Bless died 2/1/03 from cancer She only showed symptoms for 10 days before her death. She is greatly missed.
BLESS (DOB:4/26/95): Bless' breeder does Schutzhund and herding. Bless' mother herds all kinds of stock, and Bless definitely inherited that drive. I always wanted to work her in herding but never got a chance. Bless had excellent drives for Schutzhund, but we have no clubs within reasonable driving distance, so we were never able to work for those titles. She was excellent in obedience and tracking. She had her Companion Dog degree and was ready to get her CDX. She was nearly ready to try for TDX also. She absolutely loved obedience and tracking, was extremely willing, had excellent food drive plus incredible retrieving drive. She was a serious dog who was a joy to train because she tried so very hard to learn--and once she learned an exercise was very dependable in performing it. She absolutely loved the obedience ring and showed signs of definite competition potential. Bless was also a Therapy Dog (registered with Therapy Dogs Incorporated). Bless was both AKC and USA (United Schutzhund Club of America) registered.
Bless showed her heritage from both parents. Her sire, Filou ut Oeding, was the United States FH Champion for three years in a row. Filou is "V" rated, unusual in a dog from working lines. His sire, Harro aus der Lechrainstadt, is known for producing dogs who excel in obedience.
Bless also had a strong working female line. Her mother, Amber, herds all kinds of stock. Amber has OFA Good hips (GS43061G39F-T) and elbows (GSEL3343). She is free of Von Willebrand's, thyroid problems, and diabetes.
Bless was a gorgeous black and red, very nicely built girl with a beautiful head. She was OFA certified for Hips (Good), elbows, heart & thyroid. Her eyes were also CERF certified. She was Von Willebrand's free.
Bless' breeder was very pleased with her litter and repeated the breeding twice. From the three litters came several AKC obedience dogs, one training in Search & Rescue, several in Schutzhund--including two police dog prospects.
Bless produced her gorgeous temperament, great retrieving drives, and fun personality (see Bless pups). She did carry the long coat recessive, which surprised me ("Ezekiel" is a long coat).
OFA hips: GS-51500G33-T
OFA elbows: GS-EL6957-T
OFA cardiac: GS-CA3/14F/P-T
OFA thyroid: GS-TH3/86F-PI
CERF: GS-576/2002-87
Von Willebrand's disease free