Good bye to my sweet clown

No longer will I see your face
No longer will I see you Grin
No longer will I hear the snap snap snap
Of excitement and glee just for me

No Longer will I hear you snort
No longer will I see you dance,
No longer will I see that gray plum tail
wag wag wag in your silly prance.

Never long enough, too hard to let them go,
Tears flow so freely, but I do Know
That it's time to let you go.

I still remember the day you chose me. .I had nothing to do with it.

Bonnie told me to return PC, who was a sweet boy, but had not turned out. .. he didn't run, wasn't show quality, and she had the perfect pet home for him. So I brought him back, and she let me choose between the boys in that litter. . you chose me, when we pulled you out for me to interact with you, you draped yourself over my knee, looked up at me, clacked your jaws and grins, your eyes glittering, and said
"You are mine"

I tried so hard to find an elegant name for you. Not only because Bonnie threatened jokingly to repossess you if I gave you a cursed name but because Borzoi are SUPPOSED to be elegant. So I tried hard, but I
couldn't find a name that fit you other than your puppy name "Super Grins". . .and thus you were dubbed "Grins AKA Grinnies"

As a friend said later in life, it fit, as you were a silly, goofy, dork of a boy.

First week I had you, you put a hole in the door of my brand new Explorer. . little did I Know, that was just the start of our adventures.

You were crazy, fanatic for the bunny. The bunny was your nemesis and you lived to kill it, to the point I learned the hard way when you almost killed yourself at the II, having ran your back off.

You would stand at the line and scream and clack your jaws like a 90 lb whippet. I in fact called Bonnie one year and asked where the hell the whippet was in your pedigree as you were NOT normal whatso ever. One
competitor used to complain you intimidated her dogs. Once the bunny moved and you wers slipped
you were quiet and deadily to kill it.

You would often grab the line behind your back teeth and refuse to let it go. . The Centennial National we did everything, grabbed you by your boys, blew in your ear, water in your ear, in your nose, Tom Golcher grabbed the line to make it slack, at which point you released it and bit again to get a better hold.
Catching his thumb in the process. It took cutting the bunny off the line  to make you happy.

I ran you for your JC that day with a muzzle on, to keep a reenactment of the earlier days runs, and a long time Borzoi fancier came to me after you came in on the end like a banshee, Slammed your face into the ground, and flipped over and on your back, that "it had been a long time" since she'd seen a borzoi like that. . .

You finally outgrew the face smack/back flip, but the damage to your neck was already done, which caused you to be semi-retired, and then permanently retired.

Car rides were your favorite thing to do outside the bunny, and the memory of you hanging out my window, grinning at the pedestrians the day I got lost in Manhattan will be forever in my mind. You were only happiest with your face into the wind.

I was never afraid if you were with me. You scared more than one person away with your huge Cheshire cat grin.  You  grinned, you clacked your teeth, you snorted, your pranced. There was entire routine to your grinning.

None of your puppies do that

You weren't fancy, you weren't elegant, what you were, was made for running. Not everyone's cup of tea, but you were my fuzzy goofy boy who could make me laugh at the drop of a hat

You were my court jester. . no matter how crappy my day was, I could rely on you to make me laugh with your grinning antics. .

Not sure what I will do now that the court jester is gone.

Race swift, race fast, I never thought you'd be the last brother left in this litter. . and my heart is broken.

ER thought it was pancreatitis, and within a week he is gone. . he had such a gargantuan presense, the house is so damn empty without him.

FC Silkenswift Rider of the Storm SC, FCH, GRC, ORC
9/9/02-6/3/13

Thank you Bonnie Dalzell from the bottom of my heart for my boy.

Gibbs has a new assignment

Sometimes, as a breeder or even as a dog owner, you have to make decisions you'd rather not make

I hadn't planned on keeping three pups out of the NCIS litter, but fell in love with Gibbs' personality. When the right home didn't surface, I had no problem keeping him. . .he's so much like his father: full of life, full speed ahead, so happy, bounce, silly!.

It's that full of life, full speed ahead that led to Grins hurting himself three weeks ago. . he wasn't paying attention, running around like an idiot, hit something, and is lucky he didn't cripple himself or worse kill himself. He will be 10 in September, but nobody who has met him recently believes it. He doesn't act it at all, the same old bouncy, trouncy, take off like a bat out of hell Grins he was 9 yrs ago when I  picked him up. He has adamantly refused to turn in his Hell's Angels card for his AARP card. Bouncing around the backyard, tearing after his kids, fence fighting with the best of them, and finding him injured really scared me to death.

