2008-02-29

SPRING BREAK!

I just went to my last class before spring break! YAHOO!

I am so relieved. I thought it would never come.

This semester is burning me out already, but I think I'll be ready for a few more weeks of school after this week long break.

I'm working Saturday and Sunday (money is helpful when trying to fix broken animals) but then it's HOME time!

Message from mom is that Bailey seems to be recovering really well. Hopefully the joint supplement is really helping and she's not in pain at all. That would be the best news of the year so far.

I do hope to keep up with training blogs while I'm home. I really need to work on heeling in tons of different environments with both dogs since I know both dogs are capable of achieving a CDX or UCDX.

Going to set training goals and stick to them and actually keep records.

Time to go get some cat food from Superior. I went yesterday but a FEED STORE closes at 5 PM I guess. I was sure they'd be open until seven or so.

2008-02-22

women and religion paper

excerpt from one of my papers... I find it highly amusing...

Luther’s interpretation of Adam and Eve in The Garden Of Eden was very thought provoking. The excerpt from “Feminism and Theology” by Janet Martin Soskice and Diana Lipton offered Luther’s interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:13-14 (For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.) as one uncommon way to explain the essence of “the apple incident.”

“Luther believes that nearly everyone understands this to mean that Adam was not seduced by the Devil but sinned willingly. He wanted to please his wife and placed his love for his wife ahead of his love to God. This common view, he says, presumes the serpent was afraid to approach Adam, the master, but thought Eve, though holy, was weaker and could more easily be seduced. Either Adam was seduced by the woman, who gave him the apple, or he seduced himself by noticing that she did not immediately die, therefore thinking they might escape punishment.”

The paragraph above is a quote from the book "Feminism and Theology" which has been quite an interesting read.

OFA

Nope, no elbow ratings yet (they were just sent in on Monday... I do have SOME patience), but I did find something quite intriguing while perusing the OFA site looking for explanations to hip and elbow xrays. It clearly states that the vets who read the xrays will take into consideration the breed, age, and sex when scoring the hip. That's the first I'd heard or seen of that. Does that mean the exempt all bulldogs? No, it just means that they realize what is good for one breed, may be excellent for another.

What was very interesting is that I couldn't find anything about those three factors (breed, age, and sex) in the elbow information. Especially in our agility discussion lately, it seems as though even more emphasis is finally being put on elbows, especially with that slamming down for 2o2o contacts a lot of people teach. I understand we need strict guidelines to improve breeds (and maybe they do consider those three things) but there has to be some leeway it would seem, espcially for age. I hate to say it, but I'm beginning to think that elbow xrays are more important than hip. The dogs' massage therapist told me that they carry 60% of their weight in the front (I hope I got that number right... and I think so because she was saying Bailey probably carried 70% when she was tight all over and hurting) and only 40% in the rear.

Back to school... almost done with my script for tomorrow. Mock parent/teacher conferences, fun... maybe? My "parent" is, of course, the head of the education department. I've met him a total of twice now. Once was this (yesterday now) morning at a meeting about student teaching. I asked him to be nice, and not be a disgruntled parent... hehe, he thought it was pretty funny, I was pretty serious!

We shall see!

2008-02-20

Eleven? Already?

My Rascaly boy is ELEVEN today! Happy Birthday!

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2008-02-19

weighing the fun

I'm trying to decide what to do show-wise for the month of April. Initially I wasn't going to show anyone, but there are TWO shows on the SAME weekend and both are equally inviting.

One is a UKC obedience show, drawback there is that it's just one show per day and we'd be showing around conformation dogs. I don't know how well he'd handle that. Plus is that our friend Heather would be there! So I know we'd have lots of fun.

Other is a NADAC show put on by my club. I have one sound dog, and vouchers. We could play and have lots of fun there too.

My other option is doing one day of each. Since tunnelers and touch n go are never offered on the same day, that would be a secondary. We love jumpers and chances (most of the time) so I'm willing to do either day. Just have to make a decision.

