Norbo Ben Ju - Page 1

I just recieved a phone call today that Norbo has past. According to Van Den Heuvel website he passed away at the end of october of 2007. I am sorry to hear about this for he was a great and well known dog he will not be forgot. May he service the working dogs in heaven like he did here.

The great one like Norbo will never be forgotten. He was a great dog. He will live on in his siblings and also in his offspring.  My condolences go out to the people and van den Heuvel.

He was such a beautiful dog. He produced great progeny. He will live on though them and never be forgotten.

This is what I wrote on the Czech dog forum about Norbo passing.

I truly believe that Norbo bettered our beloved breed and the GSD community has lost a great dog.

Norbo's blood will be continued on with his many progeny and the numerous collections that Van Den Heuvel K9 has on file.

I know some of you have read this before but I will put it here anyway so people can read how I felt the first time I met Norbo in person.

I had the pleasure of going up and seeing Norbo in person when Dari invited a friend of mine John and myself up to her facility to work and see her dogs. The first time I laid eyes on Norbo I was amazed at the shear confidence this dog exudes! When he saw us standing with Dari he never once took his eyes off of us and the look in his eyes spoke volumes! This dog has NO fear and I truly believe he thinks he owns the world.

When the time came for John to work Norbo it was like watching a living legend coming out of that kennel. I was seriously in awe of this dog’s work ethic. This dog is 10 years old and still wants to work as long as they will let him. Below are a few things John had to say about working Norbo.

“Norbo came out of the inside kennel, and was about 50 ft. away from me. The night before when we had seen him in the kennel through the window, there was an obvious confidence in a dog that looked like he was 10 years old. That first look at 50 ft., when he saw me with my equipment on, was the picture of Norbo you see on the Jinopo site. I could see the twinkle in his eye 50 ft. away. John, Dari's husband brought him up, and he was already firing up. Just me looking at him was all he needed. I agitated him up, gave a couple of run-by's, and then went in for the bite, and he crushed it. The first thing I noticed was that his head occupied the sleeve from my wrist to my elbow, then, I started to notice the pressure. This was a fairly new sleeve, and he was calm, looking at me straight in the eye, and totally full. I started to pressure him, and he absolutely hit another level. He didn't re-bite, he just crunched harder. John outed him, and he was silent until he told him to hold. His bark and hold was totally focused, and rhythmic. The re-bite was just as the first, the more pressure, the harder the bite...from hard to "I don't know if I can slip this sleeve" hard. He outed again, and we did about a 25 ft. pursuit. I've seen all those videos where he brings Jiri to the ground and I honestly wondered how much acting was in the video. He was not that fast, but he definitely jumped into the bite, and right after he got the bite, he does this neck whip thing, and I thought I was going down. I didn't, but man, I was close. Just fought him a bit, slipped the sleeve and put him away. It was an honor, and a pleasure to work this legendary dog.”

I am very proud to own and train a Norbo daughter, Reyna Van Den Heuvel, I hope to honour Norbo by titling this little female as far as I can.