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Snow and Things to Come

SNOW STORM!

Here we sit in the midst of a huge snow storm coming up the east coast. The predictions are for 12 inches at least, maybe more.

Now I know many of you out there just love the winter, and love the snow. I'll admit, it's pretty, and it can be fun, but mainly I'm feeling.... BahHumbug.... get me outa here!

The dogs love the snow, they think it's just great fun to run, roll and get all full of tiny little snowballs all over their bodies! And, again, I'll admit, it's fun to watch them have fun.

But then they want to come in the house, and those millions of tiny snowballs melt all over the house. I've just got to go find some old towels and put a half dozen next to the doors. That way at least I can rub them down before they climb up into my chair to make themselves cozy.

Playing in the snow..... they love it!

In 14 days we are heading south for the winter!!!!!!!! You all can have this beautiful white stuff and the freezing weather. Me? Give me the beach, sunshine and some fishing. Yup, I'm a winter sissy..... I'd rather be reaching for the sun screen, then reaching for my earmuffs.

For the past 10 yrs., we have spent at least 3 weeks in Florida, then it turned into a month, then 6 wks... this year 2 1/2 months!

I thought it would be fun to post some photos of the dogs who have travelled with us on our winter vacations. Enjoy!

Warmer days from the past!

Top Flite (DC/AFC Dunkees Justa Top Flite MH)

retrieving a coconut in the Florida Keys

Weasie (Ch Ruffcuts Justa Southwind)

crusing down the St. Johns river in Florida

Weasie and Topper on the beach in the Florida Keys.

Both of these German Wirehairs just loved the beach there. They spent most of the day running in the shallow flats looking for fish.

They would be out there from sun up, till sun down......I truly miss these two dogs. They were so much fun, and just great friends.

This is Weasie and Tess (our first Border Terrier) in the Florida Keys watching Jim go out in the boat, without them! Weasie taught Tess to fish.....they became great pals.

Tess and Scooter fishing in the Indian River in Sebastian Florida.

A Border Terrier Weekend

We took Scooter, the Border Terrier (Hapsburg In Hot Pursuit) to the Lehigh Valley KC and the Delaware Water Gap KC shows in Bethlehem, PA this weekend. I handled him to Winners Dog both days! Saturday was for 4 points and the Sunday show was a 3 pointer. Both of his majors are now out of the way.

Scooter is a son of Levi, Ch Conundrum's Co-Writer a very nice young male from England. Unfortunately just after Scooter arrived here in the US from England, his sire was killed. Scooter was bred by Claire and Lee Sharp.

He turned one yr old early November, so he's still just a kid.

We had a nice time and met a lot of the local BT folks. All of them were very welcoming to us and it was truly appreciated. When we get his official show photo, I'll post it.

For now, here is a photo of him.

What Dogs Do For Us

Our dogs can do amazing things, once we allow them to show us where their true talents lie.

Running the puppies

For those of you who follow my blog over at Justa German Wirehaired Pointers, you'll know that we had a litter of puppies last summer. Those kids are just 5 months old now, and are really coming along very nicely.

Yesterday I met Dennis Dec, who co-owns Sassy and Brody with me, over in New Jersey at a game farm he guides hunting parties. I haven't had a chance to see his puppy, Jack, since October so this would be a great chance for me to see him. I decided to take Jeff, Jack's littermate, with me to give him a run on some new grounds.

We took Jack out first and I was very happy with how he handled himself. He was using his nose, searching through the thick stalks of sorgum that was still up. Near the end of our hike, Jack threw a very stylish point and held it for quite some time. He allowed Dennis to get in front of him and flush a nice hen pheasant! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.

We went back and brought Jeff out and gave him a good run around the same area we ran Jack. No birds for Jeff, so Dennis planted a quail for him. Took him down through another section of land then back toward the quail. Bam! He found that bird with no problem and his little tail was right up there!

