Living with a golden oldie

http://www.mielikkishunt.com/touchet2.html
I am currently living a first. . I've never had a dog reach the age my Touchet has in all my years of owning dogs: a wonderous 13.5 yrs old. . she's a legend in her own mind, and my sweet 'golden schnausage'. She's not as spry as she used to be, creaky and grumpy, but she still gets up and gets going in the morning. . .still makes me laugh with her antics

She sleeps so soundly, she gives me scares a couple of times a week. Not sure if she's just that deep asleep or getting deaf, or a combo of both, as one day, I even patted her on her not quite as plump butt, and she didn't move, nudged her again, harder, and she came scrambling out of her sleep, looking to snark at a young whippersnapper that had bothered her, only to look sheepishly at me, wagging her pompom of a tail(I cut her coat back a few weeks ago)

It is rather scary to see your oldie laying out in the yard, and not see her sides raise with a breath, even when you toss a rock over the fence near her, or in the case of one day that really gave me a heartattack, the ditzy Trio(Gibbs, Jenny, & Ziva) raced over her, and she didn't move, just soaking in the sun. Since we've had a few oldies just pass away in their sleep, it's a worry every time she doesn't move.

She is a silly, sweet dog, always looks at me with eyes twinkling. Last few mornings she's been rattling the gate to the dog kitchen that keeps the old ladies from rampaging the house, woofing at me to get my attention, and not stopping until I slip her something out of the fridge. She's never been pushy for food, so not sure what's up with her, but I cater to her each morning if she asks for it. She takes the scritches, takes the snack, then walks away and leaves me alone while I fix the rest of my own personal meal LOL

She's always been a bit of a hussy with the boys, spayed or not, and it hasn't stopped. . I'm not sure if cougar is the right word for a gal her age, but she still will come up to a boy of her choosing, flick those ears up, wag that tail, stomp her feet, and woof at him like "SEe,I still got it!" And yep, she still has it, with her golden ringlets, gorgeous dark brown eyes. The boys have no clue what to do with her antics, but they make me laugh everytime I see them.

She still demands to go out in the big yards so she can snuffle around, lift her leg to pee on things, and then find a spot to sunbath in. . . she cant' get into a gallop anymore, but tries, gallumping around the backyard, and heaven forbid  if you forget her, she will inform you that you left her royal Brattiness out, and that she's had enough with the young mob, it is time for her to come in and lord over the old dog kitchen yet again.

Every day is a blessing with my Touchet. . . I know each morning could be her last. Maybe that's what the morning routine is about. "See Mom, I'm still here!"

Motherhood & Puppies

When you prepare for a litter, one of the thigns you have to prepare for, is if the mother sucks at motherhood. . .

Thankfully, I've only had one who sucked. .and that was poor Sage. . .her puppies were born 5+ days early by csection because they were in distress. Two placentas had detached and the puppies were decaying, poisoning their littermates. Considering there were 12 puppies crammed into little Sage, it's no wonder. . we lost a total of 5, which I'm amazed at, considering her mothering instinct never kicked in, their heart rates were so low at birth. .the other 7 came to live with me and Storm took them on, nursing 14 puppies with glee. .

I never bred Sage again, worried that she truly was a bad mother, and worried about her two daughters, since bad mothering seems to be genetic from talking with other breeders. . .and thus when someone inquired about leasing Kani, I wanted to make sure she woudl be a good mother. No way did I want to send her across country and curse someone with the nightmare Pat went thru with Sage. .. thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.

Kani's been a great mom. . .the puppies are growing and flourishing quite well. . .little eyes opening. . .She's quite careful when she lays down with them. She's funny, she's ok with the three house dogs walking by, but anything else gets a bark. .which is really funny, cuz I've never heard her bark, she moans and talks but not barking LOL She's also grinning more, which has me in stitches. Now she can be leased, and I can spay her. . 5.5 month season suck. . .and after witnessing two pyometrias, not something I want to tempt. She's a sweet dog, love her built. . .and her puppies are gorgeous.

Wish there were more boys, but at least the one is big and strong. And turning gold. It's so strange to see such a light litter out of such two dark parents LOL. Definitely an interesting array of colours. . I love the little light brindle girl, she's got SPUNK. . which as anyone who knows me can tell you, I really like.

