I hate to name names.
I did not witness it, as said rolling occurred way back in the pasture, but anyone who has had any kind of exposure to live garter snakes knows exactly what smell I’m talking about.
She takes her nickname very seriously…
November 21, 2009
I’m gnawing my nails down trying to decide whether to enter Ella for Cleveland. Entries close this Wednesday. The show is the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. I am poor enough at this point (Come on, snow! I literally have dreams about it snowing.) that I will really cuss and stomp around if she’s still lame and I have to pull her and waste the money.
If I just take Dex I will do Friday-Saturday-Sunday. If I enter both, I will probably do Saturday-Sunday.
Mandy and Jeri say enter. The pad is about half healed, and I don’t think the toe is broken – unless she’s incredibly stoic – but badly bruised.
Thoughts? Do you think she’ll be sound in three weeks?
Or if anyone wants to just sponsor Ella for the Cleveland shows, I’d take that, too. 
November 18, 2009
The “good” angle for pictures on the table unfortunately included me – unwashed, unmake-uped, and more that a little frazzled. I do apologize for that.
Everyone was still damp from their bath, and very fuzzy.
June “The Hoover” Roberson – 5 months and 2 days old
“Longing, Part I”
“Longing, Part II”
Dextron the Puffy – 8 months tomorrow.
“Longing, Part III”
Miss Ella Mae, a.k.a. World’s Dirtiest Canine – 8 months tomorrow.
She only gets one, because it’s the only one where she wasn’t favoring the foot.
She is very… rectangular.
November 18, 2009
My efforts to keep Ella’s foot clean continue. It had a day or two of being weepy, but looks okay today. I can’t keep it wrapped all the time, but do as much as possible and the ointment is helping it heal.
I’m putting the ointment on, wrapping it in a paper towel, and then taping it with masking tape. Not the most hardy of bandages, but it works as long as no one worries it. Ella puts it through the paces and it stays in place.
Ella considers her next move.
“Up!”
“And over!”
The problem is that people DO worry it. And not Ella-type people. She will leave it alone if I tell her to. But those others…
What funny little dogs. They are always doing SOMETHING interesting.
No 5 month/8 month pictures today like I planned, but baths and photos are planned for tomorrow.
Also, happy birthday to Shine-dog. She turned two today, and I will visit her as soon as her other mommy has tome to accomidate me.
November 17, 2009
If there is one thing my life keeps reminding me of, it’s that there is no free lunch, and what is gained on one side will be lost on the other. If you find $10 on the street, you will inevitably lose $10 a few weeks later when it falls out of your pocket. And if you try to save money by refurbishing your old grooming table, rather than replacing it with a new one, a piece of said grooming table will fall on one of your dogs, to the tune of $150 at the vet.
It has been a busy week, so I only today got around to putting the table of doom together.
Dex models it.
“Does this table make my butt look big??”
(Yes, that’s Facebook on the computer.)
I love building things. On the list for this winter are four luxury pine and wire crates, and perhaps a whelping box. I love the one I have, but it is only 2′ x 4′ – 4′ x 4′ with the potty box – which is a touch too small for Cardigans. I’m hoping someone from my all-breed club (with a smaller breed) can be convinced to buy my other one, as it is quite lovely.
ANOTHER THING:
One of my friends from the afore mentioned all-breed club forwarded a flyer from the Cleveland shows, and I was reminded that it is a giant, wonderful show with an awesome agility competition. Madness upon madness, I’m actually thinking of entering Golem. I am horrified of making an ass of myself, but everyone has to start somewhere.
I am toally ignorant of how agility works. Golem is GREAT with jumps, tunnels, dog walk, A-frame, tire, and downing on the platform. We don’t know weaves at all. He doesn’t like the teeter or the chute because we haven’t done them much, and probably won’t start back to class (Ella will start then, too) until January, so he won’t get a chance to learn.
Is there an agility class I can enter him in with those criteria? Help a brother out.
November 15, 2009
Thank you, all, for your concern about Ella. She is doing great, and if it weren’t for the right front leg held out in front of her as she tears across the property, you wouldn’t know she’d been hurt.
I can’t decide if I think her toe is broken or not. There is no swelling and it isn’t very tender. She is starting to walk on it quite a bit already. Wouldn’t a broken toe be painful enough to keep her from using it at all? Would a pad injury hurt enough to make her not want to use it as much as she does?
She’s on antibiotics, but I’m really worried about how dirty it has to be down there. It is still very raw under the dead flap of pad, but isn’t red, hot, or weeping. I tried washing it, putting antibiotic ointment on it, and wrapping it, but she made short work of that project.
If she isn’t close to 100% by next Monday I won’t enter her at Cleveland, and it will just be Dex and me. It will be less stressful, anyway, only showing ONE dog. I will make up for it in January, when I will probably be showing THREE dogs.
November 15, 2009
“If I were a rich dog…”
No rest for the wicked/injured.
June says, “Can I eat it?”
“How about this? Can I eat this?”
You’d never know she was broken. Except for the three legs thing.
