Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Happy Birthday Nike!!!

Jubilee, Coal, Nike, Hunter, July 27, 2011
Nike turned 13 years old today. She came to me at the age of 20 months, from California. She has been, quite simply, a marvelous addition to my life. As a young dog, she was a spitfire and a flier--drawing blood in protection work when the helper didn't play by what she considered fair rules.
21 months old
A small girl with compact muscling and bearcub ears, at first she thought the only thing I was good for was throwing the ball. Pets were for in-between ball throws and snuggling was not high on her priority list.
An early training session in Virginia, around 1999







2002 or so, getting her Sch2 title
Nike's first litter--Blackthorn's B litter out of Bodo v Tiekerhook

In her time with me, she produced a number of excellent sons and daughters, and it is an amazing pleasure to see her with her grandchildren nowadays.

2010 -- Nike, age 12, with grandson Lynx, 18 months

Nike, followed by grandson Lynx, grandson Musket, and daughter Hunter, 2010

As she has aged, she has only gotten so she enjoys life even more--people have become a great pleasure to her and she loves nothing more than to find a visitor and climb in their lap on the sofa with her ball.
Coal and Nike, 2010

Nike and granddaughter Macha, 2010

Nike and Jasper, around 2009

Nike and Flint voted in 2008

Nike and Ruffian

Today, I took pictures of her with her son and two daughters--Jubilee (Ash daughter), Coal (Ash son), and Hunter (Alex daughter)--and then we went into town and walked through the aisles of Petsmart, letting her explore and sniff and pick out a few toys to take home. Then I bought her a bag of ice (my icemaker is broken, tragedy!!!) and at home, I gave her a toy, a bowl of ice, and a marrow bone. She wasn't sure what to enjoy first!
A marrow bone, a squeaky toy, and icebones--life is good!

eenie, meenie, miney, mo....

3 comments:

Dom said...

Happy birthday, Nike :) Looks like the good life to me.

pat1755 said...

AWwww, happy Bday, Nike! I love these pics!

I was telling the Engineer about you and your dogs last night. I hope at some point I'll be in a position to get one of your GSDs -- not a working dog, obvs, but a runt or a return, a dog that just wants to be a pet.

You do good work! xox Cronopio

Country Girl said...

What a happy feeling! Congrats on the birthday. Here's hoping she has many more healthy years to come!