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 mother 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.

Lightning's Face. I really love the pencil thin white stripe of her blaze. When she was born there were no gaps in her blaze, but with time she lost part of her lightning bolt. This photo was taken on September 5, 2006.

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).

Here is Lightning at six weeks. At this age the three bitches were very similar. I was not sure which I liked best. This is one of Margaret Strother's photos.

Little Miss Lightning's front and rear at six weeks of age.

Here is Lightning at her most gawky. Deena Sessums took this photo for me.

Some puppies never fall apart, but others do to varying degrees. Lightning was one of those dogs who really fell apart. In fact it was so bad I was beginning to think I was going to have to consult an orthopedic specialist. You can sort of see the effects in these photos of her front and rear. However, everything turned out just fine. Lightning grew out of the uglies all by herself. One should never panic when watching borzoi puppies grow (though I must admit that can be hard to do at times).

Lightning was five months old. She is finally coming out of the uglies, finally! Ignore the weird person in the background. Since we had to be in the shade of the tree due the heat, I am trying to keep a branch out of the way. Deena Sessums took this photo.

Here is Lightning from the front and rear at five months of age. Finally, she is beginning to look like the sound athletic borzoi girl she has turned out to be.

Lightning walking in the yard.

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.