SHAKTI, CGC, Advanced Trick Dog
("Dayspring's Spirit of SHAKTI")

Titles: Canine Good Citizen, Novice Trick Dog, Intermediate Trick Dog, Advanced Trick Dog
Rank in the pack: Omega (:: big sigh:: ...of relief...being an alpha is A LOT of work...ask Lexi about that...)
Favorite toys: Nylobone for chewing, Kong (especially when filled with some peanut butter;)), tire, Mr. Sheep, balls, intelligent toys, squeaky toys, Frisbee, hula hoop
Favorite food: carrots, peanut butter, beets, chicken
Favorite places to sleep: on her own bed and close to her people
Best friends: her pack members: Lexi and Mike
My very special friend: definitely her people
Dogs or people: She's a people oriented dog. She likes other dogs but there’s nothing that she loves more than being with her humans.
Annoying habits: “smuggling” little pieces of branches or grass in her mouth and hiding it there with an innocent look on her face. She also likes to lick the sliding glass door right after it was cleaned as if she wanted to make a point that somebody missed a spot... ;) She doesn’t really have a lot of things about me that would annoy anybody. Shakti's a joy to live with and be around.

Fun facts: Shakti's brother from the same litter, Gandalf, is a search and rescue dog and a hero who found a boy scout during his very first search and rescue

"Dogs Hero Nose" - an interview with Gandalf's owner and trainer, Mischa Marshall on ABC News with Diane Sawyermi

Dog Tracks Down Missing Scout (March 20, 2007) - ABC news

Name “SHAKTI” means “Divine woman”; "power" in Sanskrit. In Hinduism a shakti is the female counterpart of a god.

Shakti comes from the root Shak "to be able," "to do" or “to have power”. It indicates both activity and capacity therefore. The world, as word, is activity. But when we have said that, we have already indicated that it is erroneous to confine the meaning of the term Shakti to any special form of activity. On the contrary Shakti means both power in general and every particular form of power. Mind is a Power: so is Matter.

Shakti is translated "Cosmic Energy" She implies "power, ability, capacity, strength prowess; regal power; power of composition, poetic power, genius; the power or signification of a word or term; the power inherent in cause to produce its necessary effect…[S]hakti is the female organ; shakti is the active power of a deity and is regarded, spiritually and mythologically, as his goddess-consort and queen."

Tantric doctrine stipulates mortal women are "life-itself" and Goddess-like, because they embody the principle of Shakti. The sages "hold women in great esteem and call them Shaktis and to ill treat a Shakti, that is, a woman, is a crime." A Tantric synonym for "woman" was Shaktiman, "Mind of Shakti" or "Possessor of Shakti."

In Hindu Shakti is the eternal and supreme power, variously described as manifest energy, the substance of everything and all pervading. The Vedic meaning of Shakti is "energy." In Hinduism Shakti is a term for the manifestation of the creative principle.

A Shakti was also a spirit-wife, or feminine guardian angel...

The final union with Shakti occurs at the moment of death, according to the Tantric mystics. She was both the individual and the cosmic goddess absorbing the body and soul of the dying sage into herself, an experience of unsurpassable bliss on his part. "The possession of her, the cosmic Shakti, the living embodiment of the principle of beauty and youth eternal, is the ultimate quest, the very highest prize."

In Hinduism, for accuracy it should be noted, Shakti means eternal and Supreme Power, variously described as manifest energy, and substance of everything, and all-pervading. In the Vedas the term means energy. Shakti, energy, is the personification of a god, recognized in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism

Also: Shakti meaning force, power or energy is the Hindu personification of God as the Divine Mother. Shakti represents the active, dynamic principles of feminine power.

The name of a female Jedi master, a simple definition of the word shakti would be "energy" or "potency". When there is a personal embodiment of shakti, it is predominantly in a feminine form.

See the movie :  Shakti - what's in the name...?

Sources:

Walker, Barbara G, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, New York, HarperCollins, 1983, pp. 929-930
Rice, Edward, Eastern Definitions: A Short Encyclopedia of Religions of the Orient, New York, Doubleday, 1978, p. 308
Jordan, Michael, Encyclopedia of Gods, New York, Facts On File, Inc. 1993, p. 224
Cotterell, Arthur, A Dictionary of World Mythology, New York, G. P. Putman's Sons, 1980, pp. 69-70