My Dogs
updated Sunday December 21, 2008

This has been a tough year for us.  On November 14, 2008 I held my Killian in my arms as he peacefully left us.  Killian was my once in a lifetime dog, my soul mate and best friend.  He had an incredible short 10 1/2 years and left me way too soon.  Please read my tribute to Killian.   A fellow GSD friend had a painting done by artist Nancy Bailey from my favourite photo of Killian.  Check out Killian's portrait here - it is amazing.  I got another surprise in December when my agility friends presented me with a wonderful collage of Killian's agility life.  Thank you all for this thoughtful and treasured gift and Len Sylvester for taking hours to find and provide the photos.  Here is a picture of Killian's tribute collage.

Killian joins Tasha, who we lost on August 18, 2005, at the Rainbow Bridge.  Ko's Tasha, a black and tan from Canadian and American show lines was 11.  She had been retired from competition in flyball, agility and Schutzhund after earning several titles in these sports including her BH, CD, TT,FDCh and parts of several agility titles.  Tasha was our first GSD and is missed by all the family.

Killian (SG-Argon vom Haus Johann Dale, Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence, V-ATChC, C-ATCH4, CS-ATCH, SchH3, IPO3,V-ADC, NA, NJP, OAC, O-NAC, OJC, O-NJC, NGC, O-NGC, S-TN-N, O-TG-N, ChSt, ChJp, ChWc, ChCl, RNMCL, RAMCL(CARO), TT,, OFA Excellent, H&E) is a dark sable GSD from East German, Czechoslovakian and West German working lines.  Killian was born in May, 1998 and is titled in Schutzhund, agility and Rally obedience.  Killian has a Sieger show rating of SG (sehr gut). He received his Temperament Test Certification "TT" at the German Shepherd Dog Club of Canada Nationals in September, 1999, his BH in Oct.,2000, his OB1 and TR1 in Oct.,2001, his SchH1 (275SG) in October, 2002, his SchH2 (282SG)in June, 2003 and his SchH3 in Oct. 2003 (273SG), his IPO3 (261G) in February, 2004.

In late 2004 Killian started training in agility and started competing in April 2005.  In his first AKC trial he earned 2 legs of his Novice A Regular title with a Second and a Third place.  In April he also entered his first AAC agility trial and earned his Starters Gamblers level with a Second place as well as getting Second places in Starter Standard and Jumpers and a Fourth place in Starter Standard.  He earned his Veterans Agility Dog of Canada (VADC) in June, 2005, his Veterans Agility Games Dog of Canada in August 2005, his CPE Agility Level 2 Regular and Handler and Fun Games titles (CL2-R, CL1-H, CL1-F) in July, 2005, his AKC Novice Agility title (NA) in August 2005, his NADAC agility Veterans Novice title and Veterans Novice Jumpers titles (NA-V, NJC-V) in August 2005 and his Novice Veterans Gamblers (NGC-V) and his Novice Tunnelers (TN-N) in September 2005.  Killian did even better in 2006 completing several more NADAC, AKC, AAC  and CPE agility titles.  He finished 2005 ranked as the #3 German Shepherd in Canadian agility (and the top Veteran GSD).

In 2006, Killian earned all of his AAC Master titles and was awarded his V-ATChC - Veteran Agility Trial Champion of Canada becoming only the 5th GSD to ever achieve that high a title in Canadian agility.  He also earned his Bronze Award of Merit in AAC and finished the year in the Top 10 Veteran Dogs in Canada and the Top GSD in Canada.  Click here to see Killian's V-ATChC photo.  In March 2007 he earned his AAC Silver Award of Merit and went on to get the Gold Award in December, 2007.

In October, 2008, at age 10 1/2,  Killian became the first GSD to earn the AAC Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence.  All this in just 3+ years of competing.  Sadly his Lifetime run was also his last but we did not know that at the time.

Killian also competed successfully in NADAC agility earning many titles and only needed one more 5 pt Qualifying run for his Elite regular title.   In April, 2007 Killian earned his CPE C-ATCH title and was the first GSD in Canada to do so and the 6th of any breed in Canada.    He earned his C-ATCH2 in August 2007, his C-ATCH3 in December 2007 and his C-ATCH4 in March 2008.  He moved to the Specialist class and earned his CS-ATCH in August 2008.

In July, 2007, Killian competed in the CPE agility Nationals in Nova Scotia.  He earned 2 firsts, 7 seconds and took Reserve High Standard for the Level 5 24" dogs and 2nd place in Games for all 24" dogs.  In 2008, at the CPE Nationals in Michigan, he earned 7 Qualifiers with 9 Firsts and took High Standard Level 5 24" Specialist and 2nd Place in Games.

He has also gathered numerous Placement ribbons through his short agility career    Check out Killian's AAC trial photos. 

Killian entered his first Rally Obedience trial in Canada (CARO) in July 2005 and qualified in 2 runs with 191 and 196 scores.  He completed his Canadian Rally Obedience Novice title (RNMCL) and his Advanced (RAMCL) titles with average scores of over 190 in September 2005 and a high Advanced score of 198.

Killian competed in agility, rally and CD obedience at the GSDCA Nationals in North Carolina in November 2005 and earned a leg of his Novice CD, Novice Rally and 2 agility Q's.  He also competed in the Nationals in St. Louis in 2006 and finished his Novice Jumpers Preferred title, also earning 2 silver bowls for two second place finishes.

Meet our newest member of the family!!  Kahlua (Majik vom Eichenluft) joined us on May 21, 2007 at age 11 weeks.  She is a sable pup from Molly Graf's kennel and has won our hearts quickly.  See her pictures on Kahlua's page.  Kahlua is just starting her agility career at age 19 months and has a long way to go to catch up to Killian.  She got her first Qualifying ribbons in CPE agility on Oct. 24, 2008 for level 1 Fullhouse and Jackpot also earning 2 First places.

I love taking pictures of my dogs and have a very large gallery.  These are only a small sampling.  You can view more pictures of Tasha and Killian on Tasha's website.  View a clip of Killian's SchH1 trial.   Killian went on a camping trip out west in summer 2004.  See his trip photos.

12/21/2008

Killian arrives at airport	Killian's first day with us						Tasha posing
Killian and Tasha	Poetry in motion	Tasha writing her diary	Killian sleeping	Killian at the tree farm	Killian learning agility tunnels	Killian learning to jump the tire with Jenny	Killian learning the dogwalk
Tasha with Andrew	Tasha at flyball practice	Tasha practicing her jumps	Tasha practices the tire	Tasha at the East Coast Puppy Party	Tasha demonstrating the teeter	Kahlua and Killian	Kahlua and pat

Photos copyright ©Pat Saito, 1999-2008