Hello everyone. My name is Shalom, and today is my fourth birthday.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am an Australian Cobberdog. My full name is “Rutland’s Shalom” and I live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada with my Momsy (Phyllis) and my Popsy (Mike).

When I first got out of bed this morning, I wasn’t sure whether or not Momsy and Popsy had remembered my birthday. There were no special morning cuddles, other than those I get every morning, and I couldn’t smell anything new in the house that might be a special treat.

I was actually feeling a little down in the mouth.

Boy, was I wrong!

After breakfast, Popsy sneaked into Momsy’s office and removed a bag from the bottom drawer. I tried to follow him as he took the bag into the bedroom, but he closed the door on me. I stood patiently outside…