Once we picked her out, we only had to wait for her to come home with us in December and choose a name. That is where her two-legged Aunt Connie came into the picture and helped us out. When we told Aunt Connie that we had picked an Australian Shepherd, she immediately decided that we should call her Sydney. We thought that was a beautiful name and so it was!

From the start she was a great joy, a fluffly furball of endless activity and antics. Our favorite thing to do was watch her curl into a ball and sleep, and sometimes we would crawl into her cage to kiss and love on her when she was sleeping. She loved to sleep on her back with her paws straight up in the air. Sydney grew quickly to full-size but continued to be a little clown.

While Sydney was our first baby, she was soon followed by our two-legged children, Lexy in 1998 and Sami in 2000. Sydney was incredibly good with the her two-legged sisters and always allowed them to tug on her, play with her and sometimes get on top of her. She never got tired of playing with them and checking on them when they were babies and through their toddler years.

We'll never forget when we moved to a two-story house in 1998 and Sydney had no trouble going up the stairs, but then couldn't figure out how to get back down without being carried. She was so afraid of falling! Needless to say she mastered those steps quickly and from then on continued to follow us around as always.

Sydney's first away from home visit was when her daddy and I went on vacation and left her with our friends Sharon & Deke. Sharon and Deke's dog Dallas became Sydney's first boyfriend and they had great fun running and playing and chasing each other in the park and play-fighting for many days.

Sydney had two cousin doggies, Bear and Rocky and the whole family would get together on Holidays so they could play and be spoiled by presents from Santa. Sydney had great fun playing with her doggie cousins.

Sydney's favorite places to visit were her doggie cul-de-sac friends, Mr. Gary's house for the cookies, the entire neighborhood when she snuck out the door when we weren't looking, the mountains of North Carolina, and Lake Norman (boy did she love swimming in the lake).

Two people that Sydney got closest too during her last few years were Mr. Geoff & Mrs. Jacquie. They are our neighbors and grew to love her as much as we did. They were Syndey's stand-in parents anytime we went away for short trips.

Sydney's heart started giving her trouble just before she turned 12 and much as we tried to make it go away by giving her all the love and prayers we could, and the doctors tried everything we could, we just couldn't make it better. It was the hardest thing we've ever had to experience in our lives to decide to send our sweet girl to heaven to sit in God's lap when all we wanted to do was have her in ours. We're so glad we got to show her all the love in our hearts over the last of her days here on earth, and we hope she went knowing how hard it was for us to say goodbye.

6/26/09 - Haven't finished your story yet sweet girl because your two-legged sisters have had us very busy over the summer. But, we ALL miss you very much and Lexy especially says she misses you every night. We've been getting so many sympathy cards in the mail and lots of guests to your website that have been writing notes. Everyone realizes how special you were to us and how much we love you!

7/3/09 - Hi there Sydney girl. It's been two weeks now and it's still so hard not having you with us. We think of you as soon as we wake up in the morning and before we go to bed at night. Daddy and I talk about you all the time, and we've been looking through your pictures and getting ready to make a photo album so the we can remember all of the great times we had together.

7/10/09 - Hi pretty Sydney girl. Daddy went and got your ashes yesterday and it was such a sad day for us. We know that wasn't you anymore and we'd still give anything to have just one more hug and kisses from you. Today was three weeks and we still miss you more than ever. It's not the same when we tuck the girls and bed and say "bed time" and you're not there barking your head off like you are saying it with us. The house feels so empty without you there to greet us when we walk in the door and when we wake up in the morning! Everyone says that it's just a matter of time before we let another four-legged baby into our lives but no one else can take the place in our hearts that you have - EVER! We miss you and love you very much and hope you are having fun with your friends at the rainbow bridge. Love Mommy!

7/22/09 - Hi sweet girl! I can't believe it has only been 1 month since you've been gone. It seems so much longer that we've had to be without you. I added some more to our story of the beautiful memories we had with you, but somehow it seems that the words can never possibly describe how much you meant to all of us. We miss you terribly girly girl! We hope so very much that you are happy at Rainbow's Bridge and know how much we still love you and miss you. Love Mommy!

10/9/09 - Hi baby girl. Sorry we haven't visited in a while but we've thought of you every single day. Today would have been your 13th birthday and we are so sad to not be sharing your special day with you. Lexy and Sami both wanted to say hi to you and send a balloon to you in heaven, but we decided to wait until tomorrow when we could all be together to send it to you. Lexy is at a friends house spending the night and Sami has a fever today. If you were here I know you would have sat next to Sami all day and kept her company while she wasn't feeling well and she would have given you lots of extra treats. We would definitely have gone to Publix too and gotten you some Frosty Paws so we could sing Happy Birthday to you and watch you eat it. We hope that you are having lots of Frosty Paws in heaven on your special day with all of your new friends, and we hope that you still think of us and miss us sometimes too. We love you and miss you big bunches. Love Mom, Dad, Lexy and Sami.

6/15/10 - Hi sweet girl. I can't believe it's almost a year you have been gone from us. I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, but we TRULY miss you every single day! We hope that by now you have welcomed cousin Brad and that you have shown him all your special places and toys and introduced him to special friends. We know you two are playing over the bridge and wagging your tails at us to let us know you're ok. We're moving soon and can't picture leaving the last home that we had with you. Please know that we are taking you with us in our hearts and we won't forget you. Love you! Mom, Dad, Lexy & Sami

5/27/12 - Hi Beautiful Baby! We are missing you very very much. Your cousin Bailey is coming to see you soon. Auntie Marta, Uncle Ted and your two legged cousins are heart broken to let him go....just as we were when we had to let you go. Please welcome Bailey and watch over him, take care of him and don't let him be sad. Play with him and introduce him to your friends and let him know that we will all miss him very very much. Not a day goes by that we are not reminded of you in so many little and beautiful ways! We love you. Love Mom, Dad, Lexy and Sami.