Gone To The Dogs: 2/19/12

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

And Away We Go

Girls are loaded, car is packed, reservation made. I think I have everything, but am so out of practice packing! It seems to strange to leave my best buddy Argus behind. He always goes along with me. Almost always. Not this time. Traveling with two girls in season would be more than he could manage.
Took Lucy in for a Progesterone test this AM and the results tell us today through Saturday should be perfect for breeding. We won't do through Saturday though, as these are young healthy dogs and all it takes is one good breeding at the correct time. We'll do two, to cover our bases. Too much time and money invested already to cut corners.

Possible blizzard in the forecast for next Sunday/Monday. Guess we are due. Just so the roads are fine by the following weekend when we go to St. Louis. Suggested that Lucy's family come to retrieve her on Saturday, so they don't risk encountering the predicted bad weather. She's a good dog, but two girls in season is a lot of hassle, and Letty will be going out soon. Argus and I are BOTH looking forward to things getting back to normal (well, sort of normal) around here.

Hope the rest of the day goes better, as the diagnosis on the washer is BROKEN. We'd hoped it was just a pump, but it's bearings too. Repairman said this often happens in the first 3 - 5 years of this particular machine, so I was lucky to get 10 years with no repairs. Guess I will be washer shopping next week, and will buy a top loader this time, not another front loader.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Moving Right Along

Progesterone test for Lucy yesterday was 5.0, which means she probably ovulated. Because the eggs have to mature for 2 - 3 days before they can be fertilized, we will probably head to Nebraska on Wednesday, but we'll do one more Progesterone test first to be sure things are progressing normally. We are so fortunate to have a clinic with same day test results, rather than having to ship the sample and wait for the results. Makes things a lot easier.

Argus has been doing well, but lost it yesterday. Two seductive ladies in the basement was a bit more than he can stand and he's looking pretty frazzled, but still behaving well.

It was fortunate that he still had it together on Saturday evening, as Jess & I took Watson and Argus to the Fire Foundation Gala. Carol and a friend joined us with Nena and Tate, and the dogs functioned as Greeters. What fun. We watched serious looking, beautifully dressed people come up the elevator and break into big grins when they saw the Dalmatians sitting there wagging their tails. The dogs all behaved perfectly, dispensed many kisses and got sooo much attention. Many couples asked to have their pictures taken with the dogs, as in the picture above. We warned everyone that the dogs were shedding (but of course!) but that did not deter them, and many gala guests went home with dog hair souvenirs. Good job, Dalmatians! Great PR for our breed!

Because Dals still get a bad rap over the fallout from over-popularity in the 80s and90s (bad dogs, bad homes) we love having the opportunity to show the public what terrific dogs Dalmatians really are.