...3rd dog...

Maudie is now the 3rd dog.
We lost our Gus Friday night... and the physical absence of him is heartbreaking. The grief overwhelming. Our neice, who was stranded at the airport Friday on her way back east from Reed College has come here to ride out the winter storm ....and I think her presence...which is soft, and smart and sweet has made it much easier, esp for Mark. But I, who stays up late into the night and haunts the places where Gus is not...I meet the rip in the fabric that is our life in this house without him... the silence without the flurry of barking when I and the other dogs would come in to bed at night, his sudden appearance at the door for a late night snack and a pee.
Now, it is 3 am on the first full night of this terrible knowledge; the wind is batting the trees around, tiny ice crystals fall onto the deep snow and I am tired.
Earlier today I wrote a kind of eulogy for him to send our family and friends. Then we took Maudie out for walk in the snow.

CH Ezee Butterfly Storm CD CGC...known to his friends as Gus.

Gus came to live with us in 2002 took one look at Mark and announced that he was "his man forever." While he finished his championship with his co-breeders, Karen and Steve Baird, Mark and Gus began a relationship characterized by a love and devotion that was moving to all who knew them. They ventured in to the world of obedience together and very quickly earned a CD. Their second qualifying score was earned under Judge Jill Jones who remarked that she had never seen a Novice A dog with such great off lead heeling. This, we understood, was evidence and illustration-of the bond between them.
Gus took it upon himself to be Mark's partner; he taught Mark how to train, he took care of him in the ring. Once the judge called left turn, Mark, with Novice A jitters, started to turn right, but Gus turned left and for a moment Mark heeled with HIM into the turn.

They had been training in Open and Utility when he died. Tuesday morning class with Ellie Wyckoff was a highlight of the week. They went a lot of places together, and even when it was to the hospital I think the experience was softened by the fact that they were together.

Gus was a very special dog. If he had been a person, he would've been a poet, sensitive as an ant's antennae, lovely as a monarch butterfly. To us he was the epitome of papillon beauty: graceful, a little willowy yet masculine,and with the unmistakable bright intelligence of the breed. He didn't have a coarse bone in his body yet he always struck me as much larger than he was. He was of a type that defied fashions and fads, not flashy, but balanced and elegant. And he loved to show off.

Always polite to everyone, there is a small group of people with whom Gus shared his heart. He continued to adore Karen, he loved Ellie and Steve and me. But he
was without doubt, a once in a lifetime dog for Mark. An irreplaceable force, a true true friend.

Fall

Things have been relatively quiet around here. In my research on seizures I discovered that there is a high success rate for melatonin given to dogs who have seizures in their sleep. So Maudie is getting 3mg at bedtime...

I've also been informed that the off-gassing of polyester, the waves sent by wireless computer, cell and land phones as well as the fall out from television may play a role in disturbed brain activity. I've been replacing Maude's beds with whole sheepskin, wool and all cotton. I'm not sure what to do about the wireless Internet we have; it's become such a staple of the household...but I am being more mindful of her space in relation to the use of the electronics.


People tell me their stories, 99% of which are sad sad stories and I have to keep telling myself that every dog is different and that she has me to look out for her. I come to understand more and more Keats' theory of negative capability not only as a poetic state of mind, but as a way of being in a world guided by change and uncertainty...It's a balancing act to stay grounded, to soldier on while acknowledging that the Mystery is All. To not pull back from love when loss shakes its finger at you.

The First Dog

On another note….I am quite certain that I have the answer to what kind of dog the Obama’s should get. ;-)

First off: I PRAY they don’t fall for the “oodle” scam. There are some nice ones, no doubt…but I am appalled at the prices people are willing to pay for a mongrel. There is no breed uniformity, no standard…and no guarantee of being “hypo-allergenic.”

But! I vote for a standard poodle from a really good breeder, a big poodle as elegant, intelligent, funny, dignified as the family itself. And they don’t shed. In my mind it’s a white standard poodle, but I think the black ones are said to be the most stable and intelligent.

A ex racing greayhound is an elegant choice, but I’m not sure one would be “fun” enough for the girls.

I keep thinking about the terriers…a Kerry Blue, a Wheaton or maybe an Airedale. Cairn or Westie maybe….Scotties are too dour…

But I think a Standard Poodle would be perfect.

Another One.....

Monday evening. My optimism failed me. We were all lounging in the living room; I was grading some papers before supper, the dogs were snoozing in front of the fire, drowsy from Ellie’s. Suddenly Maudie sat up her eyes darting around the room as if following a very fast fly, then she fell to her side and went into seizure.

I reached down to where her muzzle would’ve hit the sharp corner of the settee, wedged my hand between and asked M to bring the Rescue Remedy and Haagen Daz. When it was over and she lifted her head, we gave her RR and as she stood up, offered the ice cream, which she ate.

Because of the RR and the ice cream at the ready, her recovery was much faster this time and I tried to hide my sinking heart from her, focusing instead on her increasing steadiness.

Her breeder has been very supportive.

What triggered it?
? The paps had had their HW meds 3 days previously. Could there be a kind of offgassing?
? I had seen her on the garden path in the dark very interested in something on the ground
The gas fire’s been on for a few weeks. ??
? She was unable to focus in class until I took her outside where she exploded just in time and spent a few minutes crouching as not much came out after the initial dumping of soft, mucousy stool. Afterwards, she was gay as all get out in class and we had fun.

We saw D OB the next day, got an adjustment and I’ve been researching additional measures. Homeopathy in particular…

The hoof beat would suggest idiopathic epilepsy, a problem in the breed. In NC they are doing a study on collies with the dbl MDR1 gene and epilepsy. I wrote but as she’s not on seizure medications she’s not eligible.

Meds aren’t prescribed unless the seizures come more often, and phenobarbitol, adjusted with sodium bromide seems the standard. It makes sense to me that something like Valerian/ Passaflora and the like ---which also have a calming effect—might help.

I wonder if a tab of Formula 303 each evening might work as a preventative. In any case….another medical mystery has landed on my desk… I remain calm, if a little disheartened, preferring to give this one to my head and let the girl herself keep my heart.

Abashed.

The blog has slid out of my ritual and habits.
It is the probably the most common ailment of these thousands and thousands of bloggers. And, well, I caught it.
Part of it is the return to school, part of it is the fact that I’ve kept working in the studio and am exploring new things, part of it is reading through the articles I’m evaluating for DWAA* awards, and part is just ailment.

Just to catch up then.

