Meet Nia, a four year old Rhodesian Ridgeback, standing subserviently with her owners Sarah Hebert

and Enso Herbert Santos [age two]. We spotted them at Lincoln park picking blackberries. They were looking

for the best ones, except Nia was looking and sniffing, then nibbling.

This gentle dog of solid muscle eats only the choice berries. she will sniff and if it is not good enough, she will not eat it. Sarah says " Nia is very food driven, she would eat any human food but she doesn't like mushrooms". She is purebred the product of artificial insemination. Her mother is from Pennsylvania and her sire from Seattle combined to make this seventy five pound gentle beauty. Her mother showed at Westminster,

and her father was an agility champion. Nia certainly shows her agility around a blackberry bush.

She can also sense time, an hour before the alarm goes off she paws at the side of the bed. This means

she wants under the covers. She is not allowed on top of the bed, clever girl.