Angie

Angie went as a puppy to live with Barbara Christopher as the much-loved companion of her son, Peter. Originally I assumed Angie would spend her life as a family pet. However, after Angie's mom, Poppy, died I became more involved with Angie. Angie had been in the same obedience classes that I had been going to and I noticed something very special about her. Angie reminded me a lot of her mom. She had the same gentle, sweet personality and was very eager to please. I talked to Barbara and Peter and with their agreement I started to work with Angie in obedience. I normally only got to work with Angie once a week or even less but she was a joy to work with. She picked up on her exercises with remarkable ability. I thought her mother Poppy had been 

​​an incredible obedience dog but Angie was to out perform her mom. Angie completed her Companion Dog (C.D.) obedience title in three straight trials in one weekend with scores of 195 1/2, 195 1/2 and 194. She loss three points on the last score when she came into me on the recall but instead of sitting she only paused and then went directly to heal position. This simple mistake cost Angie a Dog World Award for obtaining a C.D. title in three trials with all scores over 195. Nonetheless, I was still extremely proud of Angie. Two of these scores where High in Class wins.  We then started to work towards her Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title and things were looking great until tragedy struck. On the night of Jan. 19th, 1987 I got a call from Barbara. She and Peter had both been home very sick that day. Barbara had put Angie out in her pen at lunchtime so nine year old Peter would get some sleep. When they went out to bring Angie in at suppertime she was dead in her pen. Some teenage kids had poisoned her. Three days later they broke into the house next door. Apparently they had poisoned Angie because they were afraid that she would sound an alarm when they broke into the neighbour's house. I couldn't believe that this beautiful girl was gone. She will always hold a special place in my heart.