Maudie and I are now working twice a month at 2 different locations. One in our neighborhood and one a little outside of it.
The second is the library where we started and even though the time is a little inconvenient: Tues pm after a full day of teaching, I can’t give it up. Too many possibilities. There are the 4th grade girls who Maudie adores, most of whom read as well as my college students, and some who need more practice. She really enjoys them. Our last reader, when she was done, sat on the floor with Maudie’s head in her lap while her mom rubbed her tummy. She looked up at me with a “this really IS the life” look.

The Maudie fan club grows wherever she goes. It is clear to see why.
a. she’s arrestingly beautiful
b. she’s personable
c. she’s gentle
When she meets people, she sits square in front of them, looks them right in the face with soft eyes and offers a paw. Her posture is one of humility and delight: her ears are back. Yet she retains her queenliness: she is sitting straight up when she offers her “hand.”

The kids love it when she lies down next to them with that big “ooof” which I have told them is her sound of contentment. And it is.
She sounds like a lion when she slides to the floor and groans. It is a happy song.

I am very very proud of her. When she is working and her eyes turn to mine to check in, I am filled with honor to be her partner.


* Dog Writers Assoc. of America

where i've been

When someone says they don’t have time for something, I think often it means exactly that…but in my case lately it’s not so much literal as it is a matter of focus.

In any given day there are many hours, you’d think an hour could be set aside, in fragments if need be, to write a blog entry…

unless, like me, you are shaping your days to circumvent a tendency towards ADD and channel it instead into the studio. I have a show in August and the pieces are due at the gallery tomorrow.

This means that for the last 2 months I have been writing statements, taking hundreds of digital photos, hunting down obscure and tiny objects of exactly the right size, and tools that will do exactly what I need them to do. (I discovered “Mod Podge” which is like an acrylic medium married to Elmer’s glue, for instance, and I’m in love with it…. )

I have 3 years worth of work that I need to finish and resolve and shape into a coherent whole; it’s kind of like directing a play. And this takes a lot of unfocused focus.

During “normal life” I work slowly but almost constantly and 80% of the time on a subconscious level. When it comes time to make mind into matter, I need to show up in a very specific way. So either I’m in the studio or I’m riding my bike, (talking about or thinking about bikes) or I’m with the animals.

We have been doing our Library work, and going to class and to the park. And some of the work, the signature piece of the show, is about Maudie’s pedigree. It’s on the card. Here:



SO that’s why this room, The 4th Dog, room has been so dark. Thanks for staying tuned.

If you’re in Portland, the show opens on August 5.

PDX Contemporary Art
925 NW Flanders Street
Portland, OR 97209
503 222 0063
www.pdxcontemporaryart.com

Amber Alerts for Pets

http://www.findtoto.com/
I saw this on another blog I read and wanted to post it here. I can not imagine how devestated I'd be if I lost one of my little tribe....
It is good for both lost and found pets...check it out....pass it on....

What a Brute is Spring

Spring is well into its adolescence here in the Pacific Northwest. She's trying on Summer's clothes and pouring 90 degree heat down over us. The azaleas have unclenched their tiny fists of color in the lace of new leavesand wilt a little; the clematis snakes its fingers out to feel the wall and the tulips hold their cups up for water. The earth that was black with rain dries and cracks; a tornado of scent swirls in the dust. The evening bruises with color. Branches of the butterfly bush shoot out in chaos. The night aches with growing.

In the morning I watch my little dogs flash -- white and red and black-- and strike poses in the green green grass. I notice that Gus’s chest has filled out; his ruff carves an elegant “S” starting just under his jaw. Flynn’s soundness echoes in the air, all legs firm beneath her.

As she marches away from me in the grass grown too high, I can see the curve of her hip and thigh under the wide flow of her satiny culottes. She is eight this month, and I feel time moving away from me, as surely as this new season crashes in from above and below. Everything new is coming into form; everything is already aging and moving away. In the stalk of the daffodil is its wilting…in the fullness of my dog’s age is her leaving.

The strangest thing is going on....It's a gloomy damp Saturday here in the Willamette Valley and I can hear what sounds like THOUSANDS of angry crows very close by...An actual riot of crows...
I feel like I'm in The Birds 2.

They've been rioting for over 5 minutes now...and the jays are starting to squawk as well. One lawn mower is buzzing obliviously.

It's kind of scary....the dogs are snoring through it.

Sonny Has a Bath

but he hates to have his ears blown dry....so we let them air dry, and he is grateful.

Maudie Visits the Chiropractor

My dogs have a chiropractor. He is a strange and gifted soul.

Flynn first went to him after the 3rd time I found her under the table
shaking so hard I thought her muscles would spring. The vet’s diagnosis was constipation and she spent the day in hospital with a subQ line and periodic emptying….and the 3rd time we went to our favorite vet who looked t the X rays of her bowels and said it was probably her back that was behind all the trouble. So up the I-5 we trundled to see the guy all the dogs see. She has been seeing him once a month or so for a year and is doing fine.

I love the relationship they have. He says “Hello Beautiful” and looks into her eyes, and she looks back with her dark dark liquid eyes full of feeling. I love watching him work, one hand moving in little circles on the bottom of his clipboard, the other searching out the places where the road has buckled. All the while Flynnie is still looking at his face, trying to read his roadmap.

Last time we went I mentioned Maudie’s seizure and told him about my suspicions regarding the Interceptor. His response was too complicated for me to quite follow (darn it), but I kept hearing the right words, like blood brain barrier, cerebellum, liver…and so I brought her in the next week.

She was nervous being in the little room at first, certain she was at the vet’s and certain she didn’t want to be there, but he worked his charm on her. He spent long minutes adjusting her atlas, slowly slowly, and at one point she stopped fidgeting, sighed and held very still. Bingo. She practically fell asleep. Below the sound outside of chainsaws and lawn mowers we listened to her breathe.

On our way out she actually leaped up as I got her in the wagon and I think her energy has been brighter. Today we went for our second visit. She was panting and pacing at first, but by the time we left, she was all melted and calm and sad to see him go.

I have no doubt that he is helping both my girls. It’s not just about moving pieces of bone back into place, it’s about lining up the planets of the body so that energy moves freely; on ball bearings rolling…up and down from head to tail, out their eyes and back again.

What is a "Good Breeder"?

In the local news yesterday was another story about a hoarder who was a chihuahua "breeder". Something like 100 chis of all ages were pulled out of this house in rural Washington County that looked more like a dump or a bad nightmare than a house. Garbage spilled all around the house; the dogs were in tiny cages piled up on one another with sometimes 2 or 3 to a cage; small filthy dark rooms were crammed with exercise pens that were filled with feces and food scattered all over the floor.
Someone who had gone to the house hoping to buy a puppy reported the conditions to the County police, and subsequently there was a raid on the house. Children cats, birds, chickens were also stockpiled there.
Apparently the "breeder" has an online "business." Caveat Emptor indeed.

