CURRENT NEWS

It's only June 20th, and what a month we've had. Last weekend we showed Higgins and Bentley at the Lakeland, Florida shows. Bentley, who is only 6 months old, got his first Major, by taking Winners Dog and Best of Winners. Higgins won a Group 3 and a Group 4. The Groups on Saturday were filmed and will be on ESPN in mid October.

On June 7th, Jeff packed up the Yukon, with all of our "stuff", and Higgins, Olivia, Bentley, Jeff and I headed for the National Specialty in Wheaton, Illinois. There were 50 PONs entered, which was a record number of PONs at any of our Specialties. We drove for about 19 hours, stopping in Marietta, Georgia our first night, to rest. When we arrived in Palos Heights, Illinois, we were welcomed by our dear friends, Jan and Julie, in grand style. The Polish flag was flying proudly in front of their home which really confused the neighbors, because neither of them is Polish. They had invited us to stay in their beautiful home with them while we were in the Chicago area. Talk about 1st class!! They made gourmet dinners for us every night, but made sure I got my "Chicago pizza" fix, as well as my "White Castle" fix, and my "Italian beef sandwich" fix...much to my delight. You see, I was born and raised in the Chicago area, so it was like going home for me. They don't have those delicacies in Florida.

On Saturday, Higgins won the National Specialty!!! Higgins son, Miseu, won the first Award of Merit, which is an award the judge can choose to give to a few dogs, who in his opinion, were in final contention for the Best of Breed. Bentley, at 6 months old, won Reserve Winners Dog, which is kind of like 2nd place non-champion male, and Olivia won Best Female Veteran at 12 1/2 years old. Higgins, and 2 of his get, Miseu and Pippin won the Stud Dog class, which is where the Judge evaluates your breeding program looking first, at the Stud, and then his offspring, looking to see that, as Breeders, we have continued to try to improve the breed and keep the quality that we already have. Higgins topped off the day by taking a Group 2 in the Herding Group. What an awesome day!! We came back to Jan and Julie's for a celebratory dinner, and drinks!

We received a telephone call from Julane, on our way back to Jan and Julie's, telling us that our, now, "Australian PON", Ch White Star's It's All In The Family, aka, "Connor", took a Group 1 in his very first show in Australia, which was the same day Higgins won the Specialty!! Connor had only gotten out of quarantine the day before! What an awesome day!!!

On Sunday, Higgins son, Champion White Star's Baron, affectionately called Miseu, won Best of Breed over 30 plus PONs, including his Dad. Miseu is owned and loved by Kris Wozniak of Venice, California, who drove all by herself, in her motorhome, with 4 dogs, from California to Chicago, to attend the Specialty. Boy, is she brave!! Miseu, more than made the trip worthwhile by winning the Breed and taking a Group 4 in the Herding Group. We returned to Jan and Julie's where they had a big BBQ for us, with many of their friends in attendance, to celebrate our wonderful weekend.

Monday morning came too soon, and Jeff packed up the Yukon, once again, as we readied to head home. There were a lot of tears when we left..the kind that fill your heart, knowing that we are fortunate enough to have such wonderful friends. Jan had a little ceremony, took down the Polish flag, folded it, and presented it to us as we left. Boy, did we hate to leave!

About 2 hours into our trip, we made a short jog from our scheduled route and went to see old and dear friends, Dorothy and Paul Stott, in El Paso, Illinois. Dorothy and I worked together at Illinois Bell Telephone Company 100 years ago! Jeff had never met them, and I hadn't seen them in over 10 years. We had lunch and caught up on as much as we could, before getting back on the road and heading for Florida. It was so wonderful to see them. As we were leaving, Dorothy gave us a beautiful, small crystal sculpture of two hearts and a butterfly, to remind us of them, until the next time our paths cross.

We drove about 11 hours to Chattanooga, TN. where we spent the night and tried to figure out how we were going to get the rest of the way home, because a huge Tropical Storm, named Alberto, was heading straight for Florida, planning to arrive at the same time we were. We did make it home safely, although it was pretty scary once we got into Florida...lots of wind and torrential rain. Life is good!

Our friends, Jenny and Steve, had stayed at our house while we were gone to take care of the rest of our "furry kids", and once we settled down, someone had the great idea to have a few drinks to celebrate the whole experience. Jenny and I were really "hung over" the next morning! I can't even think of wine, even now, and it's 1 week later.

