Happy's new baby brother, OZman!

I've taken the leap... Although Happy and I were awaiting the birth of Mary/Jock kids we found the love of our lives in Tessa and Uno's Oz.

We were innocently house/puppy sitting for Vicki the weekend of Moses Lake show. We showed up Friday night and were greeted by Mary & Tessa. The puppies were really screaming so I went to let them out. What a joy to see 20 little legs running for the door... Dinner was served, more playing outside and to bed we all went.

Saturday, at 6:29am, we started all over again, The kids certainly know when it's time to eat. After breakfast everyone went outside... Mothership went out, snarked at a puppy and I let her back in... she's in a Special Way and deserves to be in where it's cozy and no babies to bug her. I tried to nap on the couch but that didn't work out like I had planned. The rest of the day I'd be outside weeding, cleaning up or just watching the puppies, their Mama Tessa Marie and Happy do what dogs do best. Pups chasing Happy, Happy chasing Pups, Mama Tess scolding a bad behavior... Mostly, Happy and Oz were near each other. Oz would come to check in with me on occasion, but then again so would his siblings. By Sunday we had an understanding of what I was to do, they had trained me well. Happy and Oz were play bowing and chasing each other. The rest of the litter would be there also but typically it was Oz and Happy that instigated a romp around the back yard. I wondered how I was going to tell Vicki that Happy and I were in love with another pup....??? Nightmares ensued... I finally got the nerve to tell her and she was quite accepting of the news. All three of us (Hap, Oz and Betsy) have big ideas of how the world will use our talents.. Happy is glad he has a Toto back up now and Oz is looking forward to a life of agility, fun leash work and perhaps some confirmation as well. . Look out world, the Peets Crew is growing!! Oz will keep his call name... it just fits him. We were looking at golf courses for a wonderful little guy that loves his big brother. Maybe something in Tazmania (vampire land)?

How'd I get here?

March 22, 2008 How’d I get end up here?? I was going on with my life and… voi la… here I am, in Silverdale, Washington at the Kitsap Fairgrounds. Staying with my friends Dena and Val in Val’s Motorhome, Speed Racer. Dena and I drove up with Hunter, Alex, Happy (Champion of the Terminally cute) and our Special Guest, the famous Oliver. Between Dena, Val, Vicki, Pat, Rachel and me we have some of the best Carin Terriers in the world. Today we showed to a judge that really appreciates the set standard for our breed. He picked carefully with a wise hand and eye. He also watched the activity outside the ring.. I’ve heard it said that you need to be mind your manners outside the ring as well as in…

We met up with two more friends, Dawn and her son Daniel. What wonderful folks we hang out with. Jock, Dawn’s beautiful Cairn Dog, won Best of Breed and took third place in the group ring. He and Oliver are the crème de la crème as far as I’m concerned. Not that any other cairn I’ve met isn’t, they all have their own niches in my heart.

The other day I was pondering my life. About how things always happen for a reason and, although we may never understand why, if you play your cards correctly life is beautiful. Five years ago I owned 4 acres on a creek out in Rural Washington County. I had struggled for years with my health and probably some depression just thinking about keeping up with all the work that was needed on that small piece of property. My mobile home, although in pretty good shape was 40+ years old, the fences were a disaster, the yard was ¾ of an acre and mowing it was a 2 day job, the trees were all of the deciduous large-leaf type and raking in the fall was a constant battle. All the out buildings were in disrepair. Oh, and did I mention it flooded every year?

I finally made the decision I would sell. I found a realtor that had faith and started the journey. Clean, burn, dump, paint, mow, weed, paint, more cleaning for months. My brothers, Marty and Bob, came a rented giant lawnmower type brush hog mowing a 2 acre field. That is another pretty damn funny blog in itself. After working for six months with a buyer that really wanted the property the place finally closed. I was free!!

