This is getting old

A couple of weeks ago I was out at work (I'm a home health therapist, so I drive around all day) and Ronnie was working from home as he usually does. This is a GREAT arrangement for many reasons - not the least of which is that his office is 50 miles away. And needless to say, the dogs LOVE having him there all day.

Anyway, I had overslept that morning so had rushed out and left Ronnie to feed the dogs their breakfast. He sort of forgot - I'm really surprised that they let him forget, but they do cut us some slack sometimes - and didn't feed them until nearly noon. Which is no biggie, since with training classes and other things the dog's meals often are delayed until late morning, or late evening.

But I got a phone call: "Teddy isn't feeling well. He didn't want to eat his breakfast, and now he's just laying around." I was immediately worried, since normally Teddy is a chow hound. I asked him to take Teddy's temp, and call me back. It was a little high, so Teddy obviously needed to go to the vet ASAP. Unfortunately Ronnie had an important conference call soon, so even though I was across town it would be me taking him to the vet that day. Which actually is fine, since although Ronnie is an absolutely sterling human being in every way, he's a bit deficient in the Giving of Details department. I can usually drag the relevant information out of him when he returns from a vet appointment or training class or whatever, but it can be exhausting.

I get home, and find a very, very sad Great Dane. Teddy wasn't just laying around, he was seriously lame. Not putting any weight at all on his left front leg, and actually seemed to be favoring his right hind leg too. He didn't want to eat anything, even treats. He was very depressed, and panting, and obviously in pain. I'm thinking that this must be a serious injury, or infection. I didn't waste much time trying to palpate his leg, we just put him in my car and I took off for my vet.

Once there, things seemed a bit more mysterious. Although he was still very, very lame they couldn't find anything wrong on palpation. His neck and back also seemed fine. Since they couldn't feel anything amiss, we decided to hold off on X-rays. Especially since it would take several films to cover his whole shoulder assembly/front leg/foot. His blood work was OK except he did have a mildly elevated white count.

So, we opted to treat the symptoms: antibiotics (Cipro) and pain meds (Metacam). I normally do NOT give my dogs antibiotics "just in case", and my vet doesn't normally recommend them. But with the fever and white count and pain, we felt it was justified. They gave him a shot of Metacam to get the ball rolling, and we headed for home.

By then the rush hour traffic was starting to pick up, and since my vet is a good distance away from us it took nearly an hour to get home and Teddy was actually feeling better by then. He was willing to eat some hamburger, and I gave him the Cipro. Later that evening he was feeling MUCH better, although still rather lame but he ate a good dinner and seemed to be more himself.

The next morning, he had a swollen paw on that left front leg. A light bulb dawned... over the past couple of years, Kinsey has twice turned up with a fat foot, apparently the victim of some sort of stinging insect. And Topper (Teddy's sister) had the same thing happen last year. In each of those instances, the dog was fairly lame but not really distressed. I gave them Benadryl for a few days, and they were fine. I think maybe we've got some sort of ground dwelling bees or something. I've never seen a wound, or stinger or anything like that - they just present with a swollen paw. It's always been a front foot, which makes me suspect that the dog may be pawing at something when it gets stung.

So apparently that was what had happened to Teddy... but unlike his mom and sister, he quite obviously thought he was going to CURL UP AND DIE after getting his foot stung. What a wuss!! I still don't know why he'd have the elevated white count and/or temp with the bee sting, but I added Benadryl to his Cipro and Metacam. After that second day he didn't need the Metacam anymore, and I'm happy to say that the big baby recovered completely in just a couple of days.

Fast forward to this morning. I didn't have any patients lined up to see because I'd originally had a private agility lesson scheduled for this morning with Topper, but it was too windy. Way too windy, as in "it could blow the dog off of the dogwalk" windy. So I was out running a few errands, and got a call from Ronnie. This time it was Topper who was sick. WTF? She'd been fine earlier, had eaten a good breakfast and been her usual bouncy self.

I came home and found her acting like she was in severe pain - she was trembling and panting, arch-backed, reluctant to move. Not exactly lame, but very stiff. Danes can get a life threatening emergency condition called Bloat, or more correctly Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus (click here for an article on GDV - must read stuff especially if you have a large, deep chested dog) (here is a useful chart of the cascade of events that occurs during GDV) and that is ALWAYS in the back of my mind. But this didn't really look like bloat to me, she was too alert. She wasn't trying to vomit, in fact she was willing to eat treats. If I thought she had been bloating, I would have taken her to a 24 hour clinic near us for emergency treatment since it takes over half an hour to get to my regular vet. With bloat, every minute counts. But I have learned to trust my instincts, and I figured we could safely take the time to get to my regular vet.

When we get there, she's still very uncomfortable. And very clingy - some dogs get clingy when they don't feel well, and she is DEFINITELY one of those. Not just leaning against me, but practically wrapping around me. Wanting to be in physical contact all the time. Usually when she's at the vet, she is so busy greeting everyone I could probably leave her and she wouldn't notice, not for a while anyway. But not today.

As with Teddy, there didn't seem to be much wrong clinically. Although she was obviously tense and painful, nothing really stood out. Her color was fine, her lab work was "perfect". So we decided to take some X-rays to rule out a really atypical bloat, or an equally atypical pyometra. She had her last season in early August, so although technically an intact bitch can develop this life-threatening uterine infection at any time, it's most common about 2 months after they are in season.

So we X-ray her, and what we see is: Poop! Her colon was full of poop, with some gas behind it.

Hmmm. I have been cutting back on her food lately, since she was getting a little pudgy. And it's very possible that as a result she's been getting a little too much bone and not enough meat which can certainly be constipating. She's kind of picky, and the ONLY kind of bones she'll eat are pork neck bones. Which is fine, that's a great source of calcium - but they aren't really the "meaty" bones you want to emphasize with a raw diet. So I do feed her extra meat, usually with some veggies when she gets the pork necks. But maybe I haven't been giving her enough meat.

Anywho, they gave her an enema (outside!!) and she passed a pretty decent amount of feces. With a raw diet, the dog doesn't produce a lot of poop anyway since the food is so darn digestible. Just in case, we gave her a second enema and then I walked her (and walked her, and walked her, and trotted her, and practiced recalls, and walked her some more) but she didn't pass anything else. She seemed to feel a LOT better. Not totally normal, but better.

So we came home. I am REALLY HOPING that this is just another case of a very wussie Great Dane overreacting to a relatively minor problem.

But she's still looking pretty sad:

Sorry for the crappy photo.

I suck at taking pics with my camera phone, and was too lazy to go get the Canon.

She ate a good dinner (no bones, and I added some canned pumpkin for some extra fiber) but still is not acting quite right. Unlike Teddy, she's not bouncing back. She doesn't want to go outside, although she will when we insist. But when she's out there all she does is just stand there looking pathetic.

She's much better than she was earlier today, not panting or trembling. But something ain't quite right.


This is all she wants to do:

So say a little prayer for my baby girl, will ya? I'll keep ya'll posted.

Gratitude

Little things sometimes get me down. Like today - usually on Thanksgiving evening I start at least thinking about getting out the Christmas decorations. But we store those in a part of the attic over the garage, and this year the garage is still full of things we moved out of the house last spring in order to get the floors refinished, walls painted, windows replaced and all that big stuff.

There are still several smaller jobs left to be done because we took some time off from the home repair this summer since we were going to so many shows. Then our contractor got busy with other clients, and we just haven't gotten around to getting ourselves back on his calendar. Plus, unfortunately the roof apparently is still leaking and the bedroom ceiling will probably need to be replaced/repaired. Again. Before that, more roof repair or even replacement.

Which is why I can't get to my Christmas decorations so may not be able to put anything up this year. Which is seriously bumming me out. I do love me a pity party.

