Photo by Pat Long
Smile for the camera.	3pt. Major-Supported Entry	I love my mommy

This is our girl Olympia. We adopted her from Coach's breeder Elke Adair early in 1999 when she was almost two years old. We fell in love with her sweet disposition, but we were in complete awe of her athleticism, sound, sturdy build and lovely efficient movement. It was these virtues which led Susan to the decision of exhibiting her in conformation as a novice owner/handler.

Olympia did very well right from the start, even making the cut in her class at the 1999 National Specialty (only her second time in the ring). After very limited showing that first year, Susan and Olympia got serious in 2000. The first major (3 pt) was awarded by judge Frances Cazier at the BMDCSC Supported Entry (entry of 10). Her second major (4 pt) was earned under judge Dr. Peter P. Emily the day after the GCSBMDC Regional Specialty, defeating 12 class bitches and winning BOS over Specials. And, in early December, Olympia finished her title with a Best of Breed.

Olympia liked pulling her cart in parades, but wasn't really interested in drafting trials (not enough people watching her).

Olympia had always been a very healthy girl. When she went off her food and had a little blood in her stool, we and our vet thought that she had a touch of the same protozoan infection that the puppies and Coach had. When the other dogs got better in a couple days and she didn't, we began to worry. We took the dogs for an off-leash walk on Saturday and though she wasn't her usual ball of energy (she hadn't eaten much for a few days) she was still running with her tail up and looking for bunnies. On Sunday, Susan noticed that Olympia had a bit of a fever and took her to the emergency clinic. At Susan's request the vet took chest and an abdominal x-rays. The x-rays showed a baseball size tumor between her lungs, ten golf ball sized tumors in her lungs, and an enlarged liver and spleen.(An autopsy showed countless small tumors in her liver and spleen). Since Olympia hated the vets office, Susan brought her home to make her as comfortable as possible. We knew the end was near. The next morning it was obvious she was not going to make through the day and we called our vet to put her down. Our vet was amazed at how fast the cancer had spread though her body. It had only been three weeks since she had had a clean urinalysis for a suspected bladder infection. Results of tissue samples sent to U.C. Davis showed Malignant Histiocytosis.

Olympia was a wonderful dog with boundless affection and energy. The sight of her in a fast trot or a full gallop was truly amazing. I will miss her sleeping between us in our bed, always being very careful not to disturb us until she was sure we were awake. I will miss her head resting on my leg as I drifted off to sleep.

Getting ready for my "out and back"	A nice "flying trot"

BOB and a New Champion	At the beach