Bosco Needs a Good Home

Is this not a handsome boy? Bosco is Pearl's brother and will be 4 next March. (btw, all these guys have lots of eye boogers :o)

He's living in CT right now, but I'm not sure he's yet had the pleasure of a northeast winter. If he's like his granddam Wenzi or uncle Simon, wet feet are the pits! His mom tells me he doesn't like to be in the rain, so sounds pretty normal to me!

Bosco needs a new home, not because his family doesn't love him anymore, but because he can't be inside with them all the time due to allergies. He's always been an inside dog.

Staying in the garage most of the time isn't a fair option for him, so his family would like to find him a home where he can be the wonderful inside dog that he is. He loves kids, other dogs, rolling in smelly stuff, taking walks, cuddling, sunbathing, eating, playing and snoozing. He isn't a barker, jumper, chronic chewer-upper or crybaby and was neutered as a puppy.

He's about 80#, perhaps a little light because he stressed a little in the move to Connecticut and dropped a few pounds, but is getting back to normal now.

Although he hasn't had any obedience training, he will walk on a lead with a child, so he sounds very trainable to me. If he's anything like his sister Pearl, he will probably love lure coursing and agility and will be a natural at obedience.

He will be sadly missed so he has to go to the perfect home. Please leave a Comment here with an email address or contact me at mphelps2@ec.rr.com if you are interested in adopting this wonderful boy. We would prefer someone who already lives in the Northeast to minimize moving trauma.

Long Live the Queen

Such a sad day here in Wilmington... My long-time best friend and companion Wenzi died suddenly last night from bloat, also know as gastric dilatation-volvulus. Had I realized what was happening at the time and gotten her to the emergency room, it's possible it could have been a different outcome, but such is life...

She would have been 11 in February 2008 and was the Queen of All She Surveyed. The hardest thing for us right now is that we had no time to prepare. At 10+ years, you know the clock is ticking, but I thought she'd give me a hint when the time was getting nearer. Other than the normal parts starting to wear out or slow down, she was full of life.

Just yesterday we visited two nursing homes where we do therapy work and she was her usual ridgeback self: "sure I'll shake your hand/kiss your face, assuming you have a treat in the other!" In fact, we met some new friends there who were just blown away by how young she looked for an old girl...

Like the wonderful stoic grand-dame that she will always be in our hearts and minds, she quietly crept off in the night to my office to lay her head down one last time in the room where she helped me whelp her grandpups this past March, next to the old couch where she presided while I worked for hours at a time on the computer.

Goodbye old friend...I miss you more than I ever would have believed and am glad you were able to go on your timetable rather than eventually leaving it up to the wuss that would be me. I'm heartbroken we didn't have the chance to say goodby before you left.

XXXOOO

Mom

Wilmington Dogshow

This past weekend was the Hanover Kennel Club annual show and I entered Zulu, Reba and Pearl. I don't know what I was thinking since I had one each in the puppy classes and then Pearl in Bred By Exhibitor. There were 4 bitches in catalog, but mine were the only two that showed, so Pearl took a point Saturday and Reba Sunday. Zulu won his puppy class (one other puppy) but didn't get Winners Dog - that went to a large Sengei male.

Zulu did great for it being his first show. Reba, on the other hand, was a mess... The lady that had the other puppy dog very kindly handled her for me in Winners Bitch showdown (because no way was I gonna get Gerry in the ring) and she did fine on Saturday when Pearl took WB, but on Sunday, Reba got WB and wouldn't do ANYTHING during BOB. I asked the lady that was handling her go back in rather than change armbands but poor lady, Reba SAT DOWN and dug her heels in and wouldn't even go around once...

I ended up taking over the handling and finally just PICKED HER UP. Fortunately the judge (Rita Bell) was very understanding and gave us our BOS ribbon anyway. The kind, helpful lady was Asta McCormick out of Myrtle Beach and she was mortified but glad that it was MY dog rather than hers heehee. She is a new showperson here in US, recently moved from Europe. I have to think of something nice for her for the show next week in Lumberton - I don't know many who would do what she did for me!