A limited amount of Frozen Semen from Thunder is available to approved bitches. Hip, elbow, eye and cardiac certifications required for consideration.

Thunder is White boy from the Cara x Jackson, Success, Litter. He was born on November 2, 2014 and is the Pick Male from this litter that will stay here at Sarron. I love this boys' substance, his coat, his headpiece- and his attitude. I think he will be even better than his Sire! Watch his page for updates and photos as he matures.

Thunder is growing up quite nicely. :) As of Oct 2015 - Thunder has 6 pts toward his championship - and this is even after I have handed him off all summer so that I could show his half brother. Poor Thunder. I did show him myself the beginnig of Sept 2015 and he picked up his first major at the Clermont County Shows. Thunder is an absolute joy to be around. He has a rock solid temperment and is right around 25" tall at 10 months of age. He has tons of coat, a great bite, full dentition, a long tail and an effortless gait. I have such high hopes for this boy... I think he will pick right up in his fathers "paw steps" once he matures.

Between showing Thunders' older brothers and my girls, Thunder was finally able to compete in a puppy group at the Delaware Ohio KC shows the last weekend of October 2015 - he is such a good boy. He took Best Puppy/WD/BOW that day, went into the puppy group and took a Puppy Group 1!!! YEAH THUNDER!!! I have very high hopes for this boy once he matures. :)

WOW!!! What a HUGE weekend Thunder and I had in Louisville in March 2016! Thunder took Winners Dog and Best of Winners on Thursday for a 5 pt major! Then he took Best in Sweepstakes at the Speciality on Friday - and followed up with another Winners Dog and Best of Winners ribbon for another 5 pt major to finish his CHAMPIONSHIP!!! WOOO HOOO!

BUT - HE DIDN't STOP THERE! On Friday he also took Best of Breed OwnerHandled and went to the OH Group - where he took OH Herding Group 1 under one of my FAVORTIE judges - Mr. Butch Schullman! It was late on Friday, but we showed in OH Best in Show - and THUNDER WON OH BEST IN SHOW!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Just like his daddy!!!! Following in Jacksons' pawprints!!! SO PROUD of this young dog.

I bumped Thunder up to Best of Breed for Sat and Sunday - and on Saturday at the supported entry, his first time out as a "special" Thunder took Best of Breed from a very TOUGH lineup!!! I was over the moon!!! Love this little man and I look forward to the fun we will have as he matures! Thanks to all for the lovely compliments on Thunder!

Thunder has been out about one weekend a month between March - Sept 2016. He picked up his first Herding Group placement in over Memorial Day weekend in 2016, as well as another OH Best in Show! He has garnered a BSCA Regional Speciatly Breed win finishing his Grand Championship, as well as another OH Grp 1 in Aug 2016 and picked up several more OH Herding Group placements As well as a THIRD Owner Handler BEST IN SHOW over Labor Day in Lexington, KY - in Sept 2016. Thunder is the #1 Owner Handled Belgian Sheepdog for 2016! with 3 OH BIS wins this year and he's Not even 2 years old yet! YEAH THUNDER!!!

Thunder went out in October 2016 and picked up yet ANOTHER OH Best in Show at the Mad River Valley KC show! WOOO HOOO! That is Thunders' fourth OH BEST IN SHOW before he is two years old!!! I am letting this pup grow up a bit - just taking him here and there... he'll come out more next year.

Thunder started 2017 going to the Indy Cluster for two days in Feb 11-12, 2017. While there - he picked up two LOVELY Best of Breed wins over several nice specials - adding some additional grand championship points to his collection. Then, he went on to pick up two very nice Back to Back - Herding GROUP 4's!! under judges Mrs Deborah and Mr. David Anthony! WONDERFUL WINS!!! He then went to play in the International All Breed Canine Association venue on Feb 25-26, 2017 and earned his Int'l Championship!! That weekend - he took Best of Breed 4 times, and took Best of Breed Bred By 4 times. He showed in 3 sets of groups and earned 2 - Herding Group 1's, 2- Herding Group Bred By 1's, 1- Herding Group Bred by 2 and 1 - Herding Group 3 placement. He capped off the weekend by taking a Reserve BEST IN SHOW Bred By!!!! Thunder will be out about once a month in 2017 as we ramp up for his special career to begin in 2018!

2017 is continuing to be good to Thunder. He took a trip down to the Louisville cluster in March 2017 and picked up a FABULOUS Best of Breed win on Thursday March 16th...He then went on to a respectable OH Herding Group 2 and finally a HERDING GROUP 4 in HUGE competition !!!!! I was SO PROUD of that boy! We are going out about one weekend a month, working on some novice obedience and starting in Agility Foundation work!