Or none, but that doesn't sound like a very fun option.

Oh yeah, none of these are due until the first week in April either so I have a lot of time to think!

I need a new job, then this would be a much easier decision!

breeders

I've done a lot of learning over the last few years (and I'm sure I'll be learning continually forever) but there are still things that boggle my mind about some breeders.

I know that I've said this before too but, "this is a once in a lifetime breeding" isn't ever true. Especially when, in essence, sacrificing health. I have a feeling that if a breeder searched hard enough, and outside their own dogs, a dog that is just as good, or even better... would be available.

I'm being quite vague on purpose, because I've heard this happen time and time again. Just to "preserve" a line, many aspects are sacrificed. Even more common though, is a person wanting to breed "their" dogs, instead of searching out another male for their bitch. *bangs head against wall* Don't be kennel blind, and don't breed for just ONE thing.

All dogs should be well rounded, with the fees paid to handlers someone could take a lot of obedience, agility, rally, tracking, hunting, herding, etc. classes and even have money left over to enter trials.


I guess that's why I'm still not planning to be a breeder. Too many people call themselves "breeders" and they are, in that they reproduce animals... but they're lacking in the responsible reasons for breeding.

2008-02-17

A new job...

I'm still looking for a new job, hopefully on Tuesday I can go "job hunting" because I really need something better paying. I applied at a vet office near school two weeks ago. Got a call, had an interview, got a call back saying they thought I would be good for the job, but now they're not looking to hire anyone until their "busy season" starts. Who knows when that will be, so I'm going to start looking again.

A friend suggested PCA work. So I'm looking into how I would apply for that kind of job. Apparently it pays well. Almost anything would be better than the $6.65 I currently make.

I do love my Subway job, and the people I work with (for the most part) but I just feel like I need to do something else.

Tuesday is job hunting day (provided I don't discover some massive assignment due on Wednesday).

Back to working on my "non-unit" assessment project about plants for second graders!

She's fixable!

I love my vet...

Dr. Enochs examined Bailey thoroughly (poking prodding, giving treats, checking for the difference in leg length, feeling for subluxuated disks, holding up each foot to check for resistance to stand on a certain leg) and looked through notes I had.

He thought we should take rays. So we did.

He took one of her right shoulder area and then we did OFA elbow xrays. I figured that since we were doing one elbow, we may as well do the other and send them in.

Wow were they clear, and he didn't even sedate her!


There is no bone cancer *phew that was my one HUGE fear* and it's a degenerative issue in her right elbow, most likely from a previous semi-minor injury. The super good news is he thinks she'll be fine and benefit from staying active, as long as I don't make her a "weekend warrior" so we have some strict orders to condition her long before a trial and long after (got that), some rimadyl for two days prior and two days after a trial (and of course during). I'm also going to put her on a full strength glucosamine/chondroitin supplement. Going to try the K9 Joint Health first because it worked well for Buzz and I can buy it by the gallon which will help immensly with two dogs on it consistently now. It has Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM, plus a few other "goodies" in there for them.

He said she should definitely be able to run tunnelers in March as long as we get her on the joint supplement and we keep her active. And do the rimadyl. I'm so happy my dog is FIXABLE!

He doesn't know how OFA will grade her elbows. There is definite degeneration, but the elbow conformation was really good he said so we'll see. I'm not too concerned about the result, but he's as interested as I am to see what they say. In all honesty, I don't think they'll pass. I guess all we can do is wait and see though.

Again, I'm so thrilled I get to continue playing with this monster... :)

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2008-02-10

Bailey- the broken dog...

Bailey and I went to the ACTS CPE trial. She was limping slightly the night before, but seemed fine in the morning. Turns out she had two subluxuated disks, two very tight quads, and something wrong with her elbow. She saw the massage therapist who helped her immensly, but she was pulled for the weekend and hopefully we can get her fixed up soon, and learn how to prevent future injuries.