So a little self therapy is in order. I believe that gratitude is good for the soul, so at the risk of giving my readers diabetes I am going all syrupy today and here goes with my list of what I'm grateful for:

1. A wonderful husband who is smart and kind and funny and shares my values - the most important of which of course is a complete and unfailing devotion to our dogs. The fact that he ALSO shares my interest in training and competing with them is just icing on the cake! I often wonder why I got so lucky - but I am endlessly grateful for him.
2. Great Danes. I often say "there is no perfect breed of dog, but there IS a perfect breed for most people". You just gotta do a little research. I am so grateful that Great Danes exist, and that I found them. There are many different breeds and types of dogs that I love, have lived with and wouldn't mind living with again. There are even more that I admire although I might not want to actually live with them. But to me, "There is nothing like a Dane" (apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein). I just seem to "get" them like no other kind of dog.
3. My Great Danes. I am so grateful to all the responsible breeders who developed these bloodlines, so that I have dogs who are healthy and smart and sweet and gentle and just a joy to be with every day. Of course we can take some credit for them too, the way we raise and train them and manage them as a pack. But you have to have good raw materials to get a good product.
4. My job. I don't talk about it a lot here, but I'm an Occupational Therapist and do home health visits. Most - in fact the vast majority - of my patients are elderly. This isn't everyone's cup o' tea but I love it. I set my own hours, I really get to know my patients and am able to help them work on goals that are meaningful to them, and yes, even though they're old they usually do get better. I get to drive a lot which fortunately I like. The job security is excellent and so is the pay. Oh, and did I mention that I can set my own hours? :-)
5. My friends and family. I have wonderful friends that I take for granted all too often, and a wonderful, loving family (including in-laws) that I also take for granted too often. But I love every one of them, and am grateful to have them in my life.

Now then... I have to say I feel better!

Notes from Agility class

Tuesday night is Agility class night, at least it has been lately. I love, love, love our agility instructor (Debbie Spence, PAWSative Agility Working School - if you're in the north Texas area near D/FW I can't recommend her highly enough) but it is a bit of a drive to get out there, so lately we've been able to consolidate things and take all 3 dogs to class on the same night.

At PAWS, once you and your dog are through with the carefully structured Beginner class which takes about 12 weeks, you enter classes that are ongoing but organized into five or six different "levels". As the dog and the handler progress in skill and knowledge you get promoted to the next level. At each level the courses and exercises become progressively more difficult - but even at Level 2 (the first one after Beginner) we get instruction and practice on courses that are short, but have elements that are technically difficult. For the handlers, that is.

In the Level 2 class, Ronnie runs Teddy and I run Topper. (She's the brindle girl in my avatar). With Topper, to say I "run" her is an exaggeration. Not only am I not exactly built for speed, but she - as I knew she would - demands a lot of reinforcement for everything. She's not unwilling, or scared (except of the dogwalk, more on that later). She's sweet, and cooperative, and very food motivated... but also must be convinced that anything we expect her to do is in her best interest.

In other words, "What's in it for me?" should be tattooed across her stripey forehead. That would save a lot of time. Either that, or I should let her wear her "I'm a Princess" tiara more often.

So I'm still reinforcing everything - even the easiest and most basic elements like jumping and the start line - stay very heavily. Which tends to slow things down a LOT because I keep stopping to reward her with a treat and lots of ego stroking. But it's working - she's offering more and more things every day. Tonight she actually "sucked" (meaning she chose to enter even though that wasn't part of the plan) to a curved tunnel and then also the chute which - although technically a mistake - is GREAT to see. Let's face it, those obstacles are not easy for a Dane who has to get waaaay down and crawl through them and I'm thrilled that she's deciding that they are fun after all. Her "Go!" (as in "on ahead of me") is improving and I got a couple of nice rear crosses (meaning the handler changes sides for a change of direction behind the dog).

I think she's doing great, and we're having a ton of fun. She is still scared of the dogwalk - she had a pretty bad fall off of it a while ago which was ENTIRELY my fault. But climbing on things is something she's loved to do since she could crawl - she's not called "Topper" for nothing. We are taking the dogwalk slowly - just taking a few steps up the ramp and then letting her hop off - and she's very wiling to keep trying so I'm confident we'll fix that in time.

Teddy is so different. His attitude is "What do you want me to do?" All you have to do is show him what you want and he'll do his best. And he is so FAST. I think he developed the speed as a survival mechanism: his mother and sister chase him all the time and they are merciless! The main challenge Ronnie has with Ted is just planning ahead - so often Teddy lands farther out from a jump than Ronnie anticipated and it's really hard to signal early enough that Teddy has time to respond. But they're getting their act together and really starting to understand each other. Teddy is a lot more advanced in his training than his sister, and is entered in his first agility trial the first weekend of December - I don't think he's quite ready but it won't hurt anything to give it a try. He'll be fun to watch - I'll try to get some video of it.

Their mother Kinsey, who is in a more advanced class later in the evening, is doing great. She and Ronnie are a pretty well-oiled team by now. She loves the running and jumping part, and doesn't mind doing tunnels or the dogwalk or anything else... except the damn Table. That is what has kept her from qualifying in Standard - she still doesn't even have her Open title in Standard - even though in the Jumpers with Weaves class (which has no Table) she is halfway to her Masters title. She'll hop on the table OK, but then at a trial she knows that Ronnie can't touch her, and doesn't have any food on him so she seems to make a game of seeing how high she can push his blood pressure. Her expression ranges from "What is this 'Down' you speak of??? I've never heard that command before!" (picture a charmingly cocked head) to a very simple "I don't wanna, and you can't make me!" A few weekends ago she had a near perfect run in Open Standard, except it took Ronnie about 30 seconds to get her to lie down on the Table. Which of course ran them over time and they didn't qualify.

Again.

"People food"

I haven't been able to download any photos lately so I'm feeling lazy and uninspired when it comes to blogging...

BUT I'm not above glomming onto another writer's brilliance when I'm in need of blogger fodder.

This is one of the best, clearest explanations I've ever read that gives common sense guidelines to sharing a few goodies with your pets this Holiday season while still keeping them healthy. It's really not rocket science!

Thank you, YesBiscuit!

It goes back to the odd notion that there is "pet food" and then there is "people food"*. Food is food. Sure, different species have different nutritional requirements but that just boils down to different proportions of different kinds of FOOD.

We feed our dogs (and now our cat!) a homemade diet of mostly raw foods - I'll write more about that one day. But for now, remember that - in general - it's perfectly OK to give your pet a bit of whatever you're eating as long as it's a wholesome sort of food to start with.

But go read YesBiscuit!'s article. She does a better job of explaining all this.

*OK, in one way there IS a big difference between "pet food" and "people food" - pet food is mostly made from the waste products of the human food supply. Foods that are either unfit for human consumption for some reason, or are the by products or waste products or leftovers from some sort of processing. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for recycling... I just don't want to use my dogs to do it.

More bitchy talk!

Dogsdeservefreedom left a good comment on my last post, and reminded me of several things I forgot to add about managing an intact female dog.

The first, and most obvious, is that although I emphasized how important it is to keep an intact male dog at home I didn't specifically mention that about an intact female. Probably everyone reading this is already knowledgeable enough to know this already... but if not:

KEEP HER HOME TOO!!!
All the time, even if you think she's not in season. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell for sure. And basically, if your dogs run loose sometimes - for whatever reason - you absolutely MUST have them all sterilized. It's not only the responsible thing to do, but will save you lots of headaches and even lots of money in the long run!

Other points to consider:
If she is in season - if you even THINK she might be in season - then it's not just a matter of keeping male dogs away from her, but also being considerate and not taking her places where she will be an undue distraction for any male dogs. The example of taking your girl to be groomed is a good one.

Also, most training classes don't allow bitches in season to attend class - if necessary, talk to your instructor about having a private lesson or two so that you don't lose too much ground for the weeks your girl is in confinement. Or, just go to the class without your dog. That may sound weird, but that way you'll see the lessons being covered and then you can practice those same things at home. Training classes are more for teaching the PEOPLE anyway - you learn how to teach your dog to do something, but your dog actually learns that lesson best at home in a quieter environment.

At the very least, if you think she may be in season talk to your groomer or your instructor and follow their advice about if or when to bring her to them. If they say it's OK to bring her, then be sure to put diapers on her so she doesn't drip on their floor or in the class area. Be sure to keep her away from other dogs if at all possible, or at least warn other dogs' handlers that she is in season - if they have an intact male, you SURE don't want her getting too close and enticing him! And remember that SHE may be abnormally cranky toward other dogs, and even if she's normally a sweetheart she may snap at inquisitive dogs when she's in season. So keep your distance.

