Inca’s Obedience instructor Vi sent Kip a congratulatory card for earning his TD — too cute! Kip says, “Thank you very much, Vi.”
Carolyn Cannon has been hard at work designing a web site for Chase. I decided since I don’t have a kennel, and don’t use a kennel name, and don’t intend to breed puppies, Chase should have his own web site. We’re now tweaking it and plan to add a more formal Home page, but it’s ready for a look. You may link from “Chase’s Web Page” under the Weather Pixie on this blog or you may type www.Champion-Chase.com into your browser. I love the scrapbook (mmm, puppy pictures), but in all likelihood the health tests, show wins, and pedigree will be important to some people.
Please let us know what you think. Thank you, Gramma Carolyn for all your creativity and skill.
I promised a post that focused on the beauty between Albuquerque and El Paso and at the tracking area at Fort Bliss. My theory of travel is that there are only two reasons to stop. First is the car needs refueling, second is a photo op. Kip and I could not pass up shots of these regal clouds floating above the mountains. Other skies are waiting for you at www.skyley.blogspot.com
And then this morning — the sun rising over the tracking area at Fort Bliss.
This is the backdrop for the tracking fields.
Here is the walk in to one of the start flags.
A look at some of the tracking terrain.
Yesterday afternoon, Kip and I drove to El Paso for the Tracking Club of El Paso’s 12-dog TD test. I’ll do a second post with photos of the sky and mountains — what a glorious day for a drive!
The weekend started on Friday when I went to get a haircut and was driving directly toward the fattest rainbow I have ever seen. It was so brilliant that even the purple edge was clear (No, I did not have my camera and even if I had, I was on the freeway).
We arrived at our motel yesterday around 5:00 — a spotlessly clean LaQuinta (that’s always a good omen), then club members, judges, and a couple of exhibitors (I was one) went to Olive Garden for dinner. Lots of good tracking talk – normal dog event dinner.
This morning I followed our judges to Fort Bliss where the test is held. All twelve slots were filled, with one alternate. It was a stunning day (as I said — photos in another post). We drew track #6, so hung out and cheered for the first five teams, all of which passed. The sun was a little strong for a black dog, but our Kip got down to business. Below is a map of our 450 yard track — TCEP member Marita Patterson made the stickers that embellish it. The Judges and my tracklayer signed it. Cool, huh? We’ve been training for VST so Kip got really happy when he found a beer can — unfortunately, he had to trudge another ten yards to the leather glove.
After all tracks were run (11 out of 12 passes, plus the alternate track was a pass — though that last one isn’t a title), the El Paso Club fed us homemade lasagna, and salads, and great homemade desserts. The Judges, Leslie Swisher from Albuquerque, and Jeff Shaver from Houston signed all the gloves and all the maps, gave out big green rosettes and we had photos taken. An 8 x 10 photo was the prize. The photographer took a couple of photos with my camera for the blog — later.
So, Kip says, you can talk to the glove! Yippee! AND HERE IT IS! He’s now Arylan First Edition CDT CD RN TD (AKC no longer combines the title abbreviations)!
Just another New Mexico Winter Sunset
See more lovely skies at www.skyley.blogspot.com
I’m spending most of the day in Court, so will link this when I am back to the house or the office. It’s been in the high fifties to low sixties all week with mostly clear skies — until evening when we get our sunset clouds.
We’re going to put in one last practice track this evening and then head to the El Paso Tracking Dog Test on Saturday afternoon. The high in El Paso is supposed to be 72 — I hope my little black dog draws an early morning track!
If you’d like to know what’s happening in the executive branch of our government, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/ President Obama and his advisors have continued their use of available electronic media to blog for us. Since I begin my day checking all my favorite blogs, I added the Whitehouse (and it’s on my blogroll for your convenience). There are links on the blog for “contact us” and for “questions”. We should probably make use of them from time to time.
“America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. “ Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009
I am moved, I am proud, I am energized, I am tearful. Together we are embarking on a new journey that I believe will bring us peace, prosperity, and pride. God bless this Country, and God bless us everyone.
On e-lists and on blogs, there is much discussion about the role of OFA and PennHip in determining soundness of dogs. I have some pretty strong opinions on this topic, springing from my history with two breeds.
