It feels a smidge sacrelig to say Snowed Out, as my favorite band is Hanson and they're album was "Snowed In" but that's what happened to us for the Lenape show. In the morning, my husband was driving home from his shift and made the call that we were not going to travel an hour away in the weather. Not worth it. So I ate my 36 dollars. That's the second one. I should not be eating this many entries when I just started last year and have no points!!!!! Anyway...
Now it's the countdown to the upcoming bulldog litter. Next weekend. Unbelievable. Obviously I'm more excited to go be with the pups on the 25th. I can't wait to experience being around them and seeing their cute little faces. One of my facebook "friends" had a litter last night. Such sweet little faces!
I was joking with another bulldog friend about stacking the puppies. Most breeders will stack them all at four weeks so they get used to it. The ones that are just for pets forget about it and don't need it and the show dogs keep working at it and have an early start. I told her I'll be trying to stack the two week old puppies. We had a good laugh. I don't think their eyes are open yet by then.
Hudson has been adjusting to my husband being back at work. Now he's very cuddly with me in the mornings and nights when Chris is working. I do like that.
We also have a potential and promising family for our foster Elvis. I hope it works out. There's kids. He loves kids. I would love to see him spend his final years with kids that shower him with attention. I know Hudson will be excited in the spring and summer when the kids in our neighborhood are outside playing. He loves to get attention from them! They all lay on the ground and let him lick their ears. He has them trained!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Um, 2 days til Lenape?
Wow! Time flies!
Saturday is the Lenape Bulldog Club Specialty Show. I'm using it as my judge as to whether or not I want to keep showing Hudson. I want to, and I think he's handsome, but there are a lot of things that make me think I ought to stop with him for now and just let him be. We were able to pack a few pounds on, but the weight is starting to go in places it shouldn't, so we backed off the high-fat stuff. I want him to look like the other bulldogs, but what I really want is for him to be healthy and live a long life. If he turns into a tootsie roll, the latter won't happen. We're up against one other dog in our class on Saturday, so we'll see how we fare. We could get our first point on Saturday, but more than likely, we'll just help someone else get one.
In other exciting news, I've been talking with a breeder from Virginia since about October in hopes that we'll be able to start our own breeding program. The hubby and I thought we ought to look at getting our female soon, since she'll need to be mature before reproducing, and Hudson isn't getting any younger!
Most responsible breeders either refuse or take a long time to give up a female to be bred. That's a good thing. Bulldogs especially are very hard to breed. It takes a lot of time and energy. It's also easy to breed some of the very common health problems that exist because of poor breeding. I knew I would need to start to build a relationship with someone who would be willing to mentor me and trust me with a female from their litter and hard work.
Laurel's next litter will be delivered by C-section (as they all are) on Feb 11th, unless the girl goes into labor earlier. She's going to let me come down and stay with her when the puppies are two weeks old so that I can learn about taking care of young puppies. Sometimes bulldog pups have to be tube fed, so I'll learn that technique, and often the mom isn't interested in getting them to potty after they eat, so I'll learn that as well. I'm sure I'll also learn what tired really is. Maybe I'll be able to relate to new moms better!
I'm very excited about this opportunity and thrilled that Laurel is allowing me to come to her home and learn from her puppies. I've had a blast talking to her several times over the past couple of months. She's a hoot and we're a lot alike in our "craziness." She's been very encouraging, and I appreciate beyond measure how much she's been willing to teach me already.
In ten years, I see myself in her shoes...minus her two daughters. She's just too amazing for my abilities. I'll have to substitute work for the "skin kids," as us dog people call them. ;) It's nice to have an answer to that question. Where do you see yourself? Oh, I know where I'm going.
The 4-6 month old puppy class is something else I'm excited to start. My next puppy? Not the old mistakes I had with Hudson not knowing what the best food was and starting the stacking training and other show work well after 6 months old! Heck, I'll probably help Laurel stack her puppies at another visit when they're a little older...like 5 weeks!
Meanwhile, praying that Hudson will stack as well as he does the first time I do it every night, instead of the awkwardness that follows on the 2nd, 3rd, and 100th stack. Oh, my crazy little boy!
Saturday is the Lenape Bulldog Club Specialty Show. I'm using it as my judge as to whether or not I want to keep showing Hudson. I want to, and I think he's handsome, but there are a lot of things that make me think I ought to stop with him for now and just let him be. We were able to pack a few pounds on, but the weight is starting to go in places it shouldn't, so we backed off the high-fat stuff. I want him to look like the other bulldogs, but what I really want is for him to be healthy and live a long life. If he turns into a tootsie roll, the latter won't happen. We're up against one other dog in our class on Saturday, so we'll see how we fare. We could get our first point on Saturday, but more than likely, we'll just help someone else get one.
In other exciting news, I've been talking with a breeder from Virginia since about October in hopes that we'll be able to start our own breeding program. The hubby and I thought we ought to look at getting our female soon, since she'll need to be mature before reproducing, and Hudson isn't getting any younger!
Most responsible breeders either refuse or take a long time to give up a female to be bred. That's a good thing. Bulldogs especially are very hard to breed. It takes a lot of time and energy. It's also easy to breed some of the very common health problems that exist because of poor breeding. I knew I would need to start to build a relationship with someone who would be willing to mentor me and trust me with a female from their litter and hard work.
Laurel's next litter will be delivered by C-section (as they all are) on Feb 11th, unless the girl goes into labor earlier. She's going to let me come down and stay with her when the puppies are two weeks old so that I can learn about taking care of young puppies. Sometimes bulldog pups have to be tube fed, so I'll learn that technique, and often the mom isn't interested in getting them to potty after they eat, so I'll learn that as well. I'm sure I'll also learn what tired really is. Maybe I'll be able to relate to new moms better!
I'm very excited about this opportunity and thrilled that Laurel is allowing me to come to her home and learn from her puppies. I've had a blast talking to her several times over the past couple of months. She's a hoot and we're a lot alike in our "craziness." She's been very encouraging, and I appreciate beyond measure how much she's been willing to teach me already.
In ten years, I see myself in her shoes...minus her two daughters. She's just too amazing for my abilities. I'll have to substitute work for the "skin kids," as us dog people call them. ;) It's nice to have an answer to that question. Where do you see yourself? Oh, I know where I'm going.
The 4-6 month old puppy class is something else I'm excited to start. My next puppy? Not the old mistakes I had with Hudson not knowing what the best food was and starting the stacking training and other show work well after 6 months old! Heck, I'll probably help Laurel stack her puppies at another visit when they're a little older...like 5 weeks!
Meanwhile, praying that Hudson will stack as well as he does the first time I do it every night, instead of the awkwardness that follows on the 2nd, 3rd, and 100th stack. Oh, my crazy little boy!
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