It's that time of year again. Yay, Clover! Honestly, I'm kinda freaking that it's yet another dog birthday in the house. How can she be 5 already? Don't miss this year's video tribute, and a few other news items below. Hint: Have you seen our foster puppy?

If you follow Champion of My Heart on Facebook, you know that we spent the better part of July helping a family spot and rescue their border collie. She went missing in the huge wildland park near us on July 4. The headline? The family rescued sweet Nellie July 24, and she is recovering from her ordeal really well. I want to talk, though, about storytelling -- especially in public / social media / online settings. Whose place is it to tell stories like this? In this case, not mine. The story is not my story. Here's why.

While Clover and Tori may or may not ever compete in various dog sports, we are working on earning some Trick Dog titles. In 2017, when I considered Clover's debut into agility competitions, I did the paperwork for her PAL listing through the AKC. Tori didn't have an official dog name yet, so I just did hers recently so that we could apply for their Novice Trick Dog Titles. Alas, we hit a snag on choosing Tori's "registered" name. Somebody bought some of the words I wanted to use in Tori's official dog name so that no one else can use them for like 5 years. Really. So weird. Usually kennel names are more original than that. 

As we started testing the theory that Tori could, in fact, now ride in the car without getting sick, we took her to her first-ever agility class in early July 2018. After years of only doing agility at home with the equipment we have here and what I can teach her on my own (after years and years of classes, even though I've never competed), Tori walked out and nailed it. It was the sweetest, funniest thing to see. Don't miss this short video. 

We're not quite ready to declare total victory on Tori's car-sickness issues, but she has gone for 3 whole trips to town and back without throwing up in July. Maybe she is *finally outgrowing her car troubles. Maybe we finally found the right combination, dosages, and timing of meds. Maybe she loved going to agility class (for the first time) so much that it has helped her realize that the car can take her fun places. As a joke now, Tom likes to use his "Tori voice" to say, "Car travel is my passion!" which makes me giggle after 3 years of car struggles with our sweet girl.