a toast to absent friends

Those of you who are familiar with the celebration of Robert Burns birthday will recognize the elegant Toast To Absent Friends as the last of the formal toasts and speeches. It is a tribute to those who have enriched our life but are no longer here, no, not a sad occasion but a celebration best drunk from a full cup. I have tried to create that here both for you and the dogs who have meant so much to us.

At certain times in our lives, we have both felt a closer affinity with our dogs than we have with other people. Unfortunately, they are so wonderful that God will only lend them to us for a very short time, then he wants them back. This is a terrible time, there is nothing left to do but honor one of the last lines of the Dogs Prayer which says, "cradle me gently in loving arms while skilled hands bring down the merciful boon of eternal rest." They must not leave us in a cold room bewildered and wrestling with a stranger, the last thing they are aware of is that we are with them. They give us so much, it is the least we can do.

The dogs that follow were not all champions, some of them never showed, some never won a ribbon, some never stood with us at the "One" board. A lot of them kept us sane during the early "crying years", they were not cast off because they weren't perfect. They were our cherished friends. Most of them were pleased to spend the time doing obedience with us and some of them made it quite high in the national standings, there wasn't a day in their lives that they didn't love us. They taught us how to lose gracefully that we might win graciously they taught us patience in training as well as the arts of grooming and presentation. On that long ride home from the vet, they all taught us that nothing matters as much as being able to spend your life with purebred show dogs.

Polly - Glenfrasers Rosebud - Little Pollys' life was literally over before it began, she was born with what was thought to be a systemic portal shunt, improper circulation to the liver. Janice has a very special place in her heart for souls dealt a lousy hand and she set out to give Polly every chance. The lucky break came in the form of a packet of "Bengers Invalid Food" brought over from England after the war by Janices' mother. Polly did quite well on it and was sent to the Pullman Institute to be operated on as a research project. When they opened her up they found not a malfunction but the mechanism for regulating circulation to the liver nonexistent. We asked them to close her up and send her "home." Despite major surgery and a long car ride, when she saw Janice, she jumped out of the breeders arms and over a three foot gap into Janices' arms. If you look closely at the photo you will see the pleasure they got from each others company. This picture was taken in mid September and we lost her on Christmas Eve. The next day my mother gave Janice a small silver Scottie charm that she had brought with her from Edinburgh, Janice named it Polly. She wears it when she is in the ring showing, you may see it you may not but trust me Polly is there.

Roodiebear - Silent Partnr (sic) Red Ringer CD. - My first purebred and best friend prior to our marriage, I almost believe he knew Janice was going to be his mother before I did. Quite aggressive with strangers coming around the farm, in my absence, he took it upon himself to take her on a guided tour of the place and introduce her to the farm animals. On the night before our wedding he sat patiently with me and watched a Three Stooges Marathon when sleep wouldn't come. He was tops in his breed in obedience trials until his eyesight failed in mid life, perhaps he was better known to the students of our obedience classes. He helped me teach the beginners class for seven of the ten years and was famous for clowning around behind me while I was talking to the class. On seeing his abilities in obedience, the classes could not believe he was blind. He died in my arms one morning while Janice tried to get a vet on the phone, our own vet of many years feeling six o'clock Wednesday morning was not a reasonable time to come to work.

The Boys- Peeze Whizzits - Glenshars Little Frankie CD.- Right - Peeze actually belonged to Janice in the beginning but with the perversity of his breed, he attached himself to her mother then on our marriage, to me. It wasn't always smooth sailing though, the first time I met him, he bit me. We both adjusted and soon I didn't own a pair of pants with intact cuffs, he kept tugging at them to pull me down on the floor to play with him. Peeze showed  in both conformation and obedience but his career was interrupted by a back injury, a sometimes fatal injury to this breed. Thanks to his mother swimming him in the bath tub every day for months, he lived another nine years and died of a completely unrelated matter.

                 - Ode Dickie - Heaths Happy Boy Daco CDX.- Left- Living proof that love and determination conquers all. Daco was probably a puppy mill dog, sent to a pet store in our area. Janice and her mother saw him in one branch then another of the stores chain and he never sold, he was losing his coat and destined to become a veterinary research project so Janices' mother took pity and bought him for herself. Again with the perversity of his breed, he attached himself to Janice (but not me). Janice spent months bathing him and dipping him until he regained the rich coat you see in the picture, after his recovery, she trained him and showed him to a Companion Dog Excellent degree, he didn't enjoy it but he loved Janice. In spite of a shaky start, Daco lived to a ripe old age of seventeen and died in his sleep.

