Goodbye, Pewter

CH Sisterwoods Starkist Pewter

April 2, 1994 - August 25, 2009

Pictured above with her "sister" Andi, Christmas 2005

Pewter was one of those special dogs. In 2003, I helped place Pewter in her forever retirement home. Her owners, Danielle and Rich had not had a dog before, and they were interested in another Corgi I was fostering at the time, a very boisterous and active boy. That dog was placed in a corgi-experienced home, and then from time to time, Danielle would pop up at our adoption events, or send an email, just to stay in touch. When Pewter came along in 2003, I wondered if Danielle and Rich might be interested. I started off the conversation with, "OK, I know she's a little older, but really, you have to believe me that Cardigans are a long-lived breed."

Danielle and Rich took the chance on Pewter, and she moved in and took over the house . I got frequent updates, and then the best news, that little Andi had joined the family. From the photo above, you can see that the big sister role really suited Pewter. Here's the note Danielle sent to tell about Pewter's adjustment to Andi's arrival in 2005:

Just a quick note to wish you a Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and 2005 is a great year for you and Sweet Pea Foundation! We're doing very well- Big Sister Pewter is her wonderful, yet Bossy, self. She's learned that in a house with a baby- you need to be heard if you want attention. (or at least that's what she thinks... so we hear A LOT more of her lately). She's got us on a rigid schedule, but is still sweet as ever. Happy Holidays to you! Danielle, Rich, Andi and Pewter

Thank you Danielle, Rich, and Andi for loving Pewter, and for giving her such a lovely place to call home for the rest of her happy, bossy days...

Birthday Boy!

Happy 8th Birthday, Kane!

photo by Emily

photo by Laura M.

CH Clearview's Redhot Hurrikane CDX NJP RN VC

Whew, you've packed a lot of living into 8 short years! You're a good man, Mr. Stinky. :-) Let's see what you can do in the next 8 years. Happy Birthday!!!

Self-trained Contacts?

OK, so first, the obvious. Yes, I know this is a Vallhund video on the Cardigan blog! oops. But, after waiting the full 18 hours 37 minutes it takes to upload a short video, I decided it would just stay here. :-)

The A-frame is lowered to the full length of the chains. Darby and Breezy were precariously trying to climb the full-height A-frame during a super high speed frap session, so I felt it safer to lower it.

I never taught this to Darby, she just started running up and over the A-frame, and then one time she took her ball. I don't know if she got nervous at the top and thought she couldn't "walk and chew bubble gum" to get back down with the ball in her mouth, but she dropped it, and the ball rolled down the frame. Well, that looked like fun, so Darby ran after it, and then back up, roll, chase down, etc. etc.

Maybe she does have a future in agility? Or as a circus dog?

Another Normal Girl

I have to laugh thinking that any of my girls are "normal," but yesterday we got Breezy's OFA results back. Normally I would scan the pretty colored papers and post, but somewhere between the agility spare bathroom (that served as my office during the Vallhund agility specialty) and the host hotel in Topeka, Kansas, I lost half of the cord to my scanner/printer/copier. sigh.

But Breezy's elbows came back NORMAL, and that was a huge relief to me. When she was about 7 months old, Breezy was still in her daredevil phase, and leaping from the back of the sofa. The result was a growth plate injury, and a broken widdle weg. Lots and lots of crate rest and leash restrictions for Daredevil Puppy was quite a challenge over several weeks, but she healed well and it was a matter of hoping for the best that by relieving the pressure for the bone that was not finished growing, we would prevent any later elbow displaysia. Just a couple of weeks ago we took the films, and I was amazed to see that the two front legs looked identical, and you could not even tell that anything had happened to that front leg. Breezy's hips came back FAIR, not surprising since I waited until only weeks before she's due to come in season. So far, the other two littermates submitted both came back GOOD, so I'm pleased with all normal results.

Telling Secrets

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this dog? The sweetest moment of our adventure to the Lake of the Ozarks last Saturday, Kane telling secrets to my friend's daughter, Ashley, resting his chin on her shoulder, just checking to make sure she was OK. Of course, Ashley was up to no good, that orange tube is a water blaster, and she was parked at the edge of the dock, blasting her dad, brother and sister in the head with water! But she looks sweet in the photo, if you don't know what she's up to. :-)

I'm sure this sweet face would never be up to any trouble! And what you can't see in this photo is Gizmo cruising the edge of the dock, because Ashley had, um, a bit of "casting trouble" and her hot dog bait was flopping off the hook and onto the edge of the deck 9 times out of 10. Never fear, Gizmo was always available for clean-up duties. No hot dog went to waste!

Did You Know?

Did you know that when you take a Cardigan out on a floating dock and the dock is moving up and down, back and forth, the Cardigan ears don't appear to move like the rest of the Cardigan body? No matter what, Kane's ears were always in the same place, no matter how much the dock moved. The rest of his head moved up and down, but the ears remained the same. Maybe it was a balance thing? Whatever it was, it was pretty funny! More on the "Retirees plus Darby Retreat" later!