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Ch. Maskarade's
Walkin' On Air "Walker"
This
has been a tough week. Since Cody passed in
his sleep, Walker and Shooter are now gone.
Walker had to be "taken in" -- his rear no
longer worked and he was in SUCH distress.
We absolutely refused to prolong that. As we
suspected, Shooter (who was not doing all
that well himself, rear-wise) did not do
well without his brother/compadre who he has
been with for almost 14 years now. So he is
gone as well.
The tears are now not just flowing -- but,
rather, the sobs are coming. We loved them
so, as you folks do your older guys. They
are so precious and hold so many memories
and their personalities have shaped us over
the last 14 years. For the better, we
believe.
All three were warriors. Absolute
super-heroes, in our eyes. Never knew that
they could not do anything -- and anything
they were asked to do, they did. Period. It
wasn't like their geeky handler -- gee, can
I do this? -- No, it was -- get out of the
way so I can do this -- all three of them.
Walker was the "butterfly" -- his brother
had 13 pts and both majors and Walker had
NONE. Ooops -- Shooter finished only ONE
WEEK before Walker. Shooter always had an
air of superiority about him -- albeit a
sweet one -- and Walker just kind of roamed
around under the radar -- taking his BOBs
(despite the handlers who we heard say they
couldn't believe that piece of crap --
Walker -- had beaten their special to go
into the group -- WHAT????? Everybody loses
once in a while; and he was an absolute
beauty -- so I walked over to him, after he
had said it and knew I had heard it -- and
just smiled -- a BIG smile -- didn't need to
say anything. He was such a gentle soul.
Went blind at an early age; some foreign
substance in his eye had destroyed his
corneas. Every single day of his "blind
life" -- he came to us and sat while we
cleaned out his eyes and told him how
gorgeous he was -- and then he went happily
on his way, guided by his brother. He was
almost Zen-like -- if a dog is Zen-like --
so much patience, so little irritation --
another one of those guys, like Cody, that
NOTHING bothered. Just wanted his morning
hugs and was happy for the rest of the day.
With his brother to guide him (of course,
when it came to the food, Shooter guided him
-- but the price for that was a -- just one
single -- bite of Walker's food every
morning so, of course, he got a little extra
to make up for that).
Shooter was Mr. Personality -- talk about an
"ugly duckling" that turned into a swan.
Maxine Beam gave him his first points at 9
months -- I was so thrilled because he was
my first "really knew what we were doing
show dog." Until I saw the picture -- what
she saw in him - must have been his
structure because there was NOTHING else in
that picture. I loved him SO MUCH and was SO
proud of him -- BUT HE WAS SO UGLY. Bless
his heart. He blossomed into this
magnificent dog. They both finished before
they were two -- how, we will never know --
I could see it at 4 -- but at two? What the
judges saw was what we THOUGHT was there
when we kept both boys -- and bless each
judge who put up each dog for that.
Shooter was a little more imperial than Cody
or Walker. He demanded respect. Didn't say--
oh, they're babies -- he said -- I AM TO BE
DEFERRED TO (or some such thing, in his
best, authoritative doggy language). But he
didn't try to "kill" puppies without (in his
mind) good reason -- e.g., Elvira taking the
chewy right out of his mouth -- that was a
defining moment for me -- I almost fainted
-- he bit her!!! But Elvira's mother just
looked at her and said -- are you really
that stupid? And walked off!! Taught the
owner something there -- of course, the bite
wasn't anything major -- but Elvira knew she
was going to die. Right there, on the spot.
She had been attacked! Her mother wouldn't
waste any time giving her any sympathy so
she had to settle for some from me -- it
clearly was not the same.
Both have proven to be sires that we could
have never dreamt of. Shooter giving us
Bunny and Robin when he was too old to be
bred (11 yrs) -- he had to open a building
door and a run door and go inside to pick
his girl, but by golly -- he did it
--probably the two best bitches he ever
produced for us. Of 17 dogs in our building,
12 of them relate to Walker/Shooter (and
there are more out of the area) -- who could
have known -- we didn't know anything about
that stuff really -- certainly were not
sophisticated enough to collect them as we
should have -- or to recognize their value
in the first generation -- it was sort of
EXPECTED; you breed a champion, you get a
champion, right? We didn't really breed them
all that often -- but all of a sudden
realized that the get coming down from them
did nothing but excel -- finally the
connection was made (doesn't take me but
5-10 years to grasp a concept, as you know).
God bless both of them. Without them, there
certainly is no us as the composition of
Maskarade stands today -- of course, Mandy
(their mom) and Cajun did well by us -- but
we really didn't have that "generational"
concept down. With Walker/Shooter, it seemed
not possible to make mistakes -- some, of
course, were excellent but they were all
good or above average. Something in the
genes, obviously -- not in their owners!
There is, as you know who have lost older
dogs, nothing but love and peace emanating
from them. Acceptance. We were so fortunate
to have the time, in each of these
occasions, to sit with them and cry our
hearts out and give them permission to go --
which each did, and more promptly than we
had wished. They wanted to be released. Down
the road, it is easier on one when the
opportunity is there to tell them what
magnificent boys they have been; how they
have entered your soul and taken their
respective pieces of it -- how you will
never be the same, but will be better
because of them and what they gave to us --
both in achievements and in future get --
and what we were able to try to give back to
them (not NEARLY equal) but they know that.
But its comforting to be able to tell them.
And hold them and hug them and cry with
them. It is so very, very empty without
them.
Thank you for each who has had the patience
to wade through this. I know it was tough.
Its been a rough winter for a lot of people,
but three in a week is more sadness than we
have dealt with in a very long time. It was
the right thing to do; we know that. And we
have never questioned when when it is their
time -- we figure it out and have always
"gone with it." But this has been somewhat
of a surprise (no, not a shock -- none of
these boys were youngsters) to lose so many
so quickly -- and we are not asking "why" --
just doing the best we can to cope with the
decision that was made by a power higher
than us. Understanding the reason -- its a
little hard but the amount of "personal
pronouns" in here are the best clue -- it is
not US -- it is THEM. What is best for them
at whatever that time may be. We accept it
and do our grieving, although that takes a
while.
The pride our lives, the old guys (Bandit,
Mandy, Tenacity, Hank, Flyer -- the list
goes on) -- are waiting for them -- eagerly,
we are sure. To meet them as beautiful and
free of pain and stress and aches as they
can be -- so everybody can dig their
respective holes (a skill that diminished as
they got older) -- and not just look at and
wish they could do it like before, but to
chase and really, honestly catch the birds
and whatever other critters stand foolishly
in front of them --
God speed, guys -- we love you and miss you
and were honored to be your custodians for
the brief period we were allowed. |
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WALKER |
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Ch. Alcinta's
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Ch. Alcinta's Black
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