Preakness

I'll have Another did. He's the first horse in 4 years to take the Derby and the Preakness, the first two races of the Triple Crown. It's been 33 years since Affirmed won all 3 back in '78.

MY 4 Preakness horses, so you don't have to look it up, finished 1 - 2 - 3 - 5, AND in the right order to make my heart happy: Another, Bodemeister, Creative Cause and Teeth of the Dog. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

IHA and his people are headed for NYC and the Belmont and as of right now, are planning to enter. Of course, it will depend on how the colt comes back from today.

Two horses he will probably face are Dullahan (3rd in the Derby) and Union Rags (7th in the Derby.) Neither of them ran today. For some reason, I have the feeling that Bodemeister and Went the Day Well will NOT go to New York. But what do I know?

One thing I DO know is I hope Nick Zito has nothing hiding in the back barn. The last two times a horse won both of the first two races, Smarty Jones in '04 and Big Brown in '08, Zito won the third leg, with Birdstone and Da'Tara. There are some trainers who get off on such spoilers.


Peri and Esther
Haven't heard a peep out of Esther all day, not even when Peri picks her up and I wish I thought that was a good sign. She doesn't seem to be dehydrated, so it could be her system has adjusted to life outside the womb. However, Peri went outside this afternoon and didn't try to come right back in. And I don't think that's good either. Maybe I'm just being a glass half empty kind of person.

Are You Up for More?

Lousy photos is what I'm talking about. THIS weekend, to mark their 4 weeks birthday, I'm going to try getting shots of individual pups. Now here's the thing, I can use the same "background" as last week (green for boys, orange for darker girls, yellow for lighter girls) but the next time I take pictures, I won't be able to tell which is which (except for gender.) Haven't microchipped them yet. Soon.


Another first prize... for escaping from the CLOSED puppy pen... first prize goes to the (currently) darkest of the males. He squeezed out and was wandering around the bedroom, totally unperturbed by the other dogs who were following behind him. I swear he gave me a big grim when I picked him up and put him back in the pen. (Then fixed the gate with TWO clips so he couldn't get out again.)

Peri
Just the little girl surviving now and she seems to be doing ok. She is being hatched by her mom who keeps her so close to her belly, I have to move her legs to see the pup. And whenever Peri gets up to change position, she scoops the pup up in her mouth and carries her around. This is VERY annoying for me because it makes the otherwise quiet pup cry which makes the dogs in the room rush over to the corner where Peri's "nest" is, whining and barking. (All the other dogs except Emy whose attitude is "it ain't one of MINE!") I wouldn't mind so much except Peri holds her for a while before putting her down... sometimes until I go take the pup OUT of her mouth. In all the years I've been breeding, I've never had a dog do this. Several breeders have suggested Peri is nervous and insecure and being over protective, which IS a possibility... except she doesn't act nervous otherwise. AND when she gets up to go outside, she doesn't pick the pup up. By the way, I've already nicknamed her Esther, short for polyester because Peri and Emy are full sisters and Sparky is the father of Peri's girl and Emy's missing girl, Cotton.

Preakness
Saturday is the second race in the Triple Crown. It is for 1-3/8 miles and the field is down from a possible 20-21 to 11, thank goodness. Six of the 11 ran in the KY Derby 2 weeks ago,including the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th place finishers. Mostly because I really REALLY want to see another Triple Crown winner, I'm rooting for I'll have Another who won the first race. Then I'd like to see Bodemeister and Creative Cause and a newby, Teeth of the Dog (for obvious reasons) in the next 3 slots, not necessarily in that order. As a bit of trivia, Dog's half-brother, Tiger Walk, is also running in the race.

Super Pups

We, Keogh and I, have AMAZING puppies! They are 2-1/2 weeks old... 17 days... and are walking (REALLY walking,) AND sitting up and wrestling with each other! AND making growling noises while they do it. I watched them for a couple minutes this morning, then ran to get the camera. But, since they are just 2-1/2 weeks old, by the time I got ready to take a couple pictures, they were sound asleep again. Yesterday I noticed they would wake up when I opened the pen to let Ke out for a while. They didn't bark, just lifted their heads up and peered around to see what was going on. I'm not sure they are really able to focus just yet, but they are trying. Last night, three of them were nursing while Bart (the spotted guy) was sitting on his mom's feet, pulling on her ear. I'm telling you, these pups are at the genius level!

By the way, my computer is back to its "shades of gray" screen most of the time, so please overlook typing errors. It went for weeks with a normal screen, but now that I'm going to have to edit photos on a regular basis....

Preakness Day
Can't remember if I made my picks know a few days ago and having a hard time readin previous posts (or anything else!) but here goes.
ANimal Kingdom for the win (in hopes of a Triple Crown)
Shackleford and Mucho Macho Man in 2nd and 3rd, not necessarily in that order.
....

They're Two Weeks Old!

And still sleeping soundly! Generally there's not a peep out of this group... unless... someone is lost or being sat on by Mom. Emy has them pretty much divided into a group of 5 and one of 3. Yesterday, the same pups stayed in the same group all day, but this morning the groups were different. A couple puppies have their eyes open... Molasses, for one. He's the darkest red and, since he has a black face right now, I can barely see his eyes. Marco, the larger blond guy, also has his open. Several others have slits and the rest are still tightly shut. Marco and the lighter red boy are getting up and standing, spraddle-legged, on all 4s... but they collapse as soon as they try to move a foot. ALL of them are trying to get up and walk; they just aren't quite there yet. They are all 8 pretty much where I expect them to be at this age.

