Recent events in Hopkinton IA, have once again brought Breed Specific Legislation, or BSL, to the forefront. Granted the events that started this conversation are horrific-
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Hopkinton-Dog-Attack-Victim-Identified-City-To-Seek--117524223.html
Unattended dogs and children is a set up for disaster. Any breed of dog. Many people like to site the statistics of dog attacks and bites in the US. But remember, this is reported bites. Most are the ones requiring medical attention, happen with multiple witnesses and there is no information provided as to the events of the bite.
After having dealt with a dog bite during one of my kennel club’s dog shows, I got a really big eye opener when talking to the AKC rep. She’s one of my favorites, btw. No nonsense. Her statement-a bite, is a bite, is a bite. It doesn’t have to end with gashes, stitches, severe injury. It’s as simple as a grab of the pant leg, spit left on your arm or making sure all your digits are accounted for. Once a dog bites, there are extreme chances of it happening again and again, getting worse and worse. It’s small toy fox terriers, it’s large German Shepherds. it’s a Neopolitan Mastiff walking past an exhibitor sitting in a chair and attempting to eat the Pomeranian sitting on her lap. Yes that did happen and no, no one said a damn thing. Particular Neo ended up at some other show actually causing a fight and injuring a person and dog.
Basically, regardless of the dog and the bite, it’s the person responsible for the dog that needs to take action and own up to its dog’s behavior. The City of Hopkinton said just that, banning a breed, won’t solve the problem because next time it will be the hunter’s lab or the neighbor’s beagle that bites. How far do you go and how many breeds do you need to ban? Communities need to step up to the plate and make dog owners do right by their dogs. And breeders need to be more responsible about placing dogs-you can say no when a dog isn’t right for a person. Enforce you spay/neuter contracts.
Many thanks need to go out to the AKC for stepping up to the plate and providing timely information to the City of Hopkinton on why BSL doesn’t work. Thanks Jennifer! I’m very happy with the AKC being there to help when asked. They jumped right on it, sending letters, making phone calls and keeping me updated on what they were doing.
Now on to Center Point! Then to Springville and see about lifting the breed ban on... pandas!
Later gators..
C
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
work widow
Sigh, hubby dear, why California? Why can't it be some place where you can take a certain dog with you?
Max is a weinie. period. 85 lbs of German Shepherd who's afraid of wererabbits, keeps forgetting what happens when you pee on an electric fence(sorry guys) and is not allowed on the furniture, including my bed, because he takes up ALL the space.
This week he's lying on the rug by the door, staring at the opening. And that's all he's doing. No barking at the horses, chasing birds, picking on Eddie.
The count down continues and no, I'm not taking him with me to the airport. He'll have to wait for his reunion at home.
Later gators..
C
Max is a weinie. period. 85 lbs of German Shepherd who's afraid of wererabbits, keeps forgetting what happens when you pee on an electric fence(sorry guys) and is not allowed on the furniture, including my bed, because he takes up ALL the space.
This week he's lying on the rug by the door, staring at the opening. And that's all he's doing. No barking at the horses, chasing birds, picking on Eddie.
The count down continues and no, I'm not taking him with me to the airport. He'll have to wait for his reunion at home.
Later gators..
C
Monday, April 11, 2011
Disaster avoided or was it?
Lazy weekend. Alec and I headed off to a dog show. Thank God for late ring times! Nothing spectacular to report other than I had a banner day of shopping. Take my card away please, but it was all well needed items.
Picked up the new tack box from a gal from WI-already have the contents of my old one loaded into the new one and what can I say, I need to buy one more thing to make it perfect.
Moose got a Cool BedIII. He hogs it all to himself. I'm now thinking that a couple more of those won't hurt.
But the prize of the day was a folding dog ramp. Got it for a song, normally over $100 and well, I didn't pay near that for it. Now I won't have to lift girls when they finally figure out that their expanding puppy girths can't make the stairs. My back loves me.
The averted disaster was that the wicked weather went north of us and we didn't have to drive back home through it. Though the wind was anything but nice.
We did manage to visit a couple of the Dirty Dozen while we were out and about. Photos to follow but it was so awesome to see Charlie play with his brothers, Percy and Einstein. Those two boys have the greatest home and are so handsome. Pete was having fun rolling the boys and you can truly see that Charlie's best friend is Pete. Only issue was Palintine the Berner who came lumbering out and I've never seen Pete's eye's get so big! Certainly thought the big black and tan dog was a monster, though the Mooseie dog thought she was hot stuff.
