What a week! The extremely fabulous Py (and his littersisters) had his 5th birthday on Thursday, and it was a celebration worthy of this wonderful dog.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we went to Sandia National Labs to support their science magic show. This event, now in its fourth year, is designed to give kids (mostly fourth graders) a hands-on day with science experiments in the guise of finding a kidnapped dog. Schools from all over New Mexico participate, about 170 kids in total over the week.
(note: many thanks to the engineers in charge and the teachers for allowing me to take photos today.)
This takes place at the Advanced Materials Lab facility, and they are pretty serious about safety:
The kids think they are coming in for a magic show involving a dog that does tricks, but quickly discover that the dog has been kidnapped and they have to use science to analyze the clues and recover the dog.
They visit the crime scene:
Much discussion ensues, listing out all the clues: purple water, green slime, odd bits of paper, toys, leash, etc.
After doing fingerprints and voice print analysis, the class discusses the suspects (one of whom is their own principal):
One of the suspects is seen walking around with a box of dog biscuits - and he leaps to the head of the list. (This whole time Py was actually napping in my car in the parking lot.) The kids are persuaded to use science, not assumptions, to solve the crime.
Five stations are set up with hands-on experiments, the kids cycle through each station, getting to play with some very cool stuff and determining what the evidence means before drawing conclusions.
Each area is staffed by volunteers from the Lab to support the kids through their discoveries.
You can see they all wear safety goggles - the kids take those home, along with their ID badges, evidence logs, finger print sheets, etc.
The Lab uses REAL gold to make nano-gold, which is boring in the picture but involved a cool color-change and experiment with magnets.
I said, hands on!
This particular facility makes nanos that are specifically designed for certain functions, such as detecting a single type of cancer and attaching to those cancer cells. Posters like this one were everywhere... fascinating!
Once the kids have successfully solved the crime, the guilty party confesses and then brings in the dog, safe and sound. The kids then adjourn to the lobby for lunch and discuss careers in science, followed by "science cream" - ice cream made with liquid nitrogen! Py LOVES his ice cream and waits patiently for his small serving:
During the hour or so that the kids eat, Mr. Py wanders around and visits. Oftentimes there would be a half-dozen kids petting or hugging him at the same time; it takes a very special dog to enjoy this, day after day.
After finishing the science cream, there's a group-shot for the schools to remember the day and record the event for the Lab.
They've already made me promise to bring Py back next year, saying he was the best they've ever had.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As if that weren't enough excitement for one week, on Thursday we did our usual visit with the youngsters at the treatment center. Photos are not allowed there, and it was considerably more low-key than our Lab visits. The kids made Py peanut-butter-and-crackers, which he enjoyed tremendously. They sang Happy Birthday To You to him, and one of the teachers had taken all the cards from the kids and made a big keepsake book for him to bring home:
"Happy Birthday to one very sweet, patient, loving, gentle spirit - Mr. Pye"
I was profoundly moved by what each child had created; these two are typical:
(You can click on an image to enlarge.)
Happy birthday to our local rock-star, with love. Here's to many more!
What a year. Plans made, some executed, some abandoned.
A son sent off to college, now home for the holidays and easily mistaken for a man. I'm flabbergasted by how much more him he is - his good characteristics are even stronger.
The dogs had another banner year. Dot and Jake were retired, and Gin entered the field. Many trials were attended, the hounds earned some titles and national rankings, and much fun was had by all. I'm proud of them.
This time last year Bugg arrived, it's been a pleasurable education overall, having her here. We lost Mac and Junior this year, but have been joined by puppy Trek. Our pack is a compatible if diverse lot.
And although we lost my Uncle Doug in the spring, overall the family is happy and healthy and everyone's on affectionate speaking terms - a blessing.
Deepest appreciation to my many friends for a wonderful year. May 2010 be even better.
I have a client that is looking for a puppy, their elderly dog having recently passed away. They are willing to pay good money to an ethical breeder for the "right" puppy, and I applaud their approach: health testing, temperament testing, contract.
