Photobucket Test - New home for Photos

Test - Importing from Photobucket, a free space in which to save a ton of pictures. 

In principle, I just can't see paying Blogger an annual fee to store photos when there are other free options. I also can't see paying Blogger when their upload interface continually has so many bugs! Yes, it is time to say Goodbye to Blogger. Stay tuned for "move" details. I'm working on figuring that out next!

Denali - Nov. 2009

I Ate the Whole Thing!

In memory of Bart's Favorite Holiday, 

Denali will do her best to eat as much turkey as possible!

Denali in the News

Each month our obedience club posts brags from the members. This month Denali not only had some things to Brag about, but she got her picture featured. Just in time the photographer sent me the original so the final article will not have the photographer's stamp on the picture. (This was a preliminary version sent by the editor.)

(click to get a full-sized corgi)
Denali is the only active performance corgi in the club.

It's from the AKC!

Denali's RAE Certificate came today! Whaahoo!

She is now officially

C-Myste Denali RAE, CGC

Click to enlarge

AND...

Today we also discovered that the professional photos taken of Denali's RAE Excellent class run-through were posted. These are great photos and I am delighted to have pictures of the RAE event! (Thanks to Barbara for letting me know of the posting. Nice shots of Charlie too!) The photos are free for personal use, so I'll be getting some full-sized originals soon!

The money shot! Love this one - especially since you seldom see the broad jump in use!

Beautiful job Denali! 

Truly, I never saw this day coming when you came home with us in 2003 and were just big enough to fit in my two hands! You continue to amuse, amaze and astound us!

It's on the Books!

Last night I got an e-mail from Denali's Rally instructor congratulating us on her RAE. Turns out he'd looked up the results of some recent shows and saw Denali's title posted in the results of the show in which we got the first RAE2 leg.

Looks like the AKC agrees with my record-keeping! Now I can't wait to see the certificate!

Duck Dog Does Good!

Yup, it rained - just as predicted.  And a high wind advisory was out for the Bay Area bridges. I was so glad we had the SUV, not my Beetle, when we went over the Benecia bridge! During the 1.5 hour drive to Vallejo, I kept hearing the flood warnings pile up on the radio. 

By the time we got to Vallejo at 8AM, it had been raining steadily for close to three hours and there was a little stream flowing in the street in front of the building. Thankfully, they let us drive into the fairgrounds and park right in front of the building on a paved surface, versus the usual dirt parking lots and mile-long trek to the buildings. I was so glad that I'd brought my knee-high rain boots. I had our setup all packaged in plastic garbage bags so I went in first and set up a nice dry spot for us. 

Then I went to get Denali.  My little Oregonian Duck Dog (new breed?) wasn't phased by the rain, or the puddles. She walked up to the little stream, carefully calculated the distance, and hopped right over. Prancing along as if nothing was happening she walked right in and played the "towel game" with me. 

Those chamois towels are awesome! Denali is a fluffy and she managed to suck up a lot of water on her way from the car. One rub down with the chamois towel and she was dry again. And the towel dried out in no time so I could use it again after her breaks. This item is a must-have at shows!

In the morning Denali was definitely "on" and she did very well, racking up RAE2, leg 3. I hung her ribbons on her crate to give her inspiration for the afternoon show.

She always gets nice cozy padding, in her crate, but she tends to push it all to the front and lay behind it. All you can see is her muzzle peeking out. Silly dog.

The inspirational ribbons paid off, as she repeated her performance at the afternoon show.

As a short dog, Denali was first-in for all of our classes. As things progressed it looked like our 95-point score was the one to beat in the Advanced Class. But ultimately there was a 3-way tie for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots, with the winning dog scoring a perfect 100 points! The other two dogs were full-sized Aussies. No way those 5" corgi legs can beat the time against that competition.

But when we finished our run, and I was attaching Denali's leash, the judge stopped on her way to the table with a little smile and quietly said,"Nice job!" It's not often that a judge gives compliments while you're still in the ring. Duck Dog done good! (I think this judge likes Cardis. She complimented Denali again when she gave us our ribbon for the last show of the day, "Very nice little dog you've got there.")

