# Eagle's last video



## Molly Graf (Jul 20, 2006)

I made this video of Eagle one month before he passed away. He was going on 12 years old, and still trucking along in his retired years. By my side as he always was - playing ball, and enjoying moving my sheep around - a passion of his that I discovered too late to pursue serious HGH or other herding with him. But as you may be able to see in the video, he had a very natural talent with the sheep - this is a dog with zero herding training. The sheep are also not trained or dog-savvy at all. And as an added bonus, you can witness the one and only herding chihuahua, Eagle's sidekick Tigger Too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxH2fECHrwg

molly


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## Jason Hammel (Aug 13, 2009)

Sorry for your loss. Makes me wish I got good video of my Judah. You can see he was still all heart there. That Taco Bell dog cracks me up.


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## Mike Scheiber (Feb 17, 2008)

What a nice tribute to your dog and his memory, very nice.


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## James Lechernich (Oct 20, 2009)

Always sucks to lose a dog. But I have to ask, was there something wrong with his hips? Gate looks like he was favoring his back end.


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## Molly Graf (Jul 20, 2006)

Yes James, he was 12 years old. Also a big dog. He was 25X Schh3 and retired sound when he was 9 years old after competing at his last National-level trial. He had some arthritis happening, but in general good health until the end.


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## Terrasita Cuffie (Jun 8, 2008)

You can see that he has a sense of balance and cover but his body wasn't up to it given his age. I wondered had he been trained earlier not to engage them. But, there was a couple of interesting places where he appeared off contact but it was his way of not disturbing them until he got around to the other side. This is something that comes with age. I too thought the Taco Bell dog was a riot.

Terrasita


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## Molly Graf (Jul 20, 2006)

Terrasita, Eagle never had any training in herding - never one lesson. He only started showing interest when I first got a few sheep, three years ago - he never "worked" the sheep until one year ago, when I noticed his intense interest in them - in his last year he loved just moving them around - everything you see is just him moving the sheep on his own, no training - just what he knew instinctively. I think he had excellent natural instinct and wish I had thought about doing some herding/tending with him when he was younger. He was a dog who could do a lot of different things, sport was the one thing I pursued with him, but he proved to be a very versitile dog himself, and has proven to produce the same in his pups.


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## Terrasita Cuffie (Jun 8, 2008)

Molly, 

Believe me I understand. These are the traits that we look for when we select the herding dog--sense of group, balance, etc. Bob's Thunder was 5 I think we we tested him. Went out gathered his sheep and kept them to Bob. His young dog was no scruff either. A herding dog has several stages in his life----age 3, age 5 and age 8 and beyond. The dog is different in each of these stages. One of the things you will see is how they handle challenges from the stock. In his youth, the dog would have hit the nose. The post 8 year old dog starts to work with negotiation and pressure on and pressure off to accomplish what he wants or to get the job done. I thought it was a cool move that Ulf bred Fiona to Brix. I think we need to maintain both abilties in GSDs. Thanks for sharing the videos.

Terrasita


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

Molly,

For some strange reason I can't open yr video. I get a message saying it is not available in my region).
Just wanted to say I'm very sorry for your loss. Sadly I know very well what it feels like to lose a dog even at 12yrs of age.


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## James Degale (Jan 9, 2009)

It is always hard to see a dog fade out of his prime and into old age. It really is difficult because the mind is still going but the body cannot keep up. I am glad he has served you well, may he RIP.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

James Degale said:


> It is always hard to see a dog fade out of his prime and into old age. It really is difficult because the mind is still going but the body cannot keep up. I am glad he has served you well, may he RIP.



Yes.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Sorry for your loss Molly. And sorry this thread turned into such a circus. I'll leave it locked so it doesn't become another circus... there is no reason for there to be a thread of insults about a dog that passed away.


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