Copyright 2010.  All Rights Reserved.  Design and Maintenance by Michelle Dowd.
In April of 2001, we began our search for the perfect dog. We had been married for 3 years, had our first house with a yard, no kids.  It was time to bring that special puppy into our home.

As some of you may know, husbands and wives do not always agree.  My late husband, Bob, wanted either a Lab or a Border Collie; both breeds he had already been exposed to in some way. Our friends had the most wonderful Labs and a childhood friend had a Border Collie growing up. I had never had a dog, and wanted to do more research and determine which breed really was best suited to our lifestyle. He grudgingly allowed this, to his everlasting joy!

I recommend everyone take the opportunity to go through one of the many breed selection tools that are available today on the Internet. That’s exactly what I did and based on the HONEST answers to the questions in the selector, there were a number of breeds that populated my list of potential dog breeds. I did some digging into the history and intended use of each breed, considered the type of grooming that I would be willing to perform and how often, genetic health issues for each breed and of course, considered those breeds that caught my eye from an appearance perspective. Well, I obviously don’t have to tell you now, but we chose the Vizsla.

Once the breed was selected, we were off! I called the Vizsla Club of America’s Breeder Referral contact and explained to her what I was looking for in a breeder. Not the personal side, but location, and generally how often they have litters available. I was given three names, two of whom we found had already placed all of their puppies and had no immediate plans for additional breeding.  The third one was the charm! Don Brown of Dobrocat Vizslas took my call, spoke with me for hours and was generally interested in educating me about the breed. He put me on the list for a female puppy and we waited. Unfortunately at the time, a close friend of Don’s and fellow Vizsla enthusiast had recently lost a dog.  Don chose to place the  female with his good friend.

This did not deter us from getting a Vizsla puppy, or from continuing our relationship with Don. We got to see first hand how kind and thoughtful he could be in sad situations. I thought about it and told him that we would patiently wait for the next litter, which was a full year away, and that we would keep in touch.

We kept in touch for the next year and to my everlasting gratitude and joy, Don called me when Peeka (Dobrocat’s Peekamoose MH) went into labor (May 30, 2002 at around 2PM) and asked if I would like to come help whelp the puppies. That was one of the most magical experiences of my life. I, of course, didn’t help do anything – Don is a master! But the fact that I was there and could comfort Peeka during tough contractions, and just generally be there to provide support if it was needed was truly special to me. My baby girl, Zoë, was born last of six puppies (2 girls/4 boys), on the 31st of May, 2002. Although I didn’t know that she would be mine until about week six. The eight weeks following the whelping I found myself driving the two hours south to visit and play with the puppies, no less than four times!

Zoë’s story will continue to evolve. Currently she is a happy, well adjusted, spoiled rotten couch potato! Although I am doing my very best to ensure that she doesn’t get FAT! She loves to hunt and when given the opportunity, she makes me proud every time. She never did get the retrieving part of this whole game down, so I just enter her in fun stakes at Field Trials since generally there is no retrieving requirement.  Almost weekly I take her out to run on birds and have a good time.
DC AFC Bo Sassy Delibab
CH Firebrand's
Witchy Woman CD VC
DC AFC Bratt's FK Gippen
CH Willie N Berry's Calidar
Piroskas Golden Empire CD
Voro's Tar's Lady Of Agoura
DC AFC FK's Rivendell Reaghan CDX MH VC HOF
FC AFC Melto's Caprice
DC AFC 2XNAFC Golden Empire's Doctor T MH HOF
Melto's Timberdoodle Henna
DC AFC Melto-N-Futaki's
Rapstone Red SH
Melto's Ripstop Rose
Futaki's Blue Ridge
Mountain Boy
Dobrocat Peekamoose MH
DC AFC FK's Rivendell Reaghan CDX MH VC HOF
FC AFC Melto's Caprice
Willie-Gina's Windjammer MH VC
DC AFC Popple Dungeon Trillium
DC Popple Dungeon Super Star
CH Pride's Joy
CH George Bey Of Bethwood
CH Nuggie Bey Of Bethwood CD
CH Marvelous Marvin
CH Brylynns Sassy Sheba
CH AFC Hodag's Kirby
CD MH VC ROM HOF
Del's Super Joy JH ROM
CH Miklos
Bey Of Bethwood ROM
CH Vinmars
Mischievous Mari
NFC DC AFC Hodag's
Hunter UDX MH NA
NAJ VC ROM HOF
Vinmars Roll Of
The Die JH ROM
DOBROCAT'S CEDAR GROVE ZOË JH
Zoë's Story
Pedigree
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