puppies

Are growing like weeds. Walking(kinda), talking, bitching, playing(Kinda), escaping LOL Got up this morning to four outside the box, three inside the box. They're getting their first real taste of food, had boiled chicken this weekend, they thought that was GREAT! And a can of puppy food this morning, which they quickly inhaled.

Gossip (above) wants these puppies. . .not in a bad way, but boy does she want them. If they fuss, she starts fussing. . .if they're quiet, she lays outside the xpen and watches. I figured she'd be a great mama with the way she mamas her cats. I keep telling her next year is your turn. . but that doesn't help LOL Dei OTOH, tells her she can have 'em, she's done, finished, they have teeth, I don't want 'em!

idiots

Sometimes I really have no respect for the human race.

I got contacted last month from a local, who had just had a Shefaro dog drop dead on him. . .yeah, felt bad for them, and glad they didn't want to go back to the breeder. .this is a BAD breeder and is dumping dogs in the awful rescue out in California.

Anyway, he has cats. . ok, gave him advise, Bonnie introduced him to the one cat safe Borzoi she has, talked to him about my litter. . .he went on to talk to another kennel which doesn't have anything available. . problem was, they wanted cat safe as well as a Borzoi who when they stood on their hind legs, could look the husband in the
face. (Um, why?)

Anyway. . .this guy went and bought an adult borzoi, from a breeder who doesn't socialize with cats, who is too far away to 'borrow' the dog for a day or two to see if it gets along. . .a breeder that when he asked all three of us, we told him stay away, and gave him reasons why. The fact this breeder went and sold a dog with an unknown
attitude towards cats to a home with cats, just ranks them further up on the totem pole as irresponsible.

Then this guy goes and emails me and says they're getting along FABULOUS. . .

it's an accident waiting to happen.

I don't care if he didn't get one of my puppies, I in fact am referring people to other breeders, as I do not have enough pups to go around! What I care about is this cat may end up dead, because of clueless people and uncaring breeders.

i sent him an email back and told him to PLEASE not trust this dog for a long time. . and sent him a link to my cat training article (www.mielikkishunt.com/cattraining.htm or it may be cattraining.html. . ), but I doubt he'll read it. .

Those who've never dealt with rescue, have no clue about this, but older/adopted dogs in a new situation go into a 'honey moon' period. ..where they are perfect, until they feel safe, when they start testing you. This dog could very well be overwhelmed since he probably was never off the breeder's property before he moved into this home. . and it's after that honeymoon period is over that you can end up with disaster, including death of a cat. . .

This just drives me NUTS. How IRRESPONSIBLE of the breeder to sell to a clueless person who's never integrated an adult dog into a household with a cat, how IRRESPONSIBLE of the owner to bring a dog who's not been raised with cats into a household with cats. .

ARGH, this drives me nuts. .but quite a few people don't consider cats as pets like they do dogs. .hold them in less regard. . doesn't make me any happier. . .my cats were here first, the dogs will respect them, PERIOD. . .I have two dogs now that if I am ever in a situation where I can't keep them away from cats, they would have to be placed. . . they are not cat safe. . . the rest are wonderful with them. IN fact, three of the four cats took Gossip's raw marrow bone away from her last week LOL. . .

But ya know what, even with the girls, I don't trust them 100%. .accidents can and do happen, and the cat will be on the losing end. . .Borzoi are bigger, faster. .. and lethal to a cat. . And I would never make a house pet a dog who hadn't been cat trained. . Heck, I won't place an adult dog in a home with small animals without making
sure they ignore the cats in MY house. If they don't ignore the cats, they don't get place in that home, period.

OMG, this drives me NUTS

And this alone shows me this guy wasn't good enough to be a home for one of my puppies. .someone who'd put his wants over the well being of other critters in his household is not, IMHO, a good home.

updates updates

Been so damn busy this month it's not funny.

haven't had time to stop and think, let alone updates here.

Lots going on, lots lots lots.

I went out to dinner with three good friends for chinese last week, and one of our rituals is to ask your neighbour’s fortune cookie a question. Sometimes they make absolutely no sense, sometimes they hit home.

Sooo, I asked Jim's cookie if Gossip would ever get her RA

The answer?

“You love challenge”

I about fell out of my chair laughing my butt off LOL

Unfortunately, our offical training is off right now, as we have BABIES!! 7 beautiful bouncing baby borzoi. . 4 girls in varying shades of formal colour: 2 brindles, one looks to be a dark brindle like her uncle Obie was, and one a sandy/cream brindle, and two dressed in black, and three boys in gorgeous tuxedos: two reds and one black.

They're growing like weeds, even the little girl who was really tiny (8ozs) has caught up with her sibs. Dei says she's had enough and has already started sleeping outside the box. . oh well, she's in trouble when they start climbing over with her LOl The biggest weighs in over 3 lbs already. .big boy. They are getting to the fun stage :) Gossip wants to play with them soooooooooooo bad. .


