happy birthday to us!
For those of you who don’t know, my first litter was born on my birthday, March 19th, in 2009 – and yes, we’re still all in Pisces! This past Saturday I turned 31 and the pupplets turned two. Happy birthday, babies! As we set off to get the second generation of Hagaren Cardigan’s brewing, here are some recent photos of my “Song” litter (which were mostly actually named after songs).
Alphonse, now Digby, “Hagaren’s Zombie Woof”
Bonita, now Stella, “Hagaren’s Cinnamon Girl”
Corin, now Pedey, “Hagaren’s Rookie of the Year”
Dexter, “Hagaren’s Street Spirit” CGC TDU, and Ella, “Hagaren’s Kinetic”
Fiyero, now Fergus, “Hagaren’s Free Fallin”
Gretchen, now Scout, “Hagaren’s Magic Jewel”
Hermione, now Maizey, “Hagaren’s Maizey Rockstar”
to finish, or not to finish?
I am going back and forth on this in regards to Dex. For some stretches I say, “He’s so close, why not?” and other days I wonder if I should waste my time and resources, which are usually stretched to begin with. Whenever I don’t enter a show because its barely been a points for years, its a major. When I enter because it will be a major “for sure”, it barely pulls a point. It has been a challenge in my part of the northeast. This would be fine if I had a reliable job (also a challenge out here, and in the present economy) and could afford to enter shows and throw away the fees if nothing came of it, but at present I can’t do that – though I’m working towards it. I also have Ella to finish, and will *knock on wood* hopefully have Ella and Rush’s baby to start this fall.
I know that I won’t be using Dexter as a breeding dog, nor will I let anyone else use him. A winter of running through deep snow has aggravated his soundness, and put to rest any lingering hopes I had of doing something with him in that respect. Part of me would like to have the title in front of his name, and the other part reminds me that earning a conformation championship is something focused towards determining the merit of breeding stock, which he is not. And it isn’t as if I love the show ring. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to hand my dog off to someone else, someone GOOD at it, and clap from ringside. I show because I like to breed, and if he won’t be bred, then why?
Dexter is, overwhelmingly, the best dog I have ever owned, personality and temperament wise. He isn’t that hard on the eyes, either, especially to the laymen, who routinely proclaim that he is the most beautiful dog they have ever seen. I am not sure I will ever be able to give him up (though I keep trying to talk myself into it), and I wonder if I ought not just neuter him and let him raise puppies and visit kids…
i ♥ dexter
We went to a Therapy Dogs United supported book fair at the Erie Barnes & Noble Wednesday night. Pretty much all the TDU events are in Erie, and I live about an hour and a half away, so I don’t get to do much with them. It was nice to meet more of the members and their dogs. Dexter fell in love with Sophie the Great Pyrenees (with the pink bows on her ears), and has a total bro crush on Big Ben the Lab, whose name is in no was an exageration.
It was nice to watch Dex work. He is always a hit with the kids, who think he’s weird and cool-looking, and like his size. He’s started doing this thing when a child gets down on their knees in front of him: he sits up and puts a paw on each shoulder and sniffs their face. If they don’t pull away, he give them kisses. This always gets a lot of laughs and squeals, and they run and tell their parents about it.
Below, Dex finishes off the last of a goat bottle…
This was in the same folder and the photo above, and I don’t think I ever got around to posting it.
I ♥ ♥ ♥ DEXTER!
a whole lot of nothing
I am having a pretty uneventful stretch. No dog shows, no drama. The lack of drama is a good thing. The lack of dog shows is not. Ella is aggressively blowing coat, so she will be skipping the Buffalo and Erie shows this month, much to my disappointment. We will be doing Meet the Breeds and the Therapy Dogs United booth at the Erie shows, however.
Dexter thought the ladies might like to see his Playgirl pose, and asked me to post for him.
phun with photoshop
I am happy to have Photoshop back in my life. Here are a couple of the better pictures from my snow shoot, which I ran through filters – “rough pastel” for Dexter and “watercolor” for Ella. Once I have a good camera again I will be 100% back in business.
untitled
We haven’t gone outside to take pictures in a long, long while (thanks to the theft and then destruction of two expensive cameras), and it was such a beautiful day. Fall is in the air, and we won’t have many more like this one.
First and most importantly…
ha!
This photo is Dex to a tee. What a mellow, happy guy.
Dex loves his job. He goes to Heritage Green Rehab and Skilled Nursing Facility on Mondays. Since he’s so short, we push him around in a wheelchair so that he is within visiting distance of the residents. You can tell he thinks that he is pretty special on his throne.
For the record, *I* did not get an ID badge. 😉
a few more
Sister – out of jail and finally doing well.
Camera battery died, so this was all we got for the video.
Still need to move him faster.
sixteen months
Ella is unfit for human eyes (no hair, all legs). Dex, however, is fine.
