The Blog of the Frog

Where does the time go? These last few weeks have gone so slowly, yet it doesn’t seem like it’s been three weeks since I last wrote…yet at the same time it feels like it’s been much longer!

The show was stubbornly refusing to hit here until Friday 6th, when it suddenly decided to chuck it down! I wasn’t particularly amused by the timing as, much as I love snow, I’d entered Solei in a show on Saturday which subsequently had to be cancelled! Why we couldn’t have had it earlier in the week like most other places I don’t know!

Solei still hasn’t started his agility because the weather has made the field unusable. I’ve been persisting with his training and although he still lacks the confidence he once had he will now touch the end of the pole again which is something! He’s not getting any better but he’s maintained this level for the last couple of weeks so I’m happy enough. I’ve also been teaching him a send away type command which he seems to be getting! S popped over this morning to take some photos of the puppies and I showed her his touch (hand & pole), sit, down and send away – he behaved very well and she never believed he’d be able to do it so she was very impressed! We’re getting there, slowly but surely. Something I’ve been trying to teach him on and off for months is a spin – I just can’t work it out, none of the normal methods work for him! In fact I taught him to sit by trying one of the conventional methods for teaching him to spin!

On Saturday I showed Solei for the first time since he behaved so badly on the 25th January. I’d put him in Open which is always stiff competition there. He stood perfectly (including tail!) at the beginning, behaved beautifully on the table (for a 4y/o dog who really ought to know better he has a bad habit of fidgeting when he’s being gone over), moved superbly and then ruined it at the end by dropping his tail when the judge was giving them his final look. He really liked Solei and he was giving me a chance to get his tail back up, but although it wasn’t down I could NOT get it properly up….which cost him the class and ultimately BOB and Group 1!! The double irony was I usually put him in either Grad or Post Grad but the last two shows I’ve put him in Open. Not all shows have a RBOB and not all shows which have a RBOB award a rosette, though most do. Solei has 1 RBOB and there was no rosette on offer! The last two open shows Solei has got 2nd in Open, the winner of Open has gone BOB and then 2nd in Open (Solei) isn’t usually called in to challenge at open shows, but both times the RBOB (with rosette!) has gone to the winner of Post Grad. If he’d been in his usual class he would probably have got it! Especially on Saturday…thinking about it part of the reason he lost his tail was because he found an interesting spot on the floor (bitch had peed) and was far more focussed on that than standing with his tail up. If he’d been in Post Grad it was a smaller class so he wouldn’t have been standing where he was standing (by the smell!) and not only would have probably got the RBOB but might even have got BOB! C’est la vie…this is Solei after all 😛

I’m showing him again this Saturday, then it’s full speed ahead to Crufts! I’m so nervous this year, though really looking forward to it as well.

A few weeks ago I was told that a bitch (other breed) had been mated, I’ve been so excited at the idea of having one of my much awaited for puppies at last. I just found out the other day that she’s not pregnant, I’m gutted 🙁 I really do wonder about this! Everything I go near turns to dust. How many more litters/puppies can fall through?! If the bitch is even pregnant they end up absorbing, if by some miracle they carry a litter to term the puppies end up dying! The age gaps are a nightmare too – Solei will be five (eek!) in July, so that’s not a problem…the problem is there are 3 new additions I want to make within the next couple of years – and even that’s having to shove them back. I’ve been waiting 2 years for the oldest, none have materialised yet. Consequently I’m quite likely to end up with at least 2 of the 3 within a few weeks of each other. If this bitch had been pregnant it would’ve improved the age gaps a little bit. Now there’s no hope!

Three dogs close in age isn’t such a problem in the immediate future, though I’d rather have longer, but it’s thinking ahead – in say 10 years time when I’ve got lots of old dogs who I can’t compete with in any way (agility, obedience, showing..etc) and a distinct lack of spaces for youngsters!

My brain hurts…

Well…I don’t know!

The Wednesday after my last post I got my latest charges to fill my “empty nest”. What with everything that’s happened over the last couple of months one thing and another my last puppies went and I’ve just had Solei, which was rather quiet!

