the bane of running a bitch(trials & tribulations of running Gossip)

So, Saturday before Thanksgiving, Ms Gossip won a 4 point meet, nice running, was so neat to see Ms Focus kick in and pick up 6 points with a 2nd place behind Gossip, worked Carrot with the box some, froze our a**es off a LOT, but all and all had a great day. Loaded dogs up, headed home to prepare for the next day, unloaded dogs, went to feed dogs, and came in to find Gossip SEVERELY lame, same foot she hurt before. OMFG, WTF?

She stayed lame, for almost a week. . .missing 3 meets. . .because she had a bone bruise. Having had one of those, I know they hurt like HELL. . .last race of the day, the sun was at the worst possible angle for the lure operator, and the guess is that when the lure overshot the last pully, she managed to smash that foot good. . .Oh well, there's always the last meet of the year.

Nope, not to be, RIGHT after our rally leg triumph, literally, she came into season, ONLY 6 wks early. . ::SIGH::. . . just got an email that she lost the #1 All breed bitch by 1 point. .oh well, I'm tickled for Jen & Fergie :) But darnit all LOL

Two different toe injuries, two different seasons & the inability to get some days off from work really threw multiple wrenches into our plans this year, but she still managed to pull off #1 LGRA Borzoi again

::SIGH:: OH well, there's always next year, I do love my girls, much more than boys, but these darn seasons really make me think twice about it LOL Missing her something terrible. . Mom's little tidbits just aren't real dogs :P

what a weekend

What a wonderful, albeit busy weekend.

Saturday we got up early and headed to Vanessa's to see the River X Nina babies, such cute little fuzzballs. . there's one little boy if I had my way, I'd be taking home, he is absolutely positively SCRUMPTIOUS!! Oh my. Even Bonnie had a problem not taking a puppy home. . especially Wesley who decided Bonnie was the cat's meow and kept following her around LOL Such cute little buggers. . but i don't need no more stinking boys, two is enough! But boy was it tempting for Bonnie & I. . .maybe John's dad would be interested in one of them, they are lovely puppies, and my favorite is a dominant black boy, lots of chrome, and it's funny, because the blacks are NOT my favorite colour at all, but he's one nice darn little guy.

Was so nice to see Pat & Robin, sucks Pat is so far away now, but she's looking good. . .and had a nice visit with Vanessa. So nice for Grins' daughter to end up #1 AKC Borzoi, she's ranked in LGRA, and in the top 5 in ASFA. . so a nice year for Novel.

Then headed home, played with a certain speckled white dog, then loaded her up the car and headed into town. . this part of the day sucked. . ringtime was 4. .we are in Rally-A, so we are the last class in the ring, there were 70 total entries, and we didnt' enter the ring til close to 7. . blech. Gossip was definitely BORED by then, and didn't do her normal flip return to heel, had to give her three commands, still did rather nicely, better score than last time, and placing 4th in our class. Judge complimented her, said you don't see many Borzoi in the ring, and it's true. Was nice to see the only two sighthounds place in the class(IW won the class, tied the Dobie, but won on virtue of faster time). Fell in love with a little herding dog while I was there, and now researching this cute small breed. Since there's no AKC small sighthoudn I really like(whippets are too terrier like, Basenjis not my cup of tea temperament wise, and Iggies i'm afraid Pippens would eat LOL), if I want a small breed, I'll have to go out of group, oh well, not bad, when there's a few cute littler breeds. Want something that's bed snuggle size, but is a big dog too, if that makes sense LOL

I am so tickled with Gossip, she keeps getting better and better. We'll start another OB class next month in hopes of being able to try for our RA next summer. Already got the OK to split the class between two of the Zoi, as they do not have the attention span for an hour of training. .so might as well rotate them. So nice to have an instructor who understands that.

Got an early Xmas present:A Garmin! Weehee!! Now to learn how to use it :)

a picture's worth 1000 words

Ramblings & puppy pictures

So much I want to do, only one me to do it with LOL

While thinking about not having a competitive coursing dog, i realised it's a good thing LOL there's not enough time in the day right now to do what I want to do with the dogs I have now lOL I'm hoping by next summer, Gossip'll be ready for the Agility ring, as well as Obedience LOl, that on top of showing her and Grins, who has time for a competitive coursing dog? If i get the need, I'll borrow Focus, or Crivens or Carrot. . LOL but I truly expect my weekends to be full next year anyway, so nothing to worry about.

Got pics of some of the kiddos i thought I'd share. .
Mr Dandy, out of the Hawaiian litter. I am so glad this boy has finally found the perfect forever home. His first home bailed out after his owner got severely ill, 2nd one wasn't willing to deal with a young busy dog(hell, he wasn't at her house more than 12 hrs before she decided she couldn't deal with him, geez), but this one is a charm. She's had Zoi before, but this one fits her personality. .very sweet, very laid back. . .that entire litter has a wonderful temperament.

Mr Loki AKA Mielikki's Can't Stop Me Now JC, with his daddy, who's really sick, have my fingers crossed he comes thru surgery 100% Di.

Here's Dickens AKA Dickie Doo(Mielikki's great expectations), Loki's nephew. . he hopes to join cousin Gossip in the Obedience ring next year, sounds like he's as smart as she is, just a bit more willful where she's much more interested in working for mom. He's out of the rose litter(Umbra X Storm), in fact, the puppy mama broke when he was 7-8 wks old, but you couldn't tell it. His newest buddy is Jake, not bred by me, but a pretty puppy none the less.

Ms Hecate, (Mielikki-windhaven's Wicked Rumour) from the Gossip litter, is very loved and very spoiled up in Canada.

I can't believe how gray Ms jezebel has gotten. . .OTOH, she is 6.5+. . I know KC loves her dearly, do miss her now and then, but I make sure to give my buddy Brazen or his brother Jammin some lovin when I see them racing, tho it's their sister Chillie who makes me drool, now THAT'S a Greyhound

This is Dicken's sister Minnie (Mielikki's Minnie Mouse), spoilt and loved dearly in the south. I love getting pics of my kiddos, no matter if they're show pups or just loved and very spoiled pets.

And this is Ms Gossip telling me she can too fit in the suitcase and should be going to Las Vegas with me damnit ! LOL She's not dirty, BTW, that's all the damn ticking she has. .there are two colours I hate: ticked and piss yellow/paper bag brown Borzoi. .so of course the fates had to curse me and give me the best bitch I've ever owned/bred in a colour I can't stand LOL

River brag

Just a shortie, tired and trying not to come down with a cold before I leave for the howlidays

Brooks' look a like son picked up another single and a BOB this weekend, leaving him needing just one more singles, then she'll have to start looking for those majors. Judge raved to her over his sidegait. .he's a lovely boy, can't wait to see his babies.

Gossip & I are going for her second leg of her Rally, can't WAIT!

Misc Ramblings of a cold mind

I am SOO DAMN ready for Vegas. . .it is currently below freezing, and even sitting at work, I can't get warm. . it's for the PITS!! And I REALLY hate the taste of coffee, blech.

Did nothing but work with Gossip this weekend, yesterday was too damn cold to go coursing. . .I had no desire to anyway, neither did Bonnie. . As I told her, if I had a hot young dog, I'd feel different. LOL. Gossip's getting better and better with her flip returns. . .may have to give her two commands, but since with Rally you can it's ok. Just have to find a third show to do the final leg next spring, as there's nothing at the shows in january, no shows within easy driving distance in the winter in Feb, so March is the earliest. . oh well.

As i was looking at show shows, I realised I've become out of touch with the judges, I have no clue on most of the judges, what they like or dont' like. But the last time I SERIOUSLY looked at judges was when I finished Umbra back in what, 04? Got some shows lined up for next month. :) And emailed the agility instructor to see when that starts back up.

Other than that, worked on the tank and went to the Aquarium society meeting, picked up a BRIGHT BRIGHT yellow Wrasse, stands out in the tank, love it. . and a couple more corals. Finally have the Cyanobacteria controlled in the tank, lowered the salinity and made the star polyps much much happier. The Duncan's are soooo tiny and cute and were so happy with the brine shrimp buffet I gave the tank on Saturday, as were the ricordias. It's soooo interesting to watch these tiny little organisms, makes all the work you put into it worth it. Eventually I'll have a bigger tank, when I have lots more money. LOL The purple mushroom coral I got is HUGE, probably 3 inches across. Looked at getting a nice bright yellow Watchman goby, but at 1 inch long, the Lawnmower Blenny would eat it, mistaking him for a funny looking algae LOL. . .may have to set up a refugium and grow him and the Mandarin out until they're big enough to survive. Need to get over to a friend's house and pick up some more live rock as well as her Tang & damsels she's rehoming.

