Emma Frost
owned by Clint and Alison Matthews
3/7/13 to 6/28/24
Girl Power In May 2013 Clint and I flew home from Cheney, WA with Jett and our new puppy, Emma Frost. Emma sat on my lap for the drive home from the Phoenix airport while Jett remained in his crate in the back of the truck. She was already a princess! Emma split time between our family and boarding school. She was bred to find birds and trained on how to handle them. She was known in the field trial world as NAFC NGDC GFC2 AFC FC 4XCH 2XRUCH DUNFUR’S EMMA FROST (lots of wins, lots of titles). Clint was able to win a National Amateur Championship with her in Kansas. That was a really special moment. She had numerous AKC placements with 14 blue ribbons. But to me she was known as “my girl". That girl was trouble in her younger years. She had tendency to RUN and RUN BIG. She jumped our wall and went hunting. We would worry, search by foot, car and bike, post on social media and eventually receive a call that someone had her. It happened more than I’d like to remember. We were always beyond grateful for the kindness of strangers who returned her to us. Emma even took a mental health “run” in 2017, a few weeks after her first litter was born. She came back covered in cactus, and in great demand by her six puppies. We kept Chief and Race from that litter that Jett sired. She had her last puppy, Mick, in 2021. She had help from Uncle Jett raising him. Emma retired from field trials in October 2022 and became our full time pet. This is when she evolved into the Queen (we did share that title). She figured out that when I put on a baseball cap and AirPods that I was going for a walk. She would bark and whine to go with me. There were times I would sneak out without her because, unlike Gus, she was a terrible walking partner. That little body was strong and she would pull me down the driveway and along our route. She walked me. Eventually she proved she wasn’t a flight risk anymore and was given full reign of the back yard. She wore a path in the grass on the perimeter of the yard as she patrolled the wall, looking for and sometimes catching lizards. She would trot her route around the yard, dip in the pool, then chill out on the back porch. Repeat…. all day. She was also really good at destroying the irrigation. She had her favorite spots and Clint would try to conceal the emitters but she always figured out how to get to them. Occasionally Clint would take her to Sonoita to run, but he was always worried that she would run into Mexico. There were times she was outside of Clint’s GPS range. At some point in the retired lives of Jett and Emma I started to allow them to come into the living room at night. Emma would force her way on to my lap. She literally would not take no for an answer. And honestly, it was hard to resist her big brown eyes and sweet nature, so I mostly gave in to her tenacity. In January 2024 she began to struggle to jump on to my lap. She started losing the use of her back legs and it progressed quickly over the next 6 months. Emma’s days were not filled with the things she loved to do as the disease took over her body. Her world became smaller and harder to navigate. We made the incredibly hard decision to let her go. On the morning of June 28th, after her last bath, she was sunning herself on the grass trying to get dry. I was sweeping the porch when she let out three raspy, soft barks while looking at the big gate - I dropped my broom and went to investigate . A deer on the other side of the gate was staring back at us. Emma tried to get up to move closer to the gate in order to see the deer that she had smelled. She was unable to move fast enough and the deer ran off. I will think of Emma every time I see a deer. Maybe it’s our spirit animal. Maybe it was Gus coming back for a minute to say “its ok… we will have so much fun over here!”. Rest in Peace MY GIRL. Theres no girl like you! I wish I had taken you on every walk I went on! You can run like the wind and wag your tail again and that makes me happy.
Gus - Owned by Clint and Alison Matthews
Gus June 29, 2009 to April 3, 2024 Clint brought Gus home to us August 10th, 2009 from a backyard breeding. He was our first real pet, inspired by the feral cat, Bella. Along came Jett in 2010 then Emma in 2013 and Gus became the leader of the pack. They were the golden pups, but Gus somehow commanded everyones respect, even the humans. He held down the fort when Jett and Emma went to boarding school. Gus went to snake training school and became an expert at identifying snakes with a very specific bark. We never paid for another dog to be snake trained because he taught them all. While Jett and Emma were at boarding school Gus went with Clint to Sonoita to teach all the other dogs how to behave as a bird dog. He would “creep” when birds were found. I think the hunters held this against him, but they still respected his nose! In addition to Gus’s snake bark he had a different bark for the javelina, the pigeons, and the coyotes. There were many nights when he patrolled our wall, protecting his people from the nighttime creatures. He would eventually pull his blanket out of his barrel to sleep on the porch in case something breeched his domain. Gus was the best running/walking partner I’ve ever had. He knew the command “move over” when a car was coming and I needed him to move left (we always faced the traffic). He knew the route we took by heart and didn’t like to stray too far from our normal routine. He pulled me up hills. He alerted me to deer or bobcats. He protected me from strangers In 2017 Jett and Emma produced a litter of 6 puppies. Gus became known as Uncle Gus. He was back to leading the pack by showing them the ropes. He taught them how to wrestle, how to drink water from the bucket and how to hunt lizards. The pool was his refuge from the puppies since no one loved to swim as much as Gus. He waited the whole year for summer swim time. And every day he waited for someone to come outside so that he could swim. Gus would watch us in the house, and if someone had a bathing suit on he would start whining and yipping in anticipation of a swimming partner. Once we would come outside he would bolt for the pool. He made figure eights, barking and splashing. If a new person came over he would run to the pool and jump in to show off his skills. When we had pool parties Gus was always in the pool, swimming until he was water logged. We literally had to force him to get out of the pool on many occasions. In 2021 Emma had Mick. By this time Gus was over being Uncle Gus and he passed that responsibility to Jett. He became Grandpa Gus and really had no interest in the antics of another puppy. Gus lived out the last few years in his beloved backyard near his beloved pool. He followed the sun as the yard became shaded and ultimately ended up on a chaise lounge by the pool. Our first pet that became family quickly. He was autistic, and quirky but loyal and protective. He wagged his tail to the end knowing that his humans were there for him. He will be so very missed by his people and his pack!
LUKE
DTC's Yonder Spekk
Region 12 OSD Champion
Owned by Nick Besnick
Missing some of our Club members
