So, this is a bit ironic. The more time the boys spend here, the more I figure out I don’t know. LOL For instance, I don’t even know if I started off calling them by the right name. The person who helped my husband when he picked them up on Monday told him that the boy with the white blaze was Schouzy. As of Tues., I think that the person may have been wrong.
The reason is that the records from the vet said that “The Bear” was neutered. Since I thought that this was the bigger, older boy…I never confirmed this, till Tues., when my husband could help me. Upon inspection, the larger boy is intact. Since the vet records didn’t say one way or the other if Schouzy was neutered, I’m now wondering if the bigger boy is Schouzy and the smaller one The Bear.
You might think that they would make it easier on me by responding well to the correct name, but no. The boy with the blaze on his face responds to just about anything you call him, and the bigger boy responds when he feels like it, regardless of what you are calling. hehe
Anyway, even though I’m not positive about the dog’s names, I am finding out more about them. The smaller boy thinks that the best entertainment in the world is to run and bark at vehicles driving down the road. The bigger boy thinks that the most fun thing he can do, is chase the faster younger boy and bark. LOL Here’s a little video of what they look like in the front yard.
Grooming is also progressing, albeit slowly. The smaller boy is nearly done being brushed out, and I think I finally got through all the mats in his coat. Yay! While trimming the extra long hair on his paws today, I found that he seems to have double dewclaws on the rear legs. It’s bizarre. The bigger boy still has some more brushing to endure, and then both should be ready for a bath. I don’t think that either one of them is ready to go out and shop for personalized thank you gifts for me for all the grooming that they are getting this week, but that’s ok. I think when I’m done and I get to take some better pictures of them that will be all the thanks I need.
The two Sheltie boys from Cedar City are here. I thought I was going to transport them straight up to Salt Lake today, but I guess I misunderstood. It’s going to work out better for Sheltie Rescue if they stay here for another week. So in the meantime, I figure I’d post some pictures so you’ll know who I’m talking about if I post about them later this week.
The boys have weird names, at least in my opinion. The bigger boy is named “The Bear” according to the vet records. His age is undetermined right now, but he appears to be older than the other boy.
The smaller, boy is named “Schouzy” I thought maybe it meant something, but my google search didn’t give me anything, so I don’t know if it’s just a made up name or what. He is 5 years old.
Both boys are just very sweet. They haven’t caused a bit of trouble here. Schouzy reminds me so much of Twist in his personality. He is just fun loving and friendly and wonderful. Both boys are overweight, though I don’t think you can really tell in these pictures. Schouzy weighs in at 32 lbs, and he’s about Twist’s height. Twist when he’s soaking wet is rarely 20 lbs. The Bear is a little taller, but not a whole lot, probably somewhere around 16 1/2 or 17 in. tall and he weighs 41 lbs. Both of them could really use some diet pills that really work. Other than that though, they both seem to be in pretty good shape and I hope that they find their new permanent homes soon.
It’s been a long time since I’ve tackled a project like this. I used to change things around and re-decorate and stuff a lot. In recent years the thought of doing anything hasn’t really inspired me to action. So, when I got the urge to take on the dogs’ room I thought I’d better act before I lost the motivation.
I’ve had the Sheltie’s crates (where they sleep and eat), spread somewhat helter skelter throughout the house. It really bugged me. The obsessive/compulsive side of me wanted it better organized, but I couldn’t figure out how to fit 5 crates into one room nicely. Twist already slams himself into the closed wire door about once a week trying to get to his crate quicker. LOL Plus, I’m not much more coordinated than Twist and the thought of 5 open/swinging doors in one room presents quite an obstacle course for all of us.
So…I’ve been eyeing these Pet Gear Other Door crates and I love the design of the “garage door” that folds up into the top. I finally gave in and bought them. Then I decided that the room wasn’t nice enough for the new crates, so I pulled everything out and repainted in there too.
I have to say that I’m absolutely one of the worst people for breaking in the middle of a project to take pictures, so there aren’t very many before, and during pictures. Sorry. You’ll just have to imagine that there were three mismatched wire crates under that one window one the short wall, and a canvas ex-pen for the pups along one of the other walls. I still haven’t decided whether to put it back in there or not.
Here’s my favorite picture of Dare checking out the new room. Hehe, she’s such a cutie. I still have a bit more to finish up. I need to buy a new light fixture, get some new window shades and then finally replacing some of the old pictures on the walls with newer ones, but all in all, it’s done. Yay!!!
As I’ve already mentioned, we’ve been forced into the barn for training now because of the weather. Not only do we have snow on the ground, but the last few mornings, it’s been below zero. One morning it was 15 below zero, and yesterday was 8 below. Today we are back above zero, but it’s still miserable weather to be outside. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that the barn makes it pretty difficult to video. There isn’t enough room to set a tripod up far enough away to get all 12 poles in the clip. Instead, I have to sucker someone into coming out to video for me. So, the video for today is really blurry because my husband was pretty close to us as Layla weaved past him. Regardless, I think you’ll be able to see that Layla is now weaving without any guides. Yay!!!
