Star free standing in the yard on a November day in 1995.

Star's Pedigree

Breeder: Kent Jones and Francie Stull

August 4, 1989 - November 21, 2000

Star was quite a bitch. She was a solid 31 inches tall at the shoulders and quite heavy built as well. She was a very substantial bitch. Star was also a very successful show dog. Although Star got a rather slow start, once she matured she was undefeated in the classes. She was quite a surprise for me since I had never shown a dog who was so successful. Donner did finish fairly quickly, but sometimes he won, sometimes he did not. Star, however, once she started winning, won every single time I took her out.

While winning is fun, I found Star's show career to have its drawbacks. First, Star was the only dog I had to show, so once finished, my showing fun would be at an end for several years. Also, winning so consistently was sort of like that episode on the "Twilight Zone" where the guy dies and finds himself in a place where he can choose whether he would win or loose all the time. He was a gambler and at first all the winning was wonderful, but after a while it lost its appeal. After all, if you know you are going to win, what is the point? He thought he was in Heaven, but when he went to the administration, to insist that a mistake had been made, he found that there was no mistake and he was NOT in Heaven. I steadfastly insisted that each time I walked into the ring there was just as much chance that Star would loose as win. But win she did. Interestingly enough, while her class career was quite impressive, she never did anything once she became a special, though I admit that I did not show her much as a special. At that time all my other dogs were getting old and I needed to be financially conservative to assure I could meet their health needs.

I could never understand why Star won so consistently (perhaps I am just dense). During the time I was showing her, there were some very nice, worthy bitches being shown. Why the judges did not notice them when Star was in the ring is a mystery to me. After all, no dog is everything to all judges. Star was very large for a bitch and not everyone likes large examples of a breed. Also she was rather obviously hocky. I love well built rears, so this fault of hers really bothered me. Obviously it did not bother any of the judges I showed her under. She also pounded the ground with her front when she moved. She did carry lots of coat for a bitch. I had to learn to hack great quantities off of her back otherwise she looked like a well formed ice block with red spots. I think the copious hair on her pants and tail helped hide her hockiness, it must have. She would also hold her tail very low while in the ring. She always took showing very seriously. She would hold her tail higher in my yard but it was correct and never went over the level of her back. Her tail did have a ring right at the end of it. But despite her faults, Star was quite an impressive bitch overall and apparently demanded attention in the ring.

But show success tells you nothing about Star. She was quiet and polite with a bit of a sneaky streak. Whenever I left her in the house for any period of time, she would pick up something, just one thing, and mouth it. She was always gentle with it, but she just had to mess with something. She was also very patient. With grace and long suffering patience, Star put up with baby Zodi's frenetic attempts to get her to play with him. Star also helped to raise Sartre and Porphyry. She was a true lady.

I tried to run her multiple times at ASFA events. However, she only ran all the way around the course once. This was a disappointment for me because at this time I was still trying to get a borzoi who would chase plastic with no success.

Star never really showed her age. One evening Star seemed restless. I could not find anything wrong. Very early the next morning, Star awakened me and asked to go outside. When I called her in for breakfast a few hours later she did not come. I found her body outside, curled up in her favorite corner. Her necropsy was inconclusive. While apparently peaceful and fast, her death was quite a shock. I miss her quiet grace and faithful presence.

This is Star waiting to come into the house. She is six years old in this photo.

These are the only photos I have of Star scanned right now. It will take some time to get more photos up, but eventually I will.