More On The Neighbors

Thank you to those who commented on my previous post. I tried to reply to each of you but found out I'm missing some current email addresses.

Chris asked why I don't turn my neighbors in. I don't need to turn in my neighbors as they are constantly being watched and inspected. Although dumping their dog waste next to my driveway was probably illegal (they cleaned it up with one warning phone call from me) unfortunately, there is nothing illegal about the way they keep their dogs.

It's a bit of a dilemma for me. Dog breeders are constantly fighting against legislation to limit or halt the breeding of dogs. Naturally, I don't want to lose my freedom to breed dogs. Still, as a responsible dog breeder and lover of dogs, I'm saddened by the sorry life many dogs live. Responsible dog breeders are so afraid of losing their right to their hobby that we just scream No! to every piece of legislation. I'm not convinced this is the best tactic. Perhaps instead of standing in place, shaking our fists and hollering No! we should sit down and come up with some reasonable compromise. Otherwise, we're leaving dogs like my neighbor's quite literally out in the cold.

On to more pleasant topics.

Knitting

I actually finished something! This is a face cloth from Fiber Trends Bath Time Blossoms pattern. I plan to start on a pink one today and am hoping to finish up my Mother's Day gift on time. Actually, I've made a number of these as gifts over the past few months. They knit up quickly and are great portable projects. I like using the Cotton Fine for these because the bit of wool in this yarn feels better and gives the cloth a better shape than 100% cotton.

Dogs

I've been keeping up with my self-assigned dog training challenge. Bunny has the nicest retrieve now! It's exciting because there were days I wondered if she'd ever get to this point. A few years ago I trained my Winger, a shy, quiet, lacking in confidence dog, and swore I'd never train another dog with such a temperament. So here I am training Bunny. I think I know a little more this time around. I've always known and thought I understood that dog training is all about breaking the final desired behaviour into smaller pieces. Training Bunny has taught me there's always an even smaller piece I can train and perfect. Make the right behavior easy to do and the wrong behavior difficult to do. That's how to train Bunny. It's slow going at times, but it sure is fun when it all comes together.

Practicing their down stays, with their bright green flash bulb eyes, is Bunny, Shamrock, Dusty and Whisper. 

Food

I lost the ten pounds I've wanted to lose so I celebrated this weekend with lots of white food, white flour and white rice. Not good diet food that's for sure. It's okay though, I'll get back on the wagon. You can't deny yourself everything forever.

Shrimp risotto with asparagus and red peppers

Buttermilk and currants scone

Percy

It's the time of year Percy has to stay in the house. He hates it. I'm not too crazy about it either. He has moments of acceptance though and I managed to capture one here.

We Need To Talk

It's time for a confession. I am a breeder. Yes, one of those horrible, politically incorrect breeders of purebred dogs. I've owned and bred Pembroke Welsh Corgis since 1980. Thirty years. I've finished 25 AKC champions, many of them group placing dogs and 3 breeder/owner/handler group winners and almost all of them with more than one performance (obedience, tracking, herding or agility) title. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying. 

In this day and age, it's extremely unpopular to be a "breeder" of purebred dogs. Yep, I know all about those dogs in shelters. I am as sad for them as you are. I hate to see any dog suffer. I don't care if it's a purebred dog or a mutt. I don't even care if it is a new designer dog which, let's face it folks, are sweet, lovable mutts. But those dogs in shelters are not my dogs!

I follow up with all my puppies. My dogs all live in my house. I clean up my yard constantly. I buy the very best dog food available. Each of my dogs are individually trained and worked with daily. In contrast, my neighbor breeds "quality pets" in her unheated quanstet hut. What is a "quality pet"? It's any little furry, fluffy dog which can be bred to another little furry, fluffy dog. Health cleareances? None. Temperament testing? Nope.Early puppy training? You've got to be kidding.

My neighbor once asked me how I kept my puppies alive in the winter. Excuse me? I honestly did not understand what she was asking me. Me, I have heating pads and heat lamps, my puppies are kept in my bedroom until old enough to move into the dinning room/kitchen area. My neighbor, on the other hand, hangs a 40 watt light bulb over her winter litters out in the unheated quanstet hut. And yes, she has muliple winter litters. So sad. Again, I'm just saying.

This is what my "breeder of quality pets" neighbor dumped along my driveway last week. I didn't take a very good picture of it so I'll tell you, it is a winter's worth of pee and poop soaked sawdust scooped out from under the wire cages her dogs have for living quarters in the unheated quanstet hut.

Why am I blogging about this? Because I want you to think about the difference in "breeders" and think before you purchase your next dog, purebred, designer dog or shelter rescue. Because you could very well be "rescuing" a dog from my neighbor, which will only keep her breeding more (cough, cough) quality pets.

So let's move on to more enjoyable topics.

Dogs

We've had some nice success in agility trials lately. Dot finished up her Excellent Preferred titles and the next day picked up her first double Q. Yeah Dot. Dak also completed his Excellent titles and the very next day his first double Q, go Dak! Whisper and Dusty have also been doing nicely. Whisper has gained so much confidence and speed lately it's difficult to remember she's the same dog who spent 5 days in the ICU at the U of MN Vet Clinic where we twice talked about letting her go.

Tinkerbelle, my 16 pound wonder, my little "corgette", made her novice agility appearance for one day and aced both her Standard and Jumpers With Weaves (JWW) runs. Belle is so much fun to train and run. You should be able to view her JWW run here.

And my JJ? Well, after taking forever to get his Open Jumpers title, he whizzed through his Excellent Jumpers title but now is taking a little longer than forever to get through his Excellent Standard title.

It's a good thing I love you JJ!

Food

I've been so in love with quinoa lately. Here's my rendition of quinoa with sauteed peppers and onions along with some grated lemon peel, lemon juice and parmigiano reggiano cheese. Yum!

Birds

I love my cardinals. Love how they always show up in pairs either very early in the morning or far into dusk in the evening.