Pom Reader May 2007
Sierra Poms
Let
me first start by saying thank you Sharon and Benson for this great honor to tell our story to the Pom Reader. Every month
for the past few years we have looked forward to receiving the next issue of the Pom Reader and we have learned so much from
the very informative articles and have enjoyed seeing all the beautiful poms.
My
husband Frank and I live with 11 Poms, 3 chickens and about 100 Koi and Goldfish in south eastern Arizona.
We love all of our animals and could never be without any of them. All of our dogs live underfoot and enjoy the large yard
and free run of the house. We have recently added a 352 square foot, covered patio just so they can safely enjoy the wonderful
weather here in Sierra Vista.
We moved to Sierra Vista, from Southern California in 2003. My husband
is a pilot for the Department of Homeland Security. Before moving to Arizona we lived a very busy life and due to my husband’s
work spent many months each year on the road living in hotels. At that time our life style was not very conducive to having
pets. Growing up we both were always surrounded by animals. My husband had a dog and a cat that even went to South America
with his family and I have been around animals all my life living in Germany and here in the United States. That naturally
continued after we moved to Arizona, and were able to live a more stable life style.
It
all started with our first Pom “Tiger” who came to us from Canada. We waited anxiously at the Tucson Airport for
a, 5 hour delayed, late night flight for him to arrive. When he finally arrived it was love at first sight. He was such a
cute little one.
And as you all know Poms are as everyone says ”They’re like
potato chips and you can’t have just one”! So one night after my husband came home from work and flying all day,
I told him “Lets Go!” He calmly asked where to and I told him I found another Pom and we had to go get him. He
agreed before I told him that the Pom was over 500 miles away in Los Angeles. So after driving all night and getting in to
a hotel room at 3 AM, we met with a breeder the next morning and picked up our “Tobey”.
Shortly after
that we went to the Tucson Dog show. We were amazed by all the dogs and watched all the handlers in the show rings. As we
continued to walk around, we were astonished at all the prep work and grooming required
to take a dog into the ring. As we walked, we noticed crates with beautiful Poms in them. Of course we had to find out who
they belonged to. That is how on that fateful day we met Reena Fair and Cindy Enroughty of Doubletake Poms. They were so gracious
and answered all of our questions. Little did we know that Reena had produced so many champions in so many different breeds.
We were so intrigued with Reena, that we decided we wanted one of her females to join
our two males. So we added “Mattie” Doubletake’s Material Girl to our family. Last month “Mattie”
had a beautiful litter of three very promising males. We hope they turn out to be our first “Bred by” entries
this fall.
Having two males and only one female lead to the decision to balance out our extended
family. That is when we were graced with “Diva” Doubletake’s Grand Entrance. And what a grand entrance she
made. At six months on her first day in the ring she took a three-point major. That was our fist major win ever. I think that
is when I realized we were hooked. Diva has continued to win points and is well on her way to becoming a champion.
We
have since visited Reena at her home near four corners in New Mexico. It was so wonderful to see all of her Poms and
other breeds living together, this was such an inspiration for. We are lucky to have the room and as we
continue to add onto our house, we are designing it so that we can enjoy our growing family even
more.
We have since acquired a few more Poms from Reena and our newest female
“Peanut” Doubletakes and Sierra’s Peanut, who continued the wonderful streak by taking a four-point major
her first week end in the ring.
We
started with having Reena showing our dogs, but after standing ring side and having to be some last-minute substitute handlers
my husband and I have ventured into the ring. I was all set to start “Peanut’s” career in the ring by handeling
her myself, when I had an accident last fall and badly broke my wrist. Up until then my husband was in charge of getting us
to the show and setting up, and I was the groomer and soon to be a handler. My husband was forced to not only get us to the
show but also wash, groom, train and take our dogs in to the ring. We were both completely surprised on that first weekend
in the ring with Peanut when she took the four point major. It was many weeks in a cast and many physical therapy appointments
before I was back on my way to being like before. With the wonderful support and encouragement of all of our dog show friends,
who helped by doggy sitting and by helping in so many other ways, we are back at the shows.
After
recovering from the shock of being ask to do a feature in the Pom Reader my husband and I started listing all of our dog show
friends wanting to mention all of them and not leaving anyone out. The problem is that in the short time we have been going
to the shows we have met to many wonderful new friends to list them all. Not only the friends we see regularly but the many
acquaintances we see from time to time at different shows. We have mentioned Reena and Cindy because with their wonderful
support and mentoring we are optimistically on our way to success in our Pom breeding future.
We
hope to enhance our lines in the future by introducing some other well established lines into our breeding program and one
day accomplish a small part of what Reena has inspired us to do as she has done with her beautiful Poms.
If
you ever see us at a show, please stop by and say hello. We always enjoy meeting new people and making new friends
In closing I would like to thank my husband Frank for all of his
support and encouragement. I could have never done this without his help.
