Paws for Puppy Tales - October 2021

10/27/21 This will likely be the last blog entry for October; here we are nearing the end of the month already. Starting off by saying "Happy Birthday" to my oldest and youngest kids, Matt & Kristen turning 41 and 33 years old today.

Update on Jax and Joy. . . . they will be leaving for what will hopefully be their true forever home in Ohio on November 2nd. A flight nanny will be picking them up to deliver them safely there. Their new owner, Jan Noble seems excited to welcome them home which makes me feel good about them leaving. Their lack of being properly potty trained concerns me even though Jan does know about the issue. I sure hope she and her family will have the patience, love, and knowledge in getting them trained to potty where they should. There has been many puddles found in our house since they've been here and they sure have a way of doing it when we're not looking. I thought being able to have the patio door open for them to go in and out at free will would help, but sometimes it doesn't seem that it has. Again, I pray their new family has lots of patience while getting them on track. Other than that, you can't help but love these two. They are both so sweet and want nothing else but to be by your side or with you where ever you go.

The dog show in Shawnee, OK was another good one for Winston and Sky, both placing BOB and BOS both days respectively. Winston also went on to get a Group 2 and a Group 3 placement in the NOHS shows. With Saturdays' win, he also earned the final points he needed to earn her GCHB (bronze) title. Kathy's boy Marshall was Winners Dog and Best of Winners both days but unfortunately there were not enough class dogs for him to get the major win he needs for his CH title. I know how disappointed Kathy is that he still hasn't gotten it, and I certainly know how she feels from past experience with Sunny. But she almost seems upset with me when today chatting with her on FB messenger she said, "I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Marshall will not be point fighter for Winston anymore. If Winston is showing I won’t show Marshall. So that will reduce the points of Winston gets." Seems angry, right?? First of all, I never asked her to enter Marshall to add points for Winston, and that is not the only reason she's been showing Marshall. Besides, it's only been a couple of shows that she has been trying to get that last major win for Marshall's title, and what she really needs is more class dogs being entered for that to happen. Without the enough class dogs entered, yes Marshall would've needed to beat Winston for the major, but I don't know that I could have "fudged" Winston's win even if I wanted to or knew what to do to make that happen.. . . . . nor should she expect me to do that. She mentioned it more than once at this show; I surely hope she was mostly joking. But with what she said today I'm not so sure.

Aside from all that, I was surprised and excited to find out a week or so ago that Winston is one of the 5 Biewer Terriers that will be receiving an invitation to show at Westminster in January!!! What an honor, and to be the only dog in that top five that was owner-handled to get there. (The others had all only been shown by professional handlers.) One way or another he WILL be showing there; plans are in the works in finding a professional handler for him for that particular show since that is likely the only way he will have a shot at winning or at the very least placing in the breed show. It will be quite an expense but at least it will be halved since Kathy and I are co-owners so fees are split between the two of us.

Winston is also the #2 Biewer Terrier in the NOHS rankings and therefore is eligible and invited to show in the NOHS finals at Royal Canin in Orlando in December. To promote him and hoping to help his chances of being noticed, Debarah Billings (his breeder) advised us that it would be helpful to place an ad in the Top Notch Toys magazine promoting his NOHS standing and wins. More added expenses, but eased by the co-ownership. I am excited to be showing him in this show and really hope he/we do well and maybe even WIN. That's why the ad. . . . anything that will help get us noticed.

