Double Yeah!

Today was Umbra's day to shine. .well, three out of the four times he entered the ring this weekend he did.

Yesterday he won his veterans class under Carol Spritzer, especially sweet since her hubby finished him 3.5 yrs ago. . .A friend took him in for Breed, and it was so nice to see my boy move. . he wasn't sure of her, but moved nicely of him, only 2nd time someone other than Mom took him in.

Today he took Best Veteran under T Marshall(Chihawk Borzoi), and then went on to win his veterans class over a very hairy well known on the east coast boy under June Penta. . .unlike when he was in the classes, he now has decided showing means FUN and making a fool out of Mom LOL

Hopefully the picture turns out. . .

His newest cousins are on the way here. .got a call on the way home that two boys were here already, with at least 7 more puppies xrayed..yikes, glad they're not being born here LOL

Stupid dog owners & Vet visits

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

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

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

Now to wait. . .::SIGH::

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

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

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

More this and that

Blech, just got done making an appointment for Umbra for a dental. . one of the few bad things he inherited from his father, and bad peridontal health is one of them. I've had other breeders with dogs of the same lineage mention the same problem. . .hopefully most of his pups'll get Storm's teeth, not his. . even Bonnie'll admit some of the families in her own yard have great teeth, and some of them have horrid, so it's definitely familial. . .Umbra is only one of two dogs since I went out on my own in 91 that I've ever had to have teeth cleaned on, that's including my Greyhounds & nonsighthounds. Heck, Touchet's teeth barely need a light scaling, and I've never ever done a thing to her mouth.

It doesn't help he won't chew hard like the others will. Gossip & Dei come in the house, grab a knuckle bone, and go to town on it so hard it makes MY teeth hurt. OMG! But not him, even the chicken quarters he's dainty on, and Grins'll finish two before he's finished the one. So off to the vet's he goes. . and there goes my pocket book :P

The weather has been HOOOOOORRID!! OMG. . I did nothing yesterday i didnt' have to, the AC in the living room broke, so I'd do some stuff, then go cuddle with the kitties in their AC, once I cooled down, go do some more. Ick ick ick, even the storm last night didn't help. I had to make huge ice buckets for the salt water tank, the temp in that had risen to almost 90, and my poor little Duncan coral wasn't very happy.

Just saw a wonderful note that Boo(Mielikki's Twilight Taboo) was RWB at a specialty this weekend! Darnit, always the bridesmaid, i can't count the number of RWB to majors she's had. . she lacks one point, hopefully it'll come soon for Sara, who despite everything, hasn't given up on her. .

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

Thursday news

Got a pic of Hecate(FKA Rumour) and boy do I really want Touchet to have another litter of pupies. .that bitch has such a gorgeous head, and she was one of the three I could not decide between! (secret & Goose were the other two)

Umbra's looking absolutely FANTABULOUS after his bath last night, hopefully Kathy Wright'll love him as much as I do next month. . Hand hurts too bad to do his teeth tonite, but will do it again tomorrow.

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

Bone cancer

Sucks.
I hate having to call puppy buyers and say "Your puppy's "(Brother/Father) just died of bone cancer. . .::SIGH::

It's even worse because there's no test, no known inheritance, nada. It's a guessing game, and now I have it in two of the three ways I've bred.

Kyra, Rinka & Garrett, together at the bridge again

Garrett was a goober dog. Sweet, loving, a bit snarky over food, but adored his people. His previous home hated him and gave him to me. He came to me under socialized, under handled but sweet as can be. He'd never seen linoleum, didn't know how to act in the house. I'm not sure if he was ignored in his former home or what, but he acted like he'd never been out of his yard

In limited showing he picked up 5 points, and finished his Can Ch, he sired a litter for me, the twilight litter, giving me my very first BBE champion, and he sired a litter of two in Canada. Shortly after he came back from his stint in Canada, he almost died from a prostate infection. . .but I nursed him thru that, and then neutered him, and placed him in a wonderful pet home. His coat was hell to deal with (his nickname was Pig Pen) and the fear everytime a bitch came into season just made me think it was the best thing to do.

I got an email from his home the other day, that he'd been put down due to bone cancer in a rib. . .he would've been 9 this July. . .Such a sweet suckup boy. . .Emailed his sire's owner, and it looks like there's two, maybe three of the litter left, another sister died recently, haven't heard back from her owner what took her.

But, I'll take bone cancer over bloat. At least with bone cancer you have time with the dog, and if you're a good person, you take advantage of that time, spend a lot of time with your buddy, Obie went everywhere with me this time last year, he went to the Nationals with me, even when I was told I shouldn't do that to him, but he absolutely positively loved it. He schmoozed with all his buddies, I got to see him on the beach, watch him frolicking on three legs, and got to spend some good quality time with him. Losing him sucked no matter what, but at least I had the time

Bloat doesn't give you that. . if you're lucky, you catch bloat, but then you have to make the decision do you have $3000+ for emergency surgery that may or may not save your dog. If you're unlucky, you come home to a dead dog. . BTDT. . I'll take bone cancer, at least you get to say goodbye. . but they both suck giant turkey eggs.

And now I sit worried, looking at Umbra wondering if the cancer bomb will take Garrett's goober son away from me. . .hoping it won't happen. . .and trying to find a line I like that doesn't have cancer up close so I can take him to it, in hopes of continuing on with that litter. .unfortunately his first litter didn't nick like I'd hoped :( but that's the game of breeding.

Damnit, I miss my Obie :( And I know Lisa misses Garrett