After running errands, I attempted to take a short nap this evening. Since I hadn't fed the dogs yet, it didn't work too well. I noticed the after-the-storm light through the window was interesting. So I got up from the couch and one at a time invited the dogs to take my place for an impromptu photo shoot. Didn't have to twist their paws, Owl and Taya had been trying to sleep on me on the couch anyway! First photo is Owl, next two are Taya, then Nexus, and Viljo. They are good dogs, good friends really, and I very much enjoy them all.
0 Comments
My first day off since Friday and what a week. I was so tired when I went to bed early this morning that I fell asleep and woke later still holding my book in both hands. (I am reading the wonderful "Grace" by the hugely talented author Max... Lucado.) I do not mind saying that I had breakfast at 4 this afternoon! Refreshed now, on this 'Throwback Thursday', I am posting a photo of Andrew (left) and Jamie Stock with Walmar's Drucilla. I acquired Druci in middle age from Wally and Mary Jones. Her sister CH Walmar's Druid Princess, a favorite of Wally's, was a DCA National Sweepstakes winner. Their black/tan brother CAN/AM CH Walmar's Dark Prince was a group winner for Uffe and Carol Brae.
Druci had one litter of one for me, CH Walmar's Luke v Dorndorf L. At his first show, Luke was WD/BW for 5 points at the Central Ohio specialty, with me handling. He finished with three majors. Luke was the father of my N litter, now 12 years old, which include DC Nadja ME, multi-Absolute, multi-titled DC Nexus, SUvCH NIck (in Sweden), and MACH5 FC Nutmeg CDX! Becky England also used Luke and he produced something like seven Champions for her. The proud parents of James and Andrew are Christian and Julie Stock. The boys are in college now but I well remember rocking Andrew when they brought him home from the hospital. : ) I like black snakes. Or maybe I don't like them so much as I appreciate them. But I knew that a snake had decided to make its home between the inside and outside walls of my outbuilding. And if Blacky was home when my dogs were out, their verbal and non-verbal body language was speaking volumes. I figured it was a matter of time before the dogs got this snake as they have gotten others in the past. I was hoping I would get to it first and be able to cart it down the road. I have done it before. But lately I have not been above wishing that the dogs would just get it, kill it, and get it over with... This afternoon shortly before leaving for work, I went out to bring the dogs in. They had been out for about 15 minutes. Walking in, I saw Owl and Nexus pulling against each other on either end of the largest snake they have caught yet. And I saw that it was dead. I didn't know whether to think "Poor snake" or "YAY!" So I alternated. Then I thought, as I often do, well let me go and get my camera. I came back and took some photos. I got caught up in observing the dogs' behavior. Suddenly, I remembered - work! I barely had time to wash my hair and get dressed. As I pulled out of the driveway, I saw a hen turkey with five or six little ones traipsing along on the road behind her. As I watched, she climbed the road bank and the little ones were flapping and fluttering and looking like sparrows in their endeavor to follow mama up the hill. It reminded me of a toddler having to work extra hard to keep up with a long-striding adult. Suddenly, I remembered again - work! I had not had time to dry my hair, so off and on I hung my head out the window on the hour drive. I clocked in with four minutes to spare. As I walked into the conference room, they looked at me. "What are you doing here?" I said, "I'm working." They said, "No you're not." I had forgotten that I'd moved myself from working today to working on Thursday when I only had three RNs scheduled! Oh man. Well, I needed to go get some groceries anyway. Back home when I was pulling into the drive, I saw a large doe come out of the woods and stand beside the road for a couple of minutes. I waited to see if other deer were coming behind her. This time, I said to myself, you do have time to watch the animals! In the Madison Area Dachshund Club class of 18 Field Champion Dogs, three of the five ribbons went to Nexus, Oslo, and Owl!
I am proud of all of them but especially 12 year old Nexus. On an 85 degree afternoon, the warmest day we've had in months, Nexus put forth great effort had some excellent runs! I did not run Nexus and Owl on Friday or Saturday because I wanted to concentrate on my youngsters Taya (on Friday), and Viljo (Friday and Saturday.) I think the older dogs were telling me, to heck with this sitting in the car business, we want to run rabbits! It is 50 degrees here and while we're out enjoying the heat wave, the skies get darker and it starts sleeting or hailing or whatever the little pellets are! This is Nexus.
Opened my eyes this morning, saw sunshine in the window and couldn't get out of bed fast enough! Now I am waiting for the sun to move up over the evergreens and shine on all those iced up trees!!!
