LINA -
Randolina's Engelina - Nov. 1988 - Nov. 1997 - BG#9546
Lina was our very first Bernese and taught me so much. She was never shown nor bred but I did attend an obedience match one day when she was about 1 1/2 years old and she did very well apart from healing on the wrong side for a few steps to avoid a "messed" area in the ring as show folks had been using the ring for practice - this gave us a non-qualifying score. Anyway I knew so little at the time that I figured she was not good enough to compete in obedience due to this one little error and while I trained all of my dogs I never stepped into an obedience ring again until fall of 2006!!
Lina was a clown - always smiling and having a good time. She was very good natured with everyone and everything.
She LOVED the water and swam like a Newfoundland. At the cottage she would pull us to shore if we held her tail (near the base of course). She also loved to go for boat rides - row boat, canoe and even the paddle boat where she would perch on the plastic hump between the seats.
Brixi -
Ch. Schatzhof Brixi v Wagenblast
- Feb. 1992 - Feb. 2004 -
BG# 8508
Brixi - my heart dog - always with me and always up for whatever I wanted to do. Her talent was amazing and if I had been more confident I feel she could easily have gotten a versatility title. The only talent she did not possess was swimming - she would sink like a stone then look up while standing on the bottom of the lake - "now what do I do". With patience, a long line and lots of stick throwing (she was a natural retriever) she eventually learned to swim much to our relief!!!
She loved to carry things including my garden tools back the shed before I was finished with them! She would also put things in the garbage for me.
Brixi was my first show dog and while she was 5 years old when I "finished" her she actually finished in just 6 days of showing and ended it with a Group 3rd in the very competitive southern Ontario area - all with me at the helm - these were my first shows too!!
Brixi's movement was in a word breathtaking - so many people would just stare in awe at her clean, floating gait - she certainly was effortless - and even at advanced ages she could trot as quickly as many would run!!! She also taught me more than I really wanted to know about breeding and whelping and gave us two small litters of 4 pups each - 3 boys and 1 girl each time.
It is truelly unfortunate that her line was lost to me as she produced some very nice dogs in those two litters - particularily her first one. She was a very special dog in so many ways and I was honored by her presence in my life!
Priska -
Oberland's Priska v Wagenblast -
April 1997 - March 2007 -
BG#15760
Just thinking about her makes me laugh - she was a strong typey bitch that acted like a teenaged trucker (no offense to those truckers out there). Drove through anything at high speed, pushing what was in her way out and slamming on her brakes just prior to her taking you out at the knees. During breeding times she had her favorite tree she would stand under and you could just hear her saying to the boy "Just gitter done!" There was nothing ladylike about this girl at all.
She did have a few points in conformation but she clearly had her own thoughts about where she wanted her front feet - as no matter how many times I would stack her she would set one foot or the other out of line as soon as I looked away......and as for moving her - well that was pretty BORING and you could see it on her face.....ho hum......
Priska gave us 3 litters of 11 (3 stillborn), 11 and 9 pups. My son Kyle was helping me during her second litter and asked at one point if there was any way to make her stop.
We had a lot of fun with that litter (our "E" litter) as it was my first fair weather litter and we spent so much time outside with the 11 munchkins - you had to run everywhere though otherwise you would be tripping over the gang. It was so funny to see Kyle running and these 11 Berner butts bopping around right behind him.
Thanks for the memories Priska!
Bo -
1985 - 1998
Bo was our very first dog. My husband Art and myself had each grown up with dogs but he was our first one that we were solely responsible for. We had done little research other than thinking we wanted a Doberman when we saw an ad in the local paper. It was winter and the litter was whelped outside in a dog house filled with old straw - there were several pups and we simply chose the first to greet us. Mom was missing a front leg due to a farm accident and had no registration papers and the dad was also on the farm and headed straight for us at a brisk purposeful trot - we were not sure if he was friendly or not.... luckily both parents had great temperament and that came through in spades with Bo. He ruled the house but not with an iron foot just with his calm confident presence - no one ever challenged him and he never lifted a lip at another dog or person in his life.
He was so trustworthy that our son Kyle learned to stand up and walk by hanging onto Bo - whether it was an ear or cheek or collar he was hanging off of Bo was always happily obliging. If Kyle wanted the toy in his mouth Kyle simply reached in and took it and Bo did not take a second look.
He was not always easy to live with as he was quite boisterous as a youngster and he did have his quirks. When he was younger (around a year of age) he would refuse to sleep until we covered him up.....and stupidly we obliged for many months..... As he reached adulthood he was quite stubborn about going outside in wet or cold weather so we would gently push him out the laundry room door - he would then disappear into the weather and end up at the door on the opposite side of the same room so thinking he had relieved himself during his trip we would let him in....an hour later he was begging to go out. We caught onto his game and just left the one door open - when he came to the other door we would let him in and promptly push him out the open door - he would always look back at us with that look "aaawwww crap got me again"
Thanks for your patience Bo!!
Brandy -
Aspenglow's Brandy -
1991 - 2007
Brandy came to us via my husbands coworker at just over a year of age. From the word go she was like the energizer bunny and a walking garbage gut. She would eat anything and never stop until it was gone - in the fall she would get pretty round from eating bushels full of fallen pears.
She even ate a full meal the day she whelped her one and only litter (we had bred her with the blessing of her breeder) and several dishclothes during her pregnancy - afterall they smelled like food didn't they?
She was a very sweet dog but was tough as nails - at age 13 1/3 when she not seeing so well (we did not realize this) we put her out for her late night potty break and she accidently walked into the fire pit that was full of hot coals - it was horrifying - she burned the pads off of all four feet and several spots on her body - we raced her to the vet clinic where I work and got medications and pain relievers into her and bandaged her up - we were not sure if she would survive or want to survive, we struggled with letting her go - the next morning she stood up to eat her breakfast!!! It was a long road ahead and for a few months I cleaned and debrided and bandaged her feet 4 times daily and she was so tolerant and even thankful it seemed - eventually her pads grew back (however they were soft like a puppies) and she was able to enjoy walking and running and tap dancing for her meals once again.
We were blessed to have this girl for so long - she was an inspiration.