Hockey pucks

First off I want to wish everyone a very blessed Christmas. We are almost ready for the season, though I realized today, I forgot to put up the garland in the kitchen-might get to that tonight before I have my annual date with the Pope. We wrap by the light of midnight mass every year. Some years, we get to watch it twice, that is if we don't get some wrapping done ahead of time.

It's an ice rink around here. Lots and lots of snow has fallen in the last week. 10 inches Saturday and Sunday night then winds up to 50 mph. Makes for fun driving to work and thank GOD for 4 wheel drive and my tank of a suburban. Ducks have no interest in going outside, horses look miserable and the dogs, well the dogs are in heaven. Drifts to plow through, snow to eat, new places to pee and frosted faces when I can finally get them inside.

Looking back, thought I might pull up a story from a past blog-David's adventures with our resdient snapping turtle. When I go to the dog shows, I usually leave a couple of things for him to do while gone, nothing major but stuff that I might not have gotten to during the week. So in September it was time for us to head to Des Moines for the big show and supported entry. A couple weekends previous, I had kicked Alec and Meredith outside and they decided to head down to the creek to play. Here's were the fun begins.

I get a frantic Meredith running in flipflops to the house and I just have to come down with her right away. Alec sent her. Please note, I really had to go to the bathroom but from the urgency in her voice, that would have to wait. I ended up running in my wellies almost to the end of the pasture only to see that the urgent message had been missing one piece. Alec just wanted a camera and a person to operate it. He had found our snapping turtle again. She had been previously relocated to the south end of the creek and made it back up about 1/3 of the way in 2 months. Since I didn't have the camera, what would he do with his prize? Lug it back to the barn of course. I taught him the art of carrying it without getting bit or scratched-those are really long ugly claws, btw. She was no little turtle but about 15-20 lbs of hissing, cranky and smelly turtle. Once up at the barn we did take pictures, then she was deposited into the spare stock tank until we figured out where to relocate her. Only then do I finally get the chance to visit the ladies room and then have a talk with them about what is urgent in mom's world.

So now I have a large snapping turtle clawing it's way through the stock tank and getting grumpier by the day. I was nice and went to the pet store and got some feeder fish for it to eat, while we pondered what to do with it. Note-now I have 1/2 a dozen gold fish in the tank in the house, those that were lucky enough not to get eaten by the turtle. Hey, the sun fish isn't lonely anymore. I called the DNR, local conservation dude and local farmers. No one wanted her for their creek, local conservation dude said I could release her any where I wanted but do it soon as she needs to get ready to hibernate. Call the DNR at the local state park and he said nope, but recommended a small public nature area along the Wapsi River. Here's where my honey do list for David comes in.

We take off to the dog show, David agrees to release the hissing beast up the road at the Wapipadica or something like that, nature area. Here's where the fun begins. Thinking like a reptile, David puts a large metal tub in the back of his truck. Fills it full of cold water and inserts turtle. Now cold water should lower her body temperature and keep her quiet for the 4 mile drive up the highway to the nature area. Throw in the leather gloves, large shovel and off they go. David arrives at the nature area. Deep breath, puts on gloves, out of the truck and proceeds to the back of the truck. Similar to the whole horror movie peering around the corner scene, he looks into the back of the truck-no turtle. Jump back, hands in the air(how he describes it) and where in the h**l did that thing go? Carefully look in again, poke around with the shovel, still no turtle. Now he says he leaned on the side of the truck and started thinking, thinking the worst. Turtle speed bump on the road now a smear on the highway. So he hops back in the truck and starts back tracking. He gets all the way to where he turned on to the highway from our road and starts back to the nature area. About 1 mile and there it is-upside down on the side of the road. He's now trying to figure out which side of the pet cemetary we put turtles. Pulls over the side of the road, gloves on, shovel ready and getting ready to heave her in the back and all heck breaks loose as she starts hissing and clawing the air. Momentarily stunned by the fall - David's just picturing her leaping over the side of the truck, landing on the highway then skating down the center of the 4 lane highway on her back like a hockey puck. Just a few scratches on her shell, nothing damaged or broke, we hope. So he picks her up, in the truck bed and this time the metal tub goes over the top of her and the shovel braced on top of that for good measure. Race down the highway, turn to the nature area, park the truck in a good spot, gloves on, hop out and she's face to face with him, almost out of the bed, again. Finally gets her on the ground, into a wet area. Now you would think like all wild animal shows that when released, the animals sprint off only looking back at a safe distance from the releaser. Nope, she turned and hissed one more time, one more snap, then satisfied that she had vented her opinion on the whole situtation, waddled off into the deep.

Beasties beware-nothing is ever simple at Chaosville! Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. Remember the reason for the season......

