April 2010Monthly Archives

Kip Died 10 Years Ago Today

Kip

Yeah… it still hurts. I put off this post all day because… well, I wasn’t sure why, but now I know. My heart still hurts when I think of Kip being gone.

I read in a book once someone said “Death lasts so much longer than life” and I really didn’t understand that until I loved a dog who only lived 14 very short years. Kip was with me when I was young, in my 20s, so time went by slower then. But still, I wish he could have lived much longer. Kip was my best friend in the world through some hard times.

Kip was a Shepherd Mix… and you can read more about him here. I love Kip with all my heart, I miss him still. He died on his own in the back yard on a Saturday morning. I didn’t know how to handle it… I think I’d be better now. Kip, I hope you are free somewhere experiencing wondering things I cannot even imagine. Thank you for spending 14 years with me.

Cynthia

April 29, 2010

Daily Posts, Rescue

5 comments

Kip, Rescue

What I Like About the AKC

Tatum In The Sun

This is a cute picture of Tatum laying in the sun when I was working in the yard the other day. She is a good girl.. though a complete brat, and I just adore her.

So as for the title of this post. I’ve been to lots of various dog shows and trials in my years in dog sports, and I’m starting to really appreciate the value that the AKC has. I used to bad mouth them and say how they are just a business that wants to make money… and well, maybe that is true. But at the same time they have some really good things about them.

First of all, their shows are run immaculately. They are organized and well planned. Their website has great information that is easily accessible, and you can look up your dog information for free. You can even find information on other dogs. When you get titles, they title certificates are sent out to you quickly. And I’m not all about titles, but titles to me represent all the fun things I’ve done with my dogs, and so yes, I like the certificates. I also LOVE to be at calm well run shows. The obedience is very well done. They have trouble passing rule changes, true… and I think that novice obedience needs something different to make it fun other than a bunch of heeling. And I’d love to see the open out of sight stays done away with. And sometimes rules are slow to change, but at least there is a committee that makes these changes and evaluates what needs to be done. Instead of like some venues (NADAC to be specific) that is run by one woman who makes all the rules and they change so much and are so stupid that it’s just frustrating to even trial with them anymore.

The AKC doesn’t have Lipofuze… and they don’t police puppy mills and back yard breeders. And in this country where spay and neuter legislation is so fought against (I won’t state my opinion about that in this post) maybe they are just supporting the freedom of the breeders. I dunno. I wish there were more ethical breeding, i wish there wasn’t an endless supply of rescue dogs, I wish the AKC could do more about that, but I haven’t read up on it much so I really am not informed enough to offer an opinion.

Some AKC breeds do split into conformation types vs. performance types, but that happens all over the world and the AKC doesn’t have any control over that. I prefer a dog that can work, do it’s job, what it was bred to do, and still be built in a good way. I do wish there were more health regulations in conformation, not just what the dog looks like. Maybe that will come in time.

The AKC is recognized world wide. They are not an FCI member club, but they have an agreement with the FCI and their pedigrees are accepted world wide.

So I dunno, there’s bad about the AKC, but there’s also good about the AKC. So I’m not really as down on them as I used to be.

That’s my 2cents worth about the AKC for today!

Happy First Birthday Jet!

Jet One Year Old

Well, today Jet is one year old. It’s his birthday! He is such a good boy… and isn’t he just so very handsome? I really love how he has grown into his body and he is just so gorgeous now. He is still a lot of puppy, but I can tell he is maturing. Maybe soon he’ll need blackhead removal when he hits his teenage years.

Jet got a birthday pizza today for his birthday. He loved it! Our local dog bakery makes custom birthday pizzas. They are huge and all the dogs got to share. Jet loved his and got to have his bit first.

Jet's Birthday Pizza

All the dogs love the birthday pizza! We get them once in a while for the dogs’ birthdays. We should do them more, but they are so big they feed the whole pack of 7 dogs and have some to spare!

Happy birthday baby boy!

A ‘Spring’ Hike

Well it’s April… but it sure didn’t feel like it on Friday when my husband and I took three of our dogs up the canyon for a hike. We went 4 miles round trip and had fun. But there was too much snow!

Muffit, Tatum and Jet

I needed a hot shower after this walk, or some walk in tubs to get warm in. But going up the canyon was actually a lot of work and I was sweating. The snow made the ground too slick, but we didn’t fall.

Muffit

Muffit loves to hike, it’s his favorite thing to do. And he sure is a cute boy.

I tried to get the three to sit and wait for some pictures, but Muffit doesn’t have a stay or a wait… yeah he’s just too frantic and I haven’t worked with him. So when he’d break the other two would break too. So I just got a quick shot of Jet and Tatum.

It was fun though I’m ready for some warmth!