Both shows were sponsored by the Vallejo Dog Training Club. They did something really clever that I hadn't seen before: Any one who got a placement received a little card which was redeemable for a little prize. You took your card to the front table and got your choice of items. In the morning they had a number of cute home-made laminated book marks and in the afternoon the 4th place finishers had their choice of little signs, each with a different dog-related phrase on it. The signs came with an itty bitty suction cup so they can be mounted in your car, or on any window of your choice.

At the end of the day it had stopped raining briefly. Denali hopped the little stream again, approached the car and gave me the "I'm ready to go home smile." I arranged her kennel padding for her, lifted her in, and she was so tired that she actually slept on it all the way home!

I got the last "Best Friend on Board" sign. I can't imagine a better description for Denali!

Great Day for a Dog Show

Tomorrow Denali and I will leave the house around 6:30AM to head for Vallejo. It will be raining when we leave the house, having started around 4:00AM. We will arrive at the fairgrounds (where the parking is in dirt lots that are not paved) around 8:00AM. (Rain boots and towels in tow.)

Fortunately the Rally trials are indoors, so we will swim to McCormick Hall. Good thing I have a dog from Oregon who thinks she is a duck and that I am a confident swimmer. I'll need to be while I'm hauling our setup through the puddles.

Based on the forecast it will rain ALL DAY! Not even a question - note the probability!

This is an double trial, an AM and a PM performance, which makes for a very long day. When we leave around 4:00PM, it will still be raining (check the forecast below). By the time we get home around 5:30PM, it might be just drizzling, and by midnight, it will stop. Monday will be dry - today it is dry!

(Click to get larger raindrops)

The good news - we're not showing in conformation. It's outside! 

Queen of the Water Bowls (RAE2, leg 2)

Starting last Thursday there was a show cluster in Pleasanton, CA. We were entered in Rally on Thursday, Friday and Monday. There was no rally on Saturday and Sunday ended up being a day when it poured rain and was very windy. Was I ever glad we missed that! They had to make an emergency move of the rally ring from outdoors to an inside venue. As Trenton mentioned on his blog, when he was there on Sunday with Cappy in conformation, it was pretty bad!

Interestingly, the Monday show was the Del Valle Kennel Club Show. In 1999 we met Carolyn at this show to pick up our first Cardigan, Kenai. I will always remember that day in great detail. Never did I imagine that I would one day be showing a cardigan relative at that same show! Interesting the turns life takes.

Denali was far more interested in what a pair of schnauzers were doing than in posing for her picture at the end of the show today. As usual, we had the requisite admirers tell me how pretty she is - well yes! (Not that I am at all biased!)

All of the sponsoring clubs were giving portable water bowls as prizes to those who placed. Our RAE entries meant we had the potential to win six water bowls! I hadn't really thought of it that way when I was hoping for a placement.

In the end, we brought home four folding water bowls - at least they were a different color today! Here's the shot of Denali's haul over these few days. Four seems to have been our number this weekend with three 4th place finishes and one second-place finish. Truthfully, after a month off due to her injury, I wasn't expecting placements - or water bowls. I guess we're definitely ready for a road trip now!

YOU DID A GREAT JOB DENALI!

Denali does it Again! (Note to Sage)

This morning my newly-crowned RAE Dog took to the Rally Ring again to take her first RAE-2 leg. Today she brought home the red ribbon in EX-B instead of the white one. Not bad for a rusty team that hasn't been training for a month due to her toe injury.

(Side note: We got to see Cappy's dad, Trenton, and Sage's sister, Greta, this morning too! Greta looks a LOT like Sage, in a different colored suit! She's VERY cute! It was cool to see them both and we look forward to the opportunity again in a couple weeks at the Vallejo shows!)

Sage has been training in obedience and informally working on some Rally moves since he was just teeny. He hasn't seen any ring action yet due to his uber-excitability around other dogs. But he's definitely growing up and building confidence in his Advanced obedience class right now. At some point he'll be ready to Rally. 

