Tazzi Too Grande

	Saying Goodbye to Tazzi January 3 1992 - February 23, 2005 Back to Home Back to Meet our Dogs
Help us Celebrate This Incredible Dog filled with heart..... U-CD Tazzi Too Grande BH CGC Delta Pet Therapy Dog, SAR Dog Retired
Tazzi was a 13 year old Rottweiler- German Shepherd mix. She was registered with United Kennel Club (as AMBOR) and held her Companion Dog (U-CD) title and German BH Obedience title. She was a retired air scent Search and Rescue dog. Taz also earned her Delta Society Pet Partner, pet assisted therapy dog title. She participated in Positive Puppy Dog Training as a demonstration dog, or a controlled distraction dog when we proof learned behaviors for client dogs. She died of Osteosarcoma after an valiant battle. Please enjoy this peek at who she was and what she did throughout her life!
Taz originally began her competitive career as a 4-H Obedience Dog for my daughter, Jessica. Jessica was 11 years old when we got Taz. Jess had been competing in 4-H for 2 years with our oldest dog, Lucy. Taz won her first 4-H Obedience trial with Grand Champion. She was only 8 months old at the time. Zooming along in 4-H, Taz won Grand Champion again the following year in obedience and first place in her first United Kennel Club trial attaining the first leg on her U-CD title. Throughout Tazzi's 4-H career, she won over eight Grand and Reserve Grand Champions in Handling and Obedience.
TRAGEDY STRIKES Just as it was appearing that Taz was going to be an outstanding obedience competitor, tragedy struck. Taz began vomiting day after day and lost a huge amount of weight in what seemed a very, very short time. It was beginning to look like Taz would spend the rest of her life on steroids to reduce inflammation in her bowel. She had been diagnosed with INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE. Determined not to allow the side effects of steroids to shorten her life, I began a search on alternative therapy. What I discovered is that Taz could tolerate people food much easier than dog food. On that quest, I also discovered natural and raw diets that many people had already been feeding their dogs. Guided by my first nutrition book: A HOLISTIC GUIDE TO A HEALTHY DOG by Wendy Volhard, I began feeding a homemade diet with HUGE success.
Heeling	Sending away over jump	Flip Finish

Taz slowly but very surely began to recover her weight and stop vomiting. Within a year, she had stopped vomiting completely. Her energy soared and her coat glistened with health. The steroid shots had been discontinued. Well on her way to controlling her IBD, it was evident that Taz had a HUGE drive to work and work happily with motivational training. Her energy level was motivating me to find some work that would keep her enthusiasm for life and intelligent mind occupied. When Taz was just about 2 years old, I started Search and Rescue Training with her and became involved with Intermountain Search and Rescue Dog Association - the only ARDA (American Rescue Dog Association) unit in Idaho. A SECOND TRAGEDY Holy, cow! Does it EVER stop? Well, apparently not. After beginning SAR training, Taz began to limp. After further discovery, we found that not only one but BOTH of her knees had anterior cruciate tears and that the angulation of her knees would predispose her to more tears if the structure of her knees were not altered. The next year brought Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (PTLO) surgery and 5 month recovery for each knee. This brought a HUGE damper into her SAR training. Now, nearly 4, Taz was finally given the green light by the vet to training as hard a possible in search and rescue. The next few years saw Taz training and evaluating as a water search dog. While water missions are fairly scarce in some parts of Idaho, Taz did not participate in many actual searches. Then, when Taz was 7, she suffered a broken neck - the transverse process had broken off and was free floating along her spine. While not a serious, life threatening break, it was obvious, that while Tazzi had the desire and talent to do search and rescue, she physically was going to break down much faster if she continued to keep up her strenuous training schedule. It was then that I had to take a hard look at retiring her from search and rescue. While Taz has only participated in a few searches following her retirement, she continued to train, although on a much less frequent schedule. For Taz, its the work and desire to be a part of the mission that keeps her going. Last year, with as much heart and zest for work as any young dog, Taz obtained her German obedience BH title at 12 years old. While trained to open level AKC and UKC obedience, the jumping required would just be too hard for her. I was very proud when Taz went on on that field for her BH and showed people how happy and hard working a 12 year old, motivationally trained dog can be. The nicest comment I got was not only from the judge, but all the spectators: "Wow, she was loving that! You should have seen her tail wagging like crazy the whole time you were doing your exercises!" To me, THAT is what it is all about - having a dog who LOVES to work, even at 12 years old. I pay tribute to operant conditioning (clicker training) for keeping her motivated after all these years. After several trips to Washington State University for paliative radiation treatment to help stop the pain of her tumor, the cancer finally overtook Tazzi. The morning before her euthanasia, I took Tazzi and all the other family dogs for a walk out our favorite canyon, Deer Creek. The sun was shining and dancing off the snow. Taz, while in terrible pain, driven by her huge desire and wonderful heart, walked and pranced along the road, chasing snow balls, barking in happiness, wagging her tail and eating treats. Taz enjoyed her last hour here with her family doing one of her most favorite things. Momentarily, Taz forgot her pain and was full of life and love. She never stopped loving life, which made her release particularly hard for me. We give our thanks to those who supported us and helped us along the way: Dr. Claire Inderbinen from Washington State University for her kindness, and consistency in providing the best care possible during Tazzi's treatments. And, bless Dr. Karsten Fostvedt for his compassion and honesty when it was time to let Tazzi go. Tazzi's portrait is proudly hanging in the halls of the exam rooms at Washington State University Veterinary Hospital. She sits among the fresh purple spring flowers in a meadow outside Stanley, Idaho. The late afternoon sun blesses her contented soul while the brilliantly blue Idaho sky halos her. I hope you enjoyed this window on an extraordinary dog whose desire, will, and love for life will always live on in our hearts.
		Taz Digging for Gold!