Jazzee's Page

Jazzee is the daughter of our foundation bitch, Morgan (U-CD Morning Delite of Riverview ASCA/AKC CDX STDsd CGC NA NAJ RV-E JV-O DNA-CP). She was the youngest dog to ever pass the very tough San Diego Children's Hospital Therapy Dog programme test, and joined her mother as our second generation at Children's. Jazzee's daughter Ysabel herself tested into the programme in late 1997, supplanting her mother as the youngest dog ever certified. Then her grandson Tallee won admittance to the programme, the only young, intact male ever awarded that honour. That makes it four generations Morgan River has in the programme - Morgan, daughter Jazzee, granddaughter Ysabel, great-grandson Tallee! Jazzee is known affectionately as the "picklehead" both at home and at Children's. Jazzee is a fast, daring and vocal cowdog, doesn't take any crap off them cows. She will hit heads and heels, and will "back" (jump up on the backs of a pack of cows stuck in a corner to drop in behind them and get them unpacked). She did pretty darn good in the show ring, but we don't emphasize it (i.e. we don't play the games), and was a superb Junior's dog. She is even more loving and loyal than her mom, as hard as that is to believe. She too goes everywhere with me, and surprisingly enough to me, in spite of her "ugly" looks (to me, anyway), it is Jazzee that most folks would take home in a heartbeat rather than Morgan, who was quite striking in the looks department. But Jazzee has that soft-eyed look (and knows how to use it!) and loving nature that people just melt over. But let someone try something, and that girl will show teeth and go to work!! True Aussie temperament is RESERVED with strangers but not a biter. Jazzee was the bitch that Linda Fohlin told me I should keep (I wanted a red merle or tri bitch, but it turned out that Morgan wasn't red factored after all), and I had my eye on a strikingly loud blue merle female (now, sadly, dead from a car accident), but Linda kept saying "Nope. This is the one." And she was right....thank you, Linda!!

Now that her mother has passed over The Bridge, Jazzee has taken it upon herself to try and fill those paws. She still has a much more playful nature than Morgan did, but when SHE'S done playing, EVERYONE is done playing - or else. With the new pup Hoke, she laid the law down quickly and firmly, and he's completely respectful of her. She mothers him to pieces, keeping him clean and making sure he toes the line. She will still defer to both Gizmo and Skeeter, but keeps the red - headed hooligans Ho Dog and Hoke firmly in line.

Jazzee produced outstanding athletes and awesome cow dogs. She can produce big; if big is back there in the stud's lines, she'll probably throw it. She has produced 3 18" bitches and 3 23" dogs with everything in between in her three litters (8,7 and 9 pups respectively). She produced strong toplines and great rears, along with efficient but not flashy movement that is correct to the standard. She can produce a stud's head type if the stud is prepotent for it. She has not produced missing teeth. She has produced 2 even bites and 2 1/8" overbites; all the rest scissors. She can produce slightly toed-in dogs. Temperaments can cover the gamut-one mistake was breeding to her another very soft dog; half that litter were very skittish and fearful until about 3 years of age. The rest were correctly reserved with strangers, very loving and loyal to their families and close friends, and quite protective as they should be without being overly aggressive, biters or obnoxious. They have all been extremely intelligent and very easy to train, very eager to please, with good to extreme intensity on stock. One pup has allergies. All males had normal testicles before being neutered, and the intact males are all normal also. The males are very masculine; the females can be very feminine or slightly to moderately doggy. All have moderate bone and coat; trim depends on the male. She has produced bi's and merles with no copper. Her reds are deep and rich liver reds; blacks are true blue-black and blues are not diluted. Copper ranges from light cream to deep and dark; again, this appears to depend on the male. The females who have been bred have been very fertile and easy breeders/whelpers. Ears are all natural; she can produce her ears, Morgan's drop ears, or semi-prick ears depending on the male line used. We do not alter earset with tape, glue, weights or surgery. Eyes have been clear thus far in all pups except one iris coloboma (expected). Hips have ranged from Fair to Excellent, elbows Normal. She has two VST rated pups; noses are superb. One pup is hunted successfully by his owner. Some pups are true water dogs like mom; others are more like grammaw Morgan and don't really care for the water.

How times passes! Jazzee is now approaching her fifteenth birthday up here in Oregon. She likes the cooler weather up here much better than hot, dry San Diego (ditto for me). She's slowed down a lot, but still has her moments where she gamely tries to take Ho's agility jumps or "run with the big dogs". She barely tolerates her pushy great granddaughter Cricket; Cricket feels she has to "suck up" to great grandmaw Jazzee, which just annoys Jazzee to no end. On the other hand, Jazzee will flip Cricket over and start cleaning her from stem to stern, and Cricket does love that. Jazzee's hearing is still pretty good for a dog her age, her vision is going downhill - anything that appears in front of her nose gets "tasted", just in case it might be food. She has trouble getting up when Ho Dog flattens her, but eventually finds her way up and potters off. The goats are hers, as far as she's concerned; they know where they're supposed to go, but she thinks she's putting them there and I'm not going to tell her otherwise. I don't let her near the cattle anymore; she's just not fast nor agile enough to get out of the way if she starts something she's not going to be able to finish. Cows were her first love and she still gets "that look" when she's near them. I'm not taking any chances. There are still those days when I think it's time, but before I can get up the nerve to make the call, she bounces back to her old self. Still loves to eat anything and everything, never has refused a treat from anyone offering. She's the darling of our favourite coffee drive thrus and gas station and feed store. I know the day is coming, maybe soon, maybe not. She still has several littermates headed for fifteen with her at this point (late Feb '08). In the meantime, she's doing pretty darn good for an old lady. I would like to be in her shape when I'm her age. Long live the old gal!