Just so he knows what to look forward to, I let Sage examine Denali's ribbons from this morning's show.

First the sniff - "Hmmm...it's not fruit!"

"And it doesn't bounce or try to run away."

Awards? Really? 

"Well yea...I can sit, down, call front...Oh, you want it all in a row and I have to pay attention the whole time! Are you sure there's nothing that bounces or rolls in it for me?"

An RAE for Me!

Check it out...smells good!

Looks pretty too!

Ha...I'm pretty cool, ya know!

Those ribbons are the ones I won today at the rally trial in Pleasanton. I got my 10th leg and my RAE Title!

(Yes, my toe is much better. I'm walking normally and having no trouble with running and jumping - though I've been told to dial that back for now! But Rally doesn't require anything more than I'm doing around the house, so I'm OK to compete!)

So now you'll know me as C-Myste Denali, RAE, CGC

(My little brother Sage is impressed. And it was really cool to do this today because it's Sage's 2nd Birthday - see below for more on that!)

Happy Birthday Moe!

Have a Great Birthday!

Denali - Toe Injury - Chapter 3

On Tuesday Denali was supposed to return to the vet to have the bandage on her dislocated toe removed, and an x-ray taken to see if we'd made any progress in relocating it. It was a great plan.

However, being Denali, she managed to remove her bandage (while wearing her E-collar) on Monday at 5:55PM, right after Traci left from a really nice visit with us. Of course she did this because this is the evening when I take Sage to his weekly obedience class. We leave at 6:00PM.

So, instead of putting Sage in the car, suddenly I was frantically driving Denali to the vet, hoping to get in without an appointment before they closed at 6:30PM. We did get in and here's what we found.

Just for comparison we will start with this as a data point:

This is a normal front paw, attached to a fluffy Cardigan Welsh Corgi.

This is the other paw, attached to the same fluffy Cardigan Welsh Corgi. 

Notice any difference in the spacing and orientation of the two middle toes?

How about now? See the difference? Ouch!

OK, how about now...! Ahhhhh!

Unfortunately, it appears that Denali is destined to go through life with one funky-looking foot from now on. No it won't always be pinkish (stain from her licking at the bandage), but her toes will never be the same. Why...?

Not only did she dislocate the toe, but she torn all of the ligaments. There is nothing holding the toe in place and bandaging it really isn't doing anything to help. If we put a pin in it she would have to wear a bandage, and leave it alone for about 12 weeks. That's just not going to happen with Houdini dog.

So the verdict is that we just let it heal as it will. Right now she is walking reasonably well on it. It isn't causing her pain (oddly enough she has never evidenced much pain and never made a sound when we've manipulated it). She favors it slightly when she walks quickly, but she walks at a normal speed, and runs as if there is nothing at all wrong with her.

Because ligaments take twice as long to heal as bone, we're now officially scratched from the next three Rally Trials (all located conveniently near us, so no long drives...sigh) in which we were already entered through the end of October! She might be able to go to the trial on November 7. We will have to review when the time comes.

The projected healing period is 10-12 weeks! That means she will have to be on a leash whenever she goes outside to prevent her from her usual squirrel hunting running and jumping antics. 

In the long run, it will heal, it shouldn't prove to be a problem for her - it will just look funny. But then, she is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi...and they already look a little funny, don't they?

Denali's Toe - Chapter 2

Denali and I got to go to the vet again today! 

After five days of wearing an uncomfortable bandage on her foot the swelling of her dislocated toe had gone down quite a bit. That was the good news. 

The bad news is that now that the vet is able to more effectively palpate the toe, he determined that Denali has seriously torn ligaments. This will take awhile to heal and the toe will never be as strong as it once was - unless we put a pin in it...oh geez! Here's the story in pictures!

First x-ray, taken last Friday.

 Second x-ray on Friday. Taken after the foot was bandaged and we attempted to relocate the toe. This was the best the vet could do, due to the swelling.