Thunder picked up a leg toward his RN title at the 2017 Belgian National. He showed like a rock star during Best of Breed, but this was not his year to win.

THunder has had a DYNAMITE SUMMER in 2017!!! He showed at one show in June and took BOBOH/Sel and on to an OH Herding Group 1. Then, he went out to three shows over the July 4th weekend and picked up 3 Best of Breeds and three group placements. Two Herding Group 3's and his FIRST HERDING GROUP 1!!!! WOO HOO!!!! What a great weekend!!! Then, in late July/beginning of August he was out for 3 weekends - a total of 6 shows. He picked up 3 Best of Breeds, 2 Selects and 1 Best of Opposite (to his sister!!). He also earned 1 Herding Group 2, 1- Herding Group 4 and 3-OH Herding Group 1 with an OH Reserve Best in Show - all over those 6 days of shows!!!

Thunder has also started taking agility classes - since his sister, Macy, started those with Barb Dillon. Thunder is doing well getting his foundation agility skills down and I hope to run him in agility myself!

Thunder and I took a trip down to Florida for the OH Invitational, the National Championship and the All-breed shows in December 2017. HE DID GREAT!!!! We started our week on Wednesday at the All-Breed show and Thunder picked up OHBOB. HE showed great in the OH Group also - but didn't place. The OH Group was HUGE and all the top OH dogs from around the country were entered! It was really a great show. At the Thursday all- Breed, Thunder took Best of Opp and OHBOB. He went to OH Group and picked up a WONDERFUL Group 3!!! On Friday of that week Thunder took OH Best of Breed at the OH Invitational, beeating the #1 bitch! Great Win! Then, we competed in the Herding Specialty show and Thunder took Best of Opp again! ANOTHER GREAT WIN over quality competition! On Sunday, at the National Championship, Thunder finished his Bronze GCH by taking Select Dog and Best Bred By Exhibitor. For being a such a young dog, Thunder showed great and was in the ribbons at every show!!! What a wonderful trip!

Thunders' conformation showing has been on hold for the first half of 2018 due to puppies. Finally, Thunder and I went out to Lima OH at the end of June 2018 and took Best of Breed for the two days he was entered. He then went to show in Obedience and Rally trials the beginning of July and picked up 2 more legs to finish his Rally Novice title. Both of those legs were 100s!!! Great Job Thunder!!! He also picked up two legs toward his Beginning Novice B title with a 197.5 and a 197 - both of those were for 3rd places in each class. Thunder needs one more leg to complete his BN title.

Thunder has had a great summer working on some new performance titles and certifications! Thunder earned his 3rd BN leg on August 18, 2018 with a score of 196.5 which qualified him for FIRST PLACE in the class!!! WOO HOO!!! During August also, Thunder earned his Canine Good Citizen Cert and his Farm Dog Certification. Thunder also picked up 10 more GC points the beginning of August with a GREAT Select Win at the BSCA Supported Entry at the Canfield Cluster on Saturday and then took Best of Breed on Sunday of the Canfield Cluster!! Great weekend for Thunder!

Thunder has had a really good September and October. Thunder started and finished his Rally Intermediate title in one weekend and he got a good start on his first FASTCat title in September. Thunder picked up Herding Group 2 and 3 placements, as well as OH Herding 2, 3 and 4 the first weekend of September. He went out the 3rd weekend of September and picked up another Herding Group 4. We went out for two weekends in October and Thunder picked up 2!!!! OH Best in Shows as well as regular Herding Group 1, 2 and 3 placements and then, he took his biggest win yet... a RESERVE BEST IN SHOW!!! WOO HOO!!! He is doing great heading into two show weekend in November and then we will head down to Florida in December to compete for a solid week!!! Can't wait!!!

Thunder finished 2018 up in fine style! He was entered for 5 days total in November - he took 5 Best of Breeds, 3 OH Best of Breeds, 2 OH BIS, 1 Regular Group 3 and 1 OH Group 2! In December, we headed down to the National Championship in Florida. Thunder was entered in 4 All Breed Shows, 1 Specialty Show and the NOHS Invitational! He took Best of Breed in 3 of the All Breed shows, He took Best of Opp Sex inthe Specialty Show and he took Best of Breed AND a respectable OH Group 3 at the NOHS Invitational. It really was a GREAT week for Sarron dogs in Florida. Thunder finishes out the point year as #5 in ALL Breed points and #7 in Breed Points. Great year!!!

