Vet visit tomorrow

Magic is going to see a different vet tomorrow.  Its not that I don't trust or like the vet we saw last week, but Magic is very special to me and the wait and see what it does thing makes me really nervous.   I think that this clinic does a fine job, but in truth, I have never been comfortable there.  I am not sure why.  

So yesterday I called a vet I feel very comfortable with.  I sent her pictures of the lump, she did some research about possible causes, and we spoke for a while about what to do.  So Magic is going to go for a visit, where we will evaluate and most likely remove this little lump, before it gets any bigger. Her clinic is about 1.5 hours away, so she has it set up where she can evaluate and if she does think surgery is needed, it can be done tomorrow. 

My biggest concern is that if this were growing could it grow into his nasal cavaties where it would be very difficult to remove.  Most likely it is a small granuloma, nothing major, but if it is cancer, I do not want to give it more time to spread.  I know I am a worry wart, thinking about all the worst case possibilitites.

Magic's Lump- updated

See the lump? We don't know what it is. We know its not a fluid filled cyst, or a piece of foreign matter, at least nothing that shows on the xray. A tumor? An inflamation? Its a pretty firm defined lump, so inflamation is unlikely.  The vet was unable to extract anything with a needle, so we have 2 options-wait and see what it does, or have it removed now. Thoughts?  I am leaning toward NOW.

Updated- Taryn asked if it was sudden or slow. Last fall/winter he had a similar lump, appeared sudden, then faded away.  At the time I thought maybe spider/bug bite?  This one also appeared suddenly, but is not fading-instead it became hard, and possibly larger. And its been there now for 2 weeks, which is what made me nervous.

Grace - Herding

How dare this ram leave the group. She will get him back where he belongs.

Grace is my most interested dog.  She was horrible waiting her turn. She whines, barks, leaps and makes a fool of herself in her eagerness.  She pulled her way into the ring and went to work.  I do think this is her calling. And I do think I need to find a way to make herding part of our training program.

Siren - Herding pictures

Or should I say Siren, NOT Herding.  Siren was way too overwhelmed with this.  She was not comfortable meeting Phyllis, unsure about leaving us and going with this unknown person, and WHOA hold on, there are really big things moving in here.  I don't think so!  Then she spent the rest of her time avoiding having to even glance at those big scary things over there!

This does not mean that she will never have to see them again, but we wont plan her future around herding at this time.

Herding Pictures - Peace

Peace was uncertain. Interested, but not to sure about actually engaging with those things.  This was about as close as she got to them, and it was very brief.   On the positive side, she wasnt really afraid, just not too sure, so there is hope for the next time.

Herding pictures - Magic

First up was Magic, he was interested in the sheep and was willing to engage, but he also was interested in rolling and sniffing.  He looks for encouragement a lot, in almost everything he does, so it wasn't surprising that he wanted reassurance that he was doing right.  But in all the pictures he was moving.

So much to do

Our weekend was super busy. Friday we had the dog show at 830, followed by a vet visit for Magic. Who by the way does have a brain since we saw x-ray documentation of it.  Then up to my mothers to help her sort and organize stuff in preparation for her move.  She is moving in July from her home to a senior apartment. Which is pretty tough on her, really.
Saturday morning, rent a uhaul, haul a bunch of stuff from her house to our house, a bed, couch, all her holiday boxes etc.  Followed by a trip to WI to play with sheepies.  Then next morning, it was into the tub for Peace, since she had to show at 1,stop back at my moms, then home to unload and do the home chores, laundry, weed the garden and so on. Whew!  I am almost glad its monday.

Almost, but not quite.

Plotting and Planning

I am looking at the calendar for the rest of the summer and its really hit me just how busy we are going to be (Blue)and how much busier we could be (black)! And that I need to make some decisions on what I can do and afford!  Plus in the middle of all this my mother sold her home and is moving to an apartment so I will need to mix that in also.