As for showing - bitches in season are NOT allowed to compete in any performance events. That includes obedience, agility, tracking, herding, field trials, lure coursing etc. The only AKC event that does allow a bitch in season to participate is conformation. Even though she's allowed at the show, again be considerate of other handlers while you are waiting to go in the ring. Keep her diapers on her until just before her class is called, keep her to one side and away from other dogs as much as possible, and tell other handlers that she's in season so they know to keep their dogs away. Once you're in the ring, it's a good idea to tell the judge she's in season also. Some bitches show just fine when they're in season, but some won't. She may be abnormally fearful or resistant, or not want the judge to touch her hindquarters or tail. If she "acts up", remember that in this case it really isn't a training issue. Don't scold or punish her - if she seems really unhappy just ask to be excused from the ring and keep her home until she goes out of season again. She'll be back to her normal self once she's out of season.

Is your bitch in season?

Well, is she? If you have an intact (that is, unspayed) female dog, you'd better be able to tell!  Living with a spayed female dog, or a neutered (castrated) male dog is easier than living with an intact one.  But it's perfectly possible to be a responsible pet owner, and not spay or neuter your dog.  Being a responsible pet owner - among other things - means not letting your pet breed accidentally.  Breeding dogs is something that should be done using only the best and healthiest dogs possible, and only after some thought about how to select the best possible mates, to produce the best possible puppies.  Although there is no shortage of well-bred, purpose-bred dogs; the shelters ARE full of the results of "oops" breedings.  These happen when someone's intact male dog gets loose, or someone didn't realize that their female dog was in season and didn't know how to protect her.

I have NO problem with people who don't want to spay their female dog or neuter their male dog, as long as they are willing and able to prevent accidental matings. Managing an intact dog really isn't THAT difficult. But if you're debating whether or not to spay or neuter your dog you should realize that there ARE some inconveniences involved in responsibly keeping an intact pet.

And I've talked to a lot of intelligent people lately who have had basically no idea how to properly manage an intact male or female dog.

So let's cover a few of the basics. This is doggy sex ed 101. (THAT should get a few interesting search results!!! Ha!)

Let's talk about the boys first since they really are easier. The most important thing to know about keeping an intact male dog is:

KEEP HIM HOME!!!
If he's an escape artist and digs or jumps out of your yard every now and then, or if he successfully manages to bolt out of your front door... or if you just think that it's "good" for dogs to roam free now and then - you definitely SHOULD sterilize your boy!! Even if he's just 4 or 5 months old - that is the age of puberty for many dogs!!

If you don't want to castrate him, you can have a vasectomy done on him. That way if he's really young he'll still have his testosterone for normal growth and development, but he won't be siring litters all over your neighborhood. He'll still want to roam in search of a lady friend, but at least he'll be shooting blanks.

Now, if your dog escapes or bolts out the door or runs away you ALSO need to do some training! Neutering alone won't stop all those problems. But this post is about preventing accidental breeding which is part of the responsibility of owning a pet.

Now for the girls...

Although bitches do have a bloody discharge when they're in estrus (in season or in heat) it's a completely different type of cycle from a human female's menstrual cycle.

On average, a young bitch will come into estrus the first time when she's about 5 or 6 months old, and stay in estrus for 3 weeks (about 21 days). She will repeat this approximately every six months for her entire life - bitches do NOT go through menopause.

Just like in humans, there can be a huge variation in the schedule from one dog to another. Some will have their first heat cycle as young as 4 months - others won't have their first one until they're about 18 months old. Some will have 3 estrus periods in a year, others will only have one. If you have a puppy bitch, the best predictor of when she'll first come into season and how often she'll do it thereafter is to know what her mother/aunt/grandmother's cycles were like. If you can't talk to her breeder to find out, then plan for the worst. Be ready for her to come into season the first time at about 4 months of age, and be ever vigilant after that time.

The first symptom of a bitch coming into heat is usually some swelling of her vulva. She may lick it more than usual. The vulva and the skin around it may turn pink or reddish. Then a bloody discharge will start - in some bitches this can be a heavy flow, in others it is hardly noticeable. If you think your girl might be coming into season, one quick test is to fold a clean paper tower or kleenex and dab her vulva. If you see pinkish or bloody looking spots, then she's starting to come in season.

 Some bitches also have personality changes at this time - she may be more affectionate, or more cranky. She may not tolerate other dogs very well.  I had one young bitch who became very destructive when she was in season.  Your other dogs - even females or neutered males - will be more interested in her and want to sniff her rear. She may get tired of this and start to get snippy - you may have to separate her from all other dogs while she's in season to prevent fighting.  Don't punish her for any behavior changes during this time, just don't let other dogs bother her, and don't expect her to do her normal work (training, showing etc) during this time if she doesn't seem to be willing to do it.

After a few days - up to a week or so - the bloody discharge will taper off and you'll see a clear or pinkish discharge.

This does NOT mean that she's going out of season!! Rather, she's probably about to ovulate and is entering the most fertile time of her cycle.

BUT - and I cannot emphasize this enough - unless you do hormone testing you CANNOT predict exactly when during her cycle the female is fertile.

YOU MUST KEEP HER STRICTLY AWAY FROM ALL INTACT MALE DOGS DURING HER ENTIRE HEAT CYCLE.

This means no contact from the INSTANT you even THINK she might be coming into season.

This means no contact at all - dogs CAN and HAVE managed to copulate through a chain link fence, baby gate, or during a 3 minute phone call when the owner wasn't paying attention.

This means ANY male dog - even her father, her brother, her uncle, her son. Dogs do not have sexual taboos, and do not recognize or understand the concept of "incest".

This means keep her on a leash when you take her out to potty, and don't take her off your property.  A loose running male dog can and will mate with her while she's on the end of your leash!  Only let her off lead in an absolutely securely fenced area, and even then only after you've checked to be sure no male dog has managed to get into the area. Even then, keep your eyes on her. Don't leave her unattended outside AT ALL.

This means you must keep her in the house even if she's normally an outside dog. It IS possible to build a kennel secure enough to keep out an amorous dog trying to get to a bitch in season, but it's expensive and difficult.  It MUST have a secure roof unless the walls are 8 feet high and absolutely un-climbable.  It should be enclosed within your property fencing, so there is a "buffer zone" around it.  It also must have a barrier buried around the edges to prevent a dog digging underneath.  It's much easier to just keep her inside.

This means separating her from male dogs for at least 3 FULL weeks (at least 21 days) - she may still be able to get pregnant just when you think she's going out of season.

Inside your home, her discharge may be messy.  You can keep her confined to a crate, pen or room covered with washable blankets and bedding, or you can teach her to wear a dog diaper (Seasonals are a good brand, there are lots of others) to keep her from dripping all over your house. I start teaching female puppies to wear diapers when they're 3 or 4 months old, I just put them on for a few minutes at a time when they're about to eat a meal which will distract them. Gradually increase the time they wear them, and by the time they have their first estrus cycle they won't mind wearing their "panties". Get several pairs, and wash them frequently. If your girl has a heavy flow, you'll need to put an adhesive menstrual pad inside the diaper - but be watchful that she doesn't remove it and try to eat it!! The absorbent materials in sanitary napkins can cause an intestinal blockage. Usually I find that the diaper itself provides enough protection. I change them at least twice a day.

I know this sounds like a lot, but even managing an intact bitch really isn't THAT difficult. Keep her inside and away from male dogs is really what it boils down to when it comes to preventing accidental breeding.

Do you think you're up to it?

Responsible pet ownership

There has been so much discussion lately about this everywhere, it seems. And many attempts by municipalities to legislate responsibility. But sometimes the definitions are a bit vague.

My definition of responsible pet ownership may be different from yours... here is what I believe:

A responsible pet owner

1. ...takes good care of his/her animals.
This includes all the basics like plenty of wholesome food and fresh water; appropriate medical care; plenty of exercise and socialization and clean living quarters.

2. ...is a good neighbor.
This means not letting your pets annoy, frighten or inconvenience other people and includes not letting your dogs bark excessively (and like it or not, the person who best defines "excessively" isn't you, but rather the neighbor who is trying to get some sleep); not letting your dogs or cats run loose; keeping pet waste picked up in your yard so it doesn't smell or attract flies; not letting your dogs rush the fence and bark at your neighbors when they are walking by just a few feet away.

