Hurry up Mom! Get that air-conditioner fixed! Of course the year the pups were born had to be a really hot and dry one. In fact, three days after they were born we had our first 100 degree day. Yeap, that was April 18, 2006. The heat and dryness was something I had to contend with all through their youth. And their April birth was supposed to avoid the worst of the heat until the pups were older. So much for planning. Lightning is almost a month old in this photo. Isn't she cute with that beam of light running down her face?

Lightning's Pedigree

DOB: April 15, 2006

Lightning was the second female in the litter born. She was immediately recognizable by the long, thin, and straight blaze that streaked down the middle of her face, hence her name. Unfortunately, she has lost most of the blaze, but she still has hints of it. She may have lost most of her blaze, but she still streaks around the yard in wild abandon during play with her brother and sister.

While Lightning had shown very little interest in chasing the lure, she seems to have changed her mind. At the October 14th lure practice in Hutto, Texas, Lightning decided to step off her divan and show everyone she could run. She sure surprised me. Besides her new found running ability, Lightning shows great potential as a beauty queen. Ms. Lightning is a curvy, elegant girl with a wonderful side gait. Add soundness, stunning angles, beautiful bite, gorgeous neck, and just an overall lovely presence and you have quite a lovely lady. But beauty is only skin deep, so Lightning adds depth to her looks with a quiet, sweet disposition.

I had planned to find a home for Lightning with someone who was just starting in the breed and wanted to show, or with someone who could do her justice, but she was with me for so long I just got greedy and decided to keep her to myself. Currently, she and her sister, Hay Luz are involved in obedience training. I am hoping to get them involved in Rally and eventually Agility. Of course, I will also be bringing Ms. Lightning out to shows from time to time.

The problem with taking candid shots in place of formal stacked photos is that most of them do not turn out for one reason or another. The advantage is that I can't make the dog look like a dork because of my questionable skills as a presenter of show dogs if I am not stacking them. This is not quite a perfect stacked pose, but it works pretty well. Here Lightning is coiled and ready to leap into an attack on her siblings when the right moment presents itself. We had just had a bunch of rain and the dogs were having great fun getting soaking wet and filthy (the summer of 2007 was just as cool and wet as the summer of 2006 was hot and dry so that means we almost drowned and it never reached 100 degrees, weird).

Lightning stopping in a pretty good pose on April 18, 2008.

Lightning walking. I think the photo was taken around December of 2007.

On September 16, 2006 when the pups were five months of age, Deena Sessums helped me get stacked shots of the pups. I did not get photos of all the pups because the battery of my camera died, but I got some of them. At this point in time, Lightning was just recovering from about two months where she "fell apart." I mean, I have seen puppies fall apart before, but Lightning REALLY fell apart! I was actually wondering if I was going to have to take her to a specialist or something it was that bad. But that ugly duckling truly turned into a beautiful swan. Simply amazing.

This is the photo of Lightning's rear that Deena took. She has not completely recovered yet. Her rear is much better now.

Lightning runs! Much to my surprise and delight Lightning suddenly decide to get interested in the lure. Lucky for me, Dan Gause was taking photos at the competition where Lightning got her JC. So, not only did she get her JC, a title I never thought she would get, but I got some really nice photos. Cool!

Lightning enjoying herself as she soaks up some rays on a winter day, December 9, 2007.

January seems to be a good month for great profile photos. I was able to snap this photo of Lightning's profile on January 31, 2008.

As you can see in this photo, her rear is quite nice now. I just love those wide parallel rears! Photo taken on June 28, 2007.

The sun will take you to Lightning's B Litter Page