Our weekend at Pawsabilities

We had a great day Saturday at Pawsabilities in Harrisburg, PA. And it got me really excited about performance events (not including confomation).

First, we got there at 9:45 for the breed match. I brought Shelby, and Kit with me. I wish I could have brought Penny, she LOVES shows and events, but with her being pregnant, I didn't want to stress her. I was showing Kit, figured it was good practice since Kit has her first AKC show this Thursday. Anyway, we had a good time! The judge liked Kit and was very impressed with her self stack! The match was a few hours drawn out too long, so of course by the Best in Show puppy judging, Kit was falling asleep in my hands.

Afterwards, we decided to walk around and enjoy the venues, etc. I found a little area that said "Try agility, $3". There were trainers there who helped people guide their dogs (tons of people brought dogs to this event) through two jumps, one hoop jump, one a frame, one set of weaves, one tunnel, one dog walk, and one pause table. I have been training Shelby for agility at home since she was 8 months old, so I was eager to try. I thought SHelby would be distracted like she was for the rest of the day, but no way! After the first jump, she flew through the course flawlessly and listened to my every signal. We went back in twice, we had so much fun! Everytime was the same, she listened and did it all right. Well she was just enjoying herself so much, she kept wanting to go back in. Shelby loves agility.

Then there was a huge crowd gathering around a dock diving event. I saw a little thing that said sign up for a fun jump, and since Shelby and I practiced for dock diving last summer (Shelby would leap into our pool after her toy, swim across the entire length of the pool, then bring it back), I figured we could try it. 100% of the other dogs were biiiig dogs. So when me and Shelby, a 5 pound Dachshund, went out on the stage, everyone went "Aaaaaaaaw!" I threw her toy and she was just about to jump, until she looked down and well there was a problem. A lot of empty space between the water and the stage. I guess Shelby thought she was to jump down into nothing! She kept trying, but didnt want to jump into the unknown. One lady said to me from behind the gate "She doesn't know there's water down there, my boy had the same problem, bring her around to the ramp." So we opened the gate and Shelby flew down that ramp into the water!
Then turned around and came back. Oh well, we tried, and Shelby wasnt the only one who refused to jump that day. At least we gave them something to talk about! "There was a little Dachshund!"

It was a great day, and I cant wait to go next year!

Match show in Harrisburg, PA ... THIS WEEKEND!

Well it's finally that time again ... YUP! It's Pawsabilities!! What is it, you ask???

It's a big dog charity event held at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg every March to raise money for the Susquehanna Service Dogs! They have lots of vendors, food, events for dogs, etc. Many, MANY dogs are usually there.

One of the events is a fun breed match.

I enetered Shelby in 2006, and I enetered Penny in 2007 (with GREAT sucess) and now this year, I'm entering baby Kit! Yup, it's Kit's turn to shine in the spotlight now. I hope she does well.

Wish us luck, I'll be sure to take maaaaaany pictures!!!

Random Picture Moment #15

This would be Shelby ... NOT liking her hoodie. This picture was taken about a month before Shelby turned 2, in the fall of 2007.
The hoodie has never been seen again.

Do you want to learn more about PureSky kennels?

Do you want to learn more about PureSky kennels? Then please go to: www.freewebs.com/pureskydogs to learn more about Shelby, Penny, and Kit!

Kit's News

Yes that would be a new picture of Kit at 8 months old. And also, Kit has some news. On March 13, 2007, she is going to her FIRST AKC conformation show!! Yup!! We've been training Kit for this since she was young, and hopefully it will all pay off!
Stay tuned for more details and results of the show...

Life is busy

I havent been on for at least a week, I know, but life is busy! And I am sick, again. It scares me because last time I was sick, I had to have emergency surgery! Exactly 4 weeks ago from today was my surgery.

But anyway, Penny came home about 2 weeks ago, and things have returned to their busy normal. Kit is so glad to have her sister back, and I wish I could say the same for Shelby, but oh well...

And I am almost completely sure that Penny is pregnant, she should have puppies anytime after April 10. I am going to try and get some pictures of my dogs today and try and make another post!

Random Picture Moment #14

Another Penny as a puppu photo. She was just learning how to stack, and she wouldn't stand on her own, so I placed a jewelry box under her chest, and then she would stand perfectly! What a cutie she was.

Penny is home

Yesterday, following a call the night before from the breeder, we made the trip to bring Penny home.

Upon entering the house, I was mobbed by about 6 Shelties and 3 Dachshunds, while looking in the furry crowd trying to find Penny. Finally I saw a little mostly black thing dart over to me, tail wagging. I reached down to pick her up and a Sheltie threw itself over her.

After making my way through the little sea of Shelties and thanking the breeder, I opened the door to find Jake (Pennys stud for those few days) staring up at me, sad eyes as if to say "Where are you taking my girlfriend?"

We got in the car and Penny collapsed into my arms, exhausted. No wonder, she had a great week and a half playing with all those doggies! And I'm [kind of] sure she was glad to see me.

Kit was incredibly happy to see Penny; Shelby, not so much.

Penny for some reason looked a little sad. I guess they spoiled her a lot there and when she got home she figured, "Oh great, this place again. Oh well...".

But I'm so glad to have her home again. I sure missed her. And now I cant wait until she has her puppies in April.

Excitement, excitement.

Almost Brand New Video of Shelby

A video of Shelby from a few days ago. We were inside and bored to death, so I grabbed the camera and started calling her name and began taping her.

Wanted To Share

Adorable, no? I have puppy fever currently, and no this is not my puppy at all, it's my friends. I wanted to share it because (a) It's a Dachshund and (b) It's just too darn cute! It's unlike any of mine, though, it's a shorthaired. Mine are all long. Take in the cuteness, they're only cute for a while!

Random Picture Moment #13

This is a picture of Penny in the summer of 2006. She was only a few weeks old, and sooo adorable. *sniffles* Now my little baby is going to have babies...

Why...?

I'm not very thrilled with living back in the country.

Remember the other day I said about how our yard was frozen over and looked like a big ice rink?

Now it looks like a swamp.

That's ok, I guess. I have two very muddy, and very happy Dachshunds.

