Thursday, March 7, 2013

All About Josie



Ah c'mon you guys, cut me some slack here!  1171 posts over the past couple of years and now I get badgered for missing a couple of days?  And this is not my first blog either!  There's another one out there that's equally long, plus a couple of short ones too.  The first one covered Josie's litters and was my beginner blog, another covered raw feeding but was too much work to maintain.  The third covered Boji's litter, co-bred with Tom.  This one is ongoing, with very few gaps of more than a couple days unless I was "on vacation" which generally means a dog show.  Vacation, what a concept!  Maybe I will take a real one again some day!

That's Josie in the picture.  She'll be 10 this summer and the picture was taken 8 or 9 years ago.  Josie was sired by Watson's brother Peter, and spent the first 10 weeks of her life in a kennel situation, getting minimal time and attention because the breeder was off tending a dying relative. She was pretty under-socialized when she arrived, but went on to have a nice show career.  I almost didn't buy Josie because of they way she was raised, but I'm very glad I did.  She's an excellent companion and we love her dearly.  She's Ron's special dog and moved right into Coral's spot in his heart.

Josie was bred twice, but none of her kids became stars, at least not in the show ring.  She produced tall dogs and a lot of patches in each litter.  A daughter from her first litter was pointed, but when her owner died of cancer the husband just kept her as a pet.  A lovely liver girl from the second litter went undershot, and several of the boys (and one of the girls) got too tall to show.  BUT, her kids are wonderfully athletic dogs with sensational personalities and their owners continue to rave about them - and isn't that really the most important thing anyway?

Although Josie lives with us, her heart belong to her friend Sue who often stops by to take Josie running.  They go on nature hikes, and to dog parks, pet stores, and other fun places.  Sue lives in an apartment and can only keep cats, but she loves dogs too, so her friendship with Josie works well for both of them.  Josie has very high prey drive and loves hunting rabbits and squirrels when Sue takes her running. Her second favorite thing is catching a Frisbee.   Josie, Argus, and Meribel are entered in a Coursing event in two weeks and Sue will be running Josie, trying for a 3rd leg on her Coursing Title.  Stay tuned!  

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