Then along came Ozzie ... excuse me if go on about him, but he was a very special dog to me. Mitzi had been gone for a few years and Blitzen died fairly young for this breed. Found her gone out in her outside kennel one day, never really knew what she died of. But after her death there was that big empty hole that a Standard Schnauzer leaves when they are gone. I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of pedigrees before I contacted Renee Pope at Geistvoll Kennels and asked her about a pup from one of her upcoming litters. I had always had female dogs, even as a child we had female dogs. But Renee had all the females spoken for and talked me into getting a male. I told her that I was interested in showing a Schnauzer at the time, so I wanted a quality dog. Well I was lucky enough to get a dog from the famous "O" litter, a repeat breeding of the successful "J" and "M" litters of CH Geistvolls Fafner and CH Geistvolls Galena, Renee had been having great success with her dogs at that time, especially the boys. Two of Ozzies brothers were highly successful in the show ring and proven producers. Ch Geistvolls On the Move had many quality wins including being a two time BOB winner of the US National Specialty. Int CH Geistvolls Othello at Tamburg went to England and had many Special show wins in Europe. See the section on Ozzies family to see some of the highlights of his family tree. I named my boy, Geistvolls Odin of Oz and we learned the show ropes together. He was a great dog and won in spite of having such a novice handler. But I am proud that I finished him, all owner handled and all earned wins. We had some pretty stiff competition at the time also. Both Penny Duffee and Liz Hansen were in full swing with their dogs, pretty intimidating with those well polished exhibitors in the ring. I remember finishing Ozzie at the Cedar Rapids show in 93 with a 5 point Major, that was a pretty overwhelming win. I enjoyed showing so I kept showing Ozzie for a couple more years at the local shows and he was even listed in the top 10 one year and I had a fantastic Group 3 win with him at the Albert Lee show in 95. But shortly thereafter Ozzie retired and we left the Dog show scene. I did still try and be active with the National club. I did drawings for the third Stud Book and did a few freelancing jobs. I also did a short series of drawing for the "specialty" winners in the 90s. I even wrote an article about the beginners guide to showing dogs in this period that was published in Dog World Magazine. But as if goes I slowly drifted away from the club and even became inactive for a bit. Ozzie was always there in good times and bad, he helped me with a welcoming wiggle whenever I came home and brought such joy to my life. He was the true definition of a companion. He was my good boy.

I met Suzanne of all places on the internet. She came to be with me and has made my life complete. She only knew Ozzie in his elder years, but she could see what a special dog he was, she fell in love with him and me. It was one of the saddest days of our lives when we had to finally let Ozzie go. He had lived a good life of 14.5 years. He was too loyal to die even when he could hardly stand or walk and he could only hear the clicking sound we would call him with. I had to carry him outside to go potty. We knew it was time but it still broke our heart when we took that last drive. I had never had to put a dog to sleep before and never my best friend. We still miss you Ozzie, but we know you are there to meet us one day with a spin and a lick in the face. He still sleeps in a box by the side of our bed.

Well there is that big hole again. This hole especially big. We were alone for a bit but we knew we needed to eventually have another Standard in the house. I inquired with Renee again to try and find a dog with similar background to Ozzie. I figured since I never had a litter out of Ozzie that a pup out of his brother, Cruiser would be the closest I could come. But Renee wasn't breeding at the time, trying to sell a house and move ... we were doing the same. Our house was getting pretty tight, I had always wanted more room. I had lived in that old place for 15 years and it was getting old. We had been lucky enough to find a beautiful house on 2 acres of land. A great place to have a dog. The only down side was it took us a year and a half to sell the house in town ... talk about ulcers! Any way I was sad that Renee didn't have anything available, but she did tell me about a litter her male had sired. I knew Kathi Dvorak from when I had Ozzie, she actually had a boy out of the Geistvoll "M" litter, a brother to Ozzie (different litters). Kathi had bred her CH Geistvolls Yesterdays Dream to Ch Geistvolls Beat the Odds. (See pedigree). Both had "Cruiser" in their pedigree, I talked to Kathi and she kindly let me have dibs on a male from her upcoming litter that she thought was going to be pretty special. The "Moments" litter was born 11-14-2005, our boy was Mr Purple. Kathi is a very special breeder. Every detail is taken into consideration, you can tell how much her dogs mean to her. When you get a dog from her she is involved for life. I will put a link in here with the information on that litter, you can see just how detailed everything is. It is a precious history of the pups first weeks and is updated even today. We decided on the name, Himmlisch Furst Magic Moment. We fell in love with him from the pictures Kathi sent. We drove all the way from middle Iowa in February to a cold Colorado while they were having a snowstorm to pick up our new boy. And it was love at first puppy kiss. I had built a fence around a portion of the yard in the middle of January ... in Iowa ... to be sure he had a safe place to run. The neighbors must have thought I was nuts out there putting in posts in the cold and the snow. Magic has been a joy from day one .. full of energy, spirit some may call it or maybe just ADD!! He is a sweet and loving dog.

