The story of the devastation over the loss of my beloved Tori and reluctance to ever love another dog is too long to post here. Here's the beginning; the rest can be read by clicking on the link below. The ending is much happier than the beginning!

“Carol I have the perfect puppy for you!” “Thanks Pat, I appreciate it but I don’t want a puppy. I don’t think I ever want another dog. I can’t put myself through that heartache again”.

The National Specialty shows are always a great place to renew old friendships and make new ones. Pat and I had met a couple of years earlier at the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of America National Specialty Show in San Francisco. Tori our extremely promising 2-year-old dog had made his debut at this show and had attracted a lot of attention with his animated ring presence and excellent confirmation. The dog Pat had shown had impressed me with his near perfect performance as he gained even more points toward his OTCH. We became friends even though we lived at opposite ends of the country.

Tori was a product of a carefully planned breeding between our Champion female, Clover and a soon to be Dual Champion sire; whose accomplishments and career we’d been privileged to witness and take part in personally. Tori’s confirmation was as close to the standard as any breeder could possibly hope for and his bird finding abilities, trainability and eagerness to please were in the same category. A true dual champion in the making! The breeding that produced him was also our final breeding. All of our hopes and dreams as breeders were pinned on this “once in a lifetime” dog! After Tori’s litter was born, we’d made the decision that due to the increasing problem of unwanted pets; we would no longer be breeding GSP’s. Though we planned to remain active in competition with Tori.

While he was still in the whelping box, Tori and I developed a special bond. We became not only dog and owner but best friends!. We spent hours together every day in obedience and field training as the bond between us continued to grow. All we had to do now was continue his training and allow him to mature enough to finish his show championship. By then his field training would be complete and he’d move on to field trials where he would earn the coveted Dual Champion title as well as his indisputable title of beloved pet, companion and hunting dog!

Sadly this was not to be. At only 4 years of age and well on his way to the coveted Dual Champion title, Tori was diagnosed with a rare and always fatal disease. The months between the first symptoms and the final diagnosis were agonizing. It was unbearable to watch my formerly happy healthy pal suffer through bouts of illness and return to seemingly normal health, only to be stricken down again and again. Once the diagnosis was confirmed, there was no choice but to end his suffering.

As I held him in my arms while he drew his last breath, tears running down my cheeks onto his painfully thin and now horribly bloated body; I vowed I would never, never allow myself to become this close to any animal ever again!

The grapevine in the dog world is an active one! Breeders from all over called to offer their condolences, many of them offering to send me a puppy when I felt I was ready. My reply to all of them was the same! “Thanks, but I don’t want a puppy. I don’t think I ever want another dog. I can’t put myself through that heartache again”.

Howdy! The pup I didn't want!