My Girl, Rachel

She did it again! Everyone knows I'm in love with the Thoroughbred filly, Rachel Alexandra, and with good reason. She's beautiful. She's talented. And she's better than everyone else! For people who do not follow horse racing, Rachel is the 3 year old girl who trounced all the other 3 year old girls by winning the Kentucky Oaks by 20 lengths and THEN beat the top 3 year old boys in the Preakness. Those boys included Kentucky Derby Winner, Mine That Bird. Her next race was another one against the little boys, the Haskell Invitational, which she won by 6 lengths. Those boys included Summer Bird (yes, Mine That Bird's half brother) who won the Belmont. This weekend, Rachel was in the Woodward Stakes... the ONLY 3 year old (either sex) entered and she made certain ALL the older guys followed her home. Not only is she the first filly to win the Woodward, she is one of very few 3 year olds to win it. Not even the great Secretariat could do it as a 3 year old. (He finished second.) Yestersay, Rachel's people said she was obviously tired but not sore and was eating well. Most likely she is done racing for the year and the folks trying to push her into a race against the 5 year old super mare, Zenyata, are going to have to wait until next year. (Rachel has already run in more races than Zenyata has in her life time.) If Horse of the Year does not go to Rachel Alexandra, there'll be some 'splain' to do!

Pookie, Canine Good Citizen

This is Dan and Pookie who have just completed the test for the Canine Good Citizen program. Pookie is 9 months old and a Shadow/Emy pup. Although any number of our dogs are working with their owners who are therapists, counselors, social workers, etc, Pookie is the first to get her official certificate (that I know of. Any more out there, let me hear from you.)



Dan hopes to take her through the therapy dog program when she is old enough.
You can find out more about the CGC certification at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_Good_Citizen

Congratulations to Pookie and Dan!

Here's the Plan

Some of you have been on the website since I updated it yesterday 'cause I've already heard from you. But for those who prefer a blog summary...
Di and Brogue have done the deed (you already knew that)
and
I'm going ahead this Fall with Emy and Shadow.
The mini Goldendoodle litter will be in the Spring... maybe. (I'm not going to do it if I don't have firm commitments as I certainly don't need any mini G'doods myself.)

Sooo, Em is due in season in another month or so IF she follows the plan. Or she could come in any day if she chooses to be like her mom.

I should be sans pup around here for about 6 weeks. Long enough!

Shad and Chauncey
Talked with Chauncey's owners and it looks like she IS pregnant. Those pups will be born around the end of the month. They should be real sweethearts if they take after either of their parents!

Done!

The last puppy has left me and arrived safely in her new home in Florida. She's been living in the house, loose 99% of the time, just like a "big dog" for the last 10 days and has been a very good girl. At the airport, at 4 o'clock this morning, she got a lot of attention and even more smiles from all the people who certainly LOOKED more awake than I felt! One big burly guy who looked like a pro wrestler walked passed and gave us a huge "awwww!" I had parked her crate in front of one of the check-in spots and was sitting, with her in my lap, across the room (small airport, only about 20 feet away.) People checking in kept bending down and looking in the crate trying to see inside. One fellow got lower and lower and finally knelt on the floor. I was cracking up! His buddy glanced in my direction, saw the pup on my lap and burst into laughter. Puppy seemed quite relaxed, so it was a good departure for all of us.

Funny to think it will be about 5 months before I'm back out there... Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... all over and done with for the year by then. My, how time flies!

More Pictures

Lulu who lives in DUMBO New York... no lie! I love the name of that NYC neighborhood! Lulu is a Goldendoodle.

Patch who lives in the Atlanta area, sporting his nice (?) new trim. Mom (and grandma) not totally thrilled. Patch is a Whoodle.

Actually, the two are related... Shadow is Lulu's grandfather and Patch's dad... and the parti-coloring does NOT come from him.

Good News/Bad News

For me, anyway. Because of the breeding I want to do this Fall with my Goldendoodle, Keogh (Lulu's mom,) I took Brogue to the vet to see if he could be "collected" for artificial insemination. The answer was a resounding "NO! and get away from me with that cup!" That's the bad news and pretty much terminates my hope of ever having a Who-Doo litter. The next option for Keogh is my miniature Poodle Sparky. So HE went to the vet yesterday for the same procedure. And he performed like a champ. That's the good news. BUT it raises the question of whether or not I truly want to put all the money it would take to produce a mini Goldendoodle litter (probably over a thousand dollars with progesterone testing and the surgical implantation) when I know a number of breeders who have beautiful, healthy Goldendoodle pups begging for homes. Needless to say, I'm still batting this one around. I have opened a waiting list for G'dood pups with the idea that if I get enough homes lined up I'll do the breeding. And if not, I'll breed Emy and Shadow again when she comes in next month rather than waiting for her next cycle. Feel free to weigh in on this. Opinions always welcome!

A Well Deserved "I Told You So"

This was an a-ha moment for me when I read this report just a few minutes ago on yahoo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090821/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_nightmare_flight

The airlines I had the problem with shipping the very first pup was this very same airlines... Mesaba. They bill themselves as the US's longest flying regional airline. And it's really hard to understand how they've stayed in business. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Instead, blame for the incident, which has revived calls for greater consumer protections for airline passengers, belongs with Mesaba Airlines, whose representative declined to let the ExpressJet passengers deplane, LaHood said in a statement.

A Mesaba representative incorrectly told ExpressJet that the passengers couldn't be allowed inside the terminal because Transportation Security Administration personnel had left for the day, LaHood said.

Actually, security regulations allow for deplaning passengers to be kept in a separate "sterile" area until they are ready to board, he said.

"We have determined that the Express Jet crew was not at fault. In fact, the flight crew repeatedly tried to get permission to deplane the passengers at the airport or obtain a bus for them," LaHood said.

"There was a complete lack of common sense here," the secretary added. "It's no wonder the flying public is so angry and frustrated." (Bold is mine.)

To be fair... to be fair... Mesaba was NOT the airline involved in the flight. They were the only ground crew still on duty. Which doesn't excuse dumb.

My complaint to Mesaba was answered by NWAir and was almost as frustrating as the original problem. Apparently airline personnel are trained to send out form letters even if they don't have one that fits. After several back and forths... with the NW guy STILL not getting it... I got an email thanking me for my comments and suggestions. If they get around to reading the comments, I'm SURE they won't take the
suggestion! Seriously, I tried to be nice but they just don't get it. It is no wonder more and more airlines are falling by the wayside (no pun intended.)

And, again to be fair... the local counter people and I have worked out our differences (they are just as frustrated as shippers are) and are doing just fine.

Well!

In an effort to keep me on my toes and to remind me that I am not in control around here, Diamond has come into season at least a month early. And just to make sure her message sinks in, she is perfectly happy being with Brogue. And I mean in the Biblical sense. I hesitate to make any predictions, BUT if things progress normally, we'll (they'll) have puppies toward the end of October, after the 20th anyway. Which means they SHOULD be ready to go toward the end of January 2010.
The reservation list will open as soon as I'm sure Di's in whelp... most likely in about a month. But don't hold me to that!