Gossip thinks they're interesting. .even going in and laying down with them when Mama was outside. . she is goign to be sucha great mama. .. she doesn't like it if i make one of them mad LOL. . silly goose.

Timmy has enjoyed his month home with his sibs, spending most of the day out racing around the big puppy yard. He's put on some muscle mass. First dog I've sold to an apartment home, and I can see the difference between him and his sibs. It is truly amazing. . his mama comes home this week, and I know she will be SOO happy to see him

And last note for the day. . I can't believe my beautiful GOlden girl, Touchet, is 11. . .turned it earlier this week. . she doesn't act it, was out flirting and foot stomping with the boys 1/3 her age LOL Do so hope Gossip gets that longetivity. It's one of the reasons I wanted Touchet :)

Touchet, TImmy, GOssip oh my!

Just a quickie note, been busy and tired and keep forgetting to update

Took Touchet to the vet's Wed, and she got a clear bill of health, including a thorough ascultation of her heart. At 10.5, if she was going to come down with a genetic health problem, the consensus would be she'd already have it, but her heart is perfect :) She DOES weigh 80 lbs, so OMG, it'll be on green bean diets here soon for her.


Timmy is leaving for his new home in Boston today. His new mum is driving down to get him. He will be trained to be a therapy dog for autistic kids. He has a wonderfully sweet personality, well, they all do really. That just leaves me Tony to place, Gibbs & Ziva are going to stay here for now, Jenny is goign to be co owned with Bonnie. Gibbs reminds me A LOT of his father, busy, obnoxious, dorky, but sweet. And Keen without the overly keen part. LOL I'm tickled there.

And Gossip. . .Gossip turned 5 this week. Can't believe my baby girl is five, she is out of season, and oh so happy to be. Did some roadwork last night, up the steep hill, she wasn't impressed with me, but did it anyway, cuz I asked her to LOL

Touchet's new job

I can't believe Touchet'll be 10 in about a week. . she doesn't act it, doesn't look it, it's amazing. Heck, I saw 3 yr old dogs from a prominent kennels who look twice the age she looks(already broken down in pasterns and rear). Nobody who sees her believes her age.

Since getting spayed, she has gotten fat, so she was given a new job, being Auntie to the two puppies Bonnie got last fall. . and she LOVES it(and they love her)
She is so gentle with them, but they keep her bouncing and playing

She will tell them off if they get rought with her, they're 7 months or so old, and already almost as big as she is.

She was always sooo good with Gossip's litter, I knew she'd make a good nanny for these two girls.

I just love going out and watching them play with her

Yes, she's usually the wolf in their play

Just thought I'd share :) I love my new camera

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

life & karma & movies

Well, as those of my good friends know, we lost Touchet's puppies. Am I disappointed? Slightly, but ya know, it just wasn't mean to be. She is fine, healthy, and didn't have any problems, they just didn't make it to term. . oh well, she's spayed and will be the silly girl she has been. . .I have her lovely daughter to go on with, and her other lovely daughter is also available. .life goes on, you get knocked down, you dust yourself off and get back up. Marie & I are just glad that Touchet didn't have any problems, and that she's healthy, and alive! I've dropped the owner of the stud dog I want to use with her in 2010 a line, and have my fingers crossed.

When I needed it people came out and helped me, and I am so thankful for all those who helped me, truly helped me, not help me then stabbed me in the back. . yep, had a few of those. . anyway, what comes around goes around, but you gotta keep it going. When I mentioned to a truly sweet lady that I had no idea how to repay all those who reached out a hand to help me, and she said to return it to someone down the road who needed it. This weekend I helped my ex roommate(Those of you who've read my other blog know the one, the one with THE KID) move into her new apartment, she's been living with her sister since January. . omg, carrying stuff up steep stairs is a killer on your thighs LOl Then Bonnie & Miranda & I went out for dinner, and had a lovely night.

