It’s hard to tell the story of either Blondie or Ian without including the other, so to keep from repeating myself, I’ll intertwine their stories. Blondie and Ian are out of my first attempt at breeding. They were whelped on March 29, 1999. Jennifer was kind enough to finish whelping puppies just before I had to report for my first assignment as a Dresser for the road tour of “The Phantom of the Opera”. I was really caught up in this production, and the puppies!. As the weeks went by I became fast friends with two of the actors; Ian Jon Bourg, who played Monsieur Firmin and Steven Stein-Grainger who played Piangi. Steven is the one who urged me to keep the tri smooth male puppy, even though I was keeping the sable smooth female puppy. So I decided to keep both, and as a joke we named the tri puppy Ian, and registered him as Dune’s Phantom of the Opera. The little sable girl was so blond headed when she was born that we called her Blondie, and registered her as Dune’s Blonde Ambition. Blondie and Ian were inseparable as puppies. Where one was the other was either right there or really close by. When Jennifer died Blondie and Ian were just shy of their 1^st birthday. It killed me what had happened to her and I couldn’t bear the sight of her lovely two kids. Blondie was especially hard to take as she looked so much like her Momma that the only way we could tell them apart was by looking for the tip of their tails. If you saw a white tip it was Jennifer, if not, it was Blondie. Both puppies took this in stride, but Ian being a more sensitive sort really tuned into my feelings. I showed both dogs with limited success. Then about six weeks after Jennifer died Blondie and another dog found their way out of the fenced yard and met us at the end of the driveway. My heart dropped when I saw Blondie and so when she came into season I decided to breed her, as I was afraid that if this happened again I would lose the lines I was working with. Ian in the meantime had become my one-show wonder. I had put a lot of pressure on both Ian and myself following Jennifer’s death and it usually reared it ugly head the second day of a show weekend. Ian would just not use his ears to show that gorgeous expression. Well, despite my handling I put all but the last major he needed on him. My friend, Terry Jennings, was kind enough to show him at one show and that finished him. Ian’s greatest accomplishment to date is winning the UKC Top Ten Best of Breed at the 2005 Premier! Blondie had limited showing but is left needing one 3 point major to finish her AKC Championship, but she did manage to earn her UKC Championship. Ian and Blondie are now almost 9-1/2 years old and are enjoying their retirement.