Hiking with dogs

Yesterday I decided I wanted to go for a nice hike with my dogs. I used to hike all the time in Germany. My best friends & I used to walk everywhere, and I miss it. . so, I grabbed the great bag that was for Meet winners at the LGRA/NOTRA nationals(They had a bunch of extras, so I was given one as the handler of FOcus as well as the one which came home to Bonnie), packed it with 6 20 oz bottles of water(three frozen), and one 33 oz, a water bowl, and some snacks for me, put my Camera in a zip log bag(in case it rained), my license & Iphone in another(IN case something happened!) grabbed Aurora & Secret and left at 8:30.



Our hiking place of choice was the Torrey C Brown Rail Trail Beautiful trail, mostly shaded by trees, lots of neat things to see and watch like the geese above.



As well as beautiful scenery like the gorgeous lily above. I love day lillies, even the tiger lilly, and that picture came out quite well if I may say so myself.



And if you payed really close attention, sometimes you'll find something really neat, like this bird, We THINK it's a Great Blue Heron. I thought at first it was a funny looking log. The tree he's on was across the river, so no way to get really close, so I pulled out the camera and zoomed in and took pictures from three different angles. I love these type of birds(herons, Cranes, etc), so was very pleased to see this on my walk! Unfortunately, tho my camera is a decent one, the quality of pics when I zoom in as much as I did isn't great, but it's still a rather neat photo!



Secret loves hiking in areas like this, she is constantly on hunt for fun things to chase. I would love to be able to take her out OFC because of how keen she is on game. We literally had a squirrely jump out underneath her nose and I had to drag her fuzzy butt away LOL I'm not exactly sure what caught her attention in the woods to bring up the radar ears above. She is my gamiest on live game dog, but so gentle with little dogs and cats, I love it.

The biggest problem were the rude bikers, but most of the bikers were wonderful. We'd be walking and I'd hear "On your left", I'd pull the girls in, and they'd go by, slowly so as not to scare the dogs. THe rude ones would just run up on our butts and zip by. Granted, by the end of the day, the two girls were pretty blaise about it, but at the beginning, Aurora was rather put out by the idiots flying by.



It was a great walk for Aurora, who hadn't seen strollers before. She learned quickly that Strollers meant kids, and she LOVES kids. She met this little boy going up and coming down, and had him giggling licking his face like crazy. She got to the point she'd see a stroller and get all excited, so she was in for a HUGE surprise when the last stroller she saw had a dachshund in it LOL

The weather wasn't horrendous, was 77, but the humidity was decently high that along our 7 mile trek, I stopped 5 times to offer the dogs water. It was pissing me off to see people out biking their dogs, no water on the bike for the dogs, in weather that was making me sweat at a fast walk, let alone if I was forced to trot.I made sure to thank the one walker I saw who had this neat vest contraption on her great dane that carried her dog's water. She agreed with me about the stupidity of people. A very sweet small dane and I really need to find that vest, as I told the dogs they should be carrying their own water instead of me LOL

If you're going to walk with dogs in the summer, you need to take LOTS of water, I carried quite a few lbs on my shoulders, to make sure they were covered.

Lots of wonderful compliments on my girls, even by people who didn't slow down, but were nice enough to tell me how beautiful they were. I'm so glad I didn't wear my headset like I normally do. I wear it to walk in beat with the fast music I have labeled just for our walks, but it was a very nice experience

I had hoped to make it a longer hike, but I am not in shape and my bad knee started aching, thankfully it was just an ache, not a throb. It has been amazingly good recently, and so I took the walk without the brace .. well, I also didnt' want to deal with the disgusting feeling of sweaty knee under that brace! It also was getting a bit too humid. Next time, we'll get up earlier and go, as the girls seemed to enjoy. .we may go back tomorrow(Well, Secret & I, and someone else :)) depending on how I feel. By the time it was all said and done, we hiked 7 miles, not bad, heart rate monitor says that's 1200 calories!

