"He dreamed of being just like his mommy and daddy!" Here he is at 13 days, when he was called "GameBoy". That was before his unique appearance got his name changed to the character from Hogan's Heroes.

As he got bigger, he just got cutier! No one could resist that face!
But... no one took him seriously as a working dog!

Here on a very cold November night, Burkhalter and his brother, Boldog Grim, SchH II, CGC
(when he grew up!) dream about growing up to be working dogs in front of the wood stove.

Because his breeder was kinda new at this breeding thing, she really (really) made a mistake thinking that Burkhalter's easy going manner and not so hot conformation would preclude him from being a working dog. Poor Burkhalter got left behind when the rest of the litter went to the Washington State Patrol to let them pick out two detection dog prospects. No one, even the trainers there at the WSP thought he would ever be anything but a pudgy, lazy pup!

Thanks to the trainer at the WSP (who adored Burkie) he found him a nice home with some folks who just wanted a pet dog. They had a cute little girl about 7 years old that Burkie fell in love with. But it quickly became apparent that this pup was a "sleeper". So much for puppy temperament tests! As he matured his prey drive developed. He could catch birds right out of the air! He did this and kept a pile of dead birds on the deck of his new home! Finally his "pet" home realized that a performance bred pit bull is NOT a good choice to be a lie-around house dog. They gave him back to his breeder.

What to do with Burkie! His breeder started working with him, and was thrilled at what a great dog he was. But she had too many dogs already, so thanks to good friend Cyd Cross of New York (who donated K9 Shaka, a pit bull, to the WSP) she knew of a friend of hers looking for a pit bull to do schutzhund sport with. She, too, had a young child for Burkie to play with. Yeah! Burkie flew back to New York and became a member of the Bunny family! Susanne and Burkie bonded and, well, the rest of the story follows!

Susanne and Burkie trained and trained and trained! Burkhalter earned things like his "TT" (Temperament test) and CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and his "B" and before they knew it - they were ready to enter for his schutzhund one title!!!! Susanne is a very good trainer; she worked hard and got Burkhalter looking oh so good for the trial. Here they are during the heeling portion of obedience. Burkhalter had already passed his tracking in a HUGE RAINSTORM!

At the end of the obedience the dog does a "go out" where they are directed to run down the field as fast as they can and then lie down when told to. Here Burkie hits the turbo charger!

All dogs have to jump the 39 inch jump, and Burkie does it in style! Burkhalter is one of those dogs who just doesn't know that his structure isn't great. He jumps with his heart - not his legs!

And now the protection phase! First he has to search the blinds and find the bad guy, and then bark - not bite! - until his owner arrives to take over.

Then the bad guy tries to run away and Burkie stopped him. After being told to release him, he now strikes up a guard, just daring him to try and move again!

Now the bad guy tries to attack Burkie, but is stopped. The bad guy hits him twice with a padded stick. But that doesn't scare our hero!

Then comes the courage test! Susanne and Burkie heel (off lead) up the field and then when the bad guy attacks them from a distance, Burkhalter races down the field and "neutralizes the threat". Then he has to let go and guard the man for a while till Susanne shows up again.

When Susanne shows up she takes the bad guy into "custody" but good old Burkie heels along keeping an eye on the bad guy just in case! They bring the bad guy to the judge.

Well, well, well! The pudgy little puppy grey up to win High Score SchH I at his first trial! And his breeder sure learned a few lessons from this particular dog! Get a good dog into the hands of a good trainer - and stand back! And when they are well bred, don't worry about what they do when they are pups, don't be afraid to wait a bit on them. Way to go you two, and good luck on your SchH II in October! Susanne - YOU'RE my hero!