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In THE SPOTLIGHT.

Pointscore winner for 2009.

Well, it seems a little strange as I look at all the cups, trophies, masses upon masses of big thick sashes and specialist excellent medals now that I am retired from the show ring to win another very special award.

Mommy didn't even know that I had won this award until an email appeared in our inbox from Showdogs Online New Zealand.
Taking into consideration that as a kennel our showing campaign for last year disappeared and almost totally disintegrated from May 2009 onwards because of a lot of very serious family stuff that just continued to hit the wider human family as the year progressed, mommy never even thought for one moment that I would win for a second year in a row.
The competition had been extremely tough, tougher than ever too, and mommy had just assumed other dogs had beaten me so hadn't even bothered to check the pointscore competition for last year.

I was lying on my stretcherbed beside mommy's PC desk late this afternoon when mommy logged on.

"Bella, whatever is this," mommy said as she checked her emails.

I sat up and pricked my ears as I quite often do, and watched as mommy clicked on the link - I must have known that this was important.
There for all to see was my picture from the 2008 NZ National Dog Show when I won Best Bitch of Breed and Reserve of Breed as New Zealand Show Dogs Best of Breed winner for 2009.
I also won 2nd place on The All Breeds Leaderboard, and took 17th place for the Working/Herding Dog of The Year.
What a wonderful, amazing end to my very successful showing career.

Thank you Dog Showing Gods for bestowing your favors on me.

Retirement

At my last show for this year, my mommy and daddy had to remind a lot of people that even though I look so young and full of youthful exuberance I am now 4 years old, which is actually quite old for a large breed show dog. Winning the bitch challenge on the Saturday, and reserve bitch challenge on the Sunday of that show was almost as good a way to finish one's career as a show dog as any.

So the decision has been made to hang up my show brace and pass the mantle on to my beautiful daughters Holly and Xena.

Now you will all be wondering what is going to happen to me now, and what I will be doing, because at 4yrs old I'm not an old dog by any means.
I will be having another litter of puppies, possibly two if everything goes well.
However, very few people know that life has actually taken me, almost by mistake, down a very different pathway few dogs in our country go down.
Here in New Zealand where I live companion and therapy dogs aren't recognized at all. There are small groups of some very dedicated people who are working very hard to change all this.

My daddy had this friend of his Janie who became very ill this year with cancer. The cancer was so fierce and malignant Janie only lived a couple of months after it was diagnosed.
Janie loved dogs, and she loved German Shepherds most of all the dog breeds. Janie loved me, and I loved her.
Now Janie was a mental health worker, and it was her dying wish that therapy dogs would be allowed to visit the patients in our big mental health hospital here in this city. She was passionate in her belief that dogs are therapeutic for people.

After Janie's passing daddy decided to help try and fulfill Janie's dying wish, so he got permission to take me to a mental health support group - which was met with a little resistence.
"Just see how Bella goes," daddy told the organizers, "and if you feel it isn't working at any stage we can stop her visits."
That was over six months ago, and I am still going to that support group even though the person who takes it is scared of dogs and says he doesn't like us!
Daddy has also been taking me out and about where there are big crowds of people to walk about, places where there are lots of young children, strange sounds and noises - so many different places from where I've ever gone before.

The other day when we were walking through town I was still wearing my pink feather boa that I always wear when I go out visiting, and we met a whole busload of Japanese tourists!
Daddy felt that this had to be the ultimate test of my temperament. I sat calmly and obediently while masses of excited Japanese girls crowded around me touching me and hugging me. They were most impressed that I gave them all kisses and posed with them for photographs.
All these experiences are helping prepare me for anything out of the ordinary I might encounter.

So, while lots of photos of a good looking German Shepherd girl wearing a pink feather boa in New Zealand may very well be gracing photo albums in Japan, daddy and I are continuing to work towards me becoming the first ever therapy dog to be allowed to regularly visit our mental health hospital here.

We are so grateful for the support we have had to date, for the team at Delta, the mental health support groups, and hope that I can become the realization of Janie's dying wishes in my retirement.

Anonymity

Well, someone left this cute message along with a gift on my page.

"BOO! I see you do you see me?”

This is my reply to somefur who is obviously a shy secret admirer of mine;

"MWAH - in reply and thank you for my gift.
However I am a VERY happily married woman - there is only one star in my universe and his name is Tommy."