Dogsitting Adventures...

Wendy and Marlin are away this weekend visiting family and so I am dogsitting Coulee and Lacey. Rather than try to squish in two more dogs at my house I brought all of my crew to her house.

I showed up this afternoon to no backfence, a miniature tractor, and "scary" men in the backyard. The landscapers had shown up early to build the patio. Fun.

We got everything sorted out, the fence put back, and in my typical "wing it" attitude I made the dogs a step- with Wendy's patio furniture- sorry Wendy!!!

The dogs had a blast playing in the yard- barking at the neighbors, playing fetch, and beating each other up.

Here are some photos of the excitement...

stuck on the deck...

coulee never gives in...

neither does pixel!

coulee was very happy to play fetch!

not a great photo but still worth putting up!

pause for a group photo!

pixel is so pretty.....

can you guess who won??? 

you'd be surprised!!

Lacey did!

Out-takes

So as you could imagine it took a few shots to get the easter pictures...here are the out-takes. They are even funnier than the ones that turned out...

Happy Easter

The gang at Manymuddypaws has a special announcement....

Happy Freakin' Easter!
No one except Pixel was very happy about their costumes!

News from the Vet

Pixel had an appointment this afternoon for a few reasons. One, to talk about her spay. And Two, to talk about her mange and the wart.

Basically she left it up to me to decide about her spay. She doesn't think that the warts are an immuno-suppressant type of thing, and the mange is pretty well cleared up and should not be an issue. She did say that if there lots of warts, and if her mange wasn't better that it would be a good idea to postpone. I have a week to decide.

On that note I also got a quote for her spay. One quote is for $695.07. Yeah. Can you believe it??? No wonder people don't spay/neuter their pets!!!! The other quote (the basics) is $295.00. I know that Veterinarians need to make money, and I do know that things are expensive but seriously. There is something really, really wrong with a $700 spay. I also know that it doesn't cost nearly that much to do the actual surgery- when I volunteered with the rescue I know what we paid- and it wasn't even close to the second amount!!!! But like I said I understand that we are paying for their services aswell as the stuff.

I spoke to my vet about the benefits of laser surgery (an elective) and she said it was microscopic- generally in large breed dogs, or dogs who are over the age of three it will also help reduce blood loss. In a young dog like Pixel it isn't neccesary or really going to be much difference. Bloodwork also is elective- and not neccesary- and dental xrays??? Pixel has all of her adult teeth coming in on her own thank you.

Anyway- I have decided that Pixel's spay will include IV Fluids as the only elective part and of course the actual surgery, and and all that entails. I am skipping the blood work, the laser, and the dental x-rays! It will bring her spay cost to $357.00 plus taxes. Which is still a pile of money considering she is a small breed dog!!!!

Good Grief.

Anyway. The second part of the visit was to get Kendra's opinion on the mange and the wart. She said that her face looks great and by all appearances it does look like it is clearing up. She said to give it one more week to be on the safe side, but after that (providing she doesn't get all itchy again!!!) she will be good to go (and so will everyone else!!!) The wart she isn't worried about at all. It has grown and she said that usually they fall off within a month. They are contagious- but again the information isn't concrete. Most puppies, and young dogs get them at some point in their life- and it doesn't hurt them or cause any problems unless there are so many of them that the dog can't eat properly. Right now Pixel has one.

So- One more week and then hopefully she will be back to normal. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel now and that makes me very, very happy.

I am undecided about the spay. I could put it off for two more weeks- but with my luck she will come into season between now and then. I have the Kim Collins seminar in two weeks so regardless she will probably be unable to go if I postpone it. I do want her to be as healthy as she can be though... Decisions, Decisions.

Regionals I

I am feeling a bit worried about Regionals. I am not ready at all. I went back in my blog this morning and read through some of my pre-regionals training sessions, and then the actual Regionals weekend post.

Regionals is just two months away now. Two Months. We haven't been on equipment for a month! Wicca is not one of those dogs who does better with a break. She needs the work, and I sure as heck need the practice. But we do have two months- which is quite a lot of training time if you think about it.

There are a lot of things I need to be working on in the next two months- I've made a list, and have a seperate area in my training log for just regionals stuff.

