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.

LGRA nats

don't you hate when the world seems to conspire against ya?

I've been hoping to go to the LGRA/NOTRA nationals all year. .. but the $1300 vet bill in June, now the vet bills with the thyroid kitty(and no, I'm not putting her down, her quality of life is healthy, she's just on meds and CBC checks for the rest of her life), on top of having to take more time off to go home for xmas(not that i'm complaining) which resulted in no extra time off, I couldn't figure out how to drive. . It'd be four days off just for driving time as it was.

Oh, wait Vanessa was going. . so I could always give her gas money and she'd take Gossip, she'd already told me she could. . no problem, oh damn, Vanessa's girl came into season early and now she's got puppies in the oven, due that week. . ok, Wiz's Dad was all gungho to go with his boy, oh damn, he's going back to school and doesn't know what's going on time wise, and he's got the same issue I have, an old car, would it make it? My neon has less miles on it, but it's still 11 yrs old. .

Then one of her fans said she might be able to take her, as she could use the help with gas. . she decided not to go, the entry for her breed SUXS and is not worth spending $1000 to get there(THAT I understand). And it seems nobody else is going from the NE. .

Damn

I even went so far as to think of flying down. I want to see friends I haven't seen in YEARS,and run her against Nitro & Tornado, but it just ain't going to happen. Even if I could afford to fly her down, I'm worried the airlines in dallas, who are known for being pricks won't let her fly home in a 500. And unlike other people, when I say I can't afford something, I can't afford it, and I CAN'T afford to ship her in a 700. It was pushing her to give someone gas to drive her there and fly down to run her. Not that it's really worth it to spend all that money for one day, as i don't know if she'll even run NOTRA

Oh well. . it'll make her detractors happy.

Oh well, the local event may be decent size with at least one person coming from WAY out of the area

Good news is she's still doing well with our Rally, hope to have myself sure enough to try her for a leg in November, she's also slowly gathering speed in agility, and loves to work. She's a white & brindle border collie :)

And Good news Pandora has gained back about 8 oz's since she was diagnosed with thyroid disease. . considering she was down to under 6 lbs, that's a GOOD thing.

Cleaned out the trunk of the car tonite, will clean out the front so I can fit four dogs in it. Chantilly & Juls are going with me this weekend to see if Chantily'll run and get Juls boxbroke. She's my borrowed running dog for coursing since I dn't have an open. LOL. And she'll hit oval & LGRA as I do this fall. She's a sweet pretty girl, and I can't wait for Bonnie to breed her, as she will produce some gorgeous babies. Both these last things help make up for not being able to go to BFE to the LGRA nats.

Missing my boy

Don't know if it was fooling with Scirocco today, or what, but I'm missing my boy. . .someone asked about water dogs and I remembered Obie dozing off in the swimming pool at the 04 Nationals, and wrote Dee Jones who thankfully still had the photos.

Sure the hell miss that dog. . best damn dog I've bred, and yeah, that includes Ms Gossip who's a nice damn dog in her own right. Found this definition of a heart dog, and it fits

"
If one is lucky, one is gifted with the absolute joy of a heartdog. What is a heartdog? "I've always loved all of our dogs, Borzoi or not, but there have been a few that put a pawprint that remains forever on my heart. A heart dog is that special one. Probably not the prettiest, smartest or healthiest, but rather the one that seems so to fill your heart, bring a smile to your lips, and you feel is closer to than your best friend. The one that seems to have so many special qualities that may or may not be seen by the rest of the world. They are terrible to own as you know you can't replace them and you dread each passing year. They give you more love and joy than you ever thought possible, then break your heart when they leave. However, you will gladly bear the pain, than not to have had the joy of their presence." (courtesy Diana Moos with a slight change of breed) "

Was working on my website, and put up the new pics I've got of him, and started crying. . .for those people who've never had a heartdog, they'll make fun of me, but then they've never had that bond I had with this dog. And I pity them, because they're missing out on a wonderful thing. . .I've had two heartpets, Schatzi & Obie, and miss them both terribly.