Got about a mile from the car, it started sprinkling, had a small training session with the lady with the dachshund. Her 11 yr old male was the one in the stroller and being good, the younger one was on leash barking, snarling and lunging at my zoi, who were ignoring him. She picked him up and was soothing him, so I gave her some hints on what to do and not to(which includes picking him up and helping his napolean complex). Hopefully it'll help the next time he sees big dogs


So all and all, a nice morning, went shopping at petsmart, picked up some new beds which were already on sale, then I got an additional 15% off, then came home and took a nap :)

A month like a roller coaster: can I get off now?

What a month, good and bad, up and down, just like a roller coaster at 6 Flag. . and one I'd've rather not've gone on

Friday, 5/13, wow, just got that when looking for the date, makes sense for how horrid this weekend started. I took Treasure to a cat specialist vet, who after examination, looking at his xrays, the blood work, and examing him, gave me a totally different diagnosis, and worse than Cancer.




At least with cancer chemo, or surgery can or MAY help, but not with Feline Infectious Peritonitis. .. that's a death sentence. . .incurable, so much unknown about this horrid diseaseshe drew 700cc's of fluid off Treasure's belly and he still was filled with this crap. . .I left him in her hands, with fear, as I lost Pandora last year when I boarded her when she wasn't feeling well. .. and I should've gone with my gut feeling, as he passed away Saturday night. . .if he hadn't been so bright eyed and talking with me Friday, I wouldn't've left him, but I didn't think he'd leave me so quick. . OTOH, not sure I could’ve handled him passing away on me in the hotel room and having had to figure out what to do with his little body or even waking up to him dead on my bed, so not sure which way was better, but it put a huge damper on the entire weekend. . .this new vet was very sweet and tried to comfort me, but nothing comforts me. He was my pillow buddy. He came into my life when I lost my Schatzi, thus his name Treasure the memories. . one of the meanings of Schatzi is treasure. .. and I was so hoping I'd have him at least as long as I had Schatzi(12 yrs), but it was only 8 years ago that I brought him home. And after the finally diagnosis, I was hoping to be able to cuddle him one last day, but it wasn't meant to be.

They just don't live long enough

Boy did this just put a whole barrel of ice water over the weekend. . .first vacation I'd had since last May, and i couldn't even really enjoy it. . .just like my LAST vacation!

But, I'm ahead of myself.

So, after dropping him off I packed the van with 7 dogs: Ziva, Jenny, Nacht, Focus, Wizard & Logan(RR) and then the brat, err secret, cuz I know she'd've driven everyone nuts all weekend. She's not a good house dog if i'm not in the house(paces), and is a PITA in the backyard at my ETA. .. yes, brat. Drove down to the field, staked out an area with my xpen and ez-up, and headed to the hotel.

Little did I know that the hotel I chose, I had to cross a ferry to get to. . .EEKS. . .it's not open all day, it closes sometime in the evening and doesn't open til 5. .but would they cross with just one vehicle on it? Unsure, and not wanting to get stuck there if they wouldn't, I had to map out a new path, chose a different hotel for Saturday, and tried to sleep. Ziva & Secret enjoyed the hotel room rights with both of them being good girls. Was in bed at like 10:30-11.

Couldn't sleep, tossed and turned, looked at the clock so many damn times, afraid of sleeping thru the alarm(roll call was 5:30 for those helping), saw it was 3, knew I had 45 minutes of sleep, and fell back asleep, next time I woke up, I glanced at the clock, it was 4:20, EEKS!!!!!! I had set the alarm for 3:45 pm, not AM. .. slammed everything into the van and took off. Got lost because the GPS kept trying to take me back to the damn ferry. . .not a good way to start the morning.

Got the kids roll called, found the RR's handler for the day, and went back to finish setting up. .

Thankfully they had made sure to put Borzoi 1st in the running order, so we were on almost as soon as we started. I'm so thankful for the extra hands that were around(Sally marciszewski, CHuck Grabosky, Steph Parkers darling hubby, Chuck's father in law, Frances Burnes), since I was running 4 of the 6 opens(my three and Bonnie's girl) and thankfully only one of the 20 FChs!! LOl

The field was a challenging one, definitely showcased the dogs who had enduranced, very hilly, parts that you had to step out further on the field to see if you were short like me :) A number of dogs took tumbles with the 'ditches'. Jenny came back with her blanket wet, so I know she did, but didn't see it because of where she fell. Some amazing runs were ran. Some of the dogs took the scenic route over the hay bales, which was just so neat to watch. Soon as we were done, it was walk the dogs out, and head back to the field to do my huntmastering job for salukis.

