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Judith Powell
February 4
Nico van Neerland, 27 November 1997, 31 January 2014
We go back a long way my dear friend. You were a handsome pup when you came into my life, small of stature at the time, but full of personality.
I remember how you would run down the center aisle of the kennel building and hurl yourself into my arms, giving me no choice but to catch you. Your friendly and happy personality was only one side of you though, since I soon figured out that you could easily get mad when pushed. You reserved the latter quality for your decoys and over time, you grew into a serious working dog, possessing all the qualities that a police k9 should have. It lead to a trip across the Atlantic, to Holland, where you not only titled in KNPV PH-1, PH-2 and Objectguard, but competed several times in the PH2 as well as Objectguard national championships and became the 2002 KNPV PH2 champion. While you proved to be very capable of full-score trial performances, the biggest compliments you got came from the true police K9 instructors and handlers who recognized you
belonged in the ranks of the most serious police K9s. The Department of Defense in the USA even enlisted you for their elite breeding program after stringent health and temperament testing.
I am thankful for the breeders who recognized your quality and used you for their breeding program. Thankful for the countless offspring in both KNPV bloodlines as well as in the ranks of FCI dogs. I lost track of the countries where your progeny can be found, all over Europe and the USA all the way to Asia. Your name proudly appears on many a pedigree, and is sadly absent in some others when you were used but, due to
paper-politics, a different sire was listed instead. It was not with my consent or knowledge that you were utilized like that, but that does not make the offspring less related to you, my Nico.
What I will miss most is not your accomplishments though, but your true courage and your devoted love and friendship to me. While training turned you into a warrior of the purest kind, deep inside remained the friendly youngster from your early days. That loving attitude came back to me at the end of your life that I was so fortunate to share, all 16 years of it. I will miss you greatly my dear Nico. It is time to let you go now. How blessed I was by your presence in my life. How empty it will be without you until we meet again in that bright everlasting light of eternity.