Family Photos

Atlas, one of the Bright Stars, conserving energy following a rough and tumble play session with a canine pal…

How is Moonshadow Mighty Titan/Tiny Tim (now Pip) doing, you wonder? See for yourself…

Montana Life agrees with him.

Thank you, Pip’s People!

The Wildflowers (Major x Daisy) are related to both the Moonshadows (same mom) — and the Bright Stars because Major is the father of the Wildflowers and the grandfather of the Bright Stars. This is Major in a photo taken by his wonderful human, Lawrence…

This is Wildflower, Zeus, with his Boy Human…

…and his Girl Human. SO CUTE! Thanks, Penny.

The Sparklers are also Major kids (Major x Sparkle) — Claire is a Sparkler. This is her littermate, Zimmer…

And Ava of iPup fame…

Thanks, Kathy!

The iPups are Fil x Zoey; Sparkle is an iPup.

So that means Bright Star Sage is related to everyone above! Sparkle and Major are his grandparents, and Claire and Ferguson are his parents.

Thank you, Kay!

Lupine from the Wildflowers wonders if there will be a test at the end of this post.

Thanks, Jennifer!

Well, yes — there will. And no, she has not been digging holes — why would you think that?

This extra cute human is posing with Dallas Nova Jr., one of the Bright Stars.

Thanks, John!

Moonshadow Obi overlooking Boise during the annual hot air balloon festival - how cool is this?!

Thanks, Linda!

And now…

Q1. Pozy is a Wildflower. How is she related to Major? Is she his:

1. Cousin

2. Daughter

3. Granddaughter

4. Niece

Sparkle and Zoey 2016

Q2. Capella is a Bright Star. Which of the following represents her maternal line?

1. Claire-Sparkle-Zoey-Halo-Abra

2. Claire-Zoey-Sparkle-Maize-Abra

3. Daisy-Claire-Zoey-Halo-Abra

4. Who the heck is Abra?

This is Abra

Q3. If a Bright Star leaves Stevensville, Montana at 8 am (safely crated in a car, of course) and travels 67 mph towards Boise, and a Moonshadow (also safely crated in a car) leaves Boise at 8:44 am and travels 54 mph towards Montana — and the distance between the two places is 362 miles — at what time will the two dogs meet (assuming neither car hits a deer, elk, or moose)? Please show your work!

That really awesome day for Sparkle.

Great Job — you earned this…

Thanks to a fun friend for this photo!

Have a spectacular day!

A First

Miss Maddie from the F Litter has joined an exclusive club in the world of Bernese Mountain Dogs — she is THIRTEEN today.

As I look at that photo, I remember the day I met Barb and Terri Z in Spokane to deliver their F Litter puppies. These dogs hold our memories and connect us to those who are here and to those have left.

Maddie continues to enjoy her wonderful, amazing life with Barb and Ken and I suspect birthday celebration photos are forthcoming. In the meantime, HAPPIEST LUCKY 13th, Maddie.

Why Fun Matters

It has been a long time since I have done agility — over two years in fact. One of my local dog clubs hosted a trial this weekend and so I both worked the trial and competed with Sparkle.

People are not heading back to agility trials in pre-pandemic numbers in our area. Did they realize there is more to life, I wondered at first, than dog events every weekend?

But as the weekend went gone on, I realized that a dog event is actually many of the things that makes life wonderful in one short burst of time.

Sparkle at the trial site

There is often travel, which is just fun all by itself. I got to be with my community — with my friends. People like me.

Agility courses require thinking and strategizing and having fun. They shift us out of what passes for normal life and into a whole new space — it is like being temporarily transported to a happy place, no matter the outcome on a course or in a ring.

Life has so many demands and stressors, and this is especially true in a pandemic. We all need protective factors that boost and support our resilience. For me, dog events provide several of the resiliency protective factors at once and so not only are they fun, dog events also help me handle the rest of my life.

An agility trial or dog show may not be your thing but I hope you are able to identify what does provide oxygen to your Little Soldiers. It turns out that FUN is actually not optional if coping well is one of our life goals.