Pictures in the next day or two.

One reminder: pups are picked in the order deposits are received. This usually happens around 4-8 weeks of age, depending on what exactly the earlier pickers are looking for. Unless the families who purchased first tell me they are definitely NOT interested in a particular puppy, I can't allow someone else to choose it. You'll just have to wait your turn.

Preakness
Can't say that I'm particularly excited about this week's Preakness. For one thing, Zito is not running Icebox. You'll remember Icebox was 2nd in the Derby and running down Super Saver even though he had probably the worse run of all 20 horses. Zito has a habit of skipping the Preakness so he can enter a fresh horse in the Belmont 3 weeks later and spoil any chance of a Derby-Preakness winner taking the Triple Crown. It may bring in some dough for Zito and his owner(s) but it really ticks me off that that is more important to them than a real test of their horse's ability. It's just not good sportsmanship. Paddy O'Prado is also entered... he finished 3rd in the Derby and was still running at the finish line, so that might be interesting. Looking at Lucky is in... can hardly wait to see if he finally gets a good trip.

Was sad to learn today that Eskendereya, who had to be scratched from the Derby, has been retired from racing. He showed a lot of promise.

Update

So, today's the 15th. No puppies here yet, although Cotton hasn't eaten anything for 2 days and is just lying around, doing nothing. She did a little nesting (digging) Wednesday night... during the Lost finale, bad girl... but that's it so far. I'm not one of those who's had any success with taking temperatures, but I may try it just to give myself something to do! This waiting is the worse part of breeding dogs, for me anyway.

She'll probably get really active tomorrow during the

Preakness
Rachel Alexandra is in. The field at post position picking time was just 13, so the "extra" horses weren't thrown into the mix. Maybe the owners were just trying to scare RA's people away. As much as I'd like to see her kick the stuffing out of the colts' owners/trainers, I'm hoping Bird wins. I'd really, really like to see another Triple Crown winner. I'd like to see them come down to the wire:
Mine That Bird
Rachel Alexandra
Friesan Fire
so it will probably be Pioneerof the Nile, Papa Clem and Tres Borrachos!

Why Do People...?
I've been working with a lady for over a week for one of the rescues... sending pictures, putting her in touch with my vet, getting the dog groomed... and we were supposed to get together yesterday for her to get the dog. She was coming from about 3 hours away and I had to rearrange my schedule (and leave Cotton alone for 2 to 2-1/2 hours) so we would have time to give the dog a little adjustment period before he was whisked off. Then, as I'm almost to the meeting point (about 45 minutes away,) she calls and says her husband told her she couldn't get the dog. Now, here's my first question:
why would anyone make the decision to get a dog (or cat or car or tv, etc) without consulting the other folks in the home?
And my second question is:
why would a woman allow a man to veto the decision?
Don't get me wrong... I think adding an animal (or making a big purchase) should be a mutual decision and all points of view should be considered. However, if the objections are without merit, or if it is really important to one party to go ahead (or NOT,) the other person should not have final say.
One lady, who has two of my puppies (now grown up,) wrote me a while back and asked if there was any way to keep the dogs in full coat without brushing them continually. She said her husband refused to let her get them trimmed and their upkeep was very time consuming. So I told her to suggest that since he wanted them long haired, HE should do the brushing. Either that idea worked or they are now divorced... I haven't heard.
BUT bringing a puppy into the home is a big decision. It changes EVERYTHING and it is a long term commitment. Everyone should be on board... especially the people who are going to be doing all the work!

Thoroughbred Shenanigans

So it's not just the dogworld where people don't play fair. The outstanding filly, Rachel Alexandra, who won the Kentucky Oaks on May 1st by over 20 lengths, may be kept out of the Preakness because a number of the colts' owners think they'll have a chance to win IF she's not in the race. (Like, duh!) According to the race rules, she (or ANY unnominated horse) can enter ONLY if fewer than 14 nominated horses do. Several of the owners have said they're going to enter second horses, even though they are not expected to do anything, just to keep her out. Calvin Borel, who regularly rides Rachel and who was on her for the Oaks, also rode Mine That Bird in the Derby. HE has said if he has to choose, he'll stay on the filly. Shame on the owners who are taking part in this. And shame on Rachel for scaring them so badly!

We're Still Waiting Here!

Cotton still has a belly full of puppies. I thought we might be a go a little while ago as she stopped eating and just lay around all day Sunday and part of Monday. But Monday afternoon she got hungry and really chowed down. She's now in my bedroom and has gotten comfortable living there with a different group that she's normally with. I have her puppy pen all set up and READY (except for the "nest" which I won't bring out until I'm pretty sure she's done whelping,) but she hasn't taken the hint. Maybe she understands she's going to be changed forever after the big event.... On the other hand, my first prediction for a whelping date was May 15th, so maybe she's just trying to NOT make a liar out of me!

Patch Crabtree checks in
Pam sent me this picture of Patch taking a break from keeping the 4 kids in line:

He is such a beautiful boy! And a big success in Alabama!

Preakness
Haven't looked up who is entered in this Saturday's Preakness... I think pole positions are drawn tomorrow... so I'm standing by my prediction that Mine That Bird will not finish first. I would LOVE to be wrong!