And one floor covered with filthy paw prints...

Guess who has to clean it up?

There Will Be Puppies!

Yeeeee-ha! I got word from the Anderson Farm this morning that Jake and Penny have mated, ON VALENTINES DAY. Woo-hoo! Penny and Jake will be mating twice a day for the next few days, to insure Penny's chances of getting pregnant.

I'm very excited and very nervous at the same time. I'm praying everything with be alright (as far as I pray there are no emergencies whelping), but chances are good since Dachshunds usually have very smooth births.

There will be more updates and for sure puppy pictures as time goes on! Also, there will be more hype when Shelby has her litter later this year, but Shelby won't be bred until after the May field trial. Penny's puppies will be longhaired, however, whereas Shelby's will be shorthaired, because Shelby is being bred to a shorthaired stud.

Random Picture Moment #12

This is Kit and her littermates at about 4 weeks old. Kit is the biggest puppy on the very far right ---->
I almost took the puppy next to her, the chocolate based red, but my final decision was Kit.

Let it snow ... NO MORE!

Snow has not lasted long this year. It came twice and melted before the weekend came. Well, we weren't so fortunate this time.

Yesterday morning, after lounging at the computer for a few hours, I finally looked outside (and screamed HOLY $#!@) to find the yard covered in a thin blanket of snow. I figured "It will be over faster than it came."

Well last night freezing rain came, and our entire yard is froze over. I kid you not. I haven't even tried to walk on it yet out of fear I would slip, fall and crack my head open.

I did, however, watch Shelby's slipping and sliding in amusement. She ran out the door, jumped down the step onto the ground and was met with quite a surprise. She slid about two feet and looked at me like ... "HUH?!" As she sniffed around for a place to go, the poor thing was constantly slipping (especially her back feet) around.

She finally found a place to go. Then went to run as fast as she could back up to the porch. Of course, it didn't work out to well. She slipped, fell forward and cracked her jaw on the ice. That instantly struck fear in me. She continued to run and slipped a little bit a few more times but she made it up to me safely.

Thankfully, nothing was wrong with her jaw. But it makes me glad I didn't go out on the ice or else there would have been another trip to the ER.

On another note, I called to see how Penny was doing yesterday. For those of you who don't know, Penny is at Shelby's breeder's house being bred to a male I carefully selected.
(I am not a backyard breeder, I test, plan my litters carefully, etc. I'm incredibly careful and very knowledgeable. I waited about 4 years to breed a litter at all.)

They said Penny is doing great, they all love her. They said they found it funny that she does not jump up on the furniture. She also didn't know how to use the ramp in the back of their house.
More info coming soon, especially once Penny comes home.

Yeah that's it for a boring blog post but I have one thing to add as a message to a higher being - ITS ALMOST MARCH. NO MORE SNOW!

Random Picture Moment #11

This is one of my favorite pictures of Shelby. In this picture she was 3 months old or so, it was taken in very early 2006. She was very tiny at that age, and SO adorable.

Random Thought

Wow I have been TIRED lately! Mostly because of the surgery, although I'm healing well. That doesn't match with the fact that my oldest dog, Shelby for some reason is acting strange...

She used to be a well behaved and quiet dog. She would be incredibly active during agility, swimming, etc. but otherwise she wouldn't, and she never cared for playing like puppies with the others.

Now when I can hardly move still, guess who suddenly has outburts of energy, and is ignoring my commands and deviling Kit like crazey? If you said Shelby, YOU ARE RIGHT. I think if you're my neighbor, you'll hear screams daily of "Kit, no! Shelby stop! Stop! No, Kit get out of that! SHELBY, GET OVER HERE! @#$%*!"

Speaking of Kit, I feel sorry for her. She misses Penny, a lot. We were out playing in the yard the other day, and Kit was looking for Penny. She kept running back to the door and looking in like she was expecting Penny to come out. She'll be so glad to see her when she's home. Hopefully that's soon.

This is Penny's stud

This is Jake, the little stud that is spending time with Penny this weekend. He is a lovely male. He also happens to be Shelby's father.

Random Picture Moment #10

I was thinking of Penny again, so this random picture moment again involves her. This picture is from the summer of 2007. She was in heat at the time and had dropped a lot of her coat, and didn't like the heat much.

I gave up giving up

Well last night as I was cleaning up after Shelby's wow-mom-look-I-found-a-dead-thing-no-don't-take-it-please-fine-I'll-swallow-it-then!; I began really missing Penny and wondering how she was doing with the stuuud. Was she scared? Was she safe? Did she think I would ever come back for her?

Some humor aside for the moment (hey, don't throw fruit at me!), I began reminiscing... I thought I'd share an inspirational story with you this time.

March 2006, we found a flyer for a huge dog expo event that was being held in Harrisburg called Pawsabilities! We saw they were having a breed match and I had been dying to get Shelby out and show her. So we went and tried it. It was a very small, very informal thing. We had some fun, and went home with two ribbons. Although we didn't WIN the ribbons.

We got them by default.

She was the only dog in her breed.

That year I showed Shelby two more times; once in Ludwigs Corner in April and once in Lancaster in May. She got a few ribbons but it was the same story. The ribbons were won by default because she was the only dog in her class. No competition wins.

I started to become incedibly depressed - and discouraged about my career in dogs.

"I'll never win," I uttered. I was convinced my career was over before it ever really started. The people I saw in the ring - you love them but you can't help but hate them - who have a MAGNIFICANT dog that wins big it's first time out there, and wins most of the time it goes out - they discouraged me the most.

I gave up showing Shelby. I just gave up. The truth is, Shelby wasn't the first dog I ever tried to show. She was just maybe the 8th or so. Everyone of them (my parents dogs), I found out had qualities or personalities that made them unshowable. Shelby was just the first I tried in the ring.

And the first I ever got so discouraged with.

That summer I purchased a puppy that a breeder brought to me from North Carolina. She was a longhaired red brindle Dachshund - and I named her Penny.

I got my hopes up once again that Penny would be my first real show prospect. I would stack her everyday, and examine all her good features. One day in the fall, I was horrified as I stacked her, realizing something for the first time.

