Rest in Peace Lolly. The final farewell.

FC Ulrika von Moosbach-Zuzelek, SE, ROMX  "Lolly"
May 16, 1996 - February 17, 2012
(Zalud Staccato x FC Gerte vom Dornenfeld CG, JE, SW/I, ROMX)

Where did the time go? It seems like it was not that long ago when Larry Gohlke came to our place in Clinton Corners, NY to pick up his new puppy from our "U" litter. Well, the truth is that it was almost 16 years ago, and now we are saying goodbye to the wonderful dog that touched many people's lives and has left a great legacy. With a very heavy heart we are reporting that Larry Gohlke's Lolly is gone. She lived a long, good and productive life, the life that made a difference. We wrote about her on the occasion of her 14th birthday and you can read that post click here. I am not going to repeat what was said there.

This picture was taken in November 2011 in Ohio. I was there to attend field trials, and Larry had Lolly with him. We knew that she was not going to last much longer.

Lolly excelled at field trials, and I asked Larry for more information about her accomplishments. This is what he wrote: 

"She earned 1058 Lifetime Field Trial Points and she won twenty 1st places over the years.

Her son, Czar has earned 649 Lifetime Points, and her grandchildren, Danika, Ana Maria and Nix have earned 1463, 1291, and 659 Lifetime Points, respectively. Lolly and her granddaughters make up 3 of the 12 dogs to have earned 1000 Lifetime Points or more. Her “family” also includes the three youngest field champions - Lolly’s son, Czar, finished his field championship at 5 ½ months of age, her daughter, Rika, finished at 4 ½ months of age, and granddaughter, Ana Maria finished at just under 4 months of age.

Lolly won the DCA National Field Trial in 1999 when there was a total entry of 125 (the 4th largest National FT entry to date). This was the only National Field Trial that she was entered in.

She won the 2006 Buckeye Invitational Field Trial when she was 10 years old. At ages 11 and 12 she had 132 and 142 points and qualified for the Invitational as the #11 and #13 dog.

As a wounded deer tracking dog, Lolly went on about 200 tracks and recovered more than 70 deer."

Lolly as an old dog - always gentle and friendly

Lolly was bred three times. 

On December 12, 1998 she whelped 5 puppies: Zosia, Zoya, Zoe, Zeke and Zeiger, and they all went to blood tracking homes. The sire of this litter was FC Turbo von Moosbach-Zuzelek, JE. I still get pictures of Zosia every year for Christmas.

On May 13, 2000 Lolly whelped 5 puppies, of which 4 survived and they were Carliegh, Chadmen, Czar and Claus. The sire was our FC Asko von der Drachenburg. This breeding was repeated and on June 11, 2001 Lolly had 6 pups: Falko, Fonzo, Festus, Filbert, Filou and Fredrika.

Czar, Claus, Falko and Fredrika became field champions, and Czar, Fredrika and Falko were subsequently used for breeding. 

When Sabina was bred to Falko, Lolly's son, she produced Jessie v Moosbach-Zuzelek aka "Sabrina", who is owned by Dale Clifford from Deer Search. "Sabrina" won Deer Search's blood tracking competition three times. She has never been to a field trial, but she was bred twice and she is a dam of two FCs Mae and Mariel von Munterkeit, both owned by Gentian and Beth Shero. We own Bella vom Tierspur bred by the Sheros, a very promising daughter of Mae, and a great-great granddaughter of Lolly. 

Lolly was not a pretty dog, and a German judge would not even give her a "sehr gut/very good" rating for her conformation. It means that in the German system she was not eligible for breeding. But dog breeding is a process, which is supposed to lead to improvement. And even though you might not start with a perfect specimen, if you make right breeding decisions, and you are lucky, your progress might be amazing. This is how "gut/good" Lolly produced "vorzuglich/excellent"  granddaughter Danika, and this how Lolly's sister Sabina (also only "gut/good") produced "vorzuglich/excellent" great granddaughter Paika. I am so glad that both Lolly and Sabina had a chance to have offspring and leave their stamp on the working wires in the United States.

Rest in Peace Lolly! You will be greatly missed. Our heartfelt condolences to the Gohlke Family.