To fully document the Story of Picasso, it is necessary to regress back
before his beginning.  Denise Willeford of Shenandoah Afghans heard about 
Ch. Elmo’s Hawkeye and became highly impressed with him when she saw
his DVD.  She emphasized collecting his semen repeatedly. Typical of me, I 
found a long list of excuses..... I am too busy, it takes too long, my vets are
far away, it is too expensive.  Fortunately, Denise was determined and directed
me to get him collected at her expense. How could I refuse such conviction so I 
complied. Just like Denise, she paid for all the expenses and in addition, gave me
semen without charge or stipulation.

When Denise used a portion of the semen on her Ch. Genesis Silver Charm 
daughter, litter sister of MBIS Ch. Shenandoah Pistol Blue (Lou Guerrero) a 
litter of three pups resulted, two blacks and a mahogany brindle. Denise 
offered me the brindle dog many times. I once again was my difficult self and
the list of reasons I could not take him unraveled to only prove I made one of 
the biggest mistakes of my involvement in Afghans. To my satisfaction the dog
ended up in the loving  hands of Robert Godfrey, Regime Afghans with 
a co ownership with Joanne Luis (Keystone).

When the dog “came out” he created a national stir which made me even more
anxious to see him and when I did I then realized that he was much more than
I had expected, shall I say I thought he was incredible?  Yes.  It was only then,
that I fully understood why he was broadcast from coast to coast as what I call a 
“too dog”, i.e., too long, too short, too thin, too fat, too showy, etc. I have had my
share of these kinds of dogs. Yes, he was a “too dog”,  he was just too magnificent!

Attempting to describe Picasso would be a waste of time.  He was much more than
the sum total of his parts in spite of any minor imperfection on which a competitor
may have chosen to focus and  I will leave it at that.

Unfortunately it was Picasso’s unusual allure that ultimately prevented him from 
fulfilling his potential. So many wanted an affiliation with this dog and Robert,
being the giving person he is, was willing to share.  However, through all of this, 
the most indelible images of Picasso will always be the ones Ria Wagner of Germany
took of Picasso with the person we will always remember as Picasso’s owner, 
Robert Godfrey. Those of us who have semen from Picasso are fortunate, but
those of us who have progeny of Picasso hold genetic treasures. He had so 
many valuable and much needed assets to contribute to the Breed.