Hi All - It has been a while since I last posted, but I am finally ready to do it... As many of you know, we lost our 5 year old GSD almost two years ago, to Lymphosarcoma and only had one elderly GSD. Well, after failing health over the winter, we helped beloved Simmie (Acara's Simmie Orion Free, TC, CGC, HIC, TDI) at the age of 13.5 years cross the Rainbow Bridge on February 1st. I have expounded on her achievements as a champion pet many times over, but I just want to leave you with the fact that she was probably the BEST ambassador this breed has ever had... And I still miss her and her "sister" Pepper every day.... We are contemplating another GSD right now, but it has to be the "right" dog to fit our situation, so we are just taking our time to figure it out. And the flipside of dog ownership.... This is a NON-GSD, shameless brag, but I think anyone as dog show enthusiast can appreciate it. 20 months ago, the first litter of Dalmatian puppies, I have personally whelped in about 10 years, was born at my house. From the litter, we had 6 and 4 were shown. Last year, 3 finished - one finished in 6 straight shows undefeated with 3 majors in one weekend including a specialty major. Another finished in 12 shows including a Specialty major, went on to finish his GCh. and won his first Specialty. The third is my housepet who finished in 7 shows with 3 specialty majors including going Best of Winners at the 2012 Dalmatian Club of America National Specialty. This year, I started the 4th one... She lives in a pet home, but probably is the pick in the litter. I started her in January and finished her in 9 shows, including a BoS over specials, and 3 five point majors from Bred By Exhibitor. The coolest thing(s) about it - the 3 specialty majors came in a row, two were during our National INCLUDING, BEST OF WINNERS AT 2012 DALMATIAN CLUB OF AMERICA SPECIALTY. Yup, I did it two years in a row - litter sisters, breeder-owner-handled - one from Puppy and one from Bred By.. Pretty cool. We think it is the first time that has ever happened in the breed at our National :-) So now, I am waiting for puppies from the repeat - due any minute... No offense, but sometimes there is just more joy in doing it yourself :-) Jessica MacMillan No Frills Dog Bathing Service & Design Paisley Dals (www.paisleydals.com) * Ch. Meribel, CGC. TDI, the Dalmatian Girl Member of: DCA, GSDCA & GTCDC Manager of: The Dalmatian Stud Dog List on Facebook The German Shepherd Stud Dog List on Facebook ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2012. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================