Her back legs were way longer than the front, and it threw her topline off horrible! No! If I was any at all discouraged before, this threw it over the top.

"I'm done," I said. "I'm done with Dachshunds. For good."

I let Penny and Shelby become "just the pets". No longer the dogs I was so proud of that I bragged to everyone about, but the shameful secrets I tried to keep. I dreaded everyday taking care of them, seeing them as my big failures. I wondered most days why I didn't just sell them, use the revenue from selling them, and blow it all shopping.

Those were the worst kind of days. The type you cannot make better, but you only feel they cannot get worse.

Although there was one thing in the back of my mind with Penny that I am surprised I had not thought of...

She began growing bigger and bigger and bigger. Finally, she was a very good sized Dachshund. As we delved into the late winter, Penny had changed. I had never ever realized it could have been a growth spurt.

So I got back in the game, right?

Nope.

I had been way too discouraged and let myself get way too hurt. I had given up and that was that. "Yeah so she looks better. We won't be good enough. There's just no way."

That March we again found the same flier for Pawsabilities. My mom had wanted to go because there was CGC testing; she wanted to test her little poodle mix (ahem sorry mom I mean "hybrid") and also wanted to go for the socialization reasons. I glanced at the words "Breed match". For once I let my mind wander.

"Well the breed match is SO incredibly small and SO informal, maybe I might try it..." was the thought in the back of my mind. I had no hope we'd actually win anything but wasn't anything worth a shot?

The night before the breed match I realized I did the same thing again. I let my hope get up a little. So I got down on my knees for the first time in a long time and asked something that a few minutes later, I thought was foolish. "God, I'm so discouraged with this. I'm so depressed with it. Please let us win something, so we may know we're good. Let me and my little partner, Penny, win something together. Please, it's just a really, really small show and it will be easy."

The next morning as we reached Harrisburg and I rushed in with Penny as my mom found a parking spot, my heart sank. The one thing my confidence in showing up to this breed match rested in was non exsistent. I realized it in that fearful moment.

This match was huge! And not so small and informal!

There were many, many other dogs. And many determined handlers grooming. My heart sank a little, and I was angry at myself for having any faith in suceeding at all. "Dammit!" I said to myself.

I wanted to cry right there and then, and run out of there, screaming.

But alas, I had already signed up via pre-entry, so I had to participate if I didn't want to waste my money. Fear dwelled in my heart every moment as me and my mother watched and waited.

Especially as we waited.

Penny loved the atmosphere, though. She wagged her tail at everyone and everything. She was confident, and not afraid, unlike Shelby. She looked up at me with big eyes as if to say "We do good, mommy?" I sighed. "We're going to be the laughingstock of this match," I said to her. The 9 month old pup titled her head a little, as if confused at my words. My mom was proud of me, her daughter showing again, and snapped a picture (the above picture) of Penny.

Meanwhile, a man from a newspaper rolled by. He said Penny was gorgeous, and he snapped pictures of her. I was ashamed at the thought of her appearing in any newspaper. Everyone commented me on how gorgeous she was. "They don't know the breed," was my thought.

Finally our judge called us into the ring. I did horrible. My handling was SO off. Penny smiled big for the judge as I put her on the table. "Relax, hon," the judge told me. "Your dog is beautiful. You really have something here."

As I walked out of the ring, a little weight lifted off my shoulders. "Maybe..." I said to myself. Meanwhile I was grabbed by a more experienced Boston breeder - Patti, as she explained everything to me I did wrong and tried to show me right ways to do it. It discouraged me a little. "Well my dog might be good but because of my handling, I'll never be able to do it."

"She might like some better bait. My dogs love American cheese," she said as she shoved sticky, yellow cheese into my hand. In just a moment then, I filed into the ring for best of group. Cheese in one hand, alert Dachshund that wanted the cheese in other hand. In the hound group, there was quite a lineup.

First the most calm and elegant beagle I ever saw. It was the only one of it's breed, like us.

Then the most confident and radiant Rodiesian Ridgeback. It won best of breed over other dogs of it's breed.

Then the most graceful and gorgeous whippet I ever do remember seeing. There were many whippets there that day.

"The whippet first, then the Rhodie, then the beagle, then I won't get anything," I said to myself.

As the judge came around when we stacked, I had never seen Penny more alert with this cheese! The judge walked up and down, and stopped, and looked at Penny, oddly. "Oh no, she's going to disqualify us." Truth be told, I had shown another dog besides Penny. I put ALL my hope in that dog. One peculiar look from the judge, one "may I see your dog gait again?", resulted in one disqualification and an ended show career.

Fear pulsed in me. Suddenly the words I was afraid to hear. "May I see your dog gait again?" I held back tears as me and Penny made our way back and forth across the ring again and came back. "Thank you," the judge said as we took our place.

"No disqualification, but she thinks my dog is bad," I said.

She went up and down the line up again. Whippet, Rhodie, Beagle, Penny. She gave us another weird look. She walked towards me. "This is the end," I thought. "I'll have the Dachshund first."

Silence.

"What?" I said. The judge grabbed my arm and moved me. In front of the beagle. In front of the rhodie. In front of the whippet. "Now once around." Tears dwelled in the corner of my eyes. A feeling I never felt before surged over me "WHAT!?!?" I thought. I had no idea what was going on. The four of us handlers went around the ring once more. It was all a whirlwind. Suddenly the whippet owner was shaking my hand and telling me Congratulations! "What happened?" I said to the judge. "You won!" she replied.

She told me my handling could be better, but she loved my dog.

I couldn't believe it. I never felt so overwhelmed in my life. "Good dog, Penny! Good dog good dog!" I said. She wagged her tail and jumped around as if to say "Give me the cheese!"

I breathed hard from the adrenaline rush. Not only that but Penny passed her CGC that day with flying colors. I was given hope back where I lacked hope before with my dogs. I decided not to give up. I was given a new love for the show ring. And a new love for the breed...

That April, Penny won a few things in the AKC ring, and later in the year she earned 75/100 of her UKC championship. For any aspect of my life, I have officially given up, giving up. For good. If you have a dream, you go get it. You make it happen. That simple. You never give up.

