Belle is well named: charming, sweet, beautiful, vain, and deliberately empty-headed. She's far from stupid however as she manipulates everybody in the household (human and canine) and usually gets her way! Belle came to us from Laura Perkinson of Taichung Shibas - Mark flew out to Seattle to bring Belle home in February of 2000, heading home right in the middle of the big storm that shut down most of the airports on the east coast: the two of them (Mark and Belle) ended up spending a night in NYC before they made it home. Belle has had 2 litters, her first in July 2005, and her second in February 2007. She is OFA "Good", CERF "Clear" and has OFA Patellas "Normal" (CHIC).
In April of 2009, Belle offically retired from agility, and after ten years of being a superb partner in the agility, rally, and conformation rings, she is enjoying the life of being a pampered pet with Christine and Jean-Luc. In our time working together, Belle earned 28 titles, half a dozen points towards a conformation championship, half a dozen Rally-O Q's and almost 200 Agility Qs. Some of the highlights of our competitive career include a Rally-O High in Trial at the NSCA trial, her earning 2 placement trophies at the 2007 CPE Nationals, and her being a member of the 1st place team at the annual Can-Am Agility Games. We miss her, but know she is very happy where she is. You can follow her continuing adventures here.
Belle winning Best Puppy in Match her first time out! (left) and Belle hanging out at home with her "Auntie Sarah" (right).
Belle (age 3 years), baby Norah (age 1 week), and me.
Belle in action: happy and muddy after a day hiking on the AT in Vermont (left), canoeing in Maine (center, hanging out of the stern of the boat), and cross country skiing with the family (right).
Belle at home: in the back yard (left) and sleeping on me at about 3 months old (right)
Belle with our friends Jon and Joann on top of Mt. Layfayette.