From a movement video. All that swimming does help!
racial violence
What’s that you say? You didn’t know we had a black Lab?? You thought she was only visiting??? No – my sister brought her home. Because a free dog is free, don’t you know. And then said sister got arrested for DUI, which got bumped up a little for possession, so Luna is the family dog while that one sits in the slammer – and maybe forever, as soon as the sister loses interest. Thankfully, LuLu is a really good dog. Labs can so easily go wrong.
Grey dogs keeping the black dog down.
This is not an accurate depiction of their everyday lives. Dex and LuLu play pretty equally, sparring and rolling, but the interesting component is Ella. Ella is the Queen of All. Well, GoGo is the Executive Director of the Queen of All – sometimes you can see Ella THINKING about humping* him, but then she realizes the error in that mode of thought – but he pretty much leaves her to her doings. And do she does!
Ella. LOVES. Luna. They play constantly, and Ella has little scabs all over her body, from little milk teeth and no coat to protect her skin right now. The usual scene is Ella pinned down on the ground under Luna, Luna vigorously mauling Ella’s face while Ella wears an elated, open-mouthed hyena grin, or Luna grabbing a mouthful of skin and shaking it like a dead rat. Doesn’t look like fun to me, but, hey, I’m not a dog.
GoGo even seems to like her. And GoGo thinks puppies are gross.
_______________________________________________________________
*I am gaining quite a reputation as a humping enthusiast! Ella turned me on to the “sport,” as she is creatively involved in it. Her newest victim is the goat, Rocky. So far, Rocky seems emotionally un-scarred.
Traci sent me this, knowing that I would appreciate it. Maybe it’s in the genes. 😉 Ella says, “Go Auntie Sedona!”
P.S. I am also amused by corgis pooping. Feel free to send me pictures of that, too. I’m sorry – it IS funny. They always look so dismayed.
Dex (from our TDU photo shoot): “Therapy dogs gotta go, too…”
Ohhhhh… I am a strange person. 😉
dex @ 15 months
Dex deserved a better photo session – not much better, but at least the wind wasn’t blowing up his arse this time. There is only so much you can do with one person.
Am I wrong to like this dog??? I am really hoping he will be something I can play around with a little as a special. Ella is easier to show, but Dex LIKES it more. He got some nice compliments at the judges education seminar a few weeks ago. The six example dogs were presented as if they were a class, and the judges had to pick the top four and explain why they picked them. Dex was first for one judge. The other eight times it was Cindy Bossi’s nice bitch, Coco (Anna Nicole’s litter sister). Dex was second twice, and out of the running only twice. Mind you, he was in pretty nice company, the likes of Sera, George, Will Smith Jacob (RWD at the National), and Morgan. A couple of judges commented that they liked his attitude – he was being naughty, as he thought Coco was looking rather lovely, and she kept standing in front of him – and his rib-spring, flowing lines, and expression were unanimously approved of.
No, I don’t like his front, either. I hate that extra show-side turnout, and he’s excessive to begin with. I’m told that is something I will never get rid of. His rear is a little straight, and his butt has to come down. The rest I’ll keep.
15 months
I’m a little behind (10 days), but here are some stacked shots of the puppies, as well as a few more from this morning.
So, sooooo nekkid.
“You aren’t looking at my bone, are you?”
Ready for his close-up.
I didn’t get a great picture of Dex. The wind didn’t help, either…
“Oooo! Do I feel a breeze?”
dex’s addiction
Lately I’ve been trying to talk myself into placing Dex – eventually.
Now, before anyone gets too excited and the emails start flooding in, I already have him promised out – TWICE – should I ever actually place him. Someone who has followed the blog since he was born happened to walk up to me at the National and say, “You know, if you ever need a place for him…” To which I said, “You know, if I ever do – okay.” Susan and Stella also volunteered their services shortly thereafter (which I think means that Susan likes Stella), and are my alternates if Mary can’t take him.
My thinking on the issue is this: do I really need another blue boy that no one will ever use?
Joanna and I have been going around and around about this on the g-chat for the last month. She and Jeri get to be the sounding boards for most of my thoughts, which is a public service you can thank them for, as I am unable to keep my thoughts to myself, and if they did not absorb them I would just vomit them all over the internet – which is not good for you, nor me!
I am leaning towards Joanna’s mode of thinking – which she discusses a little in this post, which barely touches on the thousands of words that have been typed in the hashing out of this subject – mainly because it is where I wish to lean. I take Ella as an example of why it is a good choice to keep the dogs that you love. Looking at her at eight weeks, I should not have kept her. She was third or fourth or fifth pick in every evaluation, which Dex and Stella were always at the top of. I tried not to keep her, but in the end I did, because Nancy Willoughby, the last person to look at my puppies, watched her running around her yard and stated that she wouldn’t let that puppy go for the world. And it was the best decision I have ever made. Fortunately, Ella turned out better than I guessed she would, and has done well in the ring, but that is beside the point. Even is she had stayed high-tailed and roachy, she would still be here, because she is a great pet and I love her with all my heart.