My latest two are red sable sisters and were four months old yesterday. Then we went to ringcraft as usual last night and I ended up with a third…he’s a month older but probably won’t even stay a week. After the way he was last night it was decided it would be a good idea to give him a change of scene for a few days and as he already lived with T and S has a bitch in season I got him! Which I’m actually delighted about but we won’t tell them that 😉

So all is fun for the next week with two 17 week old girls, a 22 week old boy and Solei! Just the way I like it 😆

Solei is a nightmare as usual 😛 I really do despair. He really wasn’t getting it (targeting) at all so I rang up my trainer to ask her advice and she suggested I just left it completely for 2 or 3 days and went back to just asking for sits, downs and stays. In the house his sit and down have always been rock solid, first command and in the case of down my command is “lie down” and he’s usually dropped before I’ve finished the down bit!

So imagine my utter disbelief when (having last practiced sit/down less than a week before) he was all confused as to what I wanted and it was taking multiple commands (and sometimes reinforcing it too) to get him to do either and his down wasn’t there at all – he would drop his front but leave his bum up in the air (think play bow).

After his time off I went back to the targeting and it all suddenly seemed to click. His sit and down were back and he was actually touching my hand! Can’t tell you how happy that made me 😆 After all this time he was actually targeting! I even managed to get him to do either hand and even follow it a bit. Thing is that was only half a job…the hand targeting was just the start, so after he seemed to have mastered that I brought out the pole. Solei being Solei can you guess what happens next? Yup, he was terrified of it!! At this point I’m contemplating sending him to the cats and dogs home… 😆

So ever so slowly I start trying to desensitize him to it. Our trainer suggested cream cheese on the end but even that wasn’t going to be lure enough. I worked out if I put a bit of cream cheese on and then stuck a bit of ham to the cheese that was just about acceptable. He was also eating his meals next to it and just generally whenever possible trying to get him to be near it! He was still nervous of it and if it moved so much as a millimetre he was off across the room but eventually he would actually touch the end of it with his nose – and it wasn’t a one off! He was consistently touching it when I asked over multiple days. He was even starting to become braver when I moved it as long as it was done in a certain way and would actually follow it a bit.

He’d made such fantastic progress and we were almost ready for the ultimate goal of getting him to follow the pole round the cone. He would follow my hand round the cone and as he was following the pole (more or less) it was just a small step and then we’d be all ready for his first agility lesson on Sunday!

Then all of a sudden he was absolutely terrified of the pole (even worse than before) for no reason…only thing I can think of is the floor was mopped (he doesn’t like brooms, mops..etc either and they’ve got handles like the pole I suppose) and it started after that. Not only is he seriously shying away from the pole but I’ve been using his biscuit thrown on the floor (only one piece) and he’s actually even running terrified when I drop 1 piece of that on the floor….which is exactly how I’ve been rewarding him with no problem for the last few weeks.

It just doesn’t feel like he’ll EVER get it because it’s constantly one step forward and two steps backwards with him….I almost wish I could start again with a new dog but there’s no way I could ever let Solei go (and he probably knows it 😛 ) and I want to do this with him anyway. I’m finding him so difficult to understand….I just do not get HOW his brain (what brain? 😛 ) works, nor do I understand why he keeps going backwards either because he seems to forget or gets scared for no reason.

To cap it all he showed really badly on Sunday too – much the way he used to be before I discovered the miracles of a change of bait. I really hope it was just a one off because the last thing I want is for him to go back to that. He won’t be showing for too much longer anyway so I want to make the most of it and it to be fun for us both!

Anyway, after his omg it’s coming to get me performace we didn’t go for his first lesson last Sunday and I abandoned targeting completely for about 48hrs. The first session back I just did a bit of sit, down and a small amount of targeting my hands. His sit & down were great, his targeting was great for the first two and then a bit reluctant and he was still jumpy with the food on the floor but not quite as bad.

Now I still haven’t reintroduced the pole because I didn’t want to rush him. His targeting my hand isn’t too bad, though not as good as it was, and he’s definitely less jumpy about food being dropped but I have to be a little bit picky about when I work with him. He just seems a bit off generally the last few days…quite tired, though he’s far from off his food(!) and he still has moments of wound up excitement.

If he turns out to be really good at agility it’ll all be worth it! At least that’s what I keep telling myself 😛

Things aren’t a lot better, to be honest! However, I felt it had been long enough and it was probably about time I wrote here again.

Christmas was difficult, as expected. I’m afraid I barely managed cards let alone presents so I will be sorting those out as soon as I can get my head round it (maybe by next christmas, the rate I’m going!)