My brothers, bless their loving hearts, wanted their baby sister somewhere safe and my realtor was terrified of them. Jeff was careful to discourage me from buying any “fixer uppers” or anything in an unsafe neighborhood. Looking for a home in late December wasn’t easy, usually only the places people are desperate to be rid of are on the market. Luckily we found a brand new Townhome that I fell in love with. No yard to mess with, no worries about painting the outside or reproofing. I never worried about my pets moving in, I knew they would be happy anywhere. Poli, a wonderful Lab-Newfoundland mix, a 150 pound lap dog with a heart big as gold would be a great walking partner. Mask, a long-hair barn cat rescued from a shelter, was a wonderful fuzzy one-person kitty and getting on in years. She would appreciate being the queen of the house. The next adventure of my life was ready to begin!!

I’ll break and continue this story later… wait with bated breath!!

Guess how many pods?

This is a picture of The Mothership that Cindi took today. I will try to get a belly shot tonight. She is somewhere between 48 - 55 days. So she has another 5-10 days to go. She gets x-rayed this coming Monday afternoon. Anyone want to take a guess? I'm thinking 4.
She has still enjoyed her weekly obedience class but only jumping 8" instead of 12". She has also enjoyed getting into the bag of Costco Fruit and Nut Medley and anything remotely at her reach.


This is a shot from last night on her new bed. Auntie Nanny Cindi bought it for her at the Moses Lake shows.

PAWS on the Move

Val, Greg and Pat headed south on another PAWS adventure. They are headed to Petaluma, CA. for an earthdog workshop in which Greg, Pat and 5 (I think I counted 5) Cairns will participate, while Val and Kula relax in the sun.
Their take off from Vicki's was fairly normal for this group, except for the item loaded on the trailer attached to Pat's rig...a PIANO...I will allow them to explain in further blogs...

The Wizard of Oz

Oregon Episcopal School 5th graders presented The Wizard of Oz just before we (Vicki, Ilene, Sharon and I) left for the Moses Lake Dog Show. Vicki and I attended in honor of the actress playing Toto, who happens to be the owner of Vicki's Brodie. Chris was a student of mine in Kindergarten and it was through Brodie and her that I became acquainted with Vicki, who was looking for a forever home for Zoe...and the rest is history. By the way, Zoe herself played Toto during her younger days, so the circle is complete. (The Cairn in the photo is Chase...another of Vicki's children, owned by Tamara and Greg. who stopped to see the play on his way to the show.)

Jimmy and Marty Partying at Moses Lake

Hattie is on her way...

Hattie is officially "in season". Greg can now relax. I am excited,the puppies will be names of grapes, anyone want to contribute your favorite to my list? Won't Otis and Lorin be surprised! Isn't it funny how we all end up connected to people we really like?

We are PAWS!

Zoe and I are so excited to be official bloggers on the NW PAWS site! We have been reading it and commenting on it since its inception and have loved hearing about the adventures of this very UNIQUE group. Among other topics, we will be sharing our adventures as official Puppy Nannies and our experiences at Obedience Class...where we weekly debate which of us is the Alpha in the relationship.If someone will let us know how to include photos, we shall do that as well...so beware of my camera!

Down by two

medications that is. Kula is doing sooooooo well. She had her front bandages changed on Monday and the tech said she must be a very good girl. Her back leg didn't need to be changed because the bandage had not broken down at all. Of course that is because I am maniacal that she not do anything she isn't supposed to! We are doing EVERYTHING exactly how the vet says to. I am going to have her next agility leg before next spring! (God willing of course.)I am very excited. I think tomorrow at her appointment she may get all of her stitches out! Since she is only on one pain medication and the one anti-biotic, she is much more alert and "with" us.
We are very blessed and boy, do I know it!!!

Beautiful???? But sickening!

Evidently, there are hidden dangers in the spring. One of our doggie buddies has been at the vet since yesterday. He got sick on Friday, we all thought it was from running around with the big dogs who were visiting him. He was vomiting a clear liquid...sounds like water, right? Anyway to make a long story short, throughout the weekend, he had a variety of symptoms, vomiting, dia-rears, general lethary....you get the picture. Nothing overting terrifying. Dena knew better! She took him in to the vet yesterday and the vet found him to be sicker than it appeared to those of us over the phone or online.