3. ...doesn't expect the community to help take care of his/her animals.
This means planning ahead so that - barring something really catastrophic - you never have to surrender your pets to the local pound, shelter or rescue; not letting your pets breed accidentally or indiscriminately; not breeding at all unless A. you already have good homes lined up for all the offspring, B. you can give plenty of support to the new owners so the placement will be successful, and C. you can take back any offspring at any time if the home doesn't work out.

4. ...doesn't ever have so many pets that he/she can't meet the above requirements.

Notice that I DIDN'T include "a responsible pet owner spays/neuters his or her pets". That has become a major part of the responsible pet owner creed for many people but it isn't absolutely necessary. There is no doubt that it is much, much more convenient and easier for a pet owner to keep sterilized pets - especially where the requirements listed in #3 above are concerned. But if a pet owner can meet those requirements without spaying or neutering, more power to them. It IS possible, it just takes more effort and more knowledge.

Having listened to so many pet owners over the years who are totally clueless about animal reproduction ("But she's his SISTER/MOTHER, they won't mate, will they??") I do believe that the vast majority of pet owners are better off if they do spay or neuter their pets. Especially if they have pets of both genders in their home. And ANYONE who lets their pets run loose at any time MUST spay or neuter that pet, period.

But it is totally possible for a responsible pet owner to keep intact pets. That's my take on things anyway - what do you think?

Fighting Breed-Specific Legislation

"Breed-Specific Legislation" - or BSL - for those of you who don't know, refers to legislation which targets and punishes certain breeds of dogs based solely on the fact that they ARE a certain breed or look like a certain breed. It is based on the misguided notion that certain types of dogs are inherently more dangerous than any others, and so those types must be suppressed or eliminated.

And misguided it is. Yes, of course there are certain types of dogs who are more dangerous than others... large dogs for instance do usually cause more damage when they attack than small dogs do, because they are stronger. Adolescent, intact dogs are involved in more attacks on humans than puppies or old dogs, for the same reasons (youthful strength and energy, lack of life experience and raging hormones, combined with a lack of discipline) that adolescent and young adult men commit more violent crime than children or older adults. The most dangerous dogs of all, of course, are those owned by people who WANT to have a dangerous dog but are too irresponsible to be willing or able to properly manage their dogs.

But a particular breed being more dangerous? The only way to determine if a particular breed really IS more dangerous than others - based on reports of attacks on humans - is if you know the number of dogs of all the different breeds or mixes that are in a community. Then you could figure the percentage of dogs of each breed or type that are involved in serious attacks each year.

An article on dog bite prevention on the Centers for Disease Control web site states: "A CDC study on fatal dog bites lists the breeds involved in fatal attacks over 20 years (Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998). It does not identify specific breeds that are most likely to bite or kill, [emphasis mine -B] and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic. Each year, 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs. These bites result in approximately 16 fatalities; about 0.0002 percent of the total number of people bitten. These relatively few fatalities offer the only available information about breeds involved in dog bites. There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill."

A commonly given example of this is that if a study indicates that there are five bites by golden retrievers and 10 bites by pit bulls, but there are 100 retrievers in the community and 500 pit bulls, then statistically the retrievers are the breed more likely to bite.

There are many many articles on the Internet and many books out now about this. A great article I just found is on the Caveat blog. Please go read it.

Why do I care about this so much? After all, I don't own a pit bull. I care mostly because BSL is just unfair, and WRONG, and unAmerican in the most essential way possible - it is absolutely and unashamedly willing to punish the majority of innocent pet owners in order to catch a few guilty parties.

And, of course, I also care because I'm scared. I know that all it would take would be for the media to decide that Great Danes are DANGEROUS and then my dogs would be next on the chopping block. Despite their having never done anything wrong.

And that is something I cannot even bear to think about.

Breeding for Fun and Profit

A recent comment brought this topic to mind - thanks Abz! I think this is something that all owners of purebred dogs encounter at some point, but since some dogs attract more attention than others some of us run into it more than most. I'm talking about when you're out in public with your dog, and someone walks up to you and says something like "I've got a Great Dane [or whatever breed you have] too!! I've been looking to breed my dog - would you consider breeding your dog to mine?" Or words to that effect. So what do you say? What should you say? You can of course just say "No" or "Sorry, my girl is spayed". You could lie and say that your intact male has had a vasectomy (don't laugh - that procedure IS done on dogs, and may be a good alternative for sterilizing large or giant breed dogs before they are mature) (more on that later). Ideally however, this sort of situation can be used as an educational opportunity. True, much of the time - probably most of time - your words will fall on deaf ears. But if you can educate even 1 out of 10, that's a good thing. And you never know when you may be planting seeds of doubt in one or more of those other 9. You can talk about all the big reasons that they shouldn't breed their dog - especially if they have thoughts of creating the latest new "designer" mix. How difficult it can be to find really good homes. How many dogs of this breed turn up in shelters and rescues every year, and how likely it is - ESPECIALLY if the pups aren't registered purebreds - that their pups will also wind up in a shelter or rescue. However, you will probably see that their eyes start to glaze over as soon as you start talking about "The Big Picture". So make it personal. Figure out the motivation of the wanna-be breeder and address that, specifically. The motivation is usually either sentiment or profit. Is it sentiment? They think their dog is absolutely the greatest thing EVER and want to have another just like him/her? Or "all our friends want a pup out of our dog"? These can actually be the most difficult to talk out of breeding their dog. You can tell them that siblings are usually more similar to one another than parents are to offspring, so if they want another dog like the one they've got the best thing to do might be to go back to the breeder and get a sibling or half sibling. As for friends wanting a puppy - the same recommendation would hold true. Getting a sibling to your dog will be more likely to be similar to your dog than a puppy from it would be. But also tell them that friends who want a puppy have a way of evaporating once the litter is actually here. Maybe they've lost a job, or are having to move. Maybe they didn't wait, and got another puppy already somewhere else. Or maybe they've just changed their mind. And what if you've got, say, 4 friends who want a puppy but you have a litter of 10? Appeal to their sentiment, to their love for their dog - they wouldn't want to see any of their dog's babies in a shelter if something like that happened and they couldn't find homes for all the pups, would they? If you can tell you aren't making an impression with this argument, the next best thing you can do is talk about health. Start with keeping their own dog safe - males can catch venereal diseases, and can be seriously injured by a female who decides she's not "in the mood" or just takes a dislike to the guy. And of course, there is a whole list of awful things that can happen to the female. If the breeder isn't well informed and knows what signs of trouble to watch for, tragedy can strike and you can lose not only all the puppies but the mother too. If they still want to breed their dog, they will want to be sure they produce healthy puppies of course! Especially if all their friends get one - imagine the trouble if you sold puppies to all your friends and the pups turn out to have some sort of genetic disorder that crops up in a few years. You can talk to them about health testing, to try to prevent this sort of disaster. Sometimes once they understand all the possible health issues it will give them pause, and start them re-thinking the whole "Oh boy, let's have puppies" scenario. Explain that Brucellosis is a nasty venereal disease that CAN be picked up in dog parks and other places where dogs congregate - so even if both dogs are virgins they still need to be tested for it. Hip X-rays are necessary to rule out hip dysplasia with almost all breeds. Many breeds have heart issues and need cardiac screenings. There are other tests that are recommended for various breeds of dog - you can check the parent club web site (that will usually be The [insert breed name] Club of America or something similar) or the web site for the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals to see what is recommended for any particular breed. For Great Danes, the recommendation - at minimum - is to check hips, heart, eyes and thyroid. But what if the motivation is making a few bucks? These people can sometimes actually be easier to dissuade. Because the truth is, if you do the health testing you SHOULD do, and provide all the care that the mother and the pups will need until the pups are 8 weeks old, it's damn hard to break even, much less make a profit. You can start by explaining the same health testing recommendations. OFA hip screenings; thyroid, heart and eye screenings; and a Brucellosis test can all easily come to $500 or more. $250 or $300 minimum if you get a deal from your vet, and get some screenings done at dog shows where they often offer a discount on these things. (They can do screenings at a discount at shows because the kennel club hosting the show will get a specialist to come in for a whole day, and he/she will sit there and check eyes or hearts or whatever all day long.) The health tests need to be done on both parents, obviously. And for the stud owner, the cost of the health testing will take a whopping chunk out of the stud fee. For the bitch owner, the expenses are just beginning. You'll have the stud fee - this can range from half the cost of one puppy (typical with unproven sires) to the whole cost of a puppy, or even the pick of the litter. Or more. If the mother has trouble whelping (giving birth) she may need a C-section. This is an expensive surgery anyway - add to the cost the fact that it almost ALWAYS happens in the middle of the night requiring a visit to an expensive emergency clinic, and that C-section surgery can easily cost $1000 or more for a large dog. But the real kicker - especially with large or giant breed puppies - is FOOD!! With a large litter, the mother may double or even triple her food intake for the first 2 or 3 weeks until the pups start eating some mush on their own. And it is absolutely shocking how much puppies will eat from the time they are 3 or 4 weeks old, until you sell them at 8 weeks. By the time they are 6 or 7 weeks old, each PUPPY will be eating at least as much as a sedentary adult dog. This is why many uneducated breeders - whether they produced the litter accidentally, or did so with the thought of making some money - become absolutely desperate to get rid of the pups. Every day they keep the little monsters, they see their profit margin shrinking and going into the red. This is also why some breeders try to sell pups at 5 or 6 weeks old - fortunately this is actually illegal in many places. Even though pups at that age are usually eating "solid" food they still need their mother and littermates to teach them manners, bite inhibition, how to relate normally with other dogs, and other vital life lessons. So NEVER EVER take home a pup who is less than 7 weeks old, MINIMUM!! Just as an example of the costs involved, here's the breakdown from our last litter. I am NOT including show expenses in this, since showing is a hobby for us and we do it whether or not we're planning to breed the dog someday. But on the other hand, we WOULDN'T breed a dog who wasn't good enough to at least be competitive in the show/obedience/agility ring. And, of course, "show quality" puppies are worth more (or should be worth more, keep reading) than pups from parents who haven't been shown or can't be shown. So if I really wanted to horrify you, I could include those expenses! Ha! - Health testing $500 OFA, thyroid, heart, eye, Brucellosis - Breeding costs $750 Progesterone tests (to pinpoint ovulation) and stud fee - Whelping costs $1250 Whelpwise service and C-section I need to write a post on Whelpwise, they are AMAZING and are the main reason ALL of Kinsey's puppies arrived safe and healthy. And as for the C-section, fortunately this was done by my trusted regular vet, and not after hours - Extra dog food $500 This is for the lactating bitch and 5 growing pups to 9 weeks of age. This is a pure guess, and is probably REALLY low. Honestly I have no idea how much it was. It was easily double the normal food bill for our crew for those 2 months or so. We didn't sell Gus until he was 4 or 5 months old, so if you include HIS extra food bill, it would be a lot more than that!! - Deworming, puppy exams and vaccinations $300 - Ear crops $1000 Obviously this is optional, and controversial. But very common with show puppies. - Taking 2+ weeks unpaid leave from work $1300 Theoretically this is optional too. There are LOTS of very responsible breeders who don't (because they can't) take off more than a day or two when they have a litter. And of course, someone who works from home or at home wouldn't have a pay cut for being there. At the time I was just working part time, but I couldn't bear to NOT stay home with them. So I did! I've forgotten lots of things, and had to guess on others. I actually DID keep excellent records but a disastrous and total hard drive crash about a year after the pups were born lost all of that. It's a hard lesson: MAKE BACK UPS! But the total of the expenses above is $5600. Now this may shock some of you, but with many breeds an actual, "bona fide" show quality puppy - i.e. one or both parents are actually show Champions or at least have show points, and the puppy gives every indication of maturing into an individual who will also be able to win in shows - actually isn't that expensive. No more expensive than puppies sold at pet stores who come from puppy mills, or puppies sold on anonymous web sites from kennels who don't show their dogs, and may or may not be puppy mills. It's more DIFFICULT to get a puppy from a reputable breeder because they CARE about their pups, but that's a different story. But the truth is that supply and demand control the price of show puppies just like everything else. In our area, fawn and brindle show pups sold at that time for about $1200. But that still sounds like a lot, right? So, sale of 3 pups: $3600 Our net loss was at least $2000. All of a sudden, that $1200 for a puppy doesn't sound like so much, does it? And bear in mind that - other than needing a C-section - this was an "easy" litter. The mother had no health problems during pregnancy, and all the pups not only survived but were robustly healthy.

