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On August 7th 2003, at exactly 14 years and 2 months, Enzo has left us to go to a happier place. He had lived a full and happy life. He traveled with us everywhere, in France, and the US then back to France to end a peaceful and quiet life in a big yard in the South of France. He leaves a huge empty space behind, but is still very present in our hearts. I will never forget him, and I will never find a dog like him. We miss him so much, but know that he is better now, he can run again, and play, as he used to love. Good bye my bouncy beardie. We will love you always ! |
There are already quite a few very nice pages about Bearded Collies and owners that are very much involved with the breed, through shows, herding and rescue.
So I am just going to tell you a little about Beardies through Enzo's story and his photo album (don't forget to visit it), and hope you will have as much fun to read it as I had gathering all the pieces, and that it will make you want to discover or know more about that wonderful breed.
I will then give you the Beardie links I know...
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you are visitor He gets a bone for everyone of you... |
| Enzo's story
starts back in 1989, when we decided to
get our first dog (pet). After long research on the most appropriate breed for us and successive eliminations, we discovered the Bearded Collie. We went to pay a visit to a local breeder, and immediately fell in love with these wonderful dogs. They were so much just what we were looking for - pretty but rustic, free but not wild, self-confident but not aggressive - an unspoiled breed... |
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We then
hunted for a good, serious breeder with show quality dogs, so we could do
shows as suggested by our neighbor (a professional groomer, also French
poodle breeder). We picked Enzo as a promising puppy from 2 champions with close English ancestry, at caring German speaking breeders. That dog had already a strong international influence... He was then 3 weeks old - a cute little blue male with white markings - He wasn't very active at the time, but little did we know he was going to become the scamp of the 16 puppies (2 litters). When we went back to take him home at 8 weeks, he had grown to a 5 kg (11 Lb) little teddy bear and charmed our entire little town. |
We then learn together the techniques of an efficient grooming
that would be enjoyable for both of us.
He quickly grew up to a very handsome and pleasant adult Beardie, fun to live
with. When we went to show Enzo for his pedigree confirmation, we realized that
we weren't made or ready for shows, it just wasn't fitting our style. We enjoy
him better running and enjoying himself playing with other dogs in the park.
From that point on, we had a family pet with a pedigree that would share our
lives and every moments he possibly could. Always well-groomed and well-behaved,
Enzo raises questions and amazement among the people we meet, so we can tell
them all about Beardies.
Enzo is, and it's common to the
Beardies I know, very active and hardy but not nervous, strong but agile, very
intelligent and will use it against you - he knows what makes you fall - and is
devoted to his family. He is very stable and self-confident, not agressive, loving,
fun and very curious. He is playfull and loves kids and other animals - except
for ducks which he loves chasing in the water... He has a lot of energy that he's
eager to use. 
You can feel they are working dogs, they are so easy to train and so eager to
learn, always ready !!! Enzo became a good watch dog over the years.
They can be mischievous. Sometimes, Enzo would purposely wait for you to look
at him to steal something from you, just so you'll chase him and go play with
him...
When we decided to leave Francefor Florida, we had to decide what to do with and about Enzo. And eventhough Beardies DON'T belong to Florida (believe me...), I couldn't stand the thought of leaving my first beloved dog behind - he is a little like a kid to me - So we took him along.
We had to plan the trip according to Enzo's
needs, and there we were heading for the New World with Enzo in the back of a
plane, lonely in his brand new "not so fun" cage...Enzo now is enjoying the comfort of an indoor setting -he was mostly an outdoor dog in France- Here the extreme humid heat makes it very uncomfortable for a dog his kind, but makes it a paradise for all sorts of other creatures...
Florida is a sub-tropical climate -that means it is warm to hot all year round, with a very high humidity level in the summer (from May to October) and no freeze period in the winter -
These are ideal conditions if you plan on breeding fleas...
Where we were living in South West of France, we had some fleas and since Enzo seemed to be allergic to them, I had to be pretty effective with our fleas control program. Anyways when we moved to Florida I thought I knew it all (despite what my friends were telling me !)...
Well, let me tell you. Until you live in Florida with pets, you DON'T. That's what we learned, if anything.
Fleas are pretty agressive,
mostly on pets, but pray that the pet doesn't leave the house or else, you'll
know why they scratch...Enzo now gets his weekly bath, pills, and spray, plus the house is treated regularly as well. With consistent work and appropriate chemicals, we can keep the population down to a minimum, to almost none. But watch me, I never say get rid of them. No, there is no such thing as no flea in the beautiful bug paradise of Florida...
Because of that, sometimes I wonder if we made the right choice to take him along. But when I hug him and he wags his tail happily, I think we did.
I would miss him a lot if he wasn't around to make us take a break and make the house more lively.
I would have loved to have more than one
Beardie, I love watching pets play together. Unfortunately our lives never allowed
ud to do so yet. But I don't despair, I hope one day we'll be able to do more
for the breed, to give back a little of all Enzo gives to us...
And now you can view some pictures (including puppy, funny,
etc..) Lots of pictures here !!!
Enjoy...
Owner's pages
: Stories, pictures, etc... from Beardies owners and lovers. Hobo's Page : A creative Beardie
page, with 100's of beardie links... Comments
and Advice : All about the Beardie, breeding, training, grooming, etc...All these links can cross-reference each other. If you know more links of quality about Beardies that you would like to share, feel free to E-mail me, and I will be glad to post them on this page.
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