The story starts in January 2019 when we attended the Land O'Lakes Dog Show in St. Paul as observers where we met a lady named Marcy and her Russian Toy puppy Cooper. Joelle fell in love with the breed and vowed to one day have a Russian Toy of her own. The money saving began with a bucket and any lose change found started the puppy fund. After earning some in chores, saving birthday money and other gifts, by January 2022 we were ready to start looking for a puppy. We connected with Ann Hurley and we would be meeting our first puppy, Bruno, on Valentine's Day 2022!
Bruno taught each of us the joy of this breed - the athleticism, the snuggles, the intelligence, but sadly also the heartbreak. On a tragically sad day, with the loss of Lisa's aunt that early May morning, we also lost Bruno that afternoon after he took off after a squirrel. The grief was overwhelming at the loss of a beloved family member and this little life that had only begun (plus the years of saving the girls had done to get their first puppy). Through Ann and her generosity, she offered for us to raise and care for Bruno's littermate in a shared arrangement with the agreement we would get him into a few of the midwest AKC shows. Bob and Aryn drove to Omaha, NE in June 2022 and came home with Nesting Dolls A Novyy Smile, aka Novyy. He healed our hearts in more ways that one would think a little dog could, and brought us new smiles.
And hence, this launched us into the world of showing dogs and we have not looked back! Novyy quickly became "Aryn's dog" and she was the first to get in the show ring with our nervous little guy. Together they have grown so much. Joelle was blessed by wonderful Russian Toy friends to get started in the Junior Ring with Powa - a retired Russian Toy who loved that Joelle always had treats. This led us on the search for another Russian to bring to the family for Joelle to work with and show. With many conversations and help from Ann, we found our Odetta in Latvia and worked with Inna Larinova to bring our new girl from Latvia to the USA. In the world where things just come together, a friend of Inna's had a daughter attending school in Omaha NE as an international student and agreed to fly with Odetta in the cabin and meet us in Omaha! Odetta wasn't sure of us at first but is now the queen of the house. She loves Joelle, Mom, treats and her belly rubs - and she loves to talk.
Once you have one, or two, you can't help but want to bring more into your family. And when the stars align, you know it's meant to be! Our Russian Toys are members of our family. We can't thank all of our mentors across the US and Latvia who share with us, give us pointers and guidance and give us hugs when things go awry. It is an amazing community and a dream come true.