In the beginning, I bought a German Shepherd bitch to show and breed. I did it all wrong in terms of investigating the breeder. Although her pedigree was decent — line bred on an excellent producer — as she grew, she exhibited the less desireable side of the pedigree. The worst thing, however, was that her gait became somewhat halting when she was about three years old. I had her x-rayed and her hips were the pits (I think that is a scientific term). Because she was our pet, and our family loved her, we did surgery so that she would be comfortable. We road worked her moderately to keep her muscles strong. She was never bred.
We had been bitten by the show bug, however, so we bought another bitch. This one came from a show breeder who did xray her breeding stock and religiously submitted to OFA. She was sound and produced our first champion. For fifteen years we bred litters and showed dogs. I worked so hard at exposing puppies to strange sounds and lots of stimulus, and to my kids. Two young boys equal lots of strange sound and stimulus. We placed some wonderful pet puppies who grew old and loved by their families, and we had moderate success in the show ring. I always x-rayed.
Life changes and when my heart dog grew old and eventually died, I did not replace him. I was traveling with my work, my kids were out and about, I was long-since divorced. I couldn’t put my heart and soul into raising puppies. However, like anyone who has loved dogs, after the passage of a few years, I had to have another dog in my life. This time, however, I decided I wanted a smaller package. I had ownerd a parti-colored cocker and a pem (along with the shepherds). I didn’t want the cocker grooming (and vocalization) or the pem’s sharpness. I’d met Cardigans. I loved their sensibility and big-dog attitude. So I looked for a Cardi breeder. I waited a year for the puppy. I had decided I did not want to show in conformation, but wanted a dog for companion and performance events. The puppy I got was happy, biddable, outgoing, friendly, and handsome. I began raw-feeding him when I got him at eight weeks. He’s never been kenneled, always had natural surfaces on which to trot, we never did any agility. Nonetheless, he is so dysplastic. When I saw his preliminary x-ray at 13 months, I burst into tears. There already was flattening and almost no socket on one side. At three and a half, you can see it in his rear movement. Despite all those precautions, I know it’s only a matter of time until we can’t do all the events he loves. Of course I neutered him. I love him dearly.
So, what did I learn? I certainly learned that hip dysplasia can be crippling in the smaller breeds as well as in the big dogs. I vowed to x-ray my own dogs to determine whether they’d be permitted to participate in agility and herding. I decided not to breed puppies. Chase finished his Championship so quickly, and while he was so young, that I’d not yet done any health testing. I made the decision to run all the tests available and to xray him. I also did PennHip which, in his case, does not appear to match his OFA preliminary rating. My decision: if he didn’t earn good health credentials, then he would not be available for breeding.
I know that breeding only x-rayed dogs whose hips are within the range OFA considers “passing” is no guarantee that any of their offspring will have good hips. I also know there are environmental issues that affect youngsters’ joint development. However, I firmly believe that the more information we have about what’s inside the dog, the better decisions we can make over the long term. I also believe that doubling up on any fault is sure to reproduce that fault — and that includes poor hips.
I’m not buying into the theory that our dwarf dogs do not have hip problems, or that bad hips do not affect the Cardis as they do larger breeds. Perhaps one day we will have a DNA test to tell us what markers are linked to hip dysplasia so we can take that into account when breeding, but until we do, I’ll use the tools that are available to try to reduce the incidence of what is a crippling disease — even in our breed.
My aunt always watched scary movies through the buttonhole of her sweater so she wouldn’t see all of the “bad stuff”. We cannot breed sound, healthy dogs that way.
My mom, Jeanne Randolph, was born in 1925. When she was 18, she fell madly in love with my dad who was nearly twice her age, but had horses and played polo for the Oakbrook Country Club team. They had seven of us kids — first three girls and then four boys. I’m the eldest, but undoubtedly not the wisest. In 1960, my father committed suicide leaving my mom with us seven kids ranging in age from 14 down to 1-1/2, and a very small life insurance policy. She perservered. On January 17, 1964, she died of cancer. Two months later, my grandmother succumbed to cancer, and the next year my grandfather passed away. We had never known my father’s family. He always said even if they left him a million dollars he never wanted to see them again. So, we grew up orphans and maybe are a little tough. All but two of us graduated from college — working our way through. We lost only one of the lambs who became involved in drugs for several years. My youngest sister dragged him kicking and screaming into a more productive life.
This post is for my mom — enduring, wise, artistic, funny. Miss you mom . . .