Thunder finished up 2018 by picking up his first leg toward his Companion Dog (CD) title at Dayton Dog Training club show in December. He earned a 1st place finish for his first let. We went to Columbus All Breed Training Club trial in February 2019 and he picked up his second and third legs with a Second Place and a Fourth Place, respectively. As of February 23, 2019 - Thunder is recognized as a Companion Dog (CD) too!! We plan to continue in Rally and FastCat this year - hoping to pick up his RA, RE and BCAT titles in 2019. :) Thunder will also be out in the conformation ring to try and earn his GrCHS and HOF titles too. Good Boy THUNDER!!!!

Thunder has done really well in 2019 so far!! Thunder earned his Rally Advanced title and qualified for the Rally National Championships this year with great scores. Thunder went out for one day in conformation in March and picked up a nice breed win and Group 4!. Thunder was entered at the BSCA National this year in several venues. He finished his RA title at the National. He also qualified in Novice Obedience at the National. Then, Thunder took BEST OF OPPOSITE Sex at the Regional Specialty the day before the National. THAT WAS A HUGE WIN!!!! He finished up the National week by making the first cut in males and also being recognized with a Versatility Award at the National.

Thunder went to a show in April and took at nice Breed win, followed by a Herding Group 4 and OH Herding Group 1. He went to two shows in May and Best of Breed both days there and took a Herding Group 3 and Herding Group 2, respectively. He also picked up OH Group 1 and OH Group 2 at the Cincy shows. He went to 2 shows in June and Best of Breed at both of those. HE TOOK AN AWESOME HERDING GROUP 1 and Herding Group 2 that Weekend!!!! Thunder only needs 6 points to achieve his Show Dog Hall of Fame and 24 points for his Silver Grand Championship. We will be trying to wrap those up this fall. Thunder also earned his BCAT (First title in FastCat in May 2019)! Thunder loves to run ...actually he loves to do anything with me!

Thunder and I went to the Support Entries at the Canfield shows in August 2019. Thunder showed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - he took Best of Breed/OH BoB on Friday and Saturday and Best of Opp/OH Bob on Sunday. Thunder then went on to earn an OH Herding Group 2 on Friday AND a regular Herding Group 4!!! WOO HOO!!!! Then on Saturday he picked up an OH Herding Group 1 and a regular Herding Group 2!!! DOUBLE WOO HOO!!! These were deep groups - with some of the top herding dogs in the country participating - so it was quite a thrill!!! These two placements also completed the Showdog Hall of Fame requirements for Thunder!!! He finished up the weekend with another OH Herding Group 1 on Sunday - which should also help to propel him toward being #1 for Lifetime OH Points!!! Thunder picked up 15 more points toward his GCHS and now he needs 9 points to complete that achievement. We are still working this fall to finish his GCHS and to hopefully secure #1 in Lifetime OH Points.

Thunders' final chapter began in Mid August 2019... a couple of weeks after the Canfield shows and him taking group placements, finishing his Hall of Fame requirements and winning the OH Group, just a couple monthes after him winning the Herding Group at Echo Hills KC, Thunder was bitten by a spider on his left hock. It happened over a weekend and he spiked a temp and his head/muzzle swelled, along with his hock. We started treating with Pred and Benedryl and addressed the immediate concerns with a trip to our vet. We treated this way for about 10 days and addressed the temp and the swelling, he seemed better, but not well, not 100%. My vet referred us up to OSU as she felt he might be going into an immune mediated issue. OSU Internal Medicine did a full work up on him. They did blood work, tick borne panel, xrayed his lungs looking for a fungus, had a full dermatology work up done on him include skin scrapings and biopsy. Everything came back within normal limts. They then did joint taps to look at the fluid that was in his left hock. From there, they diagnosed him as having Immune Mediated Poly Arthritis (IMPA). The treatment was higher dose of steroids and adding an immune modulating drug. When I picked Thunder up after his 3 days at OSU - he looked and acted 80 % normal. He felt MUCH better and was responding great to the treatment. We took him home very optimistic. We continued with the higher dose of pred and the new immune modulating drug for the next 5 weeks. During the first week home, Thunder improved a great deal. He acted like he wasn't even sick. He was 95% better. My biggest concern at that time was how long it would take for the hair to grow back over his joints where they did the joint taps so that I could show him... probably Spring 2020 I thought.. Oh Well - at least he's alive.

