The world lost one of it's most shining stars on Tuesday, July 10th,2007 at 7:30am.  I lost part of my heart then also.  This page is part of my healing process and also a testament of her life so that others might know how wonderful and amazing she was. It's a tribute to a dog I loved deeply.   The definition of "dog" should include the line "unconditional love".  I have bred, owned many dogs in the last 27 years.  I have  trained thousands of dogs over the years.  None have ever come close to the caliber of dog Grace was.  She taught me more than anyone or anything in my life.  She brought me through the darkest years of my life. I know I will never have the opportunity to experience what I did with Grace as she was one in a million.  Her Grandson "ARCHIE" is very much like his wonderful Grandmother.  I see her mind, heart and spirit in him.  His ability to learn something new almost immediately is as astounding as his Grandmother's learning ability.  But, the experiences we had together because of events that took place at the time I know will never be repeated.    

  I wish as I'm sure many do that our dogs never had to age or at the very least we wish they did not age so quickly and leave us so soon.  These animals that do not ask for anything but our attention and company in return for all the loyalty, affection and commitment they give us  are gone from our lives before we are ready, if we ever are ready.   We become better human beings by simply keeping the company of a dog.  They remind us that we need to be more understanding, compassionate and giving than we are at times.   They are true and honest, not knowing how to deceive or lie.  They remind us of our humanity.   People that have dogs in their life I believe are kinder and more understanding of others.

I had owned Beagles for several years before Grace was born.  For some reason  I knew I had to hang on to her.  I named Grace after her mother as a way of thanking Sam "Samantha" for Grace.  Grace's registered name is "Samantha's Evening Snowstorm cdx".  CDX was the level of obedience title she had earned with the American Kennel Club.  Grace's mother did something with that litter she had never done before.  She went into labor almost a week early.  I was scheduled to move her into the house the next day.  When I woke that day I saw the dogs sitting out of the dog house soaking wet.  We had a horrible thunder storm the previous night.  When I looked for Sam I realized why the other dogs were not in the house.   Some house Sam had gotten out of her kennel dug into the next run and kicked poor Zeke out of his house to have the puppies in.  Sam was my ex husbands hunting dog.  I always brought her in the house before she had the litter so that I could stay with her and monitor her during whelp.  This time I did not get to do that.  Thankfully all the pups were all right.  They were a bit damp but fine otherwise.  I managed to get  mom and puppies in the house and into a dry, warm bed. 

I decided that I wanted to get involved with obedience training in order to title in obedience with the American Kennel Club.  I knew for many years that Beagles were amazing dogs.  I would become angry when I heard negative things from ignorant people regarding the breed of Beagle.  I'd hear statements that Beagles had an "odor" to them.  I simply informed whoever was making the ridiculous comment that their dog would have an "odor" also if it was locked in a pen all day and forced to walk through it's own waste.  Or I would hear the comment they are wild and untrainable.  Again I replied that Beagles that seemed very active or difficult to train were unquestionably Beagles that were bred by some uncaring hunter or back yard breeder that sold them too soon and never bothered to even handle the poor puppy before it was sold.  Puppies born and sold in that way would all tend to have "attention" or even temperament issues regardless of the breed. I decided that I wanted to contribute what I could toward changing peoples conception of these wonderful little dogs.   Unfortunately the majority of Beagles were owned and bred by hunters who themselves would keep the negative idea about these little hounds going.  I decided with Grace that I would work to develop a Beagle that would stifle those negative comments I had heard over the years. 

Grace's mother was part field dog breeding and part show dog breeding.  I would work to get back to the show line conformation but keep  the intelligence and problem solving skills I had seen in some of the hunting lines.   I've learned since that all Beagles are great at problem solving.  It's what gets them in trouble much of the time.  Grace's father was a champion Beagle out of some of the best lines in the country.  She was to become the foundation of what I would develop over the next several years.  But more importantly she contributed much much more than genetics to my lines.  She alone changed so many peoples' idea of Beagles I cannot even begin to tell you about.   Her ability to focus on me when training could not be topped by any breed or any dog.  She was solid.  Her temperament was as strong and secure as any dog's.  She achieved her first obedience title with very little effort.  Few people can say they titled their dog in the very first shows consecutively they entered.  I entered Grace in four shows.  It takes three qualifying scores in three shows to earn an obedience title.  She qualified in her first three trials as well as the fourth.    I then decided to go for her title in open.  Open requires the dogs retrieve on command and retrieve over a jump.  Of course open is all off leash.  I decided to enter practice matches outdoors to prepare Grace for outdoor competition.  Every time I went to a show I had to listen to someone comment to me "Don't turn your Beagle loose or she'll be gone for sure".  I was about to squash that sort of thinking every time I took Grace to a show.  She always obeyed when called and never seemed to occur to her to run off.  I had run her in the woods on rabbits also for the simple reason of throwing the fact that my Beagle handles loose, obeys and hunts.  It was my opinion at the time that too many hunters knew little about their Beagles or training them.  They relied on hunting instincts and dealt very little with actual training knowledge.  

I will never forget the first outdoor obedience match I entered Grace in the "open" class.  The grass was pretty tall for that match.  When I threw the dumb bell over the jump and directed Grace to jump and retrieve it, it was evident she did not see the dumb bell.  I could see the spectators thinking.. she would give up or simply just return to me.   But Grace did something that even shocked me.  She put her head down and began to track the dumb bell.   She started in a large circle and worked her way in.  She did find that dumb bell.  Everyone was shocked that she had done what she did.  Now everyone, including me thought too much time had passed and the dog would certainly forget the rest of her job and just run back to me with the dumb bell.  Well, she did not do that.  She picked up that dumb bell, looked at the jump and went on to take the jump and return to me sitting in front with dumb bell in her mouth waiting for me to take it.  Grace got a standing ovation from the spectators.  I was also some what shocked.  It was one of the many truly amazing things she did to surprise and astound me as well as the people who saw her.  I had entered another match a few months later.  It was held at the Mahoning County Fair Grounds.  All of the open dogs were in a "down - stay".  In open you give the stay command to your dog and you leave the building.  The dog must be in the same position and not have moved or broken the command until you return and release the dog.  A storm cropped up during the match.  While Grace and the other dogs were in that down stay a large lightning crack and thunder hit nearby.  Every dog but Grace broke it's position and command.  Again, she made me proud. 

Before I started to enter trials in Open with Grace I was contacted by Channel 45/49 Public Broadcasting in Kent Ohio.  They were going to be holding auditions for an upcoming educational television series they would be filming that summer.  They had considered a Beagle for the role but had been told time and time again they would not find a Beagle that could  perform outdoors off leash.  Somehow they had contacted the club I belonged to and were given my name and number.  Grace did audition for the part.  I believe one more Beagle that was owned by obedience judges auditioned.  The other dogs from different areas were other breeds.  We auditioned outside of the station.  And Grace did well as she always did.  Grace won the leading roll as "Sherlock" for the show.  At that time we were told they needed a dog with "basic" training.  That was the farthest from what they actually needed. 

MORE TO FOLLOW SOON

●If you would like to view the five TV shows my Beagle Grace "Samantha's Evening Snowstorm"  starred in for Channel 45/49 go to the link listed below, scroll down until you see five shows with a Beagle and the title "Secrets Of Sherlock".  Each show is short if you do not continue on to watch the section for teachers.  The shows were filmed in 1994 to prepare 3rd and 4th graders for the proficiency tests.  They were also aired on channel 45/49  regular television programming.  Click on this link :  http://www.pbs4549.org/voditv.htm