Other than that, took Gossip to a rally run thru, if she's not bouncing off of walls, she should get that second leg of her RN :)

Joy of puppies

More I think of my next two litters, the more excited I get :)

Wizard is from a young litter, but they're doing very nicely on the field. He and his bro Bartleby finished both their field titles easily, and both are doing well on the race tracks too. Their sister Focus has picked up 8 points already in LGRA, only being beaten by their cousin Gossip, and in two days at coursing, has 8 points, including a nice BOB win. . .two more are waiting in the wings to enter the field, and seeing them practice I truly expect them to do well. One sis is in a pet only home, another has dabbled at LGRA, and the last sis is the only one without prey drive, so it's a nicely rounded litter, and reminiscent of my Queen litter that Dei came out of with only one puppy not having prey drive. It should meld well.

Gossip's Beau is from a very successful coursing/racing litter, titles on the field and on the track. He's got a WUNDERBAR temperament, one of my favorites of all of Bonnie's dogs. Proven producer, he matches Gossip good points, brings a little smaller size(she's a decent sized girl at 28 inches, but she's a broad girl) and a nice tail. Hate the thought of two litters in a year since I keep my puppies longer than most, no hurry to shove them out the door asap here, but Bonnie's as excited about this one, and there's a waiting list for both. . so deep breath and let's try LOL

It's colder than a witch's tit today and only supposed to get worse, OH JOY!! May or may not go coursing tomorrow, depends on the weather, then next weekend is a visit to Vanessa's to see Pat & the River/Nina babies, and then an attempt on our 2nd Rally leg. Gossip keeps getting better and better, so I can't wait!

Off to feed

christmas day is on it's way

I sat down at my desk at work the other day and glanced at the phone and was like wow, it's December already. The year has gone by too fast, stayed busy and life is better than it has been in a long time. First time since I left Germany that I haven't hated the season.

Finished my xmas shopping last night, or at least, that which I'll do here. . now if I can only get the beautiful chocolate santas to Vegas without them getting smooshed. . Bubba should have a blast with his. Problem with buying xmas presents is I hate waiting to GIVE them LOL

And started my packing. . got 13 days to go, but I always forget something, so figure if I start NOW less things to forget, I hope

can't WAIT!! Kitties are taken care of, doggies are taken care of(Jim promises to spoil Gossip while I'm gone LOL), and fishies are taken care of. A vacation I truly don't have to worry about anything, other than having FUN!!!!

Hanover

All Borzoi in the NE (and a number from Ohio) went to hanover for coursing this weekend, so that's where we went. .racing alone isn't fun. . but this weekend made me miss Obie again. . he was a great dog, because he could do anything, might not've been THE fastest, but he was competitive in everything He did.

It made me realise I miss coursing, i love racing, but coursing is my first love. Racing you can't watch your dogs run from anywhere really but front and behind. . .I really wish Gossip loved plastic as much as she loves her jack-a-lure. . hopefully the puppies I have planned for her will get both parents speed, but papa's desire to chase anything, as I miss having a competitive all around dog, but that won't even give me a coursing dog until late 2010 anyway ::SIGH::

Grins had fun, Grins had a blast, he looked good, and I got compliments on how nice he looked by people who knew him in his prime, but he is still a veteran FCH, he didn't do BAD, there was only a point spread between the Open-FC-Veteran runoff, so he's a competitive veteran, but he's still a veteran. . He was a PITA as always to get off the bunny(A racing muzzle is going in my bag), and loved every minute of it, returned to his screaming like a giant hairy whippet days. . .but he's not competitive against the hot young opens and some of the FC. . .

Damn I miss coursing. . John does not realise how lucky he is with his Wizard. Wiz can do anything. . and does it quite well. .hopefully that'll pass on quite nicely to his puppies. . .but again, that won't give me a running dog til sometime in 2010. . blah.

Glad the performance season's almost over. . .

the season

Thanksgiving is the season of thanks, and I've got so much to be thankful

My family is healthy for the most part, and we've all got roofs over our heads

My friends are healthy

I am healthy. Asthma's not as bad as it once was, still there unfortunately.

Yeah, we've all got aches and pains, but it could be much much worse.

My animals are healthy, Pandora's doing well on her thyroid meds, can't believe she's going to be 15 in a few months. Touchet is still as silly and goofy as the day she stepped out of the crate, 5 yrs ago. . .

I'm thankful I know who my true friends are. . it took my life going into the shitter to bring the scumbags to true light, but now they're out of my life. Maybe I can get the asshole magnet surgically removed from my backside since I do seem to attract some good ones. LOL. But now I'm surrounded by good solid friends, and know who I can trust and depend on. . .

I'm thankful to have the Zoimobile, it's proving to be a good little car. . even if it is 11+ yrs old. . been worth the investment in it.

I'm thankful to be in an area of the country where so many doors are open to me.

I'm thankful that the divorce is over, and the next step forward of my life will begin, with the third shortly behind it.

I'm thankful I have a stable job, may not love it, but it is stable in an industry that is growing. I do not have to depend on the economy and worry about my job like so many others are doing. I'm appreciated and not taken for granted, always a good thing in the job.

Hope all my true friends had a wonderful, safe thanksgiving

Channeling Pyerun

So, took dogs coursing this weekend, was a HUGE event, with 23 Borzoi each day. Ran Focus for Bonnie yesterday, and she placed 2nd in a full+ stake of open Borzoi. Boy, I miss having a keen, fast young dog to run. And she's a nice dog to deal with.

Today, Bonnie went with me, and I entered Grins in Veterans, and First was entered in her JC. It was muddy and cold, and disgusting, perfect Borzoi running weather.

Grins had a BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!!! The LO who saw him when he was young said he looked really good, and he did, keen, on the bunny, not much cutting. He changed that in Finals, by catching the bunny after cutting across the field. LOL

Focus came away with a 5 point 1st place in another full Open, pleasing Bonnie pink, picking up 8 points in 2 days of running. So we ran for BOB with the FC stake. . and Grins showed he was channeling Pyrerun with a twist. He caught the bunny, he restarted the BOB runoff THREE times. . .damn dog, LOL. . .he doesn't just catch it, he catches it behind his molars. THREE times today he outsmarted the LO LOL. He didn't win BOB(That went to dear Focus), but the Judge said if there'd been a column for outsmarting the LO, he'd've gotten the extra points LOL

Too bad Wiz wasn't there JOHN!! LOL

heart pets

Heart dogs are not made, they are born. You can't craft them, or mold them, or create them, only the powers that we can't see can. It doesn't matter who you believe in up and above, one god or multiple gods, or the fates, or the great sun god, they craft and create and gift these wonderful creatures.

I thought I was blessed with Schatzi. This cat knew me, and owned my soul. I didn't have him anywhere near as long as I should've, only twelve and a half short years. I lost him 6 yrs ago end of next month, and still miss him terribly. Schatzi was my best buddy, was always there when I needed to talk, always there to snuggle. Where I went, Schatzi went. .and when I lost him, my heart broke. . .

And a little brindle borzoi stepped into the huge shoes he left. .Obie didn't replace Schatzi, he just helped me heal. I remember coming home from putting Schatzi down, and Obie leapt onto the bed to give him his Obie hug. Obie was my lil man, and helped me thru some absolutely horrid times. . I call this photo "i'll wait for you mom", and it made me cry earlier today, I miss him so damn much. My silly happy toy dog. .

And now the Fates have given me Gossip. . .she is my pride and joy, and definitely my baby girl. I am most definitely happiest when I'm working with her, whether it's watching her race the wind down the LGRA track, or working her with agility or obedience. She has helped me heal and get over the last few years, and keeps me going. Her exhuberance for life is only outdone by her love for her people. She doesn't quite fit the hole Obie left in my heart when i lost him, but she tries her damndest and proudly wears the mantel of his successor.

I love all my animals, and cry and mourn all their deaths as well as love all the current ones deeply but heart dogs weasle themselves deeper than love, they're part of you, part of your heart and soul, they have their claws wrapped into your heart and dig deep, so when you lose them, it's more than just grief. . if you've never owned a heart dog or cat, you just don't understand, at all, what the loss means. . I'm blessed to've been given three of them, and treasure and love them all still so much.

I just hope I have Ms Gossip for a long long time, since my record with heart animals seem to lose them to cancers way before their time.

The weekend is here

The first snow of the season has come and now it's gone. if I hadn't seen it coming down, I'd've never've known it had fallen. Damn this year has gone fast, can't believe Thanksgiving is next week.

Today's going to be a lot of fun as well as exciting. There are currently 13 borzoi entered, not sure if John or Mary is goign to show up, but could pop that up to 5 points each day. But even so, with Novel, Indigo, Gossip & Focus, will make for some exciting running. Will be interesting to see how Focus matches up against everyone, and if we can get Carrot to box, him too. . May take Tip tomorrow and work on her with the box so she can come out.

Funny, got told the rumor mongers are at it again, accusing me of AVOIDING competition because I wasn't willing to drive 22 hrs to the nationals. Yep, that's why I contacted FOUR different people offering to pay them a nice chunk of change towards gas if they would take Gossip for me, Nancy had already offered to take her off their hands, keep her for the weekend, and return her to them for the trip home. One of them didn't go due to the cost (Snoopy only does Straights, really not worth the cost for one day of racing), and Carol & Robin didn't have the extra room in their car for Gossip to fit, and Jaime wasn't sure she was going until the last minute. . but because Gossip didn't go, I'm AFRAID of them . .bah, they're full of sh*t. Tho I'm glad I didn't WASTE my money, as it was only a 12 dog meet. .sad for the Midwest for a National

If I was AVOIDING competition, I wouldn't've gone to the Nationals last year, ya know, the one that put my bitch up for 7 months with an injury?

