Rosanne (Gavidae's Rosanna Danna)  6/12/1999-12/28/2009
 
She did agility because I asked her to, but her true love was people.  For the first two years of her agility career, she would go say hi to the judge, the ring stewards or anyone who might have a free hand to pet her.  She became a certified therapy dog at age 3 and finally met her calling, visiting several time a week with children at school and a physical therapy office, until the week before she passed away.  She was the best dog my children could have had to grow up with and we still miss her everyday.  Even though she prefered not to do the teeter in agility she still managed to earn several titles: 
AKC - NA and OAJ
NADAC - NGC,O-NJC, TN-O, NCC

Yee Haw Kintla

11/30/97 - 12/06/10

Kintla was Rocky's and my "kid", and our hiking buddy, until I finally got around to discovering agility with him when he was nearly five.  He tolerated all the stumbling moves and slow learning curve of a first-time agility handler, never losing his enthusiasm for the game in spite of me, although he never hesitated to express his opinion about anything either -- ranging from the simple "hey everybody, I HAVE ARRIVED in the barn!!!" to "what the heck are these?!?  I've never seen weave poles like this before!!!!"  to "who in the world designed THIS course?!?!?".  (Or his early opinions on Hoopers: "What the heck IS THIS???  I know what AGILITY is supposed to look like and this isn't IT!!!)

 He loved any game involving balls -- he had a short-lived but passionate career as a flyball dog until I retired him early to save wear and tear on his shoulders and elbows.  He had a legendary ability to find tennis balls ... one of the funniest stories (which still makes the rounds in Montana agility circles and makes me smile even today) was when he left an agility course at a trial in the old Kissock horse arena in Butte, to dig up a tennis ball out of the dirt near the wall, which had somehow escaped the notice of 76 other dogs for a day and a half...  and then of course on his next run, he had to go back to see if there might be another one in the same vicinity!

 He qualified for and ran in 6 consecutive NADAC Championships beginning in 2004.  His favorite Championships event was always the team game "Batters Up" where he was notorious for grabbing a ball to carry in his mouth before he would run his "anchor leg" of the relay, with huge enthusiasm and much to the amusement of the crowd.....  but for the rest of the year, his very favorite NADAC class was Touch & Go, which was the first event he ever qualified in, and nearly the last.  Of his 3475 lifetime points, 870 were in Elite Touch & Go.  While Kintla never earned a NATCH, he changed my life (and Rocky's) by bringing us into the world of NADAC agility, where the friends we have made will be with us always.

 In his last few years, Kintla totally astounded me when I realized that he was a "diagnostic dog" for what was happening with Rocky's cancer.  How he knew what was happening, and what was going to happen, I will never know.  But he clearly knew, each time before we did, when something serious was going on or about to happen.  I like to think of the two of them together now, somewhere curled up and snoozing in the sun together, as they so often did at home.

 Zack and I will miss them both, always.