A Trip Down Memory Lane.....

When I got down to X and Neo's area today while shoveling, I found bits and pieces of a  disemboweled stuffie. I don't allow soft stuffie toys in the dog yard for just such a reason, so there was a moment of puzzlement, which was quickly followed by a sweet flow of memories....

I have to go back a ways to explain....

Many, many years ago we had a dog named Breezy.

Breezy - who many of you may better know as Kara's (and the rest of the Norse God/Goddess litter) Mom.

Breezy, who was more formally known as Multi BIS Ch. Chuchinka's Dance In The Wind SDX, was a pretty big winning dog in the show ring. She was addicted to stuffed toys and used to actually steal them out of booths and from other dogs while we were at dog shows. I spent a fair amount of time returning toys and buying some that she wouldn't give up. When we arrived home from shows her crate would often have 3 or 4 stuffed toys riding in there with her.
Our yard dog at the time was a wonderful Australian Shepherd named Fly.

 Fly loved balls, stuffed toys and the likes, but he was careless with his toys (I know, shocking for a dog) and therefore was not allowed stuffed toys in the dog yard. Because he was clever though he quickly sorted out that Breezy often had great stuff in her crate upon arriving home from shows and, if I left the door open while I was putting her away, would raid it.

One day he pulled a red stuffed octopus out of the crate. After tossing it in the air and playing with it for a bit he proceeded to parade through the dog yard with the toy in his mouth taunting all the Siberians. They were going crazy trying to steal it from him, so after a bit I headed over to put an end to the ruckus. He was having none of it and happily evaded me with red legs flinging out of his mouth and Siberians lunging at him.
Finally, I employed the trick that always worked with Fly. "Fly - where's the cat?" He lost interest in the toy in a heartbeat and went off hunting our then yard cat "TakeOut". Mission accomplished - except when he dropped it he dropped the toy in the run of one of my male dogs Striker.

Iditarod finisher and father to Kara and the Norse God/Goddess litter - Striker

 Striker had had just enough of that octopus being waved in his face. He snatched it off the ground, promptly dug a hole and stuffed the toy in it. I was laughing so hard that couldn't get to it before it was buried. Striker was now sitting on top of the hole, proud as punch of himself.  I figured I'd let him have his 'victory' and go back the next day to dig it up.
Problem was I couldn't find it the next day. In fact, I never found it..... until this morning when it showed up in a zillion pieces in X and NEO's area (yes, X now lives where Striker did all those years ago).

Breezy has been gone since 2003, Striker since 2006 and Fly since 2009. None of them ever really 'leave' here at all, but for a brief, sweet moment this morning, they were all right back here in the yard with me.

Thanks X and NEO for a great trip down Memory Lane.