February 23, 2010
February 22, 2010
Awe
This picture is from August 2009, and it makes me smile every time I see it. For some reason she reminds me of the little boy from Peter Pan in this picture. That's not the first time she's reminded me of something from that movie either. The first few nights she spent at our hose she howled rather loudly in her crate and it sounded just like the rooster from Peter Pan.
February 13, 2010
Emma - July 22, 1996 to February 13, 2010
Emma was doing pretty well for her age, but the last couple of weeks she really started to deteriorate, poor thing. She had arthritis in her back hip and pancreatitis, but had managed fine with both of those issues for quite awhile, it was just her old age catching up with her. She'd have good days and bad days my family said and lately it was more of the bad. She wasn't eating much and when she would, it wouldn't stay down. She just wasn't doing well. This morning was a really bad one, and my family decided it was her time. I feel horrible that I didn't get to say goodbye, but it did help to know that my mom, sister, and brother were all there with her up until the very end.
I still remember when we first met Emma's breeder at a dog show. We were there like ALL day and us kids were bored and starving! I think it was the next weekend that we drove up to the breeders house to get Emma, who was already 8 months old. She was very reserved and was a little overwhelmed at first by us 3 loud, rambunctious kids, but she got over it and warmed right up to us.
She really was the sweetest girl. So easy going, good natured, friendly and just an all around really good dog. Kristen and I both took turns training Emma for 4-H dog obedience and we'd take her with us to Joe's baseball games - she loved laying out at the park, she just hated the car ride to get there. Emma even got her CGC title with me or maybe Kristen (I can't remember which one of us was working with her that year) through our 4-H dog training.
I think one of the funniest Emma stories is when she was a puppy and did resemble a bear cub. One morning my dad was out in the yard with her running and playing and they went back in the woods and when they ran back out she was chasing him and a car stopped, backed up, and stared for a little while. We think they thought my dad was getting chased out of the woods by a bear :)
We'll miss you Emma!
Bit O Heaven Dombek's Emma
I still remember when we first met Emma's breeder at a dog show. We were there like ALL day and us kids were bored and starving! I think it was the next weekend that we drove up to the breeders house to get Emma, who was already 8 months old. She was very reserved and was a little overwhelmed at first by us 3 loud, rambunctious kids, but she got over it and warmed right up to us.
She really was the sweetest girl. So easy going, good natured, friendly and just an all around really good dog. Kristen and I both took turns training Emma for 4-H dog obedience and we'd take her with us to Joe's baseball games - she loved laying out at the park, she just hated the car ride to get there. Emma even got her CGC title with me or maybe Kristen (I can't remember which one of us was working with her that year) through our 4-H dog training.
I think one of the funniest Emma stories is when she was a puppy and did resemble a bear cub. One morning my dad was out in the yard with her running and playing and they went back in the woods and when they ran back out she was chasing him and a car stopped, backed up, and stared for a little while. We think they thought my dad was getting chased out of the woods by a bear :)
We'll miss you Emma!
Bit O Heaven Dombek's Emma
February 12, 2010
Chiropractor
Duke went to see the Chiropractor today. We went because he has been limping on and off on his front - usually looks like the left, but sometimes the right. After we practice jumping, do a long walk, or Sunday (for the first time) after drafting practice is when the limping will start and it usually only lasts for a little bit and then he's acting fine again. And, the weird thing is that he doesn't limp while he's doing the activities it's always a little while afterward. I contacted a chiropractor who works on dogs in the area and she thought Duke would be a perfect candidate. With how he is - big, crazy, happy goofball, I wouldn't be surprised if he's got stuff all out of alignment, so I was hoping she really would be able to help. I've also noticed that Duke's topline doesn't look as nice as it used to, it's not as level - so maybe that has something to do with it too.
He was a huge hit at the office today and got all sorts of attention - which of course he loved. So, they think this is going to work well for him, and I'm not sure of all the correct terms, but I'll try to explain what they said he had wrong.
His neck has more muscle on the right side than the left, which was causing a misalignment so they popped that - the muscle difference could be due to compensating walking on his left side
He has 'jumpers back' which is why he has a little ridge in his topline that used to be nice and flat - guess it's fairly common? so she pushed on that a little bit
His back right hip was a little out so she pushed that back in
His front left shoulder had ablations on the muscle - you couldn't feel the tendons you could just feel like a bunch of bumps on his muscle. According to the Chiropractor Duke at some point in time sprained his shoulder - not surprised, and then his shoulder was out of place from tendering it. So she pushed that back into place. She thought that was going to be tough, but she said it was actually really easy.
She said it would be good if I could keep him quiet for a little while to let that shoulder heal and keep it in place - so no running, jumping, carting, etc. for a few weeks. We're going back next Friday to make sure everything stayed put and she'll do a little check up to make sure everything is still okay. She also said to take him for short walks to keep that muscle loose and then, if he would let me, ice it after the walk.
I'm hoping she's right and it will work.
He was a huge hit at the office today and got all sorts of attention - which of course he loved. So, they think this is going to work well for him, and I'm not sure of all the correct terms, but I'll try to explain what they said he had wrong.
His neck has more muscle on the right side than the left, which was causing a misalignment so they popped that - the muscle difference could be due to compensating walking on his left side
He has 'jumpers back' which is why he has a little ridge in his topline that used to be nice and flat - guess it's fairly common? so she pushed on that a little bit
His back right hip was a little out so she pushed that back in
His front left shoulder had ablations on the muscle - you couldn't feel the tendons you could just feel like a bunch of bumps on his muscle. According to the Chiropractor Duke at some point in time sprained his shoulder - not surprised, and then his shoulder was out of place from tendering it. So she pushed that back into place. She thought that was going to be tough, but she said it was actually really easy.
She said it would be good if I could keep him quiet for a little while to let that shoulder heal and keep it in place - so no running, jumping, carting, etc. for a few weeks. We're going back next Friday to make sure everything stayed put and she'll do a little check up to make sure everything is still okay. She also said to take him for short walks to keep that muscle loose and then, if he would let me, ice it after the walk.
I'm hoping she's right and it will work.
February 6, 2010
Ruger's Photoshoot
We've been needing to get some pictures of Ruger to her breeders, Chuck and Pam, for awhile now. They wanted to see how she's looking and also wanted to see her movement. I was finally able to convice Greg to give me a hand and take some photos of our little girl.
Pictures
We finally had a nice enough day to get a few pictures of the finished pool. There were still a few guys here finishing up last minute items while Greg was taking the pictures so we couldn't have the waterfall on, but we'll get some with that too. I finally downloaded the pictures from grading, pebble sheen, and filling the pool.
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