I think it was Suzis idea that we show Magic, I know it was our intention even before we got him. He is a beautiful specimin. So we took him to all the puppy obedience and comformation classes we could. I worked at grooming, it had been a while, but I still knew the basics. Suzanne was always there at my side, watching and learing. Showing had its ups and down. I had lots to learn again and some things had changed. We made mistakes, but I think we learned from them, We met some very nice people up in the Minneapolis area that have become good friends and friendly competition. They were all so helpful to us newbies. We won a few shows and came close in a number of other times. We were going up against some very experienced show people. We were in the ring with the top two dogs in the country at times. And Liz was pushing a couple litters ... stiff competion again. We were reserve to 5 point majors time after time and when we had gotten enough points that we only needed one more major it was frustrating not to see enough dogs to make a major for a number of months. We came very close to finishing Magic at the 2007 National Specialty in Indiana, his brotther, Drake finished there. I was surprised that we could compete so well at the National against all those "big name" breeders and professional handlers. We always show our own dogs and we are far from a big name kennel. We finally finished Magic the weekend of the Regional Specialty in Minnesota. It was a very special weekend and a memorable one.

We had great fun showing Magic, it was our entertainent. But Magic was always "my" dog in Suzannes eyes. He had bonded with me. I was the one grooming and showing, even though Suzi had picked up a lot on the grooming and was doing much of it. I could see that she wanted a dog to show of her own. We had also talked about trying our hand at breeding at some point. But budget consideration were tight at this time, new house and one still on the market. We turned to an old friend in Cecelia Link. Cecelia had always had good stock. She had been one of my mentors when I had Ozzie. She took me in back in the 90s and showed me a lot of grooming techniques, showing ediquet and general training tips. She was also very supportive of my artwork. Cecelia agreed to co-own a pretty female puppy with us out of her lines which included some very nice European blood. Cinder, Von Links Cinderlady von Rose came to live with us just before Christmas of 2006. She has been a sweet addition to our family. Her personality it quite different than our high energy boy. She is very laid back and calm. She is eager to please and so very sweet and gentle. But she has her tough side too .... to see her and Magic running in the yard is a hoot! They run full out and tumble and play. She liked to "herd" him by nipping at his heals and ears to make him change direction. They love to play together and we are lucky that they get along so well. Cinder was Suzannes sweetheart from the very first and Suzi had a way with her. She has trained her and groomed her and showned with a quality it usually takes years to learn. Not to say it has been easy. First of all Cinders coat is much different than the coat I am used to grooming. At one point I had pulled her coat wrong and had a white streak down her back that made her look like a skunk. But we learned how to work her coat. It is beautiful. A lot of judges note how good our coats are. They are different but both very nice. Magics is very hard and shiny ... that old look with European hard straight furnishings. Cinders is a bit dryer, with little undercoat. Fluent furnishings and a bit softer. Another new experience is that Cinder is the first Standard Schnauzer I have owned that is not cropped. Natural ears ... a little tougher to sell to a judge, but Cinders ears are perfect for natural ears ... it gives her a whole different look that we have grown to appreciate. She is doing well in the show ring. She is pointed and we are waiting for her to show a bit of maturity. We should finish her soon!

So where does that put us? Looking to the future. We love to show, I have even shown a Bulldog for a friend. We fill in showing for some of the other Schnauzer people. We would love to become handlers for some other breeds and go to shows every weekend. Suzannes oldest boy has has some success at showing Magic in Junior showmanship. We could show dogs as a family.

Soon we will try our hand at breeding quality puppies. The agreement with Cecelia is that we breed Cinder back to her grandfather, Ch Wow-wows Oh Yes when she is of breedable age and cleared of any medical problems. We would also like to breed her to Magic at some point. Hopefully we will find others to cross to Magic. He is a beautiful dog with much to offer, we think he will produce special puppies. We will probably keep puppies from these litters and possibly connect with Toni Stranger in Norway and her Wow-wow line. Things look bright. The future of Von Rose is just beginning. Be sure, you will hear from us in the future.