05/24/2026
Breeding is a lot of work and definitely a labor of love. There is stress and worry and heartache but most importantly there is joy. My joy is matching the perfect puppy to every family and then hearing about it later! I’m so proud of my breeding program. I want to share this email that I received from Pam(with her permission). Pam is the proud owner of Pepper(Pixie/Pargo 2 years old):
Pepper is now doing and/or taking classes in:
*Modified Agility: courses devised of various obstacles including: climb tables, tunnels, teeters. wobble boards, jumps, etc
*Rally Obedience
*Nosework
*Skateboarding
*Hide and Seek
*A myriad of tricks
*She'll be taking the AKC Fetch test at the end of the month, just for fun. We'll be doing one indoor test, which should be easy. But she's also taking an outdoor test; that one's a toss up, as she doesn't get outside off leash very often, so she may just sniff and not really fetch. We'll see...
Additionally, she can find my phone for me (I put cotton soaked in Lavender essential oil in plastic between the phone and its case). And most important of all, she is my personal Service Dog. She picks up things I drop. (I can still s-l-o-w-l-y bend to pick them up myself, but my balance is not always good, and my back is slowly getting stiffer and stiffer, so I have trained her to help me now, but especially for the future.) She goes everywhere with me. In fact, she will be flying to DC with my sister and me, as my Service Dog, next weekend to attend my grandnephew's high-school graduation.
I am also going to get her certified as a therapy dog as soon as I can find time to arrange the testing.
All this, and she's just turning two!
And she has sooo many friends!!!. I'm throwing an open house/drop-in birthday party for her again this year--tomorrow. Last year between 60-70 people showed up to wish her a happy birthday. I'm expecting as many--or more this year. I've made 40 dozen slice-and-bake cookies, and have bought liters of diet Rootbeer and Gingerale. That's what we went through last year.
My trainer agrees that Pepper is extremely smart, and I have to admit I'm having trouble keeping up with her and keeping her challenged! I just bought a book of 118 tricks you can teach your dog. There may be some she can't physically do, but it should give us more challenges to work on.
Celeste, again I want to thank you for choosing Pepper for me. She has given me so much pleasure: as my cuddly, loving, bouncy, velcro, happy baby girl; as well as a challenging partner who keeps me from getting depressed and isolated by forcing me to be active and social and coming up with new challenges for her; as well as a helper as my Service Dog. All this in a black, hard to see, 8.5 pound bouncy, always happy bundle who is barely two years old!
I know there are many more things about her I haven't mentioned: these are just the highlights! But you get the idea. So many people have asked for the name of her breeder; while many others have threatened to steal her! (I tell them: "She's microchipped, I can prove she's mine, and I WILL press charges!")
Everyone who meets her immediately falls in love with her and must stop to pet her, even if they're in a hurry-- she gets so excited and wiggly. Here at Elim Park I have to leave 10 minutes early if I'm going anywhere on campus, so many people stop us to pet her (not greet me)! Even family visitors say "this must be Pepper" when they see us in the hallway! You get the picture.
So I thank you for two years of amazing love, joy, challenge, and pleasure--well, maybe one year. The first year was a question of which would occur first: would she kill me or would I kill her! But we both survived, so I guess it was two years.
Thank you, again and again and again, Celeste. And keep on breeding your amazing puppies who bring so much to their families. You truly do provide a service to the world.
Pepper's Mom
