OFA hip prelims "good" at one year, Pennhip rating:  70% percentile (his hips are better than 70% of the GSD's they've rated)

Chaos is the sire of the Z Litter (out of Zinna), the AA & EE Litters (out of Quinta) and the BB & DD Litters (out of Joyful)

at 36 months

at 34 months, with Bunny

at 32 months, photos snapped during morning playtime

See 2008 agility competition photos of Chaos

Chaos' hips were beautiful at 1 year and received a "good" rating on his prelims from OFA.  Unfortunately, he began leaping my 5' perimeter fence in August 2007, to go play with the neighbor's dog.  Then he began leaping the cross fences breaking my two acres into four large areas.  Chaos' hips at 24 months were borderline according to OFA so they said to redo in 6 months.  It took me until May 2008 to get the fence raised two feet on both the perimeter AND cross fences, so I could keep him where I put him.  After he realized he had to stay in the area where I left him when I went to work, he began leaping into the air and catching birds in flight.  He figured out that robins are slow on takeoff and targeted them.  He is just too athletic for his own good!  We redid his hips in September and they looked pretty good the the vets and me, but OFA flunked them.  I sincerely believe the changes in his hips are caused by the impacts from all that jumping over the past year, so I had a Penn Hip evaluation done in Billings.  In PennHip they first take the standard view, then they place the anesthetized dog with his hips in some kind of a fulcrum brace that allows them to pull the hip and put pressure on it in a certain way that reveals joint laxity.  The x-rays go to the creator of the method and he does a bunch of measurements.  If a hip rates less than .3 it's nearly 100% sure that it won't get arthritis.  If it measures .7 or over, there's too much laxity and the dog will probably develop crippling arthritis (hip dysplasia).  Chaos' left hip received a .33 reading and his right hip received a .36 reading.  They rate both hips separately, then give a percentile rating.  The higher the percentile the better the hips.  They rated Chaos in the 70th percentile.  That means that Chaos has hips better than 70% of the GSD's they've evaluated.  Quinta's older sister in Sioux Falls, Rogue, is the only dog I know personally that has been PenHipped and she got 90%.  It was fascinating talking a little bit to the PennHip vet and seeing the x-rays.  Just having her say that she sees on the standard view why OFA flunked him (mild dysplasia was their rating), but on the PennHip x-rays it was more defined and actually is not a reforming of the joint, made me quite happy.  The people at the clinic were absolutely in love with him.  Said he was so calm, not bothered when I left, very cooperative, beautiful, etc.  I gave them my card and mentioned I do agility and one of the receptionists got all excited.  She loves agility.  They got right on the website and oohed and aahed on Chaos' photos and how beautiful all my dogs are.     

   In December, 2007, Chaos passed his Therapy Dog certification with flying colors!

In March, Chaos competed in his first NADAC agility trial.  It took him most of the first day to figure out what it was about, but he finally qualified in one class:  Novice Weavers, 3rd place.  The next day he Q'd four out of five times (the fifth (Tunnelers) was a clean round but over the allowed time.  He received 1 1/2 legs in Novice Regular with a 1st and a 2nd place.  He qualified in Novice Chances Skilled (that class is just pass/fail) and got a 2nd place in Novice Jumpers.

In April, at a games trial (only TouchNGo, Tunnelers & Weavers classes offered), he Q'd in all four Novice Weavers classes (taking 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th places), thus completing his Novice Weavers title and beginning working towards his Outstanding rating.  He also got 2 Novice Tunnelers legs with a 1st and 2nd place, and his first Novice TouchNGo leg (4th place). 

In May, he attended 5 of 8 days of NADAC fundraiser trials in Gillette.  He picked up a second Novice Jumpers leg, three Novice Chances legs, two Novice Hoopers legs, six Novice Regular legs (one was a 5-point Q; rest were 10 point- Q's, with two 2nd and four 3rd places), a TouchNGo leg (2nd place), two Tunnelers (a 3rd & a 2nd place), and one Weavers.   He thus finished his Novice Chances, Regular and Tunnelers titles.   He also got his Outstanding Novice Weavers Rating!  He was entered in one last trial for the year, in October, but we got snowed out.  We don't trial during the winter months because of potential bad roads, so he'll resume competing in March 2009.

Chaos has a rock-solid temperament and steady nerves.  He's very social with all ages of people and is an excellent Therapy Dog.  He has a sense of humor and enjoys clowning in crowds.  He enjoys training and tries very hard to learn and to do things correctly.  He has nice retrieve drive and loves his morning exercise sessions where he can stretch out and chase the ball or Kong-on-a-Rope. 

Chaos comes from herding lines.  Both his parents are working stock dogs on farms in North Carolina.  I like to incorporate dogs from herding lines in my breeding programs because of their high biddability.  They truly want to work with the handler, and Chaos is no exception.  He is extremely fun to train because he checks constantly to be sure he's doing what I want.  The girls get quite tired of him because he insists on "herding" them, grabbing their hocks or withers and physically maneuvering them where he wants them to go.  We did a little herding and he loved it and showed all kinds of ability, but I haven't been able to pursue it.