So I guess this is a Coven?

We are back to Vampires - particularly now that TEETH are coming in! Between toenails and teeth, it's no wonder Tigress sez "how much longer am I gonna do this?"

This is what 42.5# of puppies looks like!

How on earth do puppies go from 1# to 5# in just three weeks?!?! Mama's on a steady diet of unlimited fresh water and Evo, an incredibly calorie-dense kibble. She also gets an assortment of ice cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, eggs, tripe - and last night she asked for a bit of cucumber from my salad. I figure, she can have whatever she wants, as this coven of vampires suck her dry several times a day.

The puppies made many other advances this week, and we got some clarification on colors - with some intriguing possibilities. See their webpage for details. Walking - forwards and backwards - is pretty coordinated on good footing, but on slippery surfaces resembles a game of Twister.

One of the things most good breeders try to follow is the "rule of 7's" - and I think it would be hard not to hit 7 of everything by 7 weeks of age. Take for example, surfaces: laps (different kinds of clothing), plastic bottom of whelping box, piddle pads, newspaper, rag in weighing box, blankets (rough and smooth sided), climbing on toys, climbing on dam, grass, dirt, gravel... I find it impossible that any puppy could not be on 7 different surfaces in a matter of days. I like the "rule of 12" and suspect that with just a bit of conscious effort that's quite doable for most puppy raisers. Though I for one will not discourage borzoi puppies from chasing ;-)

Not our usual sunset...

The horrifying smoke of the past 10 days has, thanks to favorable wind directions, abated for the present. Here's a photo of last night's sunset. The sun's color is creepy (due to the smoke haze) but at least we can see the mountains. And the stars at night - I really missed those.


However the frequently hazardous breathing conditions put a damper on visitors - three new people this week. That makes 17 since birth, still a respectable number.

Papa Py has sniffed them and gently wagged is tail - I have no reason to think he knows they are his, but his gentleness with these new members of His Pack is unmistakeable.

Py gazes fondly at Bruno, Dulce, and Ripple.

The paper over the insulation is missing in several places.

And in unrelated news... Anthony is now sharing the shower in the master bath, as there's a wee problem with the tile in his bathroom... We are a cozy threesome these days!

As my friend Susan is coming to help do puppy evaluations in 5 weeks, we have a very clear deadline for getting this all put back together.

Day 58

Five days to go, give or take, until whelping. Two days to the x-ray for a puppy count.

So. Time to start the pool...

Take a guess at:
1 - day/time of first puppy to whelp
2 - day/time of last puppy to whelp
3 - number of puppies
4 - division of sexes
5 - bonus points for division of colors
6 - double-bonus points for division of white markings

Put your guess in Comments or just send me an e-mail.

So we're all more or less on the same playing field, here's some detail.

A - Tigress's first litter had 8 puppies in it. See photo from this afternoon and see if the visual helps you with your guess:

It's in the mid 60's but the cool tile is her choice for napping.

B - Sex is determined by the sperm; Py's first litter had 2 bitches and 3 dogs (one stillborn).

C - For a crash course in borzoi color inheritance, click here. The Dva litter is Py bred to Tigress. Py is a self-gold, carries black&tan. He may be a double-chinchilla. Both Py's parents carried white spotting; his sire an IM red brindle, his dam a self red brindle. Tigress is an irish marked black&tan with brindle; she has to carry spotting and probably carries chinchilla. Click to see her sire and dam's coloring. Both Py and Tigress are ticked.


I will post the x-ray picture when I get it, then we can all have fun trying to count skulls and spines and see what we come up with!

In the meantime, Tigress would like more bon-bons served, so I have to go...

Countdown....

Two weeks from today, give or take, I hope to be welcoming a much-anticipated litter of puppies. Mama-in-waiting, Tigress, spends most of her time dreaming of bon-bon's served to her in the whelping box. She eats three meals a day now, and has to be cajoled into a daily walk.

Tigress breaks in the whelping box, earlier this week.

Papa-to-be is, no surprise, pretty oblivious to the upcoming madness. His routine continues as usual, which on Thursdays means visiting "his" kids. Today was all about reading... I am so lucky to just sit back and watch the magic as a child too shy to read in front of people boldly sounds out difficult words for Mr. Py.

Mr. Py gives his full attention.

I blogged about our litter last year, and plan to for this litter as well. So everyone please keep your fingers crossed that all goes well for Tigress and her babies, I'll keep you posted.
   

Birthday Boy

While time may move forward, not everything changes.

Py turned 6 yesterday (Friday). This makes him eligible to run in Veterans for lure coursing and most other running games, and while I shudder to think of him as "older" he clearly has no idea he should be slowing down.

Just like last year, we spent a couple of days this week at Sandia National Labs, helping support their science outreach program to New Mexico's 4th graders. We had a wonderful time, and it is both a privilege to have been asked back, and a tremendous pleasure to be a small part of this wonderful week.

I tried to get different photos for you for this year. Some things are very much the same: wear your lab coat and goggles, and don't touch anything, don't wander off.

