Calisto (Cali)

As my first home bred show dog I wanted her to have a call name with pizzazz, unfortunately a family used to dogs named "buddy" had trouble with this somewhat more exotic moniker. While I could cope with Calisto turning to Calypso or Calesta, I could not overlook my brother-in-laws tendency to call her "cholesteral" consequently, her call name was shortened to "Cali". While the name thing didn't end up getting used much I was pretty pleased with how she turned out. One of my happiest moments was watching my friend Suzanne show Cali as a young bitch to Best in Match. She went on to have many other impressive wins but that one always sticks out in my memory as the point I believed that she was going to make it as a show dog.

It was a wonder that Cali lived to grow up. She was a rotten puppy, she ate (listed in no particular order) 7 pairs of headphones (2 of them expensive - then we learned), the thumbs from well over twenty pairs of gloves (once in a while even now at almost 7 1/2 years old she will suck the thumb on a glove until it is completely destroyed) shoes, disposable razors, femine hygeine products, a wild rabbit, many, many hair scrunchies, underwear, used kleenex, nylon stockings and many other supposedly non-edible objects. Aside from the odd glove she did grow out of swallowing everything she put in her mouth, she also learned that there are things I would really rather she not put in her mouth.

After finishing her championship, companion dog title (Am.) temperament test and health certifications Cali was bred to Suzanne Eikangers outstanding German import Mako von der Bleichstrasse. She produced 10 healthy puppies. To date three of the puppies went on to be shown to their championships. For more information on Cali's puppies see the extended family page.

Cali started a new career at age six as a movie dog. In one of the small ironies of life in order to prepare her for a variety of tasks one of the actions I was told to practice was to make her pick up and carry all sorts of unusual objects. So after years of "drop it" I am telling her to "take it" and "hold it". Cali undoubtably has her doubts about me.

Animal Miracles - Ceasar's Sacrifice
Animal Miracles - Hand me the Bat

Watch a quicktime movie of Cali

While she is never going to replace Eddie on Fraser she has had several roles to date including a small bit part in Air Bud III (sitting in a group of other dogs), two commercials A&W (chasing a mailman) Car-X (catching cookies bounced off a table), and several series roles - Animal Miracles "Ceasar's Sacrifice" (police dog attacks bad guy, plays dead) "Bronson Leana's Saviour" (service dog, barking, rolls over seizure victim, picks up, carries and drops phone, frantic running back and forth), "Hand Me the Bat"(jumps from semi-truck window, takes down attacker, carries baseball bat into fight, chases other bad guys), Sausage Factory (Buster - charges bad guy, trees bad guy on trellis, jumps through window, rolls on to back holding a ball). Cali seems to be doing reasonably well at her new career due in no small part to training instructions and support from Animal Coordinator / Trainer / Wrangler, Bonnie Judd of Canine Costars of Canada Ltd.

After finding this new reason to train my dog for things I am motivated to get back in the ring for Cali's CDX.

Fraser Valley Rottweiler Club Show (12 - 18 month female)

Good sized, strong bone, correct substance,lively, friendly, very nice strong head, correct ears, dark brown eyes, very good dark mouth pigmentation, Very well formed chest, correct shoulder placement, good forechest developement, good placed front, very good topline, strong rear, correctly placed and angulated, strong coat, somewhat wavey, mahogany well placed markings, free in the movement, scissors bite.

SG1 Jurgen Wulff

Canadian National Sieger Show (Open Female)

of proper size, with good strength of bone, calm, attentive, good head with fitting muzzle, somewhat more fill out in the cheek area, somewhat large, but properly carried ears, brown eyes, gums and glews are sightly marbled, very good width and depth of chest, very nice top and bottom line, very good front and rear angulation, normal coat with mahogany markings, good gait, front shoulder turns out slightly, scissors bite.

V1 Hans-Jurgen Radke

Canadian National Sieger Show (Open Female)

of large size, very strong, somewhat massive, low to the ground, good bone strength, attentive, friendly, nice typey head, correctly carried ears, dark eyes, strong neck slightly throatiness on neck and cheeks, very good shoulder placement, very wide and deep chest, very good topline with correct croup, strong rear, correctly placed and angulated, good coat the markings are of the correct size and colour, very good movement, scissors bite.

V Gerhard Apel