Everyone with half an ear open has heard about puppy mills by now, but I'm not so sure "puppy mill" has been well defined. A single person with a website or an innocent ad in the newspaper can be a puppy miller, or a bad backyard breeder. So how do you know how to identify a good breeder from a factory?
On the television news the reporter claimed that this chihuahua person was not "licenced as a business" as if that were a telling fact. But truth be told, more puppy mills are licenced as businesses than good breeders are.
Good breeders work for the love and betterment of a breed of dog. They study pedigrees, genetics and health records and breed for themselves, hoping to produce a great show or working dog, and those puppies who will not become part of their plan will be placed in the best pet homes the breeder can find.
One of the most telling ways to identify a good breeder is that you will be grilled; nobody gets a puppy of theirs who does not meet a certain standard. Not only do they NOT take credit cards, but roughly half the people inquiring about a puppy or dog might be turned away. One breeder I know will not sell a puppy to anyone whose house she has not personally visited.
There are other things to look for as well..and despite the temptation to buy a cute puppy on line, I wouldn't suggest buying any animal from someone I was not able to experience and check out first hand. Nor would a good breeder sell to just anyone with cash in hand.
Here are some other guidelines:

Primary Characteristics of a Reputable Breeder

1. Provides a written contract of sale with a health guarantee and written instructions on feeding, training, grooming and care
2. Provides access to the mother (dam) who should be on site and exhibit a healthy, happy temperament
3. Does not sell puppies until they are at least 8 weeks old or in some cases older (12 weeks in the case of toy breeds)
4. Shows you where the puppies are kept. This area should be very clean
5. Provides you with a record of the dates and types of vaccinations and de-worming done, feeding instructions, a pedigree, and a registration certificate to apply for registration of the puppy in your own name with the AKC.
6. Is able to prove he has performed pre-breeding health checks on the parents
7. Provides references of people who have purchased puppies in the past, the names of other breeders, and the veterinarian who provides care for the breeder's dogs.
8. Offers a return-buy back policy and make it clear that his/her responsibility continues as long as the dog is alive. They should be available for advice whenever needed, and help you over many rough spots.
9. Abides by code of ethics, typically by belonging to a breed club or association
10. Is very knowledgeable about the breed he or she is selling
11. Requires or encourages the neutering of all pet-quality dogs
12. Sells puppies only to approved buyers and never sells to brokers or puppy mills
13. Has mindfully socialized and can discuss socialization of the puppies and can make recommendations for their continued socialization and training
14. Usually breeds no more than two breeds.

People who show their dogs are often the most conscientious and ethical breeders and it doesn't matter a whit if YOU want to show or not...they are the breeders to seek out. And surprise surprise, you will usually pay LESS than you would at a pet store that gets their "stock" from mills. Maybe a little more than from a backyard breeder who advertises in the classifieds, but the extra money is well worth the investment for the sound mind and body of a purebred puppy.

The Original Rescue

I'd call the baby Moses....It being Passover. But why is "rescue" in quotes?

Dogs "rescue" girl abandoned by mother
Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:11am EDT

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of villagers have flocked to a remote Indian village to see a baby girl who was saved by stray dogs after she was abandoned in a mound of mud by her mother, officials said on Tuesday.

Villagers in the eastern state of Bihar saved the newborn on the weekend after they saw three dogs barking near a baby covered with mud.

"The dogs removed the soil around and began to bark and the baby started crying which drew attention of the local villagers," Ram Narayan Sahani, a senior government official, said on Tuesday from Bihar's Samastipur district.

"The girl is crying but is safe in the lap of a childless couple who have adopted her."

Police said they were looking for the girl's mother, who they think had left the girl to die.

Female foeticide, though illegal in India, is widespread as boys are traditionally preferred to girls as breadwinners, and families have to pay huge dowries to marry off their daughters.

The United Nations says an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India.

(Writing by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Fickle Sky

It better start snowing, raining or spitting hail here soon, or I’ll be mad as hell. Today there is a tracking seminar that the PNWCollie Club is holding on a farm where the collies they breed are gorgeous. I don’t know much about them otherwise…but they have a lovely look. I saw a male once at the ROSE CITY cluster who really knocked me out….

I trained one of my corgis to track. It was actually kind of romantic; getting up early in the morning when the air was cool, packing hot coffee, wearing wool socks and getting out in a field off a rutted road. Laying track was a thoughtful process and involved colored flags. I enjoyed it.

Maudie loves to use her nose, so she might be quite good.

I was all excited to go with her, but the weather report was for unseasonably cold and seasonably wet weather. Because I had that awful virus for much of the winter, I figured I best beg off…a day spent outside in bad weather might not be the wisest choice.

Of course, now, it is 11am and the sun is bouncing off the wall. The seminar started at 10. Now it COULD be raining in the valley south of here…. but all I know is that it isn’t here and I’m gravely disappointed. If it wasn’t over an hour away, I’d go now…. and probably get there just in time for a windstorm….

ah….air…..

sky photo from: http://www.stormeffects.com

How to Photograph Your Dogs

First make sure they are all looking in the same direction, and preferably at the camera....

Maudie's New Jewelery

I don't spend a lot of money on clothes or even books anymore. Between Powell's and Amazon I get most of my books used. And I love libraries.

I DO have a weakness though, for 3 things. Good shoes. Good bags. And dog equipment. Whenever Jane (PDX Contemporary Art) sells a piece of mine, I put the money a.) back into the studio in the form of supplies or (and because i have created a very nicely stocked studio) b) in support of my 3 weaknesses, with dog equipment topping the list.

I just got the package I've been waiting for...Maudie's new martingale and lead made of kangaroo leather. I designed it to match the quilt I made for her as her "go to" spot when we are working. I wanted to use colors that "sing" with HER colors. Mahogany sables have a grey cast to their undercoat; (I think it's a function of the tri color gene that makes a sable into a mahogany sable, sable with lots of black in the coat), There are infinite varieties of brown in her fur,and of course, the inside of her ears and her tongue...are pink. So,the key colors are grey, pink and hazel brown.

The photo of the "jewelery" was taken by the woman who made it. Her name is Shannon and her website is Leashes by Design. Her craftsmanship is superb.



Kangaroo leather is incredibly strong and softens like butter.



Maudie's quilt:










Maudie's grandfather, Ch Twin Oaks High Plains Drifter, is a mahogany sable, as is Maudie.











et voila!

Another DLAATE Conference

Sunday was the 08 DLAATE conference, my second. I went last year, sans Maudie, sans certification in fact, and had a really nice time. I was impressed with the organization, the discussions, and the snacks. And, most of all, the people.

