RIP Sweet Ivan
The sadness we feel is overwhelming as we have to let you all know that on July 20, 2021, we laid our gentle giant and ‘always Mr. funny guy’ IVAN (BVISS Ch Guldakra’s Ivan Lendl (OS) 2007-2021 https://www.k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=300180) to rest, after just a few days of an acute gastric intestinal upset which had resulted in a sudden inoperable intussusception.
Ivan passed while being kissed, thanked and having his sweet kind face held by Karin, who had rushed to our local pet clinic to be at his side. Ivan opened his tired eyes before he gently passed away, fully knowing he had been so deeply loved his whole life. He had been hospitalized in the morning and we had all fully expected him to come back home to us before the day was over. Unfortunately, the end came so suddenly that neither Sean nor any of the rest of our family and kennel staff managed to make it there in time to say good bye.
The anguish we all feel is immense. Ivan was the light and laughter of our lives. The whole Barr- Klouman family will miss our dear boy so much and our wonderful kennel staff members are also all deeply grief-stricken. Ivan was that “extra special dog” that sometimes graces our lives and we are all much better for having known him. But today it does feel as if the light has simply gone out of our day, without his ever-smiling face to greet us all.
We can only be grateful for the fact that Ivan had 14 long years on this earth, and that he was so robustly healthy and strong with exception of these last couple of short days. Just last week he trotted over to Karin and Wally home (1/2 km away) just to say his happy hello. Little did we know it would be the last time we would see him enthusiastically trotting across our fields.
Our thanks to out to Lotta Anderson for entrusting this beautiful boy to our care so many years ago. Thank you also to Ulrika Zetterfeldt who helped arrange this one litter from our beloved Solo. Ulrika also helped select Ivan for us before he made the long journey from Sweden to Canada.
Ivan will live on in his many many descendants, both in Canada and the US. Rest in Peace, darling boy and THANK YOU. 
