Poo, Spew & No 1103
It is fact that a long coated dog who is not quite producing solid poos is gonna make a mess, but timing is of the essence. I had just walked Leroy around and come back to the trolley to grab Lucy and there she was sitting there with greenish colored spew dripping from her mouth and all down the front of her coat. By my calculations I should have about two and a half minutes to try and clean her up. Out with the potato flour and baby powder and into it then. There was white powder flying everywhere and at one point I thought I actually had a white particolored dog and not a black one!! Still doesn't look great and smells terrible , but No 1103 is called and its time to go in. I put her down at the entry to the ring and start to talk to one of my competitors when her back arches, the eyes squint and out it comes. To paint the picture here Lucy has now been showing for close to nine months and I have never seen her go the toilet at a dog show yet. You can walk her around as much as you like......she just wont go, until now. I look down and it sort of looks like it stopped half way out and then just traveled outwards, through all the hair. The steward suggests I can have a couple of minutes to clean her up ( It looked like a couple of days job to me!!) So back to the Gazebo with sympathetic smiles coming from every angle and out with the potato flour. A bit of baby powder, cause nothing smells better than Dog poo and that combined.Yuck!! So its back to the ring and put her down, a quick brush down the side of the coat and there we have it!! What?? Now where did that come from?? My little black bitch had nice brown striping down her side........... Probably should of used a different brush.....
It is fact that a long coated dog who is not quite producing solid poos is gonna make a mess, but timing is of the essence. I had just walked Leroy around and come back to the trolley to grab Lucy and there she was sitting there with greenish colored spew dripping from her mouth and all down the front of her coat. By my calculations I should have about two and a half minutes to try and clean her up. Out with the potato flour and baby powder and into it then. There was white powder flying everywhere and at one point I thought I actually had a white particolored dog and not a black one!! Still doesn't look great and smells terrible , but No 1103 is called and its time to go in. I put her down at the entry to the ring and start to talk to one of my competitors when her back arches, the eyes squint and out it comes. To paint the picture here Lucy has now been showing for close to nine months and I have never seen her go the toilet at a dog show yet. You can walk her around as much as you like......she just wont go, until now. I look down and it sort of looks like it stopped half way out and then just traveled outwards, through all the hair. The steward suggests I can have a couple of minutes to clean her up ( It looked like a couple of days job to me!!) So back to the Gazebo with sympathetic smiles coming from every angle and out with the potato flour. A bit of baby powder, cause nothing smells better than Dog poo and that combined.Yuck!! So its back to the ring and put her down, a quick brush down the side of the coat and there we have it!! What?? Now where did that come from?? My little black bitch had nice brown striping down her side........... Probably should of used a different brush.....
Hotspots!!
So there I was doing the nightly brush on Lucy when I noticed the worst Hotspots ( a focal area of skin infection). I frantically reached for the phone and dialled the local vet (this is who I give my pay to each week and they gladly hand over what's left). They didn't have an appointment but managed to squeeze me in ten minutes later. So I grabbed Lucy, the car keys and my constantly lighter wallet and we were off. Sitting in the waiting room pondering how hard it was going to be to treat these Hotspots and here's the vet now.... So we go In and I begin to explain Lucy's symptoms. The vet sympathetically looks me in the eye and says "they are her teats". I swore I would find another vet out of pure embarrassment, but yeah I'm still there............
So there I was doing the nightly brush on Lucy when I noticed the worst Hotspots ( a focal area of skin infection). I frantically reached for the phone and dialled the local vet (this is who I give my pay to each week and they gladly hand over what's left). They didn't have an appointment but managed to squeeze me in ten minutes later. So I grabbed Lucy, the car keys and my constantly lighter wallet and we were off. Sitting in the waiting room pondering how hard it was going to be to treat these Hotspots and here's the vet now.... So we go In and I begin to explain Lucy's symptoms. The vet sympathetically looks me in the eye and says "they are her teats". I swore I would find another vet out of pure embarrassment, but yeah I'm still there............