I am so proud of my 3 little dogs. I am proud of my Shelby, proud of my Kit, and especially proud of my Penny. I am even very proud of Sophie, my little show cat who won 6 ribbons at a show in Febuary, 2008! And I'm sure any offspring from Shelby or Penny this year, I will be equally proud to see them in action. And I can't wait to see how Penny and Kit do in Pawsabilities 2008!

I thank the Lord always for that win that day, and I thank Him for how I have been blessed. And who knows.

Someday, I might show Shelby again.

Someday.

Woo-hoo, again!

Yeah! If you check the bottom of the page, you'll notice we now have a little over 200 page veiws! *sniffle* You like us, you really like us! ^.^

On a different note, I'm starting to really miss Penny. The house is empty without her [attitude]. I wonder how long she will be gone until she's able to come home; til the "deed" is done.

Odd way to word it, I know.

Random Picture Moment # 9

This is one of my favorite all time pictures of my girls, because it turned out great. Shelby earned her BPS title that day when we went backpacking. We packed 2 miles! Penny went along for the ride. It was a beautiful May day a little before Penny's birthday in 2007.

And an adventure is off

If you'll check the blog post before this, you'll know the reason for my posting. Penny went into unexpected heat. I was going to hold her back from breeding to show her more but it is so close into the show season, and she has already began dropping a LOT of coat. So it would be useless to show her in the upcoming season.

She is old enough to breed.

Anyway that above was kind of boring. In about 20 minutes, we're leaving to drop my little girl off at Shelby's breeder. She'll be there for a few days. I am breeding her to Shelby's father. (Shelby was incredibly sickened when I told her this... for that would make her rival, Penny - in a certain sense - her stepmother.)

Like I said, I do NOT jump into breeding for anything! I have never bred a litter, even though growing up my mother raised little dogs, and I was always very involved. I have been planning a breeding with Shelby since 2007, I'm going to breed her after the May field trial. I had been planning to breed Penny in May as well, but since this oppritunity has come up, I plan to take advantage of it. I've had about 5 years experience with the breed, and have never had a litter before. I've been showing them since 2006. I have the standard memorized practically, and I know everything good I want in my breeding program.
I breed for: Health, Temperment, Conformation (show quality), Instinct, and Versatility; the latter to to help preserve the working dogs this breed is.

After this litter, we will work on finishing Penny's UKC Championship, she's 75/100 finished with it, so it should only take about two shows to finish it! And I am still taking her to the early March AKC shows.

I will have to post pictures of the sire later. He has lines from an amazing show breeder that I know. These will be some amazing puppies out of this breeding. All longhairs. There could be reds, red brindles, black and tans, and black and tan brindles.

I will miss my little girl for the few days she's gone, though. But I can rest easy knowing she's in the hands of a responsible breeder.

I love you Penny.

Everyone, stayed tuned for more info...

What do I file this under? Oh. AAAAAAAH!!

Dachshunds are very unexpected creatures. In more ways then one, in more ways then one.

I stated my plan for the year. Breed Shelby after the May field trial. Preserve Penny's coat for show this year. Good plan, eh? That would give me plenty of time to show Penny before she went into heat in May, I figured.

Well then I began noticing that Penny was dropping some of her coat...

I got a big surprise today when I found out Penny came into heat a few months earlier than planned. And she is loosing her coat like crazey. She did this before, so I'm not surprised.

I'm kind of very disapointed. Not only were we looking forward to getting back into the AKC ring, but we were looking forward to finishing her UKC championship in May. Looks like the latter will for sure not be happening...

However I might *MIGHT* be breeding her, to Shelby's father. We'll see, I'm contacting the breeder tomorrow. I usually never make a decision like this, I usually like to have my breedings planned out at least 10 months in advance. At least, if not a good whole year to know.

We'll see what happens. I was toying with the idea of breeding her. She is very well old enough, though, so I don't know what I am worrying over SO much.

Ah yes. Staying up in the middle of the night TWICE in 2008 for puppy whelping, that's it!

Random Picture Moment #8

These 3 pictures are from the summer of 06, when Penny was going through her, um, "biting" stage. That was a living ... nightmare. *shudders*

My baby is growing up

Wow. It seems like only yesterday that Kit was a little baby. One week old. Now she's about 7 months old! It seems like only yesterday she was 9 weeks old and in my lap for the first time, and acting like a little clown on the way home. Wow, they grow up so fast, don't they? Come to think of it, it seems like only yesterday Penny was a baby chewing on my shoe. Or yesterday Shelby was a baby as well. Now later this year, she'll be having babies.
But anyway, rather than continue to bore you - I wanted to share an updated picture with you. I took the above picture of Kit yesterday for my handler to see. She has matured a lot, but as you can see, she is going through that really akward stage. Her back legs grew faster then her front, but they will get better as she matures more.
She should have been groomed for the photo, she looks a little scruffy. Her first show is the match in Pawsabilites. Penny took best of group there last year, and Shelby took 3rd best in group the year before. Then of course, are the AKC shows in March.
Yep, she sure has grown up.
Now only if I could housebreak her...

They have a mind of their own...

Dachshunds are not like any other breed of dog. In fact, a belief is held by many Dachshund breeders that they are in fact NOT a breed of dog, but aliens from a far away planet, here to (a) take over or (b) devore all our food.

It could be both.

I had once heard of a Dachshund who did not like her owner's new husband. So everytime the husband would walk by the little dog, the dog would scream and jump backwards and the owner of course would blame the husband. Well, that was until the poor Dachshund misjudged the angle once and the owner clearly saw two feet between them.

I swear it could be true, though. I once stood in a pet store for 10 minutes showing Shelby the entire selection of toys in an aisle, and every one was met with distaste until she saw the squeaky bunny toy. The one that was just like the one I bought Kit when I brought her home. The one that Shelby and Kit would often get into fights over and it would end up me taking it from Shelby, giving it to Kit, and a VERY angry Shelby.

Of course once she had said toy, she never wanted it, except for when Kit came around.

