I am sure many people have had some memorable experiences during the current severe weather. The snow has been particularly deep in many regions and here is my own narrative which makes me a particularly proud owner of a German Shepherd Dog.

Videx Hazy (Daisy-mae) is almost three years old and a German Shepherd with an extremely large heart. I purchased her simply as a family pet and her training to date has consisted merely of general obedience. Treating her with nothing but love and respect I allowed her to evolve into a beautiful creature; intelligent, kind, affectionate, immensely loyal and protective.  I wanted a companion, a best friend, nothing more and nothing less but in Videx Hazy I have found far more than I anticipated.

We live on a farm, on the edge of Exmoor in the Brendon Hills in Somerset and Hazy has spent the last week or so having fun and games, frolicking in the snow but, then the weather started to cause local farmer and neighbour, Ray Bryant, grave concern. He knew he had sheep unaccounted for and realised they must be trapped and buried by the huge snow drifts, somewhere in the top fields. He voiced his fears to me one morning and I instantly told him I thought Hazy would be capable of finding them.
 
Initially hesitant to accept Hazy’s help Ray eventually agreed and he, Hazy, my husband, Roger and myself set off, slipping and sliding along snow filled lanes and ultimately battling our way on foot through three feet high snow, once our vehicles could go no further, in search of the missing sheep.

In the gateway of the first field we came across a dead sheep which we encouraged Hazy to sniff and examine. Then attaching a 16 metre rope lead to Hazy’s collar we gave her the command “find” and everyone hoped for the best.

Hazy’s favourite game is ‘hide and seek.’ which consists of one of her toys being hidden for her to seek out. It is Hazy’s love of this game which made me believe she would locate the sheep. Plus the other occupants of the house are two feral cats, who go by the names of Holly and Ivy. These two feline monsters continually bring home mice, voles and shrews which they unwittingly proceed to lose somewhere in the kitchen. To date Hazy has always succeeded in finding and retrieving them; much to my relief and the cats’ disgust.

Hazy, realizing that the sheep were now substitutes for her toys, set off nose pressed against the snow, creating little furrows as she went. Within thirty seconds she halted and started pushing her nose deeper before digging with her front paws. I called her back to me so Ray and Roger could dig down with their shovels. They were soon pulling out the first live sheep, which ran off to join the rest of the flock; bleating as it hurried away.  With no training and relying purely on instinct Hazy covered a wide area repeating this ritual time and again until all the sheep were accounted for. Unfortunately not all the sheep were found alive but, a good many were.

All in all it was a good morning’s work for a young dog thrown in at the deep end who won through, justifying my faith and belief in her and undoubtedly proving herself to be a good Shepherd.

Breeders note: Videx Hazy is a daughter of Rocky vom Haus Tepferd SchH3 Kkl.1 x Videx Quena SchH1 Kkl.1. Both her parents are FULLY qualified under the German SV system for breeding, which includes amongst other requirements gaining Schutzhund qualifications, which consists of Tracking, Obedience and Protection Tests. We retained Videx Hexi, a litter sister to Hazy. We are extremely proud of Hazy, and she certainly proves emphatically our carefully considered breeding practices with our German Shepherd Dogs.