DryCreek Vizslas

Its My Way Or The Highway

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We lost Dolly at just under 16.5 years of age.  I cannot believe she was with us for over 16 years - where does the time go?  Dolly was out of our Sassy's first litter and as co-owners of Sassy, we kept pick female.  There was never any middle ground with Dolly - she either jumped in with wild abandon or refused to play.  She was stunning but absolutely disliked the show ring.  She won her first major at 9 months old and then tired of the process.  She would much rather be out in the field hunting.  I gave her a breather for 2 years and then promised her that if she would finish her championship I would  never show her again.  She must have taken me seriously because she finished within 3 months.  She took Best of Breed out of the classes for a major - something that is incredibly rare.  The judge had to ask me if I wanted my ribbon - I was standing there in shock.  Then only needing one point, Dolly took Winner's Bitch at the Vizsla Club of Northern California's specialty show to earn a 5 point major.  I never put her in the show ring again - a promise is a promise.  

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I put Dolly into field training where she suffered a pretty significant injury.  We think a venomous spider bit her on her rear hock.  The injury was so severe that she lost the use of leg.  Her foot atrophied to the extent that it was not functional.  She almost lost her leg over it.  Healing took 3  months of her wearing a bite-not collar 24/7.  And it slowly began to heal.  But she still was not using her foot.  The vet was concerned but I was not.  I told him that she is so competitive that she had to use that leg to keep up with the other dogs at the house.  It worked.  Today you would have to know what happened to notice the difference in her two back feet.  The special part is that although it put an end to her field trialing career, she went on to finish her Master Hunter title.  We miss you terribly and will always love you Dolly.

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