I'll be home for christmas

Yeah, I know, it's four months away, but just got approved for vacation, so I am PSYCHED!!

I haven't been home with family for christmas since 1992, so it's LONG overdue. Almost 2 wks of fun in the sun(Las Vegas and California!), see my sister's new bowling ball . ..err Baby(9lb 8 ozs OWWWWWWWWWWWW), my princess(Ms Sage), and christmas at DISNEY!! :)

Took more vacation that I wanted to take due to frequent flier mile availability, so trying to figure out if I have time off to do a few other trips I wanted to do between now and then, but family is more important than dog events anyway.

Next weekend is LGRA/NOTRA, I do so hope Gossip'll chase the NOTRA bunny, hey, it'll have bunny ears attached, she very well may chase it LOL Silly goose. . .and that's the start of our Fall season, WAHOO!!! Getting Grins in shape to come out as a veteran this fall. . .he still has a lot of good follow, just needs the stamina, moved him into a bigger pen, and he's having a blast. Touchet was moved in with Umbra, she's on a D-I-E-T, but don't tell her that LOL

day at a funmatch

Grins went to the funmatch today. . he actually was 50% better than I thought he'd be LOL. He only tried to course the flags on the fence posts a couple of dozen times, and on the go around, he tried to launch himself onto the huge pile of squeakie toy prizes LOl The judge was very nice and allowed me to stack him facing the squeakie toy pile (as well as the lure machine), and he stood rock solid. He won Adult Borzoi, which tickled me pink. .by the time we went in for Best in match he was tuckered and behaved himself. The judge had us go around, went over all the dogs, go around again, and came back and went over only Grins & the Scottish Deerhound before giving it to the Deerhound, so it made me feel good. He's no longer looking like a furry tribble with the 6 inch long topline hair thanks to a quick grooming lesson with Aunti Rebecca

Then was the dismal run for JC for Dei. . she started off looking GREAT. . I thought wow, maybe she'll get this leg. .got half way thru the course and realised she was away from Mommy. . problem was, the Rally ring and the Conf. ring was between us. Instead of doing like any other Borzoi would do, she ran straight to me and jumped OVER the rope of the Rally ring(Which she could've gone under if she'd wanted to), and then over the far side, then over the one side of the Conf ring and she stopped and looked at me like she thought she was in trouble. I raised my arms in the air and hollered "Dei Over!' and she hopped over that rope, to the applause of the crowd. I was laughing so hard I couldn't be disappointed that she'd failed. The Huntmaster came over and said "I'm sorry, but we haven't approved Borzoi steeplechase yet." Guess she prefers Agility & Rally.

Gossip ran thru the Rally twice, and made me happy . .and started talking dirty to the bunny, so i thought what the hey, I'll let her have a practice run. She looked great, then halfway thru she said phooey and started taking off for the tree line. I hollered Gossip COME! Her head came up and she barreled towards me, I then Hollered Gossip SIT! And she did a perfect front sit. . made me proud LOl

I'm tired, but it was a good day.

Pandora & Goals

Got the call last night, Pandora has thyroid disease. . problem is with cats, it's hyperthyroid, and a lot harder to maintain than with dogs. it is caused by a noncancerous tumour on the thyroid gland(s)

Treatment entails
1. Radiation treatment. . depending on where you look, that's $600-$2000 with a vet visit of 5 days to 2 wks. But it cures her.
2. Surgery. Well, with the usual risks of surgery on a geriatric cat, there's also the worry that if you only take one lobe of the thyroid, it'll come back on the other, and if you get the parathyroid you can cause calcium level problems, and it could come back in thyroid tissue in other parts of the body, meaning thus no cure. Could also cause laryngeal paralysis and then you have to treat hypothyroid instead of hyperthyroid
3. Control the disease It doesn't cure her, and can be a roller coaster. . there are sideaffects.

But we also have to see if she has kidney/liver or heart disease, which means giving her transdermal meds for a few months and retesting her. Dr E's specialty was Endocrinology, so I am in good hands. . .I'm aiming towards the lsat two. . .I'm not willing to radiate a 14+ yr old kitty. . .and then not being able to hold her for up to 2 wks. . no thanks

So that's what's up with my Panda-dora. . .

