W&G: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

I had another rant prepared but something came up and I thought I'd share.

Bunny.

Stupid bunny.

We have been walking in the neighbourhood and going to an abandoned school yard because of recent park experiences. It's also dark now when I get home and walking these two in the pitch black is not my idea of fun especially if I can't see if another dog is getting miffy. So we head to the school yard and they run around like maniacs for a few minutes.

Leads on and we head home.

150 feet from home Halo stops. Statue. I know that stillness and it bodes an explosion of action. I tighten the lead and peer into the darkness.

There, pinned in the grass, is an almost white bunny. Ears pressed to its head, flat as flat to the ground, sticking out like a white bunny against dark grass.

It sits up.

Halo is practically vibrating but stays solid as a statue.

Raimi looks at Halo and then peers into the darkness in the direction she is looking. Spots the bunny.

Raimi freezes. Still as a statue. The two of them are a photograph.

I tell the bunny "Shoo! Shoo Bunny!"

It hops nonchalantly across the yard and disappears around a tree. Both dogs spring into action and hit the end of the lead. I had spent the precious seconds prior to the "Shoo Bunny!' leaning against the pull of the dogs, wrapping the leads around my hands, bracing myself for the bolt.

We were only half a block from home so I carefully guided the manic dogs toward home. It was difficult progress. We rounded a tree.

Bunny.

White bunny. Sitting up and watching us.

The dogs couldn't believe their luck. The bunny flattened itself against the dark grass. Raimi, who I believe has never seen a bunny, was practically beside himself. Halo was doing her very best intense stare - the kind where you know just below the surface boils a predator.

We tried to walk past the bunny and made a sort of a curve off the sidewalk toward it with Raimi pulling like a train. We were still passing it and almost in the clear.

It bolted.

Toward us.

Heaven's above I thought I was going to get dragged across 4 yards and into the road. It shot toward us, curved at the last second, zipped around a tree and shot into the street. I'm quite sure several blocks down they could hear my " NoooOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo!!!"

Both dogs in the same direction in a concentrated effort to Get That Bunny were stopped by my voice and my heels leaving skid marks in the neighbour's grass. It wasn't pretty but it did the trick. By the time they had dragged me to a stop the bunny was gone. Immediately Halo stood stock still, watched for a moment, evaluated the loss and let it go.

Raimi. Not so much. He could not get Bunny out of his head. For the last 50 feet to my yard he kept checking back checking back checking back ... bunny bunny bunny. He even checked the yard just to be sure.

We walked into the house, safe from marauding bunnies and Raimi checked Weasley with intense sniffing. Bunny?

Blown Away

It's been a few days since the incident at the park and I thought I'd come up with something lighter. I can't think of anything.

So far in the past few days we've been dealing with Halo and her problem ears, more Raimi hassling at the dog park by bullies, a depressing weekend of a dog show, and a time change which makes no sense but means that I'll now be walking dogs in the pitch black every night.

Halo and her ears. Well, Tanja had her for several months and Halo got fed a myriad of various food stuffs from egg whites to cupcakes with no ear problems. Now she's here and the problems have begun again. I think it's the dog treats I buy so I'll eliminate them and see what else is out there. She's been shaking her head and has now split her ear. Blood spatter again. More tape, band-aids and sulking. She leaves Nov 15 and it's 13 days too far away. We have this love/hate relationship ...

I am so sick and tired of my dogs getting hassled at the park. I'm sick of it. So sick in fact I'm thinking of walking them outside of the city. It would be more in gas and time but I have had it with other people's dog coming up to Raimi, sticking their face in his, posturing and without warning roaring at him. What is Raimi doing? He's on his tip toes in reaction to their non-sensical posturing, his head and eyes are turned away from them and STILL he gets roared at. What does Halo do? If I haven't grabbed her collar in time she wades into the fray in his defense. Usually I'm right behind her. I hate being the banshee at the park. My dogs are friendly, stable and well trained. (Case in point - Halo was put in a down/stay for roaring at a dog who'd told off Raimi a few minutes earlier(per usual it was unprovoked). I left her in a down/stay and walked away ... like 400 feet away and there she was in a down/stay til I made a 400 foot recall) Usually I can see an incident way ahead of the other dog's owner and it makes my dogs look bad to have me calling them away knowing they are not the problem.

They say a bad day at a dog show is better than a good day at work. Well ... yes and no. Not when the puppy you are looking at is not developing as you'd hoped and you are considering alternatives. Rory is a wonderful boy - so sweet, such a great credit to his owner but perhaps not the show dog we had anticipated. We are going to give him some time to mature, see what happens and if he doesn't pan out as a show dog he will excel at adoring Kathryn and hassling Seth. I love this boy's temperament, he reminds me so much of Raimi it's ridiculous and whether he is a champion or not at the end of the day he's Kathryn's own Boy.

