Good grief - it is not possible that so many days have gone by without time to write a post. Lots has happened since the first of the month - perhaps there will be time to fill out the bits & pieces.
March 2 Jura left for North Carolina and his rehab/conditioning in Raleigh NC; Ailsa developed a cough
March 3 Ailsa in Season & diagnosed with Kennel Cough; 10 days of antibiotics & quarantine from the building & other dogs; Kathy's guys immunized against Kennel Cough; all of the sheets, crate bedding, etc. washed & hard surfaces sprayed with disinfectant in the buildings.
March 4 Astra also appears to be coming in season so she came to live with Ailsa & Baker & me.
March 5 Baker may be neutered but his brain still remembers what it is to have girls around in season; the girls are more than pleased to have Uncle Baker to play with.
March 6 Astra has a cough; Ailsa no longer coughing; still taking antibiotics, though. The old black lab from across the street has broken through a slat in my fence - he may have arthritis & bad hips but the fine aroma of girls in heat revives his own inner passion; I construct a fence-within-a-fence on the deck.
March 7 Astra given cough medicine after seeing the Vet; long day because we had the building open for practice from 6-8 (or was it 9 -anyway it was late!)
March 8 Columbia Kennel Club dog show and Surprise of Surprises, Ailsa wins her puppy bitch class, goes winners bitch, then gets best of winners and best of breed and the two of us have earned her first point. Only two majors and 14 more points to go ........ Needless to say we made no progress in Groups but we had fun and got a picture to prove it. In Rally, Mr. Baker had a good time and did not know that his mother lost her way on course (absentminded professor type). Oh and I stewarded for obedience in the afternoon - watched a really great Novice A class as a result & we had the building open again in the evening 6-9 but I was really bad and shooed the last two people away at 8 when there had been no one for the previous 45 minutes and it was cold and we were really tired.
March 9 Second day of the Kennel Club show. First I was a steward/timer for the rally Excellent class. Then, Baker earned his second leg towards his Rally Advanced title and even got a placement ribbon (3rd, I think) - his Mom remembered the course. He had just as good a time as the day before. Finally it was time to show in conformation again with Miss Ailsa who MOST definitely was in season - She was a happy girl with a lilt in her springy step and we won our puppy class but she went reserve for the bitch class losing to the bitch who took breed. No problem as it meant we did not have to wait around for groups which was good because standing on the concrete was really hard on my feet! That evening the troops fell out and poor Astra had no company.
March 10 moderately quiet - recovery - Astra still coughing & not into her food; Ailsa ready to play, Baker going mad.
March 11 more of the same
March 12 I disturb everything by packing & leaving to give a lecture in Canada; my grad student Josh takes over the dog duties until I get back on Saturday March 15 (Having been supposed to get home Friday! Helps if the airlines send an airplane to Canada - I am grateful in any case because they still had snow on the ground well above knee level). In the meantime, Josh got to deal with the marauding labrador who had taken out 3 planks on my outer fence and knocked the inner fence down twice. The panels were in the dog door (thank goodness) and the virtue of the girls maintained. Chastity belts perhaps? Needless to say, any excursion outside was on lead into the inner sanctum under supervision. Astra was seen by the vet and given her round of antibiotics which cleared up her cough, restored her appetite, and energy levels by the time I got home.
Sunday March 16 Got the chance to track Baker along with Briar, JJ, and Jamie's Weimeraner puppy, Faith at Bradford Farms in the morning. Mr. B was most pleased to be away from the hormones and with Mom for the morning and did a super job. I was pleased to not be traveling and super pleased with his work - more on that later. In the afternoon the "girls" got to have their go - Kathy & I were joined by Josh and we walked Ailsa, Astra & Baker out at Bradford - needless to say, the little girls were on flexi leads but they had a real run and "airing"
Monday March 17 St. Patrick's day and Cardiovascular Research Day at MU so the kids were in their crates most of the day without much of my time except to have their meals
March 18 - more of the same - Ailsa by now has finished her antibiotics and Astra, while asymptomatic, is still getting hers.
March 19 another full day but I have created some attention games for the girls - Baker got to come up to the building for Jump 4 class
March 20 Wow! In the evening my friend & colleague, Dr. Meiser DVM came into town on her way to a Springer specialty in Dallas, TX. Her adult dogs are taking part in an ongoing study at the University and had photographs taken of their retinas; she also had a litter of 6 puppies with her - some on their way to their new homes, some will be coming back. In any case there were 14 dogs in the house over night (they were quiet) Good thing the puppies had their X-pen & I have plenty of crates - Astra was outnumbered 13:1 but the puppies were her size.
March 21 Bright and early as Dr. Meiser was reloading her passel of pups, Mr. James & company came to remove my fence (hey, if an old lab could take out 3 planks there was not much life left in the structure) - it did not take them long. Problem was that I felt REALLY vulnerable with NO fence and just my "inner sanctum" and it did not take long for the lab to realize the vulnerability. In the late afternoon new beds arrived & old mattresses were removed (you know you need a new mattress when you sleep better away from home than at home....) In the evening I took the dogs with me to get groceries and do chores so they at least got out of the house. Good news - Astra's last pill and all 4 of us slept well on the new mattress - even if it is way up there! PANIC, though, No fence as there was concern that the concrete might not have set....
March 22 Holy Saturday and I paid for taking the dogs out on Good Friday evening and sleeping very, very well - somewhere in transporting them back into the house, making sure they could potty unmolested, bringing in groceries, getting everyone fed & bedded down for the night, I failed to lock the car door. Further, apparently my wallet had slipped out of the pocket of my sweatshirt while I was in the car so, in addition to having the van rifled & all coins & small money that was in the variety of slots removed, my wallet went too. SIGH. I came out of the house just after 7 to take the guys tracking to see the hatch wide open and my heart sank. Thank goodness I had leant my GPS to Dr. Meiser so I did not lose that too. We took a big deep breath & joined the tracking party for breakfast up at the 63 diner after Kathy and I first set two tracks for the more experienced dogs. After breakfast we ran the tracks with Cindy, Vicky, Kathy & myself - both the experienced dogs and the little girls. The Easter miricle was that Mr. James and his crew put in the fence! No labradors invading, room for the kids to romp - not to mention that they are both coming out of season!
March 23 Easter - a day for Celebration (and cold, and gray and snow). In the afternoon we took the dogs up to the building to clean up for next weekend - vacuuming up the fur and dust from the last month. In the meantime, Ailsa and Astra had run of the entire building and they ran and ran and jumped and tugged and ran and played for what seemed to be hours. Needless to say, they slept well.
March 24 Nothing much of note as I spent more time with Kathy cleaning the building and a quiet evening with the kids - all three now know how to have a good play session.
March 25 - The day to send Astra home with Kathy as she and Aisla seem safely past their "prime". Baker had his jumping class, Ailsa had her hunter/retriever class - the hormones seem to have interfered a bit with her attention span but this too shall pass.
So that brings us up to date - the Australian Shepherd Club of MidAmerica will have competitions at the building this weekend - Conformation (Aussies only), Obedience & Agility (all breed, registered dogs) - see the web site for hours. My intention is to get one more update on Mr. Jura and I'll tell you how he has faired since the start of March.
Ginger
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