Been noticing my clothes are hanging off me more, YEAH!! But been afraid to get on the scale. .finally got brave and faced the dragon, 5 lbs down the drain, HURRAY!!! :) Doing the Obediance & Agility sure has helped.

Off to a funmatch with Grins tomorrow, oh boy. . someone shoot me now LOL I'm sure he'll make an ass out of me.

Stupid dog owners & Vet visits

Took Umbra & Pandora in for checkups last night, Umbra needs his teeth cleaned and his rabies shot updated. . Pandora needed a CBC, I'm afraid she's got one of the three geriatric cat baddies(CRF, Diabetes or Thyroid problems)

Dr E gave Umbra a nice, very thorough checkthrough, and gave him a thumbs up in health except for those icky teeth. .heart, lungs & eyes all look good, and he manipulated every bit and piece of him looking for lumps and bumps and pains. . nothing. . We did find a fleshy tumour in his jaw :( And now I sit and wait in trepidation worrying about that until his teeth get done.

Pandora's lost over 2 lbs since January. Now it could be the 45 lbs of bratcats aren't letting her be in peace long enough to eat, but at almost 14.5, I worry. . when you're worried, never come home after a visit to the vet and search the internet, all it does is scare you shitless. . .I was upset last night thinking this was the end, even BEFORE the CBC came back. Why? Because Diabetes seems to be a hard ass disease to handle, Thyroid is not as easy as it is with dogs. CRF i've dealt with, those others seem scarier, which is sad.

Now to wait. . .::SIGH::

As I was waiting to check out(I love Dr E, I always get out of there for far less than I expect LOL), this idiot comes in with a male Golden, off lead, who charges Umbra. . who I have sitting quietly next to me, in the corner by the desk, not a lot of room between the desk and the window. . .The owner's yelling at Chester to come(WTF is your leash DUDE?!?!), and I step around as he lunges at Umbra and give the huge growl that Bonnie's taught me, the dog stopped and looked at me strange, the owner gave me a dirty look(yeah, dude, well, it'd've been dirtier if my large, cornered unaltered male had put a hole in your damn dog!)

as I pull out money to pay, he leaves the exam room to get his other dogs, and damned if that damn dog Chester didn't do it again. . .

All I gotta say is Kudos to Umbra. .I'd've nailed the little puckerhead. . .But he was a good boy, just leaned into Mom instead of doing what I wouldn't've blamed him to, flipping that little idiot of a dog adn telling him off

Gossip & Rally

When the teacher says you rarely see a borzoi so happy unless they're at a coursing event, it makes you feel GOOD :)1st time around, Gossip did not embarass me. . I screwed up following signs, but we got through it in a manner that pleased me.

2nd time around, she did ok, her flip returns weren't as pretty, but she did them. .again I fubared us on the return right. . but we got thru it.

3rd time was not as pretty, and you could tell she was starting to have enough of it.

4th time, fubar doesn't even cover it LOL She had had ENOUGH thankyou, why should I bother?

Last week we've practiced sits on stops, and that has improved IMMENSELY. This week there were none of those except in relation to return to heel LOL Which was new. . .she does a rather decent one to the left, not perfect, but we're working on it, now we have to work on the return to the right. She's smart enough I don't expect her to have a lot of problems, it'll be owner/handler issues LOL I gotta remember Flip to the left, Swing to the Right.

The trainer came over to compliment us before we left. . and I was truthful with her, that this was the smartest Borzoi I've ever met. . and she is. . .I just hope I can do HER justice LOL :) And yes, even smarter than Obie, who I considered pretty damn smart

The showring. . what is going on

I've been in the dog show thing since 94 (Showed bassets for someone I knew), in Borzoi 'officially' (IOW owning them, was helping with rescue before then) since this time in 95. And each year, I get more and more jaded

I've been to hundreds of shows by now, as a spectator and a participant. I have seen at least one dog (or bitch as the case may be), from every bloodline out there that I think was lovely, may not want it for whatever reason(health, temperament, breeder's a loon) in my own yard, but that I can admire, but I am aghast at what I'm seeing finished. In many cases it's not the quality of the dog who matters, it seems to be who's on the end of the leash. it's either that, or too many judges are absolutely totally CLUELESS at what is proper movement or what makes a good borzoi.

