When
I
married and had a home of my own,
I
naturally
wanted another red Chow female.
We
brought
Starcrest Gina of Poppyland home when she
was
only
5 weeks old. She was a repeat breeding
of Ch
Ghat de la Moulaine and Poppyland Choo Choo.
Joel
Marston and Pete Kendall were the breeders.
I used
to take Gina to work and kept her in a cardboard
box
under
my desk. She was so good and quiet in the box
until
break time when she would wrap her little
paws
around my neck and “hug” me as
I
carried
her outside.
Although
she had excellent bloodlines
and was
sold to us as a show dog, it soon became
apparent
she was much too slight to do any serious
winning
in the ring.
She was
the smartest Chow I ever owned.
We
trained
her as a puppy to come when called, sit,
stay
and she in turn, trained all the puppies that came
into
our home, both her own and others that we bought
from
other breeders.
We
almost
lost her at the age of 10 months.
She
contracted
Leptospirosis. I had recently lost a new
baby
daughter and I thought Gina was grieving with me.
By the
time I realized she was sick,
she was
gravely ill with a temperature of 107 degrees.
Over
100 dogs died in Southern California from
that
epidemic, but Gina was saved thanks to an
innovative
vet that was willing to try live virus shots.
She
needed
medication every hour day and night
which
was a diversion for me and I was determined
not to
lose Gina too.
The
effects
of the virus lasted for many weeks and she
developed
alarming neurological symptoms including
“running
fits’ and photophobia.
However,
she eventually made a full recovery
and
lived
to the age of thirteen.
Although
she never did much in the ring herself,
she
gave
birth to 16 puppies in four litters
during
her lifetime, five of which became champions.
Besides
her own babies, she also helped
raise
our son and daughter.
They
both walked holding onto her fur.
She
guarded
and loved them. She was wonderful
and
made
the trip to Alaska with us
when
she was ten years old.
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