In the meantime, these are photos of my dogs that I took on our walk early evening yesterday. I DID figure out how to walk four dogs and carry my camera, too. And I felt safe carrying it with me on the icy road because I had on my Yaktrax. If not for the Yaktrax, I would not have been able to walk the road. Played around a bit and had some fun with effects, too. I haven't quite figured out how to tone down the reds. It shows up pretty dark and brilliant in snow. But then, they are brilliant. : ) In this weather, my dogs are getting more chew time than usual. After lunch, I gave them American-made rawhide to chew for 30 minutes so that I could get some stuff done. They started in on their rawhides, I watched 'em for a minute and decided to take photos. There went my 30 minutes!
The photos are interesting from a lighting perspective. All of them were taken in the same room. As I have said before, the coloration of red dogs is an evolving, revolving light show anyway, and different lighting makes the red tones even more interesting. The 1st and 3rd photos, the older Owl and Nexus, have more artificial lighting, because Owl claimed the couch and Nexus the dog bed which are further from the patio door. 2nd and 4th photos, Taya and Viljo, were taken on the carpet nearer the natural lighting from the glass door. Natural light is really beautiful, isn't it. Nope, I said 101!
I love to read. Over many years, though, I have collected far too many books. All the bookshelves are overflowing and there are stacks of books too many other places. On January 1, I began the slow and sometimes painful process of re-homing books. My original goal was to move 50% of them on to other people. I have revised that to 30%, at least until after I have been through all my books one time! Tonight I reached the milestone of 100 books that are no longer 'mine' and have gone OUT THE DOOR. I have many, many more books to sort through but it feels good to get this far down the path to a reasonable number. [Nexus is ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH, 11 years, owner Patricia Nance.]
[Oslo is ABS11 FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf CA CGC, 8.5 years, owner Stan Knoll.] Nexus and Oslo placed 2nd and 3rd in the Field Champion Dog class of 17 at the Dachshund Club of the Great Lakes today. The trial was held at the Northern Illinois Beagle Club in Roscoe, Illinois. Congratulations to Nexus and Oslo! They are pictured with judges Bill Dyer and Pam Bethke. Judging the dogs' reactions, Bill Dyer's jacket may be a bit TOO bright. haha!
[Nexus is ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH, owned by Patricia Nance] What a nice honor that Nexus is on the cover of the Spring 2013 Dachshund Club of American magazine. This is the quarterly publication of the national breed club. Nexus made the cover by virtue of having earned titles in seven AKC venues: Field, Tracking, Earthdog, Rally, Show, Obedience, and Agility. He is the first male longhair and second longhair of either sex to do it. I am especially gratified by the presentation of the three-page article on Nexus inside the magazine. In fact, I was so very pleased with the graphics that I called the editor to express my appreciation. KUDOS AND THANK YOUS to Lynne Dahlen, Siren, Wisconsin, for her considerable effort, not only on my behalf in this issue but for all of DCA - month after month and year after year. The national club published the photo and article gratis and I very much appreciate that, too. I also sent a full page ad "Goodbye to a Godsend" about Nexus' mother Marta. Lynne placed this page at the end of the article on Nexus. And I received several extra copies of the magazine. THANK YOU, Lynne, for everything! While I was enjoying the magazine and on the phone with Lynne, Nexus' 10 month-old great-niece Taya got hold of the box that the magazines came in. Maybe Taya, too, is saying, "Great job, Lynne! You TORE it up!"
[Nexus is ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH, 11 years old.]
[Owl is ABS5 FC Alpine Owl von Dorndorf TD JE NA OAJ SchwhK SchwhKF Wa-T BHP-G LH, 8.5 years old.] [Viljo is FC Cadium Aurinkosoturi, 2 years old.] There were 16 Field Champion Dogs in competition on the grounds of the Flint River Beagle Club in Hampton, Georgia today. In second series, Nexus came back High and Owl 4th. When judging concluded, Nexus was the winner, Owl placed 3rd, and Viljo was named NBQ. What a weekend we had! Congratulations to all our talented guys! They are pictured below with judge Michael Nothstein. None of them were particularly happy to be having their photo taken. They were hungry and while waiting for photos, I'd been feeding them pieces of muffins left over from breakfast. Nexus is struggling to get down and back to 'em, Owl has a pained "oh if I have to" expression and Viljo is not taking his eyes off the muffins which are on the table to his right. Like if he blinks, they might disappear, ha ha! "Photos? Who cares? You know, Patt, that it is not nice to keep a dachshund from his appointed appetizer." [Oslo is ABS11 FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf CA CG, owned by Stan Knoll of Mississippi.]
