ADCH Annie Mo Bannie FDCH CGC
4/1/90 - 4/8/03
Annie was THE original member of The Motley Crew.
It has taken some time to revisit this page and add Annie's story to her page. Annie represented many firsts for me. But most important, ole Annie Mo was a Chow Mutt beyond comparison. Telling her story is bittersweet glory. She was such a fabulous ole girl!
She was a wee little thing housed in a concrete box with a much larger puppy at the Dallas SPCA. She had a blue tape around her neck marking her as a male. My husband insisted on a female, so I had passed her by. But in passing again and seeing her lay with her nose in the corner trying to avoid the much larger puppy they had placed in the box that was harassing her, I picked her up feeling sorry for her. It didn't take long to discover that she was a girl! A very cute black and tan girl, not a boy at all! She didn't have much to say for herself, she maintained her stoic poise, and need for a baby's nap. She came home with me that fateful day. She and I were to have many exchanges through our lives together that were so similar to that first meeting. I can handle this, she always seemed to say. Whether I thought I could or not, Annie Mo could handle it. "Get over it" she seemed to say.
In 1990 at the Texas Kennel Club show my husband had wandered past the Labrador rings we had come to watch to find a curious event going on. There were wonderfully strange obstacles about and happy dogs traversing them all. Suddenly I noticed amongst them a mixed breed running all those mysterious obstacles. Turning to my husband I declared that this was something that little Annie Mo could do! We had just found agility. The United States Dog Agility Association was holding an agility test as a public demonstration of the Texas Kennel Club show. Little did I know how the meeting of these 2 organizations so early in my career would meet up again later in my life!
One of my fondest memories involves a rather young Annie Mo and Stuart Mah. This must have been around 1992 or 1993. Annie had earned one Master Gamble leg toward her MAD, but needed 4 more to earn her ADCH. Stuart Mah had arrived in Dallas to give a seminar which Annie Mo and I were signed up for. After some manipulation Stuart declaared me that he was very happy that Annie had her one gamble leg for her MAD, because he doesn't know how she's going to get her remaining legs. Well, she eventually did just that.
When I can find my voice again to speak of Annie and our exploits together I shall return to fill out this space in between the beginning of her life and the end. There are many stories, I just should have written them down as we went along so that they wouldn't be so painful to write about now. I miss her so. Now that the end has arrived it is clear that it was all the paths we traveled together, beginning to end that made all the difference in my experience of life with Annie. In the beginning there was no goal, just an expectation of fun along the way. It was a glorious journey, and Ole Annie Mo took me on that journey.
At the end Annie suffered a stroke signaling the time we would have to part. She remained happy to the end, and tolerant of my little wee ones I brought in. She would raise a lazy paw and slap at them to remind them of her power, but never once did she harm a hair on any of their wee little heads. She introduced many a puppy to our clan and taught them all well. You're a good girl, Annie!
Annie Mo Bannie AD Bandera, TX Feb. 1992
