Minka Harvest Storm Vapresto
1st December 1995 - 26th October 2005
12 years after seeing a Belgian Shepherd Dog for the first time, I was lucky enough to be able to bring my first dog, Storm, home from Romford – where Olive Gardner had whelped Zenna’s first litter (Minka Freedom Zenna). Storm was the ‘Duracell’ puppy in the litter, and later became very much like her mother – a fantastic, reliable companion at home (if you forgive a bit of food theft and the odd escape attempt), a great lover of the seaside (she used to chase the surf along Aldeburgh beach), and a totally focussed, almost suicidal maniac at agility!
Although,
she only achieved 15 clear rounds in her 8 ˝ years of competition, most of them
were top places; winning her quickly out of Elementary Jumping in her first year
of competition and later on winning Starters Jumping convincingly at Dordale in
2002 with only her 3rd ever clear round! Few people
remember Storm for her results, but almost everyone that saw her compete will
recall her kamikaze technique (the A-frame was
regularly treated as a hurdle and the see-saw a launch ramp into orbit), and
pole-pickers countrywide will remember being kept very busy while she was
competing! As our good friend Jill Spurr wrote in her kind note of condolence
– “Everything was tackled at 150 mph,
and utterly fearless”.
It was her temperament, speed and enthusiasm that
prompted us to breed from her in 1999, to get our next dog, and the Vapresto
name was launched as a result.
The same attitude and speed inspired us to
enter her, and her two sons – Blitz and Frost – into the first ever BSD
World Championships in De Haan in 2003. 
This
led to the formation of the Vapresto BSD Agility League and subsequent entries
into the BSD WC – culminating in the
Storm also regularly appeared on the BSD Discover Dogs stand at both Earls Court and Crufts, where she was an absolute ambassador for the breed, thoroughly enjoying being stroked and petted by dozens of children (even though we have none of our own). She also qualified for the breed ring at Crufts but we did not realise it at the time, having just taken her along to the BSDA Championship show “for a bit of socialisation”.
Storm
featured on the advertising
flyer for Bicester & Finmere show, and even had a very brief appearance on
television, performing her favourite trick of riding piggy-back on my shoulders,
after taking part in the ‘Great British Pet Walk’ at Stowe School in 1997.
Also at Stowe, Storm won by a very convincing margin the agility competition,
organised by the National Trust, at the North Bucks Show: This was in spite of
the fact that none of the obstacles resembled anything she had seen before -
with drain pipes and straw bales featuring heavily in the course! She also
won a weave competition at another local show, and completed the 60-weave event
at Letchworth Agility show in just over 17 seconds (possibly the fastest BSD
time?)
Many of Storm's children and grandchildren have already achieved success in agility, obedience or the show ring and we hope there will be many, many more following in her paw-prints for years to come.
Storm died, in the early hours of
Nothing can ever truly replace Storm in our lives – she really was this man’s very best friend: Agility shows and trips to the seaside will never be the same again…
Rest in Peace ‘Mad Dog’
