St Patty's Day

The College pups and their Mom had a fun but relatively uneventful St Patrick's Day. Queezle took a long spin around the backyard enjoying the sun and avoiding her responsibilities for a bit. She is hoping her sun glasses fooled the paparazzi. She doesn't want any shots appearing that show her post pregnancy/nursing figure.

Black Boy volunteered for the hat shot - basically he was in the biggest milk induced torpor so we figured he would stay still :)

Green Boy started off the day hoping to launch his career as an "Irish tenor". Sadly, he appears to be an upstate NY soprano - off key at that.

Yellow Boy was "over the wall" and heading for the study to set up his own Facebook page while I was getting Queezle fresh water. This new generation is very "social aware".

This has been a vocal day - from moans, grunts and mild growls to suddenly having tough growls, a few barks and the howling attempts. I assume the ears are all open and working which has stimulated this noise making. This does not bode well for a quiet night!

Thursday update

Closing in on the one week mark for the pups - they were born last Friday night starting about 7:30 or so - Kate has the times somewhere.

This morning's color scheme for the whelping box is plaid. Apparently Queezle likes this better than the stark white modern look.

I will put a plug in here for the pads we use. I got them from a company in Wisconsin. http://www.odcmerchandise.com is the site. They have a workshop for people with disabilities and recycle hospital pads. The pads are great - easy to wash and dry. I don't like using newspaper until the pups are older and messier. I don't want newsprint on them and I don't want Queezle licking it all off. Prices are amazing - shipping is often the biggest cost but you could combine an order with a friend.

Now, a tad scarey - a couple of the pups are actually standing - very wobbly but up on all four legs. I believe that is about a week ahead of time! Look out world - the college kids are going to be ready to rock and roll.

Therapy work

One of the most rewarding things I do & have done with my dogs is therapy work. We have visited psych wards, nursing homes, Alzheimer wards, preschools, kindergartens, high schools & schools for special needs students. Different dogs shone in different areas, but every one of them was happy to work wherever (I even had a Delta Society Cat!) I might add my kids have done therapy work since they were about 2 months old as well :))

Last Friday night, our local obed club was holding a TDI test. I offered to help test (I am an evaluator) if the other tester would do the 2 dogs in our household who still needed certifying. It turns out her Afghan needed testing too so it worked very well. The dogs were all very good (maybe because we were testing in a church!) The club's classes were going on sort of around us & there were people going through at various times with their dogs.

So now all 6 dogs in our household are certified therapy dogs with TDI. Hokey & Queezle were the two tested on Friday - both Belgian Tervurens. At home we also have another Terv, 2 Aus Shepherds & a Pem Corgi. Great dogs all!

If your dog is comfortable around people & enjoys mingling, can handle strange places & smells & is pretty unflappable, you may want to look into doing therapy work with him or her. Always keep on top of your dog's comfort (some nursing homes are WARM!) & stress level but this can be very rewarding for both of you.
My partner in crime Liz has done a great deal of therapy work also & Susan has written & worked with service & therapy dog people.
'Let us know your experiences!
Deb E

Doggone Good Day

Yesterday our obedience club held a Dog Expo. Using our club's dogs, we had obedience, rally, agility, freestyle & carting demos. We also had a Meet The Breeds area & did two big breed parades over the day. Seminars on nail trimming, grooming, pet therapy, pet massage and pet rehab were offered multiple times over the day. A wide variety of vendors participated, plus rescue groups, my 4-H club, etc. A club member's Greyhounds were in the movie Charlie Wilson's War, so we even had a movie star area! Kate & I got to do a very successful book signing. Our 4-H club has some giant stuffed (actually kinda cute) parasites & the kids answered questions plus had handouts on parasite control.
There were many handouts, class info & lots of club members to answer questions. All of this was free to the public. We did stress no spectator dogs which was a good idea.
The weather was less than ideal - temps in the single digits & some blowing snow but we have a nice building we rent so everyone was warm & comfortable inside. This was a HUGE hit with the public & better timing for our area than the traditional September Responsible Dog Owner's Day.
Kate's Corgi Flash was a huge hit with her little cart & my Terv Dani provided much amusement showing some utility exercises - carefully demonstrating how NOT to do things first, then doing them correctly. Both the girls plus young male Terv Hokey had fun in the breed parade. Great fun for all - I am still exhausted & so are the dogs!
Deb E

Is popular good?