Once again I offer them (Since I know they read this blog), put your money where your mouth is. You travel all over the South to go coursing, have no problems in fact doing that, so come on up here. I, OTOH, have physical issues that keep from doing it. I just can't do all night driving sessions and sleeping a few hours in my car is not an option with my health.

National's'll be up this way next year, come on up! If you think I should travel in your direction to run, you know, the door goes both ways, you should be able to handle driving up here. And since at least three people ya'll talk to have seen Gossip run and SAID she deserves her accolades, maybe ya should listen to them.

Come on up, I'd love for her to have some more FAST competition. If I was AVOIDING it, there's no way in hell I'd be taking First, Focus & Carrot out, and encouraging Wizard out and hoping Bartleby will come. Nor would I send out mass invitations to come on out. AVOIDING it would be going to NH or MN where there's no Borzoi running lOL And I've NEVER been one to do that crap!

Addictions

As I sit here at 0 Dark thirty, i wonder what kind of masochistic gene makes us performance people get up so damn early, to go play in the pouring rain.

It is pouring out
It is cold out.

A smart person would turn over and go back to bed.but noooooooooo LOL, true performance people aren't smart, we're addicted. Generally it's a safer addiction, you won't die of lung cancer, or kill your liver, but it's still an addiction LOL I don't drink, I don't smoke, so guess I have to have some sort of vice LOL

It's just over 4 hrs, nothing i haven't done before, used to get up this early and be on the road at 4 to make coltsneck(5 hrs). Giving myself plenty of time, as I've never done this event before, and don't want to be late because I got lost.

I hate mornings LOL

Off to get my caffeine.

Rally-o!

I am so tickled

Gossip is now returning to heel on both sides with a hand signal and a word(Flip to return on left, swing for return on right). She's nto doing her flashy FLIP flip, but she's doing it :)

One task down, now to work on her straight sits :) Maybe we can make a good show in a few weeks!

Got AAA for the Zoimobile, and getting ready for the WEEKEND!!

Be the wolf

One of the things I love most about Gossip is her wonderful personality. Here she is above, being the wolf to her younger cousins(All three pups shown here are about 2, and are out of/by Races sib/half sibs). She gets them running and playing, and rarely has a snarky word to say to them.



Last night Kari was over with her Whiplet & AM, and as usual we went down to the front field, Bonnie with Surya in tow. . .what's interesting is watching Gossip interact with dogs. With Surya she played get the wolf, let's try and throw Surya to the ground, like Borzoi play, football style, with the Whiplet, she plays I'm goign to outrace you. Even Bonnie commented on her different playing style, definitely gentler with the 25 lb whippie. . .she's such a good girl

First

For Nancy :)

First is Sammy's sib and has been living in the shadow of Sammy & Hay Luz, who've been doing really well in the field. Their mother is Ravenwolf Midsummer Flyte, LCM2, their father is DC Mielikki's Kind of Magic SC, LCM, SGRC, ORC. I nabbed her last week and took her racing, she's bullheaded to the Nth degree, but otherwise a very sane dog to run. DOesn't have her father's speed, but has his nice nature running, and both her parent's keeness on the bunny. And truly a wonderful personality since she'd never been in the Zoimobile AKA Sardine can, and didn't give me a bit of problem

She has the world's cutest little face, and is a lovely bitch. Definitely one I wouldn't mind calling my own.

She'll be out running some more with me this fall. She got 1/4 GRC point last week, not much in the scheme of things, but until her faster kennel mates get out of the way, she's going to be the bridesmaid :) But since she's a great dog to run, not yanking or pulling, she's a welcome addition to the pack

relax

And that's what I did this weekend.

Reba has been sound, but decided to come into season this weekend, two weeks early, thought of still going coursing, but this cold from PVBC's specialty dunking is still lingering, so why bother? Kinda wish I'd gone, was a huge entry, but oh well, not enough money to go around

So spent it enjoying dogs, especially Brat. . Love this bitch, a lot. Got her entry off for her next Rally show, and wishing there was yet another before the end of the year, but nope, not that we don't have plans for.

This is Kyra's great granddaughter, reminds me of her uncle Eros, a lot, sweet girl.

It's too dark to see, but it's Gossip being a twit(I wanted her to stand on the dog house) saying hi to her cousin First, who wasn't sure what Gossip was doing up on that DAWG house, you're not supposed to be ON it LOL

Touchet looked absolutley lovely in all the gold leaves this weekend. Wish all Borzoi were as spry & bouncy as she is at almost 10.

Dei showing her Mountain Goat Genes. .we can't keep her off the dog houses LOL

Got home today and worked Dei on Rally, since she's my next project, and doesn't have quite as far as El Dork* does. She's not bad, not as happy to work as Gossip, but it's conceivable we can get her RN, we'll be trying this winter. .at least the indoor shows I won't have to battle for her attention with the squirrels LOL

*AKA Grins :)

Got on line to see Payton had picked up yet another point, first time out with his new owner, so I'm tickled for him. All the boys but Dandy(who's neutered) are pointed, Reba's pointed in the field, and Kani'll be going out with Kari this winter, to see if we can build her confidence up. She's a lovely bitch, drives me nuts to see her so submissive

Strangeness of fall

WTF? I just picked yet another bunch of tomatos off my plants. .it's almost the middle of NOVEMBER, and they're still popping off tomatos. . unfortunately the big tomatos were a failure, but the cherry and grape ones were a HUGE success, so I will just plant those next year. . and not so many of them either.

It's warm out, but overcast. . .some strange ass weather.

A quiet day at home. .was going to go coursing, but with Reba having come up lame last week and feeling under the weather, decided nah. . just stay home, relax, and prepare to drive next week as well as figure out who's going.

Got a note that First picked up 1/4 point last week. Not much in the scheme of things, but considering who she's running against, they'll have to finish before she can start getting more points. So making my list of who's going next week: Gossip, Wizard, Focus probably and ? . . .not sure. .LVCC & Cobra look like they're goign to be huge entries if every shows up. . .including at least one dog from the Midwest :) Can't wait

Found a local rally show, and sending in my entry now for Ms Gossip, who's been working on 'fixing' what she's 'poor at'. .mainly her sits need to be straighter. Considering this show is only like 20 mins away, just couldn't resist. And started working with Dei again. . .she's not as much fun as Gossip, as she doesn't enjoy working, but she does know how to do everything except the return to heel, so we'll work on it.

Got information on another training place in town, this place holds agility & rally funmatches once a month, so you know what I'll be doing this winter :) Getting Gossip ready for the agility ring next year :)

Was neat to see so many Mir(KyraX Blaze) descendents do so well at the LGRA/NOTRA nationals. . wishing I could afford to fly Gossip out to Colorado to run against them. yeah, money grows on trees, NOT!!!

Maigc redux & AKC's stupidity

Whomever said dogs are good for your health, never tried to box an obstinate Borzoi.

All I can say is oh my aching back.

But boy were there some nice races

With Bonnie’s blessing, took three of her up and coming kiddos racing with me: Focus & Carrot, littermates to Wizard & Bartleby that’s been doing so well, and First, littermate to Sammy who’s been burning up the Southeast. Was going to take Bagheera, but he's such a moose, he takes up waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much room in the Zoimobile.

The girls were WONDERFUL, although First is very pigheaded when she doesn’t want to do something(like go in the car, go in the xpen, listen to me. .LOL), boxed decently(none of them saw the box before this weekend), ran really well. Were really good girls.

Carrot didn’t break well first race, but 2nd he was great, and showed some awesome promising speed, unfortunately he tied with First when it came time to redo the board and since she was in highpoint, she stayed there, as I wanted to see him run against Gossip. And this is when stubborn with a capital S came thru when he refused to box, backed out with such force he threw me to the ground, on my back. . ouch. . .took both “Old John*” & I to box the little sucker, and he ended up in there backwards. . .you don’t let them learn they can win. . .they’ll fight harder next time, learned that one with Eros. . box opened, and he lost the race because he took his time coming out, he did finish the race, which is good, but little bugger has got to learn to box better. .amazing two of his siblings have boxed fine, just not him. Losing that race cost him his points and earned him the turtle. .brat child.

Unfortunately Lil John* wasn’t able to drag his butt out of bed to go with us. . John, if you’re having this much trouble now in your 20s, you’re in trouble when you’re in your 40s LOL. Will have to steal Wizard the next time I go out to make sure he gets to run LOL. I want good competition at the races! :) If it means taking great young dogs with me, so be it!

Oatlands is a great place to hold an event, too bad the cost of renting it is inhibitive($400 a weekend). MAIGC lost money big time this weekend. I feel so bad for Terri, she tries so hard, but club members have to step in. .if they’d been able to hold in in Nj, they’d’ve had a bigger entry.