Maybe it's Penny's INCREDIBLE stubborness; which so happens to be a breed trait, which is the reason many Dachshunds are not housebroken. It's not that the owner cannot housetrain the dog, it's that the dog is a simply a Dachshund, and doing what they do best.
(How did I ever get a CGC on that dog? Oh right, the evaluator had a pocket full of treats...)

Maybe it was the time I had fed Shelby and she "insisted" she was hungry again (another breed trait), and when I denied her over and over she came up with a crafty little plan when I was in the fridge getting lunch for myself...
It started when I noticed she was missing. Moments later I heard a crash in the fridge and opened it to find a freezing but stuffed Shelby gorging into a turkey.

I often joke I am afraid to sleep at night because of the little pair of brown eyes watching me... waiting to kill me off...

Life with Dachshunds is never ever dull.

As much as they can drive you crazy, though, they can be the best dogs in the world. I love the fact that when you pick them up, no matter what they were doing, they will bury themselves under your chin and snuggle up to you. They are very driven dogs, incredibly courageous, and despite above stories - very loyal.

I wouldn't have any other breed in the world.

I have got to be crazey.

Random Picture Moment #7

This is Penny at Pawsabilites 2007 in March at the match show. It was her first show of any kind. She was the only Dachshund showing and she took best of group. The same day she also got her CGC.

A mile long rant .. kind of

Hate to rant but wow am I exhausted. If you scroll down, you'll see my post where I said I had not the stomach flu, but appendicitis (and apologized to the girlscouts for blaming them for it) and had to have emergency surgery on Sunday.

That will be a week tomorrow. Thank God.

With everyday I just think how soon this is to being over. Then I have other things to think about, like how to get rid of this soon to be horrible scar. Until then I am exhausted and in constant pain.

What makes things worse is in all of this I missed the pre-entry for the agility trial for the end of this month. It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that it was time almost perfectly - I planned to breed Shelby after the trial. I still do, but now she won't be able to go to an agility trial until around August or so.

Lovely.

With things so stressful around the house, I'm glad I'm not taking care of my dogs right now, my parents have taken up that responsibility. I have planned agility practice for them tomorrow, and want to take more pictures to post here. I feel in pain just thinking about it. Maybe one of my parents would help me take the pictures, although I hate to be put in the position where I feel like a burden to anyone. I had to miss out on my kitten's first show this weekend because of this surgery.

But a friend was able to take her for me, and apparently she's doing very well.

But even so, I'm glad I have them during this time. I'm glad I have the support (not the part where they drive me crazey) of my family, and the comfort of my animals. That truley is a priceless and wonderful thing. It is truley a blessing, that and the fact that they got this thing out of me before it could have took my life. I am happy, I guess. And I feel blessed.

(But they took away my morphine...)


Also if you see the little link for DachsKatze cattery blog on the side of the screen, don't click on it. I started that because I am also delving into Munchkin cats a little seeing as how my mom dragged me into the joys of the cat show world. But if I have anything exciting or anything to post about my cats, I'll just post it here. Deal with it. Yes I'm talking to you, sitting right there at the computer screen.

Woo-hoo!

Woo-hoo! If you check the bottom of the page, you'll see we have a little over 100 views now! YEAH! Hopefully some of you have come back more than once to see this blog. If you have suggestions, comments, etc. I wanna remind you that comments are open to everyone for them to post! I would like to know if anyone is coming back or likes my blog.

Also tomorrow I am going to be taking new pictures/video clips of my guys during an agility training session, so be sure to come back for more pictures! I'll be sure to post them here.

Random Picture Moment #6

Shelby in the summer of 2007, showing everyone that Dachshunds can do it (agility) just as well as border collies or shelties can do it. Her first trial is at the end of Febuary!

We're on our way!

I just checked the UKC website for the current Top Ten standings of 2008 so far, and Penny is the #3 Dachshund (so far) in the UKC! Yeah, go Penny!

Let's see now if we can keep her in the rankings! Our next UKC show will be in May in Bel Air, MD. Hopefully we can keep her in the ranking the whole year and she'll have a permanent place in the '08 top ten come '09!

An old (but VERY adorable) video of Kit

This is a pretty old video of Kit that I created a few months ago. Despite being old, it is INCREDIBLY adorable video of her. I followed her around during her bath time with a camera and took several pictures of her, as in a story sequence, and it is shown as if it is being told by her.

Random Picture Moment #5

I had just realized - all of my random picture moments were pictures of Penny or Kit, but hardly any of my oldest girl - Shelby! This picture was taken when we first moved here in 2006, a little before Shelby's first birthday. It's one of my favorite pictures of Shelby.

That other dog

Well today is Annie's birthday, otherwise known to all the people who know me as "that other dog". Annie is not MY dog, mind you, she's just a dog who lives here, terrorizes me here, and is owned by my mother. Annie was born from the intentional mix breeding by my parents who decided a maltese and a poodle bred together would have wonderful offspring!

Ech.

My mom was looking for the perfect hybrid puppy. (You can tell as to why I'm a little less than thrilled [or maybe not...]) around the time I obtained Shelby, and she decided to breed her own. More specifically she wanted a puppy that looked like a "little black maltese". I don't exactly approve of backyard breeding with little responsibility put into it, but there was not much I could do except complain, which I do anyway.

Well one day after my mother's own birthday, the maltese went into labor. This was a dog who had been bred several times before, and everytime before to a maltese, so it always produced WHITE puppies. So you can imagine the dog's reaction when she delievered a solid black puppy.

It was so priceless, even I thought so.

She looked at the crying puppy - completely and utterly puzzled - as the puppy screamed. She did that little cock-head thing and looked at it as if to say "What is this?!" She then licked the puppy for about a half hour (as if to lick the black off of it) and the whole time, looking at it, still pondering "what the heck?!"

She gave birth to 6 puppies, 5 of which were healthy (one little black girl was a runt who was destined not to make it). 5 were black, one little male was white.

As the puppies aged, two little black females stood out to my mother. One was a petitie little girl, calm, a tiny bit shy. One, which had white patches on her, was a hurricane. The puppy took favorably to me, and was possibly one of the craziest out of the litter. Even though I had a new puppy of my own (Shelby) and had hardly ever took interest in my mother's litters (produced by her dogs), I could hardly resist to play with the adorable bundles of black fur, remembering the whole time that the only puppy staying was the shy female puppy, because she was what my mother wanted; even though my favorite was the crazey one.

