Thursday, September 4, 2014

Jardin de Julie

Grandmother, what big ears you have!

6 comments:

Aridog said...

Julie is now a beautiful grown dog. You are so lucky. But I know you know that.

Aridog said...

Damn...no one else sees that photo of rh's "Julie" as special? She's grown in to a beautiful dog with manners, encouraged by rh's patient training, and rh is to be congratulated for that. It isn't easy, although rh makes it sound so...it really requires dedication and devotion.

So, thanks Deborah for the posting. Dogs are something I treasure, as anyone who knows me or has read me knows certainly.

I miss our horses but understand my Neuro-Surgeon's & Orthopod's reluctance to say "OK" again...last session when told to quit the horses was a choice...continue as me or be another Chris Reeves. The latter turned out badly, eh?

Advice to new competitive riders (and competitive skiers as well) ...avoid "head plants" ... vertebrae C3-C6 don't absorb them well ;-)

But we still have our dogs and will have more when the time comes. Although I damn near bought a great little Quarter Horse "reiner" in Montana named "Ezzy", common sense finally took over (rare for me) and said "nope." "Ezzy" was mountain adapted and besides reining competition, which I'd no longer do, he would be a safe mount in the higher elevations (the reining training makes the animal responsive to the slightest light handed or legged cue, which is the ideal)...that was the temptation, since I am far less capable now with Cancer (remitted so far) + COPD scarring (50+ years/3 packs a day) in my lungs.

One of these days I may just get stupid and make a deal to buy a horse, like a Tennessee Walker or Missouri Fox Trotter (actually the original cow ponies) ... which are used out there for gun dog trials ... and share it with an outfitter when I'm not there.

Idiots cannot really be cured ;-)

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There was an interesting exchange in last night's Disney movie The Happiest Millionaire (1967).

There was a dispute between father and daughter over something (the man she was dating?) and the daughter said something nasty to her father in a moment of anger.

Later on they made up and she apologized and she explained that she didn't really mean what she said, that she was just repeating words she'd heard from somebody else.

I've done that myself. I think probably everyone has at one time or another.

I think it was Emerson who said that our best thoughts come from others.

I suppose it would follow that the same phenomenon works in reverse.

deborah said...

Ari, I'm a dog lover also. At one time I had at least nine. Can't remember if I ever made it to ten.

Currently down to three, which for me is probably ideal.

Yes, Julie is gorgeous. I think she's bigger and more muscular than Vicki. rh does a fine job training them to the property line.

As far as horses, they're like swimming pools. It's hard enough to keep the dogs vetted and the bath tub clean.

Aridog said...

Deborah said ...

As far as horses, they're like swimming pools.

Amen. Horse are a ton of work, like it or not. In pasture they are easier, in stable stalls it is maddening. Vet every month with bills expected...in pasture, once a year ...big difference...so long as you have 10 acres or so for just 3 horses.

However, I never bathed our dogs (German Shepherds) unless one of them gets in to some really stinky stuff. Hey, it happens....dogs love to roll in stinky stuff. And good ole "Ari" (my avatar) loved water like a Lab, and dove in to many a stinky swamp pond...eew! Only Shepherd I ever had that loved water so much....and swam like a pro to boot. He was a pure joy, and still a defender who would never leave your side no matter what...and he proved more than once. "Aridog" is far more to me and Judi than just an avatar.

Based upon my experience with horses, we brush the dogs daily, feed them fish oil supplements, and massage by hand daily as well. "Dera" dog will actually solicit the massaging like a corner hooker seeks "dates." She has no shame ;) Your horse will appreciate cool water on a hot day but the shampooing is detrimental IMO...e.g., it destroys the natural oils in the horse's skin and hair.

I spent some time with a couple (higher level than me by far) Texan quarter horse trials participants (cutting and working cow horse) and they both had a crew of Mexicans who brushed out and rubbed their horses daily, head to hoof,....and they were spectacularly beautiful with their glistening coats...not to mention especially relaxed due to the massaging. I copied the Mexicans....with our horses and our dogs.

The only exception was in the early 90's with a great dog that picked up mange from a vet's office (nice, eh?)...he got soaked with manage solvent every other day then soaked with water 5 minutes later, every other day for two weeks. He hated it...but he survived. Untreated Manage is a killer...witness the Yellowstone "Druid Pack" (Lamar Valley) ...now all deceased due to mange.

Anyone who has seen the TV documentary by Nat'l Geo called "The Rise of the Black Wolf" has witnessed the Druid Packs first recovery in the Lamar....due to a "Casanova" wolf hooking up with the ultra dominant female of the Druid pack (the real leader of the Druids ... feminists should love that lady wolf) after the original Alpha male disappeared or died. If you want a photo of the Druid Pack when alive on their range, ask me via email...I'll forward it (with the photographer's permission...one of my best friends and companion in Yellowstone)...a winter shot of the Druid pack at the size of 12 (down from nearly 25, and up from nearly zero due to temporary defeat by the Slough Creek Pack.) In the end, a parasite defeated the premier pack in Yellowstone.

Anyone who has never been to Yellowstone, needs to make plans to do so...it IS a bucket list stop, if nothing else. Give yourself a minimum of 2 weeks and stay inside or outside the park, but be there (you want a referral about places to stay, ask me by email)...just be there. If you are a hiker, the place is nirvana. Just keep your 10%+ pepper spray canister handy....most general stores near the park sell it.

If you fly in to Boseman, on your way out of town, stop at Casey Anderson's place...a "Grizzly" place that looks like a tourist trap from the road (an x-way), but isn't...Casey Anderson is featured in most Nat Geo documetnaries about Yellowstone...he is the real deal, even if his place looks like a tourist trap. It isn't...and his first "pet" Grizzly Bear Brutus is also the very real deal, which Casey, or his staff, can explain clearly. Grizz is Grizz...

Aridog said...

Continued....

If you've never been to Yellowstone, go. Now. Or at least soon. The whole of the Yellowstone caldera is magical. And I am not easily so impressed. With a bit of patience you can approach nearly all the great animals of north America. Just don't mess with the buffalo in late August/early September...breeding season. The "ritual" in the Lamar or Hayden Valley is awesome.