But so many things can go wrong, and if your goal is making a profit you can easily wind up in the hole, financially. If the mother gets an infection at some point, or if you have a sick puppy you can easily spend additional hundreds or thousands of dollars in veterinary care. Worst case scenario is when most or all of the pups die - maybe the mother too - and you have absolutely nothing to show for the experience.

In our case, if we'd sold all 5 pups we would have made a "profit" of $400. For several months of hard work and sleepless nights. Woo-hoo. But of course the whole plan for us all along was to keep at least one pup for ourselves. Sure, we could have made more if Kinsey had had more than 5 pups that we could have sold, or if she hadn't needed a C-section... if, if, if. It IS possible to break even or even make a decent profit on a litter WITHOUT cutting corners if you're lucky. That is, if you don't pay yourself for your time - raising a litter properly is unbelievably time consuming and if we "paid" ourselves for that time there would never be a way to break even. Of course, we don't look at it that way. We got 5 wonderful, wonderful dogs from this litter. They just turned 3. Three of them have finished their AKC Championships, and one only needs her major points. Two of them have obedience titles. Two are in agility training and will start showing in agility soon. We've made some wonderful new friends because of them. And ALL of them are sweet, and stable, and funny and smart and beautiful and totally loved by their owners. So by all the standards that really matter, we hit the frickin' MULTI STATE LOTTO JACKPOT with this litter. And we'll try to do it again as soon as we can afford to :-) But anyway, back to the original topic - I hope this gives you all some talking points the next time someone approaches you and asks you about breeding their dog to your dog. Assuming you want to expend your time and energy on what may be a waste of your time, what will YOU say?

Poop happens!

I don't know why I was thinking about this today - fortunately none of our crew is having any gastrointestinal issues - but a common issue with dogs is some variety of loose stools. This can be caused by stress, a change in routine, or a change in diet as well as by parasites or illness.

For mild cases, sometimes the best remedy is to skip a meal. Let the GI tract rest and recuperate. Don't do this with puppies under 6 months, elderly dogs, dogs with chronic severe illness, or pregnant/lactating bitches.

Adding plain canned pumpkin to the dog's food (not pumpkin pie filling which contains spices and sugar) can help - the fiber tends to "clean out" the digestive tract and may help sweep away irritants. A plain baked or boiled potato often works to settle an upset system. The latest and greatest remedy is Activia yogurt - you can find this plain, in large tubs.

If the diarrhea is severe, if it persists more than a day or two despite the above remedies, or if the dog seems to not feel well - take him/her to your vet! Something serious may be going on. Diarrhea in puppies and elderly dogs is always a cause for immediate action - they can become dehydrated quickly and this can be life threatening situation.

As for clean up in your yard when Fido has the cow pattie poops, try sprinkling some clumping cat litter on the mess. After a few minutes you should be able to pick most of it up. While just using the hose and washing it into the ground is tempting, make sure your dog doesn't have any parasites before you do this. You don't want to infest your yard!!

Speaking of poop pick up, Dr. Khuly at Dolittler has an interesting article today. She's always interesting, and has one of my favorite pet blogs.

Great Dane Fun Day!

I know I don't have very many readers here, and you all are scattered all over the country. But - for anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, here is an announcement for a Great Dane Fun Day this Sunday, sponsored by the Great Dane Club of Greater Dallas:
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You (and your Dane!) are invited to a Great Dane Fun Day! It is this Sunday, at Bob Woodruff park in Plano. This is not only an opportunity to get out with your dog or puppy and have a fun day, but also you'll have a chance to find out about and try out various fun events with your dog!

We'll have information about all sorts of Dane topics and health issues; demonstrations and run throughs for all levels of Obedience; demonstrations and practice for Rally obedience; a CGC test; a conformation handling seminar; a conformation match; a great Raffle of Dane-related items; and last but not least GREAT FOOD!!

**Your Dane does NOT have to be registered to participate!**

The flyer info is copied below - feel free to print it out and distribute it if you wish. Please feel free to cross post this message to anyone interested in Great Danes.

We hope to see you all there!! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Barb
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Great Dane Fun Day

Sunday, September 21, 2008
9:00am

Sponsored by the Great Dane Club of Greater Dallas

Are you interested in learning about fun activities and events you can enjoy with your Dane? Do you have a puppy that you want to socialize? Or do you just want to come out with your Dane, meet other Dane lovers and their dogs, and have a GREAT Dane Day!!