Met some lovely people this weekend, Beth with Mokie(what a hairball!), and a number of Iggy people who have now joined Gossip’s fan base LOL. . .Obie had his people, but it’s amazing how many people Gossip’s won over to the breed. Even got the email from one lady as there’s yet another OB group in town, who runs rally/Agility fun matches once a month, wahoo!! J Gossip & I have things to do this winter. . .

Haven’t heard the results for NOTRA Nationals, but did get the LGRA one, five of the top 6 Borzoi went back to Obie’s brother Mir, all six went back to Blaze. Unfortunately Sammy hurt himself and so was his Mom and thus was pulled from Notra. He placed a respectable 3rd in LGRA tho. Sounds like it was MUCH better ran than last year’s event. Next year’s’ll be out this way, and I can’t wait!

Was told that AKC was doing away with Veterans stake, and been trying to find that out. Search of AKC's website has found nothing. if they do that, they're cutting off their nose to spite their face. . and going to cost themselves and clubs money. . push judges to give more NQ's in all stakes, and make the rules harder so that those who revel in playing with the loopholes can't, but don't take away Veterans. .they'll just use a different stake to play their stupid little piss ass games in. Dropped them a note, but haven't heard back from that either. . thing this big, if it's true, you'd think it'd've hit one of the lists, but it's been ssshhh.

Well, that's it, quiet week, may take First coursing this weekend, Reba's lame. . we'll see. . .:P

*it’s not an insult. .we have three Johns at some events, so we’ve labeled them Old John, Big John & little John LOL to differentiate between them when they are all there. Gets too confusing when they all turn and go what!?!?! LOL

the joy of Gossip

Dogs are such funny creatures.

Gossip is a very finicky toy dog. . sometimes she'll pick out her prize at race meets, othertimes she ignores them. . and if she plays with them, it's never for long. My bedroom is riddled with various dog toys I've bought her, and she doesn't play with them, same thing with bones, she doesn't chew them.

BUT.

Take said toy, or said bone down stairs, and she's a brat LOL Maybe 'sibling' rivalry is good for something. . I swear she raids Surya's toy box just to annoy him. . .or plays with her own toys just to annoy him. . i bought her a spider that she played with at the store, because Surya was there. . but ignored it in the bedroom, brought it downstairs, and she was racing around the house with it, with him in hot pursuit. .I don't bring hers down often, as they have a tendancy to break(where his never breaks unless Great Uncle Aster comes in LOL). Same thing with a rawhide, she'll race around with it, with him trying to get it away from her. And when she lies down to chew on it, he stares at her. . I'm so glad they can't talk, I can hear them now.

"MOM!!! She took my toy!!!""MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! He's staring at me!!!"
"MOOOOOOOOM!! She won't share!"

It's also funny watching them if they both have a bone. .if one gets up, to get a drink or a scritch, the other will move over to chew on that bone. The first will go back and take up the other's bone. . with nary a growl . .BUT bring another dog into the equation,a nd forget it. Tilly came in the other night and walked by Surya, who growled LOL

Last Sunday I came in with Umbra's prize he won by going Best in sweeps. .it was a stuffed fox, he's NOT a toy dog at all. .Gossip tore it out of my hand, and out of nowhere came Mr Surya to grab the poor fox by the tail. . LOL I got it away from him, and Gossip bolted threw the gate towards bed, with Surya in hot pursuit. She bolts up the stairs and I swear as soon as she heard the gate latch shut, locking Surya in the living room, she dropped it and wanted nothing to do with it. LOL. Brat, only wanted it as long as Surya wanted it. .

what a little shit LOL

Last night she came in, and grabbed a toy and started playing with it, even tho it didn't squawk. .can toyness rub off on a dog?

The weekend

Wrote this last night, and forgot to post

Brrr, where did fall go? WE keep bouncing between summer (warm and sunny) and winter(cold & rainy). Makes for miserable people, that’s for sure.

Looking to be a nice weekend, small meet, but nice entry. Trying to get Jim to come down with HIS dawg(Tipp), but he finds straights boring. At least with a small meet, I can get in lots of box breaking, Bagheera & First are going, FTE’s, and taking Eros to work box with him. . .maybe I can get him where he’ll stop fighting the box. Would be nice. . getting him into shape to hit the coursing field some this winter. And working with Grins on rally stuff. . he’s such a DORK!!!!!!

Watching Snoopy & Jammin fight it out for #1 is so exciting, and the sportsmanship between the two owners is wonderful . . They cheer each other on, may the best dog win. . .it’s going to come down to the finish line this year with those two. . .both nice dogs, so have a hard time cheering one on over the other. Would love to see a ‘match’ race with Gossip & Jammin, just to see how much he beat her by. . .problem with her is the head games she likes to play LOL. I’ll only go as fast as I have to go, and not an iota more. .drives Karen & Michelle nuts when they’re running the lure. . .OTOH, means she’s a smart dog. Can’t wait to see how Bagheera & First rate next to her, and next time it’ll be Focus & Carrot and maybe Tip, she can be such a pita to catch, so not sure I want to take her.

Unfortunately the dog I had wanted to breed Gossip to is out. . .won’t go into it here, but he’s no longer with us. Damn. . .so back to the drawing board. Thankfully got a long list of Boys I like, just have to widdle ‘em down with Marie.

Double Yeah!

Today was Umbra's day to shine. .well, three out of the four times he entered the ring this weekend he did.

Yesterday he won his veterans class under Carol Spritzer, especially sweet since her hubby finished him 3.5 yrs ago. . .A friend took him in for Breed, and it was so nice to see my boy move. . he wasn't sure of her, but moved nicely of him, only 2nd time someone other than Mom took him in.

Today he took Best Veteran under T Marshall(Chihawk Borzoi), and then went on to win his veterans class over a very hairy well known on the east coast boy under June Penta. . .unlike when he was in the classes, he now has decided showing means FUN and making a fool out of Mom LOL

Hopefully the picture turns out. . .

His newest cousins are on the way here. .got a call on the way home that two boys were here already, with at least 7 more puppies xrayed..yikes, glad they're not being born here LOL

YEAH

She did it
It wasn't pretty, it wasn't great, but considering I NEVER EVER thought to proof in the pouring, cold, rain, I'll take it! Gossip picked up her 1st Rally leg :)

WAHOO!!!

week in review

This has quite literally, been the month from hell. .

Work has been busier than hell. . which is a good thing, albeit exhausting. .I get home and have no energy. Doesn't help the weather turned cold, and fast, no fall at all, just bam, bundle up weather.

Then get home, work with Gossip. . and this week it's been repaint PVBC's specialty signs. Not sure how old they are, but they looked horrendous. . I took the 5 worst ones and have been repainting and touching them up. They look 100% better all ready, but still need some real work, but that means taking them apart and making it easier to do so. . right now they're glued, but if we can get someone with a small drill bit, we could just screw the borzoi & shield and lettering in, and when somethign breaks, it makes it easier to replace them. ESPECIALLY when you can't find the same font as the rest of the letters are. Also makes it easier to paint in closed quarters, hard to repaint the middle of the O or the B without getting the letter blue or purple or gold. . will suggest it to the club, it'll definitely make it easier to keep them spiffy looking. . .

So, been busy, got home last night, put another coat of paint on, painted the Zoi as well as final painting of the backgrounds, and bathed and groomed two dogs, finish painting, take it over to Bob's. And get everything ready for an early AM departure. Sweeps at 9. . .Regular classes at 9:30, and OB at 11 . . goign to be tonight. . and probably sick on Monday, it is raining, so glad I'm not driving lOl Hope Carol Spritzer doesn't mind polka dots, cuz she's going to get an eyefull of Gossip's in the rain, OTOH, can't hide anything on a wet or naked dog. And then even more fun of doing OB in the rain. .will probably ahve to rewash Umbra for Sunday, OH JOY!!! Poor back.

Had a successful practice Last Sunday, even if we were fraught with equipment failures. . Bonnie just had both motors rebuilt, yet her motor wouldn't work, and something in mine(I can't spell it lOL) wouldn't kick in. Borzoi bob and Kathy's SO managed to put the two working bits together, worked for a bit, then that bit broke. Bonnie ran out and got another one, and we managed to get everyone thru once before the switch broke. .YARGH. . didn't get to run all the zoi we wanted to, but everyone who paid got a run.

First got a REALLY nice run, and allowed me to catch her easily, so she will be coming out with me this fall. Tip got to run, and also looked nice. Then we ran Kathy's Luthian with Reba to give Kathy confidence that Luthian'll ignore a well behaved dog running with her. Wanted to run Dei & Gossip, but will have to wait til next time.