Becky - Sirius Black Velvet - Little Becky was a double blow, we bought her when we had very little extra money. She was going to be our foundation, she was beautiful  but going into her first show, she was attacked by a large breed dog and never got over it. We tried everything but she hated the idea of any dog show and wouldn't put her tail up. Her favorite game was to push a soccer ball around with her nose. She did this with such dexterity that it was impossible for us or the other dogs to take the ball away. We never taught her this, she just walked up to the ball one day and started pushing it. Just before she was two and we were going to try to breed her, she developed a large tumor on her heart.

Dumplin - Raijajs Thiswaltzismine - Waltzy was a very successful show dog from Europe, I believe she was a champion in five countries in Europe. She came to us late in life being sold to an American breeder who passed her on to us to care for while bred and in whelp. It was not a successful breeding and the owner did not want her back at her age. She became part of the family and loved life on the farm but she was always happiest camping in the motor home especially at dog shows. She was so happy and friendly all the time she burrowed right into our hearts in the short time she was here and her passing spawned two articles, " It Had To Be Today " and "Dumplin" a chapter in a childrens book for adults about life with the Scottish Terrier.

Henry - Glenfrasers Argyll At Glenscot CD. - Henry was our gentle giant, no coward, just liked everything around him. We bought him early in the game as a conformation dog but he grew oversize before ten months of age. Henry loved obedience trials and his slightly zany personality conned more than one judge into overlooking the obvious. He was a great help when we lost Roodiebear, he took over teaching the classes and soon won the affection of the students. I'll still have someone I don't remember come up to me and ask how Henry is, I still have a catch in my throat when I answer. Henry is also known in a story " All Things Come" a short story about him coming on an overnight road trip with me. Henry did make a huge contribution to our conformation show program, we would brace him to the young show dogs for walks. He would bring out a beautiful ground covering gait in the younger dogs that is still seen in the ring today.

Monica - Ch. Sunrise Black Widow - Moepuppy holds a very special place in our hearts because along with Alexander, she kept us in the game and became our foundation. As with Alex, when she arrived, she had so much hair, we thought she was a small Skye Terrier. As with Alex, we stripped her out and saw right away that we had something special in her. She had a hard time showing because everyone was showing bitches at the time and she would have to slug it out with five or six bitches for Winners Bitch. Then Alex would waltz in fresh as a daisy being the only male, take Best of Breed and get the same number of points poor Moepuppy had just fought for. Bred to Kentwella Solo of Gaywyn, she gave us our first litter of champions three of which finished, defeating Specials, two of which won multiple Group Placements and one of which won Best in Show. The tragedy is that during renovations, all of her pictures disappeared, we are fortunate to have this picture of her taken with our mentor Sandy Lehrack.

Kirsty - Weedrams Wee Kirsty CDX. - Kirsty was the exact opposite of Henry, she never grew up, when she was mature, she was still smaller than a junior puppy. She made up for it by being tough, her best friend was Roodiebear and she always bullied him ( he seemed to enjoy it). Her favourite game with Roodiebear was to run after him while he retrieved a Frisbee, when he picked it up, she would grab it and make him carry her back hanging from the Frisbee. When we stopped trying to show her, Janice decided to do Obedience with her in the beginning it was not a conspicuous success. Janice brought her to our beginners obedience class and the first night she went around the room on her back, refusing to work with the choke chain collar. I did my best to keep teaching and pretend I didn't know either of them. As with all slow starters, Kirsty went on to become #2 in Canada in her breed and win the B.C. All Terrier Club obedience award one year.

Vewa - Ch. Glenscots Viennese waltz - Her story will stay on the 'Toast to the Lassies" because of her importance to us and our program She was always the first, the first of our first litter to be shown, the first homebred champion, the first to win Group placings and the first home bred to leave us. She went in to be spayed, the tests all looked good but when they opened her, she was full of cancer. We decided not to wake her, I want to be there for our dogs but this time I was miles away working and couldn't be there for her. This only made it worse.

Alexander - Ch. Sunrise Alexander - I have decided to leave all of our dogs on their main pages to show how our lines evolved so you can still see Alex in "Meet The Lads". He was so important to us as he kept us going and was our first successful dog. On August 31,2005 Alex suffered a small stroke and died peacefully in my arms. How do I remember Alex? he was happy every day of his life.