We went back to OSU 5 weeks later with a dog that was experiencing some muscle wasteing (due to the high steriod dose and prolonged use) but that was 95% normal. They did another work up on him, rechecked his joints and declared him in remission 100%! He had beat IMPA. Now, we just needed to start weaning him off the pred slowly. No worries they said, just work with your vet. He is doing great! So, that's what we did. The next day I decreased his pred by a small amount - no problem. The next day, the same amount - no problem. The third day - he crashed. Big problems. I call OSU - they say - well take him back up to the treatment dose. Looks like we need to go a bit longer. OK. No problem. Back up with the Pred. About two days later- Thunder is feeling good again. We continue on the treatment dose for anther 4 weeks again. He does great! I talk to OSU and they direct me to try to wean him again... No problem. I reduce his dose slightly again the first day - no issue. The second day on reduced dose - no problem. The third day on reduced dose - big problems again. I call OSU - hmmmm... take him back up. So I do, this time though, Thunder isn't responding quickly and he is still experiencing more muscle wasting and he just feels bad. We go this route a while longer...

Then, back up to OSU for another evaluation. He is going downhill so they say we need to add a second immune modulating drug. OK - that works... we need to do something for sure.. I don't know why, but he's getting worse. He's now on Pred, and two other drugs daily. They tell me it's going to take a couple weeks to really see the full effect of the new drug and they are starting him on a fairly light dose. After the first few days home, he isn't doing better. I'm talking to OSU and my vet... we double the daily dose of the new drug and continue on... Several more days go by and he's not doing better. I have a recheck set for two weeks after the start of the second immune modulator drug that I'm just trying to get to... I took him back on Dec 11th for another evaluation. By this time, Thunder can't support his own weight to stand. His health is severly detirorated, it's bad. I leave him at OSU asking them for some miracle as my dog is really sick and I just don't think that I can put him through this much longer.

OSU calls me a couple hours after I dropped him off on Dec 11th... They don't know why he's not responding... They offer a few "hail Mary" treatment options - none of which has been used to treat IMPA successflly.. but that have been used on other Immune Mediated diseases. They tell me all of them are "experimental". I ask if they felt any of them would have a greater than 50% chance of curing him and she says she has no data to support that... so no. I tell her I'm not inclined to try these experimental treatments on my dog, we will come back up there and we'll put him to sleep. He's been too good of a dog for me to have him suffer any longer.. We go back up to OSU and I hold him in my arms as he slips away into eternal sleep... the 5 short years between the time that I birthed him to when I had to say goodbye to him were MUCH TOO SHORT.

We had a necropsy completed - looking for answers. As of this writing, we have some answers - but not all. We know there was no cancer inside him as we specifically asked them to look for gastric/digective cancers as these are so common in our breed. What they did find and tell us in their preliminary review is that he had Endocarditis - which is a bacterial infection of the lining of the heart. He had a major bacterial lesion on his valve on the left side of his heart which was also infecting his blood- which had traveled through out his body and caused him to become septic. They took samples to culture but as of today we don't know if the bacteria was from the initial venom of the spider, if it was common mouth bacteria or bacteria that was introduced during one of his many visits to the hospital... Hopefully, they can provide that information in the final report. The vet did tell us, that the Endocarditis - even when they know about it has about 80% mortality rate. They didn't know about Thunders' issue until they completed the necropsy. So, while we were all focused on surpressing his immnue system to address the IMPA, a bacteria was able to set up shop in his heart completely unchecked and travel across his entire body. My poor boy had no chance. I will miss him everyday... My heart is broken.

Thunders' final necropsy showed that the bacteria in his heart, lungs and joints that killed him was staph and strep. Both things that could have been treated, had we known what was going on. It was a very heartbreaking fall for us here at Sarron to lose Thunder this way. I hope that sharing his story that others can learn from our loss. I know we have learned from this loss and will not make the same mistakes again.. ever. RIP Thunder, we love you and miss you every day.

We have Thunder semen stored and we will use it in the future. In August of 2019, before he got sick, Thunder particiapted in the BSCA Embark DNA Research project. His Embark Link is available in his health table.

In Feb 2020, AKC annouced it created an Owner Handled Grand Champion program with similar awards to the existing Grand Champion levels (bronze, silver, gold, platnum). This program will grandfather all dogs that have participated since the inception of the program, so I am happy to report that Thunder will be recognized as an Owner Handled Grand Champaion Platnum winner. He is 1 of 2 dogs that qualify for that distinciton. I loved showing Thunder and we made great memories. I am fortunate to have had such a dog to share my life with for 5 years....