The Coton Malgache - Canadian Coton De Tulear Club

More Memories of Valerie FordValerie Ford (L) with JoanneMouryas and armfuls ofCotonsValerie Ford was my friend, my mentor, and my confidant. I met Valerie for the first timeat the Rare Breed Show in Woodstock in July of 2006. I had just come back from Spainwith my two beautiful Coton de Tulears, Caton and Caitie. I had gone for one and endedup with two. It's happened to most of us. There were many Coton breeders at the showthat weekend. Valerie and I spent a lot of time chatting. She told me that I had herpuppy. I thought she was joking. As it turns out, while I was in Spain picking up my littleCaton, who I had already paid for, his breeder was trying to sell him to Valerie. Just thisyear, Valerie showed me the correspondence between herself and Caton's breeder. Wehad a good laugh about that over the years.On that weekend that I met Valerie in 2006, she was showing two beautiful 3 month old pups who I later found out wereBam Bam Kazaam and his littermate Envy-Me. Even though they were so young, they moved around the ring withease. This was a reflection of how good Valerie had become at producing and training show quality dogs. We wouldsee each other at shows following this meeting and we would speak on the phone regularly. At first she was a littleguarded since I was a new breeder and she did not know if I was breeding for the right reasons. As she got to know meand realized that I was in this for the long haul, she opened up and became my best friend. We learned so much fromone another. Valerie often said that each litter brought with it new challenges. She was right. She said that she neverstopped learning even though she had been breeding Cotons for 14 years.I used to love driving to the country to visit with Valerie. It was a beautiful trip and I enjoyed spending time with herdiscussing dogs, life and anything else that tickled our fancy. We would always have a good time and we would oftenlaugh. It was nice seeing her smile. She always had something cooked for me to eat and would always have a carepackage for me to take home. She would always include a couple of toys for my dogs. She was always sothoughtful. Valerie is the first person that I loved that has died. I often wondered how people dealt with the death of aloved one and now I have first hand experience. I don't wishthat kind of pain on my worst enemy.Over the years I have met many families that have a CotonnelleCoton. I had the hard task of phoning some of them within thelast two months to tell them of Valerie's tragic accident. A dogbreeder often becomes friends with the families that adopt theirpuppies and this was the case with Valerie. She will be missedby all the families that had the opportunity to welcome aCotonnelle puppy or two into their family. Valerie workedtirelessly to better the breed in the past 14 years that she bredthese adorable bundles of joy. Her hard work paid off. Shewas a fierce competitor in the Show Ring and often won. Sheregretted not being able to show her dogs in the last couple ofyears due to health issues and some personal problems. My lastconversation with Valerie was on Friday October 28th. Shewas in an upbeat mood and we had made plans to get togetherfor a Greek dinner to discuss our breeding program.I still reach for the phone to tell Val something I hear thatwould interest her. It's what best friends do. We had so manythings in common. She was an amazing woman. I will neverforget her.Joanne Mouryas