I made the terrible mistake of telling my mother that I liked that puppy. The crazey one.

That was then the one she kept.

She kept her and named her "Annie".

Once the rest of the litter was sold for a profit, Annie lived in our house. Let me rephrase that. Annie peed in, chewed things in, and ran back and forth in a speed so as to trip me constantly, in our house. Wait, wait - our NEW house!

Even worse the little dog must have knew I was less than thrilled with her antics, because she began to drive me even more crazey when she was around 6 months old. She would stand and stare at me, growling and barking. As soon as I would move (most of the time not even towards her) she would get up and run away from the room to my mother, barking and screaming her head off. She also had a fascination with my room and my stuff which lead to the rule, as it sounds, "ANNIE IS NOT ALLOWED PAST HERE - ALIVE". She would also growl at me and only me in the middle of the night, while everyone else was trying to sleep, if I would make any noise at all. And she had a million more annoying antics... like barking randomly for no reason, tearing up the house, and jumping wildly (while barking) on anyone who came into the house.

She also made it impossible for me to catch her. Granted, I didn't want to, but my mom often needed help, and often asked me to put her dog away for her. It would start with me slowly creeping towards the dog, saying in a cuesty voice "Come here Annie, Annie, Annie". The dog would stand dead still until I was within 3 inches of her, then bolt; tearing through the house barking and growling as I ran around the same furniture in circles trying to catch her for 10 minutes until she would then eventually dead STOP and I would trip over her, slaming face first into the floor. I'm sure she found it very amusing.

I ALWAYS identified as a dog lover. I mean, I love dogs. At the time, I had two younger puppies - a 9 month old Shelby and a 2 month old named Penny. My Dachshunds. I spent hours with those two just bonding with them. I LOVE DOGS. But that Annie - DROVE ME INSANE!!! I tried making peace with the dog, tried showing the dog I was ok, tried catching the dog. (Tried shooting the dog...)

Nothing worked.

My mother always would say that it was "just a game and the dog just wanted to play with me." That would explain why she always wagged her tail. I was sure that the little creature was out to kill me or something.

And my mother loved the dog and insisted on bringing her everywhere I took my dogs. Trip to the park. All 3 dogs. Trip to the pet store. All 3 dogs. Arrrrrrrgh.

Shelby developed an unusual hate for Annie, though, soon. Annie loved Shelby; and showed it by jumping in her face, grabbing her ears, growling at her, not ever leaving her alone, etc. Annie is far bigger then Shelby. Always was. But that didn't stop Shelby from trying to kill Annie everytime Annie got near her or me. She still tries that to this day. Last night I wa slaying on the chair, exhausted from coming home from spending days in the hospital after emergency surgery, and as Annie was trying to jump up to us, Shelby sat faithfully protecting me by trying to kill Annie.

And it was no other dog Shelby ever showed that aggression towrds. Just Annie.

Good Shelby.

Although I can't say that Annie is still the same now as she was. No, it's gotten somewhat worse. But better in a way. She now is slightly calmer, and will actually approach me at sometimes and let me pet her. I guess she calmed down with age. Or she realized that no matter what she did, I was still going to be here. Either way, we still have that healthy revenge relationship between us. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

So happy 2nd birthday, dummy. Here's to another year of you terrorizing me in my own home.

And to me, moving out soon.

(Sorry if any of this is hard to read, confusing, etc. I just got out of the hospital and I am on so many pain meds that I can't think straight. Or up and down.)

Random Picture Moment #4

This is Penny from June of 2006. She was about - ooo - the wee age of 6 weeks old. This was one of the first pictures I recieved from her breeder in North Carolina, and I think it depicts Penny's attitude - still to this day - perfectly. "I am great."

It wasn't the stomach flu

Helloooooo. A few days ago I ranted in a post that I caught the stomach flu from the girlscouts. It was NOT the stomach flu; it turned out to be appendicitis, and my appendix ruptured. I had been in the hospital from Sunday to yesterday. I had emergencey surgery for it.

Now hopefully I can get some more posts up here, but it's odd to sit upright with (a) a hole in my side and (b) pain medications, because I constantly feel as if I am going to fall over.

Thank you, to anyone who reads the DachsBlog, and sorry I have not been on, the hospital would not allow me to bring my desktop computer in.

I promise, I will be searching in my mind between the pain medication (which I LOVE) for material to post! Until then there are still many pictures I can post.

Our Possible 2008 Scheduale

It's that time of the year again! January! Time to start thinking about the shows, trials, and other things that we want to be participating in this year! Of course, I will have full coverage here (gosh that made me feel like a news reporter) after we get home from the events.

Febuary 23 - Shelby's first NADAC agility trial.

2nd weekend in March - Pawsabilities in Harrisburg. It is a charity event held by Susquehanna Service Dogs. It is a HUGE event; many people bring their dogs every year. They always have a breed match show there, and we participate every year.

3rd weekend in March - AKC shows in York. (Yeah... finally something that is not a 2 hour drive...)

April - AKC shows the last 3 weekends. (Help me ...)

May - AKC show in Lebanon. (Too close to the renisance faire for me.)

June - AKC show at Ludwigs Corner. To know where this place is you either (a) Live there (b) have family there (c) got lost there or (d) show dogs.

July - AKC shows in York.

Hopefully there will be some more UKC shows for us, some other agility trials and at least 1 earthdog trial, I have been itching to get to one of those, but I don't feel like going the whole way up to the Poconos just for one... ok I WOULD but, lets put it this way. No one else in my family is willing to spend a 4 hour drive in the car with ME or 3 gassy Dachshunds.

Random picture moment # 3

This is Kit at 1 week old. She was still with her breeder. If you look at more recent pictures of her, you'll see most of her black faded to give way to the beautiful red color underneath her.

Home again ... finally!

I originally started working on this post on Sunday. Then I started vomiting and realized I had (and still have) the stomach flu. So here it is late; better late then never.

