Milestones

Through a combination of hard work and good luck, I've recently had the pleasure of witnessing two milestones in our Tollers. The first is Gem. She turned 16 on February 21st. Considering the average lifespan of a Toller is 12-14 years this is significant. Gem has survived her littermates and other canine contemporaries and even some of her puppies. George and I feel very fortunate she is still with us and doing so well for a dog of her age. Some of it is good genes; I've been told it is not uncommon for Tollers in this line to live well beyond the average expectancy. I imagine some of it is luck as well. While overall Gem has been a very healthy dog, she has had a few illnesses along way though so far we've been able to successfully combat them all. Most recently, a few weeks before her birthday, she was diagnosed with old dog vestibular disease. When she couldn't get up on her own I feared the worst. We drove her to the emergency vet shortly after digging ourselves out of a record blizzard. As I held her in my arms I thought, if it was time, the best thing I could wish for her would be to go in my arms before we reached the vet. But as usual, Gem surprised us all and a few weeks out from her diagnosis is getting around almost as well as she did before, only occasionally leaning a bit to one side and still needing a bit of extra help on the stairs. She still comes to the breakfast table for a piece of banana and some yogurt from me and a piece of cereal from George. She knows when treats are forthcoming and unless she is deeply asleep never fails to make an appearance for hers. While we know we won't have her forever, we are grateful for the time we have had and continue to enjoy, our shared experiences, and all she has taught us.

The second milestone is I finally finished my first Bred By Exhibitor champion, Lark. To my amazement she finished with four majors, which is quite an accomplishment when most of us are thrilled to simply obtain the necessary two. At present, Lark is now known as UAGII CH Zephyr’s Evelyn Echo RN NA OAJ NF. That Lark is my first BBE champion is very fitting. She was named for my mentor in the breed, Evelyn Williams. And Lark’s pedigree is something of an homage (echo) to Evelyn. My foundation bitch, Gem, is a littermate to a much more famous dog in our breed, Sailor (Lonetree’s G Parklake Sailor). Lark is the result of breeding a Gem granddaughter back to a Sailor son. The result has been a very special litter of pups. I finished Lark’s sister Eta (CH Zephyr’s Eta Carinae CD RN WC) two days after finishing Lark. Because of how hard Eta’s owners have worked with her in the field and obedience ring, Eta's championship finished her Rusty Jones award requirements. Guess it's time to get out in the field and obedience ring with Lark and catch up.