UKC Ch. Balmarle Frosting o' the Cake

1-22-99 to 2-3-12

Isis came to me as a puppy from Arlene Badura (Balmarle) 13 short years ago. Arlene had an AOAC litter sired by Ch. Macdega Asterisk out of Farpointe's Eleanor Rigby. She (Arlene) was enamored with one of the tri girls and mutual good friend, Pam Moore (Phoenix), ended up with Zipper, but I only had eyes for the pretty little blue girl. I was told that Gini Shaw (Shalimar) had first dibs on her, but there was some question about the amount of white Isis carried through her coat and Gini finally decided to give her a pass. I'd always wanted a blue merle and Isis was my first. She rode home inside my coat with her head peeking over the zipper. It took her about 24 hours to settle in and decide this might be a good place to stay, once she did she turned into a SAP (Sheltie American Princess). Haven't heard of a SAP? They are the Paris Hilton's of the sheltie world. They know they are pretty and privileged and expect everything to go their way and since they are pretty and have such insinuating manners that's pretty much what happens. I'd been a sheltie owner for over 10 years by then, but was naive about SAP's until Isis educated me. I didn't realize I was being educated for quite some time. The defining moment was the day Isis opted to pee on the kitchen floor because it was raining outside. We had a little discussion about the basic rules applying to pottying in the house and Isis calmly stared me in the eye and made it perfectly clear that such rules did not apply to her, especially if it is raining outside. Royal paws do not get damp....hmmmm....

The SAP attitude applies to herding ducks and sheep and other such like critters. I'm fortunate to have room and the inclination to raise shetland sheep as well as dogs and have introduced the dogs to the sheep at regular intervals. Isis was horrified by the presence of sheep poo when I set her down inside the pasture. "Ewwww!" appeared in a little balloon over her head and I swear she wrinkled her nose. We didn't try that experiment again.

Isis was shown in conformation and had some success. She was runner up to BISweeps under Karen Munster at the Interlocking specialty and earned a single AKC point under Joe Gregory, but she soon made it clear that dog shows were not her forte. She did earn her U-Ch title after a lot of begging, pleading and fuzzy butt kissing. Her final show to finish was won with her back turned to me (and the judge) as she stared longingly outside the ring. Bystanders thought she was "too precious" and I nearly handed them the lead and walked away. She was shown one other time. I entered her in the veteran's class at our SSCGD specialty a few years ago. We'd lost Arlene earlier that year and the specialty was dedicated to her and others we'd lost. I wanted Arlene to be represented by one of her dogs and decided Isis could suck it up for one show. Maybe time had mellowed her, I don't know, but Isis showed up a storm. I entered hoping to avoid humiliation, but then it began to look as though we might make the cut. We did better than that, Isis was second to Tiffany, Am. Can. Ch. Laureate's Fifth Avenue, who went on to BISS that day. Not too shabby and a real tribute to her breeder.

Isis didn't make her mark in the whelping box. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't choose the right dog for her, but none of her offspring carry on. They were either too big, too small or monorchid. She had four litters and whelping was difficult for her. She'd huff and puff and lean her head into my chest as I rubbed her tummy during each contraction. During her second pregancy, I barricaded her in my bedroom with a baby gate then fell asleep on the sofa. I woke to heavy panting and an exasperated yip. The SAP was in labor and her midwife was slacking! No, her puppies didn't take the show ring by storm, but they made several families very happy. Son, Raleigh, is visiting while his folks spend a week in Florida. I catch quick glimpses of Isis' expression and he has some of her little quirks of personality.

The one thing you could say Isis really excelled at was sleeping on the bed. She was the best bed dog, ever. She didn't hog the bed, she didn't fidget and fuss or stare a hole through my head when I was trying to sleep. She would curl herself into a neat little circle, snug her butt up against my leg and not move all night long. Oh....I'm going to miss her.

Isis' Pedigree
Isis' Sister
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