CURRENT NEWS

work as they continue to produce dogs that are healthy, capable, and beautiful.

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Conformation, Obedience and Rally Obedience competition held at the Greater Ocala Show Grounds. Whether you are competing or not, come on over to the shows and cheer other PONs on, and visit all the great vendors.

November 19,2010....Friday evening at the PON Motor Home Complex on the Show Grounds...Beginning at 6 PM

ALL OF THE RAFFLE ITEMS WILL BE ON DISPLAY AND YOU CAN PURCHASE RAFFLE TICKETS.

Jeanne Richter has an array of doggie games, doggie costume contest, etc. Lots of room to relax and enjoy the festivities. Please bring a crate for your PON/Beardie so they can relax and have their dinner while the humans enjoy the "CHILI COOK-OFF." We will have many different types of Chili for everyone to taste and vote on, and then eat 'till your heart is content. If anyone wants to enter their favorite Chili recipe please contact Bernadette Mauch, (Bearington Bear's Mom) who is coordinating the CHILI Event. You can e-mail her at rebamauch@msn.com . We'll have all your favorite toppings as well as a "MOJITO FOUNTAIN" for you to enjoy. We'll have water and soft drinks as well. BYOB if you want, we'll provide the ice, glasses, etc.

We also are planning to have newly married, Master Groomer, PON Owner, Professional Handler, Gina Helmbrecht Cobussen, give us some tips on grooming our PONs, and last, but not least, "Infamous Professional Handler, breeder, and "stand-up comic", (also Vice-President of the Central Florida PON Fanciers Club), Bill Munsey, will give us handling tips, along with his "straight man", Jeff Cirtwell. You may want to use caution before adopting any of their "tips."

PON Supported Entry, at the Show Grounds, with Judge Miroslav Redlicki, from Poland, judging Puppy Sweeps, Veterans and all the Regular Classes. Time to be announced. Please plan to be there, to support all of the PONs that are competing, and to give a big welcome to Miroslav Redlicki. You will have a chance to meet him at our Dancing With The Star's Party that evening.

DANCING WITH THE STAR'S 2010, will be at Merrilee and Jeff's home, beginning around 6 PM. Casual attire and bring your dancing shoes so you can dance to our Live Band, under the Star's. Great food, new friends, old friends, AND THE RAFFLE !!!! You will be amazed at the gorgeous, unique raffle items. If you want to bring your PONs, be sure to bring your crate along, as we will have an area set up for them to relax and watch all of us humans kick our heels up.

Don't hesitate to call or e-mail us if you have any questions, at whitestarpons@earthlink.net , or 352 369-3729. Please RSVP as soon as possible, so we'll know how many to plan for.

I will try to tell the story, as best as I can remember, without getting too emotional. Yes, it was that great! It was the perfect PON weekend. It wasn't about competition, standards, clubs, whose dog came from where, gossip, criticism, or hurt feelings. It was about getting together, with our PONs, and having a party weekend. There were about 40 people, and 27 PONs. They came from all over. There were people who had never met each other, people who knew all the PONs by name, people who have had differences in the past, first time PON parents, and people there without their PONs, because it was too far for them to travel. The one thing they all had in common, was how much they love this breed. Their smiles, as well as many of the PONs smiles, lit up our days and nights, for this one magical weekend. The weekend culminated at our home on Saturday night....dancing under a beautiful star studded sky, fabulous music, and some of the best food we've ever eaten. The highlight of the evening, was the Raffle. There were 23 raffle items, all donated, and we raised $973, which we have pledged to Michigan State University toward the PON PRA Research Project. I have spoken to them and was thrilled to learn they only need the blood tests of a couple more "affected" PONs before they can start the research for our breed. Needless to say, financial support has to continue, for them to get a matching grant from the AKC Health Foundation. This is an achievable goal, and one that will help us wipe out PRA in the PONs.

Here are some of the many photos from the weekend, and we're expecting more to come.

Bentley and Jeff (Rick Roth in background) Jeanne Richter, Bernadette Mauch, Virginia Chirchirillo

A very tired party committee, minus Laurie Haas, (who was probably cleaning the kitchen), and Scott & Patty Riddile,

who were home nursing Patty's back injury, wishing they were here to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Left to right: Merrilee, Jeff, Barbara Stransky, Dave Haas and Jeanne Richter. What a great team!!

**Please note that each of these people did so much to make this weekend a success. I just wanted to put their photo up now,

so everyone knew who they were. There is so much I want to share, and will, when time permits. So many people helped

View out to SW 61st Place Road Stone path Jeff built to the rose garden he surprised me with...

Our vegetable garden turned flower garden for winter Another of Jeff's creations

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OLD NEWS: What started out to be White Star Reunion party has evolved into a full blown weekend for lots of PONs and their people. The festivities will begin on Friday, at the La Quinta Inns and Suites, which is our Host Hotel. Several folks will be arriving earlier as they are entered in the 4 day show in Ocala, featuring Conformation, Obedience, and Rally Obedience, November 12th through November 15th.

We will have a PON Hospitality Room in the lobby of the hotel, and plan to have a little PON puppy match late that afternoon, with stuff to eat and drink...maybe an impromptu grooming session, or maybe not...mainly, we're all looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting new friends, and talking about our favorite subject...PONs!!! Also plan either a raffle or silent auction with lots of great PON stuff.

If you haven't made your hotel reservations yet, please hurry. Call the La Quinta Inn at 352 861-1137 and make sure you tell them that you are with WHITE STAR PONS, as we have a block of rooms reserved.