I have to decide which FTE's I'm taking (Bagheera, First, Tip, Carrot, or Focus) next weekend LOL. Borrowing Bonnie's van so Idiot, err Eros can go, and I can work on re-box breaking his hairy butt. If Carrot & Focus are like their brother, they'll box break EASY. . .Bagheera's a moose, so that should be interesting LOL Hoping his 'Grandma' Comes, told her she could help me break him LOL Vickie hasn't seen him since he was knee high to a grasshopper, now he's knee high to an elephant and built like a tank, with a goofy sweet temperament

And counting down the days til I'll be home for xmas, warm & sunny Vegas. .

Thoughts

Kani's in season. . . And it's so tempting to breed her to Grins. She's never going to carry enough coat to show, since she's in season every 5.5-6 months, and goes down almost as naked as Kyra and only has good coat maybe 12 wks a year (6 wks at a time). She's young(3), she's probably more fertile than the other dogs we've been talking about breeding to him (all not due back in to next spring at least). The breedings we've had lined up either didn't happen or were cancelled. She's a lovely little girl, 27 inches tall, nice body, could use a prettier head(it's a Dutch head, not something I'm keen on on a bitch), lovely temperament, isn't as keen on running as I'd like to see her, but also haven't worked with her much. The times I've taken her, wasn't sure if she was running the squawker or running to me(tho Bob did say he thought she was chasing the squawker). What she doesn't have is confidence to do it(something Grins doesn't lack)

Thinking thinking thinking. . .

TGIF

Ever had a morning where it seemed like nothing was going right?

Forgot to set my alarm so I could get up early and put Gas in the Zoimobile. Since our move at work, it's a PITA to fight traffic to go into town to get Gas and the only gas station between here and work is usually 0.15 more than you can get elsewhere. . .well, didn't set that alarm earlier. Which also meant no time to fix breakfast, been trying to be good and fix breakfast to take to work. Usually fix two meals at a time, fry up some eggs and hashbrowns, or some pancakes, seems to hold off the munchies more if I don't eat til 9, vs at 6 am. . .but not this morning.

Then get out to the car, wtf are my keys? Not in my purse, not my work bag, get out, check the car, go in check my desk, check by the fish tank, I have been so good about putting my keys in the same place, but not this morning, panicked, ran up stairs, looked on the nightstand. . and then last place I thought to look, yesterday's clothes, yep, that's where they were. All the while, the cats are bitching cuz OMG, you did NOT give us a can of food this morning, how dare you. Meow meow meow. . spoiled rotten little sh*ts.

I hate mornings that start like this. . blech.

Work's been a bitch. . .feel like we've been on fast fwd for the last two weeks, partly because they don't trust the other three to do the new accounts, afraid they'll f*ck 'em up with the bouncing back and forth between systems, bane of being good at what you do and being intelligent. . .so, have a double work load. . .makes the day go fast, that's for sure. And with 5 flights of stairs to walk up each day (I hate elevators anyway LOL), makes for extra excercise. .but boy do your legs shake LOL. Oh lordie. PITA to get out of to go home tho, have to take the long way. . .but otherwise, enjoying it. .if only it was quieter. I like quiet around me, and you can only turn your IPOD up so loud before your ears hurt, and it still doesn't drown out customer service.

Looking forward to next weekend and abhorring the idea at the same time. Some days I work with G-Biscuit and think we can get that rally leg with NO problem, other days I want to hang her by her brindle ears. "Whatcha want me to do, Mom? Oooh, look butterflies. Sit? What's that mean? Oh is THIS what you want me to do?" Unfortunately there's just not a lot of rally run thrus around, but will do a drop in at class on Monday, and rent the room on Friday to refresh her brain, and then just go in, cross my fingers, and pray. She can do it, if she keeps her head on straight.

Thankfully the rings for OB & AB are not too far apart. . after sweeps will have to run over and let the ring steward know my predicament. Too bad they were only holding Rally the one day I entered gossip in the ring. . What I do to support my club. .at least if push comes to shove, I have two different people who can take Hairball AKA Umbra in the veterans ring for me, hell, he might move better for them than me now that he's having WAY too much fun in the ring.

And then the fun begins. . running every weekend next month. And nice entries if everyone shows up, including the possibility of 16 borzoi Thanksgiving weekend, wahoo! And two of the undefeated Borzoi in the country hope to come up and run head to head with Gossip. Shall be some really really nice running. Even have what's sounding like a nice entry the 1st weekend of November, despite the nationals being the same weekend. Most of the East coast can't/won't go, just not worth it, and too damn expensive. My iggy friend figured it out to be a $2000 trip if she went, with gas and hotel rooms, YIKES!!! And the NY event sounds like it's goign to have a nice entry too, granted after the last fiasco, don't count your eggs right? :)

Unfortunately, have decided after the pain I'm STILL in shoulderwise, that I won't be doing a long ride again, so won't be doign the SC event tho I had thought about it. Really wish they could figure out what's causing it.

And Brooks grandbabies are due next week. I can't wait

Camera woes

I broke my old Kodak last year, badly. . .dropped it one too many times, and it stopped working. Broke my heart, as it was a great camera, took some great photos with it, and some nice video. . .Kodak is a wonderful company IMHO, to work with too. . I'd bought another camera, only to ruin it when I didn't pack it right and it got wet. .we called Kodak and they said we could send it to them, and for one price, they would fix it if they could or replace it with the same camera, for a slightly higher price, they'd replace it with a better refurbished camera, and that's what we went with.
It lasted me a few years before it crapped out, and as I couldn't afford to replace it, my sis (Loving gal that she is) sent me her old camera when her hubby replaced it. It's not as good as the Kodak (it's a canon powershot sd100), but it did the job that I wanted. . only it's now given me issues. . .pictures coming out grainy. . .and no, haven't dropped this one, tried a new battery, didn't help. . .
Went on ebay, and looked around, and was able to find a Kodak for a really good price. only time'll tell if it works, but for the price, it was worth the risk. . .and I think it's the same one I had before, which makes it all the better.
Was playing with the old one today with the other battery to see if it was the battery giving me issues, and took these pics

I love old Borzoi ears. .some Borzoi people can't stand ears like this, but I love them. This is a 13+ yr old girlie who can still get around, still asks to go run in the yard, and is just a great sweet girl.
I can NOT believe my iris's are blooming!
Tomorrow going to plant the new ones I bought, winterize the garden, and yep, pick more tomatos off the plants that just won't stop !LOL
This is a Japanese tree called Polonia, this spring, this tree was less than a foot tall, now it's taller than the cottage by more than 5 ft. .the leaves are HUGE, it's like looking at one of those trees from back in the dinosaur age
Bought these lovely mums to put in the front flowergarden.

A mum the same size last year became this huge one(The red is one plant)
WOW! :) I love my flowers

Weekend from hell

Or why Renee hates traveling

I am just not destined to travel out of my area for competition. . and last weekend prooves it.

First, LARK cancells its meets, after I worked to get coverage and was going to rent a car, and had everything all figured out.

So, asked around, and we were going to have an 8 Borzoi entry in RI. . cool, Gossip'd only ever ran against one of the dogs that was coming, and Orleans is a fast little tri, two of them were going to be Stardust kiddos, another girl I'd never seen before, and my kiddos. .so it was worth driving that long darn drive to run. . . Made Pandora's reservations at the vet(she needs thyroid meds, so to make sure she gets 'em, she goes to the Vet's, yep, having older animals makes life harder to do things like go away for the weekend)

Then Bonnie got me worrying about my little car. . it's 11 yrs old, it only had 39,700 miles on it, but she was like what if it breaks down, it's a long way, so not only did I not sleep Thursday worrying about that, the entire drive to Rhode Island, every noise had me wondering if it was my car, every strange smell had me wondering if it was my car(and when you go through Philly there's a lot of disgusting strange smells to be found LOL, none of which have anything to do with your vehicle) And I hate Philly anyway, it's a PITA to drive thru, because they can't DRIVE! I have yet to drive thru it and not get stuck in traffic.. . Just before I hit Newark, Rebecca called and said she was only going to come Sunday, as it'd been a bad few days at work and she hadn't been home much .. there goes two dogs. . .

Thankfully because Philly sucked so bad, didn't hit NYC until after rush hour, but still got stuck in traffic in CT due to construction. . .I hate the NE. . .finally got to the hotel at 11. . .and then couldn't sleep. . .LOVELY!!

JOhn told me Mr Wiz was housebroke, but I did not like the way he was eyeing the comforter, so I pulled out the vet wrap and he got a nice little belt lOL. . he wasn't happy. . .Gossip was, she got to snuggle in the huge bed, and laid there contentedly .she reminds me so much of her Uncle Obie sometimes, tho Wiz's personality showed this weekend and it was like I had Obie's shadow on my shoulder as i'm driving, cuz his little black head was there. he's such a good, sweet boy, he really is.

And even without having slept well the night before, being exhausted as can be when I checked in, couldn't sleep :P

So, get there Saturday, to find out Orleans had pulled, she was in season, Lucky wasn't coming, because Winnie was putting down her cat. . stuff like this doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's annoying when the fates do this to you when you drive this darn far LOL. Oh well, least I got to see Mr Snoopdog who I adore, and met some lovely people, and the weather was GORGEOUS!!!!

