Wordless Wednesday ~ Reminiscing!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Obsession

This girl is obsessed with the fire place, you might remember I posted a photo of her not to long ago just staring at the fire here and now here she is again! Thank you to Bitsy’s mom and dad for sending me this photo.

Please keep good thoughts and prayers for Bitsy as she has been having a little trouble with a upset tummy.

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Old Man

               KC ~ He will be 19 this coming February

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Farm Dog

This is Red, she is the farm dog where I go for training with the dogs. Red was a stray that my friends, Michelle and Dave found on the road many years ago and they brought her to the farm. She became Michelle’s grandpas dog, I guess I should back up a bit and tell you the farm was grandpas home. Red is like the mascot for the farm and for us when training, she always follows us out to any field we drive to and watches the other dogs and just hangs around. This past summer she followed us out but she would get a  ride back, she is an old girl and her legs just can’t make the trip there and back anymore, so Michelle would load her in “Tex” or I would give her a ride in my van. She is a very sweet dog and everyone who comes there to train that really knows her always brings her a treat!

Making sure Bunsy is marking his bird

Having a well deserved siesta while the other dogs work!

Wordless Wednesday ~ One More Trick or Treat

Had to share one more Halloween photo with you; this is Trail and Bitsy (Maia’s and Titan’s sister) all dressed up last week to go trick or treating.  Don’t you think the green eyes gives them that extra special spook appeal

Wordless Wednesday ~ I’ve Got It!

Monday Meowsie News...More On Helping Rescue Cats

Reblogged from Savannah's Paw Tracks:

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Hiya Furriends!! Savannah here!

As some of you may know, I was accepted months ago as a full member of the Twitter Whiskas Liberation Front (#WLF), with all rights and privileges. We have a code of conduct and my post today is in keeping with a part of that code:

"The WLF will use social media channels to oppose any injustice anywhere in the world whatever species those affected might belong to"

Read more… 600 more words

Please take a moment to read Savannah's post regarding the Caboodle Ranch trauma that so many poor unfortunate kitties suffered but are now being cared for by great people and are ready for adoption.

Chesapeake Coloring

A few days ago our friend Jodi over at jodistone-Life with Sampson and Delilah….The 411 left a comment asking about color in my Wordless Wednesday ~ High Five post so I thought what a great idea for a post so I could explain about the coloring of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

Chessies can be any shade of brown including Sedge, which is a beautiful reddish brown color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Ember, she belongs to my dear friends Jan & George at Deepwoods Chesapeakes.

We have eight colors listed in our breed standard you can see here. The coloring of the Chessie is designed to blend as closely to the terrain they are hunting in, here are a few examples…

Although the dog is brown she still blends into the grasses, this is Cheyenne doing some training.

This is a deadgrass dog and as you can see they still blend into the green/brown grasses.

Shades of brown all blend when the dog is in the field.

This is Dutch, as you can see she has what we call a widows peak on her head where it is darker across the top of her head. This is actually a very good color that blends into the hunting terrain with the variation of color. This is not a disqualification for showing in conformation however it is more difficult because the judges are used to seeing only solid or selfcolored dogs. Oh and by the way the girl is my niece who is my up and coming handler, she loves Dutch and vice versa as a matter of fact she tells me all the time Riva is her dog

This is an excerpt from the Chesapeake Breed Standard

“The color of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever must be nearly that of its working surroundings as possible. Any color of brown, sedge, or deadgrass is acceptable, selfcolored Chesapeakes being preferred. One color is not to be preferred over another. A white spot on the breast, belly, toes or back of feet (immediately above the large pad) is permissible, but the smaller the spot the better, solid colored preferred. The color of the coat and its texture must be given every consideration when judging on the bench or in the ring. Honorable scars are not to be penalized.”

Cheyenne is registered as brown, Riva is light brown, Titan is light deadgrass and Maia is light brown, I debated over brown or light brown for Maia but I went with light brown because I think when she gets her adult coat she will lighten even more.

You can find more information on the American Chesapeake Club and if you would like to read a little about the breed history just click on Cheyenne and Riva’s  picture at the top of my sidebar.

You can see more beautiful Chesses’ over at 2 Brown Dawgs and Dusty Rose Chesapeakes 

The Sport Of Dog Shows

It is 8am and the National Anthem begins to play; a hush falls over the crowd and for two minutes this is the only silence all day at a dog show.

