Tiva

Tiva is from my "Happy Thoughts" litter. We were just starting our first year after COVID and rather then having a COVID theme which many breeders were doing at the time, I decided to focus on what I hoped was a happier future ahead. I also loved the movie "Happy Feet". This litter was raised for the first 8 weeks by Rob and Colleen and Colleen gave each of the pups a name that meant "Happy". Tiva's puppy name was Farrah, but I changed it to Tiva (which means "dance") when I decided to keep her from the litter. All my dogs since Siri, have had at least an "i" in there name but I also just really liked the name. 

Pedigree
Tiva is out of two dogs who on paper are owned by me which made it easier re breeding, but actually live with friends. Tiva's father, Akela, Chimini's Orion, The Hunter lives with  Brianne Hill. Akela is out of Orion who is a mix of Kontoki, NorthWapiti and New England Siberian working lines and my girl River. Tiva's mother, Razzi, lives with Rob and Colleen Wolfe. Razzi, is out of Crash and my girl Skittles. So, Tiva lives with both her grandmothers.

About Tiva
,Born in January, 2021, I consider Tiva my "COVID" child. She did not get to any public training classes as a puppy and her first dog show was not until the fall of 2021. While I occasionally took her to indoor locations early mornings, for the most park I socialized her by taking her to friends houses and we went to DeWolf Park a fair bit where she could see children playing and people and other dogs going by while I could keep social distancing. Fortunately, this worked out OK for Tiva and she is a pretty outgoing girl.

Tiva, is affectionately known as "Tiva, The Diva" and "Telicious" is my ME child. She thinks rather highly off herself and likes to be the center of attention. She has an opinion on just about everything and loves to "tell stories" about herself to anyone who comes to the 
house whether they want to listen to them or not.  If she doesn't think they are listening she is not above jumping up on them to get their attention. She also likes to do a LOT of talking when she is playing with the other dogs in the yard and again, if she doesn't think they are paying her enough attention, she will just go chew on their neck or leg - play with me now! She considers Strider and River her personal chew toys. The only one she doesn't go after is Skittles. These two have the most interesting relationship that I haven't quite figured out yet. It was Skittles who gave Tiva the scare on her nose when she was an obnoxious puppy and this may have something to do with Tiva not bugging Skittles like she does Strider and River. 

However, there is also a sweet side to Tiva. She is a very affectionate girl who loves to cuddle and she is very much a mommy's girl. With a little more majority, I think she could be a nice Therapy Dog if I decide to go back to doing that. I also think she is a nicely built girl, with nice length of leg. She is light on her feet and effortless in her movement. 

In The Show Ring

 championship and I just could see this happening with my handling her. However, ​in 2024, I decided to at least give this a try. At our first show, we didn't place but I got a lot of very nice compliments on Tiva and encouragement for me to continue to show her. The next show I took her to was the South Shore Kennel Club. I just showed her at one show and for the first time I a relatively new CKC rule where someone who can not run well can use another person as a "runner". I just had a friend take her around the ring once at the breed level so the judge got 
I really thought I would never end up finishing Tiva in the show ring. I was loosing my interest in showing as I didn't think I could handle my dogs in the ring myself and I just don't have the money or interest anymore to hire handlers just to put championships on my dogs. I also didn't think there would be the competition to finish her as I haven't had any litters in a few years now. My plan was to use her as a "filler" to help finish Strider and another one of my co-owned dogs and then I would likely stop showing all together.

But then something happened, Tiva beat both Strider and my co-owned girl to pick up 4 points, 2 single points and then the 2 point "major" she would need to finish her championship.  However, with Strider finished, Tiva would still need to ​place in the group to finish her 
to see her moving out better and then I handled her for the down and back and for everything at the Group level. Tiva picked up a Group 2nd under judge Lee Steeves for 2 points at this show and again I got some lovely complements on her. I decided we were going to give this an honest try but honestly still felt it would likely take quite a while to finish her if I ever did before I had her spayed. The next show we went to was the Evangeline Kennel Club show were I entered her in 3 of the 5 shows. At the first show we didn't place in group but then we picked up another Group 2nd under breeder judge Heather Brennan and at the final show we again picked up a third Group 2nd to finish her championship under Heather Langfeld. So, instead of taking a while to finish, Tiva got her last 6 points she needed to finish her championship in just 4 shows with all Group 2nd wins! That's just like my Tiva, the Diva to finish in style! :) Although I do not have the money or interest to seriously campaign her, as long as we are both enjoying our time in the ring, we will likely return from time to time while she is still intact.
Tiva Points to Championship
2024, June 30th: Evangeline Kennel Club Show 2, WB, BB, Gr 2nd for 2 pts to finish under judge Heather Langfeld
2024, June 30th: Evangeline Kennel Club Show 1, WB, BB, Gr 2nd for 2 pts under judge Heather Brennan
​2024, June 2nd: South Shore Kennel Club Show 4, WB, BB, Gr 2nd for 2 pts under judge Lee Steeves
2023, May 14th: Dartmouth Kennel Club Show 1, WB, BW, BB 2 pts under judge Marilyn O'Neill
2023, May 13th: Dartmouth Kennel Club Show 2, WB 1 pt under judge James Reynolds
2023, May 13th: Dartmouth Kennel Club Show 1, WB 1 pt under judge Tempest Deptuch 

In Harness
Unfortunately, due to my arthritis and the fact that Carolyn Martin now lives in Ontario, I have not been able to get the dogs out running as much as I use to when Carolyn lived here and we ran the dogs together. However, the few times we have got Tiva out she has been awesome right from the start with a lot of drive. The short clip to the left is her running in wheel. With any luck I will be able to continue to get her out from time to time.

Agility and Hoopers
Agility has become one of my main activities that I enjoy doing with my dogs and  Tiva is doing very well with her agility training. She is getting very good with weaves and contacts and as she gains confidence we will continue to work on distance. Although she can have her independent Siberian moments, they are not as frequent as with Strider and Tiva is better at coming back to me when I call her. It will likely be another year or so before I start to trial her as I need to work on her confidence with distance work. I do wonder if at a trial whether Tiva will want to go tell all the lines people stories about herself but if she can stay focused on the job at hand I think we could end up having a lot of fun in agility and I also hope to work her in Hoopers as well.

Other Activies
In the future I also hope to do Rally, Obedience, Trick Dog training and maybe even some other activities like Scent and Fast Cat with Tiva. She is a very bright girl who learns quickly so we should have a lot of fun doing a variety of activities in the years to come.