Got done there, grabbed something to eat, and went to find friends terri & Susan, watched a few of the greyhound runs, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

By the end of the day, all the walking made my knee hurt. . .I happened to've parked in BFE. I packed up everything but the EZup and the xpen, and went to move the van closer to awards so I could get on the road ASAP and not walk back and forth

Now, it hadn't rained all day, but the ground was soft. .. and it proved too soft for my cargo sized van, and when I threw the van in reverse, tires started spinning. Damnit.

Turned the wheel and tried to drive ahead a bit and throw it in reverse on fresh turf, same thing. Got out, but unfortunately the people who had parked next to me had really tied their xpen down, so no way I could just pull thru and keep going.

So, I went looking for Dean wright, who rounded up a bunch of men, and with their help pushing it, I backed that SOB up and out, and kept going til I was on asphalt, not wanting to park it anywhere it could get stuck again.

End of day results was Wizard won his flyte of 10, then best FCH(40 points), Jenny, Ziva, Nacht went 2,3,4th,(18, 12, 6 points) with Jenny & Nacht winning breeder stake. Mr Logan placed 4th in open for his mama(think she said there were 7 opens)

Headed back to the hotel, got there, asked for a 1st floor room as close to the parking area as possible because my knee was killng me. In fact, stepped out of the van and it gave out. They set me up, backed my van into a parking spot as close to the room as I could get, and went to my room, and my brain went WTF????

It took me a minute to process that the room was filthy, garbage on the dresser, bed not made, it hadn't been cleaned. Went back up front, walking, cuz I am not comfy backing that thing in and out, and was hoping that they'd set me up close to wehre I'd parked to make life easier on me. They apologized profusely, gave me another room, unfortunately, this one was not as easy to get to, had to traipse quite a bit to it, yeah, on the 1st floor, but the inner courtyard area, with no convenient parking.

Then, the dogs all went on strike, refusing to potty on leash, the youngsters all wanted to play and run: WTH? Didn't they realise they had ran their little butts off earlier???? Fed them, settled them down for the night, took Jenny & Secret back to the hotel room, with visions of a nice, long, hot as I could get it, bath in my head.

My vision was not to be, Jenny nor Secret would settle down and be good beddogs, so crawled into bed after I wasn't able to connect to the internet I paid for, and went to bed.

Up early once again and headed out, parked on a different area, downhill, and with Dean's help, got my Xpen & EZ up over to the van. And then the day began.

This field was challenging in a different way. With a lot of dips and hills, the bunny was out of sight for quite a bit of the course, and if the dogs zigged left and the bunny right, they could easily get unsighted. Numerous dogs throughout the day came back to their handlers after losing sight of the bunny.

After Prelims, I was waiting to huntmaster, when I got the call from the vet, letting me know my little man had passed away over night. Up until that point, it had been a wonderful, fun weekend with great old friends and making new friends.

I tried to put that aside to finish out the day, was hard. . .my animals are my family, and Treasure had a special spot in my heart. .. watching my girls run helped, especially silly Jenny. She started coming in on the bunny hard, sliding in to home, under the line, grabbing the bunny, reminding me in so many ways of her Uncle Obie & Daddy Grins. I was very pleased with my girls runs and Wizard as usual for me, ran really well. When the finals came in, it was Wizard 1st of 19 in FCh, Jenny 1st of 5 in Open, and a lovely bitch named Tory in Veterans. After the dust settled for the BOB runoff, Jenny was the breed winner for the day.

Jenny flying

Tho I didn't think she had a snowball's chance in hell of winning, I ran her for Best in Event. .I don't know if she'll ever get a chance, so WTH right? I was very pleased with her run, but could definitely see she was not in the shape the others were in. Considering she was just two weeks or so post season(Hell, all of them but Ziva were!), I was very happy with her run.

I put her up and watched the rest of the runs, and there were some awesome ones. The basenji Searsha able to keep up with her longer legged running mates, Sammy the black greyhounds beautiful course with his nice running stakemates, and even a really amazing run of Deerhounds.