Well, now to a week of being a work widow. Hope Hubby makes it back to Iowa in one piece.
Later gators...
C
Picked up the new tack box from a gal from WI-already have the contents of my old one loaded into the new one and what can I say, I need to buy one more thing to make it perfect.
Moose got a Cool BedIII. He hogs it all to himself. I'm now thinking that a couple more of those won't hurt.
But the prize of the day was a folding dog ramp. Got it for a song, normally over $100 and well, I didn't pay near that for it. Now I won't have to lift girls when they finally figure out that their expanding puppy girths can't make the stairs. My back loves me.
The averted disaster was that the wicked weather went north of us and we didn't have to drive back home through it. Though the wind was anything but nice.
We did manage to visit a couple of the Dirty Dozen while we were out and about. Photos to follow but it was so awesome to see Charlie play with his brothers, Percy and Einstein. Those two boys have the greatest home and are so handsome. Pete was having fun rolling the boys and you can truly see that Charlie's best friend is Pete. Only issue was Palintine the Berner who came lumbering out and I've never seen Pete's eye's get so big! Certainly thought the big black and tan dog was a monster, though the Mooseie dog thought she was hot stuff.
Well, now to a week of being a work widow. Hope Hubby makes it back to Iowa in one piece.
Later gators...
C
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Marg
God this is hard, especially when it's something I can't control.
CH Summit's Margaritaville FB 11/04-4/11
Her legacy.....
Russ
Dove
Bear and Frank
And her grandchildren....
snacks
If it's not one thing, it's another. The EBC(evil blue collie) decided that the Ms' favorite ancona duck was just right for a snack the other night and tried to pull it through 2" fence mesh. Duck is holding her own in the ER unit of Chateau Quack. Hope she makes it as she's one of our prettiest marked ducks.
And if that wasn't enough, Abbey has decided that she wants to be on a raw diet just like Charlie. Though she's decided that the prey model diet is what she really wants. Jail break and 2 chicks later(which a certain unnamed Mary Poppins dog helped), chicks moved to their new quarters in Chateau Quack--which will be renamed to the Chick Chalet once the other building is moved up to our place in 2 weeks(baring more rain).
I'm still cleaning dirt and dust out of all the show boxes and equipment from this last weekends show. Clothes got washed twice, shoes-well not sure if I can get them clean again.
Other then that, it's be kind of quiet. Sort of. A chorus of howling boy dogs happens about every hour on the hour. Someone's in season, can you tell? Just ask Fred who's certain he can figure out a way to have his way with her. That would be why there are two doors, three gates and two kennel doors between the smelly one and the hormonally challenged. And there are still two girls scheduled to go in within the month! Wee haa!
Later gators...
C
And if that wasn't enough, Abbey has decided that she wants to be on a raw diet just like Charlie. Though she's decided that the prey model diet is what she really wants. Jail break and 2 chicks later(which a certain unnamed Mary Poppins dog helped), chicks moved to their new quarters in Chateau Quack--which will be renamed to the Chick Chalet once the other building is moved up to our place in 2 weeks(baring more rain).
I'm still cleaning dirt and dust out of all the show boxes and equipment from this last weekends show. Clothes got washed twice, shoes-well not sure if I can get them clean again.
Other then that, it's be kind of quiet. Sort of. A chorus of howling boy dogs happens about every hour on the hour. Someone's in season, can you tell? Just ask Fred who's certain he can figure out a way to have his way with her. That would be why there are two doors, three gates and two kennel doors between the smelly one and the hormonally challenged. And there are still two girls scheduled to go in within the month! Wee haa!
Later gators...
C
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
And another thing checked off the list!
Eddie been here and there lately, getting all his "stuff" taken care of.
Latest test results returned and this now qualifies him for his CHIC! He is an OFA Fair.
CERF-normal, PRA-clear and Fluff-affected test results are in the mail to be registered with OFA as we speak.
Now if there were only some way to test for Edweirdoism????
Later gators...
C
Latest test results returned and this now qualifies him for his CHIC! He is an OFA Fair.
CERF-normal, PRA-clear and Fluff-affected test results are in the mail to be registered with OFA as we speak.