But a small meet means you work your butt. .we had 8 workers, two others showed up and help, which made a big difference, but still made it tough. And Grins decided to be a pistol, I could not get him off that bunny, he was channelling his Great grandfather well, his feet becoming clawed dragon paws as he wrapped them around the bunny and then yanked the bunny to his chest.. he may not one of the fastest dogs out there anymore, but he's definitely one of the damn keenest. I can usually pull three dogs off the bunny, it took two of us just to pull HIM off it. . I was ready to kill him LOL

A benefit of a small meet is you can learn to run the lure, which I've been slowly doing, running it for the smaller/slower breeds, but this weekend got to do that for the iggies, greyhounds, a Borzoi puppy(Kyra great grandson), and a couple of whippets, so it was a nice experience, and this lure machine was a nice one, very smooth running. .was great. It's also really really neat watching a new dog finally GET it. . beebop along, and then ZOOM

So, waiting for the last race of the day, and had to go potty, lol Not normally a problem, right? Unless you've got a chest rattling cough. .then it causes problems. Especially when the little girls room was a 5 min walk from the field. .told 'em I'd be right back, pulled the blankets off the car and threw them in the trunk, shut the trunk, and knew right then and there, the keys are in the trunk.

And there's no way to get in the trunk of this neon other than thru the trunk

F*CK! And of course, i'm 8 hrs from home, with no spare keys. . why no spare? NEVER done this before :P . (also never had a car you can't get in the damn trunk from anyway BUT the trunk before, duh)

Finished the races, packed up while we waited on AAA, THEY spent 30 mins unable to get in the car after 90 mins not being able to find us LOL. . .guy was incredulous. . what happens if a kid crawls in the trunk with the keys and shuts it? I said well, thankfully I keep the trunk so full of dog crap, no kid could fit in there LOL. . .finally 3+ hrs after the event ended, the lock smith showed up, and by the end of his time, he hated my car too, had a problem making the key. Gossip spent the time hunting squirrels

Good lord. . .that blew the budget. . .which I could've swallowed, if the entry hadn't tanked LOL. . .

Yep, gets better.

We go back to the hotel, Iggy John stays with the 10 iggies while us ladies go to this nummy local restaurant for dinner, and we all splurged and got steak, which was absolutely WONDERFUL. . was so damn exhausted, told them I knew I'd have no problem sleeping. .got back to my room, walked the four dogs, fed them, settled down in bed, and was wide awake. . could not sleep at all Saturday night either. . lovely

Gossip & Reba then decided to do the Borzoi Hat dance, including racing around and twirling in the hotel room. .finally got Reba up on the bed, and she was like wow, why haven't I found these before? LOL Finally fell asleep for a few hours, got up, and met Terri to follow her back to the field.

At which I get a call from Rebecca, 2 hrs away from home, 45 mins from the field, a tire blew out on her car and she was still waiting for AAA.

Making it just me and my guys again. Yep, an expensive weekend,. . .should've stayed home. . nah, it was a nice weekend, despite nasty cold rainy weather yesterday weather, with good people and good dogs, the borzoi races are getting more exciting, as Wizard is now really pushing Gossip. . .Grins isn't too far behind, but he's definitely not as fast as he once was. . .Gossip's having to work hard for her bunny. . .

so, nobody can't say i didn't try to go out of my area, LOL told Bonnie it just wasn't meant to be. . .instead, we're trying to build a big Borzoi entry for the VA meet, since so many of us can't afford to do the nationals this year :)

Communication

Communication

Bah, it can get so frustrating when people don't communicate.

Cleaned up my schedule, got coverage for my Saturday job, all in preparation for an out of town event. Have a half day that Friday, which gave me plenty of traveling time(reason I don't do longer than 5 hr trips alone), everything was set, except nobody had heard from the Secretary. And there was a good number of breed people planning on going. So, dropped a note to the sec asking for the premium and get told Oh, we cancelled it, not sure why it's still on the calendar.

HELLO?!?! Why was there not a public announcement. Nobody I'd been conversing with had any idea it was cancelled. To say there are pissed off people is an understatement.

Oh well, already making backup plans, it's just frustrating!

Fall plans

I made Pandora's reservations at the kitty hotel(Vet who boards). With her thyroid meds, it's easier on friends if she goes to the vet's for xmas vs risking her not getting her pills if she decides to hide and pisses off my friends. .so it's eaiser on friends and easier on my friendship with said friends LOL She'll be pissed, but there's a reason she's known as the pissy prissy princess.

Finalizing plans for the fall, trying to figure out if I can head south or west for some racing. . hoping Mr Sammy can come up and visit for some racing in November. Easier for her to travel and her car is much more reliable than the Dinosaur I own(not that I'm complaining with gas the way it is LOL that little dingy white car gets good mileage)

Lining shows up, coursing up, racing up. . .so glad fall is finally here, hard to believe little over a week ago I was complaining about the heat, now we're getting low 50's at night, freeze your butt off going to the movies. .yack!! And today, it's pouring freezing rain. .lovely

Eleven years ago

11 yrs ago, I welcomed my first litter into this world. In that time, I've brought 5 more into this place, each one just as special as the first. Not a lot of breeding in the scheme of things, but I never wanted to be a big name breeder, just a breeder of nice dogs with wonderful temperaments and personalities that people are proud to own and breed to/from. Which has happened since there are now over a dozen kennels with Kyra behind them.

I've learned so much in that time, and met so many wonderful, sweet people who love the breed and are glad to talk to breed, but I've also met a lot of closed and small minded, mean, no nasty people, but I've learned from them too(basically how not to treat newbies and others alike). I continue to learn more and enjoy it, most days.

I have no clue if Ace or Sinbad is alive. . .thanks to the WWofT(Wicked Witch of Texas), but know they both have get out there, and maybe in Ace's case, grandget. . . Rinka lives on in her son Umbra and her grandget. . .Lucy'll be bred next year, hopefully I can point her owner to a nice running European dog that'll broaden my gene pool back ehre, since I get a puppy back :) Brooks lives on in his get, and hopefully there'll be more grandpuppies on the ground next month with his spectacular personality/temperament. . .

There are some days I wonder why the hell I put up with the total complete BS that comes with dogs. I've got enough on my plate, why do I set myself up for more? Then Gossip makes me laugh, and Dei gently headbunts me, or I get a lovely email from Lori or Ann or Agnes or Di or any of my pet homes, telling me how much they love their kids, thanking me for breeding such great dogs, and that reminds me why: the dogs, and the good friends I've made. Thanks to each and every one of them.

Happy birthday Gossip

Gossip turned 4 yesterday, where does time go? Seems like just yesterday I was trying to decide who to keep between Gossip, Rumour & Secret. . .

She spent the day in style LOL: 2 double cheesburgers at McD's(She was only supposed to get one, but I had a sinus migraine and about threw up after I ate one bite :P), and wanted the 3rd I picked up for Grins & Stardust. . .we then went to Petsmart where the Diva got all the attention she could ask for. . .everyone came to pet Miss Gossip. . .and then she picked out a huge fuzzy porcupine, tasted some treats and picked up a box of cookies and a bag of training treats.

We then swung over to Petco, where it was a repeat of pets, and a roll of Natural Balance, a lb of pick your own cookies to share with everyone at home. We then went home, and she got bedrights when I collapsed due to the migraine, and she woke me up a few hours later, having found the squawker. .. which she promptly squawked, in my ear. . .brat LOl At which point I scooted back and she climbed into bed, to soon be joined by Prince Brat, who wouldn't leave her alone, boy he was sooo happy to have his dog in bed with him lOL

Yes, she's spoiled, I admit it. . I love this dog to no end. . .almost as much as I loved her Uncle Obie. She's not Obie, but she's stepped into the huge hole he left in my heart and has tried to fill ti as much as she can. Like him, she has a huge presense, a huge personality. . she's got a zest for life that nobody matches, and is always happy to do anything with me. . out of everything, she's the one thing that's helped me heal most. . .my bouncy baby borzoi girl.

reason 101 that I hate the medical profession

OK, so I got an appointment with an asthma specialist(YEAH!) maybe we can get on a treatment that I can be more active(PLEASE). The weight gain began shortly after the asthma did, because of the inability to do a lot of long hard cardiovascular good type excercise. . .if we can that under control, it should make it easier to lose this damn weight.

Anyway, have to get a chest xray before my appointment. American Radiologist is a drop in type place for xrays. . .rearranged my schedule, came into work early so I could leave early. .head out there, wait 30 mins, to find out sorry, can't take a chest xray, that part of the machine is broke.

And THIS is why they should take appointments. . .it was still broke as of yesterday. . .if it's still broke Monday morning, I will have to drive even further, in rush hour traffic, to get this done.

I am so frustrated.

