Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Just Forty-Eight Hours...

Sunday started well. I judged in the morning and had a great entry. I was particularly taken with a great dane bitch that I gave the breed too and I had a great Siberian entry. The quality was really nice which is reassuring. It was first thing in the morning and it was a chilly (and I mean chilly) morning and I had to control myself to keep from just burying my fingers in the dogs' ruffs. The samoyed in particular was just so tempting. The northern breeds were all full of beans like they could sense that colder weather was coming and they couldn't wait. Me, I could have waited at least until I had something warmer on lol

We got home and I got caught up in catching up on my paperwork. Realizing I was running late, I headed out to move dogs around. Lucy apparently felt like she was queen of the yard and jumped Jeannie. Now, Lucy may have felt like it but Jeannie is the queen and a tougher old girl is hard to find. So, it was off to the vet to get Lucy stitched up. She had a nice 1" gash right on her shoulder blade on her show side. She is going to the US in October to work on her American championship. Perfect. Well, it could have been much worse at least there was only one hole and it isn't serious, just funny looking.

So, we get home from the vet and start the evening routine and then ... Kaylee went into labour. First puppy was born at 10:50 and the last one at 4:50am, which means no sleep until at least 9am before you can give the all clear. Just before I head to bed Mom comes to let me know that Jeannie was standing on three feet. So, I go to check on Jeannie. Sure enough her front foot is huge and she won`t put it down at all. Careful examination reveals no holes that I can find so I`m wondering if she has broken her toe. I talk to the vet and decide to keep and eye on it for the day and see how she`s doing. There isn`t much you can do for a broken toe but keep her comfortable. I give her a dose of Metacam (pain killer) to help with the pain and then we both head to curl up on my bed.

Later that afternoon Dublin comes in from a run outside and he`s blinking a lot and keeping one eye somewhat closed. It`s very muddy outside so we figure that he has dust or something in his eye. A little Visine and hope it washes itself out. Alas, it doesn`t help and his eyes are both almost completely closed. You have to pry them open and what you see when you do is very scary. Off to the vets again.

His eyes are showing something called Horner`s syndrome, one pupil is smaller than the other and they are extremely irritated. A variety of things can cause Horner`s syndrome but most don`t fit his current age and health. Finally we settle on two possibilities. One, he hit his head very hard when he was outside (likely by running into something while going full tilt) or he has an inner ear infection. He gets a big dose of Metacam for his headache and some heavy duty antibiotics for the possible ear infection.

I sleep with two sick dogs on the bed and I`m beyond wiped. All in forty-eight hours.

Thankfully this morning Dublin is doing much better although he will stay on the antibiotics as a precautionary measure as we still don`t know for sure what happened. Jeannie`s foot remains very swollen but the swelling revealed a few small punctures and it is an abcess rather than a broken toe. We managed to get some of the pus drained out although it looks like she will need a stronger antibiotic to get the infection out. Lucy is very tired of being kept quiet and her wound is healing well. Kaylee and pups are doing well. I`m starting to recover too :)



Thursday, September 23, 2010

Last Bit of Updating...

I have some final bragging before we go forward. July, August and September did have some very nice wins for the Nuthatch Gang and we are extremely proud of the following:

Frost - New Canadian Champion



Maelle - her first point and several Reserve Winners Bitch wins despite being only barely over 6 months old




Limerick - ok, I'm just thrilled that Limerick and I got in the ring



Aurora - Nuthatch Edenstar Aurora - owned by Dr Iris Goliger and Rachel Glenn - not only did Rory finish her American Championship (YEAH!!!). She then went on to take an Award of Merit at the Nutmeg Specialty and the following day went Sporting Group 1st in New Jersey!!!! We are beyond proud of Iris, Rachel and Rory.




Buffy - new American Champion - now known as Am Can Ch Nuthatch's Unforgettable - she finished with 2 5 pt majors taken at specialties and a specialty Award of Merit. We're very proud of her but honestly, I'm just really looking forward to having Buffy home again. She's been staying with our handler Sarah while in the US.




Dundee - picked up several points and two majors towards his American Grand Championship and also went Best of Opposite Sex at the Nutmeg Specialty



and Larkin - owned by Betty & Jay Weaver, co-owned and bred by me - took a trip to Canada (somewhere in the prairies) and picked up 6 points towards her Canadian championship.



Dublin demonstrated that he doesn't want to be in a show ring with anyone but me unfortunately which means he'll wait until I'm back on my feet. I did get some nice stacked shots of him though. He remains my faithful buddy and is spoiled rotten as a result lol You'll see his pics just as soon as I manage to get them off the phone...

Monday, September 20, 2010

More Pics of Michael and Continuing to Catch Up

OK, big big news - I found a wireless stick from Telus that works at our house !!!!!!! I cannot explain how exciting that is to someone who has been stuck on dial up. It makes updating you a lot easier.

I found several pics of Mike on my desktop computer that I didn't have access to when I was away.






He really was beautiful guy.

September is a busy month here. I started off the month judging on the Labour Day weekend. It was a beautiful weekend and the show site is right on the water, so it is absolutely divine and very very picturesque. I had a great entry. I particularly enjoyed the Siberian entry. It was a booster and, for our area, we had a huge entry. There were some very nice dogs there but I absolutely fell in love with a senior puppy. He had these great, smooth lines with that effortless movement that screamed he could go all day without a problem. He made me think of an old fashioned working dog. I loved him.

The weekend after that is the weekend for the Oakville & District Kennel Club shows. I have been their show chair for several years now. The show went very well and I was very pleased to see that our entry numnbers were up. In the past few years many shows have seen their entries decline due to the economy and a variety of other factors. So, to have ours go up was a nice sign that we're doing a good job.

Last weekend was for puppy visits and next weekend I am judging again. Told you September was busy :)

Bug's puppies are doing very well. They turned 6 weeks this past weekend. I need to get some good stacked pictures of them but for now here are some fun ones.





Thursday, September 9, 2010

Michael - Can Ch Bain's Northern Riverdance

Michael was our last remaining Siberian Husky here at Nuthatch. Only a few days before his passing, I had run into his breeder at a show. I was telling her about how well he was doing and what great shape he was in and it was absolutely true. Michael went down very quickly and was gone only a few days later.

Michael came here as an 8 week old baby over thirteen and a half years ago. His best buddy was Ziggy, a GSP, who was only a month older. I thought we`d lose Ziggy first but she is still trucking along. We laughed and teased them that they had gotten their breed personalities reversed. Michael was an off leash Siberian from the beginning and was 100% reliable. Ziggy still isn`t safe off leash and she can barely walk on a bad day. On a good day she has an odd rocking horse kind of run as she moves around on her lead.

Michael had an incredible dignity and beauty and a very wicked sense of humour. A typical Sibe in that sense he loved creating mischief and you often swore he was laughing at you. He is dearly missed.

Last week I judged a booster (similar to an American supported entry) of Siberians. I thought of him of often as I judged. I found myself telling the booster organizers and the club`s new archivist all about him. He was one of a kind and a better companion you could not have asked for or received.

This is the only picture I seem to have on my laptop of him but I`ll post some more when I`m home again. Right now, I`m staying at a hotel while I do my annual stint as show chair for our local all breed show. More on that tomorrow.