The beginning
When my wife and I decided that our family daily ménage would have allowed us to finally have a dog, I chose the bred after a long study.
The real responsible for this choice is Richard Hellman, who since years was presenting with his unmistakable style top Australian Shepherds all through Europe. I was lucky enough to know Trip and Gregor at the top of their careers. Once, at the Insubria Winner 2004, Richard asked me to hold Gregor’s leash and take him to the ring entrance (thanks Richard!), as he had to present Trip in Champions Class. That day I knew that my dog would have been an aussie. Gregor had his particular way to stay in the ring and was incredibly joyful, with surprising strength and energy.
From that day on, I had the opportunity to visit some top level litters, but I did not find among them what I was looking for (or, if there was, it was not available): a dog (well, to be honest… a bitch!) able to be a great family dog, my daugthers’ canine brother (they were at that time 4 and 6 yrs old) and at the same time with a good potential to be competitive in obedience, the sport I decided to exercise.
A decisive milestone
I was furthermore lucky to meet Marula Furlan, one of the greatest export of the breed I ever knew, who breeds under the affix Wallawanda. Yes, she has her character (!), but I have to be honest and recognize she was able to find the right dog for me. She avoided to sell me a pup from a previous litter I already chose as she thought it was not ok for me. I saw that nice bitch some years later: she’s adorable, but she was definitively not the dog for me.
Marula finally assigned Buzz to me. When I first saw him, he was 10 days old and he could stay in one hand. I immediately fell in love with him, and he was not the fist pup I saw! I do love his mother Riva too: an extraordinary bitch. Damon, the father Marula chose for Buzz, gave him the unmistakable character that makes him a true special dog.
Buzz
Buzz is a mix of energy, willingness and contagious joy of life. His jumps regularly surprise everyone: he jumps up without any apparent effort up to your nose height without touching you, and if you are not prepared, a flashing lip kisses you before you can realize what’s happening. Nothing is taken for granted with him: his mind is always at work, always looking for a movement, a sound, the opportunity do interact: his ability to learn is continuing to shock me after all these years. The way he looks at you in that occasions is something dog lovers do remember.
Buzz is a dog that goes not unobserved. Since he was a 8 wks old pup, it was not possible to walk 100 meters on without being stopped with the list of comments and questions we got used to very quickly: which breed is this pup? What’s his name? how big will he get?
Almost every kid ask to touch him, even now that he is no more a peluche (or maybe he is, only… extra large)….. well, in fact most of the times kids do touch him without asking and only some ask BEFORE (this is a problem of dog-relationship lack of education in our Country). Luckily, he loves them, including toddlers. The only serious risk they face, on top of being completely “cleaned up” from all the repertoire of food, milk and beverage that only small kids are able to carry around for hours (Buzz discovered it very quickly!), is to be bumped down by his overwhelming energy, even if it never happened up to now..
With other male dogs, Buzz love to be very “macho”. Only a few of them appreciate this, but how can we say they’re wrong? Notwithstanding the fact he does not love to be surrounded by male dogs and hates to be challenged, he was never openly aggressive up to now (yes, at the leash is another story…) and, by meeting other males face to face without leash, his approach is challenging but not aggressive and he never used his mouth up to now, even if he was bitten several times. He simply did not react. With bitches, well… is another story. Let’s only say he loves them, quite a lot!
Conformation Shows
Buzz’s show career was very, very fast: he became Italian Champion in only 7 shows, with 7 different judges from 4 different Countries.
Nevertheless, Conformation Shows are definitively not the reason why I chose Buzz as y canine companion. Our objective is working, together.
Obedience, sheepdog, agility
On April the 9th, 2009, we entered in Class 2 and started preparing our main target, class 3, thanks to the coaching of an international level teacher as Maurizio Romanoni who needs not to be presented, a friend that taught me so much so far, that I’ll never be able to return the favour.
Buzz has a strong predatory instinct coming from his mum Riva (Propwash Seabiscuit): he easily and brilliantly got his CANT and sheepdog is without any doubt his most beloved activity. He shows no hesitation even in front of big cows and only the lack of time and the distance to reach sheep and calves from home prevents us to work more often in this discipline. But is anyway I our “to do” list!
I was very, very lucky to meet on my way the “ragazzi” of the Corona Ferrea Dog Club in Monza: Ezio, Franco, Livia and all the fellows at the club. All beautiful persons.
Thanks to Livia’s advice, always there for a smile or an encouragement, to the incredible patience of Franco, who dedicated hours and hours to Buzz and me stealing them from his rest at the end of the day, to the few but “magic” words of Ezio Bertuletti, an Italian agility living legend, we are now ready to debut in agility too. We first wait to be in class 2 Obedience and then we’ll challenge ourselves in his new enterprise, where Buzz is – no surprise – a natural talent and where the weak ring of the chain is, without any doubt,… me!
Hope we’ll have good news soon.
