Little Gifts

I can't post pics of the event at present but on my girl's last morning we all went out into the backyard and in the winter sun made doggy paintings together. All three dogs were covered in paint and ate a lot of treats. We all had a blast. The 'art' is on display in our lounge room still. It has hair, dirt, slobber and paw prints on it and they are as precious to me as any family portrait.

I've posted about this before. I had mother and son rescue sbts who came to me at different times. The son came to me with terrible epilepsy and had a lot of fears and anxieties as a result. Both dogs came to my aid and got help when I knocked myself unconscious falling down my front stairs when we lived on acreage. No-one would've found me anytime soon without their help. Both dogs also chased three male intruders from my house then raced back to my side to protect me. Again, without them the outcome would've been very different. Both have since passed from age but I think of them constantly and the house is full or reminders of their time with me. Wish I hadn't moved all my photos or I'd post a pic of them both.

On our stalls people will ask me if something is going to fit their dog (like I have a clue!) and I have a stuffed display dog, bright blue, of no particular heritage. I ask them to hold it and tell me if it feels about right. We then use 'Bluey' as a guide to how big/small their dog is. Most people have no clue about the size of their dog and imagine it is far bigger than it really is. I must confess that I tend to call anything with ticking that lives on a farm a cattle dog. Oh dear....

I love the name Beetle! Look at those great markings over his snozz too!

I hope this little man turns up soon. His owners must be frantic.

I'm a proud mother today. My sbt girl Stussy killed her first mouse last night! Six years worth of trying and her dream has finally come true! I'm pretty sure she ate it so no kisses for her today. I'd like you all to ignore the fact that the only reason this achievement came about is because the stupid mouse crawled into a no kill trap stored under the laundry sink (not even baited/set!), she woke me to tell me and I had to pull it out by it's tail so she could grab it. Usually she scratches the cover open and it hops out and runs off.

The rescue pei were all on Canidae or BH and I had one boy in particular who was very malnourished and with multiple kibble feeds a day put on the weight and condition he needed fairly quickly. So when we had a foster failure I decided to switch our other two (an sbt and husky/shep cross) to the same diet. I also found BH cheaper than the Canidae so they were getting BH and some yoghurt in the mornings (different amounts because of diff breeds/sizes) and BH and chicken necks or sardines for dinner. They were all doing really well but then the husky/shep started dropping a bit of weight and she was already a lean dog. The vet felt that as a senior (she is now 10) she needed a seniors diet. The only one we found that she would eat is Advance Seniors. Would've preferred a better quality but she is happy and healthy on it, her weight went back up and has stayed level. The others remain on their BH and they have good condition/health.

I just want to give Columbus the biggest hug!

I only found the poll difficult if I thought about it from the perspective of all our dogs. I just focused on my heart girl as that is by far our biggest and scariest incident. She showed me how unpredictable dogs can be when instinctual behaviour kicks in. She is irritatingly loving to every human of every age she ever meets and she has nurtured all but one foster dog we have had in this house (one went for her on his first night and got a wide berth after that), including our pei girl that she attacked. She has taught our pei girl so much and constantly looks out for her and calms her, keeps her warm, makes space for her on the lounge, keeps her amused when she is being a handful, etc. So it is hard to accept that such a flexible and giving dog has a terrible weak spot.

Oh to put my face into those little pile of bellies and take a deep breath! You'll never take the 'Puppy Sniffer' out of me!

I answered with my heart girl. She's never bitten a person or another animal (can't even kill a mouse so not much of a vicious stafford!). In May this year she seriously attacked my shar pei girl over a large snake in my yard who was heading under the house where the dogs can't go. I really think the pei girl was nosy, got trapped in a corner and my sbt girl was in high prey drive mode and transferred her attack. I was sleeping in and heard the noise and thought they were just rough housing. Both dogs needed emergency surgery. It was horrible, horrible, horrible and I felt a lot of guilt not waking and intervening sooner. We put a lot of strategies in place and have had no repeat issues, not even close. After surgery both dogs interacted with each other as they always had (but under full supervision), shared my bed, etc. Neither had officially won or lost the fight so perhaps that helped. I have only recently let them go back to rough house style playing under supervision. They start and look over at me to see if it is ok to continue. If my heart girl ever did this again, even if there was a reason, I would pts. No other dog needs to be hurt just because she goes a little crazy over wildlife (which she can't even catch!). I came close to losing our pei girl as one leg bite did hit an artery. The sbt also had her on her back on the ground and was going for her throat so in her crazy haze she meant business. We were all just lucky our pei girl was just as fit and strong.

