Been gone for a lot of years and in those years said goodbye to my 2 good furbuddies last year- always hurts but now I have two new crazy dogs. Full of fur and still in the last of their puppyhood. It is shedding season of course so our house and plastic bags are filling with sheltie fur. We make fur balls out of the left over shelies and hang them outside in the spring for the birds and some squirrels. So in some ways our previous shelties are all still with us and around us keeping nests and the next generations warm- in some ways we are still connected.