We are having:

- An Obedience Demo and Show & Go
- A Rally Obedience Demo & Practice
- A Canine Good Citizen Test (For the CGC only, dogs must be 6 months old, and must have proof of Rabies vaccination.)
- A Handling seminar by Steve Arnold
- A Sanctioned B AKC Conformation Match (Great Danes Only)
- A Pot Luck Picnic following the Match
- A RAFFLE with Dane-appropriate gifts!!

Community Park Bob Woodruff Park
2601 San Gabriel Drive
Plano TX, 75074
Directions to the Fun Day TX 75 to E Parker Rd (east)
South (right) on San Gabriel to Park

Conformation Match entries: $5.00 (entries taken day of Match. Match starts at 11:00)

CGC Test: $5.00 (must have current Rabies vaccination certificate with you day of test, and the dog must be at least 6 months old)

Come and enjoy all the Great Dane Activities!!!

Teddy the cuddly

Ronnie just mentioned that he might have trouble getting to sleep tonight. I hadn't gone to bed yet so looked in the bedroom to see what he was talking about. Teddy is curled up next to him, with his head on Ronnie's arm. I mean, curled up CLOSE so if Ronnie moves or rolls over he'll probably fall out of bed. It's very touching (no pun intended) but uncomfortable.

But that's the way a lot of Danes are - they really, REALLY like to be near their people. That doesn't necessarily mean they have to sleep in your bed - in fact, I'll cold heartedly make Teddy get off the bed when I go in there. (I'm such a bitch!)

But they DO need to feel that they're part of the family. If you've ever tried to buy a Dane puppy from a reputable breeder, or tried to adopt one from a reputable Rescue and wondered "why am I getting the third degree here?" - that's why. They know what it takes to keep a Dane healthy and happy, and go to great lengths to be sure that they get put with families who will not only love the dog, but really spend a lot of time with it.

A lonely Dane is a neurotic Dane!

Random shots

Since the planets have aligned, and our computer AND external hard drive AND scanners are all working and talking to each other, I thought I'd better take the opportunity to post some photos that have been taken over the past few months. Enjoy!

First, some photos of our stripey girl Topper since she's had to take a back seat to her brothers lately:

Here she is in the ring last March. The lovely fawn girl behind her is "Jazz", aka Calypso's Born to Hand Jive, owned and handled by our mentor Vicki Monson.

Here's a side view:

On the more casual side, here's a photo of Gus relaxing at his home - Topper does this same thing, lying on her right hip but with the left side of her head on the bed, or vice versa.

Here Ronnie is getting some sugar from Teddy while they wait with Gus for their Brace class in Tulsa last fall.

And here are some pictures of Keeper...

Front,

Side,

... and airborne! This is a still from my video camera. I have no idea what he was looking at, but he is a very springy dog!

Runs in the family

I'm going to try to get some updates done while I can... our new laptop will have to go to the Computer Doctor in a few days but for once it's not the machine's fault... the poor laptop got stepped on! The screen is cracked but the computer still works, so for now the laptop is a desktop - hooked up to a monitor.

But I do have pictures! First off, some big news... Teddy finished his AKC Championship weekend before last. Once he got going, he won every weekend we had him out in June/July and finished in a hurry! There is a photo collage taken by Jax Show Pix (new venture started by the son of a friend of ours) on the "2008 Updates" page of the web site.

But Teddy also has some non-show news... last spring he was selected to do a photo for JCPenney! His mother and brother have both done some commercial work, hence the title of this entry. I think it was just a sale circular but we still had fun, and Teddy was sooooo good! Even though it was a VERY long day - the first model called in sick that morning and the second model they found couldn't come until afternoon. So we just hung around until he showed up and watched the set decorators and photographer and director and all do their thing. But since it was at a house in a very swanky part of Dallas it wasn't too rough! At one point I put Teddy up on the porch where he'd have to be for the photo just to get him used to it, and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of him:

He got lots of attention:

He was very calm...

Even when the crew members were moving big screens all around him (I was about 15 feet away all this time):

He did perk up when some of the crew started playing basketball on the private court - but he still stayed! I love this picture:

Catching up

The house remodeling continues, but I think we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I think it's time for another pet-related post!! Enough of the stupid house (except... House, if you're listening, I am just kidding! Hahahaha).

We're focusing on Agility with the dogs this summer - which may not be the most brilliant thing to do this time of year, given our blistering Texas summers. But Teddy and Kinsey's classes are at night, and Topper's is early in the morning so we're all good. Topper has just finished Beginner Agility and she's doing great. And - as I fully expected - she LOVES loves loves climbing on things. The A-frame, the dogwalk... we haven't trained on the big teeter yet but she's eyeing it too. Actually, when they were little bitty I set a tiny teeter out for the pups to play on, and they loved to just walk down the length of it and make it tip - then they'd turn around and walk to the other end. Back and forth - the therapist in me was thinking "that vestibular stimulation must be good for them!" But Topper has always been a climber.

On the other hand, her brother Teddy is a RUNNER. By Golly that dog is fast... he probably honed his speed trying to get away from his mom and his sister who pick on him constantly. He's got a really long stride too. Ronnie is working with him - no way I can keep up with THAT! - and even he is having to really think 2 or 3 obstacles ahead or else Teddy just gets past him. Teddy seems to really enjoy Agility - but then again he's always been a happy boy.

Speaking of Teddy, he tried to follow in his big brother Keeper's footsteps by injuring himself the day we were leaving for the Oklahoma City shows (see this). Nothing nearly so drastic though - but it was equally puzzling. He was outside for literally no more than 10 or 15 minutes, and came in with a small puncture/tear just behind his right shoulder. It looked like he caught himself on a nail somewhere, but we don't have any protruding nails out there. Anyway, a quick trip to the vet, some surgical glue and antibiotics and he was good to go. Hopefully anyway - there was always the possibility that he'd be a bit sore there and wouldn't be able to be shown. But he's doing fine! In fact, today he went Winner's Dog for his first Major!

And last but not least, it appears that our catless days are over. I have had cats literally all my life, even before my first dog. But my last cat passed away a few years ago at the age of 20 or so, and since then we've just been really busy with the dogs. I knew the right cat would come along at some point - and I knew Ronnie would have to really be in on it too. He will tell you that he's not really a cat person but he can sure fall in love with "the right cat". So a month or so ago he started making friends with a pretty little black and white cat outside. I hadn't seen her before, and she's in very good shape and very friendly - I wouldn't be surprised if someone had moved away and abandoned her. She obviously hasn't been a stray for long. We're introducing her to the dogs slowly - they're doing OK but Teddy and Topper in particular have never lived with a cat, and they are FASCINATED. Fortunately she is very calm around the dogs. She's still living mostly outside, but as soon as we're sure we can keep her safely away from the dogs when we're not here to supervise we'll move her permanently indoors.

Oh, and her name? Ronnie started calling her "Zeebee" and I asked what that meant. He said "what animal is black and white?" I said, "a zebra". He grinned sheepishly and said, well, "Z.B. stands for zebra". For some reason I think that's hilarious. It probably loses something in the translation though. But anyway, I'll post some pics of the Danes and Zeebee (ZB? ZiBi? How the hell do I spell that?) soon.

Is there a light in this tunnel?

The Good News: Our new windows are installed, the hardwood floors are all refinished, the interior painting is aaaaaaaalmost finished, and they finally managed to find a stain for the new wood panels in our den to match the old panels. Oh, and we've been showing Teddy and he's gotten a few more points toward his Championship!
The Bad News: Maybe 10% of the crap we have is in its rightful place... most of it is still piled on the floor or in the garage or out on the deck. Since the new windows are bigger than the old ones there isn't a window treatment in sight and we're relying on the ever-so-tasteful Hanging Bedsheet collection to avoid flashing the neighbors. And this week, the workers have been working in our only bathroom so the shower curtain is down and I'm really, really tired of washing my hair in the tub! That, and tired of not being able to find ANYTHING. Also, I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago and then nearly ripped my big toenail off (same foot).
Excuse the pity party - things are really going quite well. But this is why I've been so absent lately. Hope things are going well with all of you!