Now if there were only some way to test for Edweirdoism????
Later gators...
C
Monday, April 4, 2011
If you don't like the weather...
Cold and damp Friday-40 degrees. Moderate and dry on Saturday with a little wind. Hot, humid, windy, rain, hail, thunder and lightening on Sunday. 80 degrees.
That folks, is Iowa.
Friday we leave for Dewitt, IA for one of my favorite dog shows of the season. The site isn't perfect. The pie is awesome-I had strawberry rhubard. The show rings, dry and very dusty. The company-impecable. We always have some sort of good showing here, either performance events or conformation. This year we stayed in the conformation rings.
Let's see-Mr Charlie Bear was WD for 2 more points on Saturday. He showed well, still has issues with the elevator butt on the table but knowing his security blanket, aka, rePete was waiting ringside, he was a happy boy. Thinking about changing his name to Linus. rePete was RWB to a lovely girl, Angelica, owned, bred and shown by Connie Whan. Spitting image of her mother-wow! You never even can complain when the compeition is that good. Russ and Alec went BOB for another 5 pt towards his GRCH. That makes, I think 4 majors now? I'll have to double check.
The only comment I have on the cardigans was that people need to let their dogs move out in the ring. Granted it's not a race, but man, these slow walks around the ring really don't do the dogs justice. Some dogs just can't move, that I get, but some dogs can but aren't allowed to. And stringing a cardigan up to show like a toy dog-seriously people, get a clue. Work with your dog to keep their heads up or at least not on the ground. Okay, two comments. Hello, hasn't anyone read the standard about the coats? This is an ongoing FB discussion. Blowing a coat such that it's open, totally not correct. Poofy and toy handling was in the other building. Sorry, three comments. Condition of your dog. Be aware of that! Bigger is not better, especially if the fat makes your dog sluggish in the ring and that you can see it giggle as the dog moves.
Enough said.
Collies.
Eghads, we showed collies this weekend. I have now mastered the art of grooming a rough collie. Once you get past the myth of dealing with all that hair, there's really nothing to it. A correct dog needs almost nothing done to it. A little moisture in the coat, some chalk on the feet and brush, brush, brush, brush, and brush. We got into a wonderful discussion about brush types. I almost lost my favorite to Rebecca, because it's her favorite brand too. Luck has it I put my name on all my brushes! Now the goal is to find her a new one as her old one is on it's last leg.
29 rough collies entered. 20 of them Rebecca's. 18 shown. We had a spreadsheet. Seriously, you needed one! Meredith even got a chance to show a very unique looking blue dog-he was ash in color, hence his name, Ashton. Overall, I had a blast and love working with Rebecca. She has great dogs with wonderful structure and super breed type. She's a great person to learn from and I'm so happy that Alec is working with her now.
Alec and Connor took the smooth bred, Rebecca with Jerod the old man, took rough breed. So that meant I got to show Ruffles in group! None of us got a thing, but we had fun.
Sunday Russ took Select dog in cardigans-3 pt major and now 2 left to go for the Grand! rePete was once again RWB to Angelica-not complaining there. Charlie was Best Puppy and went on to a Puppy Group 3 :)
Collies-yeah, that was interesting. Judge and I had several conversations in the ring, including that I was in the wrong spot during BOB judging, so I did as instructed and moved up. When she did her exam of my bitch, she realized she was indeed a bitch, I had been in the right place in the beginning and my comment was you never argue when a judge tells you where to go. She laughed and said, you are correct. I ended up with select bitch! Lovely little girl that I've now shown a couple of times for Rebecca.
So packing up, blowing the dust off ourselves, we headed home. I am going to spend the next week getting dust out of everything before we head to Dekalb. The trip home was actually uneventful. It was the pulling into the driveway that just about caused an accident.
Less then 2 mins after we got home, we had HAIL! Lots of it. 1/2 dollar sized hail. Managed to get one dog out of the Big Tow, the crates off the hitch plate and into the house before God's Wrath came down. No major damage but the ground was covered. Really. And David's truck has a couple nice dings in the hood as well as the Big Tow with a few nice bumps.
And that my friends, is the short version of our dog show weekend. We came home to dogs very happy to see us. Chicks look like Chickens and are roosting anywhere they like-sides of the brooder, top of the water containers, you name it. Time to move to the chick chalet! No meetings this week, I need the catch up time.