Watch my luck tho, I'll get to Dr Randall's, and he'll refer me to an allergist lOL> If I can keep the congestion at bay, I don't have as much problem with the breathing. . .joy oh joy

Secret & Ike

Got a note earlier this week from Secret's mum. .they're ok, got some damage to the house and yard, biggest problem is lack of electricity and worry about finding gas for the generator. . .feel so bad for them, and wish I was closer to help them out. Hope things don't go worse for them. they could be without power for a month, omg, we were out for a handful of days and life was hell

Secret'll be coming back tho, she's worried after two evacuations in 2 wks, about moving a bitch in season with unaltered dogs. She is NOT in a position to deal with an oops litter . .I know that worry. . .so she offered her back instead of just spaying her. A Wonderful lady, and one of my oldest friends in Borzoi, Margaret loves Secret, but also knows how important Secret is (and agrees she's too nice to spay if she can come back home). . she's one of two dogs I regret ever letting go, but not knowing exactly how bad my life was going to go, a good home came along, and I let her go. . .she'll come back, and either just stay with me, or Bonnie may take her. . .I owe Bonnie a replacement pup since Titania didn't turn out, so that's fine with me. . . I'll get to show her, and we'll try her in the front yard to see if she'll run. She did a LGRA practice as a puppy, but was not as promising as her sister, but who knows. Otherwise, I'll show her :)

Other dog, I realised the other day that I regret letting go, is Yanna. . she may not've been the perfect show dog, but she was a sweet little bundle of love & I loved her in return, but had to do what was best for her. . .granted, I couldn't've standed to look at her when I lost Obie, since she was his mini me, but I miss her. . .oh well, hindsight's 20/20

Agility tonite, rented hour tomorrow, and a nice relaxing weekend. . .NOTRA got cancelled, so I'm staying home. .tho I'm kicking myself in the butt for cancelling my day off Saturday, Vanessa's going todwn to NC and she asked if I wanted to go with her to see Pat, oh well :P

Cobra Racing

Blah, what a weekend. . what happened to our nice weather? It was sticky and yuck. . .couldn't go racing Saturday, Gossip's Uncle John had class work to do, and I had work work to do(and to go to DMV and change addy on my license & registration), but was up early o dark thirty Sunday (4:30). As I was packing my car, I kept hearing this strange whine of impatient. . if you know Grins, you'd know why it was such a funny weanie wine. .he's a big boy. . and he knew we were going racing! Loaded up the car and on the road to racing.

Unfortunately the entry I had expected didn't happen. . .probably the weather, but it was still some nice racing. Especially since I brought Bonnie home a GRC pointed girl who will be going out with me the rest of the year. Julia's a nice sane girl on the field, and it was so neat to see the lightbulb click on on her head. I'll be getting her out racing and coursing this fall, she's alot like Reba in personality about not dragging you to the line LOL. Poor Reba's out for awhile due to her bum toe

I was going to take take Kolya or Carrot, but decided with it going to be warm, didn't want to risk a boy fight in the back of my little car. . .theyr'e both feeling their oats. . .but they'll go out next time. They, Tip, First, Bagheria & Focus will be taking turns :) It should be some awesome racing this fall. . tho I do not look forward to trying to box break Bagheria. he makes Eros look tiny lOL I told Bonnie his name should've been Brickhouse, if i put him in the Neon, it'd be just him in the backseat. wowza, big boy, thank heavens, he's a giant pansy.

And now the weather's gone the OTHER extreme, with 50s at night, and it's almost 20 degrees cooler during the day. Go figure!

Plans, Agility & Ike

Wings has a hot date. . .dam to be's sister produced well when bred to a related boy, so I'm looking forward to it. Dam's not of a pedigree I'm too particularly thrilled with, but otoh, ti's not absolutely horrid either. . just worried I'm going to get HUGE. . since I get a stud fee puppy. Robin'll grow them out, which works out for both of us. . .so here's hoping for a decent sized, nice healthy litter and a couple of keen boys for Robin & me.

On that note, I got the nod for the litter of my dreams for Gossip. I am so tickled. It's an outcross for Gossip, but it's a lovely dog, and even tho I'm not keen on part of his pedigree, the rest is yummy. . .I am SOOO EXCITED LOL.

After Gossip's loss of brains last week at our first Agility class, I took a different approach.

1) I stopped and picked up two double cheeseburgers from McD's2) I let Gossip run the pants off of two of her boy friends. She ran so much, I thought she might be useless for agility class. Popped her into the car, and headed off to the agility class.

Tonite was bigger because they had to combine the intermediate and beginners class due to scheduling conflicts. . .there were a total of 8 dogs. Again, we were the oddball breed: two Shep Xs, two toy dogs, one German Shorthaired pointer, one Standard poodle, one weimeraner, and us. Gossip did me proud. . .she did not act up, she behaves, she paid attention to the hand with the hamburger and not the two white fluffy dogs that were barking and zooming. . not at all like last week with the cockerspaniel. . .the GSP was with us last week and she commented on how well behaved Gossip was this week. .i was so tickled. AND she did the weave, it's at the V shape right now, but she did it without me having ot lure her thru, so I was VERY happy

She was soooooo on the hand with the hambuger, she did not see the shep X come out of the tunnel and come barreling at her. I'd been watching this dog all night, as she kept staring at Gossip, and baring her teeth. She wasn't making any noise, and having a Grinnie dog, I was wondering if that's what she was doing. This dog's owner had no control over her, no choke chain, a flimsy lead, the dog was clearly in charge. She went thru the tunnel and came racing towards Gossip, again, baring teeth, I stepped between, treated Gossip and snarled at the dog. .and then made sure the rest of the class that at least half the class was between us and that dog. The GSP owner even mentioned how intent that dog was on Gossip. If it happens again next week, I'm going to stay and talk to the teachers, as this is NOT the learning environment I want. I've BTDT with a dog who had it out for mine, and i was too stressed about that other dog to do my own dog justice.

So, yes, the fairies returned the GOOD Gossip to me LOL

Watching the Ike information just boggles my mind. . why when a hurricane almost as big as Texas is barreling down on you do you stay behind? So many people didn't heed the warnings to run, so glad Secret's owner is not one of those people. I mean, comeon. . it's not like a tornado that can appear above your head and go wham bam thankyou ma'am, they knew it was coming. Pack up those things that are very important to you(animals, kids, the computer and small things, like I couldn't leave Schatzi or Obie's ashes behind) and get the hell out of dodge. Better to leave and have nothing happen,than not to leave and lose everything including you or your families lives. You'd think EVERYONE would've learned from Katrina. I know I have. .if I'm ever in the path of a hurricane that could sink my house, I'll be OUT OF THERE.

Bye Bye Borzoi-l Almost 13 yrs to the date, I pulled the plug on Borzoi-l . .

Almost 13 yrs to the date, I pulled the plug on Borzoi-l . .It's not that it was a lot of work. Approve the occasional post on the one person I had on review, and only reason she was on review was her emails were automatically sent to the round file due to how nasty I felt some of her personal posts to me were, and I just didn't need the added aggrevation in my life . only way to make sure she was playing nicely on the list was review. . .and it's sad I felt the need to round file her posts. . .as sometimes she has something worthwhile to post, instead of just obnoxiously snotty posts.

Why are lists dying? Biggest complaint I've heard from people far and wide, is being afraid to post. There are those out there who seem to have a goal in life to argue every damn point posted. But when you remove or muzzle the cyber bullies, nobody still posts. . .so what's the problem? As one poster emailed me "the problems IMO are not with Borzoi-L itself, but with most of the lists...not everyone on the list(s) is your friend and when/if someone dislikes another, it is made very obvious in 'borderline' posts..that is, nothing to get kicked off or put on review, just pleasantly snotty..and there are the self-opinionated 'members' who are always right, no matter what! Doesn't make for a great read! (this is in regard to ALL lists, not just Borzoi-L) I sorta kinda think these people never learned how to argue a case; only attack! "

And it's true. Most internet lists are suffering except for the gossip lists, but there's a never ending supply of gossip for those who want to tear people (or their dogs) apart. And what's sad is, the messages these people have get lost in the nastiness of their posts. There are people constantly looking for something to get their dander up, constantly assuming the worse of the other poster(s). Doesn't matter how much knowledge you have, you treat people like crap, they're not going to gain it from you, because they will tune you out. And then you both lose.

Told one poster that, and unless she's taking her nastiness elsewhere, her posts have been nicer since.

You get more bees with sugar than vinegar, or however that saying goes. lol
Oh well, I have other things to spend my time on, Rally, Agility & racing. . and working on finishing up cleaning up the mess the Ex left me with so I can go back to school. .. don't have time for the BS. A few people want to keep it going, may hand over the reins and see where they go with it.

We survived, LGRA & Agility

Well, Hanna's gone and blown herself out. . .it wasn't anywhere near as bad as was expected, heck, I had worse wind storms in NY. . .lots of rain, winds picked up here and there. . lots of torrential rains, but nothing too bad. Doesn't mean I wasn't glad we kenneled all the dogs for fear of trees coming down. . was nice not to have to worry about them, and made feeding them all so much easier.

Granted, as soon as Hanna was over with, we lost electricity LOL No flickers during the storm, only happened once she was gone. . figures. .told Bonnie that if we were going to be without power for 24 hrs again, I was DEFINITELY going racing.