Signs with similarly stern language are posted everywhere.

I tried to get better pictures of the "Glow" station - rocks that become luminous under black lighting... let's just say the lack of detail isn't the photographer's fault, it's the camera, shall we?

Regular light

Black light

Moving on...

Anthony went with me this year (we had our annual sushi-fest with Miela afterward) and I asked him to take some photos of the kids "solving the crime" of dognapping, as I've never been in the room with the kids as they finish sorting through their evidence and "force" a confession from the thief. Mr. Py and I are tucked in a office down the hall, out of sight. As the kids' get louder and louder, Mr. Py becomes impatient to head into the big room to his kids.

The evidence against each suspect is weighed.

Everyone agrees: the Lab's Director did it!

The "guilty party," Carol, then enters the room with Mr. Py and begs for forgiveness (her cat made her do it). The kids cheer that the dog has arrived, and I slip in behind the Lab's staff to enjoy the celebration. Carol was having a little problem with Py - he was pulling away from her. She turned to me and asked what to do. I said, let go of the leash. She blinked, I nodded, so she did. Py promptly wandered into the crowd of 30 kids and was mobbed.

Mr. Py thanks his rescuers and enjoys their attentions.

The Lab has its own newsletter, and this was the day they sent a staff photographer. If an on-line version is available I will add it. I have no doubt he got much better photographs than I did.

After a group photo, the kids enjoyed their sack lunches and discuss careers in science (the purpose of the event, after all!). The Lab staff made "science cream" (mmm, strawberry this year) and the kids sang Happy Birthday. They laughed as Mr. Py ate his from a small plastic spoon and did some tricks. Then each kid then petted or hugged Mr. Py as they went out the door and back to their bus for school.

Back at home, Py dreams sweet dreams of next year... I swear, he's smiling.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Py

Time may wait for no man, but we will have to wait 'til next year for another birthday.

Happy Birthday to Mr. Py

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!

One of those days

Dog + Kids = Magic

This morning Py and I did our weekly visit with the kids at the treatment center. We usually hang out in one of the classrooms, the kids cycle through as they work on a particular assignment or project. Sometimes we're involved in a treatment session, but not always. This week they are making and hanging Halloween decorations, which requires measuring and math. Then kids ended up measuring Mr. Py (as they call him), comparing their results in centimeters and inches, adding height at elbow to height from elbow to withers or top of head, comparing to height of hocks and hip. Around the ribs, waist, neck, each leg in various places. Then along his head, length of spine, add length of tail... you get the idea. Then they got out a stamp pad and used one of Mr. Py's feet to make paw prints in their decorations. It was very cool how they included him in the day's activities.

In the middle of all this activity, one little girl had lain down on the floor; I asked if she weren't feeling well. (It's germ season and the facility has strict rules about symptoms.) I miss my dad, she said, and looked unbearably sad. I let the teacher know she was having a hard time, the teacher suggested the girl draw to let out her feelings; she did, then gave the teacher her drawing.

Next thing I know Mr. Py is pulling and pulling, he wants out of the classroom. The doorway is covered with decorations (big scary streamers of bats and spiders) so I can't see what's out there. The teacher sticks her head in, asks if she can hold Mr. Py's leash in the hallway. Something in her face makes me say yes.

Mr. Py went and leaned on this girl, who then was able to talk with a counselor in the hall. I could see a little through the streamers; he just stood there, touching her, while she stroked him. I couldn't hear the conversation, but was later told the girl was considering suicide and had drawn a picture of a knife. Until Mr. Py had forced his way to her, she wasn't talking. By the time we left she was laughing.

Cured of her depression? Of course not. But, thanks to the miracle of a dog who felt her pain and insisted on helping, this girl has the support of the adults around her and will get the treatment she needs.

Py is now sleeping, he will for about 24 hours. The level of toxic hell some of these kids have survived is indescribable; they dump it out of their systems and Mr. Py takes some of it away from them. Then he has to recover. Every week he stamps his feet at my car - it's Thursday morning! Let's go see my kids! Then he drags me to the front door, down the stairs and to his kids - and becomes Mr. Py.

I can't explain it, I didn't train it, it's just a gift he has. It's days like this that make me appreciate the ability to listen to dogs, to trust them, to go with what they know - even when I'm in over my head.

2009 GN results... sorta

My e-mail is down, haven't had access since Thursday. Maybe will get it fixed tomorrow...

Here's the reader's digest version of results from the Grand National weekend:

Friday - Region 3 Invitational
Open - Gin (only one entered) - had a very nice course in Prelims, the lure op did an outstanding job. Then she got caught in the line in the middle of Finals, came up lame, and I pulled her. Excused.

FCh - 1st Challenger, 2nd Py. Charger came up lame after Prelims, Challenger didn't look good after Finals.

Rough day for borzoi.

