Dogs gathering wings

In my dream last night, we were at someone's house doing I don't know what. There were a lot of dogs running around being social, Nicholas among them. At some point G and I noticed that we hadn't seen him for a while. Being the nervous/good parents we are, we separated and went to look for him. I saw several dogs that looked quite a bit like Nicholas. I would be momentarily fooled, then notice that the dog wasn't wearing a green collar.

Eventually, I found Nicholas and his green collar standing in the sun under some trellis-like structure at the side of the house. There was a stack of wood or some other thing on the ground between us. As I was stepping over or around it, something changed and, when I looked up, Nicholas was now a small green bird, and my sister-in-law Sharon was holding him. She was standing under the trellis with foliage behind her and Nicholas was perched on her left hand, her right hand cupped protectively over him. She smiled and handed him toward me. As I took him, he changed again. Now he was a green butterfly, fluttering in my cupped hands. I stood there in the sun holding him - below my chin, above my chest - my hands only circling his fluttering, not really constraining him. I felt such joy in this moment, such wonder at this beautiful creature, such immense love for this green fluttering at my throat.