Today I made it home from my "vacation" with our girlscout troop. In short, we stayed in a little "cabin" about 3 minutes from my house all weekend, watched DVD's, ate junk food, fought, terrorized eachother, put on about a hundred pounds of make up (this is a room full of teenage girls, after all), played games and slept.

I especially like this trips, because I like the element of adventure that comes with them. 97% of my days are spent in the same house, with the same routines, and worst - living with the same people. It's not particuarly that I just like a break from the ordinary. The adventure of things kind of consumes me. If you told me a plane would be ready for me tomorrow to take me to a Fergie concert in Manhattan, I would be packed by the next morning. I live for adventure.


One thing about this trip, however, brought unmesurable amounts of worry over me before I left. Actually, three things. And their names where Shelby, Penny, and Kit.


I hated leaving them.


Not as much because I MISSED them, but more I trusted no one else to take care of them like I did. I examined my choices.


(1) Leave them in a kennel, which is not a choice I particularly liked, seeing as in September of 2006 when we traveled to Ocean City, MD for a weekend - I had to leave Shelby and baby Penny in a kennel. When I came back, my dogs where thin, starving, thirsty, covered in urine, and really overly happy to see me.


Besides, I didn't have the money. Moving on to choice number 2.


(2) Hire a friend to come in and out and take care of them. But I knew nobody nearby that I trusted or would come down to our little home in the boondocks, and I was NOT going to entrust their fate to the neighbors.


And again, I didn't have the money.


Not realizing my probably most practical option was right underneath my nose. The people who shared the house with me could take care of them. Aka, my parents.


Who are not particuarly thrilled with dogs - especially not my father.


The thought of them taking care of my dogs brought on more worry. I could just see them sitting in crates in fecal matter for the whole weekend. I didn't know if it would have made any difference if it were specifically my parents or not, in my mind nobody could take care of them like me!


But I had to agree. What other option did I have?


I sat for quite a while writing up care directions before I let. "Do not let Shelby alone with Kit, she might kill her. Do NOT let Penny offleash outside for any reason, she will not come when you call her. Do not give them newspaper with staples, they will swallow them. Do not leave them outside alone." The list when on and on and on...

This was also my first time leaving Kit.


The morning before I left, everything seemed to be in order. I kissed each little Dachshund on the nose. "Be good for grandma. May the Lord bless you." Kit affectionatley took my finger in her mouth. Shelby seemed to wonder what was going on. Penny couldn't care less.


Really, she couldn't.

So I set off on my little adventure. It wasn't quite what I thought it was. I fought with most of my friends, cried once, tripped twice, got scared witless, hardly got any sleep, had to wear a shirt two days in a row (ick), and on top of it all - SOMEONE gave me the stomach flu...

Even though I usually had fun at these things, this time I couldn't WAIT to get home. Not as much to what was at home; as long as it was away from that camp.

As I approached home, I began worrying about my 3 little babies. If they were ok, if they'd be fed enough, etc. When I usually got home from something like this, I would rush to them going "I'm home, I'm home!" and Shelby would jump into my arms and Penny ... well, wouldn't...

But I barely had the energy to move, let alone give them an energy-full greeting. I stumbled into the room they were in, and for a moment forgot how to open the door. Finally once I remembered how a door knob works, I came into them.

My room was a mess. Disorganized, etc. And they were all three sitting in peed-up crates. I moaned, out of exhaustion, and began cleaning them up. Shelby was so glad I was home. Kit snuggled against me and Penny gave me dirty looks.

Even though I was tired and frustrated, I was so glad to see them.
(I think...)

And I learned one thing...

Never ever go to a girlscout thing ever again without ... Well, never go to a girlscout thing ever again.

Problem solved.

Random picture moment #2

Since Penny was all snowy, and wet and stuff in my last post, I thought I'd post a picture of how she usually looks - well groomed. This is Penny at the 10-13-07 UKC show.

To match 2007

"Hi Shelby," I said as she sat anxiously watching me in her little basket, as I sat on the computer, logging into my online classroom. "I detest Algebra," I said, looking at the long quiz ahead of me. So I took the alternative.



I decided to put it off til later!



I jumped into the "My Pictures" part of my computer, zooming through all the pictures of my 3 girls. Baby pictures of all of them, show pictures, Shelby agility pictures, backpacking pictures, etc. They brought back memories. Pictures of Penny in the first snow of '07, playing in the summer, Shelby swimming in the pool, running in the yard in September. Yes, very many happy memories of a good year. Not only did I love taking pictures of my girls, but I loved looking back and remembering that time.



Then I realized, I hadn't taken pictures of them for a while. I mean, I had a few dark and lousy pictures I took of Kit; besides the pictures a friend took at the 1-12-08 show, I had no pictures of my crew since the fall of 2007! And worse - I had many Shelby and Penny pictures, but no pictures of all 3 of my girls at once.



So today I set out, to make another memory. I'll want to look back and say, "That was a good year." Or look back when they're seniors and say "They were so young." Look back years after their death and say "They were beautiful dogs."

Maybe by then I would forget how hard it actually was to get the three of them to stand still long enough to take a photo... together...

So I decided. Finish schoolwork, then later I would take my girls out, set them on the pool deck (it takes the best face pictures, because you can kneel below them) and take a picture with all three of them in it!

Then later I reclusivley came out of my room to find a different sight outside from what it was later. We had at LEAST two inches of snow. "No!" I said. Well, there went my plans, I thought. "But no, I have to get a picture of them all 3 together. What if I don't get another chance? I am very busy...". So I was determined. We were going to get a picture outside in the snow, even if it killed me - them. Oh. I mean. ... Me.

In a T-Shirt, Miniskirt, Boots, a thin jacket, a camera, and a leash with 3 little Dachshunds at the end, I determinly headed out into the snow. At first, Shelby refused to go out the door, for the fact she hates snow, and Penny refused to go out the door because well, I had told her too. But Kit was excited and jumped out, jumping over Shelby's head, smashing it into the snow.

Making her even more mad.

We headed out into the snow. It was Kit's first snow, and she loved it. Penny's second snow and she throughly was enjoying herself as she did last year. It was Shelby's 3rd snow, however, and she hated it as much now as she did 2 years ago.

