Bunny (Celhaus Hallel) TDInc
Bunny at 7 years
CERF: GS-1350/2008-81
CGC, NA, NAP, OAP, O-OAC, O-OCC, O-OJC, O-TGO, O-TGN, O-WV-O, NJWWP, S-NAC (Superior), S-NCC (Superior), S-TGN (Superior), S-NJC (Superior), S-NWV (Superior), S-NTN (Superior)
See 2008 agility competition photos of Bunny
See 2007 agility competition photos of Bunny
Bunny, despite dysplasia in her right elbow, is a great agility dog and loves to show. According to x-rays, the parts of the elbow didn't fuse as they're supposed to, but no one told Bunny she should be painful and lame--her body protected the joint with cartilage and she shows only a slight lessening of extension in that leg, but nothing that interferes with her fun. Bunny has her AKC Novice Standard title in both preferred and regular heights (20" & 24"), her Open Standard Preferred title and is competing in Excellent Standard. She has her Novice Jumpers Preferred title and two legs on the Novice Jumpers but is waiting to finish that until she gets her Open Standard Preferred title and goes on to compete at 24" (You can't mix jump heights at a trial). She has one leg on her Open JWWP title. In NADAC competition she has her Novice Versatility Superior rating. She has her Open Tunnelers title plus Outstanding ratings in Open Regular, Open Jumpers, Open Touch N Go, Open Weavers and Open Chances.
That's Bunny looking right at you. On her left is her half sister, Joyful. In front of her is her niece, Dyna (Bunny's litter sister is Dyna's mother). At the right of the photo is Ashi, Bunny's & Joyful's mother.
Daughter of Droll & Ashi, granddaughter of Glory, whelped August 1, 2001
Therapy Dog (TDInc.), Canine Good Citizen
Bunny at 35 months (July 2004)
Bunny at 34 months (June 2004)
Bunny is a registered Therapy Dog (Therapy Dogs Incorporated). During her screening and three required supervised visits the Tester/Observer repeatedly commented on what an excellent Therapy Dog she is. Of course she's had practice--she's been visiting the nursing homes since she was 4 weeks old!!
I always said Bless had read the Faithful Hound manual so many times that she had it memorized, and she seems to have bequeathed it to Bunny. Since Bless' untimely death, Bunny seems to have decided she is the family Faithful Hound, supreme cuddler and professional snuggler. Bless always laid under the computer desk while I worked there, and under the dining room table when I ate, head draped over my feet, body curled around them. Bunny is quite serious about her new role. She has always slept on the bed, usually at the very foot of it. She began that at about four weeks of age, climbing over the gate of the puppy pen and traipsing through the yard, up the deck steps, through the doggie door, through the house to my bedroom, waking me with a little "Hello" and a request to be lifted up in bed with me. There she would snuggle into the nape of my neck and nap contentedly until time for me to get up. Now she has moved to the foot of the bed with most of her body in contact with mine and snuggles so tightly against me that sometimes I wake up on the very edge, about to fall off, with Bunny's head and shoulders draped across my stomach. Bunny is determined that I will have no doubt that I am loved and cherished. What a love!
Bunny's OFA hip prelims at 18 months were rated "good", but unfortunately her elbow x-rays gave us a nasty surprise: she has an ununited aconeal process in her right elbow. Known as elbow dysplasia, this is a multi-gene recessive fault. They are all born with the elbow in three segments, which are supposed to fuse into a solid joint at about four or five months of age. If they don't, nearly all puppies will begin showing severe lameness and x-rays at that time will reveal the problem. Bunny showed no lameness and gave no clue she had the condition. Even though both her parents and her grandmother have OFA certified elbows, other ancestors carried the bad genes and she got them. That's the sorrow in breeding--you do the best you can but you can't know what will show up. Here is a perfect example of the need to do health screening on your breeding stock. No one bothers with x-ray elbows in Germany, and few people in the US admit that it's a problem in GSD's. They are breeding a-symptomatic dogs like Bunny and concentrating the bad genes so that somewhere down the line a pup inherits all the genes and gets the problem. Bunny will be spayed and surgery done on her elbow. The surgery is difficult and won't necessarily eliminate the problem, and we'll battle arthritis and possible later lameness. But at least we won't pass on the genes.
I call her "Bunny" (after the Energizer Bunny), because she is a very busy, very inquisitive, high drive little girl. She is petite and extremely athletic. This girl excels at agility and would also be a good obedience and tracking dog, if I ever had time.
Bunny was always the first of the litter to try anything physical -- steps, climbing over the puppy gate, following me on poop detail, chasing her grandmother Glory's Jolly Ball and helping kill it during play sessions. First to retrieve, first to hang on to my pant legs for dear life--always first to try a new thing. She is a VERY fun dog.
Bunny continues to be just like the Energizer Bunny, going going going constantly. She has her dad’s quiet temperament and her mother’s energy and ambition, quite an interesting combination. She is very nose-driven and is fascinating to watch on walks as she explores intensely. She loves to explore alleys and areas behind stores. She often looks like a narcotics dog as she moves her nose up an object (stack of tires, automobile, whatever), down it across to the next object, up, down and so on. I always know which cars have been driven recently as she has to check out all the car doors and then follow the trail to the person’s door or the store entrance. On one night walk she absolutely insisted that I lift her up so she could smell inside a pickup bed. I never figured out what she was smelling, since the bed was empty. She shines with intelligence and is incredibly fun, although she definitely gets into trouble if she isn’t kept busy! Even as physically active as she is, she also has great mental calmness. I’m constantly amazed at how the Droll pups observe what’s going on wherever I take them and then adapt to that particular situation as if they’ve done that forever. They are so fascinating to observe. Bunny is a joy.