I own (or am owned by, I guess) 5 Chesapeake Bay retrievers. My 2 older females are Tessa and Kady and I had bred each of them one time a few years ago. I kept a male from Tess (Comet)and a male and a female from Kady (brave and Maddie). All of them except Maddie are with my friends in Elkton until I can get a fence put up for them so they can come home. Maddie is here because she went into heat while in Philly with anothe friend who has a male and she was driving poor Bull crazy, so home she came. I was very reluctant with Dad being so ill, but they are best buds now. Dad takes her on long walks every day, making him get up and out of the house and into the fresh air. She "bothers" him until he takes her out several times a day. He really seems to be more interested in things because of her.

Anyway, my older male is in Wisconsin at the Master National Retriever Test (an invitation-only event held yearly for those dogs that pass 5 of the top level hunt tests for the year)and I am waiting with baited breath to see if he passes. It's a series of 10 tests and the dog has to pass all of them to pass the entire thing. It's quite a bee in your bonnet to have them pass. The reason I want him to is because he is named after my deceased hubby and his favorite thing to do...Comet's AKC name is Waterways Big Tim's Shooting Star, MH, WDQ. Comet and his litter were bred on the last anniversary that Tim was alive and whelped in June 2000. My niece and I were on the front porch getting some air betweem puppies and saw a shooting star...she decided that it was a sign from Uncle Tim that he was with us. So we named the pup after that star and Jess thought that "Comet" was a good call name, so that became his tome. Tim always wanted a dog that would "play the game" and we bred this one and he is doing it. I can just see Tim's chest swelling with pride...we actually have a dog at the top of the hunt test game (and the other male is 1 pass from his MH title and has his CD, which is a competition obedience title)so I hope Tim really does know about it!!

So, my life revolves around my Dad and my dogs.....I just love them all to pieces.

Micki, amazing isn't it how much pleasure a dog can bring to a sick persons life. Suddenly they are thinking about he animal and not themselves. Good for you, your life sounds full of love..