May 24, 2025
Ramona – 
What a pleasure to hear from you! I'm sorry to be so late responding, but we were on a fairly lengthy trip when your letter arrived. 

Zeke died on March 1, 2017. It was a stroke that was induced by a tumor that had been diagnosed by his vet about six weeks earlier. We were very sad to lose him. For the first time in our marriage, we did not get another dog, and we still think back frequently and fondly of him.  I did not keep copies of his scorebook, but believe I am correct in remembering that his scores for Sch. I, II and III were 296, 289 and 281. He also easily repeated his Sch. III on a few occasions afterwards.

I'm glad to see that you are still so engaged with your shepherds. It looks like a wonderful group that you have. I wish you the best with your dogs! 

– Rick Daniels


November 20, 2003

Hi Ramona,
We've had a couple of nice things occur in the past several days, so I thought I'd drop you a note. First, we had Zeke's hips, elbows and shoulders x-rayed, and all six joints look great thus far - no hint of any problems anywhere at 9 months.

 Second, last weekend I put him in the 6 - 9 month puppy class at the USCA Southeast Regional Conformation Championship in Georgia, and he received a VP rating (VP-3). I don't plan to do much in the conformation ring, but thought it would be good for socialization, and good experience for both of us in case we decide later to do a breed survey. VP stands for 'Very Promising' and is the highest conformation rating a 6–9-month-old puppy can receive. I think there were five of the pups that received a VP, and Zeke placed third. The German Judge was very complimentary, particularly about his head and his angulation, both front and back. In fact, the only somewhat negative thing he said was that we would benefit from more training for the conformation ring. (The other VP pups were from conformation/show lines and trained to gait around the ring with their heads up. Zeke, on the other hand, spent almost the entire time with his nose buried in the grass.... tracking. But given that conformation isn't going to be our 'cup of tea', I can't say that I really minded.) We continue slowly with schutzhund, mostly drive building and focus work at this point. We are patiently (sort of) waiting to begin bite work in the months to come and not doing much beyond 'platz' and 'aus' in obedience. We continue to enjoy it.

If congratulations are to be had, they are to you, Rocky and Pen - not the two of us. We just showed up with what we've been given. I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!
  - Rick Daniels

 September 25, 2003

Dear Ramona -
     As you know, Zeke is now almost 7 months old, and we thought you'd like an update on him. We remain thrilled to have him. He weighed 68 pounds today and continues to get good reports from the vet. You asked not long ago how he compares with the other pups in our schutzhund club. It's hard to say, exactly,  because there are no other dogs as young as Zeke. However, the next two youngest dogs are a 12 month old and 13 month old out of Bastin (2002 USA Champion, 2003 GSD Champion, etc.), who are both bicolors with all of the drive you'd expect. Every member who has been around Zeke for the first time has been stunned to learn that he is not also out of Bastin. The only real clue is that the black in Zeke's coat is a much richer black. The only other dog in the club with Zeke's intensity is a Sch 3 IPO 3 that has qualified and competed in the Nationals. As I've said from the beginning, his only real drawback is me.

 With his young age, we aren't really doing much in the way of formal schutzhund work with him at the club yet - which is fine with me - just some agitation work with burlap. He does get to be around the people and some of their dogs, though, so I take him fairly regularly. And they seem to really like him, particularly his drive - they usually refer to him as "the little monster."  At home, we're working almost exclusively on drive building and socialization, but mostly we're just enjoying him. We'll send you another report in a few months.
I hope things are well with you and your family. We were happy to see your upcoming litters, particularly the repeat between Rocky and Pen.

- Rick and Peggy Daniels, Asheville, NC