Zlata was born in May of 2017. She is a typical BRT in most ways, although like most, she has some unique quirks/qualities. She is a sweet and loving girl who has a lot of ideas of her own. Sometimes her and I don't always agree on her ideas but in the end, she respects and trusts me, even if occasionally begrudgingly. Mostly, she loves to please me. She's playful and energetic but will be quiet and patient when she sees I'm busy. She loves to go on trips in our travel trailer, explore new places, and compete in dog sports.

Her guarding is appropriate and one aspect of her I hope she passes to her offspring. She is very discriminating and naturally reads situations accurately. For example, I ran an Airbnb out of the back portion of my house for awhile. The space and my living space were only divided by a door. I realized when my first guests checked in, I had a guard dog and when she barked like crazy at the door, I feared my Airbnb idea was never going to work. I told her it was okay. She stopped barking and monitored the door but accepted the situation. I told her, "It's okay, it's a guest." The next guest checked in, same barking. I repeated the words. She sniffed at the door then let it be. Each time I heard a guest check in, I would tell her the words and she never barked again. 

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On the other hand, someone kept approaching me in the dark while on a walk. As I changed course, they kept coming. Zlata got between the person and me and scary barked. The person quickly changed course.  Another time while walking in a natural area at dusk, with Zlata off leash, another dog came from out-of-sight, right toward me at a full run. Zlata was about 20 feet away sniffing the ground. As the dog got closer and I could see it wasn't going to stop, I said, "Whoa!" Zlata came from her spot at a full run and basically t-boned the dog before it lunged at me. The dog got up and ran away, tail tucked, with Zlata in pursuit. She chased it to about 40 feet away, once she was sure it was gone, then came back to me. I feel safe with her. We travel alone and I don't worry with her at my side.

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She has a great sense of humor and loves to be silly. She loves when she can make me or other people laugh. One time we were in a B-match for obedience. (These are mock trials with judges run like a trial but your scores don't count. They are great way to make sure you, as a team are trial ready) It was held in a training facility that had mirrors on one end of the ring. It was a recall exercise where I was standing in front of the mirror. She is supposed to come directly to me on my signal and sit facing me. She came running to me on my signal, saw herself in the mirror and blew past me to go greet herself. The spectators laughed. She looked up at the laughing very proud of herself and wanted to keep the laughing going. I had to call her back to me and hope she wouldn't think of other shenanigans to do at real trials in order to get a laugh.

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