Bright Star Fauci!

Yippee! We have another Bright Star Birthday update and I have it on good authority the last one will be here soon ⭐️❤️

Today we have this fun update about the puppy formerly known as Orion…

…who jetted off to the east to live life as Fauci with Jack and Maria.

Jack sends us this update:

At two, Fauci  is still happily engaged in perfecting his skills at agility, obedience and drafting.  He is getting the idea of close teamwork with me.  This spring he will start competing in Draft Tests and Agility trials, since he is doing well in training sessions. 

He is a moderate male, weighing in at 89 lbs and 25 1/2 Inches high, perfectly built for active sports. Fauci is fully crate trained and has impeccable house manners, except he still won't put away his toys at night.   

Fauci's greatest thrill is sprinting about our woods and trails with me, perfecting his jumping techniques.  He loves to ride in the car and RV, and has developed an uncanny ability to anticipate where we are on car trips to visit friends and relatives, like he has a built-in GPS.  His most joyful anticipation is reserved for my 13 year old granddaughter, and of course his Berner girl friend Daisy.  Barking is reserved for strangers at the door or coming up our driveway or for deer in the yard. He seems amused by little yappers, ignoring their frantic barking, but he still is clueless about proper behavior when he sees a dog he wants to play with.  He is best behaved pulling his cart on long walks through our neighborhood, town parks or woods.

Fauci is a great companion dog for me, and this man's best friend.”

Thank you so much, Jack (and Maria), for the update and Fauci’s terrific life ❤️ HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAUCI!

Back and Forward

I really am back to birthdays!

I have sent gentle reminders so that we can hopefully honor every single Bright Star and Moonshadow on the occasion of completing two amazing years of life ❤️ I will post as I get them.

Two years is also when we get the official OFA x-rays for hips and elbows — this is a contractual agreement made with every puppy owner. These will be getting done over the next month or two — I need to update the Litter Summary page, I know. I am working through such things ✔️

That reminds me: Three Cheers to the Wildflowers families for getting those films done 🎆 Another 100% litter — we are 100% on 100% Litters. THANK YOU!

I recently made a quick trip to Boise for the following: 1) Get hugs from these two…

2) Visit Kira and Jay (doing GREAT!). Capella was particularly happy to see her brother, Atlas…

3) Have Capella’s hips and elbows done and we already have results — Capella was rated with Good Hips and Normal Elbows. 🙏🏽

I am happy to report that training for the warm California Specialty is going well…

That is Claire with her occasional BFF, Sundance. They are entered as a Brace and will also each be entered in Open Draft as well. As you can see, winter is being persistent this year. I literally cannot walk down my driveway…

It is like an ice moat! Very inconvenient.

Luckily, our nearby dog walking road is clear…

Claire

…and so that is where obedience practice happens…

And speaking of obedience — Claire is the BMDCA’s Top Novice B Dog for 2022, and her littermate, Kiri, is the BMDCA’s Top Open B Dog for 2022. Congratulations Alison and Kiri — and WOO HOO.

And speaking of training, check out the progress I have made with my feral kittens…

Nikki Summer Dawn

They are still skittish but I can pet both of them and they are integrated into the family now. It turns out that string cheese works with training cats as well — who knew?!

Finally, how perfectly lucky for the Specialty are these socks that my sister knitted?!

Lucky Socks on Steroids. I cannot wait.

Happy Sunday to you!

Back to Birthdays!

I love this update. It makes me SO happy. This is Moonshadow Dad Mike reporting about Moonshadow Porter:

“The day we picked up Porter and brought him to his new home was the start of a love affair. I've had Labs and Goldens my whole life so I was used to good hearted big dogs but this little guy was something special.

By the second night he would sleep all night in his crate and didn't wake us up until 8 am. Potty training was a breeze and he learned quickly, from my Lab Micah, to be a landscaper! He has been to Puppy Schools with his litter mate Obi and they both did very well!

Unfortunately I've had back problems that caused a fall & ruptured the Quad in my knee. So he had to be my wellness dog instead of learning to track or scent train.

Moonshadow Mike — HEAL! ❤️

He loves his humans, Mom, Dad and his Uncle Bert.

Oh and let me not forget his brother from another mother Micah. Those two play so hard yet they settle down, after a short while, in the house with us every night.

Just a beautiful loving boy…”

A recent painting done of this beloved boy.

I think our dogs are like a mirror, reflecting back things about ourselves.

The way we describe them matters — do we tell a problem-saturated story that reflects our typical problem-saturated storylines about everything in our life? Or do we have the ability to look at what is imperfect and see the joy, the good, the wonder?

It’s a choice and one that benefits — or burdens — the object of our narrative, and ourselves.

I read Mike’s update and I thought (yet again), “what an amazingly Good Human.” Porter is so very lucky to live with Mike and Patty.

Thank you, Mike and Patty — and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOONSHADOW PORTER.