Cough, sputter, hack--sorry, dust in my....well everywhere!
Later gators...
C
That folks, is Iowa.
Friday we leave for Dewitt, IA for one of my favorite dog shows of the season. The site isn't perfect. The pie is awesome-I had strawberry rhubard. The show rings, dry and very dusty. The company-impecable. We always have some sort of good showing here, either performance events or conformation. This year we stayed in the conformation rings.
Let's see-Mr Charlie Bear was WD for 2 more points on Saturday. He showed well, still has issues with the elevator butt on the table but knowing his security blanket, aka, rePete was waiting ringside, he was a happy boy. Thinking about changing his name to Linus. rePete was RWB to a lovely girl, Angelica, owned, bred and shown by Connie Whan. Spitting image of her mother-wow! You never even can complain when the compeition is that good. Russ and Alec went BOB for another 5 pt towards his GRCH. That makes, I think 4 majors now? I'll have to double check.
The only comment I have on the cardigans was that people need to let their dogs move out in the ring. Granted it's not a race, but man, these slow walks around the ring really don't do the dogs justice. Some dogs just can't move, that I get, but some dogs can but aren't allowed to. And stringing a cardigan up to show like a toy dog-seriously people, get a clue. Work with your dog to keep their heads up or at least not on the ground. Okay, two comments. Hello, hasn't anyone read the standard about the coats? This is an ongoing FB discussion. Blowing a coat such that it's open, totally not correct. Poofy and toy handling was in the other building. Sorry, three comments. Condition of your dog. Be aware of that! Bigger is not better, especially if the fat makes your dog sluggish in the ring and that you can see it giggle as the dog moves.
Enough said.
Collies.
Eghads, we showed collies this weekend. I have now mastered the art of grooming a rough collie. Once you get past the myth of dealing with all that hair, there's really nothing to it. A correct dog needs almost nothing done to it. A little moisture in the coat, some chalk on the feet and brush, brush, brush, brush, and brush. We got into a wonderful discussion about brush types. I almost lost my favorite to Rebecca, because it's her favorite brand too. Luck has it I put my name on all my brushes! Now the goal is to find her a new one as her old one is on it's last leg.
29 rough collies entered. 20 of them Rebecca's. 18 shown. We had a spreadsheet. Seriously, you needed one! Meredith even got a chance to show a very unique looking blue dog-he was ash in color, hence his name, Ashton. Overall, I had a blast and love working with Rebecca. She has great dogs with wonderful structure and super breed type. She's a great person to learn from and I'm so happy that Alec is working with her now.
Alec and Connor took the smooth bred, Rebecca with Jerod the old man, took rough breed. So that meant I got to show Ruffles in group! None of us got a thing, but we had fun.
Sunday Russ took Select dog in cardigans-3 pt major and now 2 left to go for the Grand! rePete was once again RWB to Angelica-not complaining there. Charlie was Best Puppy and went on to a Puppy Group 3 :)
Collies-yeah, that was interesting. Judge and I had several conversations in the ring, including that I was in the wrong spot during BOB judging, so I did as instructed and moved up. When she did her exam of my bitch, she realized she was indeed a bitch, I had been in the right place in the beginning and my comment was you never argue when a judge tells you where to go. She laughed and said, you are correct. I ended up with select bitch! Lovely little girl that I've now shown a couple of times for Rebecca.
So packing up, blowing the dust off ourselves, we headed home. I am going to spend the next week getting dust out of everything before we head to Dekalb. The trip home was actually uneventful. It was the pulling into the driveway that just about caused an accident.
Less then 2 mins after we got home, we had HAIL! Lots of it. 1/2 dollar sized hail. Managed to get one dog out of the Big Tow, the crates off the hitch plate and into the house before God's Wrath came down. No major damage but the ground was covered. Really. And David's truck has a couple nice dings in the hood as well as the Big Tow with a few nice bumps.
And that my friends, is the short version of our dog show weekend. We came home to dogs very happy to see us. Chicks look like Chickens and are roosting anywhere they like-sides of the brooder, top of the water containers, you name it. Time to move to the chick chalet! No meetings this week, I need the catch up time.
Cough, sputter, hack--sorry, dust in my....well everywhere!
Later gators...
C
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