Luke & Arncourt Xero 'Rio'
German Shepherds

Luke was born in our utility room at the same time as a 1994 World Cup Football match was on TV. He was totally black and we decided he was one of the 7 puppies that we would keep along with his sister Amy.

He loved his agility training and did very well in the Severnside Wessex League team. He was surprisingly agile for such a big dog and he loved to throw himself at the A-Frame. At the age of 5 - 6 he started to have muscular problems with clearing the jumps, and in that time before 'Any Size' jumping classes we retired him from competing.

He loved to play around the garden and was a constant companion wanting to know what you were doing at all times. He had developed severe walking problems in his later years and then also developed breathing problems. He died in September, just a few months after his 13th birthday.

Rio came from Dick and Eileen Callicott's kennels at Chelvey. He was a long coated lad who wanted to be everywhere at once. He took to agility very quickly and loved to get round as quick as he possibly could. His favourite equipment was the weaving poles and he couldn't get through quick enough, sometimes breaking the poles on the way.

He regularly won place rosettes at Kennel club shows and really loved running in team competitions. Some people called him the dependable anchor dog running at the end, his handler was never that confident. The team twice qualified for the Team dash final and he was due to go the final this year.

Just a few days before the final he developed a back leg problem that we originally though was a cruciate ligament injury. X-rays showed that this was not the problem and that he had a severe spinal inflammation and other complications. Over the next few weeks he lost weight and it transpired that he was suffering from lymphoma, a form of leukaemia that was rapidly dragging him down. He died in October, just before his 8th birthday. To lose a dog so young has been very difficult for us, especially losing 2 dogs of such great character in such a short space of time. Our remaining dog Molly especially misses her runs around the garden with the pair of them.

They were both great companions, full of sound and fun and both are greatly missed.

Submitted by Julian Krautmann

"My fondest memory of Rio was him charging through the weaves at top speed!!"
Suzy Field

"Rio was this huge, handsome German Shepherd, a 'proper' looking shepherd rather than some of the ones you see around today. He was so big yet so agile, it was astounding to watch him round an agility course. Along with Suzy, his weaves were one of my favourite things to watch him do - I often feared for the poles! I shall never forget his ball on a rope that was his dummy between rounds. How such a big lad could be quietened with such a toy I shall never know, but it always worked. I shall miss watching him demolish the odd course or two next summer, Molly just doesn't quite have his style for it. Club nights just aren't the same without him, so I can only imagine what a hole he's left in Julian & Maureen's hearts. He's left some enormous pawprints in his wake."
Gemma Osmond

Jack of Diamonds 'Jack'
Belgian Shepherd
( 12-04-97 to 16-01-06)

As I write this review of Jack's life I find it hard to believe he has gone and his head does not rest in my lap as I type. I must stick to the facts or I will never be able to finish it.

Jack was home bred from Gem (Diamond Duchess) who was from Enfer Donna Dianna and Out of Gloom and Blaze (Lynmoss Vermillion) who was from Lynmoss Cinderella and Questenberg Quebec of Charbonnay. He was a special dog right from the start very people friendly and willing to please.

However he wasn’t the easiest dog to train in the early days for a couple of reason. Firstly his speed he could do half an agility course before I had got past the second jump. On one walk our dogs flushed out a rabbit. Jack went from the back of the pack and overtook the lot including the rabbit which disappeared down a hole. Jack carried on at full pelt until he finally looked round with an expression that said where’s the little fella gone.

The second problem was he had a very strong herd / guard instinct. He wanted the whole family together where he could keep an eye on them. This was very useful when herding our sheep. He would hold the main flock while our collie rounded up strays but it was infuriating when he would shoot out of the ring and run around Glenda and Claire before coming back to complete an otherwise good round.

But we persevered and as he matured things improved. KC Good Citizens awards went okay and we also enjoyed working trials were we got CD and UD fairly easily and were well on our way to the coveted EX’s when he tore out a claw on the scale. The BSD agility world championships were now on the horizon. I did not want risk repeating the injury so trials took a back seat and we never competed again. We did do some tracking and searching just for fun which he really enjoyed.

Agility was always our main activity. Jack never won out of novice but we always came back from competitions with some reward, including many good places in intermediate and open. We were ready to go to the first BSD agility world championships in Belgian in 2003 but Glenda decided to have another baby (Sara) the weekend of the competition. We were able to go to the world championships in Spain in 2004 where after a sticky start Jack was an absolute star finishing 6th in the individual competition. We also had the honour of being anchor in the winning team at the BSD WC in Aue in Germany in May 2005. These were trips of a lifetime and a marvellous experience. I had never imagined that a dog would take me across Europe, to the Camargue, Catalan, and camping in the Black Forest.

One of our last competitions was at the Hereford County show where we had a fantastic day out and succeeded in getting 12th in novice agility, 2nd in snooker and 1st in pairs. Shortly after that Jack had a stiff neck so we finished the season early, even with a very limited number of shows he had finished 15th in the Vapresto league.

As he recovered we went on long walks and did some fun training, during the Christmas holidays we were getting ready for the new season. Then in early January we did an agility league match, he did not seem right, in fact he was seriously ill, but that big brave boy always eager to please still did a couple of decent runs. I took him to Sue our vet the next day but it was no good he had Haemangio Sarcoma an aggressive cancer, 10 days later he had gone.

I will always treasure our time, adventures and walks together. So many people have written and called me describing their first meetings with him and how friendly he was. At training, shows and demos I could trust him to be off the lead in safe situations and he would seek out a dog lover and push his head under their hand or wriggle onto their lap. He was a great ambassador for his breed and dogs in general.

Okay boy, that’ll do.

Submitted by Mike Bacon.