Gibbs is just as bad. . .and I've worried that he would hit a tree or another dog, as he runs around the yard, looking over his shoulders as his friends chased him, but finding Grins' hurt brought that worry to a boil. . .

Last month, Titania's owner came out to practice Grins' cousin Luthian at racing. She helped us out with boxing and catching the Borzoi. A few days after she helped, I get a note from her "I am starting to think about my next borzoi (I usually get the itch about every 6-7 years). ... keep me in mind for Gibbs if you decide he needs a spoiled rotten pet home."

An answer from heaven. . .after talking back and forth, as I thought maybe Nacht would be the better option(she adores Nacht too), she told me she really wanted a male, and so came out two weeks ago and spent some time with Dork Jr. . .and the next day, I get a note from her that said "Having spent some quality time yesterday, I have to tell you, I am hopelessly in love with your dog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

an answer from heaven indeed.

He'll get to hit the coursing field between the two of us, she is tickled pink with how intelligent he is, is looking forward to trying obedience and rally with him, and yes, even the show ring!

I'll miss my idiot boy Jr, but I won't have to worry about him every day. His main job will be making his mama happy and trying to get Luthian to play.

I've always said the perfect home always comes around, it just may be awhile. . it was not an easy decision to make, but it was either this, or keep him in a smaller yard where he couldn't get up to speed, just to keep him from running around at warp nine. .I think he'll be much happier this way.

Good sailing, Gibbs

weekend from hell!

Ever had a weekend where you felt like the gods hated you?

That was a weekend last month

I was so looking forward to relaxing that weekend. Work had been a bitch, this is supposed to be our down time, NOT this year! The weather was going to be horrid, so was going to have one of my rare, quiet weekends. Gossip was away with Kari, so planned on working on finishing taking down my 55 and dealing with my salt water tank, maybe go see a movie.

Saturday morning at 4ish, my roommate knocks on my door telling me her hubby is
worried about Grins. .first thing that went thru my mind was OMG, how'd he
manage to overheat as an indoor dog?

Back story. . 5 yrs ago, Grins suffered a devastating condition called "Monday Morning Disease", or "running
your back off". It is caused (amongst other ways), by over exherting yourself. I thought he was in great shape, thus why I entered the "International Invitational", the premier event for ASFA, not realizing I had a dog who would push himself beyond his body's ability. I learned the hard way that weekend, that I have a dog who is beyond insane for the bunny, and who would not listen to his body when his body said enough. IOW, he runs like a Greyhound. Greyhounds can run themselves to death and I know he will, now.

At that point, I had no clue what kind of disaster I had, as every other dog I'd ran, would pull up if their body said stop.

In going into azoturia, he also caused himself to overheat, resulting in a week at the vet's, and a huge vet bill. Since then, I have been very careful with him in the heat, as he is, even at almost 8, a full speed ahead dog who will race up and down the fence line with his son, even in 90 degree weather, so he gets brought in the house and forced to be sedate.

I knew it was going to be horrid the day before so he became a house dog Friday night. When I went to bed at 10, he was fine, bouncing at the gate, Grinning at me. And next thing i know, I was racing down stairs to find out what was wrong with my dog.

I got to the dog kitchen, and he was sprawled out, stiff, head cocked sideways, legs straight out in front of him. Afraid he was seizuring, I did not touch him. A dog who's in the midst of a seizure can bite you, not meaning to, even the best behaved dog in the world, and so I was not going to put myself in danger. I knelt near his head, called his name, he wagged his tail. . ok, not a seizure.

Put a leash on him and tried to get him up, and this is where he scared me to death, he started spinning, like an alligator death roll. We got him calmed down, which he did almost immediately after I touched him and decided to get him to the ER, and ran to change clothes. When I came back down(no longer than 5 mins), he was up on his own, head tilted slightly, wagging his tail, leaning against Jim.

We put a harness on him, and rushed him to the vet, where after a thorough exam, a chem screen, cbc, tick panel, heartworm test, he was diganosed with more than likely having 'veteran vestibular disease'. . in fact, as they walked him away from me, the vet says he's normal, I said I know, but you should've seen him 45 mins ago.