Handling:
Tighter Front Crosses
Rear Crosses on Jumps
Lead outs- timing of the turn
Threadle- I was getting better, but think that I forgot. Serious.
Serpentine-
Push Through-

Skills
Contacts- need to proof with me behind (i.e gamble)
Weave entries- lots, and lots, and lots of two/three/four pole work.
Turn- still need to be working on this.
Start Lines- no changing position
Jump Grids- I am going to go back and work some jump grids- each week.
Out- practice, practice, practice.

I need lots and lots of practice running Jumpers courses. That is my total weakness in Regionals, Nationals, and even trialing. My memory sucks, and my handling late. We need to work on that.

Oh, and I am only entering Wicca- Boone is no where near ready enough. Maybe next year!

Nice Walk, Crappy Photos

I took the dogs for a nice walk in the coulees tonite- it was beautiful! Birds singing, the sun was shining, no wind, and best of all we didn't run into any other dogs/people until the end of the walk.

The dogs had a GREAT time- Vito and Pixel raced around like crazy- barking, and wrestling. It was very cute. Boone was off like a shot sniffing around, and doing his own thing. He is pretty good off leash- and is checks in with me throughout the walk. Wicca was mostly crittering. Birds, Gophers, Deer...her tail was going the whole time just being excited about the smells.

I took the camera but mostly got crap. I need lots of practice apparently.

Pixel has HUGE ears.

Wicca- crittering...

I was calling her...can you tell by the ear flick?? :o)
I really like this photo for some reason though. Maybe it is the lighting.
Too bad she wouldn't look at me...

Vito had the mad zoomies but the long grass got in the way of all my photos. I like that I caught his back legs in full extension though.

My dad came along for the walk. He looks happy no? He actually did have a good time- this is his version of "smile for the camera."

Oh- and I didn't get one decent photo of Boone....
Practice, Practice, Practice and I should get better....right?

New 'Do

I gave Boone a haircut yesterday. He was in desperate need of a bath and groom so I figured I might as well give him a trim. I have been kind of lax about the brushing lately- he actually had two mats!!! I felt awful. One behind his ear, and one on his front leg. Geesh. What kind of Mom am I!!!

Before- looking scruffy.

After- He always looks so fluffy after a groom but I did want to get rid of some of the length. I made an oops though and used the wrong blade....so he's a bit shorter than normal but it is only hair and it will grow back!



Wendy made a comment about the fact that now you can see his "Polka Dots" i.e his merle pattern...with his long coat it is hard to see...

Agility

I went yesterday to the indoor arena for the end of season funmatch. We have a lot of students who will be getting ready to trial by fall so this was their first funmatch- I thought it was important to go and support them. They all did great- it is so neat to see such improvement and confidence in the handler and the dogs! We don't run courses ever in training- small sequences, and fine tuning handling, discrimination, learning new skills, etc are much more important than running courses. It is neat to be able to see people putting it all together, and using the handling they've learned to succesfully get around a course. They all did great!

I left early to get home to the unhappy puppy so missed the last course, and the packing up and unloading at the outdoor site. I have mixed feelings about moving outdoors-

We have lots of wind here- like stake the jumps, double sandbag the tunnels kind of wind

The temperature is never consistent- too hot, too windy, too cold...it could snow again...

Gophers- the field is riddled with gophers, we will have to fill in gopher holes over, and over, and over again

Mice- the field is riddles with mice, last year they ate the chute.

Traffic. The field is on the side of a super busy highway. Boone melts. It will be a good month before I will even be able to get him to do anything out there...I have been working on the traffic thing with him- sometimes he is okay, other times he freezes and can't focus. It is frustrating.

But....
Not having to take down equipment each time will be fabulous
Having more than one night a week to train will be awesome.
No more horse shit smell - instead we get to smell cow shit :o)
No more dirt, and barn yuckiness

Not that any of that really matters at this point- There is no definite timeline or really anything definite when it comes to Pixel's mange. We have been off of Agility for a full month now. It sucks. Like really, really, really sucks. Our first time back will be at Kim Collins Outreach. Nice eh? That is of course if everything has cleared up. It is three weeks away.

Wicca is pretty miserable and was very interested in all the barn smells on me yesterday when I got home. Poor Girl. She probably misses agility as much as me!

Copy Cat

I couldn't resist copying Wendy- what a great idea!!! Super easy, and very, very cute!!!

