud when she was hungry. She was about a month old and mom made her the same birthday as mine: September 28. She weighed about a pound but she was growing fast. 

Dad called her “Hop-along” because she had one bad front foot, she was hopping all the time. Mom said she talked to some friends and they all think that a large bird dropped her off and she had a bad landing. Mom even went around the neighborhood looking for a momma cat who looked like her, but there were no kittens anywhere.

She slept inside a pyramid that used to belong to my brother Sam, who is now in heaven. She was inside the bedroom with a fence, but within 2 weeks, she made herself at home and she kept climbing out. She ate about 5-6 times a day and I wish they feed me that many times. She has very blue eyes and mom said she would name her “So blue” if he was a boy. 

My 2 human aunts named her Sirius, after the brightest star in the sky, since she really fell from the sky. But she answers to Hop-along.

Pretty soon, mom had to take the gate down because she could not keep her inside, and Siri would jump on me and follow me around. Mom bought her a tunnel and she would hide in the tunnel and then jump on me when I least realized she was waiting on me.

Pretty soon, she became very bossy. She meows all the time, she tried to go downstairs to look at my canine siblings and she had no fear. Maybe it was the “Sophie” in her.

Since she is being fed several times a day, and I am only fed twice. I would follow her and stayed behind her food dish, sometimes she will have leftover and I would go eat it all up before she comes back. She would scream again and the food would come again. I tried that and it did not work. 

I wonder when she is going to grow big like me and mom said she will not be as big as me. So that’s how I am promoted to a big brother. 

Our sister went to heaven

Sunrise diary: Mom had been sleeping in the living room with Sophie for the last 6 months, which means that she is not sleeping with me. I sleep with mom every night she is at home and I miss her a lot, but she told me that Sophie is scared at night, and wanted her to be close to her. 

Sophie, Spencer and Selene

On October 5, she came up and climbed into her bed crying and I lied on her head, she said Sophie went to heaven, and she hugged me and kept crying. I was very sad, even though I can sleep with mom again. Sophie and I are about the same age, and I came to live with mom about 9 months after Sophie came. She was a crazy girl, but she never chased me, I never felt that she wanted to eat me.

She was a good watch dog, even when she could not walk. She would always watch the backyard and barked when she sees somebody. I used to go out through the dog door when I was young and I am always scared if I see strangers. Mom always tell me I have to run fast when I am outside so nobody can catch me and I have to run faster than the dogs in the neighborhood. 

Spencer came up that night too, along with Selene, who sleeps in a crate so she won’t go after me and my 2 feline siblings. Spencer said Sophie ate her breakfast and decided to walk over the rainbow bridge after lunch. Spencer said he was very sad, Sophie had been in his whole life and taught him everything, always his security blanket and now his best friend is gone. Spencer never ran after me, and that night he slept next to mom on his bed while I was on mom’s pillow. 

Sophie is buried next to Sidney and close to our 
Feline brother Sammy

Three days later, mom took Spencer and Selene to Missouri to attend the German Shepherd Nationals. A day after mom left, a bird flew in from the garage and kept flying around the kitchen. Chris had to open the backdoor to let it out. I think the bird is Sophie coming back to tell us that she is ok. But poor Sophie they were all gone. 

Mom came back and buried Sophie next to Sidney and Sammy. She was very sad and she cried next to me at night a lot. The house is very quiet now.