End of Sunday resulted in Jenny BOB(40 points), Wizard 1st(40) points, Ziva 2nd(15 points), Focus 3rd(10 points), Nacht 4th(5 points), Wizard & FOcus winning Bonnie the breeder stake, and Jenny coming home with the awesome pyrun trophy :)

Didn't make up for a crappy day Sunday, but it made it slightly better.

Went out to dinner with a great group of people including Katie Kaltenborn & Shirri Peake, before heading home to crash.

The fields were gorgeous, the weather almost perfect, the field committee did a great job with the battery operated water sprayer, and the competitors for Borzoi as well as those I huntmastered for were WONDERFUL!! Saw some great runs and was in the perfect position especially Sunday to be able to enjoy them. Got to see some dogs run that I hadn't seen before and it was overall, a nice weekend barring Treasure's loss.

Jenny is getting better and better every run. . .the next time out was LGRA, and she won two meets over Focus, who has only ever been defeated by two dogs: Doro, and Gossip. .she would OCCASIONALLY eek out a race win, but never ever beat Gossip for the meet win, so I really am looking forward to this fall once she & Focus are over their post season slump.

longest 24 hrs ever

I have so many blogs started, just haven't finished them and posted them. .

Last week I endured 24 hrs of HELL. . .the longest 24 hrs ever.

Nacht needed 6 points going into the weekend. .unfortunately there's no other ASFA until the end of June, and I'm hoping she's in Europe by then. . who knows, been hoping she'd be in Europe for awhile. . .unfortunately there was a conflict, with LGRA put on by my friends. I felt obligated to support them, since they were in the front field. . .and was just going to not worry about the ASFA, and hope it was cool enough in June to run and that she'd be here.

A friend said they were going, and after thinking about it a bit, she had liked him and been very outgoing and friendly with him the last time she'd seen him, had let others slip and catch her, I didn't think anything of there being problems when i asked if he minded running her.

Unfortunately when I handed her off, even tho I thought I had packed everything, her brain stayed home. Her teenage hormones were taking up all the brain space. . (she was in season in April)

Now, she ran Saturday at LGRA, was fine with all sorts of people handling her, walking away, boxing her, etc, etc. . .so she MUST'VE had her brain then, but somewhere between Saturday evening and Sunday morning,she misplaced it. Maybe Gibbs borrowed it for the day, but I have never had a bitch become such a complete nincompoop during her 'slump' as Nacht did Sunday. . .and things that hadn't bothered her before then did, tho getting attacked by a basenji probably didn't start her day off(thankfully the bad dog came away with only tail feathers). I don't know exactly what happened, was told she acted spooked that day, and suddenly I had a missing dog. . .

ANd thus starts the worse 24 hrs EVER.

I wasn't there to see what happened after she decided to play keep away coming in for BOB, been told conflicting stories, so not going there. . what all stories agreedupon was she got away thru a gape in the fence.

I got the call on the way there, and that trip, which normally takes about an hour, felt like it took 3. . .when we got there, they showed us where she had disappeared into. A heavy thatch of overgrown woods in the middle of farmland. . not a huge batch of woods, a couple of acres with house and a paddock of whitetail deer. They'd already talked to the landowner, and so I went traipsing thru the woods.

Four hours of here puppy puppy puppy. . .stopping to sit in the AC for a bit and rehydrate and then go out again, my friends drove around, talked to people, gave out numbers, while I walked the woods. Wanted to make sure someone was on the outside in case she went out hte back or sides. . .

Four hours, not a sign of her, mind you, she was wearing her pink blanket, but not a sign, tripping over dead wood, vines, getting attacked by wild rose and berry bush thorns, brushing against who knows what?

Oh yeah, did I mention I was in shorts? I am so glad I started to wear tennies to events since I hurt my knee, more support. . so I at least had them on and not my crocs of last year. . .I left Sunday looking like a survivor of a battle of cats. . .and praying I hadn't walked into poison ivy. Unfortunately, I think I did.

We decided that she probably was collapsed somewhere in that mess. It was somewhere around 90 with high humidity, and she had on a heavy black fur coat. . .needing fliers to hand out, and unable to do much more as walking that area in the dark was a leg breaking opportunity, we headed home.

