[SilverPawz]

Thought it would be fun to get some updates on everyone. I've been keeping busy with the dogs and the horse. I have a new puppy, he's an Aussie and about 8 months now. We are going to his second rally trial this weekend and hopefully he'll get his first title! I'll try to post up some pics soon.

I've been training my friend's Borzoi for the past couple months and will be showing him in rally too. Should be interesting! I'm not really a hound person but he has stolen my heart and is a very smart boy. I'm excited about showing him and maybe even getting his CD later on.

Been taking Bear to competition OB classes for a while now and he is going for his CDX at the same show, he already has one leg, just need two more!

On the non-dog front, I bought a house! Been here about four months and love it! This one is all mine, no more renting for me! I'm just waiting for the new homebuyer tax credit to come in the mail so I can re-do the kitchen, cannot wait to gut it and make it awesome. Homeownership agrees with me.

How about you? Whatcha been up to?

[k9resqer]

Congratulations on homeownership. We need pictures! Of the dogs and the new house.

Well, I haven’t been able to log in since the change to the new site, so I’ve re-registered with a slightly different screen name.

On the home front, I’m still nursing my boys along. Quinn is almost 9 years old and has some some balance and hip problems. He’s also put on a whole lot of weight and still has some ear problems. But, on the plus side, he hasn’t had a seizure that I know of in almost 2 years. Woo hoo! Although I just spent $300 today to try and find out if his balance problems are from his missing toe/arthritis, inner ear infection, or high Phenobarbital levels. He was, is, and always will be my medical problem child.

Eli is 12-13 years old (best guess) and is senile, deaf, and slightly incontinent. But the cranberry juice has gone a long way to helping the potty problems. He doesn’t do much but lie around the house these days, but he’s still my sweet boy.

And then there’s Avery. What can I say? She’s still Avery. She passed CGC and TDI testing in May. We’re still waiting to see if TDI will accept her. I answered the questionnaire honestly and checked “hyper” as one of her descriptions. They sent all the paperwork back and asked me to explain that further. Um, she’s a terrier mix. Even when she’s standing still her ears are vibrating. So at the moment I don’t know if they’re going to accept my explanation or not. If she does get her TDI certification, I’m hoping to start a reading program at the local library.

She also took a Rally class back in the spring. We had fun with that but I haven’t done any more with it. Just finished another agility class last night. Oddly enough she was the best behaved, highest scoring dog there (and there were two border collies in the class). It was really hot and it tempered her just right but took the Mickey out of the other dogs. We’ve now completed Foundation and Skills and will be starting agility Handling class in September. Off leash in the same class as a reactive pom and reactive husky - I smell vet bills. LOL!

I’m doing very little fostering these days; just a few special needs dogs from the shelter. Currently Turbo the Italian Greyhound mix who was emaciated, had a sprained leg, and a bloody ear when he came to the shelter. Now he’s 14 pounds of puppy. He’s maybe 10-12 months old. Oh and I have to question his sanity given that he absolutely idolizes Avery. He even pulled all of the burrs out of her fur for her last night. Every princess needs a servant. She is totally fed up with him and finds him annoying, though. I adore the little stinker but I can’t stand the constant barking. I just can’t find a citronella collar small enough to fit him. But hopefully he’ll be going to rescue soon. Then he can be someone else’s problem.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of another dog. I was looking at a female Staffordshire bull terrier that needed a performance home. But the person who had her never returned my calls. Then someone in the area had a Welsh terrier up for adoption but he wasn’t good with cats. I really shouldn’t have another dog, so I’m just kind of waiting for the right dog to find me.

Other than that, it’s same old, same old round these parts. Lost my job July of 09. Started working part time at the animal shelter in September. Unemployment was set to run out in May. Shelter put me on full time in April. Bless them! It pays less than what I got on unemployment, but I can still keep my house and the dogs and afford one meal a day for me. The one meal a day diet has lead to some weight loss, but that’s probably a good thing. Meanwhile, I’m still looking for a job that will pay me enough to eat two meals a day. I love working at the shelter, but I want more money! It’s been pretty busy with wild animals this summer. We’ve had three fawns come through, a baby duck, a pot bellied pig, two baby blue herons, and just yesterday I drove a great horned owl to a rehab. So cool! Then today I got a call about a stray goat. Ah, animal control in a rural community.

And here are some videos to make you laugh. First we have Avery tormenting the boys last summer:
http://good-times.we...060922412CsCdbf

And here is Turbo tormenting Avery this summer (he loves to bite her feet):

http://www.youtube.c...player_embedded

Revenge is sweet! And she just loves him (NOT!):

[poodlesmom]

Congrats on your new house!

Hasn't been too much going on here. The vet has started watching Farley - he seems to think he might be in the beginning stages of cataracts. Being 11 yo it is a possibility. He said he just sees a very minor change so he is going to check him every 8 weeks when he goes there for grooming. It doesn't seem to be affecting his sight. He's still as active as ever although he does nap longer after my grandsons have been here! lol Chloe is doing well - I don't want to jinx it but none of the growths have returned so far and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's many years before we have to face that. I did feel really guilty a couple of weeks ago - I was so sick and had run out of dog food. I knew there was no way I could make it to Petsmart to get more food so I made a quick dash to the corner store & just bought a bag of some brand that said "premium" - the next day she had a seizure. Needless to say the rest of the bag went in the garbage and luckily things had slowed down enough that I could make a run to Petsmart. All in all both of them are doing well and enjoying the weather as long as it's not too humid.