My summer reviews:
Hulk-Go see it, this is coming from someone who was never into the hulk growing up, it's GOOD!
Kung Fu Panda(or whatever it's called), again, go see it, made me laugh my ass off lOL
Hancock-WTF. .that's what it left me thinking
Wanted-interesting, but not what I thought it would be.
Get Smart-LOVED IT! OMG did I love it.
Indiana Jones-Again< LOVED IT!! :) Even if the ending is CHEEEEEEESEY!!!
You don't mess with the Zohan-funny, but not something I'd go see again LOl
Narnia-Better than the 1st one!!! :)

Think that's everything so far LOL I can't wait for the xfiles one to be out later this month

Weather's been strange this year. .some days cool, some days hotter than hell. . woke up last night with a 70 lb dog and 30 lbs of cat on me when the heavens opened up and rained down. . .don't blame them, i think I left a dent in my ceiling!

Otherwise, doing nothing but fooling with my salt water tank and working on Dei's agility :)

agility & dei

So, I picked up some snow fencing(not sure if I stated this before LOL) to fence in our agility equipment as I wanted to start working off lead with Dei, and not have to worry about her bolting for the hills like the last time I did this.

So, I closed off the equipment, reset it(had to take it all down for Bonnie to mow), and brought Dei out to play.

I'm tickled that she paid a lot of attention to me, did just about every obstacle I wanted her to do, in the ORDER I wanted her to do, tho I'm going to have to block off her three favs to get her to do things more my way(the dog walk, the aframe, and the teeter). If she decides she has enough, she goes and does that instead.

Shithead LOl

Her standing on the aframe asking me what i'm going to do about her not coming down, BRAT

I am tickled tho she's doing the weaves with the cheese balls, we will continue using them for awhile and then start weaning them out until she gets them only at the end. We've also started doing taller jumps, which she just loves, zoom! She's also doing the chute with increasing speed, so I'm tickled pink

Put her up and worked Bonnie's boy Surya a bit, eh's hysterical, when you praise him for doing well, he gets the zoomies, he has no clue where his ass is on the aframe. Oh well LOL maybe that's not in his future. I looked up to see Ms Dei pouting something fierce, how dare mom work with someone ELSE!

So I got her out and worked her a bit more, than quit for the evening LOL

Nope, not quit, took Gossip out, she needs more work, bulldozered thru the jumps to get the treats LOL. .but did do the dog walk pretty ok(needs to hit the contact at the end), did the baby teeter, did the aframe with glee, and did the chute the first time I asked her to, with speed to, so I'm tickled.



Mamazoi in her palace LOL. She's not quite fat enough she can't lift her leg to pee LOL

Of puppies & things

The wait begins.

I don't breed often, so everytime this event rolls around, I have to pick up my trusty breeding books, dust them off, and refresh my mind. I've whelped 5 litters in 11 yrs, my last one almost 3 yrs ago, things go vague in your mind. LOL. Especially with everything that's going on in life. And since the last litter I cobred (didn't whelp, only litter I wasn't there for) was the breeding from hell with an emergency C-section 5 days before the babies 1st due date, I'm a bit ansy. Thankfully she's in capable hands during the day while I work, but so far all seems to be ok.

She just keeps getting BIGGER.

Started taking her temp this morning, she was not pleased with that at all. I'll take it three times a day, within 24 hrs of it dropping below 99, the babies will be here, helps me plan my day.

And now looking to the future. Dei'll be bred next year, but my attempts to find a girlie for Umbra & Wings is just not going well. . .I was offered a girl I loved as a puppy, love the pedigree of, but her owner took horrid photos of her to send me, so not sure if it's worth the time & effort to get her here, for fear she will be horrid. OTOH, if she's as lovely as her photos were as a 4 month old puppy(and the promise she had at like 7 months), she's exactly what I need.

Decisions, decisions decisions ;P

May just end up freezing Umbra, for future use. . unfortunately Sage is a continent away now lOL

And that's the other issue, breeding Sage again, tho there are two lovely males on that side of the continent that I'd love to use. One related, one unrelated to my stuff. So much I want to do, so little space to do it in ::SIGH:: At least this should make me happy BOo's owner is being uncooperative hunh? LOL

weather SUXS

OMG, does this weather SUCK. I have no clue how hot it got today, but I was MISERABLE! After being up to midnite due to a minor emergency with one of my friend's dogs, I ended up not being able to crawl out of bed =at 6 like i wanted to to get things done before it got too damn hot, and boy did it, ewwwwwwwww. So glad we decided not to go racing today, and we cancelled tomorrow to, the race committee moved the roll call up 2 hrs, but it's still goign to be too hot for zoi. . so we stay home.

darnit, we were going to have 11-12 borzoi there, ARGH!!!

