Diary of a Mad Dog Woman: Justice

Justice, age 9, at the start line of an agility trial.
One of my favorite photos as it captured the love in her eyes.
And, oh, how much I love her, too.
(Photo by Columbus Sports Photography Network)

Back in 2005, I co-bred and whelped my first-ever litter. Without going into details, it was not a good experience (other than the puppies themselves – puppy breath is awesome :-). However, rather than making me want to never breed again, instead, I wanted to breed MY OWN litter. I had three options: (1) breed my bitch again; (2) lease a bitch; (3) get a puppy, grow her out, and hope that she would prove to be breeding quality in a few years. For multiple reasons, Option 1 was pretty much a “no,” and I figured Option 2 would be out for a newbie who didn’t know that many other people in the breed, so I thought Option 3 would be my only choice.

I mentioned my dilemma to a friend, who told a mutual friend. Imagine my surprise when I was offered a very nice bitch to lease! Jo was not only beautiful, but she had a fabulous temperament! I will never be able to adequately thank Kelley!!

We talked about possible sires, and Kelley suggested a dog named George. I had met and fallen in love with one of George’s sons (Hero), and my dog, Sharcole, was a George daughter from another line. However, due to George’s age, we would need to do an AI breeding, and Kelley felt that would be too expensive for my first litter, so we kept looking.

One thing I will never forget and always be grateful to Kelley for is the way she treated me during the sire search. When she posited a dog, she never belittled my questions or concerns. When I asked her about a dog, she never disparaged my suggestions, only told me what she knew of that dog—both good and bad points.

I learned that another George son (Hero’s littermate) would be at an agility trial fairly close to me, so I drove down to meet Merlin and his owner, Marti. Marti is one of those genuinely nice, kind people that are rare in this world. And I immediately fell in love with Merlin! He was perfect!

Merlin and Hero were sons of George x Marissa; Jo was a Marissa daughter from a different sire. So breeding George to Jo would hopefully produce similar offspring. On the hour-and-a-half drive home from the agility trial that day, I was doing all sorts of calculations in my head. When I got home, I opened up a spreadsheet to plug in the numbers and confirm my thoughts… Yes! It would be tight, but I could make it work. Mac & cheese would be in the budget for a while, but, hey, mac & cheese is one of my favorite dishes J

I e-mailed Kelley and asked her, “Do you still think George is the best choice if I could afford it?” She said that if I could afford it, George would still be her first recommendation. We discussed it and agreed to be co-breeders on the litter. George’s owner, Kathy, agreed to let us use George as the sire. I cannot say, “thank you” enough to these two ladies who helped and supported this newbie.

July 13, 2006, I called Kelley to let her know that puppies were imminent. We lived two hours apart, and five of the puppies arrived before she did ;-) Number six waited, and Kelley handled the delivery on the last one, who became Orange Girl, a.k.a. Little L’Orange, a.k.a. Brat Puppy.

When the pups were about five or six weeks old, I remember saying to Kelley that I didn’t know which of the girls I was keeping, but it probably wasn’t going to be that orange thing because she was such a brat. You guessed it… that orange brat became my Justice.

We’ve been through a lot together, and she has always been my rock.

July 28, 2018 - age 12

There is so much more I could write about her. But fast forward to a few weeks ago… On a day off of work, I took Justice and Aslan to the dog club, and this is what I posted on Facebook:

Justice, who will be 13 in a couple weeks, did some fun agility. I set the jumps really low, as her movement isn't that smooth any more (I hate that she's getting older <sob>), but she did a great job, and she had SUCH FUN!She hasn't done obedience or rally for a long time (finished her CD in 2010 and her RE in 2013), but as a result of this outing, I think I will enter her in Beginner Novice this fall.

A couple years ago, I finished a BN title on my Belgian Sheepdog gal, Spirit, who was almost 13 at the time, and it was a journey I'll never forget. I'm looking forward to taking a similar journey with my Justie-bear ❤<3 “

Then, last week, on July 11, 2019, I made this Facebook post:

From my Facebook memories on July 11, 2010: "started working on obedience training with Justie. Step 1: RE-train the automatic sit that I UN-trained when we started working on conformation <LOL>."

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Funny that this should show up in today's Fb memories. I took Justice to the club's C-Match tonight to see how she would do on a Beginner Novice run-thru. It's been 9 years since she earned her Novice Obedience title and 6 years since she finished her Rally Excellent title, and we haven't practiced much since then.

She didn't do too bad considering how long it's been, but she wasn't doing many automatic sits tonight -- partly due to lack of practice, but also in part, I think, because she was stiff. Despite the happy bounce in her step, her gait was definitely off. 😢 So, the jury is now out as to whether or not we will go for her BN title.

I love this little girl so much, and it breaks my heart to see her aging. On the bright side, she really is in pretty good shape and good health, so hopefully we have much more time together ❤

In addition to possibly working on her Beginner Novice title, I had planned to do tracking with her. I’ve worked with her off and on for years, but was never committed enough to follow through like I should have.

Yesterday, July 17, all of those dreams became impossible.

When I arrived home, she didn’t get up and run out the door with the other dogs. While she has never scared me with “old dog sleep,” I figured this was the first time. There was a bit of a ruckus at the door, which I figured would wake her, so I was surprised to turn around and see her still on the floor. I said, “Hey, now you’re starting to scare me, sweetie.” As soon as I touched her, I knew. I kept thinking I was having a nightmare and that I would wake up any minute. I’m still hoping to wake from this horrible reality.

She was far from my first Belgian, but she shared a lot of firsts with me:

My first home-bred keeper dog.

My first Rally competition dog.

My first Agility partner.
My first dog to compete at the Terv National -- my first time to attend, too!

My first home-bred titled dog (CD, RE, NAP, NJP).

And my first dog to go to the Rainbow Bridge without me by her side.

She appeared merely to be asleep, so I hope that is how she went... peacefully in her sleep. I wish she had been able to wait for me. When the time came, I wanted -- expected -- to be by her side, stroking her fur, and telling her over and over how much I love her. But I believe that if it was within her power, she would have chosen to spare me the pain of having to make that final decision. Maybe she did.

My heart and soul.

"Justice"

July 13, 2006 - July 17, 2019