Week after we went to camden, the babies came. . it was the easiest darn whelping EVER. . .started at just before 3 am, was done at 7:20. . . was at work by 9:30. . .and she's been an absolute good mama. .wonder if her antics on jumping off and on dog houses is what helped it be sooo easy. ..

They are lovely, with lots of flashy chrome, not many got Mama's wide blaze, which I'm happy about, I hate it. .she has a pretty head, but that blaze ruines it when combined with the shorten mask. . and looks like they're going to have pretty heads :) I've already got some baby agility equipment planned for their pen, as I have at least one home who wants an agility dog :) heck, got homes waiting for most of them as it is, so I'm tickled pink

Took a few days to figure out what colours they were, even Bonnie wasn't sure if they were dominant black or tris, but they're definitely dominant black, so either Grins or Wizard are daddy of those three. .or maybe BOTH :)

PVBC has been given the nod to become a LGRA club, which has a bunch of us tickled pink. We'll be holding out first event 5/25/09. Hopefully with this, we'll get back into holding other events. Was told at one time PVBC held coursing events, so here's hoping. Sooooo much to do between now and then. To encourage Borzoi entries to come out, we've decided to hold Borzoi nonboxed. . but with high encouragement for Borzoi people to work with the box'll that'll be there. Hopefully we can get more people out running again :)

late update on racing last month

Well, Gossip's winning streak ended in February . .if I'd known just how bad a post season slump would hit her, we wouldn't've gone. When you go head to head with new dogs, you want to be on the top of your game, but she's managed to schedule her seasons around the 'null' type of the year, so I had absolutely no inkling just how bad they can be. She's the first truly competitive bitch I've ever had..

Saturday her performance wasn't bad. . wasn't her normal performance, but I put that off to being in a vehicle for 24 hour. Yeah, she got out for potty breaks, but it's not the same as spreading out on a soft bed. . .she placed 3rd of 20. . first official loss in her career. . .I wasn't disappointed, the top two dogs are fast dogs. . I did wonder if her lack of 'zing' was because she was 9 wks post season, but ya know, I've never considered her undefeatable, I've always known there'd come a dog who'd beat her. .it's happened to every dog out there. .Just ask any of her fans that have stated nobody can beat her, I've given them a tongue lashing for doing so LOL

I was just VERY happy that she ran clean. . a lot of top Borzoi don't run clean once they start getting beaten. I went down there knowing there was a possiblity of her being beat. it happened, we go on.

Saturday, she slept on the hotel room bed. . like the dead, not like her. . .and she wasn't as up as usually, mopey. . .not sick, just blah. And then Sunday, she got beat by Wizard. .

Wizard is a good boy, he's a decently fast boy, but he is not Gossip fast. . .he hasn't gotten close enough to touch her tail before. .. and he beat her by quite a few lengths. I've ran this girl probably close to 100 races, and she's never ran as 'bad' as she did this weekend.

First thing out of all experience peoples mouths was "when was she in season last?" told them, "Oooooooooooooh, that's it!"

Yep, if I'd bred her, she'd be due the following week. . .them damn fake puppies. LOL

Talking to Bonnie, post season slumps don't affect coursing bitches as much as it does racing bitches, and in fact, there has been research done at the University of Pennsylvania on racing sled dogs and the impact seasons have on their performance. I would love to get my hands on that research. All bitches go into a false pregnancy, some not much, some really bad. I remember Jezebel's: they were horrid, got fat, right on down to milk. . swore I was going to have Greyzois the 1st time she did it. . .Talked to Michelle Houghton who runs some of the best amateur greyhounds IMHO, and she told me some interesting afcts about greyhounds, including that they're not allowed to run 90 days post season as the betters could get screwed due to poor performance.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some. We'll get her back into shape, and go back down, but not before I can take some vacation time.

OMG, I have NO clue how the weekend warriors do it. It was a 9 hr trip down, and a 9 hr trip back. I got back at 12:30, and don't remember anything beyond 8. . .it was horrid. . i do much better if I have a companion go with me, but Gossip's a poor conversationalist. . .LOL. . and it took me days to recover from it. . .Right now saving vacation time for the Nationals, but will save after that to head down south again this fall. . .want to go again, but not until I know I can do it safely!



Good news is, Bartleby finished and his brother Wizard now lacks 1.33 I think to finish. It was nice to see them run together, Bart is a bit faster than Wizard, so it'll be fun to see Gossip & him go head to head at the BCOA nationals in a few months once she's back up to par.

damn computers

been so damn busy this week, wasn't able to post, and now heading out for OT. . but gods, i hate computers. .

Not only did my windows word crap out last night, so did excel. . .and who knows if I have the disks, as some of the stuff on my computer wasn't put there the right way due to the idiot ex. . .

which is frustrating, as not as if i have the money to go out and buy all new programs. . ARGH!