Today's x-ray...ugg. 

As soon as the bandage was off and the vet could wiggle the toe, he realized that all the ligaments are torn and there's nothing holding it in position. He said that it will heal, but unless we put a pin in it, it will never be as durable as it once was. He said that if it was his dog he wouldn't pin it. It will heal and be perfectly serviceable as long as she doesn't stress it beyond normal use. The idea of putting her through surgery to have a pin inserted isn't my idea of a good time for her, so I'd rather not go there if we don't have to.

He said, "Well, if this was a performance dog..." Well, my actual thought was to explore agility for her as soon as she was done with her RAE. I guess we won't be going there. Rally isn't an issue, as there are minimal low jumps, so she can continue to do that.

But then, there is the squirrel chasing. I'm not sure how we're going to convince Denali that she isn't supposed to take a flying leap off the deck in pursuit of a squirrel?

Next Tuesday we go back to have this bandage removed. That is unless she manages to get out of it sooner, as she did on Monday. Obviously she won't be doing the 2-mile walk to support the Canine Cancer Charity on Sunday. I guess it's Elbee's lucky day instead!

To be continued...

The $350 Squirrel (No Rally for You!)

Denali is our official Squirrel Chaser Extraordinaire. And she is VERY effective. Unfortunately, on Wednesday night she put a little too much enthusiasm into the chase. I looked out the window, saw her streak out to the back corner of the yard in pursuit, then emerge from the bushes...limping!

I rushed out, picked her up, brought her in and examined her. She had a cut in one of her pads, and some abrasions on the same toe. Home remedies took care of the cut, but by this morning her toe was very swollen.

The vet was puzzled by the swelling, so an x-ray was in order. We went back in the exam room to wait for the x-ray to develop. Even before the doctor returned, the vet tech brought in the pictures. She put one up on the screen, flipped on the light, turned to me and said, "Well, I bet you can see the problem!"

Looking at the slide made me wince. Denali had severely dislocated one of the middle toes on her front, left foot. It looked really painful! Due to the swelling, the vet was only able to partially relocate the toe. She had to use the other two toes as splints to hold it in place and pack the whole thing in a ton of bandages. Toss in some antibiotics and some anti-inflammatories, give it about five days and hopefully the swelling will go down and we can fully relocate it next week some time. At least, that is the plan.

Denali is very upset about having to wear all this stuff. She has strong negative opinions about wearing bandages and is better than Houdini at getting out of them, thus the need for the Cone of Shame. My poor girl!

So, take a good look! This is what we got for $350 and two-hours at the vet while they fit us in between other appointments. 

Oh, and did I mention that THIS Sunday was to be leg #10 of her RAE level Rally competition in Hayward. That's right, we were on track to get our RAE title this Sunday! Sigh...not this time! Disappointed, yes - but Healthy Dog trumps obedience competition any time!

 And, just because he always wants to help, and doesn't really understand why his interactive toy and best friend isn't able to play with him, Sage took his stuffed squirrel out to the yard this evening. Evidently he was showing the real squirrels what might happen to them if he got ahold of them. Here he is, scanning the terrain for rodent invaders.

Thanks for the help Sage. We can use it about now!

Two GREAT Photos!

Remember that cool professionally-taken photo of Denali going over the jump in a Rally trial at the beginning of August? Yea, well...I had to have it. And when I looked back, I saw that there was actually a second one which turned out to be Moe's favorite. So we took both. Here are the digital versions. 

She could be a calendar girl!

Photo credit: Steve Southard Photography

http://www.southardphoto.net/

(These photos are from the Monterey Bay Show, 

August 8, 2010, Rally Ex-B)

On the Brink of an RAE!

This weekend we traveled to Santa Rosa for a two-day Rally event (indoors - nice!). Denali came home with four more green ribbons, having given some wonderful performances. This earns us RAE legs 8 and 9. Our title attempt will be on October 3. The September shows in Petaluma were so gruesomely hot last year that I opted to skip them this year.