Casa Symmetry getting a facelift - Part II

Things are continuing to progress around here... or degress, (is that even a word?? I'm not sure). I haven't posted any more pics because we've emptied out the office and only have one computer (the one Ronnie uses for work) hooked up and all my pics are on the other hard drive. Or still on the camera, but I don't want to put them on Ronnie's work machine. AND it just took me forever to log onto Blogger for some reason...

But they've about finished painting the hall and both bedrooms - there is some touch up that will be done after the floors are done. They'll start on the floors tomorrow... NO MORE CARPET Hoooooorrrrraaaaayyyyyy!!

There was an unbelievable amount of CRAP in the middle bedroom/office!! The dining room (where I'm typing this now) and the living room are completely full of the stuff we cleared out of there! The only thing still in our bedroom is our bed, we'll take that out early tomorrow morning before the flooring guys come and I have no idea where we'll put it. We've already got some clothes hanging out on the deck, perhaps we'll complete the white trash effect by putting the bed out there!! LOL
They're also starting on the windows - they tore out the big front windows and the big ones in the den today, and put up plywood for the night. High living, indeed!! But don't worry, I'm taking pics of EVERYTHING... It's absolutely horrible right now, but it sure will be nice when it's done!!
I gotta say... if I was going to go through something like this with anyone, I'm sure glad it's Ronnie!! He's been so wonderful, easy going and just nice to be around with all this. Now if I can just get him to get rid of some of his stuff... But I did hear him say that he liked the way the rooms look empty, and wants to get a more clean or spare look. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll remember that, and clear some s*** outta here!!

I'm going to stay with our friend Karen for a few days while they finish the bedroom floors - and am taking two of the girls with me. Teddy will go to stay at his brother Buck's house for a few days - this will make things a lot easier at home, with just Aeryn and little Sport and Ronnie. They'll be pretty cramped for space since they won't be able to get into either bedroom at all while the stain and sealant are drying.

Casa Symmetry getting a facelift - Part I

I may (or may not) have mentioned this before, but we are doing some much-needed repairs on the ol' homestead. We've got a good contractor and things are rolling along pretty smoothly but, as anyone who has gone through this knows, it's still been an upheaval. And part of my excuse for still not posting as often as I'd like to. (The other part being that I'm lazy but the "too busy because of all the home repair" thing sounds SO much better, doncha think??)

We're in Week 4 or 5 now - I've sort of lost track. So far, we've had the foundation repaired but I didn't get any pictures of that. BUT - taaaaaa daaaaaaa - I have downloaded the pics from our new camera! So have lots and lots of catching up photos to do, and I assure you most of them are of the dogs. But we'll stick to one topic for now (HA) and I'll show you some of the changes around here so far (WARNING this will probably be really really boring for those of you who don't actually know us, or haven't been to our house before):

We've got a tiny little garage, but knowing that we'd have to be storing some furniture in there for a few weeks, the first step was to clean it out!! Very Spring Cleaning-esque, I think.

It is just amazing how much crap you can get into a "tiny" garage! And I was able to park my car in there, too!! Sort of... it looked a bit like those Public Storage commercials where the car is shoehorned in amongst the "stuff".

And LOOK!! It's EMPTY!! Remember this, as you'll see soon this only lasted a few days. Can't park in there now! But as God is my witness, I'll park inside my garage again one day!

After the foundation work, they painted the exterior and we got a new garage door!!

And it IS exciting, when you consider what our old garage door looked like:

Meanwhile, we had scheduled repairs to the wall in our den. There was some old water damage from several years ago but the contractor we had at that time was an idiot and the work never got done. We thought it would be a fairly minor repair, just replacing a few of the panels...

WARNING - the following images may be disturbing to sensitive viewers!

Here's what they found when they started pulling the panels off the wall:

The damage went straight down into the floor - good thing we were planning to replace the flooring anyway!
But by the next day the cleanup was finished, the floor was patched:
And the new boards were going up - they did a great job matching wood panels that are probably 25 years old. Once they're stained no one will ever know the difference! Well, except for ya'll!

More to come....

Too smart, or....

I have come to realize that since I'm not a very good writer, I tend to rely pretty heavily (OK, very heavily) on pictures for this blog. And although the new computer is up and running and doing great, neither of our scanners will work - hopefully it's not a Windows Vista incompatibility issue but something simple. And although we've got a lovely new camera (Canon digital Rebel xti - LOVE, love, love it!! And it uses the lenses from our old 35mm Rebel) and it has several hundred pictures on it from the last few months I haven't downloaded any of them yet. Also (details details) haven't downloaded the software needed to download the pictures.

So I'm pretty photoless at the moment and THAT is my excuse for not making any entries in so long. Even though there has been lots of stuff to write about - once I start catching up, watch out!

But I had a good news/bad news experience today and was thinking it would make a good story so here goes.

To start off, I have a new car!! Actually it's just new to me - a 2007 Toyota Rav4. I never buy new cars, it just seems to make so much more sense to buy well maintained used ones. And then I keep them forever. In over 30 years of driving, this is only the 5th car I've had. It's the 3rd Toyota and the other 2 were Hondas, and this probably explains why I've been able to put over 240,000 miles on each one and enjoyed every minute of it.

Anyway, I've had this car for about 2 weeks and it's fabulous. I can't recommend one highly enough, if you're looking for a combination good dog car/good city car. I am a home health therapist which means I drive to my patient's homes so I drive a LOT for work. And at least twice a week I am taking one or more Great Danes to a class, or a vet appointment or something so I need a good dog car too. Plus it's really comfy and well, just cool.

Until this morning... I left the house and was headed to my first patient, and was planning to stop and get some gas since I was running on fumes. Then as I'm tooling down the highway the Check Engine light came on!! And the Traction Control light!! And some other damn light, I think it had something to do with the anti-lock brakes but I'm not sure... and the Cruise Control quit working!!

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

I was freaking out - this would be an alarming situation anyway but in a car you've just bought it's really scary. I got the car "vetted" at a mechanic before I bought it but what if they'd missed something?? I've always had wonderful luck with used cars - what if my luck has run out???

ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(sidebar: oh look... instead of pictures apparently I'm inserting capitalized exclamations).

The car seemed to be running OK otherwise. My brain started to function again and I remembered that my brother had recommended the service department of a Toyota dealership which happened to be not too far from where I was.

I remembered this mostly because I was so surprised at the time... you see, my brother hates car dealers.

Hates them.

HATES, hates, hates hates them. You have NO idea if you don't know him. He's been buying and selling cars since he was 16 and long before the days of Edmunds.com (my personal Bible for researching and pricing cars) has been a ruthless negotiator and feels that all car dealers are scum. So for him to actually recommend a dealer is high praise indeed.

Problem was, I didn't remember the name of the dealer or exactly where it was. I called my brother's cell phone but had to leave a message. But I did reach my sister in law and asked her about it without going into details (I was still driving at the time and didn't want to start crying or something) and she told me. (It's Don Davis Toyota in Arlington TX if you're interested).

So I found it, and pulled into the service department. By now I'm really driving on fumes but had been afraid to pull into a gas station in case the car wouldn't start again!

The guy I talked to was great. The very first thing he mentioned when I told him my tale of woe was to ask if the gas cap was on tight. It was. Apparently a loose gas cap can freak out the computer and cause this sort of thing.

(Now we're finally getting to the title of this post... it's a Smart Car, get it?)

Fortunately it's still under warranty, so he said they'd check it out and would I have a seat in the waiting room.

Also fortunately, they had a couple of fairly recent issues of Time magazine there so I am now MUCH more up on current events than I was, say, this morning. For example, I now know where Darfur is (just south of Egypt, next to Sudan which is also just south of Egypt.)

I feel I'm ready for Jeopardy! Or Cash Cab, at least.

Anyway, fast forward TWO PLUS HOURS while I'm expanding my knowledge. The service guy comes in and asks me to come into his office.

Oh-oh. Oh crap.

But it's OK! Apparently, sometimes when the vehicle is really REALLY low on gas it can trigger the same kind of fit that a loose gas cap does. But although they'd heard of it, they hadn't ever actually seen that happen before so they had done a complete diagnostic. Top to bottom, inside and out and upside and down. And they found NOTHING WRONG. His exact words were "Your car is in great shape".

His next words were "You need to put some gas in it". and then they didn't charge me a dime.

