Before and after pictures of ear taping

A friend brought a nearly 5 month old puppy over for ear taping. A veterinarian had attempted to glue pre-made inserts into the ears. The puppy scratched the inserts out by the time they got home. Unfortunately, the glue had to be cleaned out before we could do the taping. Cleaning it out caused some minor inflammation, which delayed the taping for a few days.

Before we cleaned the glue out
A few days later, ready for taping
All taped up!
You can see that she is comfortable with them and not scratching at them at all

Comfort is key to getting the puppy tolerant of the tape and the taping process.

Her owner will come back if the tape comes off. Otherwise, we’ll recheck them in a couple of weeks.

Two dumb things I did

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve probably seen Winston and Clyde together and happy. I generally had been letting Winston, Clyde, and SeeSee out together. They got along reasonably well as long as there was nothing to fight over.

Recently, Daphne was in heat when I took her, SeeSee, and Roz to a dog show. I made an effort to always put Daphne in the same crate so her scent would not be distributed among the other dogs. But I must have made a mistake and put SeeSee in Daphne’s crate, or maybe it was just using the same grooming tools on both of them.

Whatever I did, Daphne’s scent must have gotten on SeeSee because as soon as I put SeeSee and Clyde and Winston out together when we got home, Winston and Clyde started fighting over SeeSee. I had to break up a dog fight between two 90lb plus dogs. That is a recipe for a disaster. It’s really easy to get yourself bit or hurt doing that. I was really lucky I did not get hurt.

I ended up denting a stainless steel water bucket on Clyde’s head. Luckily, they did not seriously hurt each other. I checked them out thoroughly, and I only found superficial marks on them and some sore areas. No vet visit was needed. But here is a picture of the bucket:

After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to get Winston neutered. The only way I can keep him is to put him in with the girls. I don’t have a way to keep them intact and separated long-term. I’ve been keeping him upstairs, but I need to use that space when there is a female in heat.

So now Winston is neutered, and he is getting used to being with Roz and Daphne.

It’s never the dogs’ fault.

Clyde and SeeSee playing in the backyard without Winston. Winston is heard on audio.
Winston with Daphne, letting her build confidence

The other stupid thing I did was to allow SeeSee to get too hot playing fetch. (This happened last year with Clyde, too.) On a day that was unseasonably warm and very humid, when she hadn’t had time to acclimate yet, I was playing fetch with SeeSee, and I caught an odd look in her eye and decided to quit. She was panting too hard, so I put her outside with a cold bowl of fresh water. She didn’t drink. This is a huge red flag.

She couldn’t think straight. She began panting so hard I couldn’t count her breaths. I got ice packs, and that did not help fast enough, so I put her in the shower and sprayed her down with cold water for 20 minutes, but she kept panting really hard, and worse, having difficulty standing. 

I finally put shampoo on her to help get the cool water down to her skin. German Shepherds tend to shed water easily, so the shampoo actually helped her cool down, getting the coolness of the water where it needed to go.

This did the trick, and we avoided the final stages of heatstroke, which can be fatal.  At least she got a bath and got to air dry. (And so did myself, my clothes, and shoes.)

How stupid of me. I need to be more careful with exercising the dogs in the heat. Be careful everyone, it’s going to be a hot summer.

SeeSee, wanting to be groomed. She is shedding out, soon to be in heat.
Winston is doing his “Flat Stanley” impersonation, fully recovered from the neutering

Are you interested in rescuing a young dog?

I participated again in a leg of a transport journey from an overcrowded shelter in the South to more welcoming shelters in the north. Here are some of the dogs I transported:

Sort of a pointer type dog?
Soulful eyes!
All five from same litter
Husky mix
She has freckles, like an English setter
Hey! Let me outta here!
Bonded brothers

If you are interested in any of these dogs, please contact Charlotte Tran at www.animalsanctuarysociety.org in Mt. Laurel, NJ.

All are young and healthy, vet checked. Sweet temperaments. Easy to transport, they settled down after a few minutes of yipping.

See See’s Win Photo

Ch. Tennessee Walker Out of Sight

I can’t believe how great See See looks in this picture! I’m so proud of her! I’m also proud of the fact that I put all the points on her myself, which is hard to do with all the really good competition and professionals out there. But I had a lot of support from my friends!

Thank you Vera Symonds for allowing me to breed my Jane to your Cash to get my beautiful See See and my Clyde.

Thank you AKC judge Brian Meyer for this major win!

See See is a champion! And her daughters are winning too!

We had two four-day dog show weekends in a row in Doswell, Virginia. The first weekend we did not do well at all. But we hung in there, and it paid off big time!