June 25 Cambridge dog show Conformation Peace
June 26 Herding Instinct - WI  All 4
June 27 Cambridge Dog Show Conformation Peace
July 3-5 NSHGC agility trial at Soccer Blast Trial chair and Magic
July 17-18 UKC weight pull, rally, obedience and conformation Lake Elmo  All 4
July 24-25  CPE Agility Zumbro Falls Magic
July 31- Aug 1 APDT Rally Hugo  Magic  and Grace
Aug 6-8 UKC Agil, Obed, Rally in Fort Dodge IA  Magic or Coulee Kennel club conformation? Peace
Aug 14-15 Albert Lea Kennel club conformation  Peace , or CPE in Burnsville Magic
Aug 21-22 APDT Rally Des Moines  OR AKC Obedience in Cambridge  Magic and Grace
Aug 27-29  NSHGC and St Croix Valley conformation  Peace and Grace

That is a lot of trial entries, travel, dogs, fun, expense, headache, planning....

Where are you goin gto be this summer?

Herding Instinct

This Saturday the NSHGC is having an instinct test.  I have all 4 dogs going.  Magic and Grace have seen sheep before, but the yooung girls have not.  It will be fun to see how they do. 

There may still be an opening or two if anyone is interested.

Boring, yet busy weekend.

It was one of those weekends where it was busy all weekend, yet nothing really much accomplished.  Yesterday was stuff around the house, shopping and garden work.  Today David and I went and helped out at the agility trial, and then pretty soon we will go to weight pull practice.  Nothing much to talk about, but yet a busy weekend.  I hope you all ahad a bit more fun than we did! 

Grace at Agility Class

Grace did really well at her agility class tonight.  She gave me unusually focused attention, which I thought was great since it was her first night in a new class with new dogs.  She did much better than I did. Even while wearing her little panties.  She did her 4 pole weaves with no help from me. Good girl!
I guess I will keep her, at least this week....

Grace

I do love this dog, but there are days where she makes me crazy.  She is in season again. OK not her fault, but she gets so naughty and uppity.  Bossy and refuses to listen. Independent!  Funny I offered her on facebook, but no one jumped up and cried pick me....

Quote for today, and everyday

"I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it."  

~ Rita Mae Brown

I hope you all are enjoying life today and everyday.

Peace BOB today

Peace was Breed today and Vegas was WD and BOS.  Vegas seems to love the show ring.  He was certain the judge had goodies for him today and really wanted to visit with her.  What a doll. It was a small cardi entry, but it was still nerve wracking for me to go to the group.  Peace wanted to run fast with the big dogs today and had a hard time moving at a trot. But overall she handled it pretty well.

An award and a new blog

The Master of Karate and Friendship Award. This one really just makes me giggle, but thank you Julie!  I am going to send this on to  Laura Lance and Vito at The Dogs are Really in Charge,  To Garrett at his farm blog, Ransey Farms, Crystal at Reactive Champion and Sarah at The Hurrikane Chronicles.  Heck everyone from my blog list should get this! You are all wonderful!

Also, I started a new blog.  Since this one has become primarily my dog blog, I thought perhaps all the other dog blog people might not be interested in the other things I seem to be wanting to think and write about. Mainly the quilting, the books I am reading, recipes and the like.  Since I am just in the process of creating it, I expect many changes to happen both here and there.

You are all welcome to stop on by if you like.  Busy Hands, Warm Heart

Mid Year Goal review

Time to evaluate where we are at for our 2010 goals.

Peace originally I had 0 goals for Peace for this year. that has changed to getting her UWP. 1 leg earned so far.

Grace her goal for the year was to get back to agility class.  We are doing this. In addition, I guess she also is going to earn her UWP this year. 2 legs earned so far.

Siren's goal was to start obedience training. This goal has not been met yet. We have played around a bit, but not what I would call training.  Based on Siren's refusal to work for David  at the weight pull, I am wondering if I should not be working with her at all.  I need to re-evaluate this and have a serious discussion about her training, or lack of with Dave.

Magic's goal was to work on weight pull, earning an ARCH and working towards a CDX.  We have been working on all of these, but I now need to get more focused on the obedience stuff.

Overall, I am happy with our progress so far this year, but now need to get more focused on daily training time with the dogs.   I think as usual it will be Magic who gets the most focus as most of my goals always seem to relate to him.   Poor guy!