It feels better to vent - really it does. There is one more thing I want to vent about and it's something that won't make any sense except to the person it's directed at: I'd rather have white feet in my kennel than line breed eye problems. I don't care if she reads the blog ... I feel better now.

Casualties of War

Yesterday Kathryn and I were at the park and saw what I hope to never seen again. Below is an email I composed to the head of the Park Committee. She and her group are working hard to ensure the park remains off leash with the hope that everyone can just get along. I sent her this warning so that she may get the word out and hopefully at best this never happens again and at worst the owner of the dog is shamed into never coming back.

Hi Candice,

I having been using River Park almost everyday for 3 1/2 years and in that time I've seen a couple minor incidents, been involved in a couple minor scuffles, and generally had a very good experience most times I go. I have never before seen what I saw yesterday evening.

I was at the park with my Ridgebacks - my adult bitch, a 100 pound male and a friend with her male Ridgeback puppy(who I bred). None of these dogs are altered since I show and breed them so I'm kind of a hypocrit when it comes to other dogs in the park who are un-neutered but I consider myself a responsible dog owner and breeder to the best of my ability. Usually the dogs I have trouble with are neutered males; Mastiff types, Sibes, Shepherd crosses ... I try to keep to myself to avoid issues.

We encountered a pit bull type dog, male & neutered, who was playing with several other dogs at about the half way point where the big garbage bin is. My adult male said hello to the PB and his owner tapped her dog and said something to him and he promplty ignored my boy. My dogs and I continued on our way.

We passed a Doberman who I have encountered in the past. He is an entire, male, uncropped Doberman, probably about 4 years old, owned by a tall, large man who I actually haven't seen at the park in a couple years. I had rather hoped he was gone for good since he yelled obsenities at me once for inquiring about his having bred that dog before one year old, not shown, no health tests(but that is another story).

Anyway, We were about 100 feet along from the pitbull when a dog fight broke out. Actually, I believe it was more of an unprovoked attack. The Doberman, having encountered the PB, attacked without warning. Several witnesses, upwards of 15 I would say, saw the attack and were dumb-struck. The Dobe's owner was yelling at his dog to "Let go!" which the dog ignored and the Pitbull was unable to get away. The Dobe's owner grabbed the back feet of the Pitbull and hauled him up and told someone else to grab his Dobe's back feet. I would say it took upwards of a minute for the Dobe to let go of the other dog's head and neck.

Once the dogs were released the Dobe's owner shoo-ed his dog away from the crowd and the Pitbull and without a backward glance, walked away. He allowed his Dobe to remain off lead and continued toward the north end of the park. No one stopped him. I yelled for someone to stop him but no one did.

The Pitbull's owner looked her dog over and I assume the damage was negligible because he continued to play with other dogs. I really hope he is okay and that the wounds, should he have any, were not very serious. Regardless the owner SHOULD have stopped that Dobe from leaving in and gotten his information. Someone said it was lucky the Pitbull didn't have ears because he woud have lost one or it would have been seriously damaged. Having not seen the start of the fight I can only assume that witnesses were correct and the Pitbull was not the instigator - either that or the PB warned off the Dobe and the Dobe took offense.

I will tell you right now if that Doberman had attacked one of my Ridgebacks not only would there have been a three dog fight with the Dobe getting the shit kicked out of it from my bitch(who is VERY protective of her son) - I would have been in there with fists and feet and that Dobe would be hospitalized or dead. No one attacks my dogs. The person I was walking with has seen my reaction to my dogs getting harrassed and I take no prisoners.

I am completely disgusted with the owner of the Doberman and if I encounter him again I will call my dogs in and tell him to keep his dog the hell away from me and my dogs or I am going to use force. I am writing this as a warning to anyone else at the park with large male dogs - watch for an uncropped, un-neutered Doberman being walked by a very tall, large irresponsible man who has no regard for the safety of anyone else's dogs. I would label that dog as dangerous under the City by-laws and had it been my dog attacked I would be pressing charges.

And I mean it. I would follow that guy home if I had to and make sure his dog and he are made accountable for their behaviour. There is no excuse for walking away from a fight your dog was involved in. Even if your dog was not the instigator you do not just walk away. Take responsibility for your dogs! If they are harrassing another dog STOP THEM. Put them on lead. Discipline them. You do NOT know the other dog's thresh-hold and if you allow your dog to continually bully another dog a line may get crossed and you will end up with a dog fight. After seeing that fight yesterday ... don't take chances.

Pure Luck

I try to arrange a Ridgeback fun walk about once a month or so depending on how busy everyone is and when I can get my act together. However, sometimes the cards are dealt a lucky hand and you end up with a Ridgeback run you didn't plan.



