NEW CHAMPION! EDDIE!!

We are thrilled to announce that Eddie,

 AKA "Gold Eye Eddie" is now 

CHAMPION

 D'Azul's On the Dark Side!

Eddie finished on Saturday, December 6 with a 3-point major win (Best of Winners) from the Bred By Exhibitor class!  Congratulations go out to his breeders, Cecile and Lisa Toth of D'Azul Siberians! 

Lisa handled Eddie to every point from the Bred by Exhibitor class, starting from July 2008 to his grand finish December 2008! He finished with three major wins!  

Thank you to all the judges that recognized Eddie for the quality dog he is.

Way to go, Lisa and Eddie! We are so proud of you!

Eddie is home!

Eddie has returned home to rest from his show career for a couple of weeks, and to catch up on digging holes in the backyard, and to touch noses with me a through the fence.  Lisa and Eddie have won 13 points, including both major wins, in a very short amount of time! We are hoping they can complete the championship title with one more show weekend (toes crossed here.) Go to Captain Maverick's blog to see his photos... from beginning to present.  You can tell he started out without much hair (it was in the summer months), and now he is in glorious coat!  Eddie is such an easy-going guy that he's settled into the routine around here without a misstep. Good ol' Eddie. We're glad he's home (and he's a lot quieter than that Arlo dog!)

Slurps,

Miss Stella

Meet Arlo

Meet Arlo, our newest addition to the family.  He showed up at our house several weeks ago, and planted himself on the doorstep, earning the nickname "Porch Dog".  The humans decided to give him a chance and now he lives with us.  He's about a year old, and possibly an Australian Shepherd with an natural tail.  He's a nice guy.  Lucky for him my humans took him in because he had heartworm.  He is now recovering nicely from his 2nd treatment.

Welcome, Arlo!

Good Luck, Eddie!

My buddy, Eddie (D'Azul's On the Dark Side) is going to the big Siberian Husky national specialty show in Pennsylvania in a few days. There are lots of dogs in his class (Bred-by-exhibitor) with an entry of 29!  He has done so well in the shows with his breeder Lisa handling him.  Eddie now has 11 points including both of his major wins!  I'm keeping my paws crossed that those last four single points come before the new year so he can start 2009 as a CHAMPION!  After that, he'll go into fun things like agility, rally and obedience.

Good luck, Eddie, Lisa, Cecile and Penny, at the big  Siberian Husky Show of America National Specialty!

Thank you to all our friends in the Dog Blogging Community for their condolences.  We miss our sweet Timber, or Timmy, as he was sometimes called. You all have kind, good hearts.   We feel fortunate to know you as fellow dog lovers.  A special "Thank You" to Cecile and Lisa Toth of D'Azul Siberians, who had posted about Timber's illness to the Siberian/Alaskan Malamute listserv.

   He is in a better place now.

Thanks again,

Stella, Stormy, Kiana, Bruce, Penny, Eddie, Skye (the dogs)

and Stella's old female human

Timber Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

 It was a quality of life decision, said my female human.  Poor Timber had lost the mobility in his legs, and the pain was moving from limb to limb, and he was getting pressure sores.  It was time to free my dear Alaskan Husky friend from constant pain.  He didn't even get to eat his birthday cake.  We will have a Life Celebration in a few days to think of Timber and what he meant to this home.  Timber was always sweet, happy and a bit of a silly carefree guy. He loved the young humans and enjoyed playing in the yard with them.  I'm sure he has reunited with his Alaskan Husky family at the Rainbow Bridge: Yukon, Cheyenne, Inca (all three were lead dogs) and his twin, Turbo, who passed away this January.

This is a photo of Timber last year at the age of 13, running for the sheer love of it.  He was quick and agile, a natural athlete that revealed generations of many superb Alaskan Huskies before him, dogs of George Attla, Roxy Wright-Champaign and other famous mushers.  Alaskan Huskies may not have a registry but they definitely have pedigrees.  

Timber

July 28, 1994 - July 29, 2008

We will miss you, sweet Alaskan boy.

Timber's 14th Birthday

My last Alaskan buddy, Timber, is 14 years old today.  I would wish him a Happy Birthday, but he is very ill and is spending the night at the vet's office.  My human is very worried about him.  He was at the vet's last week and they did all sorts of x-rays and put him on medication, but he has taken a turn for the worse. Please keep Timber in your thoughts tonight.

Here's a photo of Timber last year.

Eddie Wins!

My Siberian buddy, Eddie, went to stay with his breeders, Cecile and Lisa.  They took him to some shows and he now has 3 points!  Only 12 more to go!  He also won Cutest Pet at my human's workplace out of about 15 other pets entered.  He's going to have quite the attitude when he gets back!

My humans have added to the 4-legged family with three French Alpine dairy goat babies.  They are all boys: Oreo, Brownie and Rocky.  Once grown, they are supposed to be around 34 to 36 inches tall at the shoulder.  That's a huge goat!  They can be trained to pull carts.  I wonder if they could pull our dog sled?  Wouldn't that be a sight!  They are here to be used as a "green" way to clean up the property of weeds, especially poison ivy.  Already they've done their job on the plants and brush in their pen.

