Taya saw her first snow at 4:30 this morning. Not surprisingly, she liked it as probably most longhairs do! I cannot say that I shared her enthusiasm, or gave the dogs many minutes in it at that time of day. Snow gave way to sleet, then to rain, and it looks like it is all trying to make up for the hot, dry summer. I was up and down all night, heavy winds rattling the house, beating the flag pole, flapping the metal roof on the tractor shed. I am up on a higher elevation so thankfully do not have to worry about flooding. The wind, however, can be something else. Nonetheless, the strong gusts here were NOTHING compared to what millions of Americans  went through during the night and are enduring right now. I keep thinking about the evacuation of 200 patients in a NYC hospital. My God, what a job, but especially in the midst of such a storm! Many unsung heroes are born at times like this. KUDOS and BLESSINGS to ALL of them.

[Tasha is littermate of Taya; they are five months old. It is always good to hear from Cliff.]

This weekend was youth weekend in Louisiana. Donnie, a good friend of mine who also has a younger tracking dog called me last night and said his son had shot a doe pretty close to dark. When he went to mark the spot he heard the deer get up and run. He marked the spot and backed out. There was also a shot made on another doe but it was not known if it was a hit. The hunter tried a head shot and said that their deer ran around in a circle right after he shot and then ran down the road into the woods. It was cold last night in South Louisiana so we decided that we would track together in the morning.

We had talked about tracking together but we were not sure how the dogs would tolerate each other. Donnie's dog is a Blue Lacy. Ruby is three years old and was started when Donnie got her last year. He never really had a chance to track with her so he was wondering how she would do. Ruby runs practice lines with ease. We were also concerned if Ruby would think that Tasha was something to eat....there is a difference in size. We met up at The Spillway Sportsman at 6:30AM and headed over to the hunting lease. We were able to drive the truck almost to the shot site. After we unloaded we let the dogs meet each. Ruby didn't even think about eating Tasha...what a relief. Both the dogs had their tracking collars on and knew it was time for business. We decided to start Ruby on the track while I let Tasha check out the road where the other deer was shot. As soon as I got there with Tasha,  I looked over to see Donnie and Ruby on the road. I headed over. Ruby had found the deer on the way in. I took Tasha to the start of the short 30 yard track and without incident she tracked to the deer. The deer was 8 feet into a briar thicket. It was so thick that  I couldn't even see Tasha at the end of her 12 foot leash. Ruby and Donnie came back where we could get the deer out. I heard a threatening deep guttural growl and I knew Ruby was growling at Tasha. Ruby was between me and Tasha and if I pulled on Tasha's lead it would force her to pass right next to Ruby. I told Donnie that Ruby was growling hoping he could help me protect Tasha. Donnie got down on his hands and knees where he could see up in the thicket. He said, Pal, that is Tasha growling....not Ruby!  I have never heard her growl like that before. I am glad that Ruby didn't take it seriously because Tasha would have only been a bite or two for Ruby. We got the doe out without incident.

We took the dogs over to the road where the other deer had been shot at. We worked the entire area where the hit would have been and the open section of woods where the deer had run. I looked at my GPS and it had a fine looking grid where we had searched. I am impressed with how good the dogs worked together combing this area. The scenting conditions were great, a cool 47 degree morning with dew all over the grass. With two dogs and two handlers working the area, I am convinced that the shot was a clean miss. We had a great morning, spent some time in the woods with the dogs and even recovered a deer. This is one that would have been easy to find without a dog but I'm glad that we got a shot to work it.

Tasha and I have been working on her obedience training. A day in the woods tracking just kills leash training. In the woods, Tasha's job is to lead me around. At home, I am supposed to get to be the boss. It is a challenge to get her to walk with a loose leash. She tries to keep her nose on the ground and take me for a 4 block long track! She can be stubborn but so far I have hung in there with her. Everything else is coming along just fine with her obedience training and I'm overjoyed with her tracking.

Cliff and Tasha
Sent somewhere from woods or water in South Louisiana

[Mars is father of littermates Taya , Tasha (see 10-29 post above), and Thor ("Seymour"), born in Denmark and all living in the US.]

WUTJCH, KBHV2011, DECH VDH, DECH-KLB Maxi-Tax Maroon Marstax at the International show in Leuven, Belgium today was Excellent 1, CAC, CACIB, and BOS to a kennelmate; both the BOB and BOS longhairs were owned and shown by Lise-Lotte Schulz of Denmark! Mars finished requirements for CIE and CIB at this show!

CIE = Champion International d'Exterieur: The dog has been CACIB 4 times in 3 different countries under 3 different judges.

CIB = Champion International de Beauté: The dog has been CACIB 2 times in 2 different countries under 2 different judges and also 1 Prize in a Working trial.

