vikingdobermans.com Blog

Another weekend with too much snow on the ground

No training     Still too much snow on the ground…  dangerous to try and do protection until the ground is clear.  Snow makes tracking impossible, unless you want to sink to your knees with every step…  and I’m too lazy to train much in my living room, although we “play” at some stuff.  Mostly we are at a standstill (hopefully a standstill rather than going backwards).  At least, as I’m often told, no training is better than poor training!  And training under these conditions would be poor training!

Zelda finally decided four weeks of a cast was enough and Tuesday during the day (while I was at work), she “destuffed” her cast–all the cast padding she could reach was pulled out of her cast and about mid-way down her cast, when she could no longer get the padding out, she just soaked the remaining padding…  I came home from work to find a living room filled with wet, soggy padding and Zelda with her leg sticking out of the cast with nothing between it and the hard cast but air…

Packed her and Charlie Brown into the car and went to my friends’ house for dinner :-) and to have my friend, an orthopedic surgeon at Shock Trauma, remove her cast and the remaining padding and re-do everything…  good as new.   I got a great dinner and got to hold Evan, my friends’ baby (what a cutie!) and Andy got to fix my girl up, with help from Kate.  Andy said if his human patients were as good as Zelda, his job would be much easier…  Zelda did not move a muscle while he redid her padding and cast…  I told Andy I “owed” him and he said not to worry, I couldn’t afford him anyway…  Thank goodness for great friends!  Zelda goes to her orthopedic vet on the 25th to have her cast redone and to keep her out of trouble and to keep me from having to continue to beg favors, Zelda is now sporting a basket muzzle during the day while I’m at work…  Picture to follow soon….

Charlie is finally getting a tad of exercise as the snow melts and I can take him into the fields by my house.  Zelda does not get to tag along on those walks, too slippery, too wet, too far….  but she does get her outings’ with her home-made bootie to keep her foot/cast dry.  So far, I’ve been very successful in keeping her cast dry when we go out for her walks/potty breaks.

Only 6 more weeks to go with the cast.  You can hear both Zelda and me let out an auditable sigh on that note.

Tubing: Baltimore Style–check the video and Happy V-Day

OK, tomorrow I go back to work and cabin fever will continue to affect the dogs since the amount of snow makes walking any distance a problem… only one small trail in the woods, with lots of untrained dogs on it and nowhere to go to get away from them… so I am very careful when taking Charlie Brown for his walks.   They are usually short and no running and chasing because there is no where to run and chase!  It is an injury waiting to happen.  Zelda is still restricted due to her cast…Here she is with her cast covered in plastic bags and duck tape!  I’m determined she will not get her cast wet!

This afternoon, I went for a walk with a neighbor (Keith) and his dog (Lily) and Keith took along his tube…..  he and the neighborhood kids had been working on the perfect downhill tube run… and we went and I gave it a try (I had been earlier in the weekend, but this was the first time with Charlie and the run was longer and faster)!

Click on link: 

 Lyn and Charlie Brown\’s Most Excellent Tube Adventure

 Home with dogs asleep, dinner roasting in the oven and a few things left to do before the day ends.  The snow has been an adventure of its own and I’m ready for this adventure to end…. someone said more snow tomorrow, but it is in the
nuisance category…. 

I’m hoping we finally get back to training with the club next weekend and wonder if we will be ready for our next title this summer….. at this rate, it is in the “seat of your pants” category…. we will see…

Happy V-day to all…

Charlie offers his Momma a rose for Valentine's Day

More snow in the works for later today and tomorrow…

Where and when is SPRING……???????

Click on links to view videos…. 

Back Yard.. Feb 8 2010

Charlie and Zellie enjoying the neighbor’s snow tunnel

Snow Tunnel

Another storm….. yike! Click on links to watch videos :-)

I’m sore from shoveling…. and shoveling… and we are suppose to get another snow storm tomorrow…. yike!

But some of it was fun…

Lyn jumps…

and Charlie bounces his way through the snow

the path by my house…

ANIMAL RESCUE QUILT OF HOPE

Hi all,

I am helping support rescue by selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a full size 8′ x 5′ patchwork quilt.  Every square represents a homeless animal from the state listed on their square.  Each animal has been hand painted!

Tickets are $2.00 each or 6 for $10.00.  Checks should be made payable to me.  When I receive your money, I’ll send your tickets…  Raffle will go until Easter.  $1 from each ticket will go to DAR&E (Doberman Rescue) and $1 will go to Special Needs Animal Sanctuary.

Evan…

Last night two friends came over with their baby, Evan, and after all the hellos, Charlie decided he wanted to get up close and personal…  he jumped on on the couch, squeezing his way between Andy, Evan and Kate, kissed Evan hello, then flopped down and immediately asked Kate to pet him!  In case you were wondering, Charlie is good with babies….

If anyone is looking at the Lindy x Charlie Brown litter and wondering about temperament….

January 11, 2010

2010!!!!  OMG… how did that happen???

The year is beginning on a “curious” note….  Zelda broke her toe!  “How?”, you ask.  I reply, “I donnnnnn’t know.”

Unlike people who go to the doctor and get the broken toe taped to an adjacent unbroken toe and go merrily on their way, dogs feet bear all their weight on their toes, especially Dobermans, with their tight cat paws…  so Zelda is in a cast for 10 weeks or so. 

Zelda is being quite a good girl… she does not (knock on wood), lick, bite or chew on her cast.  She must be leash walked without her silly son, Charlie Brown, bouncing around next to her… so two walks for me each time they go out!  Charlie gets the standard half hour and Zellie gets a quick up the path, do what ya gotta do, and back home. 