I went out yesterday and took another short video clip to show where we’re at with training of Layla’s weaves now. I’ve taken the more visual grid guide things off the poles, except at the entries at both ends. I replaced them with guide wires, and now I’m taking the guide wires down little by little. You’ll see they are attached to one pole each, but no longer forming a complete guide. Next I’ll be taking those down. Hopefully the weather keeps on cooperating long enough that we can get to that point before we get snow again. I’m still working on me being on both sides of the weave poles, and running ahead of her and behind her, but this clip is short and I just don’t have the patience at this point to do all the fancy editing and stuff that a lot of you do with your videos. So, it just shows her going through one time, one way. Oh, and as a little side note, I do see that my stick in the ground weave poles are starting to look like they are about ready to fall over too. I may have to move them if I get some ambition later today. LOL
We’re back! DOCNA Championships were a lot of fun! Zoe did fantastic. She ended up taking 1st place in Traditional Gamblers and her trigility team took 1st place. She took 1st place in both Rd. 1 and 2 of Standard and again 1st place in the Standard Finals. She was in 1st place after Rd. 1 of Jumpers, Rd. 2 I totally had a brain glitch and forgot a loop of the course. That took her out of the finals for Jumpers. In the big class for the Nationals…North American Challenge, she took 2nd place Regionally and then the next day her score held up to maintain 2nd place Nationally! She had a fantastic weekend. Flowing courses, nice people, great judge, beautiful ribbons, and even a little warmer weather than we’ve had here at home. Who could ask for more?
Here is the video of Zoe’s NAC run and then a picture of Zoe and her ribbons and then of all the girls…
Our old foster boy Zack is back again. He’s here just for the week while his family is out of town. He still is just the same old Zacky boy. Incredibly stubborn, yet, endearing.
He will be here till either Friday or Saturday, so I guess his stay is actually nearly over. He fits in so well that I don’t really notice that we’ve got an extra dog here most of the time. Zoe doesn’t share my opinion though. She thinks that Zack could go back to his home anytime now and the sooner the better. LOL
It’s nice to be able to have him visit occasionally and see that his new family just adores him. It’s definitely one of those happy endings that you hope for so much in rescue. Makes me glad that we had the privilege of playing a small part in helping him find his great family.
The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of activity around here. I knew it was going to be busy, but I really didn’t have a clue how busy! The middle of the month Cynthia and I had a trip planned to fly to Newark pick up her new Danish Swedish Farmdog puppy, Jet! We’d been waiting, (not patiently I might add LOL) for what seemed like months for him to come. To check out what a cutie Jet is you should hop on over to Tiptail and read all about his adventures! www.tiptail.com
That would have been plenty exciting and fun in itself but just a few days before we were scheduled to leave, I got an email from Judy with Himark Shelties in Florida. I’d been on a waiting list for one of her puppies. She was writing to let me know that a puppy had become available that she thought was just what I was looking for. Judy and Dave Guaraldo have consistently been producing some of the top ranked performance shelties in the country for years. They are even being spotlighted in this summer’s issue of the Sheltie Pacesetter.
I have to say that I was a bundle of mixed emotions. I was so excited to meet this little girl! At the same time there is always that question of when, (if ever), is a good time to introduce another dog into the family. Also, since I’ve been involved in rescue, our dogs have mainly been rescues. I think I felt a twinge of guilt for looking at buying from a breeder, (regardless of how reputable), when there are so many Shelties in rescue. However, while I absolutely adore my rescues, at times the baggage that has come along with them has made competition Obedience and Agility a real challenge. So, to make this long story shorter…the conclusion I came to was that Cynthia and I would fly down there and meet her and make the final decision then.
Well, I’m sure that you’ve all guessed…we brought her home with us. She is everything that I was hoping for and more! All my hesitancy is gone. I can’t thank Judy enough for matching me up with and entrusting me with this little girl. We’ve named her Dare. All the dogs in the house have been quite taken with her too, which is wonderful. Layla is thrilled to have a new playmate and even Zoe is playing with her. Here is quick clip of Dare and her littermates the day we met them tugging on a toy. I’ll post more pictures in a separate post.
Layla and I have been working on her agility since we’ve got the equipment back out in the field, and she’s doing really well. My mom was here today and so I took advantage of having someone here to video her run. So…here it is. We still have a lot of training to do, but we’re having fun!
P.S. don’t look at all the darn weeds coming up in the field. I’m trying to keep on top of them, but it’s tough. LOL
A couple of people have asked about how Rogue is doing since we let her go for an evaluation to our friends at Sheltie Rescue of Utah. So, here’s a brief update of what I know.
As of yesterday, she was beginning to settle in to the point that she was beginning to play with another one of the Shelties in the house. That’s good news! She’s being just a little tricky about trying to eat her treat without getting the pill inside, but they are experts at making sure that the dogs are getting their meds, so I’m sure that’s a temporary problem. They tell me that she is being a really good girl, and that she has been easy to have at the house. I guess she’s like a shadow following Barbara around. (I kind of expected that). So, that’s about all I can update you on at this point. I know that she’s in very capable and caring hands!