When he gave me a grin coming back to me, I knew he was better. All signs of the incident were gone

The thought is he tried to get up, and when he couldn't, he panicked, and thus the rolling as he kept trying to get up, when hsi body failed to do as he wanted, he tried to get up, and it became a nasty circle. He's a muscular, active dog, while a dog not in as good of shape as him probably could not've done what he did. It was over and done with in about 20 mins, with the only residual affects is being very sore from slamming into the door frame.

A vet friend told us Vestibular disease that it's more common in the hotter months in his experience, and this has been one hot damn August.

We are keeping him in the house, not just the dog kitchen, he's behind me in an xpen right now. . .we are watching him closely, but he's back to normal antics. While it's hot, he will not be allowed outside unsupervised, and unfortunately, his time out unsupervised is going to be totally curtailed. Pack behaviour can be sparked by something like this, thankfully his old dog compatriots all ignored him. . .but if he'd been in a pen with a bunch of punky young dogs, he could've been hurt. Or worse.

It's hard to think of Grins as a veteran. . .but he is. . .from what I've learned, sometimes it never reoccurs, and I'm hoping he's that way. It was damn scary. . .

Then Sunday morning, got woke up at 5:30 by everything in my room shutting off. . 1800 customers, not even all in the same area of Baltimore, without electricity. . it's too damn hot for this crap, especially with two dogs we're watching closely(Grins' aunt is sick). Thankfully it only lasted 4 hrs, but omg, I was never so happy to jump in the shower and wash grime off of me as I was today.

The light at the end of the really bad weekend is that Gossip picked up another point under Virginia Lyne, who really really complimented her. Since Kari camped out in horridly crappy weather, including a tornado watch, 60 mph winds, i'm glad something good came otu of it.

Thankfully, the following weekend was nice, and calm, a beautiful practice with Gibbs & babies, and RELAXING. The heat broke last weekend(but it's making up for it this weekend).

First racemeet of the season this weekend, coursing next weekend & a show! Going to be busy!

Health Tests

Soo, one of my goals this year has been to try and be a little more "responsible" in getting my health tests sent in to the various registries.

it's a PITA. . why? Because when you CERF at most places, you take the paperwork home. Last time I had Cerf's done, my friend wanted to scan 'em for her records, she scanned 'em, and well, I have no clue where they went. .::SIGH:: I found half of them, but not the ones of dogs she had done at a CERF clinic here at her house, but by the time i found the half, they were expired, darnit.

Sooo, when I saw the Nationals testing, I took advantage of it. Can't beat the prices, which included sending the paperwork in for you. . two of my breeding had their eyes done(I believe testing a young dog unless you're worried is not worth the money, so didn't bother with Gibbs). Gossip (Mielikki-Windhaven's Petty Gossip RN, JC, CGC, SGRCIV) and maui(Mandolin-Mielikki Maui Waui) both CERF'd clear & got clear heart exams. Just waiting on the results to get posted on the CERF & OFA websites.

Today Eros (FC Mielikki's Somebody T'Luv SC, FCH) and Grins (FC Silkenswift Rider of the Storm SC, FCH, ORC, GRC) went to New Bolton with Grins' breeder and got two clear health tests. Bonnie's getting them scanned in now and they will be in the mail ASAP.(long as they don't disappear on her desk LOL)

Now to get Gossip's thyroid done soon as she's done blowing coat, a last thyroid done on Dei, and eyes on both her & Touchet!

Gossip & Grins=GOOOD Dogs!

April & May always get away from me. . and this year it's no exception.

PVBC's Supported entry was this weekend. . .and to support the Sweeps judge, I entered Grins & Gibbs. .Grins has never been shown outside of ONE fun match two years ago, Gibbs also has never been shown outside of one funmatch 6 months ago. . at which he behaved MUCH better than he did this weekend. Bounce bounce, tail way up in the air, looking over his shoulder at mom, grabbing my hand, you name it, he did it. . the good thing? At least he was HAPPY!!! LOL

He won his class, but neither one of the 12-15 month old boys were behaving LOL And lost Best in Sweeps to a much more polished 15-18 month puppy who's done a lot of showing

Then it was Grins time, and I was sure my silly boy would mimic his son,I always joke he's 7.5 going on 7 months. . but nope, Grins showed like he was a veteran show dog. Moved out smoothly, kept his stack, got a compliment on his wonderful teeth(We joke the clacking he does when he grins doesn't allow plaque to grow lOL) and a comment on how he's a hairball LOL. When he got the nod for Best Veteran, Vickie was shocked it was his first show LOL

Gossip got 4th out of 5 in regular class, but that's ok, I got a lot of compliments on how nice she is looking. And she made up for it Sunday by going WB for her 2nd point in two weekends out with kari. .. she was SOO happy to see her mommy, but not so happy to go back into the bitch in season run.