So, bad news: A scary start to the day, and a shot schedule...
But, good news: My car is in GREAT SHAPE!!

I am willing to take the good news! Wheeeeeeeeeee!

And yes, I did put gas in it and will resist the urge to let it run on fumes in the future!

But as Ronnie said when I told him about this "It doesn't sound so smart to me!"

Still here....

I do apologize... the new computer is working just swell but neither of our TWO scanners is working! I haven't had time to mess with it, so still no show pics to share. We did get a lovely new camera - finally got a digital SLR, a Canon Rebel XTi which can use all the lenses from our old 35 mm Canon Rebel. As soon as I get through the instruction manual I'll start downloading pictures from it... I know, excuses excuses!! Having to earn a living is really cutting into my photo sharing and blogging time! It's a bitch!

But, speaking of bitches... Kinsey is still rockin' She just turned 6 years old - well into middle age for a Dane - and to celebrate she got her second "leg" (qualifying score) in Excellent Agility Jumpers With Weaves last weekend! A first place in her class to boot, with a blazing time 11 seconds under the Course time!!

Pictures will, eventually, appear. I do promise!

Where has the time gone?

Aaaaak! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted here! Between the computer finally, well and truly, turning-its-toes-up-and-REALLY dying and a lot of work related stuff I've just been away too long.

But boy oh boy do I have NEWS!! We have our first two home-bred AKC Champions! Keeper finished his Championship on January 5 and his brother Gus finished his just a week later, on January 13. It's amazing to finish two dogs in one year - but for it to happen within a few days of each other, and to LITTERMATES is just overwhelming.

I'm still grinning from ear to ear, as you can imagine... photos will appear ASAP.

More brace pics

I've been playing with some of the other video I took in Tulsa a few weeks ago, and here are a couple of stills I clipped out of Gus, Teddy and Ronnie showing in Brace. I guess - since Teddy and Gus are very, very similar in size and angles and overall build - that it shouldn't be surprising that they move together so nicely.
But I still think this looks very, very cool! You have to look closely to even see that there are two dogs in the shot above.I don't usually post photos taken of show wins on this blog, but I'm posting this one because I really like the expressions on both dogs. Pretty boys, if I say so myself!

I've got some catching up to do!

I'm still here! In fact, we're doing great and have had a very good time for the past few week. Show result updates are on our web site. We had several canine visitors last week while their owners (friends of ours) were out of town for Thanksgiving. Liam is a lovely "little" yellow Lab who enjoyed bringing in the mail and the paper every day.

As Ronnie said, "Everyone should have a dog like that!"

Gus was here for a few days too. He - along with his 3 brothers - is turning into such an affectionate dog. His owner really misses him when he's gone - even though she knows he has a good time at our house - and that just makes me feel good.

I mean- I'm not glad that she's missing him, but I am SO glad that she loves him so much! That is absolutely the very BEST thing that a breeder could ever hope for, and it's the #1 thing that I'm thankful for at this season of thanks.

Great Danes, Retrievers, and Babies - Oh, My!

Just got back from a wonderful trip to Pennsylvania to visit Chantel & Stacey, our longtime friends. They used to live just down the street from us, but moved to PA last January. We've missed them terribly... they're not only terrific people, but we have so many interests in common. Primarily, of course, Great Danes and showing dogs. They used to come over to visit with their dogs all the time as I described in this post and this one.

But I finally got a chance to go visit them in their new digs, and best of all FINALLY got to meet their newest family member, a beautiful little girl born last spring!

Now, I am not a "baby" person. Meaning, I'm not one of those women who coos over every baby she sees, and I've never had any desire to have one of my own. But this little girl had me charmed from the start - she's just as friendly as her parents, and they've obviously done a great job of socializing her (hahaha) because she's really game for anything.

Here are a few pics of me with this little two-legged pup, and her four-legged family members:

Their Dane, Tiger, really likes her, and seems to see himself as her guardian. He likes to be nearby wherever she is. The Flat Coat Retriever, Oakley, is her buddy and they absolutely love each other. The Golden, Jack, thinks it's all a lot of nonsense PLUS he doesn't really like having his picture taken so he's practically rolling his eyes in all the photos.

We had a lovely time - Pennsylvania is a gorgeous state and we did some sightseeing. We went to the Lehigh Valley Zoo of which Stacey is the Executive Director ... it's a small but lovely zoo, and if you're in the area I highly recommend it. We went into Philly for some sightseeing too - I'll post more about that next.

Brace Group One video!

This will be my last post for a few days, so I wanted to get some of the video I took in Tulsa up before I leave. I apologize for the lack of editing - when I get back I'll trim it and put up some other video that I like even better. But this is a good start!

This was taken on Friday, November 2 for the Brace Working Group competition. As you can see, Gus and Teddy were absolutely wonderful but it's still a challenge for Ronnie to steer them! Left turns are especially tricky :-)

And I think the boys deserve extra special kudos because we found out later that the Akita brace behind them were both bitches... who were both in season!!

Tulsa!!

We got back from a 3-day show weekend in Tulsa late Sunday night, and I'm still playing catch-up.

But what a weekend it was!! We took our two "pups" Topper and Teddy, along with their brother Gus who belongs to some dear friends of ours. And their other brother Keeper was there with his owner. All 4 were entered in conformation classes all 3 days, plus Keeper was entered in obedience. PLUS, Gus and Teddy (who are practically identical fawn boys) were entered in a special Brace class that was offered all 3 days. In Brace, you have 2 dogs with one handler - the dogs should work side by side, on the handler's left. I thought my hubby was pretty brave to attempt this with two young male Danes - who together weigh over 300 lbs. and could probably pull a beer wagon.

But it all worked out great! Keeper was the star, he got his second Major win on Saturday and a Reserve (no points, it's basically a runner-up thing) on Sunday. Best of all, he finished his Companion Dog obedience title! Now he is:

Symmetry's No Vrroom At the Inn, RN, CD

Topper didn't get any points, but got two Reserves. Her turn will come soon, I'm sure.

And Gus and Ted were a HUGE hit!! It is very impressive to see a Great Dane brace - they were a crowd favorite for sure. One day the judge even applauded them as they came into the ring! And all the judges had funny comments along the line of "You are a brave man" or "It's sure a good thing they get along!" :-) And they won BEST BRACE IN SHOW Friday and Saturday!! (And yes, they did have competition for it!)

I did get lots of photos and videos, fear not. But I'm leaving town again Thursday to visit some dear-but-far-away friends and I may not have time to upload them before I leave. If not, I'll have lots to post when I get back!

Promises, Promises

I won't be posting anything for a few days since we'll be at a show... but I PROMISE I'll have some good stuff when we get back. Hoping for a win of course, but the main thing I'm looking forward to is Ronnie showing Gus and Teddy in Brace.

This is where you have two dogs with one handler...

Two. happy. young. Great. Danes. with. ONE. handler.

I can't wait (especially since I'M not the handler!!)

Don't worry, I'm taking the new video camera! :-)

In the meantime, bear with me while I show you how cute Kinsey is:

She's not scratching her ears, she just sleeps like that.

"Why did you wake me up?"

But sometimes she is more regal, like when she's on the lounge chair on the deck watching the younger dogs play:

I think her son Teddy does "cute" very well also:

More photos from the National!

The GDCA National Specialty is over for another year, but for those of you (like me!!) who didn't get to go and who are in a snit sad about that... here is another web site with great photos!

The Heart of Minnesota Great Dane Club web site has a lot of great photos up, and more will be posted over the next several days, thanks to the efforts of a couple of terrific people (Zeli Schulte and Mary Ann Land).

Also, Sandy Hann at Von Shrado Great Danes has several pages of great photos that make you feel like you're there!

Enjoy!

I've got a new toy!

Slowly but surely we (meaning me) are entering the DIGITAL AGE, and I got me a new camcorder! Do I hear collective groans from the audience? Well, you probably should be groaning because...

TAA-DAA!

Here is my first attempt at posting a video:

This is Keeper opening our patio door.

Breathtaking video, isn't it? :-)

He learned this trick from his mother Kinsey (or possibly he learned it the same way she did, from watching us open it). But whereas Kinsey gently noses it just far enough open to let her through, Keeper opens it much faster and he usually gives the door a giant push that opens it about halfway. The only reason he's more cautious here is that I'm standing right there, telling him not to come out!