1) I can NOT count the number of times I have seen dogs who were lame or unsound be put up for points or for BOB. These are dogs with a noticable bob to their head in time to one foot coming down, an obvious indicator the dog is lame. Or dogs if you watch, you can see they have a funny short stride in the front, but lots of drive in the rear. (And to the tune of "wow, look at that sidegait", you want to turn around and ask if you are you looking at the same dog). These dogs still have the head bob, just not to the extreme a lame dog has. Can the eye on most humans not process the movement front and aft on a moving object and that's why these things aren't seen? Doubt me? Pick up the 2004 Nat's DVD, I counted at least three AOM who were lame, including a youngish Veteran who shouldn't've made it out of his class.

A borzoi should float, effortlessly. There should be IMHO, no interruption in that movement, nothing to jar you as you watch it move. It's poetry in motion, well in trotting motion, true poetry is a borzoi at full gallop. Why do judges keep putting up badly moving dogs?

2)Extreme Reach & drive , or IMHO, the illusion of Extreme Reach & drive.

Although not built along the lines of a dog, anyone who's studied what makes a good performance horse knows that the front has to be set under the horse. The same holds true for a good Borzoi. One of the problem we're seeing in the ring is fronts set forward, under the neck, and on the move, they give the illusion of lots of reach as they can move further forward due to being set too far forward. But the problem is, it's incorrect. Those dogs can't hold up on the field. But hey, it looks flashy and it gets reward in the ring. . why put up the best moving dog regardless of proper structure? IMHO, should be putting up the best moving of the better built dogs. . .look at who's properly built, and pick the best moving from there. .or else we're just going to end up like the crippled American show GSD.

Renelty i'm seeing the other extreme, dogs with fronts too far under them and stick straight in the rear, no bend of stifle, a rear so lacking in angles it makes you hurt. .ack. . .fronts should come down beneath the apex of the shoulder.

Just boggles my mind . .most of the instances I've seen I've not had a horse in the race to speak of LOl so you can not blame it on sour grapes. . .I was just a bystander going WTF?

I just don't understand

Feral kitties

Sometimes I really hate people.

Why the hell do you get a cat if you're going to kick it outside?

Why the hell don't you at least SPAY or Neuter the poor thing?

We've got a mama kitten and five babies on the property. . .right next to the borzoi yards. .the mama has been smart enough to not get into the dog yards, but babies are curious and toddle where they shouldn't, so I spent yesterday driving all over to find a place that has a humane cat trap. I know there are borzoi people who think oh well if the cat gets in the yard, but if I had to pick up a 3-4 wk old kitten body I'd be devastated. . finally found a trap, and mama and three of the wee tykes were caught in it in less than an hour, having problems catching the other two babies who run when they see me coming. .poor babies. ..

Found a program to take the babies and Bonnie's going to spay the mama and let her be the barn cat. . .but even if we'd had to take them to the shelter and they were put down, it's much more humane than any other way they could die out here, from fox, to hawk, to dogs, to poison, to car. . .
It just sickens me that people can't take care of their animals. . the little teenager that's been helping out has a father who got two cats to make her and her brother feel more at home when they're visiting him, yet he has them locked in a shed. .WTF?

Saturday morning rant

Why the HELL do some people have kids?

This following story just goes again to prove my philosophy there should be mandatory BC until people are 25. If at 35, they pass an IQ test, a common sense test and a psych eval, THEN they can procreate, otherwise, noway no how. . .

I haven't had kids, knew that I'd be the one totally completely in charge of them because of how idiot did not take care of his parrot & puppy, and sorry, that's not fair. . other problem is, I like good kids, I don't deal well with obnoxious kids, if I could have kids like my almost 21 yr old sis, or the sweet teenager who's going to go racing with me as a copilot/junior handler, I'd've had 2-3, but I have no doubt they'd've ended up like the Spawn of Satan. Why? IF it's not for bad luck, I'd have no luck LOL

Warning, details in this story are HORRID.
http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=8788990&Call=Email&Format=HTML

what kind of freaking MORON leave a baby unsupervised with a puppy?

