Nova

When Octave passed away in may 2003, I got the idea of getting a second flat-coated retriever and one day, I received a phone call pointing me to this little girl who had to be relocated. Nova entered my life in October of that same year at the age of four months old.

Nova was truly a wonderful dog and certainly the most important one in my life. She is Knightcastle's foundation girl. She also changed my life forever by allowing me to become a serious breeder.

So far, her descendants have cumulated more than 200 titles (March 2020). They are spread across the continent and in UK, all having fun. The gene pool she left is humongous and her legacy is a fantastic one. I also met great friends thanks to her. One of her sons, Modi and one granddaughter, Raven, are members of the FCRSA Hall of Fame.

She completed her Championship at 16 months, with 3 majors, the same day Darwin became OTCH. With only a few weeks of training, she obtained her Novice obedience title. She had a bit of a hard time to complete her CDX but she did it in June 2005. We were ready to meet our destiny!

So in the hot summer of 2005, Darwin, Nova and I drove to Thunder Bay to find a nice male for Nova and I got really lucky. Out of nowhere and freshly arrived the day before by plane from Netherlands, there he was, Bowie (Dutch/Am/Can CH Serilde Velenocelestiale), standing in front of me. To my surprise, the owner agreed to let me use him for my first litter, this is how Knightcastle was born.

On November 16 2005, Nova gave birth to 8 wonderful puppies for the 'David Bowie' litter. I kept two dogs, Céleste, and Baxter, a decision I never regretted. Nova had three more litters.

In 2006, Nova earned her American CD in 3 consecutive trials and in July the same year, she completed her Junior Hunter. In 2007, her and Baxter earned their WC title and by a cold Saturday of December, far away in Sudbury, she became my second Utility dog in only 6 trials. We came back as fast as we could the same day to celebrate at the Christmas party of my canine club at the time, proudly holding the ribbons Nova earned a few hours before.

It was very special to enter her in a hunt test or in the utility obedience ring, with either Céleste or Darwin, just for the fun of it. The last time Nova was in a show ring, she took her class in the 9-12 veteran sweepstakes at the FCRSC specialty in 2013. She was entered two times in Senior Hunter but did not qualify. In USA, while doing Baxter's Junior Hunter, I used her few times as 'Test dog' and she did great!

So many good memories with her: she was watching me when I was sleeping and wagging her tail, starring at me as soon as I was waking up, always the first one to bark in the house, always making sure that all the bowls were empty, always be the first on to the apple tree in a trail I was walking with my dogs, doing the utility signals by herself just to have a piece of food when I was cooking, always the first one to go in a new whelping box to see if it was OK, looking at me from the floor, on her back and have her legs crossed in front of her face, sometimes licking one paw. She traveled across North America, even taking the plane three times.

All good things happen for a reason and Nova is the best one that happened in my life. She kept surprising me about everything.

If you're reading this page now, it's all because of her. After 3963 days together, Nova passed away in my arms at 11 from cancer on August 19, 2014. Nova was my heart and soul over these 11 years that we spent together. I am very proud of her, for everything she did. She really has the best place in my heart, I'll love her forever!

You can watch a video tribute here following this Youtube link.