Wildflowers in the Summer

Mary-Ann Sontag June 19, 2021

Although summer is hot and humid in North Carolina, Eden reports that they are still able to train. Team Kadi is working on tracking…

Eden has a great plan for getting Kadi into drafting. The cart is in the house and Kadi eats in her cart. Isn’t Kadi pretty?!

Lucy Clover King is having a fun summer with her girls, Elena and Clara, who are so good at sending me updates — thanks, Girls!

Lucy is a patient, willing playmate and the girls are so good with her. Do you recognize the flower toy that Lucy has?

Have a happy summer day!

Last But Not Least of Birthday Week: Kitsap

Mary-Ann Sontag June 1, 2021

Welcome to June. We will have another birthday week later this month but today we finish up the Wildflower Updates by catching up with Birthday Boy, Kitsap…

Bridget shares:

“Kitsap brings us such joy. While it is hard to compare with our memory, we are pretty certain that Kitsap is the biggest boned and strongest of our four Berners, all boys. He stands about 27” at the withers. I’m guessing he weighs about 95 lbs, our last formal weight was at 9 months where he weighed in at 90 lbs. He’s got a great Swiss cross. He loves to give me a full Berner greeting when I come home. In the attached photo, I am 5’5” tall wearing clogs and he has no problem putting his front paws on my shoulders.

Folks may enjoy the photos in front of and in the bookcase. When first came home he would lay on the bottom shelf, now he is longer than the case.

We were scheduled to take our Novice Trick Dog test as part of our end of our Fundamental Obedience class, unfortunately the instructor certified to administer the test had vertigo that day. We probably have 15-16 of the tricks on the list. Now that the semester is over I plan to get my husband to video and submit to earn the title. Speaking of classes, we successfully completed basic obedience, fundamental obedience and are currently in a novice competition obedience class. He’s great at healing, figure eights, sits, and downs, and has an awesome come. His challenge is stand for exam and distractions more generally. He’s hard to predict one stranger is a great friend, the next one needs to be barked at.

Kitsap went camping for his first birthday. Hanging out at the campsite and sleeping in a tent was just fine. Given it was only 40°F overnight he very much appreciated the insulating interlocking rubber mat squares like Mary-Ann’s that we used to line his portion of the tent floor. You can see how bundled I am pictured with him on the porch of the lighthouse.

Kitsap is an only dog, still he has several playmates. He plays weekly with Hasley, an English Springer Spaniel. When they meet each week best to be out of the way as the run toward each other with serious gusto. He also regularly enjoys playing with Windsor, a standard poodle, Freye and Ellie, both labradadoodles, and Jake, a German Shepherd. He loves to chase a ball and goes through his tunnel with gusto. We have started weave polls and with a set of three have no problem, getting ready to add three more. He loves to table and walk on a retaining wall to simulate the dog walk.

Kitsap is definitely a water loving dog and will jump right in any stream or pond given the opportunity.

He’s a handsome boy who gets lots of compliments whenever we are out and about.”

Kitsap is indeed very handsome and I am grateful for his amazing life — thank you to his wonderful family.

That concludes our Wildflower Birthday Week. I want to thank each and every family for giving all of us the chance to catch up on how well the Wildflowers are blooming.

Please have a terrific day — even if it is not your birthday.

Birthday Week: Pozy Clarkia

Mary-Ann Sontag May 31, 2021

Normally I do all the litter before my own dog but Kitsap is off camping and so his update will be forthcoming, making room for Pozy Clarkia today.

Pozy is (almost) all the dogs I have loved rolled into one. Abra, Maize, Halo, Cadi, Sydney — Pozy Clarkia is their direct descendent. This means Pozy is also related to Asia, Zoey Sparkle, Claire, and Capella.

Pozy with mother, Daisy, and Great-Auntie Harper B

Pozy is treasured for her connections but also for herself.

It is easy to forget that 12 months is still a puppy. Pozy is 84 pounds and filling out, with a lush coat that makes her look even bigger.

But Pozy is still a puppy, and one whose puppyhood was detoured by the pandemic and also with the arrival of the Bright Stars and Moonshadows. I joke that she has gone feral — that is not quite the truth but I acknowledge her first critical year took a hit with the ten plus ten. How could it not?!

I learn things with every single dog, and that knowledge makes me train the next dog in new ways. Pozy’s most recent training accomplishment is that she can be leashed and walked outside without any dramatics. No spinning, barking, joyous but insane drama when it is time to go someplace.

Those with multiple high drive dogs will understand both the feat and the need for such behavior. One of my 2022 Specialty goal is to be able to calmly walk Capella and Pozy together.

Like so many of her littermates, Pozy is in training for various things. Her main thing now is tracking but that will wrap up in late-June as the summer heat changes the green grass to dry fields. She also is working on obedience, agility, and the whole beauty pageant thing; I hope to show her in conformation in the fall

Like her siblings, Pozy is very, very smart. She is also easy to live with, happy, very trainable, and just a bright, charming girl. I adore her.

Pozy Clarkia — born for adventure given her dramatic arrival and amazing survival in the parking lot of a Tractor Supply store, and carrying the name of someone lost to the Covid pandemic when we thought 10,000 dead in the USA was appalling and terrible and unacceptable; now it is almost 600,000.

Unimaginable.

We won’t forget.