Mythen's Phoenix Rising (Phoenix) was born on December 8, 2023. She is an absolutely delightful girl. That is truly the best way to describe her. She is so intelligent it scares us! 🙂 She is an absolute cuddle bug and quite capable of coercion to ensure she receives enough love to last the rest of her life, every single day. She appears to be trying to talk to you through her mind, while staring deep into your soul.

It seems that Phoenix thrives by movement. She doesn't  walk very often. Oh, no! She dances and leaps through the air like a fairy doing ballet! I have never seen a more agile young dog. I swear that she came out of the womb dancing! She loves to run and jump. She will race through our agility tunnel when its set up in the yard, just for pure glee. I try to limit jumping in dogs under 2 years old, but there has been no stopping this girl! 

Phoenix also loves to be groomed. Its not unusual to find her up on the grooming table waiting for attention. I start using a dremel on the puppies nails very young. I begin with regular nail trims using cat nail clippers then "tidy up" with a touch or two of the dremel. Their nails are still too tiny, but I touch each nail with it so they hear the sound and feel the tool on their nails and get accustomed to it. They are also introduced to brushing and the electric  clippers. Of course as they mature I bathe them and introduce them to the dryer. I also "clean" their ears with wee pieces of cotton rolled onto tiny forceps. Of course there is nothing to clean, but I do it weekly to expose them to different things, and always after a bath. It is easy to tell that Phoenix has adapted well to all of these grooming routines. When I pick up the dremel, she passes me a paw.

At the time I write this Phoenix is 23 months old. She is not a heavily coated girl, which is a bit surprising, but it will come. Gwynnie, her dam, is somewhat curly coated and Phoenix's sire has a very nice coat. For me, especially during show season, its great because it reduces my grooming time. She is a deep, reddish chestnut colour with a tiny patch of white on her chest. She enjoys the show ring but isn't fond of the wait between shows. Kids! Hahaha!

In a nutshell, Phoenix is active, loving, silly, intelligent and talkative (she grumbles if we are late with dinner or don't play the game she wants to play). She loves the water, (including putting her head under), has an incredible nose on her, is not fearful of sounds, loves to play with other dogs, is a terrible bed hog, and truly makes us laugh each and every day. She is respectful of our chickens, however she expresses a keen interest in chukar, as well as the ducks and geese living across the river from us and nesting around the pond. We love this girl so much I can't even imagine life without her!

Phoenix has had all of her DNA testing. Results are posted on the OFA website. She will have her hips and thyroid testing done in December 2025 and we fully expect her to, one day in the not so distant future, provide us with a very special litter of puppies. In the meantime may she continue to amuse us with her silly antics, "flight" patterns and expressions of love.