So all and all, a succesful weekend, made up for not being able to go racing this weekend. I DO have a lot of work to do with Gibbs to make him presentable for the Nationals LOL. . OTOH, I'm sure he won't be the only dorkie puppy, but I do wanna make sure Kari will speak to me again LOL

Got a down weekend next weekend, which'll include getting most of getting blankets ready and start packing for the nationals, yes, I start early LOL as well as spring cleaning(FUN!). May even take a hike, but i'm going to take it slow, cuz then it's going to be nonstop for a month before I have another free weekend, but I'm looking forward to the Nationals. . .:)

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

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. . .

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!

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.

sportsmanship

Grins did me proud this weekend, picked up three points towards his SORC, pretty good for a boy who'll be 6 in a few months, now he's at 13.5 of the needed 30. . sadly, his competition pulled a crapload of her dogs when she saw me pull up. If she's that worried about my almost 6 yr old boy beating her younger dog, then she really needs to rethink her breeding program, don't ya think? I about peed my pants when I heard she'd told the race sec to tell me nobody be there, as she did NOT want me there. Poor sportsman anyone? Not like Grins runs dirty at all, he's just fast, damn fast. Doesn't want real competition, funny tho, it was two other dogs I thought she should be more concerned with, as I truly expected them to kick El Grinnies fuzzy grey butt, but alas, twas not to be, and Grins took the meet, with boy #1(Wizard) placing 2nd, and boy #2 (Lemans) placing 3rd. . . neither of them owned by me LOL Heck, bonnie's 9 yr old placed a very respectable 5th of 9. . .maybe we can get her last 3.5 points for her ORC.

But if I hear ONE more accusation that barking dogs is cause for DQ'al(hopefully not by the experienced judges) I'm going to scream. If your dog can't handle another dog barking AT THE LURE, then too bad so sad. GODS, the bitching and moaning I heard that poor poochie doesn't like muffy barking. Hell, I got it with Grins when he was young, he'd stand at the starting line whining and barking and throating a huge fit. OMG, you're scaring my dog, well, too bad, he's not attacking your dog, he's not doing it at your dog, if your dog can't handle it TOO DAMN BAD!!!

heading up to NY with the girls this weekend. . .and be able to see the evil peanut girl jezebel, wonder fi she remembers me?LOL And then on to NJ next weekend, sounds like it may be a nice meet, with Lemans maybe showing up too. .. i was wondering with it being the II if we'd be the only entry. Gossip's beat him before, but with her working on coming back into shape, it's a coin toss, but ya don't see me pulling my girl do you? LOL Not unless she comes up lame.

GSSA Notra

I took Grins & Bonnie's lovely Blaze daughter Brightness to the event today, to make sure a friend's boy had competition, to get out of the house, and to see if Brightness was still up for running with the youngens since she's lacking only 3.5 points for her ORC. She showed she sure was despite being a 'veteran'. (She doesn't look or act it). We ended up having a NICE entry of 9 Borzoi, and had 3 programs of nice clean runs, even tho the sky opened up and dumped on us BADLy!!!

I don't have race by race results, just tickled that Brightness won one and placed 3rd in high point.

1. Grins (Surprised me since he was 3-4 yrs older than some of his competition, and is almost 6! Where doe sthe time go?!?!) 3 NORC
2. Wizard-Lheureux(may've mutilated John's last name) 1.5 NORC-3ORC
3. Lemans-Duncan & Sage -Darling(tied) split .5 NORC points and 2 ORC points
5. Brightness-Dalzell
6. Elrond-Darling

-beyond this the brain gets muddy, other entries were Monti(pulled), Selenium(looking nice despite her age and got teh turtle), & Padua (Got a JOR leg, but not sure how she and monti finished out ranking wise)

ramblings

Gossip achieved her freedom this morning. She got bathed, gussied up last night, and got to sleep with me last night, where she quickly vacuumed up the cat food the Brats(Herbie & Treasure) scattered everywhere while I was gone this last weekend. She knows why I keep her around ;) And then this morning, she was released into the big yard, 1st time since her surgery really. Fingers are crossed I get home and she is SOUND! It's been 3 months since surgery, so here's hoping! She has definitely suffered bodily for restricted exercise since October: lack of muscle, narrower. . .the way she plays, I expect that to be remedied quickly.

