I’ve been getting a number of  “where are you?” emails so I guess I’d better give an update of whats been going on the past two months

On October 8th I had a riding accident – horse, not motorcycle.  It was a bit of freak thing, not a bad horse or anyone’s fault.    Nero had a bit of a cough so my friend gave me a mare to ride.    We were just standing and waiting for everyone to mount up, on a loose rein, when I felt the mare tense up a little.  She gave a couple a mild bucks, and then grabbed the bit and bolted for the barn.  Unfortunately there was not enough room to pull her up and I had an unfortunate meeting with a barn beam.

Unfortunately, that was not the extent of it.   As I got into the barnthere was another lower beam coming at me and someone yelled JUMP!!   So I bailed off sideways onto the concrete – whacking my head and back on the concrete.   I was taken by ambulance to the hospital where I was kept overnight for a concussion, and a big hematoma on the back of my head. 

I’m not evensure how I did this to my shoulder unless it was hitting the horn on the saddle on the way off.    Over the next few days it go worse so I went back to the hospital and had more xrays done.  Add to the injuries, broken tailbone and sacrum, and whiplash

So I was laid up for a couple of weeks and gradually the blood started seeping down from the scalp wound so I ended up with an early Hallowe’een costume – Bride of Frankenstein.

The dogs were all farmed out for 3 to 8 weeks.   Dolly and Chip went to stay with Mary Morris of Azure Goldens & Whippets, and Amigo went to stay with her daughter.  Libby went to stay with Mandy and Randy.  Hunter went to stay with Robyn and Kevin.  Norton and Aero went to stay with Pierry & Stan McLean of Castlegar Labradors.  Dash, Shadow and Draco went to stay with Andrea Robbins.  Rocky and Jaime visited with Lynne Ragsdale, and Naomi went to Maja Hurd and Brogan to Susan Prokopenko.   Many, many thanks to everyone for helping and to Lynne Mercer for coming up from North Caroline to help look after ME!!  

Life is slowly getting back to normal – I’m not moving too far or too fast, right now.

We had a sad departure last week. 

Megan, CH. Yasashiikuma Spiced Rum, had a mast cell tumour a few years ago, and unfortunately it returned very agressively.  Although Carrie did her very best to keep Megan comfortable for as long as possible, erventually Megan let her know that she wasn’t happy anymore, and we let her go to the bridge.   Megan was the mother of the Liqueur litter, the “Loose Ladies” and the “Ice” litter, and had retired to live with Carrie 7 years ago.  She will be very much missed.

Todd

Dash

Draco

Dafydd

Darren

Daisy

Dixie

Dylan

Brogan

aka “The Ugly Corgi”

and for reference refer to “The Ugly Dachshund”

And under the “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” category, just what is it about puppies and sleeping on their backs?

And to all, a good night!!

I blame lack of sleep, and Dash arriving less than a minute after Dot. Dot is no longer – S/he is now Todd. And so there are not 4 boys and 4 girls in this litter – there are 5 boys and 3 girls!

Tim suggested that since I got the sex backwards, I change the name from Dot to Tod. That didn’t fit with the Double D theme for the litter – so I added a second “D” to the end, and it works.

Dash was in a big hurry to come out, and didn’t even give me a minute between births.  I guess these two were in oppositie horns, and will probably be competing for first place the rest of their lives.   They are both appear to be black and white at this time but will most likely end up the same shade of brindle as Dolly.

Then came the answer as to whether Dickens carries red    Draco (the dragon) was next  and will be a beautiful sable with a black mask.   He has the “angel’s kiss” on the top of his head.

 The next puppy answered the question whether or not Dolly carried pink.   She does   But the interesting thing about Dafydd is that he is already showing signs of a black mask.  My understanding is that true pinks have no black hairs.  It is going to be interesting to see how he develops.

Too impatient to wait till we got home – both Darren and Daisy arrived in the car on the way home from the vet.   If I keep her, Daisy’s registered name will be Driving Miss Daisy

The little peanut of the litter is Dixie or maybe she should be Pixie!  She did not thrive over the first three days, so I began to tube feed her on Day 3.   On day 5 as I was drawing her formula into a syringe she put her head in the cup and began to lap.  Snce then she laps up formula ever 4 hours.   Amazing to see ths tiny blind, deaf puppy lap from a bowl!!   Even better is to watch the scale finally climbing!

And last but not least is Dylan.   He is going to be quite the chunk also, along with his brother Dafydd.

Hard to believe that the babies are growing up and ready to show but the girls attended their first show on Monday. It was a limited entry back to back show (2 shows on the same day).

In the first show Naomi got her first point, and Buddy was defeated for Winners Dog. The puppy who won WD was also BOB, and by default, Best Puppy.

It’s not a bad picture of Naomi, but she is going through an ugly growth spurt where her bum is way higher than her shoulders, which is also throwing off her topline.

In the second show the results were complete reversed. Buddy was WD, BOW and Best of Breed – and he now needs a single point to finish his championship. Gracie was WB for a point.

Both girls behaved perfectly, and thought the show was put on in their honour so that they could make all sorts of new friends. The only problem being that because of Brogan, they have NO issues walking up to ANY dog at the show and asking if they want to be friends YIKES!!!