After that, we let Sassy and Louie out for a spin around the property. I decided to let Jeff tag along to see how he would handle running with the big dogs. No problem at all. In fact I was pretty proud to watch him try his best to keep up. About 15 minutes into the run, we found Louie on point, Sassy came in and backed him. Jeff can tearing around the corner and stopped as well. The big dogs stood nicely, but the puppy jumped in and found his very first pheasant!

It took him a second or two to get over the big noisy bird, but then he was off and chased it as far as he could watch it fly. Good puppy! We rounded everyone up and headed back to the car.

All in all, I am really happy with how that litter is turning out. They are all bold, all outgoing, all pointing like a million bucks! By spring, they should be turning into some really nice bird dogs for all of their new owners.

In my opinion, the best way to start young puppies is to just let them hunt and figure it out. At this age, they really can't do anything wrong, so sit back and have fun watching them learn.

Satin Balls- Recipee

5 pounds ground meat
5 cups Total whole grain cereal
5 cups oats (slow cooking type)
2½ cups raw wheat germ
¾ cup oil
¾ cup molasses
6 egg yolks
5 packets gelatin
2 ½ tablespoons Solid Gold Seameal supplement

Mix up, form balls, freeze, feed as treats or food supplement.

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly like you would a meatloaf.
Roll into balls no larger than 1 inch diameter.
Divide into at least 6 separate containers or bags. Freeze. Thaw as needed for feeding.

BARF? Feeding Raw

OK, I'll admit it... I'm a crazy person when it comes to dog food. I've never been loyal to one certain brand, I'm always looking for the next great thing, I'm addicted to reading the back of dog food bags!

When the big dog food recall happened a couple of years ago, I started reading up on how to make my own dog food. I read about BARF (Beef and Raw Foods), spent hours trying to find everything I could about how to feed it. I even started shopping for chicken wings, chicken backs, turkey necks and blueberries on sale. I spent hours, and I mean hours of time, driving, searching, looking for sales.

Finally I settled on the Satin Balls diet... raw hamburger, eggs, wheat germ...and a bunch of other stuff. It was a pain in the neck to make, not cheap, but the dogs loved it! And they seemed to really do well on it. In fact, Louie, one of my German Wirehairs won the National Amateur Field Championship while he was on that diet. But, over time, it just became too darn much work. So back to reading dog food bags again!

But here it is mid December, and I'm thinking again of trying the BARF diet with the Border Terriers while we are in Florida. Chicken necks and backs will certainly be easier to get down there... up here in the Phillie suburbs no one seems to sell them.

There is a ton of info out there in web land on feeding raw to your dog. Easiest way to find out is to google BARF......guess I better start reading once again!

If you feed a raw diet and would like to share your experience.....

Later......

Lite em up!

Every winter we go to Florida to escape the winter weather here in Pennsylvania. The older my husband and I get, the more we dislike the cold! So, off to the sunny south we go.

We take the two Border Terriers with us on this winter trip, and they have a ball on the beach. One problem is, they are small and at night we can never see them! So, I started a search for a collar that lights up. And I found a couple that look like they will do the trick.

In fact, I'm going to order two small ones, and a couple of the larger size for the GWP's.

Wounded Warriors

Sometimes we dog people get so involved with life (Yes Alice, there really is a life out there without dogs!) and the bad news that bombards us every day, we forget about the good things that dog people do. Last week a group of sporting dog owners took two days out of their busy schedules to do a good thing..... they took a group of wounded soldiers hunting!

The dogs were mostly Vizslas but there was one German Wirehair there, all AKC registered dogs, with owners who compete in AKC events. In fact the head of AKC Performance, Doug Ljungren attended and was the owner/handler of the lone GWP.

Just goes to show ya.... the rumors that AKC dogs have all been ruined are just that.. rumors! Compliments to those who cared enough to attend and give these guys some great memories.

The story about the hunt can be read here.

Here are a couple of photos from the hunt.