What it appears has happened is that in the area of the yard that isn't available to the dogs, except when they have company, there are wildflowers growing! Sounds wonderful, BUT Lupine, Bleeding Heart, Tansy, and a ton of other flowers are toxic to dogs and livestock as well. Hunter's dad had figured out that he must be munching the new grass and getting some of the starts of these wildflowers as well.....

Thank goodness they figured it out before they had baby puppies or an old dog who isn't healthy down there. I guess it goes without saying, those wildflowers won't make it through the coming weekend!

Jimmy's first point!

While Val went to the CCTC fun match - I headed to the Moses-Lake shows. I have never been and was not as bad as everyone else had said the town was. The weather was incredible with only a slight breeze at times and a great dinner at Michael's on the Lake. We even got to Fish Hatchery #3.
Ilene came out from New York with Casey and Cindi and Sharon also went. Cindi and Sharon took Jimmy and Marty and headed out for a leisurely trip. They will be taking the two to Great Western and I will fly in June so this was a great rehearsal! Ilene and I headed out with Daisy and Maisy (Pat's bitches) and Chase. As it turned out I had the whole entry.
It was a great trip - everyone came away with a point. Maisy and Chase won on Saturday and Daisy and Jimmy won on Sunday. Sharon took Jimmy back in for winners and E Weiss just loved the 'puppy.' He then went BOW! He was a trouper and loved the group ring. He now thinks the men in the Group ring are put there for him. A few of the handlers would pet him and give him bait as they waited in line. Jimmy is definitely following in his mom and dad's footsteps.

Casey got the breed both days and a GROUP 2 on Sunday! It was a great weekend at a great venue with great weather.

Zoe's mom won the quilt!

Our friend Zoe's mom, Cindi won this quilt being raffled by Cascade Cairn Terrier Club.
They had a Fun match and Rally and Obedience Fun match today at Argus Ranch in Auburn. It was a lot of fun and about 30 people came out. It was a beautiful sunny day, easy to choose to stay home and work in the yard! Glad we had such a nice turn out.
Kona scored a 178 in obedience and Hattie scored a 92 in Rally. We had a lot of fun!

The perfect patient!

Of course she is!! She is Kula!!
I am so happy she is home. She has 4 different medications. Two anti-biotics and two pain/anti-inflammatory. Geez!

Kula is on the mend.

I just talked to the vets office again and Kula is doing fine. The ligament was completely severed. The miniscus was not damaged, so the best scenario for the situation! So, today is the first day of her rehab...she still doesn't care. Pretty heavy pain medication I guess. Hopefully she will stay fever free and be able to come home tomorrow. Kona is totally grumpy...I know...my fault. Hattie is sort of not really certain why Kona is so cranky and wondering where Kula is and on occasion doing something then looking for Kula to come down on her. So, it will be nice to have her home where she can get the best care in the world. It is sort of like when a human goes into the hospital...you know at some point, you can do a better job than the staff. Once there is no danger to the patient, then it is best they are at home!

Big dog running agility

Certainly a whole different style of agility to run a big dog (20 inch jumps)rather than a Cairn (8 inch jumps). For one thing, you have got to be able to do distance work with a big dog, or you are going to KILL yourself trying to keep up. It was really fun! Enslow (Bearded Collie) and I have herded together for 3 years now. We have had a couple of agility trials together, but I have not trained with him much at all. Today we had a class, it was a total blast.

We have been having a discussion on one of the groups I belong to about agility. Flying contacts, versus 2 on 2 off. Today, I had to experience the latter. I must admit it is kind of nice to be able to catch your breath, for just a second, get your bearing on the course, etc.

I will say that when I first learned that we were going down to Olympia and mom wanted me to handle him in class today, I was kind of upset.(Jennifer set it all up when she talked to mom about going to visit her.) To begin with, I felt like a traitor to Kula. I have a habit of thinking she will hold things against me, which of course she won't. It was fun and left me wanting more...of course. I wonder if Kula will know that Kona and I have started classes. Do you think she will hold it against me?