Category Archives: Uncategorized

Catch The Spirit

Hi…I’m Spirit….actually my formal name is Esprit du Reve de la Reverie….It means Spirit of River’s Dream.  You might wonder how I got that name.  Well, let me tell you.

I came to my mom in a dream but, she said I was too early because River (my half-uncle) was only 9 and had many more good years left in him.  Then, the unthinkable happened…River was diagnosed with cancer that unbeknownst to anyone had spread throughout his body and he left us within days.

I was born December 7, 2017 in Mountain Ranch, CA.  My mom actually almost adopted a Belgian Turvuren but something stopped her just before she was heading out to see the puppy and somehow she found Carol, my breeder.  In talking together, they discovered that my dad, Quest, was actually River’s half-brother….how weird is that.  Carol actually matched the puppies to the prospective owners and the rest is history.

I have a white blaze, just like River…and Mudd before him…and Magic, who started my mom on her love of Belgian Sheepdogs.

My mom, Terry, and my dad, Hal, visited me when I was only 5 weeks old but, they didn’t know if I would be the one to come home with them yet.

Carol let them know that I would be the one right before they came back to Mountain Ranch to pick me up.  It was February.  I was 10 weeks old and a little frightened of leaving the only home I knew.

We thought we would spend the night in Fresno but decided to drive all the way back to Huntington Beach.  I met my very large “uncle” Jack that night.  Jack, a German Shepherd blend (and a rescue) had also been diagnosed with cancer but he underwent chemo and his was in remission.  What we didn’t know was that a different form of cancer had snuck in and like River, he went to the Rainbow Bridge the week after I arrived.  My mom thinks he waited until I came into her life before he felt like he could leave.  (She has had dogs all of her life.)Here I am at the beach shortly after I arrived in HB.

Mom says I live up to my name every day.  I am very smart, headstrong and full of spirit.

For fun, I like to play with all of my dog friend’s, especially Sophie, a golden retriever, and Marley, a pit mix, and I love going to my special park and playing “chase & retrieve the ball” with my dad.

My other favorite thing to do is agility.  I am in Agility 2 and could graduate to 3 easily (I have been doing the closed weave poles for months) but, sometimes I forget to pay attention to my mom and the commands and make up my own course.  Mom…I promise I will listen!!!!

So…there you have it…my life until now.

Even though I am still a puppy….I am taking on the task of carrying on for my uncles, Jack & River, and making sure I keep promoting nonprofits who make a difference.

Feel free to contact me if you have something you would like me to post on our website.

Love & licks,

Spirit

 

 

In the Spirit of River

This is my last post because, I have already gone to the Rainbow Bridge to join all of my dog friends.  But, before I left…in fact, before my parents discovered I had cancer, I sent my mom a dream.

I sent her a dream of a female Belgian Sheepdog whose name was Spirit.  Mom didn’t know it then but, I was really sending her a big message.  In the dream, mom saw Spirit, a black Belgian Sheepdog, just like me but, she told Spirit that she had to wait because, I was going to be around for at least another 3 years.  Little did she know that the next week, I would be diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in my spleen and in my lungs and that I would be leaving way before the 3 years was up.  I didn’t tell her in the dream.  I just introduced her to Spirit who I knew would fill the big hole she was going to have in her heart.

My mom, who lives to have dogs in her life, decided that she would start looking for a girl Belgian but first found a litter of Tervurens in riverside who had an available girl puppy and although mom got interested, she kept looking.  This is where it begins to get strange.

 

One Dog Can Make A Difference

Although it isn’t until June, I have started my campaign to promote Soroptimist International’s Walk to Make a Difference that club members fondly refer to as “The River Walk”.

Here is my first attempt at speaking in my own voice….What happened to my feathers you might ask?  Well, my dad cropped them in this picture but keep watching as they grow back.

Love & Licks…as always…and thank you for caring and for sharing!

River