I met Kathryn & Rory today to run Halo(who is home til she leaves for Utah) and Raimi and we set off down the length of the park. Halfway along we met Ramsay who was of course thrilled to get beaten up by his brothers and mom.





Deuce the Pug was also there in a supervisory capacity. Long before anyone else was thinking of leaving Deuce was tapping his watch and saying "People ... places to be don'tcha know?" It reminded me so much of Petal I got a lump in my throat.





There seemed to be a unspoken division between who would play with whom and I suspect it had something to do with Halo laying down the law so her boys were scared of her! She played with Raimi and Rory played with Ramsay ... in weirdly close proximity of course. Like bookends.



We continued down the park and met Aura, a livernose bitch, and her 12 year old old friend (who's name escapes me). Rory fell truly, madly, deeply in love with her and got his ass handed to him on a silver platter. That's okay ... he was serving up whoop ass on his brother moments earlier.






There was a girl there with her little 15 week old Boerbel (a South African farm dog) who was kicking butt and taking names. What a tough little dog. His anticipated adult size is about 150 pounds but he seemed to think he was that size all ready!




What a killer! Of course Ramsay here is not much of a match but he seemed to really get the gears. Honestly what a good boy! The Boerbel's owner seemed like a really savvy dog person and was very good with his training ... now THAT is the kind of person who should own a large mastiff type dog.

A few minutes later Shane and Ryder showed up and now we were up to 8 Ridgebacks! So now we had a real crowd of crazies and it was hard to keep track of who was where. Eventually everyone started making their own tracks it was cool down time for before heading home.

Sadly we encountered a psychotic German Shorthair(not pictured) and I had to open my own can of whoop ass to protect my perfectly well behaved dogs. I don't say THAT very often but this time it was true. We also did some practicing with Rory for his upcoming show next weekend and frankly ... the judge had better have a quick eye to see the nice dog between the wiggles and squirms!

American Beauty

If you want perfection, well ... it will never happen. However, the dream is to get as close as you can and by George I think we're so close we can see the sweat beading on perfection's temple. Okay, so these white feet may be considered 'excessive' by some dyed in the wool breeder who can't look past a minor color detail to balance and type.





But this FACE. Oh dear. Raimi will think he's been gifted the Scarlett Johansonn of Ridgebacks. I'm impressed that I was able to come up with a name for her that so closely matched her namesake character - Milla Jovovich eat your heart out! I could go all day naming beautiful actresses but frankly none of them will compare to the appreciation I have for a face like this.

Putting aside the solid typey head, fill in the chest, return of upper arm, shoulder layback, balance front and rear, length of neck, length of body, tight feet, angle of croup, good solid bone, and strong rear ... she is cute as a button. Although I don't think her ears are big enough ... as if.

Okay, just one more of that face and that big round soft intelligent eye. Raimi is going to pass me over like a day old donut for this little girl.

Ready to Wear

I like to think of myself as a fairly dignified sort of person who has a taste for the finer (but not exhorbitantly expensive) things in life. My house is tastefully decorated with the eye of someone who likes complimentary color, balance in a room and a bit of old world style. If you saw my house sans dogs you’d need to Sherlock Holmes your way to the Ridgeback art and deduce that I do not live alone.

And then there is this secret part of me who gets a good ol’ fashioned giggle out of the silly things and I just can’t resist. People lament the trend to dress dogs up for amusement or for fashion and poo poo the costumes and assorted torture we put them through. But that part of me … when I see an especially cute costume on a dog or cat … well, it just tickles me.

Things like dressing up Petal as a lion.













Or seeing Halo’s long suffering hula girl.


















But this … this is something just can’t get out of my head. I mean really. This dog's expression is priceless and likely Raimi's would mirror it. Frankly I can’t think of a better reason to buy it than to see the wrinkles and worry eyes on The Boy. You can buy it on the Ridgeback Rescue site … where oh where is my credit card …?

Single White Female

Here she is. The little white footed wonder. Isn't it cute how she looks like she's being tortured? This is 99.9% certain to be the little girl we will all know and love as Leeloo. Clearly show stacking does not agree with her but we will take care of that with treats and training. I’m told she is a stand out in the litter and despite her little white feet I’m sure we can get her finished in Canada.

Canadian judges tend to be a little more strict on the amount of white but since I love it so much I’m willing to take a chance. I guess part of me just wants them to be a little less ‘plain brown dog’. Leeloo’s pale wheaton and white chest and feet will certainly stick out in a sea of red! Her cousin Karma and her will be twins but I think Leeloo got more white feet.

Leeloo will be coming home November 16th and Halo will be dropped off that same weekend for her Las Vegas adventure. I am going to try and arrange another park visit with Halo and all her kids and friends before she goes so I'll keep you posted. We’ll also have to arrange a fun day in December to introduce Leeloo to the resident Ridgebacks.