On the whole they were incredibly savvy, friendly, down to earth and possessed of what I thought was a really clean energy. In some ways, they were more dog smart than many people I observe (and am at times) in obedience and certainly agility.

I think it’s because there is more on the line when you go out as a team to do this work. You are highly visible in public; your dog is required to deal with an onslaught of emotional and sometimes physical energy from strangers and MUST have self-control. Its not like an NQ in a trial…you don’t even get to go out until quite a few people think you are ready and steady.

You are in charge of the health and well being first and foremost of your dog. This means you need to develop certain acumen for reading your dog closely. You need to know when she is ALMOST at the threshold of being tired, physically, emotionally. You need to know what to do to help keep her on an even keel; do you need to go home, or just go outside for a break? Is she stressed? excited? happy? thirsty?

It is a whole other way of working with dogs. I have done obedience for years, tracking, herding, agility, even conformation showing. This is more rigorous and yet less rigid, more complex and yet less formal. There’s no penalty for multiple commands or sloppy sits. And whereas in obedience you want your dog’s attention riveted on you, here you reel her out, let her work her own way in developing relationships. It’s probably most like tracking—you have to listen to your dog and know what she’s saying.

At both conferences I’ve attended, there was a lot of intelligent and humane discussion about training and communication.

And there are flowers on all the tables and doughnuts and barrels of bottled water. There are gifts from the community to the dogs and the dogs themselves are there, sprawled next to their handlers on blankets and mats (which gave me an opportunity to make a quilt for Maude). There is a noticeable lack of competition, and a willingness to share information.

The 07 conference was in a large hotel meeting room and I thought it was a classy affair. By that I mean: well organized, inclusive, on time, with plenty of refreshments available throughout the day.

But this one, the 08 one, was at Oaks Park in an old dance pavilion and it was just as well managed; only the venue was absolutely magical.

Oaks Park is an old time amusement park along the Willamette River. It has whirling rides and carney booths and cotton candy. It is small and colorful and quaint and trees run along the paths above the river.

The dance pavilion was large and gently lit; strings of playing cards hung from the ceiling and plastic garlands flowered along the windows. The floor was narrow worn boards stained a golden brown and marked with age, but clean and well kept.

During the day, it rained and then the sun came out and the pattern repeated itself. And at noon the rides cranked on and an old salt and peppershaker flashed in and out above the roofs outside the windows.

There were round table discussions on the different aspects of the work: READ, Crisis Response, Hospital work, Training & Behavior and others. There were 2 keynote speakers; one was from the Uof O and was studying the physical and emotional impact of therapy work on the dogs. When you consider what is asked of the dogs: a high degree of self-control and compliance, coupled with the inability to control their own choices, you realize how stressful some scenarios and can be. And yet we expect them to be perfectly well behaved, empathic and tireless. The underlying message was a reiteration of the need for handlers to be keenly aware of the needs of their dogs, and see to their fulfillment.

The other speaker was a positive reinforcement trainer. I always learn something listening to them, although in the end, I like E’s (our competition obedience teacher) way of teaching better: In +R the word “No” is verboten…you redirect behavior or wait for the correct answer to be offered. But I like being able to say “nope, that’s not it, try this…” and I think my dogs really like having that range of info. E has taught me never to underestimate a) their ability to understand what is being communicated and b) the need to communicate clearly and fairly.

I feel like I’m getting a truly rich and varied education in training and communicating…probably the most concentrated and exciting one of my life in dogs.

A Maudie Story

(This is Ch Tartanside Heir Apparent ROM, Maudie's great x 4 grandfather. I think he's one of the most smashing collies ever...I can see him in her face)




This happened when we went to the vet. I'd put it in the category of an everyday miracle, or the synchronicity of need.

We were standing at the counter to pay our bill having just come out of the exam room. I was trying to absorb the idea that Maudie could have another seizure, trying to juggle the odds in my mind.

Just inside the lobby a well dressed woman with worry drawing her eyebrows together was standing, waiting for word (I learned) about her sick kitty. She saw Maudie and her eyes widened.
Can I meet her?" she asked.
Yes, please, we said.
And so she cried "ooohhhhh" and slipped to her knees whispering you are so beautiful you are so wonderful" and she was choked up and wet eyed.

The whole time I was talking to the tech, paying the bill, this woman was on the floor, in her beautiful wool coat and high heels absorbed utterly in Maude, talking intently to her, who leaned the top of her long head into her chest, wagging her slow tail and sat and offered her paw.

By the time the woman stood up--(she looked like a Julie or a Sally)--her beautiful coat and black trousers were covered in long hair, her hair was mussed, her eyes soft and shining.

Maudie got to come out and do what she loves to do, which is share greetings of a good universe; the woman was comforted, and I got to see my girl in her glory.

It was a lucky moment. Or is this what people call "grace?"

sigh....

Chaos reigned yesterday. I took Maudie to see Dr Mc. about her seizure. The sun was out, I was late getting out of school and we CRAWLED over the bridge thick with traffic. Practically in tears, I called the office 20 minutes after our app’t should have started and told them I was 2 miles away and stuck.

Luckily Dr Mc worked us back in, and in fact spent quite a bit of time with us. Not so lucky: he doesn’t think it very likely that the Interceptor caused the seizure. Nor does Dr Mealey, the vet at WSU who developed the test for the MDR1 gene and linked it to ivermectin sensitivity. Both think it more likely to be idiopathic epilepsy, which tends to appear between 5 months and 3 years of age.

I have put out a call for anecdotes about collies who have suffered seizures while on Interceptor, and ceased having them when taken off that drug. I have gotten word about 2.

So she still MIGHT have sensitivity to the drug. The old packaging listed seizures as a possible side effect; the new package says convulsions. It may have little to do with the gene mutation.

We have taken her off the drug and will see from here. It was that or give her another dose and see if she had another seizure. We both voted for the first option.

Diethylcarbamazine, sold as Filaribits, the daily HW pill that was used before these monthly doses blew them out of the water was much safer. Many collie breeders will ONLY use it. Unfortunately, it is no longer available in the US, but it is available in Australia and Canada as Dimmitrol.

So…the search for information begins. I have found some good resources for epilepsy info like Guardian Angels and the Canine Epilepsy Network and just realized that my friend, Caroline Levin, wrote a book about it, which is certain to have good information. I even have a copy somewhere in the house.

Still my fervent wish is that I will not have to use any of them…

A Bad Night

Late Wednesday night I was reading in bed when I heard a bang bang bang on the wall. I figured it was Maudie scratching, only it went on too long and had a strange rhythm and so I got up and went over to her bed to find her in full seizure mode. Her mouth was open in a foaming grimace, her legs were running and she kept hitting her head on the wall.

