Gladdich
(2006-2009)

Bruichladdich Blu of the Royal Club

This is a picture of Bruichladdich Blu of the Royal Club with his breeder Kitty Buurman (Royal Club Chow Chows), when we first met him.
After Nemo died, we went looking for a black smooth again, instead, we found a beautiful blue smooth.
He was born on September 13th, 2006, his callname was Gladdich.

Immediately, Gladdich felt comfortable as he walked into our house, like he came home.
Chimay did not like him at first: those awful sharp puppy teeth! But after a while they started to play together.
He was a wellbehaved Chow and did well at the puppy classes he attended.

one eye
Gladdich had a blind eye, and sadly, he only saw with his left eye.
This genetic condition is called microphthalmia. Because of this disability, he was never be used for breeding. To prevent an accidental breeding between him and Chimay, he was neutered.

people
Gladdich loved people, or better said he loved human attention. He had a lot of friends in our neighborhood, given the chance he would cuddle with them all.
Visitors were welcomed with enthousiasm, he loved to jump next to them on the couch and be petted and cuddled. The photo left shows a happy Gladdich with Ben Kooijmans in Klaaswaal.

dogs
On the other hand Gladdich could not stand other dogs. At the tender age of 10 weeks, he started to attack dogs. It did not matter if it was a bitch, dog or puppy. At first we were confused because he did play with some other dogs, but in time, we realised he only played with dogs he had met in his first two weeks here and that he attacked all other dogs.
From that moment on, I started to train him to ignore other dogs and we kept him on leash. After some time, he walked next to me as soon as he saw a dog approaching, and could we pass without him growling and barking.

D-litter
Gladdich adored our own pups. When we had our D-litter he was very happy. He loved the many visitors and all the attention. When there were only two pups remaining, he played with endless patience, on our weblog is a video of Gladdich and Demi. Gladdich was very sad when the last pup of our D-litter left.

knee problems
In 2008 the trouble with his knees started. In February he ruptured the ligament in his right knee and he had surgery at the end of that month. In October the same happend in his left knee. Almost the whole year was spend on rehab. After the second surgery he never completely recoverd, but the arrival of our E-litter made him happy again.

children
When Gladdich was young he loved all humans, great and small. Sadly, he became frightened of children in the summer of 2008. This happend when a girl approached him from his blind side. We kept him away from children, wich was very sad for some children of our neighborhood, because to them he used to be a big blue teddybear and now Gladdich was scared of them.

E-litter
Our E-litter made Gladdich happy again. But this time we had to keep him away when visitors had children with them. Grown ups were still welcome in Gladdichs world.
He was very happy that this time a pup, Eoos, stayed. They were often together in the garden, playing or just both laying around.

But his legs kept bothering him, he limped from time to time, athough the vet could not find anything wrong with his knees.

agression
The last weeks Gladdich became more and more agressive. When we walked him together with Eoos, he wanted all attention. To make sure he got the attention he jumped up and suddenly attacked. This happend with people he used to love. So then we walked Gladdich alone.
And at our own place he got more difficult. When someting happend outside the fence, he got agitated and went for Chimay. But when we called them he would stop. On July 16th he attacked Chimay again, but this time he did not stop... When we finally got him away from Chimay, she had many, many wounds. We decided it had been enough and went to the vet to put him to sleep.

Looking back we think he was in a lot of pain and that his knee-problems might have resulted in problems in his back and made him agressive from pain.

Lelystad, september 13th, 2009