Salty Dog- BIS Ch. Glenscots Sultan of Swing - Every good parent tries not to have a favorite but Salty has made that hard. He was always special and still is, handsome, excellent conformation and a great temperment. We had trouble sparring him because he was slow to anger but if he did explode, we had to keep him in a separate pen and away from our other boys for a few days. Sultan was the first dog I trained and showed and he showed me that even I could win Group Placements and heavens forbid, a Best In Show.  Any fool can show a scottie on his knees holding up both ends but here is a picture of ten year old that is built so well, he can't put a foot wrong there is no lead and no one around, he is just standing wondering why the dogs next door can't be more like him. In February 2006 we noticed some blood in his urine and found he had bladder cancer he lived seven months with non invasive treatment and spent his last day in his favourite place, on my lap at a dog show. Two hours after getting home he told us it was time, we took him to our long time vet Rick Westendorf who had sat up with us all night eleven years before waiting for Sultan to put in an appearance.

Princess Popcake - Ch. Sunrise Lily Marlene - Our dear little Lily lived and died in the shadow of others, she was born in our first litter but carried the Sunrise prefix because Sandy wanted her. When she developed a skin allergy, we took her back and Janice showed her for a short time. She was always in Sultans shadow so the best she ever did was Best of Opposite Sex but she defeated enough bitches including specials to earn a Canadian Championship. Unfortunately we were taken up with Sultan being ill and didn't see her slowing down. Six weeks after Sultan passed , she chewed up her bedding and required surgery for a blockage. Like her sister Vewa, when she was opened, they discovered cancer and the decision was made not to wake her. Again like her sister, we could not be there with her but again our long time vet Rick was there on their last day as he had been on their first.

Sad news came in march, the phone rang at 6AM and it was Shirlley, the organist from our old church. Hilary, Glenscots First Lady had passed away in her sleep. Hilary was the first female born in our first litter and was the only pet puppy we had sold up to that point. She had come home every six weeks for grooming for over eleven years and it was always an event when Hil came home. It turned out she had a small tumor in her heart that ruptured overnight, she passed instantly and quietly.

Glenscots Little Wizzard - Wizzy outlived his littermates by almost eighteen months, his story is told on his own page entitled "A Special Boy". He accompanied me every time I went to visit my father and I still feel a pain when I get in the truck and he is not with me. He had been diagnosed with liver failure but was doing OK so we decided to go to the shows in Kamloops and Osoyoos. I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of his troubled breathing. As I sat down with him on my lap he slipped into a coma and never recovered. He seldom barked but at one point he was barking and wagging his tail, I would like to think he had seen his brother Sultan.

 Arpher - Ch. Glenscots Artful Dodger- I described Arphie on his own page as "The little engine that could", he took over from Sultan and dominated the breed out here for several years, His greatest compliment came from a competitor who wrote in a little club magazine that his rising star was finally able to beat the Artful Dodger.He was a beautiful boy but I think his success came from his courage and perseverance. I will never forget a show where the judge allowed two dogs to come at him from two directions in an unusually nasty spar. Arphie backed one down and turned on the other so fast that it fled behind the owners leg. It should be noted that the judge awarded Group 4 to the dog that fled.

A dreadful day, Feb 4,2010 Laurie, Ch. Glenscots' Lord of the Dance left us last night. He was very quiet sitting on my lap the night before then we woke in the middle of the night hearing him distress, he passed away in Janices' arms while I was trying to contact a vet. Laurie was a great show dog, he was shown as a class dog while Arphie was being shown as a special. At one point Laurie went almost thirty entries undeafeated but we had tried a "Vet Designed" frozen dog food which contained apple juice that destroyed his teeth and ended his career. In this photo, Australian Judge Iris Maitland had commented " If they are show dogs, they have to show." Here, Laurie "showed" and she awarded him Group 4 behind three of the top terriers in Canada. I do feel that despite his friendship with Kelly, he really missed his Bro, Arphie.

( It was many months before I could write this obit and I am still having trouble seeing the screen)

And finally Bogey who watched the whole performance with the bemused tolerance that can only come from almost twenty years of being a big black cat.

God watched you growing weary, a cure was not to be

He wrapped you in his loving arms

And whispered "Come to me."