I didn’t want to say anything until after the draw at El Paso tonight. However, I just received an email that Kip and I made it into the 12 slot El Paso Tracking Dog test on January 25th. It’s about a four hour drive to El Paso from our house, so we’ll leave right after Inca’s Advanced Novice class on Saturday afternoon. I gave my Sunday afternoon basketball tickets to Brock, Angela, and Adrienne (sob!) in exchange for them taking care of Chase and Inca.
This weekend I’ll get someone to lay Kip a track in sand (arroyos work) because that’s the ground at the Fort Bliss area on which the Tracking Club of El Paso holds its test. Think good thoughts for the Kipster — no javelinas or jack rabbits or coyotes to distract him. Hopefully by Sunday afternoon he’ll have a TD. It will make the drive back to Albuquerque so much shorter!
An email from my little brother.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
First, You Find A Baby
Get it Lined Up
Make Sure It Fits
Gently
I Feel So Much Better Now
When I first saw the disk, it was rising from the bed of clouds. By the time I took the shot, the moon was above the clouds. It was the transparent host raised reverently above the mountainous chalice.
For more splendid skies visit www.skyley.blogspot.com
Chase is in the Agility Prep class AGAIN — primarily because his “wait” is measured in nano seconds, as is his focus. Tonight he spent the first half hour railing against control. There were all these potential new friends and I was cramping his style. One classmate is a red/white Pem, but another is a black/white/brindle pointed Cardi. The Cardi is named Harry, but I think to Chase he looked like Kip. That resemblance created major strife as Chase tried to get over to “must-be-Kip”. Harry is dog aggressive, so had Chase managed to escape and meet up with Harry, it would have been ugly.
However, once we began doing obstacles, Chase settled into his high-speed attack-the-jump/tunnel/walk/table routine. I had to explain that he’d been held back and is repeating the class. I just hate acknowledging that he isn’t natively brilliant at agility, but has already made one pass at learning this stuff. What he did do tonight that he had not done in the last class was actively tug on a toy and run out to get it. It’s going to be so much easier to train him than it is, for instance, Inca who is absolutely uninterested in playing with stoopid toys. She just wants food!
So, we’re home, he’s flopped on the floor and I’m looking forward to flopping on the bed.
Well, the premium lists and schedule for the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Nationals are posted on the National Club’s website www.cardigancorgis.com. So I downloaded the entry for the Megan and prepared an AKC entry form for the Sweepstakes and Best of Breed Competition. For those of you who are not Cardigan show people, the Megan is a “fun” match only for Champions. The dogs are divided by color and by sex so there are ten classes, i.e., Black/White males, Black/White Females, Brindles, Reds, Sables, and Blues. Then the winners of each of the ten individual classes come together for the judges to choose the best Cardigan, and the best Cardigan of the Opposite Sex. Formal attire is required so it’s pretty cool. Chase will be in the Brindle Dog class. Last year, he was a day too young for the Puppy Sweepstakes so this year will be in the oldest Sweepstakes class. Finally, he’s entered in Best of Breed.
The National competition is in Topeka, Kansas at the Expocentre. There is also herding and tracking and rally and agility and obedience. It’s a week of some of the best Cardigans in the world coming together for all the events in which Cardis have expertise. The events begin on April 11th (herding), and run through the following Saturday’s Best of Breed competition. There are great raffles to support the educational programs and health studies, seminars to help us all learn more about the breed we love, and lots of visiting with folks that you may see only at the Nationals.
We have our room reservation and Chase’s entries are mailed — so, the ball is rolling toward the Best Vacation!
Well shucks! The dog was ready, I thought I was ready. It was cold, but beautiful. The first two TD dogs passed. We had drawn track #3. Kip took off from the start flag like he meant business.
There is a black and White Cardi at the end of that lead
Isn’t this a Beautiful Tracking Area?
Kip was workmanlike through three legs. At the third corner (an open turn), the line tangled on some low branches — twice — I unwrapped it, and thought we were on our way when one of our local jackrabbits (every bit as large as a Cardi) leapt out of the brush right under Kip’s nose. Kip sat up on his haunches. He really wanted to pursue. I watered and rescented him, but the rabbit was his excuse to stop tracking and just dink around. I thought he had finally committed to a left turn, but he really should have gone right — WHISTLE! We put him back on the track and he went straight to the glove. We had one TDX pass and the dog that ran the alternate TDX track passed (but no title, of course). So, tomorrow I’ll FedEx our entry to El Paso for the January 25th test down there. I have to figure out what to do with the other dogs because Kip needs to be THE DOG for the trip so his confidence is up there. . . . and I really believed!
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