Dork boy AKA Grins swears she’s still in season, following her around, and when I yell at him, he stands up and flashes his grin, and continues being the dork. LOL Love him dearly, even if he is a DORK!!!

Got a note from Titania AKA The Queen’s mom, and she’s doing well, even tho she’s also nicknamed the PIG cuz of her habit of wallowing in the mud while digging for gold lOL

Five days away was much needed, could use another week, but boy did the kiddos tell me how much they missed me. Treasure didn’t shut up the 1st night home, and Dei’s been trying to stick to me like white on rice. Gossip would’ve been in my arms if she could’ve fit. Silly Goosey girl.

Was hard, everyone kept asking over Kyra, who’s been gone since 2/06, and Obie, who’s been gone a year tomorrow, and I kept breaking down. The kids remembered them both and adored them both, as did my Aunt. Between that and Gran’s memorial, was a hard weekend.

Breeding

I thought breeding was supposed to be EASY.

or at least, those who breed a gazillion litters seem to make it seem so.

Touchet definitely doesn't go by the textbook and has taught me a valuable lesson: Dates, dates dates. I will be marking down dates a bitch stands from now on. Day 17 and we got another breeding, in the pouring damn COLD rain, soaked to the skin, guess she just wanted a REAL man not a boy. .poor Wizard, screamed his head off the entire time. told him he'll get his chance next year, he was originally Dei's intended anyway

Off to spruce up da Goose, get on some dry clothes, and head to work.

Nice damn weekend

Whahoo.

Unfortunately I let my cell die last night LOL (I was busy introducing Mr Wiz to his lady to be) Otherwise I know Ms Nancy would’ve called me with this WONDERFUL news

Sammy, a Kyra grandpuppy, my pick puppy out of Nancy’s B litter in fact, picked up a BIF win this weekend. I know his owner is flying on cloud 9. She’s wanted a great running dog since Wings retired, and she’s got one. I am so glad I was able to connect those two(nancy & Robin) when I couldn’t take Mr Sammy-man

I told his future wife to be(Kani), she didn’t care LOL. She’s in that young(2.5) teenager brain stage, what EVER LOL

Mr River went coursing and picked up some more points towards his FCH. I can’t wait to see what his puppies are like, if they have his silly goofy temperament, I know the breeder will be ecstatic! And she was able to see the LIE that was spread about him running dirty was just that, and since she’s been doing this quite a long time, I think she knows what the hell she’s talking about.

And Ms Gossip continues to heal. She actually PLAYED with Mr Wizard last night, or at least, tried to get him to play LOL HE was exhausted after his first full weekend of coursing. She spent most of the weekend in the big yards playing, came up a little lame, but seems to be fine this morning. Every boy seems to be interested in her butt, I wish she’d come into season damnit!! My luck, she’ll wait til the middle of the spring racing.

ARGH.

Wahoo

So, took Gossip & Grins to the front pasture, gave the spawn of satan the squawker and told him when I raised my hand, to squawk it, once.

Got about 2/3 of the way down the field, turned, unleahsed the monsters, and waved.

And without looking back or at Grins who was riding her shoulder, Gossip spun away

WAHOO!!!!

And as to my prior rant LOL Looking at the results, even if I hadn't ran Whirlwind for Bonnie, and even Eros, it would've affected the points ONCE LOL. . .in 17 events. . .there has been enough dogs at every event to make sure the 2nd place dog gets the most points possible. . only one did it have any real barring on Gossip's NGRC points

Just goes to show SOUR GRAPES LOL

thinking ahead

hard part about planning out litters for the next few years, is crap happens.

And you're back to square one.

And it's a suck ass place to be.

But sometimes it fixes itself easily.