The second weekend we could not have done better. I entered all three of my girls again, and each one got a major, and Roz got an extra point. We literally got winners bitch* every day!  I could not have been happier or more proud of my girls. SeeSee’s major makes her a champion now!

Here are some candid pics from ringside after our wins. I will post professional pics when I get them. Thank you Vera and Keith for taking pics!

Because I had more than one bitch to show, I needed to have a handler, so Adrienne Isham handled Daphne while I had Roz and See See. On Thursday, Daphne not only won winners bitch*, she also got best of breed! Because she beat the boys and specials too, she got a five-point major, her first points. Adrienne did an absolutely fantastic job! Thank you, AKC judge Lloyd Graser!

Daphne Moon Out of Sight with me and handler Adrienne Isham (age 14m)
Daphne strutting her stuff in the ring (photo by Kevin Brown)

On Friday, SeeSee got winners bitch* for a three-point major to finish her championship title! I am particularly proud that I put all her points on her myself. Thank you, AKC judge Brian Meyer!

Ch. Tennessee Walker Out of Sight (age 4)

On Saturday, Roz got winners bitch* for a three-point major, her first major win. Thank you, AKC judge Raymond Filburn!

Roz Doyle Out of Sight (age 14m)

On Sunday, Roz got winners bitch* earning one more point. (It was not a major because some dogs did not show up.) Roz now has a total of 6 points towards her championship title. Thank you, AKC judge Elizabeth Muthard!

Roz Doyle Out of Sight (age 14m)

Special thanks to Adrienne Isham for handling Daphne, and to Kai Degner for stepping in to take in Roz and SeeSee when needed. Also, many thanks to all my friends who are encouraging and supportive in my little German Shepherd/dog show world. Vera Symonds, Kevin Brown, Patricia Ray, Ron Webb, Kaitlyn Hollinger, Charlotte Larosa, Grace Bakeman, Barbara Friedman, Tom Dowell, Keith Cousins, Lisa Reynoldson, this means you!

* in case you are not familiar with dog show lingo, “winners bitch” means a female who has beaten all of the other females of that breed in the classes. There are different classes depending on age and experience in the show ring. The winner of each class competes for winners bitch. Only Winners bitch gets points towards her championship title.

The number of points depends on the number of entries. The more competition there is, the more points the winner receives. One, two, three, four, or five points can be earned. Three to five points is a major win. Each year the AKC determines how much competition is needed for major wins in each gender of each breed depending on numbers of registration and entries the previous year in each region.

Of the 15 points needed for a championship title, there must be two major wins under two different judges, plus at least one more judge.

Males are called dogs. So they compete for “winners dog”.

Here is a link to a more complicated explanation by AKC:

Counting Points

Happy birthday to Winston!

Ch. Sir Winston Churchill Out of Sight, BCAT, CD is 6 years old today. When he was born, he had a big fat head. My husband thought he looked like Winston Churchill. After his nose grew out, he didn’t look so much like his namesake, but he still has that same air of importance.

Here are a couple of pics and a video from today, his 6th birthday.

Happy birthday to Jane’s puppies born February 6th, 2021!

Connemara
Clydesdale
Tennessee Walker
Maverick (Ranger)
Mustang (Chief )

Four year old pic:

Jane with her 11 puppies, one day old

Missing are current pics from Pony, Appaloosa, Filly, Quarterhorse, Dressage, and Percheron! As you can tell from the names, this was my “horse” litter. The last I heard, they were all doing well, and most new owners ended up changing their names. I’d love to know they are living their best lives!

If any are having any problems, I’d like to know that too. I need to know for my breeding program, and I might have some insight on what’s going on. And I will always take a puppy back, no matter how much time has passed, with no questions asked. That is my guarantee to all my puppies: they can always come home to me.

What is it like to prep for a dog show?

I got up at 3:00 a.m…. well, I actually hadn’t been to sleep. I let the dogs out to relieve and got dressed. I started loading up the van and realized that the third crate that I keep at the bottom of the driveway was frozen to the ground with a layer of ice on it. As I tried to chop the ice off the crate with a windshield scraper, I wondered if my neighbors would think someone was trying to break into my house at 3:30a.m. I broke the windshield scraper and started kicking the crate to try to get the ice off of it. I was afraid I would break the crate, so I just left a bunch of ice on it.

I finally dislodged the crate from the ground even though it had frozen leaves stuck to it. I dragged the ice laden crate up the icy driveway, praying that I would not slip and fall and break a bone. I put it in the van, covered with ice, and put towels on it to absorb the water as it thawed on the way to West Friendship, MD, a 2 and 1/2 hour drive.