[Owl is ABS5 FC Alpine Owl von Dorndorf TD JE NA OAJ SchwhK SchwhKF Wa-T BHP-G LH, owned by Patricia Nance.] [Nexus is ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH, owned by Patricia Nance] In second series of 15 Field Champion Dogs today at the Dachshund Club of Metropolitan Atlanta, Oslo was called back High, Nexus 2nd, and Owl 3rd. When the class judging ended after fourth series, our dogs had finished Oslo 1st, Owl 2nd, and Nexus 3rd. Furthermore, one of the judges kindly told me that Viljo had had the 6th best score in the class. There is no recognition for 6th but I am proud of Viljo, too. Later, Oslo capped the day off by becoming Absolute Winner in a total entry of 75 dachshunds. It is the 11th time that Oslo has won the Absolute Winner award. Not many dachshunds have won 11 or more Absolutes! I will find out how many have done it. Congratulations to Stan and Oslo and to Owl and Nexus! And Viljo! Tonight on my way to Georgia, I called work to see how things were going. And also, I confess, to rub it in a bit: "Hi, this is Patt. How's it going? Well, I am still headed south. The sun is shining. The grass is green. The trees are blooming. It is 20 degrees warmer here. And gas is 30 cents a gallon cheaper. " (all with a smile in my voice) Altogether, it was a 12 hour trip. Three of those hours were spent just getting to the Ohio River. It doesn't seem like it should take three hours to get from my home in south-central Ohio to the Ohio River but there is no freeway, no quick way to do it. This was the first time I "headed south" using this route. It is not fast, but then neither is going west either to Columbus or Chillicothe and picking up I-71 to go to Cincinnati. This route took me through Oak Hill, Ohio which is where my father was born. It is a small, old village that I had only been through once or twice many years ago. The road took me right past the Oak Hill Public Library. I think I will stop in there one day and check out some of the history of Oak Hill. In Ironton, I crossed the Ohio River into Ashland, Kentucky. Soon, I got onto I-64 which took me to Lexington and I-75 South. Snow squalls eventually became sunshine. Nexus (looking a bit like I feel!) appears to be waiting on coffee in our motel room.
Following are the Dachshund Club of America's Top Ten in Field for 2012. Congratulations to Stan Knoll and Oslo and everyone! It takes a lot of talent and dedication - as one top obedience campaigner wrote years ago: much willingness to sit for hours and hours on your butt, staring at the road through a windshield - to make it to this level! [Dogs are listed by call name, registered name, number of merit points, and number of placements.] 1. Danika FC Danika vom Nordlicht TD ME, 343, 17 2. Zuni DC Rellih's Little Indian MW TD SE, 340, 22 3. Dixie FC Anja von Moosbach-Zuzelek RN SE, 270, 17 4, Auggie FC Augden von Moosbach-Zuzelek RE ME, 239, 14 5. Oslo FC Audi Oslo Von Dorndorf CA, 237, 11 6. Lily FC Diamant Lily von Lowenherz, 224, 10 7. Veela FC Viola von der Hardt-Hohe JE, 186, 8 8. Carmen GCH DC Siddachs Carmen MW, 168, 8 9. Stanze FC Stanze von Lowenherz JE, 165, 8 10. Trooper FC Rosie's Little Trooper, 163, 10 I went to many fewer field trials this year than the usual in years past. Nevertheless, Owl had two nice placements for 48 points and Nexus two placements for 40 points. Merit points are earned one point per dog defeated in the Field Champion class. For example, in a class of 17 Field Champions 1st place nets 17 merit points, 2nd place 16 points, 3rd place 15 points and 4th place 14 points. Besides that, a dog must have at least two placements in the Field Champion class to make it onto the merit points list, he cannot have just one. In 2012, 81 dachshunds earned two or more placements in the Field Champion class. I have only listed the Top 10. Thank you to Tracy Freeling, DCA Field Trial Statistician, for receiving and compiling the numbers. Stan Knoll and Oslo after a day in the field in 2008. I am using this photo because, while it would obviously be difficult for a dachshund to be joined with his person at the hip, here is proof that it is entirely possible for them to be joined at the knee! Because she is a puppy, I have been weighing Taya every week. Today, since it has been quite a while that I weighed the males, I weighed all four dogs. Nexus, 10.5 years old male, weighs 20.2 lbs / 9.1 kg Owl, 8 years old male, weighs 18.2 lbs / 8.2 kg Viljo, 2.5 years old male, weighs 20.2 lbs / 9.1 kg Taya, 6 months old female, weighs 15.8 lbs / 7.1 kg From the AKC Standard as revised in 1992 - Weight of the standard size is usually between 16 and 32 pounds. From the FCI Standard - SIZE AND WEIGHT/ IMPORTANT MEASUREMENTS: Weight: Standard Dachshund up to about 9 kg. Photo is Nexus who was V rated by DTK judge Wolfgang Trumpfheller. Not ALL American-bred Standard longhairs are giants! 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. Nexus, 10.5 years young, ran a joyful 19 and 20 seconds under course time and qualified with scores of 100 and 1st places in Novice Standard at the agility trials in Zanesville, Ohio yesterday and today! That gives him the Novice Agility (NA) title.