I knew right away what it was. I put my hand between her head and the wall and waited, staying very calm and present. There was a strange twilight mode of creeping back to consciousness and some 3-4 minutes later, she struggled to her feet and paced around and around the house in a disoriented, driven state. When I held her still, to get some Rescue Remedy into her mouth, she cried.

I looked up dog seizures on the net. As soon as they are able to eat, it is good to give them an additive free vanilla ice cream…like Hagen Daze or Breyers. Barring that, a TBL honey and a TbL unsalted butter (for a 50 lb dog) will affect the same result, which is to suspend sugar in fat so it won’t spike and then drop in the body while it raises the blood sugar level. Luckily she was very keen on the honey mix and lapped it all up.

I’m not sure how much time passed after that. M and I sat up and watched to make sure she didn’t smash into anything; we let her out a few times and then settled back into the bedroom. She paced. I said, “Maudie go lie down now and go to sleep” and that is exactly what she did. But neither M nor I slept very soundly, scared and alert to the possibility of another.

At some point in my fitful sleep, I remembered that the day before had been heartworm day. They had gotten their pills with dinner.

We know that Maudie has the mutant MDR1 gene:

The problem is due to a mutation in the multi-drug resistance gene (MDR1). This gene encodes a protein, P-glycoprotein, that is responsible for pumping many drugs and other toxins out of the brain. Dogs with the mutant gene can not pump some drugs out of the brain as a normal dog would, which may result in abnormal neurological signs. (http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-VCPL/)

And so she was taking Interceptor rather than an ivermectin drug. I did some research and discovered that milbemycin oxime, the active ingredient in Interceptor has also been known to cause neurological episodes, only, it seems, the number of cases is lower.

Her breeder, who I talked to that next day, told me that she knows of no epileptic dogs in the pedigree, but she does know of another collie who had a bad reaction to the drug. She was shocked and upset. If it is not epilepsy, then it could be a reaction to the drug---which seems likely given the proximity of the events.

Of course I have begun a massive layman’s research project on the drugs and the diseases (heartworm and epilepsy). We have an app’t with our vet next week. In the meantime, I can administer nutritional support— enzymes, vit B6, magnesium, manganese in particular---and watch her. She has been fine since that evening.

It is a trauma to watch a seizure in someone you love. I did learn that unconsciousness ascends during the active part and that there is no pain, but the surprise and confusion and fear of it is striking and for 24 hours afterwards we were both a little wobbly.

It reminds me ---again---of the poisons we live with, the blows against our immune systems, the fragility of organic life. Years ago, when my corgi developed Cushings Disease—adrenal malfunction—I set out on a long journey of learning. What had begun, as a “lifestyle choice” in graduate school back in Massachusetts became an obsession. Nutrition, herbology, acupuncture, homeopathy.

I am not against allopathic medicine, nor am I an alternative only purist. I do believe strongly in developing mindfulness about all the ways we can support life systems in a toxic world. Once you become aware of systems theory (that life operates as a system in which every occurrence impacts every other) there is no turning back.

That mindfulness is empowering. Seems like we are about to add another branch to the library.

I don’t know if we’ll ever find out what caused it, or if she’ll have more. My hope is that this was a one-time incident related to sensitivity to the milbemycin. You can bet she won’t be getting that again…and we’re now on the hunt for safer ways to control the possibility of heartworm disease.

Sometimes when Maudie is walking in front of me, ambling really, and I can't see her face, I think she looks like a person in a gorilla suit.

I'm having a moment...you can listen if you like.

I look back on the paragraphs I wrote (below), my attempt to share a basic knowledge of what goes on in the obedience ring and it feels as if it were written from a great distance. I barely recognize the voice. Maybe it’s because I am just giving abbreviated explanations of exercises explained at great length and with much precision elsewhere (for example: http://www.spinone.com/ObedUnderstinding.htm ) and that terminology is driving the sentences…

But there is a lingering discomfort. I am reminded that truly showing up is the greatest exercise of all. In all that explanation there is no whiff of my own skin, my own experience; it is all by rote, a memorization, a recording…and as my fingers moved over the keys, my mind leaned against a wall somewhere and yawned, examining the shape of my fingernails.

Not that it’s a bad thing. It is an unavoidable moment in a string of many moments…it’s just that as I get older I more and more want to be in the precise center of my own experience, where I bump into no walls of self consciousness or doubt, where I just AM, fluent and rooted in the ground I stand on.

And I am reminded that there is perhaps no subject more fraught with the back and forth, with anxiety and pleasure, doubt and sure footedness as there is in the world of obedience.

Why? Maybe because it is there where I am called out from the dreamy volumes of imagined experience, into the arena of action. Where my deepest commitment to my desires (to truly be WITH dogs) is tested and evaluated, both by myself, my dog and by others. It is an arena of judges and teachers, of an audience and competitors filled with often toxic judgments. At times, I have been so overwhelmed by that judgment that I have forgotten what really matters…my relationship with my dog, and I have done things to gain entrance that I would not have done otherwise.

Thankfully, most of that is in the past. My teachers have been kind and simple and direct…almost Zen like in their fluidity. I have become utterly detached from the judgements of those I do not respect. And I have grown as a trainer, an observer and a friend so much I shock myself.

But that is beside the point. Back to the original feeling.

I have a question. Is it that once the knowledge of an experience truly settles into the psyche and the body it is tedious to TaLK about it….or is it that language used for anything other than rooting out other levels of experience -–“how can I know what I think until I see what I say” --feels like a numbness?

And that the act of writing, for me, has to be both an exploration of experience and fulfill a desire to connect, to share experience. And that one with out the other hobbles.

Competition Obedience

(photo: Long Down in the Novice ring)
I wanted to take a few moments and talk about our other work, competitive obedience.

(To many, obedience training, conjures up images of choke chains, coercion and the bending of wills. There is some truth to that idea; obedience as a sport was developed out of the military training dogs underwent to work overseas in WWII. And in my younger days, the majority of trainers worked under that banner: The Dog MUST Obey. There was a lot of jerking and force involved.But since that time---and in large part I believe because of feminism, ecology, and a generation who grew up watching Flipper and Lassie—he sport has undergone vast changes. Instead of coercion, we use positive reinforcement, instead of blind obedience, we enter a dance, and I haven’t used a choke chain in over 10 years.)

Mostly I want to share what it is exactly we DO in class and what it is we are preparing for.

There are 3 categories of obedience: Novice, Open and Utility. (Rally Obedience is another category) To gain a title, which will appear after the dog’s name like a PhD, or MSW…a dog must pass in three trials under three different judges.

In Novice, a dog and handler strive for a CD (Companion Dog). Novice is kind of like grades k-12 for children. The building blocks on which all other learning take place are forged here, including a love and eagerness for learning and working together.

