I know it is early, but Kate wants me to tell all of you to please have yourselves a Merry Christmas season. This photo was taken by Janet Gray, who graciously gave us permission to use it on our Christmas cards and other marketing materials back in 2002, when Kate was just a "tot". Hard to believe that adorable pup is eleven years old now. Getting a puppy is such a happy time, when we look forward to all the dreams we have of what we will do with our dog. But, things don't always work out just "perfect".  After all, just like people, most dogs aren't perfect, and most of all, life isn't perfect....at least it does not always go the way we have planned. With Kate, since her half-sister had not turned out to be show quality, my hopes were that Kate would be, finally, a Poodle whom I could show in some venue.  We had gotten our first Standard Poodle back in the late 80s and I had always wanted a Poodle to show, since I loved showing my Siberia...