BeSA

Besa was one of a litter of nine orphans. Their mother, Smooches, ensured they arrived safely but unfortunately she didn’t make it through the c-section to raise them. The compassionate vets at Parker Way Vet who dropped what they were doing to come to our aid made sure that blood was drawn from Smooches prior to her surgery and spun down so each of her babies could receive a portion of her crucial antibodies. A fellow Bulldogger offered a nurse mama named Dulce who was shuttled up to take over maternal duties, and several wonderful friends took turns spelling me off the first few days to allow me to catch up on some much needed sleep. The brood was aptly dubbed my “It Takes a Village” Litter. Dulce’s milk supply wasn’t quite adequate so I supplemented the puppies via tube-feeding, then put them on to nurse. The litter had its’ challenges: one of the nine passed suddenly just after a week after their arrival, and two of the remaining pups ended up battling aspiration pneumonia.

As if she didn’t have enough challenges to start her career, it just so happened that the dreaded Covid plague occurred a few short months after Besa’s birth. With everything shut down she missed out on much of the usual socialization and exposure to various settings during her formative months which gave her many more challenges to overcome when we were finally able to get back out there. Initially a very confident, outgoing puppy, with a thirst for adventure and a healthy curiosity, Besa became concerned in new settings, would hide when she knew a car ride was imminent, and was unsure around strange dogs. While we’ve gradually brought her back to her innate joie de vivre, it was definitely a strike against her to miss out on those early outings and exposure to the world.

A natural model, Besa provided lots of fun photo ops, and when I saw a contest soliciting photos that reflected canine misadventures I knew just the one to submit. One particular day I had come across three-month old Besa racing out of the bathroom, toilet paper unraveling in her wake. I grabbed the camera, sat her down among the wreckage, and snapped a photo as she looked up at me in complete innocence. That one little impish deed ended up netting us the $2500 Grand Prize in the Daily Paws/Greenies Pet Etiquette Fails contest!

I like to start teaching my youngsters how to retrieve and bring me things in the first few months so they don’t resort to the more typical Bulldog response of playing “keep-away”. When a puppy grabs one of my shoes or sock, or a piece of paper that fell on the floor I try to “get in front of the parade” and encourage them to bring it to me. When it’s handed over they receive a yummy treat and lots of praise, and soon they fully understand the concept of retrieving. Besa is probably my greatest food monger and this skill is her go-to whenever she is feeling a bit peckish and wants a special treat. ANY item that doesn’t belong on the floor is fair game and it will be carefully brought to me for a reward. A shoe, my bra, a rubber band, a small piece of wrapper or even a pine needle is brought to me for its bounty!

Even with her rough start, Besa has been accumulating a plethora of titles in a variety of doggy sports: Obedience, Rally, Coursing, Barn Hunt, Breed, Parkour, Trick Dog and Civic titles have been added to her list of credentials. Besa has even been building her commercial portfolio and is becoming a wonderful partner in whatever I decide to introduce her to.

• 2020 Daily Paws/Greenies Pet Etiquette Fails Grand Prize Winner
• 2022 “Take the Graviton Challenge” Commercial
• 2023 BCA Nationals Rally High Combined & Rally Triple Q
• 2023 BCGS National Back-up Rally High Combined and Rally Triple Q
• 2023 BCA National Best All-Around Bulldog
• BCA Versatile Bulldog Diamond Eligible
• BCA Ambassador For Health Platinum

BReED: Canadian Champion & International Champion
OBeDiENCe: Companion Dog
AGiLiTY: Agility Course Test 1 (ACT1), Agility Course Test 2 (ACT2) & Agility Jumpers Preferred (AJP) titles
RaLLY: Rally Novice (RN), Rally Advanced (RA), Rally Excellent (RE) & Rally Master (RM) titles
TRiCK DoG: Trick Dog Novice, Trick Dog Intermediate, Trick Dog Advanced, Trick Dog Performer & Trick Dog Elite Performer
COuRSiNG: BCAT Fast Cat Title
BaRN HuNT: Novice Barn Hunt (RATN), Barn Hunt Open (RATO)
CiViC: Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Community Canine (CGCA) & Urban Canine Good Citizen (CGCU)
PaRKoUR: Parkour Dog Novice (PKD-N),Parkour Dog Intermediate (PKD-I) & Parkour Dog Expert (PKD-E)
THeRaPY: Pet Partners Certification

ThE RoCKiN’ ARoUND ThE CHRiSTMaS TReE LiTTeR: Besa had a beautiful litter of six pups sired by MBISS GCHB CH Wade Manor True Man O’ My Heart that shared their birthday with their famous Great Great Great Grandsire Gabe on December 20, 2021. The litter included Ivan & Bindi.

ThE ACaDeMY AWaRDs LiTTeR: Besa’s second and final litter was a whopping TEN puppies–five boys and five girls–born on March 11, 2023. The litter was sired by Ch Hug-O-Bull’s Kailua Kai and includes my special keeper girl, Pickles. Over half of the litter went to performance/show homes and we are excited to see all this talented bunch accomplishes in the coming years!