September 2007: This is the month of Laura's big health crisis. She had a lump removed from her right breast and it was cancerous. She has been through alot in her life and she expects to come out of this better than ever. See her blog to learn more.
| |
31 AUG 07: We took the month off from organized dog activities. Cat had her first heat cycle. "The kids" seem almost grown. Brian had to be sure everything was ready for school. He is the transportation supervisor at Fort Benton Schools. Laura works at an aviation company that has fire fighting aerial tanker planes. Because August is the worst forest fire month, she was especially busy too.
|
30 JUL 07: We just returned from three days of shows in Swift Current, Saskatchewan where Cat earned her Canadian championship! Now she is an international champion, both AKC and CKC. Cat won points in all but one show. She went in with one point from a May show in Medicine Hat, Alberta. She earned ten points at these shows with one point to spare and did not need to compete in the last one. Laura handled her throughout, including the past Canadian shows. This weekend, people would stop Laura on her way to and from the ring, telling her how much they loved Cat. We are very excited about it and are at a bit of a loss as to what Cat will do now in her early retirement. She is only a year and four months old. We have only been showing dogs since May, and here we are two months later with an international champion! We wonder if we are spoiled brats who didn't have to work at it - or maybe we are just very fortunate to have such a fantastic girl. I guess there is always time to pay your dues. (If we look miserable, it is because we were. It was over 100deg.F every day. Brian put his jacket back on just to cover his sweat-soaked shirt).
The only time Cat didn't win, our eight-month old brindle Gwendolyn took all the marbles. She beat out Cat on her way to Best of Winners - seen here with her breeder Ronda Hamilton. Gwendolyn got to the top of the heap with a judge who was an afghan breeder! We are very proud of Gwendolyn also, her first show being only a month ago. We remember how terrified she was then, Brian having to carry her to the ring in his arms because she was trembling in fear.
Little boy Falco experienced his first shows, thanks to the help of Ronda and his breeder, Amanda Middleton. Since we brought four dogs and there were only two of us, we could not have handled them all by ourselves. Ronda and Amanda brought two Afghans, so between the four of us, we were able to juggle the six hounds in the ring. Falco was able to earn two points on the weekend between his being excused for not standing for the judge - twice.
Punkin finally got 2 points at the last show in Swift Current - the show Cat stayed out of. Now she has seven points. She had previously edged out Cat in all but one show. Before we left home, Punkin was nesting and had big mammaries - leaking milk all over herself. She lost more of her coat than when she had her cycle. We were afraid little boy Falco got her pregnant back in May. He was only five months old then so it seemed impossible. But the timing was approximate. She was also limping while trotting, from playing too hard with the kids. She had slipped on some wet grass while turning sharply and her front leg went out from under her. So she was on some anti-inflammatory for her shoulder.
Punkin has been itching since May also. The only thing that gives her relief is prednisone. I was giving her a low dose at the Montana shows and then again for these CKC ones. Then she started hallucinating - seeing imaginary flies buzzing around her head. I looked on the anti-inflamatory medicine instructions and they said there were drug interactions with it and prednisone. So I took her off the anti-inflammatory and prednisone. The flies stopped after a day in Swift Current. The third vet I had taken her to for the itching said it was probably left over from the May heat cycle - a hormone thing. He also did an ultrasound and x-ray for puppies - false pregnancy. Then he did an x-ray of Punkin's shoulder and couldn't see anything bad - I was relieved. Then he took the x-ray to the orthopedic surgeon who patched up Falco and that guy saw damage to some OCD thing - whatever that is. If she doesn't get better she will have to have arthroscopic surgery - bummer. She wasn't limping at the shows anyway - but otherwise she was miserable. Now that we are back home her milk has dried up and her tummy looks normal again. You never know what can happen!
Now we have to stay home and get another job to pay for this show: three days/six shows at $650 for four dogs' entry fees, $350 for a plain motel, $150 for gasoline, $100 for food and probably another $100 of other expenses. Maybe we just have too many dogs -- but they all got points and we love them all!
| 