But of course when asking the local dog community for referrals (I'm not an expert in their breed of choice) I got one person who insists a shelter dog or rescue is the only way to go. Many people responded with references to local breeders (in the time-zone and adjacent states being our definition of local around here), all of which I passed along. But the "only good dog is a rescue dog" mentality irritates me.
Found a great line today:
The majority of purebreds are produced by family pets and commercial breeders, their puppies as far removed from the show ring as a second-hand pickup from the Formula One track.
It's from this article, and while I don't agree with the author's position on cropping and docking, much of it is sensible.
The NM jacks are very hard to find this year, so I've stepped my efforts to learn more about them.
I've published the link to Dutch Salmon's article several times, and I figure once more won't hurt.
Thanks to falconer Paul for the tip that black-tailed jackrabbits are protected in Washington state, I found two more articles:
This first piece was referenced in several places, I finally found what looks like the original site. The second one has information on rabbits around the globe; very interesting. And finally a historical view on jacks, which reminds me of why not all deaths are equal.
If anyone knows of other authoritative sources or scientific research, please let me know about it in Comments. Thanks.
If you get BBCA, watch this week: Pedigreed Dogs Exposed.
If you don't, try the link in this blog post and see if you can watch on-line.
Either way, breed clubs and breeders need to be prepared for the US reaction.
We've all heard - either as advice we give our children or perhaps directed to ourselves - to follow your bliss. This isn't insipid advice from a 99 cent greeting card - it is actually a profound and fundamental truth.
Years ago my father, an orchestra conductor, advised Anthony (then an aspiring cello player), not to pursue a career in professional music unless he couldn't live without it. Being a musician is a tough way to make a living, much less in classical music. But if one is a musician (or an artist of any sort), life without that art is hell itself.
I've come to believe that is true, on some level, of all productive activity. Be it work or hobby, there's a self-fullfilling cycle: If you enjoy your work, you will be good at your work. If you are good at something, you're more likely to want to do it. In training, we call this a self-reinforcing behavior. There are lots of examples, food and sex being the most profound. If it feels good, do more of it, right? Think about comfort foods and masturbation, and the truth of this becomes obvious.
Some things are obvious only after first-hand experience, and I was reminded of this again yesterday. I took Gin open field coursing, and her unrestrained ecstasy at discovering why she exists gave me joy, as well. She loves plastic games (lure coursing and racing), really loves them. They are fun fun fun and Gin is always happy to go play. But yesterday she found her purpose for being: chasing live game over rough terrain in cold weather. This is what borzoi were developed to do, this is what they do better than any other breed. (Yes, some are faster and some have more endurance, but none other hits that trifecta out of the park.) Gin thought cotton-tails looked like fun and should be chased, but once loosed on the jackrabbit, she transformed.
I have seen this before, Py and Ren and Day all learned the same lesson about themselves - the why of their being. It's just like a border collie when they "turn on" at herding: OH!! I make the sheep move by doing THIS. And they become their true selves.
Hundreds of generations of DNA can not be denied. The truth is it feels good to do that at which we are best. Basically, "do what you love, love what you do."
And perhaps this is why we humans - as a species - have so much trouble figuring out what to do with our lives. We have hundreds of generations of DNA for... nothing in particular. So Anthony has a love and appreciation of music that only a musician can have, but it is not his raison d’être. His opportunities to discover other interests have led him in a different direction, one that is easy for him simply because he loves it so much.
The hard part is to find what you love. The easy part is, just do it.
One of the suspects is seen walking around with a box of dog biscuits - and he leaps to the head of the list. (This whole time Py was actually napping in my car in the parking lot.) The kids are persuaded to use science, not assumptions, to solve the crime.
Five stations are set up with hands-on experiments, the kids cycle through each station, getting to play with some very cool stuff and determining what the evidence means before drawing conclusions.
They've already made me promise to bring Py back next year, saying he was the best they've ever had.
"Happy Birthday to one very sweet, patient, loving, gentle spirit - Mr. Pye"