It ALSO gives him the honor of being the first male longhair, second longhair of either sex, and the 14th dachshund ever to become a "7-way" dachshund. It means that Nexus has titled in AKC Conformation, Field, Tracking, Earthdog, Obedience, Rally, and Agility. He is now ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH. C@NGRATULATI@NS Nexer!! Love you, big guy. Now you will get a great dinner and then I will go to bed and sleep for a week. Oh, what's that, there's another agility trial tomorrow?! : ) This morning I had just finished four miles on my exercise bike when I heard a bunch of commotion from the kennel yard. Nexus, Owl, and Viljo virtually never fight but this did not sound good. I went out and found that there was - or had been - something under the corner of the kennel building. All three dogs were digging and barking and running back and forth through the nearest dog door. I went into the kennel and Owl began barking with his head shoved behind the shelving unit. Beside the shelves is a door to a very small room (closet size) that also has a door to the outside. I opened the inside door, figuring that a black snake, mouse, or chipmunk was long gone. The dogs piled into a corner behind some stuff I have in there and came tumbling back out with a woodchuck! Woodchucks, also called groundhogs, are very tough little guys with sharp teeth and claws but obviously no match for three determined dachshunds. They pulled it into the kennel room and it took a few minutes but they killed it. I weighed it afterward. It was a 7.8 pound male and recently out of hibernation. Where it came from, I don't know. Marta killed one on the neighbor's property several years ago. But I have never seen a groundhog on my property, much less inside the kennel building! The outside door to that little storage room was gaping open a bit from recent winds which must be how the animal entered. I have to say that good old Nexus worked the hardest and with the most intense determination. At first, Viljo was like wow, I've never seen anything like this! But after a moment's shock and awe, Viljo was the one gripping most around the head and neck which was very helpful to their cause. Owl tried a few times early on to pull it outside through a dog door in an effort to claim it for himself. But he was working against the woodchuck, Nexus, and Viljo and gave that up. I knew the instant that the woodchuck was dead because Owl began a low growl toward the other dogs. I picked Owl up and took him away. While I was momentarily gone, Nexus and Viljo got into it with each other. I picked Nexus up and that was the end of that. None of the dogs was hurt except Nexus has a small puncture wound on the bridge of his muzzle and one on the flap of an ear. (From the woodchuck or from Viljo? I suspect from the woodchuck.) The dogs were very happy that the woodchuck was there. I am happy that the woodchuck is gone. I do not want den animals burrowing under the kennel building!
Well, you can see that I do not always lead a quiet and peaceful life! Jared Tucker tagged me with a good photo of Nexus and Seiko on Facebook today. The photo was taken March 16, 2010 at the F3 Workshop in North Carolina. It shows Rocky on the left, Nexus in the center, and Seiko, 5.5 months, on the right. Thank you, Jared. I did not know this photo existed. It made me smile!