The exercises include: Heel on Leash, Heel off Leash, Stand for Examination, Recall, and the Long Sit and Long Down.

Heel is a very specific position: the dog’s shoulder should be aligned with the handler’s left hip and dog and handler should be able to move into and out of any position without deviating from that alignment. Left and right turns, Figure eights, close pivots, and about turns make up the movement.
The leash, when on, is NEVER to be tight. Points are lost for tight leads and corrections are forbidden in the ring.

Stand for examination requires the dog be asked to stand and stay (no moving of feet) while a stranger (the judge) runs his/her hand over the dog’s body.

The recall requires the dog be left on a sit stay at one end of the ring while the handler walks to the other side and turns and faces the dog. Until the judge signals the handler to call the dog and the handler calls the dog, she must not “break her sit”. No standing, lying down or moving until she is called. When she is called she must come –the faster the better—on the FIRST command and sit closely and squarely in front of her handler. The judge will then ask for a finish and the handler will tell the dog to move from in front into heel position.

Each dog and handler performs the above exercises alone in the ring except for the judge and the stewards who serve as “posts” for the figure 8 heeling.

After each dog completes the above:

Everyone competing for a “leg” (passing score) in Novice lines up along side one side of the ring with about 4 feet between each dog and handler. The dogs are placed on a “Sit Stay”, the handlers cross the ring where they must stand with no further signals to the dogs for one minute. The dogs cannot move from their sit to go to the handler, play with the dog next to her, check out what that kid at ringside is eating until the handlers are asked to return to their dogs, take up heel position and the judge announces the exercise finished.

The long down is the same, only lasts 3 minutes. If the dog moves from position at any point after the handler has said stay, until he handler releases the dog, in wither the long sit or long down, the dog will not pass.

In Open, we are competing for a CDX (Companion Dog Excellent) and I’d liken Open to undergraduate school, or college. The dog is required to do all a Novice dog does, only all heeling is done off leash, the long sit is 3 minutes, the long Down, 5 AND the handlers MUST leave the room for the duration. In addition the recall has grown to include being sent from the handler’s side to retrieve a dumbbell over a jump (out and back), to drop into a down in the middle of coming back to the handler when asked, and then to continue to front when asked. Open requires the dog to do more at a distance from the handler.

The third level is Utility, and the coveted title is a UD (Utility Dog). The average number of trials a dog and handler enter in their quest for the 3 passing scores (or legs) that will confer the UD is 26. That means on average, 23 times the team will not qualify. It’s hard work!
More on Utility later.


All the papillons in our house have their CD title and are training for Open and Utility. Maudie and I are getting ready to get her CD.

The Library

Tuesday night we were knee deep in kids anxious to sit with Maudie and read. We got in a minute or so late---there was panic in the kitchen at home about getting the top on the thermos of tea I was taking properly screwed on---and there were already three children waiting. I was tired and feeling poorly, but very happy to be there.

First up was E, a boy whose affection for Maudie is large and with whom she shares a genuine rapport. He hurried through his books, skidding over his difficulty and lisp and I was sorry we had only one slot. So far he has been the only one who wanted to sit on the floor with her; the physical closeness seemed important, and he was also the most intent on sharing his book with her.

M, the girl who followed had also signed up when we were last there; she is a striking child, there is something so old about her; her features are adult like yet tiny; she sparkles and tinkles, yet there is an odd heaviness in her mother’s face that I feel just under M’s music…

Two sisters came next; they sat with their father at a table nearby an hour before their turn, picking out their books and practicing. They were a little shy, but guileless and I had to keep from laughing as the younger one had picked out a book on obesity in dogs. There were entire paragraphs about veterinary insurance and research, lists of the ill effects and diseases associated with obesity and I think she understood maybe 1/16 of what she was reading.

It’s odd. Clearly the children want very much to sit with us, to interact with Maudie, but as soon as they open their books and start to read, their attention is wholly on the reading. Occasionally, they will reach down a hand, or show her a picture, or check to see if she’s listening, but they take their books quite seriously.

I’d be very interested to know what really draws them in, makes them want to come and sit with us---a stranger and her dog---and read with such intensity. I suppose that as we go on, the thousand petals of this experience will open and I will learn more.

Meantime, we are waiting to find out when we can start in the after school program at a local elementary school. I particularly like the idea of intensifying and speeding up the process; instead of 15 minutes once a month with an ever changing line of kids, we will meet once a week with a small group of the same kids…relationships will be forged and I suspect the impact of Maudie’s good will and appeal will be stronger.

I am having a wonderful time sitting with the kids and my warm, kind collie. I watch her grow more and more at ease as her confidence around, and pleasure in, the children increases. And the kind of working relationship we develop is so different from the one we forge in obedience, where I am the teacher and the director. Here we come as a team; my job is to support and help her focus and then sit back and watch her work her magic.

Working in obedience has helped her grow more confident in all she does. E says that now that she knows what is expected of her, she is relaxing into her new life and her sense of her own ability is growing.

It’s quite a caper, this, rich with surprise and connection and pleasure.

I had planned to take Maudie and drive down to Albany this morning for the show. Another KV collie is showing in Utility, and I want to meet more people showing collies in performance events. We also could have visited w/LR….

But on our walk last night…damp and dark…I found myself struggling up the hill and then a little clawing started in my throat. By the time I went to bed, my lungs felt fragile, you know, when every breath that expands them sends you coughing…
I could just spit. If I get this virus again…..

So I’m going to try and head this off…stay very warm, hydrated and anti-oxidant-ed. This is finals week, next week is spring break and I had a plan to ride every day.

Under a gloomy sky, in our little green room, papillons piled on the quilt and snoring, Maudie sighing her deep contented sigh…we find ourselves here again. I have plenty to read, excellent company and good toast bread. M is in the studio framing paintings, so the birds have company.
It could be worse.

Back

We’re finally getting back into the world. Out of bed and into our boots. Monday we’ll go back to Ellie’s and yesterday we worked in the library.

Two of the kids didn’t show up, but as we waited, several others came over and asked to meet Maudie. One was a young boy who was so charmed that he kept finding reasons to come back and talk to Maudie, and Maudie clearly liked him, offering her paw and sitting close to him. His mom signed him up for our next library day.

A gaggle of girls came too. They told me all about their dogs while they twirled Maudie’s hair and exclaimed over the length of her “snout.” They too signed up to read to her.

Best of all, our friend T came back with her mom and baby sister. She is only in kindergarten, but reads up a storm. In 20 minutes she read 6 books. Maudie either sat next to her, or settled down by her chair, prompting her to say that it was obvious that Maudie really liked being read to. I love that.

