Cypress Vanishing Act, CDX

Willow's Story

Willow was purchased from Dee Strahan of Cypress Shelties as my first show prospect. She carried a huge coat but was a little old fashioned in head type. A complete novice, I showed her a few times in the breed ring as a puppy but didn't do much besides winning some puppy classes. In the meantime I was training her in Obedience and she loved it. I finished her CD and CDX with Dog World awards and had her trained in Utility when she took time out for a litter. While carrying these puppies, one day she was playing with the other dogs and ran into a raised sprinkler head (we had a small horse farm and some of the sprinklers were quite large to cover a big area) and suffered a head injury, which included a broken ear drum and caused an inner ear infection. The puppies were not affected but about 6 months later she started having seizures, which were determined to be a brain lesion from the head injury. I was advised at the time she was diagnosed (by the vet I worked for and confirmed by Auburn University)that the lesion would continue to enlarge and her seizures would get worse and worse. In the meantime I had managed to put 2 legs in Utility on her but she started getting very confused, then developed a head tilt and began with the seizures so she was never able to complete her UD. Her seizures continued to escalate until they were no longer controllable with medication and at the age of 3 1/2 I had to euthanize her. She was a very sweet tempered, easy going dog and I became very attached to her during her illness. In her short lifetime she gave me a new look on Obedience training and showing as well as my first Champion. The picture below was taken a few days before she was put to sleep.