Our family is blessed wtih not one but two beautiful D'vine papillons, and we couldn't be more happy with both of them. Niki has a wonderful gift of getting to know a family and then placing the correct puppy with that family and she did it for our family twice!!! We live in the mountains 30 minutes east of Salt Lake City and enjoy many outdoor activities, and we wanted a Papillon that would enjoy our busy life-style with us. In the winter we ski, my son snowboards, snow mobile, snowshoe, and we love sledding and tubing. The summer finds us mountain biking, and hiking. My children also play a variet of sports; soccer, basketball, and swim team. Where we go our Papillons go, too. (Although we haven't taken them up the ski lifts to go skiing and snowboarding with us). First, Storm became a member of our family on May 1, 2001, his mane says it all!!! He is so busy and right in there with us no matter what we are doing. He love to go hiking, chasing squirrels, birds or whatever other small creature crosses our path. If it is a larger animal he is determined to 'protect' us from its peril, as he thinks he weights 100 pounds. He will quickly chase the deer out of our yard with no second thought. He loves to go mountain biking with us an dI was surprised that he would actually like the back pack I carry him in to keep him safe. In the winter he has two favorite activities; sledding and accompanying us snowshoeing. Our children love to have him ride down the hills on the sleds or tubes with them. I love taking him with me snowshoeing through the back country, he just plows right through the snow banks and has so much fun doing it. Storm is a pet Papillon, larger than standard, but perfect for us. Next, Cole joined our family July 13, 2002. He is a beautiful tricolored show quality puppy who will start his show career in September 2002 at a show in Salt Lake City. Once again we were so happy with how well he fit into our family and how well Storm accepted him. Although he is to standard and smaller than Storm it doesn't stop him from joining us in all our activities this summer. To accomodate his smaller size and to keep him safe he rides in a front pack with my 10 year old son, Jacob, when we are mountain biking, but loves to hike on his own four paws. Other places out in public, though, I keep him in the front pack and Storm on a leash. He loves water and will swim in a nearby pond with Storm. He especially love to go after a ball that is thrown in the water. (Are they Papillons or Labs?) Cole has become Storm's buddy. One of the many things that we love about Papillons and especially Storm and Cole is the fact that they are so smart! In the book 'The Intelligence of Dogs', Papillons are ranked 8th on the intelligence list. This list is based on how many repetitions it takes to teach a breed a particular command. With these two Papillons I haven't had tio go over 5 repetitions. House training was breeze, and safety commands which are #1 on my list have been readily learned. (We use to have a Beagle, she was so sweet but ruled by her nose. After seeing her dart out into the street after a scent and almost hit 3 different times over 8 years she went to live on a farm. When she got a scent she acted like she had no training whatsoever!!! The Papillons do descend from spaniels and have the typical dog nose, but show more of a willingness to obey commands and leave whatever their nose found.) Storm now has a vocabulary of commands approximately 50 words strong. One example, he knows our names and what names belong to whom in our family. I am currently working with him for his CGC and starting agility training. We can only attribute this to Niki and her conscientious breeding. One other thing that we love about Papillons is how much they love us and want to be with us no matter what we are doing. If I am sitting at my computer or doing scrapbooks one is on my lap and the other is at my feet generally chewing on a treat or toy. If we say, 'lets go bye, bye' their tail wag with excitement and off they go to the van. But, if we are going somewhere that they can't go, we say 'see you later' and we get the most sad faces and whines. Niki begins this love of people in her puppies the minute they are born, when they meet her for the first time. Then she spends so much time with them each day, playing, petting every part of their bodies, and loving them. Having a great breeder to us is so priceless!! Now that she has let these two become members of our family she is always there for us for any question that we have, no question is ever 'dumb' to her, although when she answers me I realize it was. She has always treated us with the utmost respect, integrity and honesty, which is so important. She is absolutely the best!!!! After having been loved and loving two D'vine Papillons we have got to say that they are the best!!! You will feel the same if you are ever blessed to share your lives with one (or more).