I began showing dogs in conformation about twenty years ago. I don’t show a great deal and usually just locally but I do enjoy doing it and Riva does too.

Contrary to what a lot of people think Conformation Dog Shows are not a beauty pageant for dogs.

The history of dog shows dates back to the mid 1800’s. The Westminster show began on May 8, 1877 and is held in New York at Madison Square Garden’s, it marked its 135^th year this past February and is the largest all breed show, it is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the United States behind only the Kentucky Derby.

When presenting your dog to the judge there are several things to do in preparation:

First if your dog requires grooming you must complete this prior to entering the ring, my breed requires very little grooming so I usually use a little grooming spray and work through with my fingers, clip nails and we are ready to go.

Second you must select the show collar and lead that suits your need, I use a serpentine choke with a short show lead that matches as closely to the color of my dog as possible. Why? You want the whole focus on your dog so you don’t want to have anything that would be distracting to the judge, this also incudes your wardrobe.

Now you are ready to present your dog to the judge.

When it is your turn you will walk in the ring and stack your dog, always keeping your dog on your left between you and the judge. Stacking is setting your dogs legs and body in a particular position. The judge then will instruct you on where he wants you to move your dog and you must be able to move the dog so the judge is able to see a good gait.

The Role of the Judge:

Judges examine the dogs and place them in accordance to how close each dog compares with their mental image of the “perfect” dog as described in the breed’s official standard.

These standards describe the characteristics that allow the breed to perform the function for which it was bred and include qualifications for structure, coat, temperament and movement.

These official written standards are maintained by each breed’s national club and published in AKC’s The Complete Dog Book.

They examine or “go over” each dog with their hands to see if the teeth are correct, muscles, bones and coat texture match the standard.

They examine each dog in profile, for general balance, and watch each dog gait, or move to see how all of those features fit together in action.

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This video demonstrates the art of stacking and gaiting the dog.

 

So if you have an opportunity in the future to watch a dog show on television or attend in person just for fun see if you can guess the dog the judge will choose. You can find complete details on conformation shows here.

Wishing Albert and Michelle Good Luck at the Eukanuba Show on Saturday December 17. Albert is the sire to my litter and we are very proud of him.

What a Day!!

It’s been a very busy day, had to take Riva to the vet’s this morning. It started two days ago when Riva ate breakfast just fine but wouldn’t eat the rest of the day…well not her food anyway but gladly accepted goodies. Then at about 11:30pm, we were getting settled for bed when I noticed Riva felt really hot so I took her temp and it was 104 degrees. A dogs normal temp is between 101-102, so I spent the rest of the night checking on her but by morning it was normal and she started eating again. I just figured she may have gotten into the garbage while I was at work and ate something she shouldn’t. As the day went on I did keep an eye on her temp; it remained normal. By late evening I had checked her mammary’s because one looked a bit red, I discovered the second to last one on her right side had a hard golf ball sized area. I checked to see if the milk was normal color and at first it seemed it was but when I checked a little later there was some discoloration. My first thought was Mastitis, this is an inflammation of a mammary with a blocked duct and can be very serious; so I put warm compress’s on it through the rest of the night and called my vet first thing this  morning. Dr. Adler gave her a thorough exam and confirmed that she suspected the same and it was a good thing I caught it so soon and didn’t wait until Monday. So she put her on antibiotics, said to continue the warm compress’s  three times a day and to let the puppies nurse but keep an eye on things and I may need to express that mammary myself; which I have done and it is quite icky. She goes back for a re-check in ten days.

Sisterly Love!

Once we got home from the vet and running to the store I decided it was time to get the puppies out of the whelping box and into a bit larger accommodations. Especially since I have an escape artist; the little dark brown girl keeps getting out of the box and when I walk in my room I either find her sitting there looking up at me as if to say “oh there you are” or I see a little tail sticking out from under the bed. With the help of my nephew we rearranged the dining room and set up one x-pen for now. I wiped each one off with a nice warm damp towel and then handed them to my nephew to put in their new home; thought we would start things off nice and fresh but they had other thoughts…yep peed and pooped all over in less than five minutes LOL!

Our new Condo!