Schatje is the grey sheep of the family, and our complete clown.

Our great healer, it was a number of years after the tragic death of our last dog Cana, that we felt strong enough to contemplate another dog, and Schatje came into our lives with a bang.  The naughtiest (and smartest) puppy I have ever encountered, I don’t think any of us knew what had hit us!

As an adult, Schatje is still super smart, and as mad as a hatter!  His sheer joy at life has us laughing every day.  And he has single pawedly managed to turn our family into complete “dog people”.

Schatje was never bought as a show dog, although he has brothers doing very well, including a recent Best in Show for Aus Ch Mijke Leopold.  I did, however, hope to teach him a little bit of obedience…..little did I know.

At 4 months of age Schatje soundly defeated all the adult dogs at a RSPCA Million Paws Walk for the “most obedient dog”.  He sailed through Novice without a fail, with three highest qualifying scores and a best in trial.  His first attempt at Open also went without a hitch giving him another best in trial, but then his out-of-sight stays started to create some difficulty (one more judge saying “that would have been a high in trial too” and I would have screamed).  That, and the coming move to Melbourne, and I decided to give him a rest from the trial ring while we started his agility training at Croydon & District Obedience Dog Club, and continued our obedience training with the help of Linda Vaughan of Absolutely Fabulous Dog Training.  He went back in the ring with a bang in late 2005, gaining the last two passes he needed in the one weekend with yet another best in trial.  He is almost ready to start to compete in utility.

Since moving to Melbourne in early 2005, we have also started training in agility which he has taken to with aplomb, and I hope to start competing with him in 2006.  Taken along to Kulta’s herding lessons with Ross Carlson for a bit of fun to give Kulta a rest, after a couple of goes and in true “anything you can do I can do better” Schatje style, he has also started to show quite an aptitude for herding as well (go figure!), and has recently earned his Herding Instinct Certificate.

Schatje has a serious repertoire of tricks to add to his skills and entertains adults and children alike.

He is seriously obsessed with learning, and lives for training, food, and a tennis ball!

Schatje's name literally translates in the Dutch to "little treasure" and is used as a term of endearment such as "sweetheart". Although I have to admit to a complete mispronunciation on our behalf!

For more photos of Schatje, CLICK HERE