Central Florida PON Fanciers, Inc. is hosting Supported Entries for Conformation, Obedience and Rally Obedience, on Saturday and Sunday, and are offering a Custom Made Sash to EVERY PON ENTRY!!

SATURDAY IS THE BIG DAY!!!! The day begins at the Greater Ocala Dog Club Show Grounds, where we are expecting a lot of PONs to compete in several areas:

In CONFORMATION, there will also be a Best Veteran In Show! In addition to the Sash's that every entry will receive, there are beautiful Ceramic Custom Made PON Trivets that have been donated by White Star PONs in loving memory of "OLIVIA", for Best of Breed, Best of Opposite, Winners Dog, Winners Bitch, and Best Veteran.

In OBEDIENCE AND RALLY, White Star PONs, has donated beautiful Custom Made PON Plates and Trivets for the Highest Scoring PONs in specific classes. These trophies are in loving memory of "CHELSEA" Farrell, one of the most titled Obedience PONs ever! Again, EVERY entry will receive the Club Sash offered by Central Florida PON Fancier's.

Starting around 5 P.M. everyone (PONs included) is invited back to our home, in Ocala, for our 'DANCING WITH THE STARS PARTY." Live Band, lots of food and drink, games for the PONs, and lots of laughs, I'm sure.

We have already received several donations toward the raffle/silent auction, but can always use more, as any of the profit will be donated toward PRA research in the PON.

Time to go groom "the kids" right now, but, please think seriously about coming to Florida in November, and joining us for our 'First Annual Dancing With The Stars." We look forward to spending time with all of you and your PONs!!

Merrilee, Jeff, Pooh, Higgins, Carly Rose, Bentley, Bernice, Elli Mae, and Maisie Rae

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Lots going on at the White Star Home...getting ready for Bernice and Higgins puppies due on June 4th. Just got back from our vacation and it was one of the most wonderful, relaxing trips, ever! We took 6 of our PONs (Maisie Rae stayed with Earl, Sandy and Daphne, as she was too young to roam around in the Tennessee Mountains.), packed the Yukon, attached a full trailer of crates, x-pens and plastic boxes filled with our clothes, and more doggie stuff, and headed for Roan Mountain, Tennessee, at 3 A.M., June 15th. The "kids" slept most of the way, and were awesome travelers. We arrived at our "Bear Cabin" around 4 P.M.. Higgins and Bentley led the way up the outside stairs, followed closely by Pooh, Bernice, Carly Rose and Elli Mae. They spent the next 30 minutes checking out every nook and cranny.

The next 2 days we took Bentley, Carly Rose and Elli Mae over to the dog show in Gray, Tennessee, where we met up with our good friends, Jenny and Steve, along with Princeton (Bentley's brother), and Priscilla (Higgins and Bernice's daughter). The weather was spectacular, and so was Princeton. He won Best of Breed both days, and he and Jenny took their first Group Placements ever...Group 4 on Saturday and Group 3 on Sunday. Carly Rose took Best of Opposite both days. Great weekend!!

The following are random photos taken of our memory filled vacation....We stayed in the "Bear Cabin"...hence, the following sign.

Higgins rolling on his back.."I'm so happy!" Higgins and Bentley on the front porch

Back home, with all of our treasures..................going back in October, 2009.................

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It's been almost 3 years since I've kept "Current News" current! These past 3 years have been some of the best, and some of the worst for us. Like most everyone else, the economy has forced us to make some major changes in our lives. We quit showing our PONs, with the exception of a few fun shows nearby, as we were physically and financially worn out. Not being on the road 40 out of every 52 weeks has really brought a lot of tranquility back into our home. We have more time to spend with "our kids" and each other. We've been getting enormous joy out of gardening and working around the house, adding colorful plants and designing focus areas for all of us. Today, Jeff brought home a wonderful fountain, which we immediately set up on our newly enclosed screen porch. It is so peaceful, and once the "kids" figure out it's not their new water bowl, we can all enjoy it.

Sadly, within 4 months we lost our best friend, Julane White, on October 1, 2008. Less than 3 months later, my Dad died on Christmas Day, and February 16th, 2009, we lost our beloved Olivia. Also, in October 2008, one of our very dearest friends was diagnosed with breast cancer. She's had a rough time, but as of now, the outlook is brighter. She'll be especially happy when her hair grows back in!

On the very bright side, we have had 2 wonderful litters of puppies, and because of them, have gained some great new friends who are now part of the White Star Family. Bentley has grown up (well, sort of), and he sired his first litter of 8 puppies. They were born on New Year's Eve, 2008, so Olivia got to spend 6 weeks with them before she passed away. Olivia always loved and cared for puppies...regardless of whose they were. We ended up keeping one of the little girls from that litter, who we named Maisie Rae.

We have 7 PONs living with us, and we cherish every minute we have with them. Pooh will be 11 in November, and she's still as beautiful as ever. Hard to believe that, my "soul mate", Higgins, will be 8 in October. He is such a joy. Carly Rose, who believes SHE is Jeff's wife, and that I am the "other woman", just turned 5. She is so much like her Grandma Olivia, it's scary. Bernice, our favorite "chocolate squirrel" was 3 years old in March. Bentley will turn 3 in November. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't fill this home with laughter! Elli Mae will turn 2 years old in November, and spends most of her days babysitting Maisie Rae, who is only 17 weeks old. Those two are joined at the hip!

We are planning a weeks vacation beginning May 15th. We have rented a cabin on a lake, in Roan Mountain, TN., AND, we are taking all 7 PONs with us!! Most people think we're nuts, but we really don't enjoy going anywhere without them. They make our lives so full, in so many ways. It is such an honor for us to be their companions for life.

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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."

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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!!

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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.

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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.