The new AKC popularity stats are out. My friends with Labs are not happy to still be the popular dog on the block & it may get worse with Marley & Me fans.
Breed popularity is sort of a double edged sword. You want enough dogs in your breed so that you have some genetic diversity, can breed around health concerns & have choices in any breedings. But you don't want the breed that consumers are infatuated with - leading to impulse purchases, puppy mill breedings & more dogs into rescue.
Is your breed in the Top Ten? And if so, are you thrilled or worried?
Deb E, happy with her Belgian Tervurens who tend to be around 100 on the list

Fun in the Winter

Normally my dogs & I love to cross country ski in the winter. Right now, however, we have temps below zero, with wind chills WAY below zero & as much ice as snow. Not nice for man or beast outside.
This has left us coming up with way to amuse the dogs inside. Some fun games are appearing on the internet. One is a youtube video on teaching your dog to blow bubbles - I haven't tried that yet. I have visions of flooding in my kitchen!

One we have tried is to put treats in the cups of a muffin tin. Then put tennis balls over the treats. We have tried this with all 6 of the dogs & the differences are quite funny. My young Terv Hokey was so thrilled that he got a ball, that he quick ran, put it in the back of his crate, then ran back to eat the treat. He repeated that sequence with all 6 balls. My daughter's Aussie Tia took a ball, played with it for a minute or so, then went back to eat the treat. My son's Aussie Baloo used his paws to remove the balls. Flash the Corgi used paws, nose & feet. Dani the Terv tried to get me to remove the balls by looking at me, then the tray. Then she gave up & removed them herself! Queezle the Terv simply grabbed balls with her mouth.

Other friends have reported dogs simply flipping the whole tin, throwing behaviors at their owner to try to "earn" the treats, etc.

One year we were teaching the dogs the alphabet - touching letters by name with their paw or their nose. Got that idea from Liz Palika. Baloo the Aussie decided he would only do letter B!

What ideas do you have to keep your dog busy indoors? And don't any of you southerners rub it in that we are cold. You train indoors in the summer :))

Deb E

More about the importance of books

Deb wrote recently about the value of books; that she and her kids are voracious readers. Good for them!

I grew up that way also. My parents encouraged us kids to read and always had a variety of books at hand. I was a huge reader of the Reader's Digest magazine and the Reader's Diegest condensed books - remember those? Even when times were tough and money tight, they arrived at the house once a month, I think and I couldn't wait until my parents finished reading them so I could get my hands on them. I can remembers evenings when the whole family was gathered in the living room, everyone with their own books or books, the TV off, and fire burning in the fireplace. I so thank my parents for developing a joy of reading.

My maternal grandparents also loved to read and had a huge library - one room dedicated to books! - and I would get lost in there. No restrictions were put on what I could or could not read and I would sit on the floor with a stack of books. I read mysteries, biographies, histories, humor, animal stories and so much more. Ah! Wonderful memories.

My Dad recently passed away and when my Mom asked me what momentos I wanted, I asked first for his shirt that he had printed, "Father of the Author" for my first book signing. But then I asked for some of his books. So this past weekend, days before his funeral, I spent a day sitting on the floor in his home office, surrounded by his books. My Dad was a retired US Coast Guard warrant officer so I read through the "History of the Coast Guard" and found photos of several of the ships he had served on during his career. I also read about expeditions to Antarctica, including Operation Deepfreeze, that my Dad was involved in. He spent six months aboard ship in Anarctica. Brrr!!!! I also read an old book called, "Men, Ships, and the Sea" which I found fascinating.

I ended up bringing home a couple armfuls of books. It will be fun to go through them, knowing that my Dad had read them before me and had hung on to them rather than donate them to the local library. It will also be sad, knowing they were my Dad's books. I'm sure a few tears will be shed.

I also hope some day that some of my books will mean as much to someone as these books mean to me.

Liz

Liz Palika LLC