Ch Salissure Dor D' Angevin CDX Smudge

SHE CAME hand picked by me from a special never repeated mating.  Her name Salissure Dor D' Angevin, call name Smudge was chosen long before I ever saw her.  Salissure roughly translated means smudge, Dor indicating her colour, fawn or you could say, gold..  My Smudge of Gold.  Never did I dream that as she matured, her colouring would also depict her name so exactly..   She was my very  'special'  girl.

I had recently said farewell to the smaller of our two dogs, and was in that saddened waiting phase.
I saw a picture of two dogs in a magazine, Briards, French Herding dogs such beautiful looking dogs, big, with long coats,  fawn colour, black ears and black beard.  It was just love at first sight and I knew I had to have one..  I had never heard of a Briard, and could find little about them at that time.  I didn't even know if they were available here in New Zealand.  I mentioned them to a friend and she told me she had looked at the breed a few years earlier, there was a breeder in the South Island and she still had her details.  So I sent a letter off to the breeder, asking about the availability of a puppy and also mentioned that I competed in Obedience with my previous dog, a Border Collie and I would be continuing  to do this with a new dog.  I later learnt that this had intrigued the breeder no end.
A mating had just been done and all being well, puppies would be born in January.  I must have driven the poor breeder to distraction with my constant phone calls over the following two months.
The litter was born on 22 January 1995.  A small litter, initially 4 boys and 3 girls but one boy did not survive.
When the puppies were 7 and a half weeks old,  I headed for Dunedin, armed with puppy temperament testing paraphernalia.  The breeder had not had a litter tested before and again was intrigued.  I was looking for very definite reactions to particular situations.  Oh and I must also mention here that I only wanted a female. The main reason being that the males were big, I am small.  I also should mention that until the actual testing began, I had not seen or touched the puppies, and I barely touched them during the testing, so was not really aware which was male and which was female.
The testing was completed and one puppy ticked every box I wanted.  A female.  Strangely enough it was not the puppy the breeder thought would be best suited to me, in fact she tried very hard to change my mind, but no, home with me came the box ticking lighter coloured female.
                     

                        SMUDGE     8 weeks old

We did so much together, my Smudge and I.  We traveled the country, North and South Island, competing in Breed and Obedience and even dabbling in Agility.  We met many people and made many friends, some of those friendships continuing still.






My beautiful blonde girl,  her life was too short.  At just past her 8th birthday she was gone, and I was robbed of the pleasure of sharing with her those wonderful golden older years.
But the memories, oh so many, and so many stories.  I will share on here for anyone who cares to read, the ups and downs, the joy and happiness, the fun times throughout those eight years with my beautiful dizzy blonde, my snow queen,

My Smudge of Gold