Touchet continues to get wider, Gossip is getting thinner as her hair leaves her LOL Oh well, will make her cooler for the summer.

If weather permits, we'll go coursing next weekend to get the J to Reba's JC and get her ready to run in open this fall. Then LGRA end of the month. . .then nothing til August. . just hot, evil nasty weather!

Belmont was a huge disappointment. . I hope they find nothing seriously wrong with Big brown, but damn I'd wanted to see him take it away.

Off to round up my kiddos and head to bed, am BEAT

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.

Cerf'd

I'm pleased to announce 6 dogs I bred andcurrently own and one more that I co own had their eyes checked yesterday and were Cerf'd clear, YIPPEE!! :) I'm not sure if Reba was done, Scirocco was missed because she was in the kennel, but they'll be done next time.

This gives Touchet everything she needs to get her Chic# :) I am so darn tickled :)

thoughts, thoughts and more thoughts

Yeah, it's wed, what a long freaking week this has been.

It's sad when you try and point someone towards a responsible, ethical points of information about someone they're doing business with, and they refuse to take that step. Maybe they won't have a problem, but since everyone else I've pointed towards a good source of information about a different person always came back and said "You Told Me So", only time'll tell.

If someone had pointed me towards someone like that, I'd've never've gotten into business with The Witch, but instead the only information I got warning me away from her was that she slept with judges(Oh boy, I can't count on two hands the number of people who supposedly do this just because they win), or she used her dogs to traffic drugs across the border. If someone had pointed me towards a SANE person who'd had dealings with her, the story may've been different, but then I also wouldn't've had my Kyra. . .but at least Kyra's breeder was breeding for show dogs, I had a better chance of getting what I wanted.

Oh well, can't say I didn't try.

Gossip was a good girl at the show, need to work on her down and back. She tends to stand funny on that foot where the amputation is 50% of the time(toeing in) But she behaved nicely, gaited nicely, didn't do anything, but it was a training experience.

Puppies for Touchet are due end of June. . the waiting list grows LOL. I don't think she'll have enough puppies if everyone follows thru.

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.

Gossip & breeding

Gossip's all bathed up, blown out, drip drying a bit before I finish the act. I absolutely positively HATE showing a bitch in season. . .haven't done it in years, after Kyra was an idiot and flagged the damn tent post and the judge. What a slut lOL But that's why my newest problem is so frustrating, never dealt with it.

She's still flagging, she's still letting him mount, I wonder if she's got a stricture and that's the issue I had with the last litter, so I'll be throwing her, Mr Stud Muffin and Gossip in the van, heading to the show, following Vanessa back to her Repro vet for an eval and an AI.

OH JOY!!! What we do for puppies. Will have to make sure to have Gossip eval'd before we breed her, JUST in case.

Humpday news

Well, Gossip proved they're not known as bitches without reason: she's in season, 10 days before her debute after the injury. Going to the specialty beginning of next month wth Umbra and her is goign to be SOO MUCH DAMN FUN!!!

NOT!!!!

Progress is being made between Mr Wizard & Ms Touchet, lots of flagging, flirting courting, hopefully tomorrow the "deed" will commence in seriousness.

Spent some time working on Umbra's teeth. Of all the things I wish he had NOT inherited from his father, bad peridontal health is one of them. . .Rinka and Kyra both had great teeth up until their deaths, Garrett had horrid teeth before he reached 4. . .ick ick ick.


Waiting to see how much Bonnie enjoyed her first judging assignment.

Gossip's first show as an adult is this weekend. Hopefully she'll be a good girl. . and hopefully I can show with my bum finger. No idea how I did it, but managed to really f*ck up my ring finger on my right hand, OWWWWWWWW

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.

they're not known as bitches for nothing

::SIGH:: Touchet came into season early

Unfortunately, she'll be ready during the middle of the BCOA nationals

can we say frustrated?

two down, one to go

just got the call from my vet, Touchet's thyroid is NORMAL! :)

TWo down, now to get her eyes checked ;)

yeah, very tickled mom. Way my luck's been, was truly expecting something to be wrong. . .now the worry that she won't take :P

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.