Rocky' Legacy @ Brier

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Hi All,

I have received so many notes of sympathy on the loss of Rocky and while I 
would like to respond to each individually, personally, I thought I would 
write this up and post you all.  Thank you to each and everyone of you who 
sent words of engorgement.  They mean a great deal and all have been saved 
to a special place in my heart.

Yes it's true as many of you pointed out that Rocky's life was cut 
short.  It's the hand he was dealt and the one we must accept.  His memory 
and his legacy will live on forever in our hearts and the hearts of the 
many others he had touched.  We had a great 16 months post diagnosis.  In 
our vet's own words, Rocky beat all the odds!  For that we are 
thankful!  For our vets we are thankful too.  Jim Meyer DVM, Lauren Acton 
DVM  and the entire staff at Woodburn Vet Clinic were there for us from the 
initial diagnosis, the amputation and the bitter sweet days to follow.  We 
would have been lost with out their support and guidance.

  Through Rocky George and I learned many things.  Most importantly that to 
love and to loose is far better than to have never loved.  We both learned 
how to train and succeed in the field, Rocky was a natural and he took both 
of us for the ride of our lives in the adventure of training with him 
through SH.  He never ran an official senior test as he fell to his illness 
just about the time we were ready to enter him.   However he did get to be 
the pick up dog for a Master test the summer after he lost his leg.  He got 
more birds that day than any dog on the grounds and this was probably his 
happiest day in his life.  The official pick up count from his crate well 
hidden off the test was 25 birds!  He didn't miss a one.  No human got wet 
doing Rocky's job.  There are many Rocky stories...

For me personally the past 16 months has been consumed with finding balance 
in my new education on health and genetics that Rocky helped prompt.  I 
have made a commitment to my current dogs and future generations to be more 
aware and to strive to enhance and improve, best their odds by making 
changes in how I care for these precious gifts of gold.  I have devoted 
many hours of study on diet and just what roles nutrition plays in the 
lives of our canines.   I have made the switch to a biologically correct 
diet.  Not because I think it's the whole answer but I do feel it's a major 
key in besting the odds and building a sound foundation from this point 
on.  Feeding a BARF diet isn't going to cure cancer or fix all the ills of 
the canine but I do believe it can best the odds.  I believe it's going to 
take devotion and time, generations to prove or disprove that feeding a 
biologically correct diet to the canine as we do with so many other 
species, however I am devoted to this.

In closing I wish to thank everyone once again for your support through one 
of the toughest things we as humans choose to take on.  Loving a dog and 
losing him.

Now go hug your dog!

Gina
Gina & George Heitz
gina@briergoldens.com
http://www.briergoldens.com
Brier Golden Retrievers, where temperament and train ability go paw in hand...
And home of one great GSD Tollhaus Hobby's Heart "Haus" meet his family at 
www.24kgsd.com
Current litters are at:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~stoller/newpups/
http://asoros.tripod.com/rocket.html
http://www.briergoldens.com/sprite_scarlette_litter_pa.htm
Our rescue litter at:
http://www.briergoldens.com/rescuelitter.htm
Torrey the Thanksgiving dog at:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~stoller/torrey/

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