Mystik's Chelsea D Crazy Baby is the first Amstaff that I've had the privilege of owning. Skip Loveless of Mystik Amstaffs sold her to me and I started showing her on Labor Day weekend 1993. Time sure is a funny thing. In some ways it seems like a lifetime ago and in others just like yesterday. Neither Skip, nor myself had any idea what was being started, well, maybe Skip knew, but I hadn't a clue.
Skip, Thanks for giving me the opportunity to enjoy these dogs for what they are.
Everyone wants to know "What's up with the name?" so here it is. Chelsea was whelped on Dec 3rd 1992 which is Ozzy Osbourne's birthday so I thought it appropriate to name her along those lines. Mystik's is, of course, Skip's kennel name. Chelsea is her call name and bears no reference to the presidents daughter, either positive or negative. D (originally spelled Dee) is the name of a song written by Randy Rhoads who played guitar for Mr. Osbourne. Mr. Rhoads' Mother's name was Deloris and she was often refered to as Dee, hence the song that was dedicated to her. It's a very nice classical piece that can be found on the Blizzard of Oz album. Crazy Baby is also in reference to an Ozzy Osbourne song called "Crazy Baby", imagine that. I'm not sure of the significance of the song, but it seemed to reflect Chelsea's nature.
Even
at age seven Chelsea will run circles around any dog on the place. She
still plays ball until every dog on the place is comatose in the yard and
loves people of all ages, unless of course they're bad. The picture at
right was taken by Zandria Muench Beraldo of Browntrout publishing. Many
of our dogs have been featured in the Browntrout Amstaff calendars for
1999 and 2000.
We still bring Chelsea out to shows every now and then, but haven't been serious with her for several years. She has both of her majors and a single for a total of 8 points.
After
her second major and the return of her OFA results (good) we bred her to
CH. Hines' Sly Stallone. This was a breeding that I had contemplated for
18 months or longer and, after making two trips to see Sly, opted to conduct.
The breeding was nearly a total outcross and was touted as a pending disaster
by nearly everyone but Imogene Hines and myself. The cross was fruitful
though and produced some outstanding dogs, 50% of which are champions and
that number will rise when we bring out her daughter Megan.
Chelsea has been and will continue to be a great dog. Every dog on our sight with the exception of the studs that we've used from other kennels goes back to Chelsea and some twice. She won't be bred any more, but we're grateful to her and again to Skip for all that they have given us.
