Hi, there!

My name is Stormy.  I have one blue eye and one brown eye, and my fur is the color of a sky frothing with storm clouds.  I was a big-pawed puppy not so very long ago, and you met me for the first time when I was just a few weeks old and surrounded by two litters of siblings and cousins—I think there were about ten of us that fall, but we were too busy playing to count.

I’m from a place that’s seen its share of storms—one of the worst just a month before I was born.  I like to think that’s part of how I got my name.

You probably thought I wasn’t busy these past few months because you only saw me watching you from my yard and lolling about with my playmates.  That’s because you were never outside when I went for my show walks in my neighborhood, though.  I have been secretly training all the while.  In fact, I won my first four majors during two weekends of championships, and that was all before I turned one this fall.

As you probably noticed when you saw me again, I have grown into my paws and am remarkably long and sleek.  The judges like my side gait and the way I stand with my two front paws, and I may have a shot at even more show ribbons once my chest fills out a little more.  It’s the only part of me that’s snowy white, along with my front paws and legs.

My early Christmas present this year was a niece and four nephews to play with, and it’s fun to roll around in the yard with them.  They haven’t learned to bark yet and are quiet most of the time, but when we all get excited—like when neighbors come for a visit at the fence—, the puppies make little squeaking noises.  I am silent and dignified, unless you come over to give me head rubs, which are always welcome.  It’s fun to play mama to the pups while they’re here, although I know they will be heading off to new homes soon like my siblings and cousins did.  Only a few of us get to stay here because there’s not enough room when the puppies grow up each year.

The little ones haven’t been the only new faces in the neighborhood.  The duck family down the road introduced us to their nine ducklings during the spring and summer.  I haven’t seen them in a while because they had to stay in their yard after one of the ducklings was eaten by a fish in the pond across the way.  Would you believe it?  We all think it was actually an alligator, but the grownups insist it wasn’t.  What fish would eat a little duck?  Anyway, after that happened, the ducklings had to stay in the yard, but Georgette managed to sneak out pretty often to visit us with her parents and aunts and uncle when they went for their walks.  It was funny to see how they always marched in a line with Georgette toddling at the rear as they headed along on their morning meander.  They also like posing as statues on the porch of the house down the street.

It’s been a busy year for me, as I’m sure you can tell!  Who knows what I will achieve by the time I’m two?  I think you’ll be quite impressed.

Stormy