November 29, 2003…..what a day that was. Sabrina finally whelped her litter of only four pups. We held our breath, hoping that she would have that smooth bitch we were looking for. Pup number one was a smooth bitch…hurray. The rest of the pups were rough, two more girls and a boy. Hubby immediately named the smooth bitch “Tabitha”. I protested that I wasn’t going to carry on the “witch” theme with this litter, but permitted this one name. But Tabitha soon bewitched the both of us. She was marked exactly like Sabrina, but was a more loving dog. She actually craved the attention where her dam would only permit it. I will say this, my girls were running true to form. Jennifer and Blondie were look-alikes, and now Sabrina and Tabitha followed suit. But when it came to showing….Tabitha was her greatgranddam reincarnated. At her first show as we waited ringside Tabitha found a grooming table to lay under to catch a nap before showing. When our time came she rose, shook herself off and proceeded to astound everyone. She showed like she had been doing it all her life. I was absolutely thrilled!!!! Tabitha was the show dog I wanted, but there were some things that needed correcting when I bred her. In 2005 I had purchased another bitch from a breeder in Tennessee. I located another breeder in Canada who had bought her litter sister and we started talking. This friendship opened doors to dogs that would help me correct the things that needed correcting. In March of 2007 we met and traveled to the CCA Nationals together. As an after thought, Tabitha went with us and then left with Sandi to go back to Canada to be shown and bred. In May of 2007 Tabitha was bred and finished her Canadian Championship all in the same weekend. I drove up to Sandi’s for what was to be the first of many trips. Unfortunately Tabitha didn’t get pregnant and then developed pyometra (a uterine infection). I was determined to breed this bitch, so we treated her and kept our fingers crossed. In the meantime Hubby and I had decided that we would move to Canada when he retired. Sandi had offered me a job and I had accepted. In December of 2007 I once again traveled up to Sandi’s to take four dogs up. Among those dogs was Tabitha. About a week later Sandi called me and said that Tabitha was in season. I was flabbergasted. Not Tabitha, our girls only cycle once a year and it had only been seven months. Well, I told Sandi that if she was truly in season go ahead and breed her to Jackpot as we had originally planned. God must have been smiling on us that January, because Tabitha did get pregnant this time. And we were all very thankful as Jackpot passed away in February. In March of 2008 Tabitha whelped a litter of six, but we unfortunately lost two of the little souls. And for the first time since Jennifer’s litter we got tri’s!!! I have always wanted a tri smooth girl from my breeding and Tabitha delivered. Her litter consisted of one tri smooth girl, two sable rough girls, and a tri rough boy. The curse of the all sable litters had been broken. So now I have a New Beginning…..