Meet Celeste

This is Adventure’s of Arabelle Celeste. She came to me from a most excellent breeder and trainer, Sandy Reeves, who runs the North Idaho School of Dog Obedience and Adventure Kennels. We share the same birthday, the vernal equinox, which is the most developed and mature of the astrological days. And Celeste certainly acts like a higher being.

Astraean is the name of my “kennel” and is Greek for “Of the Star-Maiden.” Celeste is the star maiden. “Arabelle Celeste” is a combination of “beautiful Earth” and “heavenly” which suits her personality as both grounded, beautiful, and exceptional. The Gaelic for Comet is “Realt Eireabail,” with Realt meaning ‘star’ and Eireabail meaning ‘blazing tale;’ so Celeste’s name evokes a star streaking brightly across the sky.

It’s also a play on “Belle Star” the famous Wild West female sharpshooter, and Celeste embodies the tough girl who hasn’t lost her feminine side ethic. The “belle” in her name is a legacy from my previous Border Collie female, Bonnie Belle.

Astraea is the Greek goddess of Justice, and the last of the immortals to walk among humans before men abandoned the Gods and the Gods abandoned men. My goal is to do my dogs and their breed justice, and I do believe that dogliness is next to godliness, so my kennel name is as much of an aspiration as it is a declaration.

As you can see from the photo above, Dublin is as enthralled with Celeste as the rest of us. He has always babied her and succumbed to her will. Even though he is addicted to the Frisbee and constantly wants me to throw it for him, if Celeste is around he’ll wait patiently for me to throw the ball for her before he brings the disc to throw for him.

Celeste is a gorgeous classically marked female from American Agility and Conformation lines. She’s razor sharp and an outstanding athlete, always topping her class at anything she tries. I’m no judge of conformation, but if she has a fault I can’t find it. She’s never lost her class in the show ring, and always came home with ribbons. Despite her beauty, dog pageants really aren’t a priority, and I’m not sure there would be much to gain from pursuing a show championship. I’ve been training her in agility, flyball, Frisbee, and a few sessions on sheep instead.

Her feminine charm has gotten her dubbed ‘Miss Priss’ around the house (or Miss Piss when she was a puppy, despite the fact that she house trained herself before we used even one box of puppy pads). She’s an old soul and often gets her way, as much for being talented at letting you know what’s on her mind as for being insistent.

She’s a caring and confident mother to her puppies. She was never nervous and extremely patient. Many of her finer qualities were passed on to her puppies and the more I get to know her and see what she is capable of, the more confident I become in my choice to make her the center of my breeding program.

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