There is a busy weekend for dog lovers in Wisconsin starting today and running through Sunday dog shows with going on. Tonight starts with the Great Lakes Pug Club’s annual specialty show with 50 pugs entered. Tomorrow through Sunday will be the Dairyland Cluster of Dog shows and obedience/rally trials. As a member of both the Pug club and the local Badger Kennel Club I will be spending a lot of time at the show site. There are over 1200 to 1600 dogs entered each day! My beautiful Labrador Retriever, Summer, is entered all three days in conformation at these shows. More show information can be found here.

We are hoping some of our state legislators will attend to see the good side of the dog breeding community as well as to talk with breeders about how anti-breeding laws could affect them and why current proposed legislation in our state will not help get rid of puppy mills as intended. All were invited personally to attend so we will see if any take us up on our invite.

The results are in and it appears that a Portuguese Water Dog will soon be moving into the White House. Apparently the choice of getting a puppy needing re-homing through its breeder rather than a puppy being re-homed through a rescue or shelter has some people upset. However the Obama family needed to make a decision on a new family member based on what dog would fit in best with them and their needs and I applaud them for taking their time and finding the breed and dog that is right for their situation. As I understand it, it would likely be difficult to find a PWD in a shelter as there aren’t that many bred each year and this breed’s breeders do a great job in making sure all puppies are properly placed and in taking responsibility for all dogs they have bred. I wish some of the breeders in my primary breed (Labradors) would be as conscientious!

There is an interview with the breeder of the soon to be First Pet at The Pet Connection Blog if you are curious about where the pup is coming from. Sounds like a good person who loves her breed and wants the best for all her puppies.

I hope the Obama’s have lots of fun with their new family member.

If I knew then, what I know now… is the topic for the LVS On-line Blog Carnival. There are always some things a person would like to change in their life. Sometimes you still can change the path you’re on, other times you can only move forward onto a different path.

When I saw the topic for the Blog Carnival a couple of things that I might have done differently in life came to mind.

First of all I would have gone to vet school instead of nursing school It is too hard to go back now after all these years as a nurse (33), being towards the top of the pay range, having seniority and established bills that need to be paid. I tried at one point — started taking some classes that I would need in addition to those I was given credit for from my BSN — but with a young daughter, debts, a job, and pending back surgery it just didn’t feel right. I’m okay with my chosen profession but I know I would have also loved being a vet and if I had another chance I wouldn’t let people talk me out of it.

The second thing that comes to mind as something I might have done differently had I known what was ahead was adopting our daughter. We do love her, but as a special needs child and now a special needs adult we will always be responsible for her which continues to put stress on my husband and I. I truly had no idea what was involved raising a special needs child. I would have talked to parents of special needs kids and adults and found out more about what we were getting in to. I never thought ahead to what would happen once she was grown up or that we might always be responsible for her. I didn’t realize we would have to be much more involved in her adult life than an average parent would be for their child once they were old enough to move out. I also did not anticipate the economy worsening causing budget cuts which have affected the hours staff can help with her needs, the job support she receives and the cuts to all of the programs she needs to enable her to live as independently as possible. Some will say I am horrible for thinking/writing this but I sometimes wonder if it might have been better to be childless. I remain committed to making sure she gets what she needs but sometimes this is a path it would be nice to jump off of!

Other things I wish I had known to do “then”:
When my grandparents were still alive I wish I had written down some of their stories about family and life when they were younger.
I wish I had labeled old photos with dates and names/places.
I wish I had made some different financial decisions.
And finally, I should have thrown out boxes and boxes of stuff when we moved 4 years ago; stuff that now sits in the garage. THAT is a path I can still change so once the weather warms up spring cleaning the garage is in our future!

I took one of my pugs, Sprite, in for her rabies shot yesterday. Her sister Sprout has reacted twice to the rabies shot with facial swelling, airway closing, etc. Sprite has never reacted to the vaccine but I was a bit nervous about Sprite receiving her shot given her sister’s history. My vet had me wait until we were well past her spay surgery (it’s been two months now) just to be sure she was totally healthy. I opted to leave her at the vet today for observation as I had too many things going on to watch her properly. I went to pick her up about 4:30 p.m. and they assured me she had done just fine. Penny, one of the employees at my vet, came out with Sprite and said she had just vomited. I said “oh oh, that’s what Sprout’s reaction started with” so they had us wait for one of the vets to look at her again. Within a short time she began itching and by the time the vet came into the exam room she was itching a lot more. Her face was still okay but as he said, why wait until her face swells to intervene as it was obvious she was going to get worse. So she got a steroid shot and a benedryl shot. Within about 15 min. she had stopped itching and we went home. Of course, like her sister, she will never get another rabies shot.

In case anyone else has this problem with their dogs, you are probably wondering how I will get them licensed in the future. My vets will write a letter that I will give to my township when I renew licenses once this rabies shot is considered expired in 3 years. If, in the very very unlikely situation, either pug would bite someone after that 3 year period, they would need to be quarantined at my expense for 10 days at my vet’s clinic. A small price to pay if it were to occur versus possibly killing them by vaccinating them again.

The good news is there is a new study being conducted at the University of Wisconsin on the length of time the rabies vaccine provides immunity in dogs. It is quite likely it works for 7 years or more. The Rabies Challenge info can be found here. Donations are needed to help fund this study.

I have discovered “Scrapbook Max” (http://www.scrapbookmax.com). Wish I had more hours in the day or needed less sleep as making a digital scrapbook page is a lot of fun. I designed this page tonight even though I should have been working on my blogging class homework. Sorry, Bean, I’ll get to it later!

My beautiful first champion Labrador Retriever and foundation of my breeding program, Champion Honorbright Legend of DMarsh TD, JH, RN, WC (Nessie to her friends) turned 14 years old today. She is the queen of the house and still very dignified. She does not have any major health problems — okay an accident in the kitchen on a day I am gone to work all day at times but that is very forgiveable. I think she enjoys her near deafness. She is also trained on hand signals as are most of my dogs but she chooses to ignore them when it is convenient. As she mosies off to sniff something else in the yard she conveniently looks away as I signal her to come! I am so happy to still have her with us.