Sweet, I've just re-activated my FB after having a break for exams so I'll have a look. I meant to ask Teangi the other day if she had any christmas cards but I forgot, as she posted me something this week, so I'll grab them from you :D There's an email address in one of the comments on FB for the pei cards, so I'll send an email there to order some. Thanks I wish Teangi's Bart (and maybe the chickens) would put out a personalised Christmas card range!

My bed is the toy magnet whether they are shop bought, empty toilet rolls or nature's own - sticks. I often have to check before I get into bed at night so I don't impale myself on something. Generally Tempeh is quite sneaky with the sticks - except for the 7 foot tree branch that she couldn't get up the stairs one day.

Minimax if you have a look on FB for Peiradise Pei Pals you will see we have some lovely calligram pei Christmas cards that have been designed by Teangi Sculptures just for us. All money from the sale of the cards goes to support our rescue pei. I think we only have around 7 packs left now. They are $20 for 10 cards (plus post).

I had to change to one dog per walk after shattering my wrist a year ago. My dogs still hate it! Well the one walking likes it but the others carry on like pork chops the whole time we are gone. And when the lucky dog who got picked gets home the other two sniff her relentlessly for clues....

Aww Ziggy looks comfy :D OT I really love your bedspread ... Where did you get it from? I have been looking at getting one but the ones I have seen are quite boring, I love the patchwork style. Copper Art! Mine was maybe $49? But I've had it for a couple of years. I also have it in a beige colour and they are quite good as summer quilts because they are cotton and light weight.

I have that bedspread too (although someone has chewed a hole in it) and I can see the shop it came from but can't see the blinking name! It has a swirly brown font and they sell cheap homewares at ridiculous prices and used to be well known for their fake brass household accessories like fake brass and leadlight lamps. Nope, name still not coming to me!

Double post!

I often still go in there to find out about a breed that is new to me, particularly if I meet one at a dog event.

No point trying to explain myself....

It's all fun and games until someone loses a wing!

I'm 50 years old, loved dogs all my life and often go to doggy events (although not dog shows as such) and have never seen one! I was cleaning up my photos on my pc yesterday and came across this pic. It was taken at Greenheart Fair - two pei puppies asleep in a baby's cot. We had people four deep to see those puppies! And people kept coming back to see if they were awake! So while we see loads of pei in rescue most people have never seen one either and can't understand why they need rescuing.

I'm talking stalker type 'go after'. My behaviour would border on being illegal. Lots of public humiliation. I'd break that bastard mentally and physically before I saw another dog suffer like that. To run a business is one thing but to ignore injury, blame it on a new staff member (the oldest trick in the book) and wait till a court case to pay compensation tells me what kind of human being he is so I'd just need to be a worse one.

KC it is my dream to see a real live basset once in my life so I have to fess up and say I would be one of those irritating people wanting to meet, touch, kiss Josie! In my excitement I would not be able to read your 'bugger off' death stare! Even after all the doggy events I've been to over the last year I still haven't met this breed! I think it's the ears that I love most - long and silky and floppy.

Imagine the horror for those dogs of being trapped in a cage (which I assume would turn into hot metal itself) unable to get away from that heat. If that was my dog I would go after that owner until he couldn't afford shoes, let alone to run another business involving animals. When these dodgy groomers get it wrong, they really do a good job of it. I really feel for all the good and caring groomers out there. What a wonderful thing you did for Miley's family. Thank you for sharing that information with us as we need those positive stories to balance out the horrific ones.