One Flower

Even with the 3 days of dog show I was able to get one flower done! Yeah

Pull Pictures

First up- Siren, refusing to play this game with David.  We think she was looking for me as I was on the other side of the barrier with Magic. But maybe she just did not want to play this silly game.

Magic my good little guy, he worked as hard as he could.  It was down to him and a very sweet little border collie working for that last pull to win the class.                                                              

Peace was having trouble with her last pull, she had a hard time getting it started, so I gave her a bit of help and we raced each other across the finish line.  Then we went back and she was confident enough to do that same weight herself.  I made this her last pull for the day since she was so successful, I wanted ehr to end happy, which I think she did, since she tried to go back to the front to do it again.

I know she doesn't look very happy but she was working hard when the picture was taken!

Red Pine Kennel Club Show

Today we went to the Red Pine Kennel Clubs first UKC show. We have so much fun at the UKC show, the whole family goes.  Everyone cheers for everyone else, and their dogs too.  3 of the dogs qualified in the weight pull, and one chose to give its handler the brush off. (Siren)  Peace got a group 3, and a qualifying pull of 597 (19.9) which was a third place and so earned that silly total dog ribbon. Magic is in the same weight class as Peace and he pulled 813 (31.26) which was first in his class.  Grace is in the next class and she got a second place with a pull of 620 (19.37).  The numbers in the parentheses are how many time body weight.

There was a photographer today also, so I got a few pull pictures of Magic Grace and Siren, but she was busy and missed Grace's pulls.  I will scan those in tomorrow. 

Fargo Day 1 and 2

Well what a busy but fun 2 days.  Yesterday there were 22 cardigans entered.   I am going off of memory, and I am a bit tired, so this could be wrong. Yesterday Lydia was BOB, Picasso BOS, Sully SD, Peace SB, Flip WD and Safari WB and I think BW, but gosh I am not sure.  Today there were 27, Picasso BOB and Group 4, Toms Stewarts Dark Blue Rose, BOS, Dianas Jenna SB, One of Connies girls WB and Flip WD. I cannot remember who the select dog was.  In Sweeps, all I remember was Vegas won his class. The veterans looked great too.  I am just too tired after driving home.

In any event, Garrett did a great job with the supported entry. It was wonderful seeing so many really nice dogs and lots of great people too. Tomorrow off to weight pull with a totally different bunch of great people.

Busy Weekend

Its going to be a very busy weekend.  Tomorrow morning I leave for Fargo.  Peace and I are entered and are going to play Friday and Saturday, no chance of winning, but I sort of feel like when you are a member of a club, you go play at that clubs events. So since this is a supported entry we are going to go support!  Then Sunday I am going the opposite direction.  We have all 4 cardis entered in the weight pull down in Le Seuer.  The girls are not as ready as I would like, but I am not asking them to do more than enough to earn that first Q toward the title. For both Siren and Peace that is the large empty cart, which they have done in practice.  David is going to work with Siren, so I am hoping she will listen to him and will pull for him.   I am going to see if I can get Grace to pull more than once, but she will also start at with the empty big cart which is enough for her to qualify.  Magic, well not sure what Magic will do. Time will tell on that one.  Then Grace and Peace are also going to be entered in conformation, trying for that silly little Total Dog ribbon.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

One Flower

Last week and this week are a bit hectic, so its been hard to get any stitching done. But I was able to get the last few hex on this one today.  I like orange.

It is a little odd looking because laying in the daylilly bed I couldn't get it flat, but I liked the contract between the bright orange and white and the dark green leaves.  Its not really as oddly shaped as it looks!

With 3 days of dog shows this weekend and miles and miles of driving I don't know if I will get a whole flower done, but I will try.  If you see me stitching at the dog show,  come over and chat with me while I do.

Pictures from the weekend

Vegas was a little nervous about the whole picture taking thing, but I still think he is lovely even with one foot forward!

Peace was practically dragging me around the group ring> Not a great picture but the best David could get from ringside. 

Ziggy!

ZIGGY!  He looks great! 

Zara sent me new photos today and I just had to share them. Such a handsome boy.