Darla's winning photo from Houston came!
Darla won a major in Houston back in July 20th. Finally got the photo today. She's a beauty!

Recovery from Houston

On the weekend of 20-21st of July, I had Darla entered in the Houston shows. I really hate those shows! It's soooooo hot and the venue is not exhibitor friendly... you have to pay for crating space and if you aren't there early, you have to park in Timbuktu and hike to the entrance in the stifling heat and wind up looking like a dead daisy.

 But, that's the only place around to find majors in RRs, so I went. I did manage some fun out of it though.. I first went down towards Galveston to Terry and Mark Matthews home to spend the first night and take them their new puppy - Scout.. the Border Collie in a Ridgeback body. Oh, they are gonna have fun with her... bet she's gonna be a great agility dog with all that drive and energy.

 Terry is currently fostering some kittens and Scout had never met a cat... boy, she was facinated and provided us with tons of laughs.

 Friday was the first show... Darla wasn't thrilled to be there... probably bad memories of being out with a handler who tried to starve a win into her... ( a long and mean story). I think the judge liked her, she just wouldn't happy up.

 Saturday, Darla won... one major out of the way. A whole crowd of well wishers were there and afterwards we hiked all over the shopping venue that is a big part of the shows there.. kinda the shopping mecca for dog folks. Sure was glad to get back to Liz's and put my feet up and rest.

Sunday wasn't Darla's day either.... the judge liked longer bodied dogs.. that's okay, at least we got one major under our belt... now one to go.

Picked up Guy, who has been at Glen's in Houma, on the way back... He has turned into quite a handsome pup. Here he is the day after his 6 month birthday... He's still learning about stacking and showing, so standing somewhat still is a good thing!

 

Kitty Sitter
Mood:  hug me
Who said Ridgebacks and cats don't get along? Terry, is fostering some kitties and her RR, Major, is so good natured that he doesn't mind sharing the couch with them.

Of course, Major was raised around cats and knows not to harm them... unlike his mother, Diva, who thinks cats are prey.

The Joys of Breeding Ridgebacks - NOT!
Mood:  blue

When you are breeding show dogs, not all pups in a litter are show quality, even if they have a "show ridge", no kinks and a minimum of white. Structure, movement and attitude play a large part. 

Then there is the bane of RRs - the dermoid sinus, a genetic defect in RRs that is linked to the ridge factor. It's in ALL Ridgebacks, so don't be conned by someone saying their dogs never have sinus... what they mean is they've never had one YET. 

I'm bummed out because I found one in my potential show puppy. So tiny that it eluded me in the early days, but now that it's had time to "fill up", I could finally find it. I didn't find it until Friday and had it removed on Monday. So, she will be going to a great pet home within two weeks.

Hers was located on the neck, but they can be found usually anywhere between the head and beginning of the ridge and from the end of the ridge down the tail. Rarely, but possible, is a DS found in the ridge itself. You can read more about it on my page about the DERMOID SINUS. 

Here's a post surgery photo of the location:

My newest water dog
Mood:  mischievious

Yesterday was our club picnic, held at a club member's home. They have a lake and it being July in Alabama - it was HOT! The dogs had a ball playing in the lake and keeping us amused.

I took Scout with me for socialization. When we first arrived, she didn't know what to think but soon got into the swing of things. She could have cared less about where I was, she was having a ball becoming a swimmer and chasing after the Border Collies and trying to grab them by the tail.

Waves aren't gonna get me!
Mood:  mischievious

Sizzle, Darla and Scout  and I, trundled over to Gail and Bill's across the bay. The water was nice and calm in the morning, but got choppy after lunce. Puppy thought it was fun though.

Pet Palooza
Mood:  happy

Yesterday, my dog club - Mobile Bay Dog Training club -

participated in the Pet Palooza, an adoption extravanza here in Mobile. The Mobile SPCA (I volunteer for them), Animal Rescue League, Friends of the Mobile Animal Shelter and Greyhound Rescue had many, many dogs there along with vendors. Lots of dogs got new homes !

Our club spent the day entertaining the crowds with agility, rally and obedience demos. We had our range of handlers -from grey haired ladies to teenagers and everything in between... proving that age is not a handicap.

I took Ms Diva - always a crowd favorite because of her unpredictable behavior and I took the puppy, Guy, too. It was a great experience for him.. lots of barking dogs, people to visit and treats to eat... better than a dog show for socialization. 

Of course, when we packed up to leave the heavens opened up and made loading the trailer a trial... we all looked like drowned rats! It was still fun. 

 

Murphy's Law strikes again!
Mood:  don't ask

It never fails...

 I paid extra to be listed in the RRCUS Breeder's list back in December or January.. they finally got my information up on May 29... and the email address was wrong.

All the pups are placed, I think and hope, so naturally I've gotten call after call looking for a pup.

I'm feeling like going to train for agility... our drought has ended and now it's been raining for 3 days.

 

Oh, well, at least I can revamp some more pages and get them up on my site. 

On to better things
Mood:  caffeinated

Through no fault of my own, my website on Geocities was terminated by Yahoo. Seems that someone said that my dog club, Mobile Bay Dog Training Club, had added their email without their permission... which is ridiculous!

In order to join the group, new members had to give me or the moderator their email addy. Then we would send them an invitation and they would have to sign themselves up. Once they did that, then we would have to approve their membership. 

So without ANY warning or notification, we were terminated. All our files, etc were gone. As the list owner, all my accounts were terminated, too. Goodbye 12 years of educational information on my website!

Lucky for me, I had backed up a lot of stuff and through the Internet Archive, I've retrieved even more... gotta love those folks!

 I'm looking at this in a positive note.. been meaning to clean out the site, (wasn't planning on being this drastic) so now I have and will be adding new and revelant things as I go.

So visit us often and read the blog.. I usually post new and interesting photos here 'cause it's a lot quicker!

 Have a great Memorial Day and summer ahead!