I already feel attached to T and because of her, feel more committed to continue working at that branch, even though we are also going to work once a week in an after school program. The thought of disappointing T is just untenable to me…but I suppose I should keep in mind that it’s just as likely that she could stop coming, or sign up for the days when the poodle is there. Boundaries?

I was very proud of Maudie. Even when a group of kids surrounded her, she was calm and seemed to enjoy the attention. She sat in front of kids who dropped to their knees to see her and shook hands a thousand times, which delighted them.

She’s funny. I can see her scanning the room and counting all the people who have yet to introduce themselves. And I think she also looks for familiar faces. It will be interesting to see how she responds to kids who become regulars.

It will be a busy spring. We’re signed on for more work, and I have a show to get ready for in August. I also want to get back on the bike; I really miss riding.

But if I ever feel overwhelmed, I’ll just remember some of those dark hours lying in bed wondering why in the world I was even in the world. And I will be grateful for the company of my dog and the good work we can do.

Grumpy

photo by Jonathan Maus of bikeportland.org
Here I am AGAIN, in bed, but this time with either the flu or a wicked bad cold. Probably caught this one on the plane. Sore throat, headache, stuffed to the nines. I’m a little better than I was, but after a previous sick day and my trip to Boston, I could not miss another day of teaching so I taught on Thursday until my voice just plain gave out and I crashed.

I feel bad for ol’ Maudie. She insists on being on the floor by the bed until she gets so bored she has to go rip up a cardboard box from recycling or bark at the tarmac. The she comes back and lies down again with her eyes open. The papillons seem to just luxuriate in it. They all come hustling up to take their place on the bedscape, turn on the alarm (in case anyone should even think of coming near the house) and nestle in.

This weekend was forecast to be sunny and warm, the notice of which melted my edges a bit. It would’ve been the weekend to get back on the bike and really go riding, but as it is, the day is sharp and overcast. And tomorrow?

So I lie here and read about handmade bicycles, remembering that I missed the North American Handmade Bicycle Show for Rachel’s Bas Mitzvah in Boston last weekend. Seems I missed more than just the bikes. LA was there and ended up buying the BIS bike (by Naked). This brought on talk about his shop in Austin: a cycling shop for commuters. Sounds like he wants to impact the city transportation plan to make it more like Portland’s: i.e. Bike Friendly.

Of course when you read about this on the bikeportland.org site you get a cascade of comments about his devious self serving vanity…We love successful people…but only if they truly become like the gods….wait…not even the gods were perfect, were they…

It’s like people’s response to art..many times they are so afraid they are being tricked that they just become cynical and diss the whole lot. Then they can be safe behind a mask of I know better You won’t fool me with your tricks mr smartynose

LA is an amazing man in enough respects to have earned his stature. He is probably the premier athlete of our time, he survived a sure death sentence signed by cancer AND he has given enormous amounts of attention and money to the LIVESTRONG foundation…Now he wants to activate Austin TX (his hometown to become more bike friendly…

He’s just Got to have an ulterior motive….Well, he won’t fool ME, they cried in unison. (It’s ironic..the person who commented about his vanity has a picture of herself as an avatar which shows up alongside comments…)

Full House

That's a puppy picture of Maya, one of my favorite of K’s papillons. She is having puppies any day now. There’s a good chance they were conceived on the same day that Sonny won HIT…AND the dad is a NICE dog…a Kirby grandson…(if I remember correctly.) Kirby was the papillon who won Best in Show at Westminster…was it 1999? Lovely dog.

I have my hands full training Maudie for Novice and moving Flynn and Sonny into Open, plus the therapy work that we are just starting. There is no room right now for another. There just isn’t. Tempting and delicious as this litter may be…I will just have to imagine that maybe the great grandmother of my next puppy will be in it.

Tempting…but 3 is my limit. We have 4, but Gus is M’s dog. Still when he hangs out with us, or needs me, I can feel the pack pulling at the seams; there is plenty love, but only so much time, and my relationship with each one individually deserves its due.

I went on the walk tonight, after a week of not walking because of this darn cold. It felt great. And I LOVE watching the paps zip along in the plaid coats I made them. They look so fetching!

February

Starting to feel better after a week. The weather has been wildly uncommitted: snow, rain, sun, rain, and snow. In any case, getting out has been a gamble. With my trip to Boston upcoming, I ‘m trying to mend and stay that way. So no walks, certainly no rides and a lot of time in bed.

We lost our DSL connection for 2 days, the 2 days I was most sick, so not only was I unavailable to my students on the day I missed class, but I suffered internet withdrawal. A craving for sweets, irritability, restlessness, gloom. Add to that bitter soup 24 hours of talking to tech support while sitting on the cold dusty floor in M’s studio where the modem lives, 36 hours of waiting for the techs, the discovery, after 24 hours of working with the tech, that moving the modem to another room DOES affect connectibility, and you get one soggy supper.

But I did manage to get into my studio and start some new work. A surge of energy and I started 3 new pieces. Working always grounds and calms me. And this morning, a day without obligation, I stood with a hot cocoa and all the dogs around me before the big bay window and watched the snow fill the air. Even if most of it melted when it hit the ground, enough was falling and dusting the trees to make in the world a ghostly and elegant peace. So it was a good day.

Gloomy Sunday

A threat of snow that will probably be rain dampens down the morning and I wake up finally vanquished by this cold that has been chasing me around with its burlap bag.
No wonder…Friday I spent 6 hours cleaning the house the effort of which induced muçh sweating and fatigue and yesterday, for M’s birthday, we went out twice in the cold rain, and both times I got chilled.

So now it’s Sunday in bed. Which means the 3 papillons are curled up in the quilt and Maudie is folded onto her bed n the corner. She groans and resettles. It’s not an unusual Sunday ritual, but this time I am here by edict and not by choice and the longer I can maintain the current state of restfulness and temperature, I am healing. We love when all of us are nested and still and they needn’t worry that I’ll go out without them; and I don’t have to. We are a tiny nation of nappers, of rolled up breathing, an industry of heat.

In one small boat, we float and bob over the hours as they follow one another into afternoon.

CBS News on R.E.A.D.

Can Dogs Teach Kids To Read?
A nice video on the READ program
(click title)
CBS News Online

The Library

January 15, 2008

We had our first hour working in the library! Two readers came, G, a boy around 11, very sweet --and T, a 5 year old girl with luminous clear eyes and sturdy presence. Her mom and newborn sister were there too. Mom sat on the floor with baby next to Maudie and Maudie was magical with the infant…. she floated her long nose just over the baby’s skin and ear very gently, and the baby showed nothing but delight.

