Raiju

When I originally brought Raiju home, I was looking for a dog I could show. She was my first show prospect, and I chose to step into this world because I am unable to have children, and I found I had too much spare love and time to give. I did a few years worth of research, after deciding on the Standard Poodle as the breed of choice, and went to a few shows to scope out how it all worked. Raiju stole my heart very early on.

Raiju is currently a Champion in UKC Conformation, and only a few points away from her Grand Champion title. She has earned her CGC (Canine Good Citizen's test) CGCA (Advanced) and her Therapy Dog Certification.

Raiju learned so fast as a puppy that she did not have a single accident after 15 weeks. She was such a quick study that I was just amazed, and wondered why I'd never owned a poodle before now! While my primary goal was to get into showing, I also wanted a puppy who could go everywhere with me. I am an extremely active and busy person, and a dog that could not keep up with me was an impossibility. I needed a dog who could handle the heat, the crowds, and the chaos. Raiju rose to the occasion and then some.

I waited to show her until after she turned one, and then we entered the shows! She did not disappoint! Raiju finished her championship in one long weekend with competition, and I could not have been prouder. She has since been to many other shows, but as a multicolor poodle, she is only eligible for UKC and IABCA conformation. We continue to show and work toward her Grand Championship.

When Raiju was about a year and a half, I started to display symptoms of a rare genetic disease; for me, it presented as primarily seizures. In the past I had not had these kinds of symptoms, and so I was utterly blindsided. I did not plan for Raiju to become a service dog; in fact, she chose that role herself. She began alerting to my episodes before I even knew what was happening, and her natural sensitivity and intelligence made her a perfect candidate for formal service dog training.

With her new training out of the way, we are now planning to continue showing and completing her Grand Championship. She is also doing very well in her Rally training, and we plan to aim for titles in that next! We are hoping to get her out and having fun at shows again this upcoming year!

Raiju has had a total of 10 puppies and is officially retired from breeding. In those ten puppies she has produced four active show dogs, two service dogs, two therapy dogs, two very smart pet puppies and ten wonderfully spoiled puppies overall!

She is our foundation dam, service dog, and the heart of Pantheon.