Seriously, the field was incredible. When a score of 99 isn't enough to earn you a placement, you know you've got competition! That's what happened on Saturday! It put us in the 5th place position by virtue of a tie score for time...sigh!

Nontheless, I know how well she did. We came SO close to a 100%. Had I stepped out a second sooner after a right finish (no sit at the end) we would have had it!

Denali was just awesome - both in the ring and out. She was a model citizen, letting people "pet the corgi," and showing just how engaging this breed can be!

Riff and Raff

This evening Sage and I attended his weekly obedience class.  After an hour of working with all of those other big dogs, he's generally pretty quiet on the way home.  But the minute he's out of the car he's looking for Denali! 

His interactive toy is only too happy to oblige and they wrestle and FRAP till both tongues are hanging out.  As I started upstairs, there they were, both looking pretty pleased with themselves!

Thank goodness they have each other for entertainment!

Photos from Last Week's Rally Trial

Last weekend there was a professional photographer at our Rally Trial. He took photos of the Rally contestants and has posted them on his website. Some of them are really good.  Here are just a few of Denali doing her Rally thing.  This is the first time we've ever had professional photos of us and it was fun to see them!

It was actually raining lightly when we arrived and stopped just before we went into the ring. If we look a little damp, we were! It was also cold. I had on about four shirt layers! Great temps for a fluffy! Denali loved it!

See all of our photos in the Excellent-B class.

See all of our photos in the Advanced-B class.

I think I'll have to buy this last one!

Off it Goes - Box #2 (Paw it Forward!)

Our Cardigan Postal Inspector, Sage, is at it again.  He's checking my work to make sure that all is in order for our Paw it Forward Box #2 to make its way to Napa, CA, where it will arrive on his brother Fig's doorstep, to be enjoyed by Watson and Duncan too!

He made sure it was plainly marked.

And that all the seams were securely taped.

Then the Cardigan Postmistress gave it her final approval. Thanks Denali.

OK, off it goes! 

Official notice to Fig, Watson and Duncan: Look for your box to arrive on Monday!

And make sure Alden posts on her blog so the next lucky Paw it Forward canine can check things out and be the first or second to place a comment on her posting and keep things moving!

We're in the Ribbons!

Rally Time Again for Denali!

Today it was RAE, leg #7 in Prunedale, CA.  A good day for us, in spite of the rainy, cool weather that started things off this morning. But, like magic, it stopped raining just about the time we were ready for the first walk-through. Then it stayed cool and overcast - which is SO nice for a show. No worries about the sun and heat.

Denali did a great job. She now knows the drill and just goes right to work. When we get to a show, she needs about three minutes of warm up and she's ready to rock! And she's so excited that she, hops right up in the wee hours of the morning to get ready to go. She knows what's happening when she sees me pack the car the night before. What an awesome little dog she is!

We took the third place in the Excellent-B class and fourth place in the Advanced-B class with scores of 93 and 96 respectively. In both cases at least three of those points were handler fumbles - not the dog! I was particularly proud of the fact that we were tied for fourth, but bettered the other team (a sheltie) with our faster time, to snag the placement. That is the first time we've been faster in a situation like that!

 Given that the course was completely water-logged and peppered with huge gopher holes/mud piles, I was very happy with her performance. Truthfully, I thought Denali might take off to chase a gopher if she smelled them. She has caught squirrels and is our resident expert vermin hunter. Fortunately the gophers were smart enough to know where they were not wanted and she had no interest in the areas where they'd been digging.

In both classes friends from my dog obedience club also placed (first and second). But for one spot, our Club swept the ribbons! Pretty cool for us!

And... a trainer that we work with, from one of the other local clubs, entered his new Golden Retriever puppy in Rally Novice. This weekend was the dog's debut in the ring. Yesterday he took first place with a score of 99! Today he got third place, with a 97!  He is a happy, bouncy puppy - reminds me a lot of Sage in that way - but in a MUCH bigger body! He thought that yellow ribbon had real "toy" potential!

Chalk this one up as a very fun day - in the rain!