Last but Not Least: Atlas and Capella

I am so lucky that I get to see Atlas on a sort of regular basis — because that means I also get to see some of my most favorite humans as well ❤️ Boise is brimming with my favorites.

Kira sends us this update:

“Happy Birthday to the Bright Stars from Atlas and family.

Atlas is maturing into a determined, smart, energetic dog.

Atlas loves his “tribe” ( immediate family and extended family) but would rather people outside of it just not come around.

He is often dubbed the fifth child of the family and a definite “mama’s boy!” Everyone knows where to find me just by following Atlas. He is also very attached to his big canine brother, Onyx. They truly love each other.

Atlas is quite certain he is a lap dog and is unaware of his sturdy size. He weighs in at about 125lbs and is 27” tall.

He is the absolute love of our family and we just couldn’t imagine life without him. He greets everybody every morning as they stumble out and then expects belly rubs.

As I’ve said before, he came to us unexpectedly but at the absolute right time.”

That Boy!!!! I love him!!! Thank you, Kira, for the update and to all of you for giving Atlas the life he deserves ❤️

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ATLAS!!!!!!

Our tenth and final update is about Capella ⭐️

She is perfect. That sums it up.

Easy, happy, smart, lovely. Perfect.

This morning we tracked for the first time in a bit — it got REALLY cold and then it snowed a bunch so we had to wait for the snow to compact down a bit. It was so fun to be back in action and this was her first time tracking with this much snow. You can really see the cross track action when there is snow — that is a busy wildlife field!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPELLA!

And so much gratitude to each and every Bright Star family for sharing updates ❤️ I can’t tell you how much that means to me. I love these dogs from start to finish, and staying in touch is how people communicate they understand that. Thank you.

Birthday Boys

Today we celebrate two Bright Star Birthday boys. Take a look at the next two photos — they are both of Bright Star Zuber ❤️

Alison sends us this wonderful update on Bright Star Zuber:

Happy Birthday Fellow Bright Stars! Time has flown!

Mr Z is now a sturdy 26.5 inches and 96 pounds of mellow. He loves the snow and on cold mornings flies out the door and cavorts around the yard in pure delight. Likewise with romps along our dirt road. He and Kiri wrestle and play daily and he takes great pleasure with his assorted toys which squeak, grunt or otherwise provide gnawing pleasure. He loves to cuddle, resting his big head in my lap with a relaxed sigh.

We discovered last year that Zuber has Draft super powers which he turned into two Novice Draft legs at his first tests in October. I am looking forward to more Draft this year and exploring a collaborative brace.

In the meantime we continue to ease our way along the Obedience path and play Agility games. In Agility Z is teaching me to work hard to ignite his drive as he seems to lack the internal variety for racing through courses. He does LOVE tunnels however, always accelerating toward them and frequently inserting them into his own version of the course we ‘ought’ to be running.

We have so much wonderful living to look forward to with Mr Z.”

I have so much gratitude to Alison and Tom for giving their Kaibab dogs such wonderful lives — and for always keeping in touch ❤️

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZUBER!

Also having a wonderful and beloved life is Fauci! Jack sends us this update:

Baby Fauci

“Fauci is pretty much grown up now, with his height and weight pretty stable.  He is a very active and smart boy, at about 25 1/2" tall and 89 lbs.  He is a handsome  boy, with a lovely thick coat.  Fauci is devoted to Maria and I, and is my constant companion.  He likes to play with girl dogs and my granddaughters, and is becoming much more comfortable and confident around strangers although still a bit wary of hands and fingers reaching out to him.  We will keep working on that!

In 2023 Fauci passed 3 Novice Draft tests and then earned his Draft Dog title in October at the Watchung BMD tests..  He has two legs towards his CD after three trial entries. He also has qualified in FAST and Novice Agility Preferred and is still in a weekly training group to get used to crowds.  Mostly we spend our time on long walks in the woods and on carting outings in town and on my mountain trails.  He has been quite healthy and fit, except for a tick-borne infection last year from which he recovered quickly with Doxy.

We are still playing in the remains of our winter snow here in the Catoctin Mountains.  His main job is to keep the herds of deer away from our agility field and garden, which he does happily!”

It is good to know where Capella’s draft genes went — clearly to her brothers!! Sage, Zuber, and Fauci are exceptional draft dogs — great job, Boys!

Thank you, Jack and Marie, for your devotion to Fauci ❤️ He lives an interesting life, doesn’t he? HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAUCI!

Dallas in Idaho: Another Bright Star B-day

John took time from his busy (and AMAZINGLY GOOD) bagel bakery (Freedom Bagels) and life with three busy, active boys to send us an update for Bright Star Dallas Nova Jr’s b-d:

“Happy Birthday to the Bright Stars!

Dallas has decided that being a puppy is so much fun — a sincere reminder to all of us that growing up isn’t always necessary.  She loves to play in her new yard and even upgraded to life with a doggy door (we ALL love the new dog door)!

Winter showed up recently and we all have been enjoying the snow — Dallas perhaps the most.  She loves to run around and play chase with the family in the powder — she thinks hiding her face makes her completely hidden to all.

She continues to take her role very seriously as our family companion and does not appreciate when we run errands without her.  

Her built in alarm reminds when breakfast and dinner have been missed by more than 30 seconds.  Our boys have many friends over these days and Dallas loves all the attention.”

Thank you John (and Kristine and K-Kids!). I know well that Dallas enjoys her happy life in the Boise area where she also has extended family — human and canine — to love her ❤️ Lucky Girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dallas!