Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!!






Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! May you find peace and contentment this holiday season. Paula, Rick and the zoo (top to bottom: Ziva, Paula, Jack; Ziva; Jack; Suzie; Sir Jeb)!



Saturday, December 5, 2009

Godspeed Larry - We'll Miss You!



I was stunned when I received an email on Saturday, November 28th informing me that Larry Kurpiewski had died at a Kart race in Sonoma, CA. I must have read that email 10 times hoping I was not seeing it right, hoping there had been some mix up. It was unbelievable, unimaginable.

Larry and his wife Barb are students of mine. Larry and his GSD Nigel also joined our SAR group, Treasure Valley Search dogs. He and Nigel passed their certification with NAPWDA back in August in Billings, MT. Those two had come so far. I wasn't sure they'd make it in the beginning, but they did! Not only that, but Nigel was doing some really impressive work. I loved Larry's refreshing attitude. He was honest, hard working, caring. He loved that dog!

To loose a person like Larry is devastating. He is the kind of person the world needs more of. The more I learned about him, the more I admired him. And now, as I read comments from others that knew him, it's obvious that they all had the same experience. What a huge loss to us all.

Please keep Barb and the rest of Larry's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. Services are Monday, December 7th:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/idahostatesman/obituary.aspx?n=larry-s-kurpiewski&pid=136838720

Monday, August 31, 2009

Beste Von Grunheide "Ziva"


Meet the new kid on the block, "Ziva". It was time to look for that next SAR dog and OTCH prospect. Jeb will be 11 in December and is slowing down. Suzie is 7 and although I've gotten more out of her than I'd ever imagined (and that's an understatement) she'll never be the dog I need to "do it all". She's done some great SAR work and will continue with Wilderness. She'll hopefully get her OTCh and retire from obedience in 2010. Jack the BH is doing great trailing, but he'll be 7 in January, not a spring chicken for a BH. While I believe he could do cadaver work, it would be very hard to get him there. I believe I need to stop working so hard when there's a dog out there that wants to do the work. So, you can see, it's time to look forward.

I contacted a GSD breeder I trust because I've met her dogs, worked with a few of them and seen how successful she is. I wasn't looking for a GSD, but she had two pick females from an April litter that she knew would be all I ever wanted and more. So I figured that was most important and I went and brought me home a German Shepherd of all things. Since I have a truck with "Blutick" plates and my two blueticks in it wherever I go....I've been told no one will recognize me in our minivan (we recently added it as our 2nd car and it's wonderful for traveling with dogs!) with a GSD, lol. Ziva is from a "B" litter, so her formal name is "Beste Von Grundheide". She is the best!




Monday, July 13, 2009

Kaiser Monster

Meet my latest in kennel graduate, Kaiser.   Kaiser is approximately 20 mo old.  He's a GSD from Albq, NM (and McCall, ID in the summer).   His family said, "He is the devil. HELP!" They love him, but he is quite devilish.   Just the kind of challenge I love!  He was fun to work with and turned out great!   I was sad to see him go on Saturday and wanted to share this great picture of "my" Kaiser Monster. 


Friday, May 1, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZIE!!!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful blue girl - aka "Sparky", "Spunkster", "Suzie Uzi". She's a handsome bluetick, don't you think? UCDX Daugherty's Blazin Blue Suzie UDX2 Bh



I've been delinquent, but since it' Suzie's birthday, I thought I'd better post!  :o  Above is a picture of Suzie and one of her famous works of art.   She chewed the center out of the pool and drug this part around, making quick work of it.   She must have known I wanted to get rid of the pool.  She's probably 12 to 18mo old in this picture.  Above that is  Suzie Cool (like Joe Cool, ya know? lol) from a trip to WI  and That's My Dog! (www.thatsmydog.biz) quite a few years ago for a gather of graduates from the school there.

Today, May 1st is my little May Day girl's day!   Suzie is 7 today and it's hard to believe.   Today she not only got to enjoy time on the greenbelt with her "boyfriend" Barry, but she enjoyed a bully stick from Aunt Tiffany (Jack and Jeb enjoyed one too).   We also fussed over her quite a bit and I had her "dressed" in a pretty collar.   LOL    Of course, Suzie has no idea why all the weirdness, but we enjoy it!

Suzie came to me at 11mo of age and she was a train wreck.  Now she's working on her OTCH! We've come a loooong way together.  I didn't get very into her at first.  She didn't seem like she'd work well for SAR, no confidence.  I observed her and saw in her what I needed in a SAR dog, so I set out to train her in obedience to build confidence and bring out that desire to hunt.   It worked.  Suzie is a terrific trailing dog now and working on other SAR work.   Finally, in the last couple years I've totally bonded with her (yep, it took a while) and see the full potential in her and I myself have the confidence to go for it in obedience.   She's tough and has thrown me some curves, but she's doing fantastic with a UDX2 and 38 OTCH points.   I love my girl!




Suzie at 11mo when I first got her. Shaggy from living outside near Chicago and much lighter than now.

Back to the dogs....I'd like to post more of Suzie.   We'll see if I can blog regularly for a few months.  :o  You never know what might happen.....   Thanks for reading!   Paula & the hounds