My PC went on strike a couple of days ago and I was having major withdrawal so I left work early today and went and bought a new tower. I've been all evening getting it set up - not a lot of fun I can tell ya! lol I still have to reload all my pics & documents and learn how to use the new version of Windows that came with this. Not an easy job for this technically challenged gal!

[SilverPawz]

Resqr, I'm sorry you couldn't get back in. I wonder how many others are having the same problem. I can only hope they'll do the same and make a new username too so they can stick around. I've tinkered with the software as much as I can and no one seems to know why some former users can log in and others can't.

I'm still happy I made the switch though, far less spam here now!

I will cross my fingers for you on the job front. I'm sure something will come along soon! I don't know if you have been already, but Top Ramen is cheap and you can eat a lot of it. I lived off it for months when I was first starting my training business and had no clients. It's full of sodium, but it's better then nothing. That and a bag of potatoes once a week was basically all I ate. Sodium and starch!

PM, I'm glad you've got a computer again! Internet withdrawl sucks. My older Collie has cataracts, he's 14. It doesn't seem to slow him down much, he's still spry and gets around ok. Hopefully the same will be true for Farley.

[chessieV]

Well I feel like I've lost months of time...I've been working like a maniac at my job and showing nearly every weekend. This has been non-stop, and I think I need a little break...soon. This year we have two new champions so far, as well as a new CD and RN. We're working on water training (just recently!) and several others are working on CD or CDX.

Too much grooming -- having so many in hand stripped coats is a bit exhausting. We just did our weekly "nail night". Lots of toenails flying.

K9resger...I hear you. We had a very tough patch when I was in grad school -- living in a basement apartment (no windows...) that was way overpriced, two babies, two dogs, full time work and grad school too. I used to buy a ham steak and a bag of potatoes and a bag of split peas. Out of one ham steak I could make scalloped potatoes with ham, split pea soup with ham, and mashed potatoes and ham. Not much ham with each meal, but it gave a bit of flavor. I got to one point where it was boiled rice with margerine and salt. Ate that for 3 weeks straight, but I must admit, I still like it! Also oatmeal can be fixed with peanut butter (high protein!) or sugar. and for downright cheap and good, make fried cornmeal mush and eat it fried with salt. I also still love this too. Cornmeal is about $1 a pound and it takes awhile to eat through a pound of it. Some people eat it with syrup, but I like salt.

Also my grandma's depression-era rice soup:

Get a bit of beef if you can, and fry up in a pot. Add beef boullion (and if you have no beef, just use bullion). Cook a cup or two of white rice. In a separate pot, boil a cut up potato or two until tender. Add boiled rice to the big pot of bullion, and cook the daylights out of it until rice is essentially overcooked. Add the boiled potato to it. Then bring to a boil and crack an egg in and whip with a fork. The egg makes the whole thing turn into almost a porriage. It's really good, and very hearty. Pennies a serving!

We also made corn fritters -- very cheap and tasty. If you want that recepie I'll look it up. Basically a couple of eggs, bread crumbs (can be made from leftover bread), and a can of corn.

Even with almost no money, I still was able to eat ok (and feed kids) using some of my grandma's depression-era tricks. Of course some of her "staples" aren't cheap nowadays. No scallops or "ends" of lunchmeat. Those were cheap in the 1940's. Not now. Dried beef and gravy is now a more expensive treat, not a cheap meal.

[EvilBeagle]

Hey everyone.
Resqer, I'm very sorry about the job situation, I hope that you get a better paying job soon, keeping paws and fingers crossed for you.
(On a separate note, can you send me some info on cranberry juice and urinary incontinence ? It sounds interesting.)

PM, I hope Farley's eyes are still in good shape. But living in the same house, being familiar with his environment and having Chloe with him probably will help him even if his eyesight gets worse.
SP, congrats on the house !! I cant imagine how good it must feel to own a house. You should post some pics of the house (if you already havent done so, I havent been around for a while:wink:). And did I misread ? I didnt know that you got a horse, wow !

I finally moved out of Texas and moved to LA with Z. permanently.
Maya's been here with Z for a while now. I had to be apart from her from March until late July and missed her so so much. She is 3.5 years old now and she has been very healthy and happy (I am knocking on wood).

We got engaged with Z. this February and since we are not big-wedding type of people, we are planning on a small intimate ceremony sometime in early 2011.
I finally finished my research at school and am wrapping up my thesis. I am hoping to officially graduate this December and am now looking for job openings.
So that's all there is on my end. I will try to check here more often to see how everyone is doing.

[poodlesmom]

Congrats on your engagement!!!! You, Z & Maya must be so happy finally being together again! Small, intimate weddings are the best - I personally think the couple actually gets to enjoy their special day so much more. It's good to hear that Maya has been doing well. She's so lucky you were in her corner and got her the help she needed.