Emma (Mythen's It's All Aboout the Emerald Isle) is the puppy we chose to keep from Whimsy's April 1, 2022 litter. Primarily chosen for her temperament, intelligence and lovely topline, we felt that she wouldn't disappoint us in the show ring. We were correct. She earned her Championship very quickly with 3 Best of Breeds, 1 Best of Winners and a Best of Opposite Sex. She has a nice strong front, lovely long neck, great topline and strong rear assembly. Like her mother, she has shown us an excellent range of motion as well as a keen interest in birds and scent detection. She has a strong personality - just adores meeting people for a cuddle or two. If she sees an animal on the TV she cries quietly like she wants to meet them.. 

Emma is quite intelligent which sometimes makes her appear to be sassy and strong-willed. However, she learns very quickly and rarely has to be reminded of anything twice. For instance, when Emma was first learning stairs she attempted to pass me on them. I gently stopped her and brought her to the starting point. I then had several of our adult dogs, one at a time, follow me up the stairs while my husband held her to watch. I returned to the bottom of the stairs and she slowly followed me up the stairs, staying several steps behind. Of course we rewarded with plenty of love and a few treats. Emma continues to keep a safe distance between her and the person she is following on the stairs ever since. Another example is that we taught her early on to walk (well, she usually runs...hahaha!) past all the other dog bowls and even dogs eating to go to her own quiet eating place. Once she arrives there she sits patiently until she is given permission to eat. She's a rock star at this!

The sassy in her is primarily when we break a routine. She will "talk" to us to inform us that we are late with her walk, outdoor time, cuddles or feeding time. If that doesn't work she works her way between whatever our attention is on and us... for instance she will ease her way between a book, dog, tablet or whatever it is and I. If that doesn't work she will attempt to move objects for our attention. It's rather amusing but frustrating at times. If I am laying in bed watching TV and the dog's water bowl in the master bathroom is empty she will come and lay across me. For months I thought she was loving me and giving me a hug. I was wrong. It was her way to let me know the bowl is empty. If I don't catch on, she will go into the bathroom and move the bowl around on the floor noisily. I still thank her for the hugs though because I love the behavior.  

Emma responds so well to positive training methods however, if she's had enough she will surely let you know! We tried to keep training sessions short when she was younger and end every training session with positives so she now has learned to tolerate our handling lessons. She has a tendency to step back, observe, and think things through before acting. She does, however, get quite excited at times and squeals with glee. We are working on it. 

When she was little our chickens struggled with her silliness. At first she wiould stalk them and just set there; then in a silly burst of red-headed energy she would run towards one. If it didn't flap and curse at her she would quickly give up on that one and run towards another. Now she practicallyignores them. Our older birds were quite used to this kind of idiocy as Gwynnie would wait until they were gathered in a small area then she would dive right through the middle of them to make them fly every which way as they squawked and complained. They would only go a foot or two before resuming their search for insects. 

As I type this Emma is 3 years, 7 months old. Her most notable traits are her loving nature, playfulness, will to please, perseverence and confidence. She was horrible walking on a leash and with her off-leash recall when she was younger. I switched to a gentle leader, which she hates, but she was much easier to walk! She actually is fine on a leash now, but we still use the gentle leader as we are seniors and we don't want to be pulled to the ground if she would suddenly chase a bird, squirrel or rabbit.

Emma is a physical powerhouse so needs more physical and mental activity than many dogs. Her mother, Whimsy, can be off-leash pretty much anywhere and her recall is excellent. Emma can be trusted about 95% of the time. She loves people, being outdoors, running, fetching, scenting and most dogs. There are times that she will bark at another dog, for seemingly no reason. It seems to be more of an exuberant bark than anything. She adores our cat.

We love Emma dearly and we are so happy to add her to our breeding program.  We had hoped to breed her in 2025 but a situation beyond our control prevented it. So, we will breed her in 2026 instead. Her pups will be strong, loving,  confident and show worthy.