What kind of freaking MORON leaves an 8 wk old baby boy in a swing unsupervised for 2 hours?

What kind of freaking MORON then goes to sleep?

WHY the hell does someone who's taken off juvenile probably for drug charges still have a child with them?

This just boggles my damn mind. ..that poor baby, not his fault mother nature gave him a stupid box of rocks mother. . .and that poor puppy. . .

why do some people go to movies?

Argh
Went to see Mummy III a movie I've been waiting to see since I first saw the previews. I love the firs two, IMMENSELY, and knew this one would NOT disappoint.

It was crowded, of course, opening weekend, right? Everyone shoudl be raring to see this movie. See the previews and drool over the new Harry Potter, the next movie I gotta see. . .and then the opening credits. Settle in for a wonderful adventure of a movie and. .

the damn idiot next to me starts snoring.

HELLO?!?!?! OMG, and it wasn't some kid, it was some Father, and he snored, off and on the entire movie. . .I wanted to scream. Of course, the movie's crowded, so not like we can switch spots or even that Bonnie & Jim can move down one seat. And I know there are those out there who can be very rude in situations like this, but not me. . instead I just sat there and stewed.

WHY go to a movie you obviously don't want to see? There are much more comfortable places to take a nap, and ones that don't annoy those around you. And this wasn't a little snore, this was a rip roaring snore. .grr

other than the unneeded annoying noise, it was a great movie, loved the Yetis, loved Fraser a lot LOL The special effects were GREAT. . definitely a movie to join my DVD collection. . and makes you wonder if there'll be a 4th :)

what you do when there's nothing else to do

Spend this weekend brushing & bathing dogs. .Grins got done Friday, and my other 5 today. . damn, between the two boys, I could choke a wooly mammothy with the hair I swept up, and they're still YAKS. OMG. . Also brushed out Scirocco & Eros, who now looks a lot less like a Saint Bernard, boy does that boy carry coat, the sisters Scirocco & Dei now look like salukis LOL Hey, it's cooler to do work with outside, right?

Gossip is finally starting to slow down, thank heavens, she was getting down to her skivvies & polkadots LOL Not that she ever carries a lot of coat anyway. . .but want to show her some this fall. . And Kani may be my first bred by girl to not go NAKED after a season, thank heavens, since she goes in every 5.5-6 months.

Took G & G & Dei to Agility on Tuesday. The girls did decently, listened pretty good considering Gossip & I have never worked off leash before. . Grins, OTOH, thinks the name of the came is to bulldoze his way through the jumps LOL. . what a shit. .and the collapse tunnel was a trip. . threw his toy in, he went halfway in, and then laid down and refused to come out. By the end of the night tho, both G&G were bolting through it at a decent speed.

Dei really pleased me, she's getting better at listening to commands. . problem is with the humidity she shuts down after working for a little bit. Will hose her down this week and see if that helps. . Gossip & I start Rally classes tomorrow if they're held, depneds on if there was enough interest. She should be fun to do Obedience, she's a happy hyper dog, while Dei is more relaxed and doesn't get "UP" unless she has the zoomies.

Oh. . yeah :) Grins' daughter did really really well recently. She won the UCBSC ASFA Grand Prix BIF award if I remember right last weekend of July, Vanessa says the trophy is HUGE!! I am so tickled for her that Novel is such an awesome running girl for her. . .

And otherwise, we just wait for the weather to get cooler so we can get out more. Get Eros into shape and work on some more titles, Maybe get Dei's JC on her(hopefully), maybe take her for a try this coming weekend, if the weahter is nice. . but if it's like it was this weekend, nope, no how. . just about every girl Bonnie owns has come in, many of them a lot earlier than expected, of course, the only girl of mine I'd like to come in early won't LOL That's ok, gives us time to work on our Obedience & find those last 2 GRC points for her :)