Unfortunately a number of people didn't show up. . was looking forward to Wizard going head to head with Gossip now that he has his speed, and Orleans & Pia were signed up to come. . oh well, maybe next week. . I did get to see Gossip run against another dog I've been waiting to see: Serrano. Serrano is sired by Kazan, a nice running german bred male, sired by a son of Blaze, Kazan was a force to be reckoned with when he was younger, think he won the BCOA Nationals twice, as well as the LGRA nationals. .I'd wanted to run Gossip against him back in 2006, but that's when my life was in the toilet and the car was undependable. . anyway, Serrano's been running more focus on the plastic, and thus he's come back to LGRA to try it out.

He's grown up nicely, definitely shows his swedish part of the pedigree(short on leg long on body).

He didn't live up to his papa's speed, but he comported himself rather well. . .He'll get some more once he squeezes out of the box like Gossip & Grins do. He still breaks slower. ..but even his owner admitted he didn't have Gossip's speed. . .

I boxed Gossip & Grins the last race, and stepped back to watch. . it's amazing how they come out of the box, Grins came out 1-1 1/5 lengths ahead of Gossip, but she dropped it low to the ground and just set off the afterburners and each stride took her further and further away. It was awesome to watch. . .I usually catch as I can get both off without a problem, but it's so nice to watch them break from the box. Going to have to remember my camera this weekend and video it, it was just aweinspiring to watch her do it. Was like watching a Mustang and Lambergini take off, the Mustang getting off the line first, and the Lambergini dropping it a gear to take off around the other car LOL

Dei told me in no uncertain terms she's had enough of Racing, after running clean despite when other dogs were nasty in the last year, when another dog bumped into her (same dog mentioned above who wasn't running quite clean), she told him off. . oh well. . .she likes to race, in fact, lunged at the bunny yesterday when they bopped it, but oh well . .she can stay home. . next week is Tip or Kolya's turn. Sunday's looking to have a 16 Borzoi entry, wowza! Should be some nice running.

And Grins did well for a 6 yr old boy, coming in 2nd to only Gossip the entire meet for another 1.5 points towards his SGRC. .he's going to get his clock cleaned this coming weekend tho. . with Novel, Pia, Orleans & Wizard

While I was at the meet, was talking to a RR lady about agility, and this basenji person butts in. This woman is annoying, she thinks she knows everything, and it's her way or no way. She started telling me how I needed to train weaves. . told her what I was doing was working, and she kept going. .finally told her that she doesn't understand, training a Basenji to do weaves is TOTALLY different than training a Borzoi. She got indignant, told me she'd put Master Agility titles on dogs, she THINKS she knows what she's doing. Told her good for her, I respect that, but the fact a basenji doesn't have the problems Borzoi do doing weaves means that it's goign to take a different training strategy. Hell, by the time Gossip's tailbone gets to the 1st weave, her head has to be weaving thru the third. And she stomped off. .

This woman drives me nuts. She had a fit at one meet because someone's dogs were howling, and OMG, my dogs cant' run if someone's HOWLING! She also has to tell you hwo to do EVERYTHING. I was running the box at a meet earlier this year and as soon as she came up she started telling me how to do it. If she told me once she told me a dozen times in the 90 seconds before I put the dogs in the box, that i HAD to shake the lure for her old fart of a dog, as he got confused and needed to hear the sound to know which way to go. . .by the time I had them in the box, I as ready to throttle her, and I reached for the box mechanism before I realised it and before I could stop, she was protesting that I HAD to shake the bunny, I turned around and told her I knew that, but I couldn't THINK with all her damn yapping. The foul judge about fell out of his chair laughing, as he has the same opinion I do. . .GODS!!!!

Onto tormenting your borzoi LOLAfter Gossip's idiocy at Agilty class last week, with her refusing to do the tunnel, I set one up in the hallway to my bedroom. . so she has to do the tunnel to go to bed and to get up in the morning. .and now i have her jackalure on the lunge whip. . that'll make her do it even faster and I can rip it out from under her nose and make her come back thru LOL

Where's the week gone?

wowza. .just recover from 1st weekend back on the road, and here comes the 2nd. .this week has gone FAST!

Last weekend was survival Sighthound style
1-Saturday, Reba hurt her toe coming out of a box. . so she's down and out for awhile. Dei came out of the box wrong and her rear end gave out from under her. .thank heavens didn't hurt her, good news is she got up and kept going, and did NOT try to run anyone off the track like she did the last time she got hurt

2. Monday- Grins tore off a dew claw, Brightness burnt some pads, the entire greyhound contigency blew at least one pad, some of them ALL four feet, the Saluki entry was pulled down to one dog due to injuries. Gossip scared the beejeezus out of me after doing a practice run in NOTRA PERFECT, she ran for real and bulldozed her way thru the snow fence. I had my heart in my throat afraid she'd get a toe stuck in the fencing or put a fiberglass pole thru her heart/head. Good news is, she got up and kept going, and even tho she was OC, she did NOT interfere. . i'll practice her a few more times, but not sure if i'll bother, plastic is not her thing, even with bunny ears attached LOL

Chantilly had a couple of promising practices, but when I ran her for a cert run, she was a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad girl. . .her sister had a nice NOTRA practice run, and will get out in a few weeks with me for real.

Grins passed the torch on to Wizard this time. .was it his injury? Don't know. . it didn't seem to bother him, but I noticed a difference in the 2nd run and the 3rd when I wrapped his dewclaws(ahd to do both, or he'd refuse to walk on the wrapped paw lOL). . .we'll see once he heals. .but he is 6 today. .gulp, is he that old? Where does time go? Wizard looked good, and in fact, finished his FC on Saturday with another 5 point BOB win, such a pretty, fasty, keen happy boy LOl

I bought Gossip a used jackalure(to support the club's two new ones, which were then killed by the greyhounds the first weekend on the string LOL OOPS!) Well, not just for her, going to use it in training, see if Kani will chase it with some confidence building. Gossip's REALLY happy with her toy, in fact, so happy I found her on the hood of the Neon in an attempt to get the bunny. . oops. . LOl

Umbra got thru his dental ok. After Sera's heart stopped beating when she was under to be spayed, I've been paranoid about having anything done to my guys. . now he's got white pearly teeth. .. see how long that lasts. . :P Wish that dog would chew on Bones, Touchet's are really nice for an almost 10 yr old girl. . but she may have genetically good teeth to begin with.

And Gossip was a dork at our first agility class. . .she was like OMG OMG!! Other dogs, can i PLAY!!!?!?!?! Refused the tunnel, which she usually does well for me. Showed off on the aframe(launching herself over the apex at full speed), unlike the other dogs, she has to work on contacts going up, they have to work on them going down LOL. And she's GETTING the weaves, finally. . .instructor released her to me, and she went thru them, I was so tickled. .and she zoomed over the jumps. We were both beat by the end of class.

Was sooo looking forward to Gossip going ehad to head with Serrano and Wizard today, but we've got that tropical storm heading our way, so Saturday got cancelled, darn! Spent three hours battening down the hatches here, moving dogs into the kennel, moving loose stuff onto the porch, moving the cars out from under the trees. . it's overcast and drizzly, but it's heading our way. . oh joy!

wahoooo

wahooo wahoooo wahooo.

Just got an email that yet another Brooks X Sage kiddo picked up a point(Make sure to give sage-a-muffin a kiss for me sis). Mr Mau Mau owned and adored by Di Ryde went to his first or second show down in KY and picked up his 1st point :) Her first point too LOL. Remember how she was when she won her CLASS with his half uncle Loki back in 2002 at the Nationals, I know she's flying high. . that's 4 of the 5 boys pointed in the ring, with Mr Dandy man neutered and a spoilt pet. Damn, means I need to get Kani-banana out. . LOL When/if she has hair, damnit, hate having a girl with a 5.5 month season. .. it makes it hard to do ANYTHING.

Di is one of those homes that are once in a million .. win or lose, she loves her boys. . .Loki hated showing and ended up having to be neutered due to a reoccurring prostate infection. . so I’m glad she’s got a boy who LOVES to show like Mau does. . and his cousin she also has, Dickens, may be trying his paws in the RN ring. The biggest compliment I can give someone is, I would’ve been willing to let Obie go live with them, and Di is one of those homes. . .one of those few homes. .

Gossip & Dei got accepted in an intermediate agility class starting next week :) Gossip is getting the weaves, Dei says it's too damn humid to do things. .maybe tonite as it's lovely out despite being rainy. .Will try and get my favorite nephew some more video of the doggies doing funny things for him to drive his mom nuts with

Tomorrow is pack the car, rearrange stuff and get ready for racing. .got my fingers cross that Gossip'll do the uval. Would be nice. . . She very well might, there'll be bunny ears on it LOL Also taking Chantilly and see if she's interested in the LGRA bunny. . .if so, got another dog to run while Reba stays home to do coursing instead. She won't be happy LOl really hoping Chantilly runs, she should be fast, the rest of the litter is. . may take Bagheera out next weekend. . or Tipperary. . can’t wait.