Zap-the-Multi-Assignment-Service-Dog-In-Training

I guess it's kind of time for an update to this page. Many people have been asking about the two service dogs n' all that... so here we go, I'm throwing something together very quickly.

Meet Zap, also known as "the terror". I decided to add some puppyhood pictures... Zap's turning 2 on February 6, 2004. How time flies!

Here are the two pictures that were sent in with her ASCA registration papers. You can see she was a puppy built like a tank.

Zap grew up pretty fast. These two pictures were taken when she was about 12 weeks old. She went through an "all legs" phase, and she's still pretty lanky. It took her a while to grow into herself. Back then, both her ears were hanging down the same way - they still do, though depending on her mood, one goes somewhat "rose". With aussies (and with ASCA especially) this is perfectly acceptable.

Moving right along... these pictures are pretty old now - they are from when she was all of 6 to 8 months of age! She hasn't changed much since then. She's still tall, lanky, and thin, and displays all the nifty Aussie behaviors one has come to expect from this breed. She enjoys traumatizing big brother Valen.

For the show folkses who have asked, Zap stands at 20", weighs approximately 37 pounds, and she's of moderate bone. Her merling is of a very dark red hue. Both her eyes are amber, though the show-side eye is partially blue. Her conformation is good, spare for a small dilute merling patch near the rear (which blends into her pretty skirt!)

Show judges have commented on the following attributes:

• solid assembly
• excellent angulation and shoulder layback
• good clean movement and reach
• textbook expression and personality (there's a spark there, and it shows!)
• pleasantly bitchy head and build
• still needs to grow into herself (she does look like a teenager still!)
• coat after her heat was... well... gone. We had a bald aussie for a while. It's mostly back.
• tends to overreach in the rear when over-excited in the ring, so sometimes displaying the movement she is capable of and does when she's not SOOOOO EXCIIIIITED! is hard to do.
• high in the rear as a youngster for a short period of time. (llama butt phenomenon)
• slightly long in the hock compared to many show lines - some judges like this, others don't.

  She's a little bundle of energy: 35-37 pounds of pure, raw chaos. I like it that way. Here she beeee... :) Obedience and training wise, she's been an absolute angel. She's a great worker, and is too bright for her own good.