I was quite poorly for most of December, missed LKA (again – second year running and I’ve only entered twice!) but wasn’t too bad for Christmas…then had recovered enough to take Solei to a show on the 27th December. I knew this judge quite liked Solei but unfortunately we’d put Sarah & Solei in the same class and Sarah beat him! Though I handled her in the challenge and ended up with Reserve Best of Breed, behind a dog that has recently become a champion, so that was good 🙂

After that it felt as though things may be returning to slight normality….until I woke up the next morning with a sore spot beside my mouth. Didn’t think much of it until it started swelling…and swelling…and I ended up with a lovely infected hole right near the corner of my mouth which made the whole side of my face swell up from my eye downwards, made eating/drinking/talking very difficult because I can’t open my mouth properly (and it hurt when I did) and was the most excruciating pain I’ve experienced for a long time. Lasted about a week but is now healing much better than I expected and I don’t think the scar is going to be terribly big.

So that was another set back! Despite my face I still managed to get to the show I’d entered on the 4th with Solei and Jason, who both got 2nds. The judge commented on Solei’s movement which was lovely because so many toy judges don’t appreciate good movement because they’re “only toys”! Highlight of the day was a friend was handling a Golden Retriever and got Reserve Best Puppy in Show 🙂 Not bad for your first proper outing at 6 months!

I’ve always wanted to do agility. In August 2007 I enquired about it but no-one was very keen to take me on and so I never took it any further. Tried again in January 2008 and this time although they still weren’t keen one of the people gave me the number and number of someone who may be able to help. I tried ringing her but always got her answer phone and whenever she rang back I was always out! Sods law given how often I go out. This went on until March(!) when I got distracted by Crufts and it fell by the wayside.

Then, last November, having the impending thought that I wouldn’t be able to show Solei for much longer and having taught him some obedience in the mean time I dug her number out and approached her again. I spent half of a Saturday trying (didn’t want to leave a message after the last fiasco!) and eventually she answered! However, she didn’t want to start anything until after Christmas because festive things would get in the way.

Ultimately Solei had his assessment session on Saturday 🙂 She put him through his paces….he made me seem like one of those awful owners that thinks they’re only little dogs so they don’t need training and they can get away with anything 😛

Actually it wasn’t that bad, he was really rather good until the end when we took one of her dogs + him for a little walk down the field and he buggered off into the bushes and would not come back! She said she’d never seen a dog that was totally oblivious and wouldn’t even keep looking to check where you were.

He is actually quite a clingy dog….but there’s nothing better than sniffing and peeing up bushes and because he’s never off the lead (bad experience with another dog and nowhere safe to let him off) he’s too confident that I’ll always be there. I think if he had one short sharp shock (ie I “disappear” when he’s doing it) that would probably fix him. Unfortunately to do that I need somewhere 100% secure because he’s out of sight for most of the time, which I don’t have!

We do have a problem though in that he was almost 3 years old when I had him (3 days off) and he had next to no training in those 3 years so he’s not used to using his brain which is making it much harder for him to learn. Bad enough that I missed the first crucial period when he was 6-12 weeks or there abouts but I missed the whole of the first year….and if they do nothing in their first year it makes it really, really hard.

I’m not totally blameless because I didn’t really do anything with him training wise for the first year I had him (though I’d already long missed the crucial period by then!) so I’m hoping that much like someone that’s binged on junk food and never exercised then decides to start and can run marathons eventually if they wanted to if I get Solei used to using his brain we can sort it…eventually.

He lacks concentration as well….in the house he’s *brilliant*…he does whatever I tell him first time 99% of the time….when I tell him to lie down he can drop practically before I’ve finished telling him,  sits first time, comes when called..etc and I was having to use multiple commands there but I think that’s just because it was so different…I think (hope!) he’ll be pretty good when it’s a little bit more familiar.

Because I can’t run with him he’s going to have to learn distance control so she’s given me two weeks to teach him to target (touch with his nose) my hand, then the other hand, then a pole and then follow the pole round a cone. I’ve been trying to teach him targetting for months and never had any joy so should be fun! Hopefully some of that work has sunk in even if it doesn’t seem like it, so now he’ll pick this up a bit quicker. Then, once he’s mastered this, we can begin! 😀

Oh gosh, what a month!

The funeral was the 3rd, not something I want to think about so we’ll move swiftly on from that! We then had the interment of the ashes last Friday and that wasn’t as traumatic and went better for me than the funeral.