Click to see large!

Fun in the Sun...er....clouds

Vito with his new treasure- a baby dino cuz...

Boone has a freakishly long tongue. Really.

Bang! Dead Dog. Yes, you read right. This is Wicca's version.
I love how her legs always stick out- this dog never relaxes...

Stand Off. Pixel had three chewies and wasn't willing to share any of them.

I love this dog.

Content. Pixel managed to snag all three of the chewies,
and was quite happy to carry them around with her.

Happy Friday: Obsession

I have a secret obsession: Flatcoated Retrievers.

Funny Eh?

I can tell you more about genetics, history, and pedigrees in Flatcoats than I can about Cardigans. Really.

Why you ask?

Well because I am a closet Flatcoat lover.

I love their enthusiasm
I love their looks
I love their smarts
I love their work ethic
I love their sense of humour.

But.

I also have a hard time with the uncontrollable tongue, tail, and general excitement
They are stubborn and can be hard headed
They have a hard time focusing.
Boys take FOREVER to grow up

The cancer risk is super scary.
and they are tall. Way over my 16" height limit. :o)

But really I do admire the breed, and many of my friends have them. My friend Liz is a breeder and has a litter right now- I've been oggling Puppy #2 ever since I saw her and her little cowlick...utter cuteness.

My friends Judy and Sarah have Flatcoats, or a Flatcoat in Sarah's case- so I get my flatcoat fix regularily. The tongue is unavoidable however....

But the cuteness that is a flatcoat is hard to resist. They all have this charm about them. You see they suck you in with the soft eyes, and gently wagging tail, and then as soon as you are close enough to touch BAM! out comes the tongue....

one day I'll have a flatcoat- maybe by the time I am fifty I will have more patience...

Huxley the Handsome :o)

Tinbie is one of my all time favorite dogs. ever. I love this dog.

One of her current litter. Not Puppy #2 (who is my favorite) but still very, very cute!

ALL Pictures are courtesy of Liz Saunders of Blazingstar Flatcoats.

Thanks Liz!!!

From the Hip

On my Flickr- 52 Weeks for Dogs Group - there are occasional challenges, you don't have to participate in them, but I wanted to give this a try. From the Hip means to shoot the photo without looking- generally at Hip level for most dogs. With my short dogs I've discovered that it is more like knee level. It is MUCH harder than you'd think- I get LOTS of crap. Fuzzy, No Dogs, Pieces of Dogs, Out of Focus...you name it and it happens when you aren't looking!

I did manage to get a few today though that I am considering for my challenge.

This is my favorite, but she's not quite in focus...I actually got this one yesterday


and these are the "runners up"






Which one do you like the most???

oh- and I ALMOST caught Vito's smile....



one day I'll get it...it truly is the cutest thing ever.

What next...

Last week Pixel seemed to be doing great- the inflammation around her eye was all gone, I could see little hairs starting to regrow....and now this week she has been super itchy again. She had her second dose of Revolution on Saturday and I am wondering if that has something to do with it. I wash her eyes and face twice or three times a day and have been religiously giving her the antibiotics, and immune booster supplements- I was really hoping that this would all be over in two weeks. I have my doubts at this point.


Oh- and to top it all off I found a wart on her lip while I was bathing her. It wasn't there yesterday. It looks to me like a typical puppy type wart- and from what I've read and been told about them it should just fall off- but again it can be contagious. Poor Pixel.

I have her spay booked for April 14th, but have a call into the clinic- I am not sure it is a good idea for a pup with obvious health problems to have surgery. I'll keep you all posted. Geesh.

As Promised

I was so excited to come home and take photos! The sun was even shining! I took over 100 photos, and got mostly crap. After weeding out the bad stuff I am left with 15 or so okayish photos- and two good ones.

Good one Number 1- Look for the only thing in focus....GREEN GRASS!!!! Yay!!!


Good one Number 2- Boone. Again. He is just so easy to photograph. The camera really likes him.

I did get a few more I will share later.

Testing

the only decent (and by that I mean mostly in focus) photo I got of Vito...

Pixel never stops moving. It was difficult.

Boone is so cute, and very photogenic. He poses.

He LOVES his stuffies....

Wicca looks all smiley in this photo.

my favorite photo of the evening...