I live with my water gun in hand to stop their play in the house when they begin to rough house with each other…  and I’m monitoring Zelda’s food intake to make sure she does not gain weight.  Her next visit to the vet will be in two weeks to see how her toe is doing and to ensure we don’t have any new issues with the cast in place.  Zelda is also beginning acupuncture to see if we can manage her arthritis pain a bit more than we are doing currently with her more traditional meds.

Stay tuned!

December 27, 2009–what a difference a few days make!!!…

December Snow… we were buried and a week after the historic snow, we were still buried and it was icy and hard to get out for a decent walk… mind you, the dogs didn’t know that, so three walks a day were still on their radar screen….  and thank goodness, I only had one fall that caused actual soreness in my body and limbs… it could have been worse.

Last week and all the way until Christmas Day:  

The snow was pretty and fun for the first few days, then I was tired of it and ready for bare ground and safe footing…  I thought we would have the snow until Spring, but two days of solid rain and temps in the low to mid 40’s took care of all but the biggest pile of snow… 

and the same shot today:

I’m guessing after today’s warmer temps (in the 40’s), all the snow, even the piles, will be gone… and none too soon it seems, as the weather people are already talking about the storm expected over New Year’s Eve…  I’m hoping for wet, not snow or ice…

After two weeks off from training, Charlie and I went tracking this morning.  What with the lack of snow and the wet, warm ground, it seemed ideal to begin our SchH III phase of training…  I laid a four-leg track, with an article on each leg and food sporatic and fairly often (every 20 or so paces)

Charlie found the corners (rounded), but he was  a step off the track at times (I guess the wind fooled him)… and when he made the turn into the wind (2nd leg) he false indicated an article….  I guess he smelled it and went down…. I didn’t correct him, I just didn’t reward him and he went to the article and downed and I made a point of giving him a big food reward…  He completed the track–not a stellar performance, but he found the articles, he found the turns and he completed the track…. we will begin working more often, which always helped him in the past…. two weeks off didn’t sharpen his desire, but it didn’t leave him wondering “duh, what am I doing here” either…  I needed the break, so I’m glad we went two weeks without training.  No formal training until Jan or so, but I will begin a tad here and there around the house and the fields nearby and track when weather permits (that is, when the snow is not a foot deep on the ground)…

I expect I will post in or around the new year, if not, everyone have a Happy New Year.

Lyn, Zelda and Charlie Brown

Charlie with his momma, Zellie, in her pretty new “house” coat that Santa brought her for Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2009 “It’s On”…

December 24, 2009

“It’s On….”

A White Christmas!

Charlie checking out the lower field by my house… and the three of us…

When the snow began, we rejoiced… it was and is beautiful….  However after the fourth or so time of shoveling my walk way to the street, the sidewalk in front of my house, my car, the street in front of my house (no plows come down my little deadend street) and then helping both neighbors on each side of my house who have bad backs, then doing my porch and front so the dogs could reach a tree…  let me just say the Ibuprofen stock went up on the Stock Exchange, driven by fools like me overdoing…

Sidewalk from front door to street… still a few more inches to go.

Back deck….

 After a full day of shoveling, walking Zellie (who acted like a six month old puppy) and Charlie Brown (who acted like a fool—no age limited required), we retired to the house and the warmth of a hot chocolate.

 Outside, as night fell,

 We all enjoy our fireplace…

 It was lovely and after an evening of watching the snow, off to bed we went…

But remember the back deck…

 Oh, somewhere around 11:30pm, me in my long undies and already in bed, Charlie decided he needed to go outside…. And the doggie door was blocked by snow and the deck and backyard were not shoveled… and of course he could not forge a path to the nearest tree so he could piddle, oh no, he needed to whine and be a baby boy. 

 When it became evident to me that he would not relent, I got up and trudged downstairs to put on my boots… and force my backdoor open and commence  to shovel all the way from the back door, around the deck to the doggie door and from the doggie door to the steps, down the steps, around the backyard and tree, so my whiny-butt boy could go out and piddle….  Thank god it was dark, because I’m out there in long underwear and snow boots, but no coat and I’m shoveling….  Mind you, I live in Baltimore City, not the boonies… the good news was most sane people were inside having the last drink of the night or already in bed and not outside shoveling in their long underwear so they could not see me or commiserate with me…

The next morning Charlie checks out my handywork…

As is the Kargaard tradition, I will celebrate tonight with a special dinner for me and the guys, then we will sing (no Kargaard has ever been accused of having a good singing voice, so I’m sure the dogs will take cover) and we will open our presents and rejoice in our good fortune.

It is Christmas Eve (morning) and I am sitting inside, writing this missive and thinking about all the joy in my life and wishing everyone as much joy as possible in the new year.  May peace be a reality.

Looks like a white Christmas in Baltimore

Last weekend we had 21 plus inches of snow…. I don’t think it will melt anytime soon although Christmas Eve into Christmas Day the weather is looking like sleet and rain which could make a dent in the snow and might create a new mess.  The dogs and I will snuggle in for the duration, with forays to the local fields for walks (we have beaten down the snow to allow us to circle the fields, while leaving the middle untouched for the most part)…  still pretty deep, even with all the compacting over the last 3 days, so walking is much easier if you stay to the beaten path.

Zellie got her Christmas present early (or at least one of them)… I got her a wonderful “house coat” from Clean Run made by Foggy Mountain.  It is GREAT and Zelda wears it in my house (temps are cold for an old gal).  She is much happier and warmer.  Charlie doesn’t need one in the house yet, although I might get him one just in case.  I highly recommend these coats.    Just copy and paste the link below if you want to see the coat.

http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2104&ParentCat=155