Otis

"AUST CH Elvenhome Offiah ET"

HOUSE NAME: OTIS

 DOB : 17th May 1992 to 26th September 2003

SIRE: AUST CH & NZ CH Elvenhome Buckthorn

DAM: Elvenhome Olkina

                                                           BREEDER: Mrs J Montford

ACHIEVEMENTS: Royal CC & RU Best of Breed Sydney Royal 1995

ET Title 25th July 1999 ACTCC.  He created  history  gaining  this title aged 7 years & 2 Months
 
 
Otis came to live with us at the age of 10 months.  He was Natalie's first Cavalier and was purchased as a show dog after her Border Collie "Josh" achieved his champion status.  Going from a Border Collie that was larger, intelligent and easy to understand, to a cavalier called Otis that only has food, stealing toys and bed-hogging on his mind, was a shock to the system.

It took some time for us both to get to know each other and understand what was required by both, and I must say 6 years later Otis is still learning.  The main issue we both had to come to terms with was trust; however, once this was established, we became a winning team both in the show ring and out of it. Many a time Otis walked away with very large wins in the ring and this was mainly attributed to his show persona which was one of the best I have seen in the ring to date.  He learned to stack himself to the exact position, would turn his head sidewards, wag his tail until it almost feel off and dare the judge to put him down (which did not happen very often).  He was one of the very very few dogs in the cavalier ring to gait to Breed standards, being "shown on a lose lead".  He would commence his triangle with his head held high, gaiting on a lose lead, executing corners to perfection and with that tail wagging the whole time.  Occasionally, he would look at me as if to say "am I doing it right?".  I have shown a lot of dogs and by far he was the one I would prefer to be on the end of the lead with.

Our best win was the Royal CC in 1995.  Many people will never know how close we came to never showing Otis again after a rather "UNTIDY" incident earlier that year.  Early January bought a rather horrific day when Otis was sitting next to me in a park and then somehow ended up in the jaws of a rather large Rottweiler.  We had been sitting down and the dog had gotten lose, came directly behind us and next minute Otis was in the air being shaken to death.  I won't go into details, but the end result was that we were able to get him free (with Natalie getting a few cuts and bruises) and he ended up having 7 stitches in his back as well as a withered hind muscle that had sustained nerve damage.  It looked like his career was over but the main thing to me was that he was alive.  After weeks of therapy twice a day, we were able to get his damaged muscle back into shape and were able to enter the ring again.  Nothing can describe the feeling when we won at the royal.  It was not the win itself, more the fact that we had overcome so much tragedy to get there in the first place: the win was just a bonus.

He is the most loyal dog you will ever meet and Mum tells me that, whenever I go out, he waits by the window waiting for me to come home, hears my car before Mum ever does and greets me with lots of barks, a wagging tail and a large smile.  He is sitting at my feet now as I type this and, although we now have a number of dogs, he makes sure he is not far away from me at any time.

Sadly, Otis has passed away after losing his battle with the dreaded "Cushing's" disease.  I sent a post to the various list I belong too and I would like you to read it as I think it says everything I could ever want to say about him

"  Hi everyone,

 As most of you have all heard, I had the sad duty of saying goodbye to a true champion, companion and mostly, my mate on Friday night.  Otis was diagnosed with Cushing’s less than 6 months ago and lost his battle to this horrible disease.   His breathing was so bad that night that we made the decision to have him put to sleep to ease his pain.  While Geoff was getting changed to take us to the vets, he had a stroke and died very peacefully in my arms within minutes, saving me the pain of a task I did not want to do.  A true friend to the end and I am so happy that I was given the chance to be there to the very end.  It was a very special moment and one I will not forget in my life.

 I won’t waffle on about him except to say that he was my first Cavalier and showed me what true courage and friendship really was (not to mention patience).  He was unusual as he was a 1 person only Cavalier and he wanted me and only me, which is why we were great as a team no matter what we did.  His life was complete as long as I was in his sight as mine was when he was in mine, making his passing in my arms even more special.

 Be at peace my little one and may the heavens be filled with unlimited food, lots of tennis balls and most of all may your heart stay warm from all of my love.  I am eternally grateful to have had you in my life and I am a better person for it.

Natalie Winter"