Photos by Gerry Bradshaw
Elsa
Bradshaw's Mahogany Medea CD, JH, CGC, WCX, FDCH
June 11, 1991 - April 29, 2005
Breed: Labrador Retriever
Gender: Female
Jumps: 16"
First Tourney: 09/17/1994
Last Tourney: 08/12/2000
Handler: Lorel Bradshaw
We will never forget that fateful day in June, 1991 when Elsa started her life at our home. She was one of nine in the second litter of Labradors whelped in that house. It wasn’t long before she began her efforts to rule it.
Elsa was the trouble-maker of the litter. From the very beginning, she was the puppy that pushed the others around. As soon as their eyes had opened, you could see her checking out her rivals, and picking out the ones with which to start fights.
Starting little tussles was a many-times-a-day occurrence - only Star had a better way to do it. You could just imagine the wheels turning in her head as she sized up her rivals. She carefully looked them over, then nipped at two of them from behind - only to step back and watch each become engaged in a struggle with the one that it thought had bitten it (certainly not her)!
The look on her face as she watched her sibs fighting was amazing. It was almost as if she were asking, “Can you believe those two?” then smiled while we broke up the fight. She was really something else. We decided that she was not going to leave, and her ‘something else’ approach to life gave us her name.
Elsa turned out to be quite the athlete. It was because of her athletic prowess that we became bitten by the flyball bug. We had heard about this fun thing to do to help keep our dogs in shape during ‘the off season’ late in 1993 and thought that we would give it a try. We had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into!
Elsa began competing in flyball in September, 1994. She was also competing in Obedience, Retriever Hunt Tests, and training in Agility when bad luck hit her squarely in the knee. She suffered a serious ACL injury late in the spring of 1995 – while playing in her yard, no-less. A complete rupture of the ligament required major surgery.
The surgical repair was successful, but Elsa’s competitive activities were severely curtailed. It didn’t help to have her chew her way through the wraps and pull her stitches out during the first week of her recuperation, either. She was proving that the mischievous puppy was still in her. She really was something else! A long rehab period followed.
Elsa was out of flyball for over two years, then returned to run at a greatly reduced rate. Her agility career had ended, and hunting was something that had to be done at a greatly reduced rate – in warm weather only. Still, her desire for enjoying life never faltered.
Prior to the injury, Elsa routinely ran the flyball course in the mid-5 seconds range. After her return, she lost one second in her average time and could not run a full day in tournament action - but she still ran with desire and really enjoyed doing it.
As aging and the progressing arthritis took their tolls, she slowed even more – and tired of running sooner. She never lost her desire to play the game, but the time for retirement was evident by late 2000. She ran her last tournament in August and retired to a life of leisure.
Even after her retirement from competition, Elsa continued to come out to practices for a couple of (slow) fun runs with her former teammates. She also ran in a few demos. She could always find a tennis ball around to tease her canine housemates with – and she really took pleasure in doing it.
Elsa enjoyed another several years of instigating things with her canine housemates before the years of NSAID usage and her advancing age finally caught up with her. She became quite ill, and stopped eating in late April, 2005. Time turned out to be the one thing that she could not tease or beat, and almost 14 years was a long time for a Lab to share her life.
Elsa visited her favorite vet for the last time on April 29, 2005 to begin her trip over the bridge. She slipped away while gazing into Lorel’s loving eyes and listening to Gerry’s voice in her ear - urging her to get 'r-e-a-d-y’ to run and play for eternity.
Enjoy your freedom from pain and play wildly forever, our beautiful girl. You earned it.
Lorel and Gerrys