C

Humble

Let me introduce you to Max. He's 85lbs of legs with a head the size of Hoover ball. A tongue that hangs to the floor and a whine that goes right through you. Max is a German Shepherd. We adopted him about 3 years ago from Mississippi Valley German Shepherd Dog Rescue based in IL. Interesting that for a rescue dog, they could actually trace him back to the backyard breeder and found out that he's from Czech stock. You can see it in his head. Goodness and it's a hard one too. It's at just the right height to see onto the counter, yet too tall to go smoothly under the dining room table. He has managed to clothesline himself several times, corgis go right under the table and he forgets to duck. I constantly am putting furniture back in it's place after he races through the house. So big and leggy that he can't always make the corners. Corgis have one up on him there. But to watch him glide across the backyard or field, he should have been in the show ring. Out moves every single GSD in the ring these days. He's just a pretty looking dog.

Now you have to be asking, why do I have a big lunky shepherd with all the other assorted misfits in the house and why did I get him from a rescue. Pretty easy actually. To keep us humble.

As breeders and dog fanciers go, we have a tendancy to forgot about the common dog. Not all of us had a expensive purebred dog as our first pet. Many of us fell in love with the neighbor's mutt or the farm dog that lived in the barn. David and I both grew up with German Shepherds. The intelligance, the loyalty and the down right stubborn attitude that they had when they wanted something. Due to a space issue, we turned our tastes to those little foxy faced corgis, finally settling down with the cardigans. Of course I have the collies too, a fond reminder of Georgie who I also had growing up. But back to Max and being humble. A person a long time ago said something that I try to keep in my thinking as I go through my life with dogs. Least we get too high on our pedestal, we should always have a rescue in my house.

When we moved out to the farm, it was time for a big dog again. Yes the collies are big dogs, but hello-everyone looks at them and says Lassie and how can you not love Lassie? The cardigans, again, cute little dogs that you just don't take seriously. David and I talked, I asked him a few questions. Of course I know several show breeders, we can get a dog from one of them. Do you want to do conformation? Obedience? Agility? David's response is that he wants a nice companion, with the potential to do a lot of different things, but nothing fancy. It was then that we decided it was time for another dose of humble pie and that's where Max came into play.

Max and I have a relationship that usually borders on just co-exisiting. He is totally David's dog, as most shepherds are-one person dogs. But we respect each other and for the most part he is a very good dog. Makes people think twice before they come to the house-the bark, the jumping the grumbling. Robbers take note-it's all a show. He just can't wait to greet you and have you pet him. But that's what we wanted. A big dog prescence that people take notice of. He gets along with all the other dogs, plays rough with the collies, they ask for it. Gentle with the corgis and he is actually very good with puppies considering his large size. Not a mean bone in his body, considering the horror stories I have heard about some of the dogs out of show lines-unpredicatable temperments.

I lost Max this last summer for a heart wrenching 48 hour period. David was out west for work and we were having terrible storms. I had let several of the dogs out in the front yard, just after a storm had passed. Max is the typical shepherd, hates storms and with David gone, it only made it worse. I checked on them, went inside, came back out 5 mins later and he was gone! Totally gone. I figure the storm, nerves and several collies playing chase, he went over the fence. Talk about panic. Posters, walking the roads, calling everyone I know. 48 hours to the minute I noticed him missing, he was back in the yard. Little skinner, little wet(storms again) and very happy to see me and I him. Since that point, Max has a had little more respect for me and I him.

Now to MVGSDR and rescues in general. As a show breeder, and you may notice this saying on the website-If you don't rescue Don't breed. It's true. Unless you can help out dogs in need that have breeders that don't care, you don't need to produce any additional dogs. Helping out rescue keeps you humble. Adopting from a rescue is even better. You help a dog in need, you get to prove to the world that that dog is worthwhile and you gain so many new friends. Downside is yes, you lack history on a dog. In adopting you knowingly take on that responsiblity that your dog has unknown issues.

What I find interesting is that there are breeders out there that, only out of the need to make themselves seem better then the rest, go out a spend a fortune on a companion dog from a well known breeder and proceed to flaunt all the wonderful attirbutes of the dog's breeding. All the while the dog sits at home, never leaves their property, they never take it to training classes or socialize the dog, all the things that they require puppy buyers to agree to do with a dog that they purchase from them. Ironic isn't it?

Yes Max gives you a dose of humble pie. He's not allowed on the furniture-he takes up the whole couch and he can't fit in the chairs. He does get to lay by the shower as David gets ready in the morning and he can't wait to get through that fence and tell those darn ducks to quit laughing at him. Oh and herding lessons, now there's another story, needless to say, Max doesn't take lessons anymore, too hard on the humans.

Humble pie-have a slice once in a while, it does a person good.

C