Saturday, May 24, 2008

Baz and Guy go home

On Friday (5-16) my sister and I took Baz and Guy to the Siberian Specialty in Gardner, KS. Baz was very well behaved in the ring, but just didn't have enough sparkle. He took fourth in his class--no points.
Guy went home with is Mom, and Baz went home with my sister. We are hopeful Baz can earn his final Major and get his CH. He's a very pretty dog, it just may take some time.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Switch

Alicia and I have switched dogs. I have Bazz and am doing a little work on handling and a lot of work on grooming. We've had a little heat wave and he's molting.
This morning I took him outside in my driveway to use the undercoat rake to get out some of the loose fur. He was on a 6' lead that was hooked over my arm. I was plucking his back leg and he decided he could make a break for it. He pulled his leg free of my hand and took off on high. Unfortunately, I was expecting it (Timber *was* half Siberian) and he hit the end of the leash. He whirled around and looked at me, with absolute shock on his face. Poor boy!
When I took Guy over to Alicia's it was a cooler day and I decided to bike him over. Guy did very well at first. He was a little nervous of the bike, but figured out that it wouldn't run him over. But when I turned onto the bike path, he became a basket case. He was afraid of the cars that were on the street (10' away), the mud puddles and even a stray mailbox. I think I overwhelmed him a little. He's doing fine now at Alicia's.
I've been working with Guy on the retrieve, he's gotten stuck. He'll put his mouth on the dumbbell, but won't put pressure on it, or hold it. Alicia's agreed to continue working on the retrieve to see if she can get him to pick it up/carry it.
At my house Guy's cat fixation had increased to the point of grabbing one of the cats on the cat shelf and dragging him off. At Alicia's the cats are much more comfortable with life in general less afraid of everything.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Guy, the lap dog

Apparently Guy is afraid of thunderstorms. That's the only reason I can come up with why he thought he was a lap dog tonight. I got home from work about 9 and let the dogs out in the back yard. It was spitting a little, but nothing major it was warm outside and my dogs were running around. Guy kept digging at the back door to go inside. I thought he wanted to go after the cats.
Guy has now decided that hunting cats is much more fun than just catching sight of them and barking. He uses his nose and will track them--he would be a very good tracking dog!
When I let him in, I came into my office to do a little work on the computer and it began raining harder. Guy came up and put his front paws in my lap. That's fine, I took the opportunity to clip his front toenails and groomed him a little. Then he decided that the back half had to come up also. He hooked his rear toenails into my thigh and began to climb, much like a rock climber. Needless to say I made quite bit of noise and he stopped trying to climb up.
After that I told to get off and lay down. He's laying in between my feet and my desk. This is normally where Quinn lays to stay out of Danny's way.
The thunderstorm is the only thing different from the last few Tuesday nights where my routine is pretty much the same. At least his front toenails are nicely groomed and so is his head and shoulders.