Our First Show
Nerves can play a big part in everything we do, but I wasn't the type to get nervous prior at a dog show or was I ??? So there I was at the entry to the ring with Lucy in tow and my number was called, and off we go. I could tell by the look of utter amazement of the faces of the people ringside that she was something special so I look down and there she is with her paws dug into the ground, the lead looking like I was going to pull off her head and the realisation that the look of the people ringside was actually shock!! They needed to truck in a semi-trailer load of topsoil to fill in the tracks she left.........lol
Nerves can play a big part in everything we do, but I wasn't the type to get nervous prior at a dog show or was I ??? So there I was at the entry to the ring with Lucy in tow and my number was called, and off we go. I could tell by the look of utter amazement of the faces of the people ringside that she was something special so I look down and there she is with her paws dug into the ground, the lead looking like I was going to pull off her head and the realisation that the look of the people ringside was actually shock!! They needed to truck in a semi-trailer load of topsoil to fill in the tracks she left.........lol
Our First Sydney Royal Easter Show
With the car packed and kids in tow we were off with no idea what to expect at the other end. On arrival my first impression was how well organised the whole thing was, but what a long day. We arrived at the designated 8.00am, settled in and brushed, waited, brushed, waited, brushed, waited and around 1.30pm the Lhasa Apsos were called. First up it was Leroy's turn. There were three other dogs in his class and we all walked out to greet the judge. So first up the judge asked us to do a small circle. I remember thinking just how good he was going when ..................... there was laughter from the crowd and a few jeers as he stopped half way around and decided that the grass looked that good he just had to do a poo! As I slowly lifted my head to look to see if anyone was going to bring something out to get rid of it and there was an announcement, a bit like when your at woolies "mop and bucket to aisle 4". Out runs the designated pickup man and it was gone. Result in class 4/4. I don't quite remember arched back and squinted eyes being in the breed standard, but you gotta love his timing. Next it was was Lucy's turn and she didn't do too bad at all 4th out of four, we are just happy to get in and out with our head held high.
With the car packed and kids in tow we were off with no idea what to expect at the other end. On arrival my first impression was how well organised the whole thing was, but what a long day. We arrived at the designated 8.00am, settled in and brushed, waited, brushed, waited, brushed, waited and around 1.30pm the Lhasa Apsos were called. First up it was Leroy's turn. There were three other dogs in his class and we all walked out to greet the judge. So first up the judge asked us to do a small circle. I remember thinking just how good he was going when ..................... there was laughter from the crowd and a few jeers as he stopped half way around and decided that the grass looked that good he just had to do a poo! As I slowly lifted my head to look to see if anyone was going to bring something out to get rid of it and there was an announcement, a bit like when your at woolies "mop and bucket to aisle 4". Out runs the designated pickup man and it was gone. Result in class 4/4. I don't quite remember arched back and squinted eyes being in the breed standard, but you gotta love his timing. Next it was was Lucy's turn and she didn't do too bad at all 4th out of four, we are just happy to get in and out with our head held high.
Problem fixed!!
Us mere males have been known for our hair brained ideas at times.................. but even the wife (minister for war) is still shaking her head at this one. So the issue was that dogs can put their back out just like us humans, and most of the time this is done by jumping down from heights. Due to the fact that the dogs sleep at the end of the marital bed they have to jump down all the time. A quick call to my dad who's a bit of a handyman, and some lengthy conversation to convince him it was the right thing to do, and Problem fixed!! We sucessfully lowered the marital bed by 200mm with the circular saw. The minister for war now has to stand up to turn off the bedside lamp........oops!!
Us mere males have been known for our hair brained ideas at times.................. but even the wife (minister for war) is still shaking her head at this one. So the issue was that dogs can put their back out just like us humans, and most of the time this is done by jumping down from heights. Due to the fact that the dogs sleep at the end of the marital bed they have to jump down all the time. A quick call to my dad who's a bit of a handyman, and some lengthy conversation to convince him it was the right thing to do, and Problem fixed!! We sucessfully lowered the marital bed by 200mm with the circular saw. The minister for war now has to stand up to turn off the bedside lamp........oops!!
