Dear Departed Filucy Bay Dogs
“Il faut pleurer me disait ma grand-mère, les larmes du dedans font autrement plus mal et pourrissent les os”
― Cédric Sapin-Defour, Son odeur après la pluie
It took me one year to get Gunther's confidence. His insecurity is not unheard of in the breed but must be avoided by breeders and adopters. He was purchased mail order by a backyard breeder in Eastern Washington and then was rescued by Margaret under the most precarious of circumstances. Gunther also did not pass his OFA hip certification and at the age of 4 was already showing signs of hip arthritis. Gunther's story of being sold mail order should be a precautionary tale for the Berner adopter. Whoever agrees to send you a Berner without meeting you in person is probably not a good breeder. Whoever adopts a Berner from a breeder without meeting the breeder and, at least, the dam of the litter is probably not a wise adopter.
Gunther passed away from Histiocytic Sarcoma (cancer) at age 5 1/2 years. He was also crippled by hip dysplacia. We were happy to have Gunther on the farm and were disappointed that he had to die so young.
Umi was a lucky girl. She almost certainly fared better than her litter mates. Her arrival in the West was due to the actions of a Wenatchee couple that mail ordered her from an Amish breeder, (Lancaster County, PA,) along with a male dog, Gunther, from a different (Swiss) Amish breeder in Indiana. The couple wanted to breed Berners. Fortunately, when the two Berners were about 4 months, some personal issues (or perhaps they came to their senses,) forced the Wenatchee couple to abandon their plan and sell the pups. Margaret heard about the forced sale from a friend of a friend and jumped on the deal. It turned out to be a wonderful way to rescue two dogs who deserved better. By that time, Gunther was Umi's rock and so it was fortuitous that they were allowed to stay together on Margaret's 20 acre farm. Umi became a good farm dog and kept the farm free of coyotes and deer.
Umi had a small Achilles heel, Grade One elbows, but everyone who met her would say that she was the sweetest girl. They would ask that if we were ever to breed her that they would like a pup from Umi. So we bred her with good elbows, Fridolin, and had our first litter of two pups. Umi is survived by her pups, Mozart and Hugo, who are living happy with our neighbors in Lakebay and Seattle.
Umi was diagnosed with Histiocytic Sarcoma just after her 7th birthday. She did well with prednisone and CCNU for a few months but finally was euthanized in April at age 7 and 1/2 years.
It's notable that Umi was the first histiocytic sarcoma victim in North America to have her treatments monitored using the liquid biopsy test developed by the University of Rennes, France. The liquid biopsy monitors the level of HS mutations in blood plasma thus identifying the disease and its progression even before symptoms are visible to the eye. We hope Umi's participation will contribute to improvement in the health of her Berner family.
She started life with little prospects but life turned idylic for her thanks to Margaret. It is hard to imagine Umi having a better life than what Margaret gave her. She was a lucky girl.
Rémy was another wonderful Berner that was poorly bred. In Rémy's case, he was whelped from a pair that both had the recessive Degenerative Myelopathy gene. Having both genes Rémy was a risk of contracting the disease and at the age of 9 he died from it. Degenerative Myelopathy causes nerve damage to point at which the rear legs do not work. You will never see this disease in your Berner from a good breeder because the pre-breeding test for these genes costs just $25 per dog. All club breeders are expected to never breed two dogs with the DM genes.
There are no guarantees in life. Sometimes one must push forward knowing that no matter what one does to avoid catastrophe, it can happen anyway. Fridolin left us in 2023 just a month short of his 5th birthday. He had two cancers. The lymphoma we conquered but the MLO cancer was too much and it took him. His father I saw recently in Czechia is a happy 10 years; his mother, according to her breeder, is 8 years in Switzerland. Two of his grandparents lived beyond ten years. He was the best of the best. He was a stellar drafter and I can say from experience that the only mistakes made in drafting were those of his handler. His personality was friendly and generous. My neighbor summed it up perfectly, "He was just like a person."