People coming in and out of the library ignored us, or stopped and stared; some came over and made friends with her, smiling widely. Others, mostly immigrants with covered heads, looked at us askance…perhaps something in their cultural fiber just couldn’t place an animal in a library. She was hard to miss, large and lovely and composed, taking an interest in everything. At one point she got very interested in a man at the checkout I think she thought was M.

She did well, was friendly and calm, if a little uncertain about her role. She was very good with the kids and lay down near their chairs as they read. At one point, T jumped up to bring the book around to her face so Maudie could see the pictures and I think it startled her.

Her startle response is to turn away quickly..,.in it I see the seeds of a fear response…but she stops just short and I have always been able to turn her back with calm support. I asked T if she would like to give Maudie a treat and everything settled in a moment.

The more she does this, the easier it will be; children have not been a staple in her life yet she accepts them with a collie’s equanimity and generosity. Pretty soon, they will be friends.

Me. I am delighted by the kids and their relationship to books and words…the illustrations, the new narratives…

I wonder how it would be if we worked in a school with kids targeted as needing more reading practice…but then, who DOESN’t need, or benefit, by more reading practice?

The Bath

I spent 4 hours today grooming Maudie: dematting, untangling, combing, raking, wetting, soaping, rinsing, drying, brushing. M helped me, lifted her up onto the table, held up her tail while I cleaned, gingerly cut out the mats under her arms, took turns with me working on her pants, broke up the dry stuff stuck there, and then loosed the ropey streams of water over her while I soaped, and worked the dryer hose over her while I brushed. The whole time, she rocked back and forth on the grooming table, toying with the idea of launching herself, and pushing her bulk up against the wall where the comb couldn’t go. Miraculously, when we did finally get to the bath part, she jumped right in…last time I had to heave 60 lbs of No I Don’t Want To up into the tub.

I don’t know why I held the notion that it would be easy. Maybe I have a sentimental attachment to the idea that this is a coat for the hard weather and thistle of the Highlands. It was a massive job to get it into form. When I was done cleaning out the tools, spitting the stray hair out of my mouth, and standing back to look at her I didn’t even dare try the comb test. That’s the one in which you put a comb anywhere in the coat and pray it slides through without hitting a snag. No sir. What I don’t know today won’t get me until next week…

Winter. Her crowning glory, her mahogany sable is thick, dense with wooly undercoat that sticks together like a sweater. The mats that worked themselves into the overlooked places.…inside the thighs, under her arms, deep in her culottes, like papillon mats times 500, are either knitted or felted. The knit ones can be combed out; you hold them in your fingers between the comb and the skin so as not to hurt your dog by pulling on her fur and gently try to work the knot out, moving from the end of the hair inwards. The felted masses, the thick airless mats, have to be cut. Carefully. Nothing looks worse than lopsided chopped off pants.

At 1am she is still damp in places near the skin. And fluffy.

There is something so dog like, so large and beastly about a collie that I hadn’t checked under her tail as often as I should, at least as often as I check the paps; I will not make that mistake again. My fingers ache, my hands are dry…and I can still hear the ping of the comb teeth as they caught on a snag that would not untie.


Whereas the paps look their best in the 24 hours--make that 12--- hours after a bath, I found the corgis, and now the collie, to look best after 24 hours. I brush A LOT in those hours, to bring the oils back into the coat, but until then they have unruly fluff. I’m certain someone can tell me a secret about getting it right without waiting…and I will have to investigate because The Bath will be a monthly ritual now that we are about to start our therapy work. Certainly I will be staying more current on the affairs of the undercoat, under the tail and in all those nooks and crannies where fur goes feral…

My friend DW and I were once talking about AP Terhune’s stories. She thought it was hilarious that the collies who found their way into the wilderness through misfortune or escape always came out of the woods one day in glorious coat, burnished by the wind, clean from the snow and clear rivers, thick and full over muscles developed through hunting and senses honed by survival. I suspend disbelief for Terhune, and take the stories as mythical, metaphoric…in the wild we are made whole… But today, praising the creator of the Little Dog Without an Undercoat Who Can Be Washed in the Sink…. I saw her point.

Anyway. Yes…Our first gig is in the library for an hour, once a month in the evening as a R.E.A.D team…Starting this week, we’re in the schedule through April.
As we move towards Spring..and the challenge becomes wrestling that sweater of an undercoat off…and making bags and bags of That Which Could Be Spun on the Wheel, I’m sure the ritualization of cleaning will become easier. It was easier in the fall.

Maudie just glided into the room where I am writing, shuffling her back feet like my grandfather in his leather slippers. When she lies down I listen for the groan of pleasure that always comes from lying down. She’s tired. She had a long day. And I can get back to wondering what our first visit will be like.

Papillons

My sister is due home in Boston with her new papillon today. He has been in foster care through Pap Haven in Florida. 9 months old and from the sound of it, full of intelligence, fun and beans….
She spent last night in a grungy hotel in Gainesville with the little guy who was eager to make friends but confused and a little worried about where his foster mom was. My sister didn’t sleep at all well, as he barked whenever he heard a sound in the hallway and kept running to the door to see if it was Judy come back for him. I am so freaked out, she said to me on the phone at 1am EST…Funny, you don’t sound freaked out…I said. She sounded like she was in love…and the freaked out part was just an old habit, the expected response in such a situation. They should be home about now and I’m anxious to hear how it all unfolds…. I’m happy for them and for Maggie, her other papillon (that's Maggie's picture above) …because even if she’s got her little culottes in a twist over this teenage invader…he will give her more to think about and to do and I have no doubt that they will become friends. In my experience, papillons truly enjoy the company of other papillons and incidents are rare.
It is such an exciting time…these days when you bring a new dog into your life, full of possibility and promise. And for some, I think the anxiety and fear are just as high.
I remember the day I went to get Flynn as the first time I was singularly joyful. Utterly happy. Absolutely positive. It remains one of the great days of my life, especially paired with the day 2 weeks prior when Debbie Wood and I drove up to LaRen to see who might be available to be my first papillon. Turned out Cinnamon, the girl I had met in January and felt a special affinity for (see Aug 07) felt similarly and so became Flynn with very little to-do. She remains my familiar, my soul mate, the most enchanting creature I know.
I think in the midst of all this collie magic I have neglected to say how much papillons mean to me. If collies are, for me, the mythic Ur dogs, then papillons are the 7 dwarfs to my Snow White, little space aliens in dog suits, silky angels with tiny feet and teeth, gremlins, ancient jesters that can sing like monkeys and imitate the sound of wolves howling from very far away. Toy border collies, cats in dog bodies. I adore them and cannot imagine ever not living with them.
Right now the three of them form little sprawls scattered across the quilt. One is snoring, inviting me to come back into sleep, to curl up with them in the little dream box and sigh contentedly…just to be here with them in the world.