My dogs have given me a day of agony. What began as a 30 minute walk for exercise turned into a 25 hour nightmare. I was walking in the field with Marta and Owl who were on lead and Nexus and Viljo who were off lead. This was at 11 am on Thursday. I normally don't have two dogs off lead at the same time but Thursday I'd made an exception. Viljo was a little ahead and to the left of us when I saw him pick up his head and catch some scent, probably of deer. He ran down hill in a beeline for the woods. Nexus saw Viljo do this, and ran after him. They both went a short distance along the woods line, then headed into the woods. I didn't think much of it. I figured they'd be back soon. I continued on my walk with Owl and Marta through what was left of the snow. On the way home, we stopped and waited a little while for the others, but there was no sign of them and we went on home. An hour later, it began to snow again. The prediction was for 4 to 6 inches and for the temperature to begin dropping. Two hours later, no Nexus. No Viljo. I called work and told them the situation. I said I couldn't just get in my car and leave with two dogs out in the woods somewhere. Thankfully, they understood. One co-worker, Karen, offered so stay over until I got there. I never got there... Three hours, four hours, five hours went by. It was snowing hard. And getting colder. And the wind picked up. And darkness was coming. I went out several times, walking and calling, and whistling. And praying. I didn't know who to be more concerned about. Nexus, nearly nine years old, had surgery in September and might have trouble with the deep ravines and the snow. But Nexus knows the woods and roads for a couple of miles in every direction, we've walked them many times. (This is a very rural area.) On the other hand, seven months old Viljo was only familiar with our own acreage. I was really concerned that deer lines would take them further than Viljo could find his way home. 5.5 hours later, at 4:30 pm, Nexus arrived on the front porch. He was thirsty but otherwise absolutely fine. Huge, huge relief! One dog home now, one to go. Viljo, where are you?? The last time I went out was just after midnight. I tromped in the snow for 45 minutes but I had no idea, really, which direction to go. After that, I had to call it quits for the night. It was an extremely long and difficult night for me, knowing that the air temperature was 8 degrees, the winds were blowing up to 25 miles per hour, there was half a foot of new snow, and my puppy was out in the woods somewhere. I tried to sleep but every time the wind rattled the house, I was wide awake wondering where Viljo was and if I would see him again. My three main concerns with Viljo were his lack of familiarity with the area, the difficult weather, and fox traps. Ohio fox trapping season runs through the end of January. I have met and talked with a lifelong trapper who lives in my village - and I know that he is very good at what he does. Among a myriad of other possibilities, I wondered if Viljo could be caught in a trap somewhere. The next morning, I designed a lost dog flier using an excellent Internet resource for people who have lost dogs and cats. http://www.sherlockbones.com/ "Sherlock Bones" may sound hokey but don't laugh. John Keane has made a 30+ years living helping people find lost pets. I'd read his book many years ago and found a few years ago that, sure enough, he is alive and well...and has a website. You can buy his e-book for $30. It is just 14 pages BUT 14 pages filled with concise, precise, very valuable information on the Dos and Don'ts of looking for lost dogs. Mr. Keane has identified certain "best practices" when it comes to locating a lost dog and it is certainly good to know what they are. If you lose a dog, you will be very glad you have this information on hand. I handed a copy of my flier to the plow driver as he went by while I worked in the bitter cold to shovel out my driveway. Then I left to drive to a copy shop to have a bunch of card stock copies made. I planned to spend the afternoon tacking up fliers, handing fliers out to everyone I saw, and going house to house asking people if they had seen my dog. Thankfully, when I got home from the copy shop at 12:30 armed with 200 posters, Viljo was waiting on me! My 7.5 month old puppy was a little tired and a lot hungry but in great shape after 25 hours in severe cold and nearly half a foot of new snow. I wasn't doing as well... I would LOVE to know where and how Viljo spent the night. But let's just say that I have never been so HAPPY to see an animal in my life! # 7 FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf, owned and handled by Stan Knoll of Mississippi #12 FC Annie Ochre von Dorndorf, owned and handled by Laura Knoll of Mississippi #17 FC Bob's Babe von Knobydox, owned by Tina Knoll, handled by Tina and Stan Knoll (tie) DC Nexus v Dorndorf L TD JE RN VC Wa-T BHP-G LH, owned and handled by Patricia Nance Good job! 127 Field Champion dachshunds earned placements in 2010 per Tracy Freeling who compiles the statistics. Thank you, Tracy. The Deutscher Teckelklub water test consists of two shots being fired from a shotgun nearby, a dead duck being thrown 26 meters (85 feet) into deep water, and a determined dachshund swimming out, retrieving the duck, and bringing it back to his handler. It also fulfills DTK requirements as a test for gun steadiness. Today, Nexus passed the water test for the 4th time. He did a nice job! Out with Marietta Singleton just three weeks and shown two times, Nexus FINISHED requirements for Champion title which also, of course, makes him a Dual Champion. This was at the Owensboro River City Kennel Club all-breed show, day after the Louisville Dachshund Club specialty.
It is so nice when everything comes together so well. I am very thankful to Marietta. I am glad there are people out there willing to show dogs for other people. I am working this weekend (I work every other weekend) and I simply would not have been in Kentucky to begin with, much less had Nexus groomed as well and shown as well as Marietta did. So many, many THANKS to Marietta and to Vicki Spencer who is keeping Nexus at her home in Owensboro until I drive down Monday and bring him home. That's two generations now of dogs that I have nearly finished when they were young, stopped showing for years, then were easily finished by other people when they were eight years old. I don't intend to make it three. : ) |
A
February 2015
Categories
All
|