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Allie’s
Tribute Last night (June 30, 2003), we said goodbye
to a very special gal in our lives - NorthWapiti's Alpha CD, SDX,
TT. "Allie" was our first CKC pointed dog.
The last born out of our very first litter of puppies. She snuck
in her entrance long after we thought Libby was finished having
puppies. She didn't escape our notice for long though.
From the beginning, she was Mark's girl - the only one he's ever
put a suit on for! He always wanted to look good if he had her in
the ring. The two made their appearance in the obedience ring and
occasionally conformation. Allie obtained her CD title in 4 trials
- she loved to work for her Dad.
When we began to get more serious about running dogs, I borrowed
Allie to lead for me in races. I never came even close in her eyes
to her Dad, but she humored me and was a hot damn lead dog - my
first real leader, actually. I've always credited her with winning
the 54 mile Gold Rush Trail race for us. It was her leader skills
that got us quickly through some tricky parts of the course that
messed up a lot of the other teams.
In the 1997/98 season we retired her from the team. It was very
sad to head off to the races without her. She still went out with
the puppy teams and many of my subsequent leaders learned their
job from her. We could have never gotten as far as we have without
Allie.
Although she never had a litter of pups for us (we tried - it
just wasn't meant to be, I guess) - she will never be forgotten
around here. Her legacy lives on in all the leaders in our kennel
now and always. And Allie will live on in both our hearts,
although particularly Mark's, forever.
As our vet said last night "She running down happy trails
now" - and she deserves that.
Karen |