I’d entered shows on both the 8th and 9th, just us as S & T were going to Discover Dogs on the 8th and then up to Yorkshire on the 9th. I picked up Storm on Friday because I’d entered him on the 9th and we thought it would be easier than trying to pick him up at the weekend! I’d only entered Solei on the 8th, which was a mistake – should’ve put Storm in as well! I deliberated for ages before I sent the entry and almost put them both in but never mind. Solei had a lousy weekend – none of the judges were open to Phalenes! On Saturday he got 3rd out of 4 (beating the other Phalene) and on Friday 4th out of 5 (beating the same other Phalene!). I stayed on for the stakes on Sunday and the judge couldn’t take her eyes off him but he didn’t place, so I don’t know if she liked him but was unsure of the ears or what. Storm got a 3rd on Sunday, he ought to have done better but I love showing Storm…he’s so easy after Solei! Saturday was particularly nice because I got to see a friend who I haven’t seen for about a year and also meet another friend in person for the first time.

Last weekend S & T had entered an open show which I’d missing the closing date with for Solei (it was the end of October right in the middle of all “that”) but I was going to go anyway. Originally S thought she’d entered 2 dogs in all the classes so she and I were going to go to that whilst T had a prior engagement elsewhere. However, when we looked at the entries we discovered there were two dogs in only one of the classes so as S really wanted to go with T we decided to leave one of the two behind and I would go down and show them on my own. Ended up with two fourths and a third in decent size classes. It was a nice day.

Other than that the world is still in pieces! Apart from the initial weekend I’ve been going to shows as usual, and I’ve still being going to ringcraft but at the moment it’s more making myself than wanting to – I want to go for the dogs but not so much the people! Before all this I lived for S & T, I wanted to spend as much time with them and the dogs as possible and it was rare I didn’t go round to T’s at least once each week in addition to bathing. Since the 23rd October I’ve been to S’s once and T’s twice – one of the visits to T was just after Mystery was PTS because I wanted to see her after that and the other was a week after that because I needed to pick up Storm – and were it not for that I wouldn’t have gone. I think part of the reason T’s is so hard is because it feels so wrong without Mystery. The first time I went was just kind of surreal as it was less than 48 hours since we’d taken him to be PTS and my grandmothers funeral was the next day. The second time upset me more, it just made me think of him and felt so wrong without him.

I suppose the problem with bereavement is when it initially happens everyone is very sympathetic but as it doesn’t directly affect them they soon “forget” and everything goes back to normal….but for those directly affected it doesn’t.

I feel so lost and without direction, I don’t know where I’m going. I can’t believe this, but I just did a search because I thought I’d mentioned it in practically every post and I didn’t want to repeat myself yet again if I’d mentioned it recently but I don’t seem to have EVER mentioned Solei’s tooth here?! Can’t believe that but that’s what the search results say! A couple of weeks after I got Solei S was scaling his teeth and discovered he had a loose tooth. He’d literally just turned three so it was an incredible shock. I knew toy breeds had problems with their teeth but at the time I didn’t realise it wasn’t uncommon for them to lose teeth at four or five. I was so upset, not least because as I said I’d just got him and if I’d known before I had him I wouldn’t have had him. I wouldn’t trade him for the world now, but if I’d never had him I’d never have known so I wouldn’t miss him! This was August 2007 (having got him & his 3rd birthday being in July). At the time I was told I should have 12, maybe 18 months left.

It’s caused no end of tears over the last year, but having been carefuller than you can imagine with what he can and can’t have and can and can’t do (whilst letting him be a dog and not wrapping him totally in cotton wool!) I got him past the twelve months, gradually getting more paranoid along the way! In October I was cleaning his teeth (veeeeeeerrry gingerly as ever!) and when I touched his loose one it moved so much for a minute I thought I’d knocked it out. I asked T to have a look at she said hopefully there were still a few more months in it.

