Shandy

 Shandy – Mishaook’s Chantryile Ashanti

  • Othiz v’t Belgisch Schoon x Lois Lane v’t Belgisch Schoon
  • November 5, 1994 - 2011

We were at the Dutch national specialty in 1994, and admired a lovely Groenendael girl named Lois Lane v't Belgisch Schoon. Skip and Elsie Stanbridge were able to lease her for a couple of breedings, so bred her to Othiz v't Belgisch Schoon before bringing her to Canada. From that litter, they gave us Shandy on a co-ownership.

Shandy was a very high energy, driven dog, full of life. Unfortunately, she was not fond of most people, and even less fond of other dogs, in particular our other G girl, Niki. Shandy and Niki, who was also not good with other dogs, reached the point where they could never be loose together, anywhere. We spent a couple of years juggling dogs - using crates and gates to keep the bitches separated. They did have a fight one Christmas Eve, though, when we were away for the night and my sister was dog sitting and mistakenly let the wrong two black dogs out of the crates.

That was the last straw, and Shandy had to leave. Fortunately for Shandy, Elsie Stanbridge found the perfect home - an older couple, no kids, quiet but active lifestyle, willing to put up with (and manage) Shandy's energy level, reactivity, dog aggression and lack of people skills. Sadly, Shandy had several grand mal seizures on the weekend when she went to her new home - the stress of the change, perhaps? Looking back afterwards, there were two occasions previously when she may have seized - we thought she was suffering from heat stroke, as she had been racing around outside. In retrospect, we believe those were seizures. Shandy went on medication and lived to nearly 17 years of age, thanks, perhaps, to her daily ice cream with liqueur on it.