The registration name of Spirit (Holiday Spirit) is directly linked to her time of birth.
She is born during the night of Christmas, around 3 AM.
 Her mother, Midnight, has waited that all our guests had either left the house
or were gone to bed, before she started giving birth.
Being born on such a wonderful day, we thought that Spirit was born under a lucky Star.
Unfortunately, up to now (2007), it does not seem to be the case.

Even if we diligently posted her ears week after week, the base stood up, but the tips always curled in,
which gives her a funny look
.
Even if Spirit was vaccinated for Lyme Disease and that her titer test shows that she was
and still is completely protected against the Lyme Disease, she nonetheless contracted it and almost died because of it.
It took a while to find out that the Lyme Disease was what was killing her.
Spirit has been treated for it but she has had a few relapses. We are still waiting to see if she will stay in remission.

She was only shown once in her life, at the New Jersey Boxer Club Annual Match Show, in Summer of 2004.
She got Best Senior Puppy Bitch, as she was just a bit over 6 months old,
which proved us that she had all what it took to compete in the ring.
Unfortunately, her fight against the Lyme Disease has afterward kept her away from the ring.

Just as we thought that everything was under control and that she would finally be able to live a normal life,
she broke her knee cap and tore some ligaments in her leg while staying at some of our friends' home.
As you can see in the picture below, it did not affect her morale at all
and she thought that this whole cast thing was very funny.
In no time, she was running around on 3 legs with sparkles in her eyes.

Background provided by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory/
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy/National Science Foundation

Luckily, for Spirit, life wasfun, whatever happens. She was always in a good state of mind.
She had often been slowed down, but nothing did stop her.
As a joke, we often say that she was like the Duracell Bunny: She keeps going and going and going.
She was such a sweet loving girl that she did not deserve all the bad luck that seems to be attached to her.
We are glad that she took after her call name for her temperament,
so she stayed in a good spirit.

Spirit finally lost her battle to Lyme disease linked to the recall of dog food in USA.
It is with great sadness in our heart that we had to take the decision to end her suffering.
Spirit will stay forever the image of cheerfulness even in the greatest difficult time.
 

Are you as good as your dog?

If you can start the day without caffeine.
If you can get up without using pills.
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you time
If you can overlook it when something goes wrong of no fault of your own
and love those who take it out on you
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend
If you can face the world without lies and deceit
If you can conquer tension without the aid of drugs
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart
you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion or politics........

Then you are almost as good as your dog!
--Author Unknown

Pedigree for Kanabec's Holiday Spirit