Multi "V" Rated Arras Von Grutenwald, BH, ZtP OFA Excellent
3/19/98 - 11/05/07
I regret to say that the best dog I ever owned, who happened to be my best friend is gone now. For those who knew him, you understand what a loss this is. For those who didn't know him, let me tell you a little about him.
He was actually whelped here in my house. His whole litter was the craziest little things that his breeder James Cokes, and I had ever seen. At six weeks of age these puppies were literally flying through the air to reach a swinging rag. I had never seen such craziness in puppies. I was fortunate enough to be offered the pick puppy by James, but at first I thought No…I want a dog who comes out of bigger lines…Wotan like or something, but James kept telling me I need to think about it because this dog was going to be great! I accepted, and named this crazy little nut “Arras”
It seems like the time flew by, and I was working with this dog that in all honestly was beyond the abilities that I could end up giving him. He was crazy for the bitework, but a good tracking dog, who ended up being a fantastic obedience dog also. At about 20 mos old, we had a dog seminar with David Deleiseugges, I was told “This dog is over the top, almost too much so” and that they wondered if the dog “had a chromosome problem or something,” because he was so fired up, that you couldn’t do too much movement for prey drive, as it would throw him into overload. But David liked him, and so did Marty Robinson, who at the time had Racker also. Marty just couldn’t quit talking about how he had never seen a dog do the things Arras could at this young age.
I kept working with him and he got better and better all the time. He got his BH, and then attempted a BST but do to bad helper work by Steve G. (Was even reprimanded by Judge Radtke) he failed. He ended up going V-1 in Open Males the next day. He ended up getting his ZtP under F. Martins later anyway. He never got his Schutzhund titles due to me! I just wasn’t good under pressure, which really sucks because this dog could have and should have been a SchH III Dog easily, had he had a different handler. At 9 year old, he had a chance to bite on Anne Marie Chaffin's husband (Sorry cant remember his name, but I believe it is Mark) and before he was given the bite, they told me they didn’t expect much as he was old now. When he finally did bite, you should have seen Mark’s eyes….he couldn’t believe how arras was working. He ended up giving him 3-4 bites, and then called it good, and he told me I should still try to title him as he thought he could still do the work!
In the limited breedings that he had, he produced some very nice dogs including the National Youth Sieger Akino vom Gruberhaus. I luckily still have a 2 yr old son of his whose name is Falko. Who is a crazy dog himself, but he is definitely not his daddy, but there are very few dogs that could have lived up to what, and who Arras was.
Arras ended up spending the last few years of his life with my mom. Arras was great for her. He was a security blanket for her, and she knew she wouldn’t have any problems with Arras around. My mom lived about a block from the training field that my former club still uses. James would always tell me how he would be down at the field working dogs, and he could always hear a dog barking and going nuts. When he would walk up to the end of the drive and look down the street, he would just kind of laugh, as it was Arras down at my moms house doing a bark and hold in his kennel staring down at the field. Sometimes James would look up there though, and Arras was loose! Nope, he was just walking the yard with my mom. Everywhere she went he went. She loved this dog as much as I did, and I always knew the order of my mom’s love…first my daughter, and my son, and then Arras, and then somewhere down the road I was in there too.
My mom had to do the hardest thing in the world, as she was there when Arras took his last breath. She told him that she loved him, and that I love him, and told him she would see him again soon. Thanks mom! And thanks Arras for being the best… the best at everything, but mostly for being the best companion, and friend us stupid humans could have!