As you may remember when I got Solei I had him because he was a lovely dog, but had never been shown much because Storm & Jason are very similar in age, and being two of their best dogs and Papillons as well, poor Sol got pushed behind them! So he never had a chance at getting points for his Junior Warrant (JW. Too late now) or getting himself “seen” and over the last year that’s what we’ve been doing, with some success. My ultimate goal for Solei was to get his stud book number, and to do that you need your JW, 1st in Limit (at a Ch show) 1st, 2nd or 3rd in Open (at a Ch show) or a RCC or CC. When I decided that I never dreamt he’d only have one show season to do it in! So now the show season has all but ended and he hasn’t done it. There is 1 show next month, 2 in January and then the next one isn’t until the end of March (excluding Crufts). I really can’t see that tooth being in by the end of March (which is damn sod’s law because the judge gave Tanya, Solei’s aunt, a CC a couple of years ago and may well like him!) so I’ve put him in for both Limit & Open at both the January shows in a last ditch attempt to try either for his stud book number or to at least qualify for Crufts 2010, and all I want is for that tooth to stay in until after the 17th January! He’s never done two classes running at a championship show before nor has he ever done an Open class and to top it all I’m not able to go to either show so I hope he shows his best.

I keep telling myself things will get better but with one thing after another it really doesn’t feel like it at the moment!

Oh and if you thought my last post was cheery, things get even better! I don’t know what I’ve done recently 🙁 Evidently something very bad!

I touched on it in my last post, but I’ve been waiting for three puppies (I was hoping to space them over about 3 years!). I’ve been waiting for a Papillon for about 20 months now, a Phalene litter for about 14 months and been on the list for a “mystery dog” for about 8 months. So I’ve been waiting quite some time for the oldest and there’s been about 6 months in between each.

I had the opportunity for my “mystery dog” in June but I decided to wait because of Fancy. My intention was, despite the fact I’ve already been waiting for a Pap for a long time, have the Phalene litter first, then the mystery dog, then the Papillon – but keep an open mind throughout and if a Pap comes up (seeing as it’s from S&T) that feels right go for it, no matter when.

#1 Fancy – definitely pregnant, then decided to absorb late in pregnancy. So that went wrong!

#2 Mystery Dog – bitch was mated, but then got pyometra and had to be spayed. Again, went wrong.

#3 Papillon – I didn’t like to jinx it so i haven’t mentioned this, but Sally had a litter in September. Sally being Sarah’s (and Sam’s) mum so it would have been a half brother which would have been fantastic, plus I love what Sally has produced (Sam & Sarah!) and I love her as well. There was a gorgeous boy who it was hoped may be mine. All was fine until around 3 weeks, when for some reason he went all lethargic and not right. He wouldn’t eat solids or take a bottle, but he would take a syringe so he’s been being syringe fed every two hours. I’ve been spending as much time as possible with him and doing some of his feeds, and until this week I could lie down with him on my chest and talk to him and he’d pounce and play with me. We held off naming him to start with, but eventually last week he became Mystery because no-one could work out what was wrong with him. Over the last week he’s gone downhill rapidly, and last night we took him to the vets where he was put to sleep, at the age of six weeks and three days 🙁

Then on top of that last Thursday we got a phone call to say my grandmother was seriously ill and not expected to last the day. She did, and the next. On Saturday she deteriorated dramatically again and we thought that was it, but again she hung on. She passed away on Sunday, but I can’t even begin to describe what those four days were like…constant yes she is, no she isn’t and so much emotion.

I just feel so numb now…I’ve cried so much recently I don’t feel I’ve got any tears left. I can’t believe that EVERYTHING can go so wrong. Though without meaning to be self pitying or poor me it’s the story of my life! 🙄

It’s been the most turbulent month, I’ve spent half of it an emotional wreck 😆 Now is the first time I’ve felt a bit more optimistic at the same time as feeling like writing!

Let’s start at the beginning I suppose. Fancy has never been the easiest dog to live with…she was one of those dogs that needed “over”socialising as a puppy and for various reasons she wasn’t socialised as well as she ought to have been, so she’s rather..er…neurotic, now! She’s also very unconfident which manifests it’s self as constant submissiveness towards other dogs as well as other things – and the way she shows submissiveness towards other dogs is to lick them round the mouth. Ever since I’ve had her she’s done this to Solei who hates it and there’s no way of stopping her – if he growls that just makes her even worse because then she feels she has to be even more submissive(!), if he ignores her she just keeps doing it. If Solei’s ever on the floor with her (he’s usually up on a chair or my bed) she literally won’t leave him alone until he jumps out of reach.

A week or so after my last post I was offered another puppy (Andy, 4 months) to train on. I had him here for a day and it was obvious that Andy & Fancy weren’t going to work – she was too big and although they played well together it was dangerous! So then I was left with a horrendous dilemma – either I could send pup back and keep Fancy but have to continue to put up with her being anything but a pleasure to live with 😆 or I could send Fancy back (temporarily) and have one of Andy’s siblings as company for him. It was awful, Fancy is so hard to live with but sending her back seemed so wrong – kind of “right, I only had you for puppies and you couldn’t do that so off you go to the scrap heap!” type thing – even though obviously that wasn’t it at all. In the end she actually made the decision for me. Her behaviour was off and she wasn’t herself so I decided a change of enviroment would actually do her good as well. Never the less I was so upset when she went.