Emailed Wizard's owner about Dei. . he'd already said I could use the handsome Wiz, I adore this dog, he's very sweet and well mannered, and keen as hell. I still laugh at the memory of him grabbing the bunny at the end of a Notra trial and racing towards the box with it tryign to figure out how to get in so he could do it agian. THAT's what Dei needs. He's also handsome, moves nicely, and holds his tail low, beautiful head and feet. And same pedigree as Grins basically, so would be what I wanted.

Bonnie plans on using Grins at least one more time, even if this one takes, and I'm going to talk to her about getting one of those puppies instead of Criven's. . .I got Grins for a reason, and it would suck not to have something of his to move on with.

Just means back to square one with Gossip, but she's only 3.5, so not like it's imminent lOL

yet mroe depression

Grins has been visiting a Repro vet with a friend who wants to use him, unfortunately the quality of his spermies is not as high as it should be :(

I hope it's just he isn't used much(this would be his second litter and hes' 5.5), and that it'll improve when he goes back in on Monday. .. but this is so depressing, since I want to use him on Dei next year :(

Bad bad dogs & plans

Ever had a week where it felt like your dogs were out to kill you?

It's 5 wks post op for Gossip's toe, so I took her, alone, to the front pasture, knowing she wouldn't run full out, but that she would frolic. She did pretty much that, sticking to my side as I walked, moving occasionally out then cantering back to me. Only full out galloped a handful of times for about 100-200 ft, but I couldn't tell if she was gimpy because of the toe hurting or because of those damn wild roses in the pasture.

So I turned and headed back to the top of the hill, at which she opened up and ran to the gate, and the cantered back to me. Still looking good(and she's muscling up quickly, amazingly). I put on her leash, and we moved over to the agility equipment. The jumps have been taken down for the winter, as has the tunnel, but the dog walk and teeter are her two favs. . she zooms over the dog walk, zooms up the aframe. I tell her stay, go to the other side, and call her down.

Now, she usually comes down, twirls and wags her tail at me, sometimes sitting, this time, she took off.

I've got Asthma, and, humans are not made to go 35+ miles an hour, but I race after her, as she bolts towards the puppy yard where Boris & Peter are barking at her. Now, unlike most of Bonnie's dogs, Gossip thinks fence fighting means race your partner up and down the fence line, and that's what she did, while i watch, heart in my throat, terrified she was goign to tear off down the driveway towards the road, as she loops once, twice, three, four, and that's when I lost track. It felt like forever, but it wasn't long(the walk and this fiasco together was only 30 mins) before she comes trotting towards me, tongue hanging out, going boy, mom that was fun!!

And no limp. .tho today she's slightly off on that foot. . .but it's nothing obvious unless you're really looking for her

Argh, I wanted to kill her.

THEN, Grins.

Now, Grins has been visiting a beautiful older woman this week, but nothing was coming of their tryst, no matter how hard he tried, so they had a visit with a specialist and a turkey baster. His lovely lady lives at the top of the hill where Gossip currently resides, so when I come down that hill, Grins is all agiggle, thinking he's goign to get to visit his girl again. He's a bouncing, and a clacking, and a smiling, and just being a total nitwit. I go in, call him to me, check his teeth(Very little plague at 5.5 yrs old, I wonder if it's because of all that smiling and clacking he does), and then put food 1st in Umbra's bowl, then move over to Grins

As I bend down to put food in it, the idiot dog turns and wacks me, right in the eye, with his damn wagging tail . .

Don't know if you've ever been lashed with hundreds of hair across your eyeball, but it FREAKING HURTS!! OMG!! Does it hurt. sixty minutes later, and my eye is still watering maddly and hurting. . . and did he have the common decency to check on mom, nope, he had his head in the foodbucket, his lady love totally forgotten.

One more month til Touchet's due in season. . .haven't gotten into the excited anticipation yet, so worried that nothing will come out of this attempt. Hate to waste the money, but there's nothing on the East coast that tickles my fancy like this boy does.

OTOH, thinking of fall back plans, I still want a litter by Wings, and I have the possibiilty of leasing a lovely, unrelated, running girl. .. and I could do a dual sire litter, this one would be more expensive, as I'd do surgical and implant one boy in each horn of the girl's uterus to insure puppies from both.

::Sigh:: Wish I was rich and had a huge chunk of land. . so I could do these breedings I want, and not lose these boys.