We spent much of the time working on the house with different projects. We added more sod, and created an island in the center of our property, which we used to reroute our driveway. It turned out very nice. Now, we just need the plants and flowers to finish landscaping it. We went to several Florida Shows and Higgins started placing in some Groups, finally. He got a Group 3 in Vero Beach, a Group 1 & 2 in West Palm Beach, and a Group 3 in Ft. Myers. We welcomed Aileen Jenkins from Australia, into our home for a week in May. She was here to pick up Ch White Star's It's All In The Family, aka "Connor", and take him back to their home to love and show. We had a delightful time while she was here, and, more tears were shed, when it was time for our new friend and Connor to "go down under."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have to stop here for now but will be back to tell you about our fabulous trip to Westminster with Higgins and more special friends, Connie, John and Eileen. I'll give you a hint...HIGGINS WON THE BREED AT WESTMINSTER!!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

It's been an amazing year so far. In January, Higgins won the Regional Specialty in Deland, under the well known Polish Judge, Miroslav Redlicki and Olivia won Best Veteran at 12 years old. It was a thrill for us to have Judge Redlicki see Olivia again, after so many years. He judged Olivia, and gave her Best of Breed, in 1997, in Washington DC , while we were still in the Rare Breeds.

Also, in January, I showed Ch White Star's Zachary T (Zach) at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championships in Tampa, Florida. It was quite a day, as we won Best of Breed AND Best Bred By Exhibitor. Bred By is a very special class to us as Breeders, because it is an opportunity to show a dog that you not only own, but bred, as well.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

October 27, 2005: Higgins and Mom just got back from spending 4 days at New Symrna Beach, FL.

OCTOBER 8, 2005 :White Star's Newest Champion shown below: Ch White Star's Baron aka Miseu, owned by Kris Wozniak, Venice, California.

MORE CURRENT NEWS TO COME. BELOW IS OLD NEWS. 11/17/05

We've had quite a year. In April, we put our Orlando house up for sale and sold it in 1 day! This presented a huge problem....we were "homeless" with 5 PONs and 4 PON puppies. We knew where we wanted to build but had not even found the property yet. We needed a place to live for 6-7 months and were overwhelmed when Julane White offered to let us all live with her on her Arabian Horse Farm in Citra, Florida until our house was built. Julane is a good friend who we met when she purchased her first PON (Paddington Bear) from us. Talk about friends in a time of need!!

All in all, things went pretty well and we moved into our beautiful new home on 1 1/4 acres in Ocala, Florida, the day before Thanksgiving.

The "kids" have a huge, tree filled back yard and an awesome house to live in. Jeff and I did a lot of the work ourselves...well, Jeff mostly. He tiled the entire house (about 2100 square feet and I grouted. He laid 4800 square feet of sod and I watered, and watered and watered. He pre wired the entire house for surround sound and a central vacuum system and I just watched. We designed our fireplace and he tiled and grouted it as I just continued to watch. As I write this he is outside putting up Christmas lights on our dream house. We are really looking forward to spending our first Christmas here.

Click on all pictures to view larger

We didn't show quite as much this year. We honestly couldn't afford it.

We did show Higgins at several Florida Shows and he finished ranked as the #1 Male PON in Breed Points for 2004. He has been invited, for the 3rd year in a row, to compete at The AKC/Eukanuba National Championships in January, 2005 and Westminster, February, 2005. UPDATE: Higgins won Best of Breed at AKC/Eukanuba on January 16, 2005 and won the only Award of Merit at Westminster. Our other male, Ch White Star's Zachary T won the Breed at Westminster, so it's been quite an exciting start of a new year.

Jeff showed a pup from Winnie and Higgins last litter. Bearington Bear took a 5 point major his first weekend out at 7 months old and his second 5 point major at 8 months old at the Regional Specialty in Sarasota. That was quite a thrill for us and for Bear's parents, Bernadette and Richard Mauch of Ocala, Florida and The Abacos. Jeff finished Bear as an AKC Champion at Starke, Florida, January 30, 2005 at 8 months old. Bear was the 18th White Star dog to finish its AKC Championship. In April, 2005, Jeff finished White Star's Belle Fleur...#19! Belle and her Mom, Deborah Burand, live in Washington DC.

Thanks for visiting us and please come back soon.