So then along came Tess, Andy’s sister. I’d had her less than two weeks when a new home came up, so off she went and I had his other sister, Tina! It was a couple of weeks of musical dogs 😆 That’s not counting before I had Tess where I almost had one of Andy’s brothers instead, but he was only here an hour or so when we decided Tess would be better 😆

I miss Fancy a lot (though not the obsessive neurotic submissiveness!) but at least things have settled down a bit now; I’ve had the same trio here for about three weeks. Though a lady is coming to look at Tina next week!

As I think I said here I hadn’t entered any shows throughout September because of madam, but as I didn’t have any puppies to tie me down in the end I went to two shows anyway. The first one I showed Sarah and she won her class and Best Opposite Sex 🙂 the second I went on my own, taking four dogs but only showing Sarah & Jason and Sarah won her class and Jason won his, BOB and Group 2! That’s my first ever group placing in 18 months.

Then last Sunday was a club show, and Solei’s first time in the ring for nearly 6 weeks! It was pretty much a disaster! Brought me crashing down again…because of Solei this time.

Solei has the older, broader, more spaniely head….and of course we’re a head breed(!!! 🙄 ) so a lot of judges don’t seem to be able to see past a pretty head. Not saying they don’t look at the rest of the dog as well, they usually do if you have the pretty head….but if you don’t have the head they write you off without looking at the rest of the dog, you know?

So as my regular readers(!) will know Solei’s been going better and better….and he’s actually been doing ok this year. Culminating in his 3rd in a very strong (and big) limit class at the end of August.

So at this show he got Best Phalene Dog and this judge was going for the open winners for his best bitch/dog and reserve, he wasn’t even looking at the puppy, junior, yearling…etc. No way was he even going to consider them. Yet Tosca (12 months – and she’d won Junior so he’d already not looked at her for the “main” challenge) won Best Phalene Bitch and then beat Solei for Best Phalene in Show….cos she’s pretty. I was so upset at the time, he’d mostly been going for the dogs (BIS & RBIS were both dogs) and as I say he wasn’t even going to consider youngsters….but then he thought that little of Solei that he’d rather put a bitch & a baby up than him? He showed better than ever as well, went like a dream.

Then on Tuesday his write up came out and Solei’s was actually one of the best of all the dogs. It was at this point I realised two things – 1) he’s never going to do what he ought to because no-one can ever see past his head and 2) if he had the “pretty” head that judges go for he would be a champion (no mean feat in this country, and no phalene male has done it since about the 1930s and only 2 bitches since then)

“This b/w is just overdone in muzzle for me, otherwise he is a charmer. Good size, sparkling condition, very expressive eyes and I’m sure he could out move anything else that was here.”
 
 In other words fantastic dog, loved everything about him except the head but the head was so detracting for me it didn’t matter about the rest of him 😛 Though there were 170 entered so to be told he out moved them all was rather nice 🙂 He does move like a dream but the judges rarely properly acknowledge it – he’ll get a generic “moved well” or something similar! Though actually the write up did make me feel a lot better than I had done before hand.

Then there’s thing number whatever we’re up to now 😆 

I’ve been keeping this secret until it all worked out but I’ve been planning a new puppy (different breed) since the beginning of the year. There was a litter of four girls that were ready end May/beginning June but I decided that was a little soon, with Fancy and everything…..there were meant to be a couple of litters due at the end of this year and after Fancy decided to absorb that would’ve been perfect, but I spoke to the lady on Wednesday and her bitch had to be spayed on Tuesday because she had pyometra again. Meanwhile the lady that owns the other potential bitch had to go into hospital and of course it was perfect timing for her girl’s season! So she doesn’t think there will be any puppies for at least 7 months and I want a show quality bitch which is potentially going to make it even harder (so we’re looking at probably this time next year if I’m lucky 🙁 ). I wish I’d gone for one of those girls before now. So that’s currently depressing because as Solei is depressing me at present a new totally non-pap distraction would’ve been just what I needed!

Oh life is so good when everything goes so well 😛