Lise-Lotte writes, too, that the Danish Kennel has confirmed Mars' DKCHS = Danish Champion: Mars has been CAC 3 times under 3 different judges and 1 Prize in a Working trial in Denmark.

Born Dec 7, 2008, his breeder is Ilse Kokkonen of Kennel Maxi-Tax in Finland. Mars' father Simo and mother Siiri are both hunting dogs, Show Champions, and Hunting Champions in Finland!

Mars lives with Lise-Lotte Schulz of Kennel Tranevang in Denmark. He is an excellent size of 8 kgs or 17.6 lbs.

Congratulations to Lise-Lotte, Ilse and Mars!

Jolanta Jeanneney sent a photo today from field trials being held at the Central Jersey Beagle Club in New Jersey. Indulging in a bit of rainy Sunday morning nostalgia, I am still thinking of Central Jersey. It is where I saw - and heard - the dog Axel von der Grenadier Halde run a rabbit. WOW! Well yes, our Standard STATES "hunting spirit, good nose, and loud tongue" BUT I did not know a dachshund could/would trail and voice like that! In 1976, Axel's run was something far beyond what I had seen in my three or four trial experience. I can still see it today. It is a fact that Axel's performance changed my vision for my breeding program. Only he was a wire and we were breeding longhairs. 'Too bad, so sad, sorry about yer luck and get to steppin' if you are going to breed longhaired Axels!' Meeting the challenge has sure not been easy. But overall it has been a lot of fun!

[Brita is daughter of SUvCH NUvCH SvCH FC Hound's Kashmir.]

10 year old Brita, CIB S Ch N Ch Hound's Rule Britannia, still enjoys shows and was Best in Show Veteran at the dachshund specialty in Drammen, Norway today. The judge was Leif Ragnar Hjorth. Brita is owned, loved and handled by Randi Pettersen.

The past few days I have been working, working, and - working - on my website. Mostly design stuff because I didn't really like it before and had to force myself to get on here and update it. Now I do like it and am excited about - working - on it again! Still have oodles to do in the way of content but have now published the site to the web and am taking a break. It is just way too nice outside and I am pretty sure that I hear Yard - Work - calling me. "Two hours, Patt. Can you give me two hours while the sun shines?" Yes. I think I can.  : )

[Tasha is Tranevang's MA Tashatax, sister of Taya, owned by Cliff Shrader, Louisiana.]

Cliff wrote, "This actually happened to me today. My little angels were busy while I was taking a power nap. At this time they are both still living and healthy!"

I learned in April that I am not really a three dog a trial agility handler. How some people handle five or six dogs in a trial is beyond me! I also learned that when you have two dogs in the same 8" class, they are both likely to get shafted. The first dog you run gets quickly shoved back into his crate so you can run the other one AND the second dog you run gets virtually nothing in the way of physical or mental warm up before going onto the course.

This weekend I wanted to concentrate on Nexus, so did not enter Viljo. My intention was to take Viljo and Taya with us, especially for all the noisy atmosphere and to see all the other breeds. Taya, however, began having liquid diarrhea on Thursday. It was a first for her even after all the traveling she has done in her young life. I believe it may have been caused by a little bully stick that I gave her but I'm not sure. I decided to leave her home in her pen and leave Viljo home too, so Taya would not be alone.

The diarrhea persisted. I was picking up the newspaper in her pen so often that I nearly ran out of paper. She seemed fine, playful and bright otherwise but three days of the runs is too long and I became concerned. She was drinking plenty of water but obviously losing weight. I hit on the remedy of small amounts of cooked oatmeal and chicken a few times on Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday and last night there was nothing on the paper, and this morning, her bm outside was perfectly normal. The oatmeal really seems to have helped absorb the excess liquid and regulate her gut. I am writing this in case others may find it useful in a similar situation.

Nexus went green (qualified) and blue (1st place) again in Novice Standard today so he had a great weekend. Nexus really enjoys all the obstacles and being "on stage!" But I believe that will be it for him for agility. I feel very fortunate that he is as sound as he is and I am not going to push the envelope. What I think we'll do next is Open obedience and go for the CDX. It has been something like 25 years since I trained DC Grissel CDX TD in advanced obedience and I want to revisit that activity with Nexus. As much as he likes field trials, he also enjoys training and told me this weekend that he is NOT ready to "retire!"

Owl, on the other hand, did not qualify on any of our three Open Standard courses this weekend. Very good effort and speed for the most part but a couple if bobbles here and there killed our opportunities to qualify. Of course, Open is a different kettle of fish from Novice and the fact we haven't been to a trial since April or a class since May didn't help us. Our record in Open Jumpers of three trials and titled is certainly not holding for Standard but we'll get there! I was proud of his performances nevertheless, especially in the first two trials. And Owl, the toy-obsessed, got a toy out of the weekend anyway. Nexus won three, one for himself, one for Owl, and one for Marta. Viljo and Taya stayed home but that's another post.