Dex presents a similar problem. He is WONDERFUL. Not to put too fine a point on it, but he is the BEST DOG EVER. Ella is my favorite, but she is naughty and smelly. Dex is just plain a good boy. He is sweet and mellow and loving, but will go out and play hard all day, and do whatever you ask – so long as he can figure out what it is that you want, as he is a little air-headed. He does his best to never do anything wrong. GoGo and Ella beat him up, and take away his toys and bones, and he endures it good-naturedly. He is not shy or overly-submissive, he just takes everything in stride. He is the BEST.
So I am trapped between what I want to do and what I *think* I should do… I have Ella. I’m I really allowed to keep another mediocre dog?
There is that saying, “You love whom you love.” This is, ultimately, the reason I couldn’t keep June, which of all the dogs I’ve had is the one I absolutely should have kept. Maybe that is the answer to the question of what path I am going to choose. I let go of a great dog, and will keep and breed on my own dogs, which are not as great.
There was another great dog I let go. She was a fluff with a bad bite, and when her hips didn’t pass I spayed her. And then I placed her, because I needed room for a “better” dog. And there are a lot of days that I wished that I hadn’t, because I miss her every day.
Do I want to buy another good dog, one that I might find that spark with? Right now the answer is no. Some day I may see one that captures me, but I’m learning that this isn’t something I can force. The dogs that I’ve loved at birth, at first sight, or shortly after, GoGo and Blue and Ella and Dex, are the ones that have truly lived in my heart. When I have forced it the match has not been right. I certainly adored Friday, and when Joanna breeds her I may beg and cry and stomp my foot, or see if I can tackle her and pry it from her clenched fingers… But for right now I like what I have, and I want to keep room for them. The idea of having a house full of GoGo’s babies, and their babies, and their babies babies, fills me with a kind of happiness that has not been surpassed by anything in my life so far.* Even if GoGo doesn’t get used again, and if Dex never does, GoGo is frozen and if Dexter is worth anything he will be too. That is the nice thing about boys, and I’m trying to convince myself not to get in a rush about it.
A-N-Y-W-A-Y… This was not the purpose with which I set about writing this post, and I have veered off track. So, without further ado…
DEXTER, AND HIS ADDICTION
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
GoGo didn’t swim until he was a year old, but when he did he was a swimming, fetching fiend. He taught Ella early, and for the last few months they have been feverishly paddling out together to fetch their ball or their bumper.
Dex has absolutely no interest in fetching. The exciting thing about fetch time is that he can chase the other dogs, and grab onto his sister’s tail when she’s running, if he can catch her, or jump on top of her and tackle her when she stops to get the ball. I didn’t have much hope in teaching him to swim with the fetch method.
I love dogs that swim. It is fun, and beneficial, as it is a great method of exercise. It improves movement much more effectively than road-working does, with no impact on fragile dwarfed joints. Oh, and the dogs love it, too.
Dex’s desire to chase the others extended to the water as well, but he was less certain about heading out into that vast wet stuff than he was about running down the grassy hill behind the house. He would pace the bank while the others swam, his eyes following them wistfully.
It started with the wading pool. GoGo and Ella, who are cut from the same cloth, would take breaks in their fetching to hop into the pool, to drink and pant and dunk their bellies. Dex didn’t want to get wet, but as it got warmer he warmed to the idea. Once he realized that the water wouldn’t eat him, he was willing to wade out a little at the pond or the lake, but did not want get his chest wet.
The last time we were at Lake Erie he did try a little, and it was something to behold. He waded out until his feet didn’t touch the sand, and wallowed there without going anywhere, like a paddleboat with each person paddling a different direction. Towards the end he began to figure out how to move a little, and swam away a bit before getting scared and coming back.
We had a meeting at work last week, and I took the dogs so that they could swim afterwards, as the restaurant is right on Chautauqua Lake. He swam a little better this time, snapping at the water as he tried to learn how to coordinate his breathing. I took them again a day later, when I had to go in to decorate for a party, and that was when it clicked. He followed GoGo and Ella out a little, but then he forgot them, trolling around in lazy circles while the other two came back, and went out, and came back again.
He had the most peaceful, happy expression on his face. GoGo and Ella always look a little frantic, as if the pleasure of retrieving the ball barely outweighs the fear of drowning. Dex was so relaxed. Since then the boy has been hooked.
For me, there is no greater pleasure in life than to watch dogs doing something they love. Dex hadn’t found that something yet. GoGo and Ella have agility, and fetching, and Ella – of course – has her poop-rolling, but Dex was without a passion. I am so glad he finally found one.
*Except the book, which I hope will find its way back into my life soon, as it leaves a gap – but oh, life, you get in the way…
Hagaren Cardigans 