We’re not going to lie, it was a hard blow to us to realize that Cedric and Nova were not going to be the competitors we wanted. Even though we had told ourselves that we could represent the breed in another way (competitive obedience, nonprofit work, etc.), our hearts hurt. Self-Pity is a hell of a drug, and one that was preventing us from really advancing.
You see, as much as we love Cedric and Nova, they were never going to be champions. It pains us to say it, but they shouldn’t have been either. They are the ones who showed us the magic of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. They inspired us to become stewards of the breed, and their setback with health testing provided what we needed to look more objectively at what we are trying to accomplish.
Now, it is time to look to the future.
Bodie (Born to Be Your Sierra India Alpha) was imported from accomplished breeder Alexandra Trefán-Török at Born to Be kennels in Hungary. When we initially realized we wanted to show, we started looking at lines from all over the globe, looking for the type we wanted. We looked a lot at Twinan, and the breeders they worked closely with to see what was produced. When Bodie became available, it was happenstance – a natural bobtail that was a solid prospect in areas we wanted.
In the United States, we cannot import dogs under six months of age, so the wait was on! Since Bodie was not going to arrive until mid to late January, we planned to give her a solid 3 months with us before expecting anything from her. That meant letting her be a puppy, get used to us, get used to our other dogs, and give her a chance to come out of her shell and develop her own personality.
We’re now three months into having welcomed Bodie into our home, and we couldn’t be happier with her! Her genetic health testing came back from UC Davis (no red flags), we’ve had an ophthalmologist look over her eyes (she looks great), and next up is scheduling her prelims for her hips. Overall, we feel like we’re starting with a solid foundation.
This May, Bodie is scheduled for three back-to-back shows, making her debut at Kokomo Kennel Club‘s all-breed show. Not only is she going back-to-back, but she is also making her first specialty debut at the aptly named Good Vibrations Gaitway Specialty.
We are getting over feeling sorry for ourselves and looking forward to the opportunities in our future. In the meantime, we’ll work on explaining to Bodie why she has to get weekly baths from here on out (spoiler: she will accept none of our explainations).