” I must be crazy.”

I carried my grooming equipment up the icy driveway and put extra towels in the van. I had to load from the side because the back doors were frozen shut. I tried to jiggle them loose by pounding on them, and I could hear the lock releasing, but the doors would not open.

“This is ridiculous.”

As I was loading the van, Kevin showed up at 3:45. We were planning to leave at 4:00. I thought that Kevin was going to spend the night, but he overslept at home and didn’t make it. He said he’d be there at 3:00, and so by the time he got there, I was already resolved that I was going to have to go it alone. I was so relieved when he arrived, with his stepfather’s slightly too small suit in hand. (Kevin’s suit was stuck at the dry cleaners, and they were closed due to the snowstorm and subsequent water crisis in the Richmond area.)

I loaded the dogs and put SeeSee in a crate, with Roz and Daphne loose in the middle. Luckily, the road appeared to be clear all the way to West Friendship. Many cars were not on the road due to the recent snowstorm, but the major roadways had been cleared.

“Geez, I must really want to go to this dog show. SeeSee just has to win this time. She looks so good….”

Before we got on the interstate, I pulled over at a gas station to check the back doors. I got them open and closed them, releasing the ice. I had been up all night, so I asked Kevin to drive. He did, all the way to West Friendship. I stayed awake and managed to man the GPS. Even with the GPS, it is really confusing going through DC. Kevin did a great job driving. It was starting to get light as we approached the fairgrounds in Howard County, MD. We arrived at about 6:45a.m.

We secured a spot for grooming near ring 1, where German Shepherds were the first breed in at 8:30. Kevin carried the crates, and I relieved the dogs and walked them in, one by one. He brought in the grooming equipment and parked the van.

I got to work grooming the dogs. Of course, I spent 6 hours bathing, grooming, and trimming toenails the evening before, but they had to be fluffed back up. Kevin scoped out the place and found where our friends were set up to groom their dogs. We took a head count and realized that all of the other bitch entries were present. I made the decision to not show Roz. She was in heat, which would just be a distraction for all. SeeSee needed the win, so I asked Kevin to take Daphne in and stay with her so I could totally focus on SeeSee.

The major in bitches held without Roz being shown, so I didn’t have to feel bad about breaking a major. My friend who was going to help me with having three entered didn’t show up because her male dog cut his foot. Without her help I didn’t feel right juggling three dogs. SeeSee gets excited when she gets passed around so I wanted her to maintain her composure until she went in the ring. She  did.

SeeSee looked great in the ring. She did what I asked her to do, and I think I had groomed her to perfection. She held her stack and moved around the ring beautifully.

Kevin took Daphne in the ring, and I thought she looked good. Daphne usually does a little better for me than Kevin, just because she is my dog and is used to me handling her in dog class. Kevin moved her nicely, and she held her stack reasonably well for a young dog. She was in the 12 to 18 month class and just turned one year the day before the show. She looks mature for her age compared to Roz.

Daphne was in a class of only two bitches. The other bitch beat her. I thought Daphne should have won. What really surprised me was, the same bitch who beat Daphne also got winners bitch, getting the major win! SeeSee lost again. She still needs that one major win to be a champion. I really thought she had a chance….

That’s just not what I had envisioned…. I didn’t even get any pictures at the show. Kevin was too busy helping me to shoot anything with his professional camera equipment.

Was it all for nothing? Well, I did meet a nice man there.

“What? What? This never happens to me!”

He was handsome, kind, and respectful. He talked about dogs and dog shows like he actually knew what he was talking about. Amazing.

As we were packing up to go, I asked Kevin if he wanted to try again in February at another weekend of dog shows in West Friendship. Kevin said yes. He wants to show his bitch puppy for the first time. The nice man said he would be there too. He even carried the crates out to the van for me while Kevin chatted with some friends.

Kevin drove us all the way home. We stopped at Wendy’s and paid $26 for chicken nuggets, fries, and chili. Eventually, I nodded off in the van. When we got to my house, Kevin left to go home and take a nap. I put the dogs in the side yard and brought in the grooming equipment so it wouldn’t freeze, leaving the water soaked towels until the next day. I fed all the dogs; it was already after 2:00 p.m. I’d had a friend come over around 9:00 a.m. and let the other dogs out and give them some treats to tide them over.

I took a five hour nap and then got up to let the dogs out again and fed again about midnight. I might be back on track today.

Dog showing is not for sissies.

Thank you, Kevin!