It’s been a month since Levi died, I still miss him terribly, and it’s interesting to watch how our pack dynamics have changed. We only have four dogs now, down from our high of seven. Four dogs is like having hardly any dogs at all. The biggest change I think has been Chase. He’s the oldest now (8.5 years), and he has space issues with dogs he doesn’t know. He will attack without warning when we go out and he’s… Continue reading
I’m back from Colorado Springs and the Denise Fenzi Seminar. Wow. I got a ton of information and was able to video some of Jet working, too. Jet was a good boy. Silly goof that he is, he’s a clown, and people can’t help just loving him. I just adore him too. Denise is one of the very few purely positive, motivational competition obedience trainers in the entire country. As a few of us sat around at dinner, we came… Continue reading
A couple of weekends ago I went to a Chris Zink Seminar in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was exceptionally good. I am pretty iffy about seminars. Many of them I don’t like. I don’t really have a good attention span for sitting and listening for hours on end. I really don’t like taking computer or work related classes anymore, they just bore me to death and put me to sleep. So I really like it when I find a seminar that is entertaining and interesting both at the same time.
Chris Zink was very interesting to listen to. She was funny and energetic and had a lot of good information. I do like dog information a lot better than computer information anymore.
Just a brief overview of what she went over… She said that the dogs’ sex hormones are very important. She prefers to leave all dogs intact, or with alternative sterilization methods. She has done studies, and was showing other information, that intact dogs tend to be prone to less injuries. And the old belief that dogs’ personalities became more mellow or less aggressive when spayed or neutered is actually incorrect. The information she showed told that dogs spayed and neutered actually tend to show more aggression and more behavioral problems. And the younger they are spayed and neutered, the worse the problems can be. Interesting. Jet is intact, and I’ll be leaving him that way. If I did anything I’d get him a vasectomy. Chris Zink said there are ways to remove a female dog’s uterus only, and leave the ovaries, so that they still get their sex hormones that are really good things. From all my PMS problems over my life, I believe that the sex hormones are important.
Chris Zink also said that a dog’s front dew claws are very valuable when it comes to performance sports, and just life in general. They actually use them a lot more than we realize. I prefer to have dew claws left on all my dogs. Unless they become torn or are floppy rear ones that may be dangerous. But then I prefer the dogs to all be natural and have what they are born with.
She also went over a lot of structure, so I think I can see a dog’s angulation better now. Especially the rear. The front I still can’t see so much. She talked about over angulation and how that can also be bad, like German Shepherd Dogs who are over angulated in the rear and it makes them less stable. So angulation is a good thing only to a certain extent.
The second day we did many jumping exercises and that was a lot of fun to watch. From the new dogs that have never done sports, to the advanced agility dogs. It’s all in her Jumping Books, which I own, and really should read more of. 
All in all I really enjoyed the seminar and I think I learned a lot and I would go again if I could. Though I’d prefer more and different information. And the drive wasn’t too bad, only about 5 hours from Salt Lake City, UT, to Grand Junction Colorado. With a stop to pick up a friend of mine. It’s always more fun to travel with her.
This is just a brief overview. I’m still pretty miserable about losing Levi. I’ve been trying not to think about him much. I have a house in my mind I go to whenever I start thinking too much or getting down. I think it helps. I haven’t been eating much either, though I have been eating sugar. I always eat bad when I feel rotten. If there weren’t so many diet pill side effects I might consider those. But really I just need to eat more vegetables, and stay away from the bread and ice cream. But the bread and ice cream are so much more comforting than vegetables.
I don’t know how long it will take me to get over Levi… but I just miss his face. His sweet loving happy face. I miss everything about him. My heart aches for my Levi.
Bleeding Hearts
I miss Levi with all my heart. I never wanted to post about Levi dying. How can Levi be gone? He was my heart dog… I do think Jet is becoming a heart dog too, but right now I just miss Levi. I miss his woofing at the top of the fridge for bones. I miss the weight of him pushed up against me at night in bed. I miss lifting him into the car. I just miss everything about him. He was such a good baby boy.
I am still thinking about a puppy. I did want a girl collie puppy, but now I’m thinking boy. I just love the boy energy and the boy goofiness in the collies. I know I will never replace Levi. He will always be one of a kind. I just would like some boy collie energy again. Tatum is doing well at holding up the girl part of the pack. She sure has attitude. I think she misses Levi too, more than the other dogs. She’s been more shy and upset lately. Jet seems oblivious. And the border collies… they don’t seem to mind one way or the other. But Tatum seems upset.
It’s too weird only having four dogs. The house seems very empty.
My life has been torn asunder. We put Levi down last Thursday morning at 1:30 am. February 23, 2012. I’m only now able to kinda blog about it. He was my heart dog, my heart and soul, I miss him terribly. Last week he had a bully stick, then diarrhea, and I don’t know if that was why, but he stopped being abel to walk. My husband says it wasn’t my fault, but I don’t know. After a few days he kept going downhill. Wednesday night he was in pain, and at 1:30 in the morning he’d shake and whine, and I couldn’t let it go on. So we took him to the emergency vet and they put him down.
I did agility last weekend, which was good therapy, and Jet got his MXJ and Qualified in every run. He is such a good boy and we had a lot of fun. I made a ton of people cry over Levi, but they all understand. They understand the bond we have with our dogs. I’m very sad, and hopefully I’ll be able to go a whole day, sometime soon, without crying. But it may be a while.
Just some fun pictures from when we went to the dog park last weekend. I love the park after a fresh snow, when the sky is perfectly blue. I love that color of blue. Only Tatum and Jet went. I’m still not taking Levi. I don’t know, his park days may be over… we’ll see. But every day he seems a little bit worse. His poor old body just can’t repair itself anymore. Makes me very, very sad. Why not… Continue reading
Well Levi seems to be doing okay. I watch him like a hawk, I’m sure I’m super paranoid. I haven’t taken him to the park in a couple of weeks. The last time he went, it really went slow, and I think it took him a day or two to recover. He wasn’t in a lot of pain, but he was tired. So we’ve been sticking to walks around the block. He’ll go about 3/4 of a mile before he… Continue reading
Jet and Tatum
I’ve been taking it easy the last weeks, which is nice, no dog sports. Well, I did do some Cyber Rally-O with Jet that was pretty fun. I’ll have to post about that next time. Otherwise, I’ve been spending time with family and friends and taking the dogs to the park, going on some walks, and taking it easy. Been really nice. I wish I could have more time like this to just live. Oh I’ve been working, too, but that goes without saying. And in only another week, I’ll be able to say “I can retire next year…” oh that’ll be nice. I can retire in 2013, so I’m looking forward to that!
I haven’t been taking Levi to the park, though, just Jet and Tatum. I miss taking Levi. He still isn’t back to normal quite yet. I’ve been taking him on walks around the block, a mile or so, to work him back up to the park. But I think maybe next weekend he’ll be coming with again. His back still hurts. Maybe he needs a discectomy to help his back, but maybe not. He’s been getting a little better every day. And he’s being rather obnoxious at home which is a sign the’s feeling good. So that’s a good thing. I am realizing approaching EOL, which we say with software… (End Of Life), but as long as he’s happy and doing well, I’m happy with him too. He’s not going to keel over dead tomorrow or anything.
January will bring another agility trial. Maybe Jet and I can pick up another Double Q. We haven’t done agility in a couple months, now, but that’s okay. I think we will both remember how.
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