I snapped some lovely pictures as you will see at the top of this blog. One I just took of a small part of our yard in the winter time.

When we finished running in the snow, I got the three girls up on the patio table and tried to take a nice picture of the three of them altogether! Shelby was shaking so hard her feet were turning inwards, Penny would not look at me, and Kit ran in front of the other two as if to say "Pay attention to me!" I finally got a great picture of all three of them, then set them down on the ground and ran towards the door.

Shelby ran in first, shaking off snow. Then Kit, wagging her tail. No Penny. I looked back and saw her standing beneath the roof of the porch, looking at me as if to say NO WAY EVER. "Penny, come," I called. She refused, and in fact began walking in the opposite direction.

Eventually she came back but she wasn't happy about it.

So enjoy the pictures of my girls in the snow! Note: I know they look kind of scraggly, but they usually are very well groomed. They were just out in the snow, after all.

Random picture moment #1

Kit on the day of the UKC show, 10-13-2007. The poor little baby fell asleep while waiting for Penny to go into the ring.

Meet Shelby: The Christmas Puppy

A week before Christmas, 2005, I was on cloud nine as we drove down the backroads.

Of course, I was not high. Except for the kind of high that only comes from a - you guess it, new puppy!

It was my Christmas gift to myself. I had been following the progress of that litter since they were a week old. It was consisted of 5 beautiful longhaired puppies - 4 black and tan and one bright red girl. The bright red girl was my choice.

I could barely contain my excitement as we made our way towards the breeders house.

I already had the perfect name picked out for her. Shelby. I made my way into the breeders house, and saw the playpen with 5 beautiful little puppies. And one red mother dog glaring STRAIGHT at me. Angrily.

We made our way home with me cuddling Shelby in my arms in a blanket. The poor little baby was shakey and scared of everything. Wasn't too soon but on Christmas night though, my excitement was soon broken when my baby seemed to be in some excrutiating pain. Everytime I would touch her, and sometimes randomly, she would scream as if being murdered. I was up crying that night. "This beautiful puppy, and I can't even be near her. And she's in pain? What happend? What did I do?"

Worrying and worrying for days on end, the day of her vet visit, Shelby immediatley stopped her crying. Whatsoever. She was completely SILENT. Not a sound. We took her into the vets office, describing her problem, but they looked at us as if we were crazey. Shelby of course made her way around the office being cuddled, wagging tail, recieving treats. Silent.

Later we were out in the parking lot. Sense of relief flowed over me."I love you Shelby," I said, placing her on the ground outside to open my car door. Immediatley she began screaming as if severe pain.

Until I picked her up again.

I looked at her, oddly and speechless, as she gave me a look as if to say "Ha ... ha ... HA."

To this day when Shelby doesn't get her way, she brings out the ear shattering screaming. In fact she does that most of the time. If she's happy, if she's angry, if she's hungry, if she's sad. And it's QUITE an ear piercing sound.

I love my little Shelby.

But I love her more when I wear earplugs.

(The picture at the top of the page is Shelby, her first morning home)

A love/hate relationship?

Sitting at a show recently, I was passed by someone who commented on my dogs, saying how well behaved the show dogs were! It brought back a memory...

On a warm January day, I screamed and cursed at my little Dachshund, who was playing in the biodegradable cat litter/compost area.

"Penny! GET OUT OF THAT!"

Of course, being the rebel Penny was (imagine a 9 week old puppy being so resistent to leash training she would scream and attack the leash), I knew she wasn't going to come so easy. Cursing under my breath, I stomped through the grass over to the little Dachshund, grabbed her and headed up towards the house. While walking I did a quick head count. "I have Penny I see Shelby, where is Kit?"

I looked around frantically for a moment, then spotted the baby puppy again playing in the cat litter pile. I didn't want her smelling like cat pee, and I knew at that age, she would not respond to my commands so well, so again I stomped off towards her, cursing even more under my breath. I scooped her up in my arms, and with one in each arm, and a third following me, I made up most of the way to the house, then sat Kit and Penny down. "There we go," I said, half proud of myself, mission accomplished. Then I realized, Shelby was missing. I turned to see her in the cat litter.

I was calm, remembering Shelby was incredibly obedient. "Shelby come," I commanded. She looked up at me, let her ears down, then went off ignoring me.

I think the neighbors heard my next screams.

From MILES away.

Later I sat on the pool steps, half fuming under my breath with my jaw hurting from clenching it as I watched the 3 of them. As always, Penny was as far away from me as possible, sniffing around, Kit was exploring territory around me, and Shelby was as close to me as possible, while sniffing the ground in front of her.

I was regretting the harsh things I screamed, though, when Shelby frustrated me. I mean, did they drive me crazey? Yes. Every single day. They are not easy. Kit is not housebroken, and Penny began following the reasoning "If she can go inside, why can't I?" as well. I constantly have to break up squabbles between Kit trying to play with a not so willing Shelby. Not to mention Kit's teething stage. Most people who raise dogs I know, keep them for a few years, then re-home them. I can see why.

But.

I started thinking. It's in the way little Kit gently teeths my finger when I touch her little nose at night. The way Penny rebels to no end. The way it feels to prance around a show ring. The way it feels to run around an agility ring with a little dog soaring over the jumps and through the weaves. The way Shelby swims the entire length of the pool, despite her small size after her prize, a fleece toy. The way Kit cuddles against everyone, even Shelby. The way Penny squeaks her squeaky toys. The way Shelby's little brown eyes watch me as she cuddles up against me at night to fall asleep.

And I remembered why I decided to stick it out to the end with them.

I turned to Shelby. "I love you. Even though you drive me crazey." I picked up Kit. "I love you. Even though you drive me crazey." I walked the whole way across the yard to Penny, trying to avoid me. "I love you. Even though I drive you crazey."

Yes I know this is a very sappy post but what can I say? I love my dogs. Even though they drive me absolutely mad.
Shelby then approached me with a rotted peice of meat.
After chasing her around trying to retriever the disgusting thing, I also make this statement.
I love my 3 dogs.
But I will never EVER get a 4th one.
Unless it will moniter the other 3.