Got her microchip registered and went to findtoto.com.

This is a WONDERFUL website. You put the zipcode of the area the dog was lost in, and pick an option from 250 calls to 10000 neighbors to call in that area, and an automated phone will call everyone in that area they can get hold of and leave them a message with a description of the dog, your number, and other pertinant information. It is a wonderful tool, ended up being unneeded, but I know it has helped others bring their dogs back home.

Homeagain gives you a flyer and Bonnie ran that to kinkos as I was so exhausted and stressed I was dead on my feet and sick to my stomach. . part of that was probably I hadn't eaten anything since 11 that morning. . tried to sleep, didnt' happen, up early with plans to brush a bunch of dogs, take her bed and a bag of food over with the flyers and seed the area with food and hair into an empty paddock on the land owner's property when we get a call.

She was SPOTTED!! First sign of her since she'd slipped into the woods. Workers at a speedway about half a mile away from the woods, headed back towards the coursing fields, were trying to lure her in with water. I was ready to jump in the AC-less Neon but Jim convinced me to wait a few minutes until he got ready so we could go out in the Prius which has AC, glad I did, as by the end of the day we needed it. Less than 20 mins later on our way there, they called back to say she'd been caught.

When we got there and she saw me, she couldn't stop talking, moan moan moan moan, and then she went to Jim and did the same thing. Not sure if she was saying OMG You came back for me, or OMG, I promise NEVER EVER EVER to do that again. . .

Seems she stayed in the woods as far as we can tell all night Sunday, and then headed across the fields saturday morning. . the workers found her curled up under the ambulance with her coursign blanket tangled around her backlegs. Got her out of that and she took off to hide in the bathrooms which is where she was when my two friends who were at the field for the event got there.

She seems no worse for wear, not even her paws seem sore. She's started on metronidazole for giardia, just in case, and she enjoyed being a house dog for a week, making sure her stools are ok, as we had no idea what she may've eaten. She is now back in with her siblings.

Thank heavens it was really less than 24 hrs, she went missing about 1 pm Sunday, and was caught by 10 Monday. . but it was the longest 21 hours I've ever dealt with. . .other dogs I know of have been missing for anywhere from 4 days to never found again, or if found, dead on road, so I'm glad it was ONLY 21 hrs. . .but it was the most horrendous 21 hrs ever.

Putting her collar and leash on her put her brain back with her, cuz she was back to her normal self when we got out to thank people at the field. Didn't want to leave my side, but back to mooching people she wouldn't let touch her the day before. . evil child

She will not be going running for a few weeks, her coursing was crappy post season anyways, so it'll give her time to get over this slump and cement her brain back into her head.

THe adventure seemed to affect me longer than her, I had stomach upset for a few days, but we're both back to normal. . .silly little Nacht

Misc other things

::Sigh:: Like I said, work is a bitch. . .end of year, everyone always waits until the last day to submit shit for their MFA plan. . .our inventory tripled in one day. . .and I can't do it all . .no matter how much the boss wishes I could. .he'll just have to clone me.

OT's been offered, I've taken it. . pays for the DNA of these munsters, as well as the AI on Gossip next winter. . .also helped pay for the darn car, which went in the shop for squealing brakes, but they can't figure out what's wrong, the brakes are fine. .WTF??!?! Oh well, at least it's gotten looked at.

Everyone else is doing well. Umbra's been off and on lame. . arthritis. .can't believe the Hairball's 8. Bathed him up and brushed him out today, we've got four shows in May, three specialties and a veteran group that I'm entering him in, and a fourth specialty in June.

Bathed Gossip and brushed a cat out of her. . .she's going naked, just in time for specialties, of course! Oh well, makes her more aerodynamic for the racing season LOL We're working our Rally still, and started some off lead OB work. Hoping to have her ready for Novice A come October specialty. . .time'll tell.

Kani's on a diet, she plumped up seriously over the winter. .and of course, she's naked LOL

unfortunately, Grins' intended didn't take. . .try again later this year I guess, hope we get some grins puppies darnit!

And that's about it. .. running myself ragged and trying to enjoy my dogs

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!

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.

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

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!!!

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.

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!!!

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

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.

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.

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!

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.