A Happy Birthday Month

“Dogs are minor angels, and I don't mean that facetiously. They love unconditionally, forgive immediately, are the truest of friends, willing to do anything that makes us happy, etcetera. If we attributed some of those qualities to a person, we would say they are special. If they had ALL of them, we would call them angelic. But because it's "only" a dog, we dismiss them as sweet or funny but little more. However, when you think about it, what are the things that we most like in another human being? Many times those qualities are seen in our dogs every single day-- we're just so used to them that we pay no attention.”
~ Jonathan Carroll


August is a month full of birthdays (plus an anniversary) for our family. People-wise, I celebrated my birthday last Friday; our daughter has one coming this weekend; our son-in-law's is next week; and their baby's will be any day now. My sister and brother-in-law have an August anniversary. Two of our Lhasas also have August birthdays.

Breaker (GCh. Joyslyn's Heartbreaker) turned six years old earlier this month. That's him at the top of this post. Yesterday, Secret (Ch. Joyslyn's Secrets of the Heart), Breaker's mother, turned 12. She doesn't act like a 12 year old. She is healthy, happy, and as playful as ever. Killing squeakers and pulling stuffing out of toys are still her favorite sports! Here are some pictures of Secret. The first one was taken at a dog show. We were attending the national specialty week in CA and she won Reserve Winners Bitch at the regional specialty the day before the national.

The next picture was taken after she earned her championship:

This one is how she looks now with her shorter haircut. She's a small Lhasa and a real sweetheart.

Breaker's son (and Secret's grandson), Josh (Joyslyn MLS Dakota Wind Breaker) earned four more points toward his championship last weekend, winning Winners Dog and Best of Winners both days in Marshfield, WI. He had his 7 month "birthday" on the 16th.  Here's a picture of him with his ribbons and prizes from that show. He now has a total of 6 single points.

My Lhasa friends threw a birthday party for me on Saturday after we finished showing. Here we are in the grooming area, beneath the "Happy Birthday" banner and balloons!

 And speaking of my birthday, here is one of my gifts:

(For readers who do not know, I am originally from Nebraska. We moved to Illinois in 1989.)

My computer has a screen saver that flashes photos from a file on my desktop. One appeared and when I saw it, I thought, "Hmmm...looks kind of like Josh." So I started going through photos and created this three-generation photo of (from the left) Connor (Ch. San-Dhi Joyslyn Icon), Josh's grandsire; Breaker (GCh. Joyslyn's Heartbreaker), Josh's sire; and Josh. Breaker and Josh's photos were both taken at age 7 months. Connor's was taken when he was a month or so older. They look much alike, don't they?

Here is a side shot taken of Josh after he was groomed:

I also received a few pictures of Josh's sisters. The first is of Cinder. She is a black and tan. The caption her owner sent said, "She put herself in jail!" Cinder was also at the show in Marshfield and even got to spend one night in the hotel room with Josh, Jan, Flash, and me. She showed very well on Sunday, very pretty movement! Congrats go to Jan and Flash for Flash's first points, earned on Sunday!

These photos are of Sassy. She's also practicing and preparing for the show ring -- way down in TX.

Carol sent a note and picture of Sadie. Sadie is a daughter of Rafe and Maggie. Carol wrote, "Just took this after a brush session.  Sadie undid all my work in about 5 seconds. She looks like Nick Nolte's mug shot!"

Dawn sent us a note when she sent us Bailey's proof of spaying.  "Bailey is doing very well and gets along just great with her big brother Dusty. She likes to pick on him and play rough but he doesn't seem to mind! Her personality gets bigger every day and we feel extremely blessed to have found her!" Bailey is also a Rafe and Maggie daughter.

The breeding that produced Bailey and Sadie was a repeat of an earlier breeding. The next picture is of an older brother of Bailey and Sadie. His family calls him Snickers, and here is what they wrote: "Just sending you a funny picture that we caught him in the act helping us clean our dinner plates. We can't tell you enough on the joy and love he brings to our family. He just loves to be with us everywhere we go in the home. He loves to play and run with the boys. He just is so loving to us and at night needs to always be by his "mommy". Hope everyone is well. Thank you again for a wonderful family member."

Here are a couple of links you might find interesting and helpful.
The first is a link to a common-product medication list and dosage conversions chart.
The second is a link to a video entitled "The Puppy Puzzle: The Hastings Approach to Evaluating the Structural Quality of Puppies," which is narrated by Pat Hastings. If you are new to dog breeding and showing, this step by step method of puppy evaluation could be of help. Even if you are an old hand at it, you can watch and perhaps pick up some new information. Hastings recommends evaluation at age 8 weeks, something I learned from old-timer way back when I first began this journey.



And with that I will remind you that

Life is better when you have a Lhasa to love you!

Joyce