Kathy's puppies out of Tina and Ella/Winston are about 3 weeks old and doing good thankfully. Kathy gave up on any hope of Ella accepting her puppies and Tina was a trooper taking on the additional 4 pups. Sadly one of those 4 died the day after Ella attacked them having had an injury from it, so only 3 from that litter were left. Those 3 plus Tina's 4 made 7 puppies for Tina to tend to, but she is such a good mom and doing well with all of them. Only one pup from Ella needed supplementing and is still smaller than the rest, but hanging in there and gaining slower but sure. Gem and Pixie were Kathy's other two girls that were PG and due this past weekend/this week. Gem who was in Shari Mason's care ended up going into labor on Sunday night. One pup was born at about 10:30 that night and then her labor did not progress even by morning. She ended up with a c-section Monday morning and thankfully had two more puppies born alive and okay, though from what I understand things cold have turned out much worse. The pups, a girl and two boys all weighed over 5 ounces. Pixie had her puppies just last night 10/26, three girls and one boy. Fairly easy delivery and everyone doing good. That is now 11 young puppies and their mamas that Kathy will be tending two (as well as the older pups she still has), plus going to work, home life, etc., so it's no wonder she might be a bit grumpy. She also has mentioned not feeling up to par (I assume from being run down, tired from all that she's been doing, traveling, etc), so I'm hoping that's what I am "hearing" as being mad in her message to me today, and not that she is actually mad at me.

I think that's about it for news, and seems plenty. One more dog show the weekend after Thanksgiving before heading to Orlando, so blog entries for November may be slim.

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10/12/21 Well geez, it's almost the middle of October already! Time flies, especially when you're busy, and that I have been since my last post. Having two extra dogs in the house and replying to several applications for Jax & Joy's adoption, as well as getting ready for the Lincoln, NE dog show may be the reason for no posts before now. As mentioned, I have had about 4-5 applications come through about Jax & Joy and it seems that they will be going to the first family that inquired about them, leaving later this month. I've received a deposit and a puppy nanny has been contacted to fly them to their new home. After speaking with two of the references given, I'm confident this is a dog loving family and that Jax and Joy will be loved and treated as a part of their family. Jax and Joy have been doing really well here and have totally come out of their shell showing their true personalities. They wag their tails and greet us when we come home or in the room, and join in on playing with my other three. I hate the thought of them having to go through yet another adjustment when they go to their new home, but at least knowing that the have adjusted here I'm confident that they will be fine after a week or so there as well. The dog show in Lincoln, NE was a great success!! Showing against 12 other Biewer Terriers Winston did indeed win BOB/BOBOH both Saturday and Sunday as I had hoped he would, and on Sunday not only did he get a group 4 placement in NOHS, but we FINALLY for the first time won a group (4) placement in the Toy Group!!! What a great feeling that was!!! Skye always shows pretty well for having to be shown by someone other than me since they go in the ring at the same time and this weekend was no different. As usual, she received the Select Bitch placement both days and with such a large group of Biewer Terriers showing, those Select placements were worth a 5 point major each day. With her win on Saturday, Skye had the points she needed to earn her AKC Grand Champion title, so we had yet another cause for big celebrating this weekend. The Lincoln show usually brings the Midwest Biewer group together and that is cause to go out to dinner together after the show on Saturday night. Had a good time with the 8 of us that were there.

Yesterday 10/11, we celebrated Jim's 70th birthday and went out to eat, inviting John, Crisler, and DK to join us so that we could also celebrate Crisler's birthday that was on the 9th. I'm assuming we will see Jenny maybe this weekend and I think she is getting Jim a new Traeger grill. Don't know about Jim, but I'm pretty excited about that..

Kathy has 4 of her girls that are/were PG, with two each due at about the same time. As it turned out, two of them had their puppies soon after getting home from the dog show in Lincoln; one that evening and the other the next day (yesterday) via c-section. Tina had 4 puppies and Ella had 6, however being a new mom and having a c-section, the first time left alone with them after getting home from the vet's Ella killed two of the pups. :*( OMG, so sad and scary, and now more work needed to keep the other pups safe and fed. Luckily she has the other mama (Tina) to help, but 8 pups is a lot for one small dog to feed and with Kathy having to go to work every day, I hope that the rest of them survive. I wish she was retired like me so that she could be home for them, just in case. Thankfully, the other two litters aren't due for another couple of weeks and one of the mamas (GEM) will whelp and be taken care of by Shari Mason. The other mama to be is Pixie and hopefully she won't have any issues to tend to, and her pups will thrive.