My humans also have a new horse.  His name is Bam Bam, and he is a bay roan Miniature Horse stallion, about 33 inches tall at the withers.  He's a good-looking guy.  The horse folks who have seen him say Bam Bam should be in horse shows once he gets into shape (he's a little tubby).   Bam Bam enjoys us dogs, and we often sniff noses between the fence.

Enjoy the photo of Eddie and Nathan winning first in their Junior Handling class at our local Siberian specialty in May.

Kiana celebrates her 15th birthday!

Happy 15th Birthday, Kiana! 

(She's the gray dog on the right!)

A very happy birthday goes out to the oldest dog in our pack, Kiana, AKC Champion Kalea's Boomchaser of Jasminka. She has hit the 15th year mark as of June 18th. She celebrated with a ham-flavored birthday "cake" and didn't share any with the rest of us! She has that right, I suppose, after all these years. She still knows how to put all us underlings into place. I may be a princess, but Kiana is Queen.
Happy Birthday, Kiana!

Slurps,
Stella Louella
Bullmastiff in Residence

ps- Check out "The Byrd Herd" link for the upcoming, new faces of the Byrd Herd!

Update on Eddie and Nathan

On Saturday, May 10th our local Siberian Club had its specialty show. I didn't get to go because my "papers" say I'm a Bullmastiff not a Siberian. I speak Siberian very well, so at least I thought I could sneak in. No dice. Two from our house were entered, Eddie and the ancient Kiana. Kiana will be 15 years old on June 18th, Dog willing. Eddie had fun in the large Open Dog class with our old female human, and won first place, with his beautiful littermate Ace taking second. He said it was a lot of fun but didn't get the 5 point major. He and Nathan won their Novice Junior class in Junior Showmanship and Eddie says that was the most fun of all. They make a great pair! After all the showing was over (our pirate friend Maverick won an Award of Merit!), the Parade of Champions was showcased. Kiana (also known as Champion Kalea's Boomchaser of Jasminka) was the oldest dog by about 6 years. She was whelped in 1993, back when my owner says she didn't have any gray hair and could fit into a cute outfit. That was a long, long time ago. Sadly, Kiana is now the only known living member of her litter. Her sister Lulu passed away a couple months ago. Kiana made her trip around the ring to much applause and tears. It will be her last time in the show ring, and she brought home a beautiful rosette that she wore around her neck.
My old female human is debating whether I'll be shown anymore. Says she wants to talk to other humans about it before retiring me from the show scene. I'd like to see what it would be like in the obedience ring. I think I've trained my human well.
Hopefully my human can scan the show photos soon so she can post them. The photo of Nathan and Eddie is pretty cute, and of course, Kiana had her picture taken as well.
Slurps to all,
Stella Louella
Bullmastiff in Residence

Eddie's Debut as a Library Dog is a Hit!

Eddie (D'Azul's On the Dark Side), a red Siberian boy bred and co-owned by Cecile and Lisa of D'Azul Siberians, made his debut as the Library Sled Dog Program dog yesterday, Feb. 25. He was a hit! There were around 50 humans, both young and old, who came to see the program, learn about sled dogs and the historic 1925 serum run to Nome, AK. Eddie modeled his bright red sled harness and was very gentle and happy when the kids came up afterwards to pet him. Most of the children were anywhere from 2 1/2 years to about 10 years old, and we had some folks probably in their 80's there, too. One special little girl, around 2 1/2 years old, had been brought because she was very frightened of dogs. Her mother has been exposing her to nice dogs to help her get over her fear. When her mom told her she was going to a sled DOG program, the little girl was terrified. She knew she was going to see a D-O-G. When she came in with her mom, she clung to her mom as if Eddie was going to eat her. At the end of the program, after watching all the kids line up and pet Eddie, the little girl tentatively came up to meet him. Just like his wonderful cousin Nakita before him, Eddie, who also is not an "in your face" kind of dog, patiently and gently greeted the little girl. To everyone's surprise, the toddler and Eddie bonded....it was in an instant! We stayed awhile longer to let the two get to know each other. When it came time for the girl to leave, her mom had to pry her away from Eddie!! What a good dog, Eddie! Eddie's breeders, Cecile and Lisa, handpicked Eddie for this job when he was a small puppy, and raised him up right. Their efforts paid off ten-fold yesterday. No one could have been prouder of him yesterday even if he had won a Best in Show. Temperament first! Always first! You have to live with a dog first.
When we got home, Eddie promptly took his freshly-bathed body to his favorite mud hole and had a grand time in typical Siberian fashion!
Yay, Eddie!!! What a good boy you are! A big "Thank You" to Cecile and Lisa Toth of D'Azul Siberians, for breeding and raising such a wonderful dog!
ps-The photographer from that town's paper was there taking pictures. We'll let you know if he ends up in the newspaper.