Long-Dangerous Tails

Share on Facebook

Hi!

Rafe had his surgery today and is home, minus the lump. For those of you who hadn’t heard, he suddenly had a growth under his collar, so I took him in–Dane (my vet) did the needle aspiration and found no evil cells but a few “not quite normal” skin cells, so we decided to remove the thing now. Apparently it is the same kind of mass Mac had on his tail a couple of years ago.

Rafe is in great shape–he came out in his bandanna, stood on his back feet, and announced that he was ready to go home. All the clinic people have been raving about what a NICE dog he is–of course, we knew that. Now I am supposed to keep him quiet for 14 days, which means separation from the Mac. I can see Mac taking over inspection of the stitches, etc., and probably removal of the stitches. They will have to take turns for a few days, until the novelty wears off.

Julie, Dane was totally amazed at what a great blood panel they found. I have been given a copy of the results to forward to you–you turned out an amazingly healthy “veteran.”

The only negative part so far is that Rafe took apart his harness last night. I had to drop him off then because I could not get to campus for my 8 a.m. class in time if I waited until this morning, and they left the harness on. Somehow he got it off and amused himself overnight. Just ordered a replacement, and for now he is marching around in the tracking harness. He is busy telling me that he is hungry, despite the snack the vet tech gave him early this afternoon.

It is good to have him back.

Share on Facebook

Want to trade your snow for our freezing rain? The boys are not impressed. I can’t wait to see Mac forget, zoom out the door, and learn to ski in ten seconds. But we have groceries, I just checked a heap of books out of the library, and probably don’t have to go out for a couple of days (except for standing on the patio while the monsters hunt for rabbits).

If it warms up, you may have great tracking weather.

Hug those puppies for me!

Ann

Share on Facebook

Happy First birthday to Bear, Kodiak, and Tanner.  Hoss and Funny ( Faye vom Kirschental) kids.  Picture’s of Lee Poland’s Bear:

Share on Facebook

To friends of Rafe:
I usually don’t brag until we finish a title, but

given the difficulty of this one I decided that Rafe

deserves an announcement for his first UKC UD leg. It

was not a great performance, but I will quote the

judge when he was announcing the only qualifier:
“It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done. And

getting a qualifying score in Utility A is one of the

hardest things in the world.”
By today Rafik’s brain was fried (maybe a good

thing?), so he was very slow, lots of non-sits,

almost-anticipation, etc. (Yes, Lorelle, he really did

do every finish, even if not with speed and

precision). The previous trial he blew the drop in

the back-to-back recalls, but this time he held

together, if barely. I suspect his performance will

improve as he gets more confidence that he can do all

of it.
We owe special thanks to three people: Julie, for the

article bag that we have been using for a long time

now, Lorelle, for patient long-distance coaching on

how to teach the exercises when I was in Lincoln on my

own, and to Duane, who volunteered to teach a Utility

class this summer and has been doing his best to get

me straightened out.
Today’s side benefit was that two of my long-time

obedience models were there, Dode Froman (now 83,

finally finished Dolly’s UD in June), and Sharon Long

(those of you who remember Rick and his heeling

backwards on the Figure 8 know her training skills).

I wish we had given them a better performance, but we

take every ribbon we can get.
It may be another year before the next leg, but I am

very proud of a certain totally exhausted GSD.
By the way, he also met a twelve-week-old puppy Sharon

bred and he is definitely in love–he was busy kissing

the puppy through his wire crate. Fortunately the

baby went outside as we headed for the ring, or he

would have been over there instead of with me.
Cheers!
Ann

Share on Facebook