Cynthia

April 25, 2010

Daily Posts, Jet, Muffit, Tatum

2 comments

Hiking, Jet, Muffit, Tatum

Angel’s Teeth

So Angel is probably about 14 years old or so. She’s a rescue so we are not sure, but she’s really acting old lately. Probably the last six months or so. She doesn’t move fast anywhere at all… she’s very slow, she can’t go up the stairs anymore, and she’s just an old girl.

Friday she had her teeth cleaned. I didn’t really want to have it done, I know the anesthesia can be really hard on the old dogs. But it was pretty important to get it done. Her teeth were bad, her gums were bleeding in some places, and so it was worth the risk.

It took her a while to come out of the anesthesia, and all yesterday she had a hard time drinking. She would put her mouth too far over the water bucket so she was off the other end, away from her body, like she didn’t have the depth perception to get her aim right. Today she is better, but we have been giving her water from a water bottle in her mouth so that she gets enough water. And it seems to me like she’s not quite back up where she was before they put her under.

I don’t know how much longer she’ll be with us. I love our little Angel, who came to us with a broken leg. She was found in the shelter by a lady doing collie rescue at the time. The shelter didn’t know she was a collie. She’s a smooth blue collie, so she’s not the typical rough sable like Lassie. But she’s all collie, she acts like it. She is very sweet and shy, though she’s come a long way since we got her and she would tuck her tail every time she went in the front yard. Her leg was so badly broken that the vet had to rebreak it and reset it to it’d heal right, and she’s always had a limp because of it. But she’s a good tough girl and we love her like crazy.

We hope she’ll be okay, but we also know that our beloved fur kids will not live as long as we do. So we are making her happy and keeping her well as long as we can.

Walking Update

Jet's New Collar

just a quick picture of Jet with his new collar! I actually got him three new collars, lol. Yeah I know I buy him a lot of collars. But you can see them! Even my smooth collies hide their collars in their fur. I need a security camera to see the darn things. But Jet’s shows very well!

Okay so back to the title of this post… I wanted to post an update on how many miles I’ve walked so far on my 30 miles in 30 days challenge. I’ve been going as often as I can, though I missed yesterday and the day before. And does doing yard work count as walking? LOL I’ve been doing that too a lot the last couple of days. Today I took Levi and Lucy with on a walk. Lucy is slow and doesn’t go very far, so we only went three quarters of a mile. But it was a fun walk anyway.

So far I’ve gone 8.42 miles. Since my goal is 30, I think maybe I’m a bit behind, since I’m supposed to be done by the end of April. Hrm… I guess I better step it up! I will need to go 3 miles a day to meet my goal by the end of April! Well that probably isn’t going to happen. LOL. But I’m going to keep walking anyway and see how far I get!

Beginnings of Flyball and Agility Contacts

Took Jet out in the rain (it was just drizzling lol) and got some video of him doing the hop over the prop for flyball, and the contacts on the little contact trainer I have. I think he’s got some good foundation work, just gotta make it more solid.

First the flyball. The idea is for him to hop over and back with all four feet. That’s the start of the swimmer’s turn:

Then we did a little bit of the contact trainer. I need to fix the chain as it’s not as solid as it used to be. I’m training the 2o2o (two on two off) for the A-Frame and the Dog Walk with him. The teeter will be a four on, because he’s small and I don’t want him to get flipped off the teeter. We started this on the flat board, and now we are moving to the contact trainer before we move to the full height A-Frame.

So there ya go! I’ll be working these much more over the spring and summer!

Cynthia

April 12, 2010

Agility, Flyball, Jet, Training

5 comments

Agility, Flyball, Jet, Training

Still Walking

i’m still walking! I’m doing the 30 miles for 30 days challenge and I’m doing well. I haven’t gone walking today yet but I plan on it once I’m off work. So far I’ve gone 3 days since I started (I only missed yesterday) and I’ve gone 1.75 miles each time. Wow that’s 5.25 miles? That’s pretty darn cool.

It really adds up pretty fast. I do a loop around my neighborhood and I bring my phone with. I record my walking on Sporty Pal so that’s easy and fun. Maybe I’ll be able to check out some Branson Missouri vacation packages to reward myself as I get better at walking. Though today I’ve been eating some peanut butter chocolate chips and so that’s not good. Bleh. PMS makes me feel crappy and then I use it as an excuse to snack. And the sugar cravings are hard to fight.

I’ve been taking Levi for all of the walks, and switching off Jet and Tatum too. I really can only take 2 dogs at a time. Three is too many on flexi leads. And Jet gets a wee bit excited because he has so much fun. And Levi has to bark, because it’s so much fun. But anyway, I think I’m on track, and I plan on going walking today too!