Saturday
I spent the day running scores from the judges to the scorekeeper, so actually have no idea how the results went. I was EXHAUSTED from all the back and forth, *man* I need to get in shape before OFC season. But the judges were great sharing perspectives on how to score, which dog got scored how and why... very interesting. Must do this job again sometime soon.

Sunday
Open
1st & BOB - Emmy
2nd - Gin (now has 99 pts!!)
3rd - Merlin
4th - Halis
NQ - Shadowcat

FCh
1st - Challenger
2nd - Spitzer
3rd- Kyra
4th - Phoebe
NBQ - Nitro
Field: Charger, Dagny, Py

Vet
1st - Belle Starr

Py and Dagny were tied for 1st after Prelims, but Py got a cactus spine jammed up his nailbed and I didn't get it out cleanly. He took a few bad steps so I, very reluctantly, pulled him from Finals. FCh stake had a run-off for 3-4-NBQ, Nitro was lame and was pulled from the run-off. Then Emmy beat Challenger in the run-off for BOB.

Grand National
It is a thrill to report that Joan's scottish deerhound Wist won the GN!!! Sorry I wasn't there to see it, by all reports it was an incredible run.

On the road again

Not traveling; road work.

Today was day-two for Tigress to have a little roadwork. Yesterday I took Py out with her, this morning Gin got her crack at it. Gin is 20 months old, she took to roadwork like a trotter to the track.

Yesterday I was sorry I didn't have a camera with me, as there were some lovely little birds flitting from fencepost to fencepost and an assortment of summer flowers in bloom. Today I took the camera but it's much cooler (mid 50's) and overcast, so no birds.

But here are some flowers for your viewing pleasure:

When I was little, we called this a "zuni squash". It's correct name will be added later (I can not find it in my book to save my life) but the amazing thing about them is that the edible part is the flowers.
Gorgeous jewelry pieces are named in honor of this flower.


These enormous plants spread 20' or more along the ground; I've seen them climbing fences and choking cholla plants.

Here's the fruit part:

Note how it forms between the base of the flower and the stem, allowing the removal (and consumption) of the flower without damaging the gourd. MMMMMMMMM, delicious.

Speaking of cholla... they are now blooming at our elevation. Anywhere up to 7' or taller, sometimes an entire field of these - acres and acres - bloom simultaneously. Spectacular.



And here are some other little flowers: sadly I don't know what any of them are, but they do dress up the ditches on the side of the road:


And finally, even though it is off-topic, last night's sunset was so spectacular I must share:


This view is why I will never live anywhere else.

Where'd they go?

The prickly pear have started to bloom; as promised here's a picture of one in bloom: This was taken early in the morning, after the sun has hit but before the blooms fully opened. They are a pale cream inside, shown here is the peachy reverse of the petals.





I've been taking twice-daily walks around the entire property with the visiting Tigress, and have noticed a couple of things. One, the cholla are of two minds: growing new parts and fixin' to bloom:

new growth; very dark and soft.

pending blooms; note the new growth is curving away from the buds.

The other is that there is no sign of rabbits of any kind at all anywhere. "Sign" in OFC parlance means fresh poop (also known as borzoi M&M's), urine stains, or nibbled cactus. All the cactus I have inspected are free of teeth marks. And the only rabbit I've seen was the remnants the Py and Gin shared several weeks ago (and jack or cottontail I could not tell) - all the bunnies seemed to have moved on to less hostile pastures. I do hope they have simply moved on, and are not actually diminished in population numbers. Last season was a tough one, hare were hard to find.

It has been my hope that our relatively mild winter and decent snowfall, combined with the early spring rains, would provide ample fodder for the rabbits to have productive bunny-making spring. As Elmer Fudd said, be wery wery quiet...

Sing it with me

Monday, Monday...

You know, as in the Mamas & the Papas... no? Hm, bet you're under 40 . Probably a LOT under. Not that that's a bad thing... anyway...

Mondays have turned into Delta Society day for Py and me. We spent a couple hours at a residential treatment facility this afternoon; today most of the kids wanted to read to "Mr. Py" as they call him. I think that's very sweet, since he towers over the littlest ones and they all clearly love to spend time with him. Some lie on the floor and stroke his fur, others hug/hang on him, others just sit quietly, some won't read until he lies down. Each interaction is differnet, and how Py knows what each individual kid needs is beyond my understanding, but I know it's real.

Anyway, today one of the kids I'll call Billy read a story about a mystery tower in Rhode Island. Who knew?? Very cool, have to put that on the "visit someday" list.

Right before we left a girl I'll call Billie came in, her third visit today, and asked if she could sing Py a song she was writing. Like a lot of kids at this facility, she's got what is euphamistically refered to as a "troubled past." I don't know, and I don't want to know. Sure, I said, this is your time, anything you want to do is fine. So she sings this song, moving closer to Py as she does so, winding up with her hand on his back, and he leans onto her. The lyrics? "You're my best friend..." Pass the tissues. Then she sang it again, and apologetically said it needed some work. No honey, it's great just the way it is.

On a good day I learn something new; today was a good day.