"Cassie" finished her Championship on Sunday and is enjoying an appropriate reward - her first cheeseburger! I hope her owner John had one too, or better yet a nice steak! Cassie is Argie's new champion offspring and finished her title novice owner-handled. John's daughter got the first few points, then dad took over and he and Cassie were quite the team, although they didn't get to the shows very often. Cassie finished by winning her 4th major (take at least two major wins). We love seeing new people finish their own dogs and only wish we had been there to cheer them along, but John & Cassie live in Florida.
Cassie's mother Reggie was bred to Argus via chilled semen - we never had the privilege of meeting and entertaining Reggie. The semen was collected here, processed & packaged and shipped off to Reggie's vet in Florida. This has been done in livestock for years and is becoming more commonly used with dogs now. Because shipping is so expensive, weather is often an issue, and particularly because the airlines are so difficult to deal with, chilled semen breedings (and frozen as well) are becoming increasingly common.
Things are looking better with Argus. I picked him up yesterday and took him over to Jess's office so we could work with him and see how he is stacking and moving. He's been on buffered aspirin, Arthrisoothe Gold, leash only walks (one to two miles a day), daily stretching, and NO wrestling or tugging with Josie, no treeing squirrels, no flying off the deck. When he goes into the dog yard it's only with Coral who I KNOW won't wrestle or tug with him. We're also using the Fitness Ball for a few minutes every evening - he LOVES that. Jess and I both agree that things look much better. He's standing more squarely on the leg that was injured, and carrying himself a lot better when he moves. He's surviving the restricted activity a lot better than poor Josie is. Nothing she likes better than tugging with Argus!
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