As Diamond struggled through her labor, blue merle puppy after blue merle puppy appeared -- 8, then 9, then .... Well, then the tenth puppy appeared -- a black tri. Storey hollered for Robby. He'd already gone to bed. He'd given up on a pup from this litter that met his expectations. But as he peered groggily into the litter box at the new arrival, he announced, "That one is mine." So Gaza stayed at Black Rock and less than a year later made the move to Vilseck, Germany.
Gaza takes after her father, Pacifico, in size and bone. She shares both parents' athleticism, intelligence, and tendency toward idiomatic behavior. Her current "new trick" is to climb the arm of the couch, walk along the top of the back cushions to reach her intended target, then wrap herself around the person's shoulders, conveniently in position for petting. This behavior has the added attraction of keeping Gaza out of the way of the dominant dogs who are, no doubt, laying on the same couch.
Gaza returned to the US in June 2006 to be bred. Gaza is OFA excellent and elbows normal, and a CEA carrier per DNA test results. On Christmas Eve 2006 Gaza delivered her first litter of four puppies. The three surviving pups were all born weighing in a 12 ounces each. Being pregnant certainly matured the girl. And true to her bloodlines she is proved to be an easy whelper and a very attentive mother. Gaza was bed to another black tri. The colors on two of the pups confirm that Gaza is actually a cryptic, or phantom, merle.
