How?

How do you get ready to say goodbye? I mean, you can't spend every day thinking that it could be one of the last, but in reality, it could be.


Abby had an off day last week...every time she slows down I can't help but wonder if this is it.

But you know...sometimes an off day is just an off day. Abby lives every moment...not as if it were her last, but just because it is.

We could learn a lot from an old dog's tricks!


P.S. For those who are keeping track, her lump grew pretty quickly and now the growing and spreading has slowed down. We started her on the cottage cheese and flax "cancer" supplement...whether or not it's doing the trick I don't know...but she likes it.

But I don't want another puppy!!!!

Who'd have thought I'd ever say that!

Peyton, fka Tipton, is coming back to Kaos for a while. His family got in touch with me the other day and a pending move puts them in a position of not being able to keep the little bugger. My heart breaks for them...giving up a puppy is probably one of the hardest things ever.

Like many responsible breeders, our contract states that puppies are to be returned to Kaos if for any reason an owner can't keep them. Good reason not to breed as often as I'd like! Imagine if all of the rest of the Satinklettes came back! I shudder just contemplating the...well...kaos!

The adult dogs here are going to be thrilled to have another puppy around, if for no other reason than Emmy will have someone her own age (and energy level?) to amuse her.

A Month of Lumps and Bumps

It's been a rough couple of months here at Kaos. Abby, Grandma's rescue and one of the sweetest darn dogs we have, had a lump biopsied off of her shoulder....benign. Phew! Then Ryder had a lump come up suddenly on his wrist...again, benign. Waiting for the histo reports is a game of preparing for the worst and hoping against hope for the best. In both cases, all of the preparing paid off and we were rewarded with the good news.

Then, last week Grandma said something along the lines of "Abby's got another lump...on her tongue." Well, it didn't take a lot of research to learn that 9 times out of 10, lumps in the mouth are cancer. There, I said it. Abby's probably got cancer. What can we do? Well, they could cut through and remove a huge chunk of the tongue. Would they get it all? Probably not...the lump goes under and into the muscle in the mouth. Radiation? Yeah, that'd kill some cancer cells, that's for sure.

But what's best for Abby? Does this rescue dog, of indeterminate age, who already has kidney issues need more surgery and radiation? Is allopathic medicine where we're going to turn for treatment? She may live longer...but is her quality of life going to be the better for it? I know these are questions that every dog owner has to wrestle with when they find out their much loved pet has cancer...and it happens so much more often than it should. It's been years since we had our Nikki, Sasha and Tasha lessons. But, we learned them.

Abby's going to be kept comfortable and we're turning to our homeopath for treatment. Whether the cancer can be cured or not, we don't know...she's done it before with other peoples' animals.

What we do know is that Abby came to us for a reason, she needed something from us. She must have found it. Somewhere between snarling at every dog in the house and learning to accept petting, grooming and scratches and giving out the sweetest dang kisses ever, Abby found what she needed here at Kaos. Running and jumping at the doors, insisting on her walk anytime a leash appears and jumping into the car as if a ride in the car is the best darn thing in the world Abby is one of the pack. She adores Blaze, her red boy, and plays with him like he was her best buddy...and he is. Maybe it was just time for us to take a refresher course in Unconditional Love 101...although I think we're actually moving into graduate work this time.

So, we have to go down that road again...hopefully not for a while, as she's happy, not in pain or discomfort and just Abby. But when we start to lose the essence of Abby, it'll be time again to wish one of our dogs an easy journey to their spot North of the Rainbow Bridge. I don't even like Abby...she's not my dog. She's Grandma's. I'm not getting attached to anymore stinkin' rescues...I'm not I tell you...at least not after this one!

That was then....

Cleaning out the camera card, I found this adorable picture of The Emmy, taken on March 31. It made me laugh, looking at her perched on her little rock... ...especially since this June 12 picture was on the card too!

Emmy's been to her first match now. We realize a couple of things.
1. Puppies are not born knowing how to walk on a leash.
2. Puppies are not born liking a collar.

We expected Emmy, being an exceptional puppy, to be above those petty little details. She happily showed us that she isn't! So it's off to a few handling classes for Miss Emmy before she makes her debut in the show ring.

In non-Emmy news, Katie and her boy Zach have been working so hard in Junior Showmanship. They only need few more wins and they'll get an invitation to Eukanuba. And Zach has taken over handling Katie in the ring too. She shows better for him than she ever did for me! They've take some reserves, including a major reserve at the Mission Circuit shows. I expect them to take their first point any weekend now.

And Mr. Blaze is well on his way to being Mr. Ch. Blaze. With a 2nd major at Mission Circuit, he just needs two pesky little points to be done in the show ring for a while. Neither of us can wait! Robin, on the other hand, is stubbornly refusing to grow hair so that she doesn't have to go to shows...leaving me with either showing the untrained Emmy or just going to watch Zach. I haven't decided which way that is going to go yet.

The Bath

You guys won't believe this. Momma yells at us for getting all muddy and her solution is to spray us with water! Not only that...she then turns a loud machine that sounds like the vacuum monster toward us and blows at us! It's HORRIBLE! We screamed really loud, expecting someone to come save us, but Momma just laughed at us. At least she didn't have a camera out there. We don't look good in wet.

Our sisters, Pixley and Sage, have gone off to their new homes. Pixley lives just a few miles away and has a new big brother, Prince. Pixley learned how to scream like she was upset and now she gets to run all over the house all day long. We knew she was smart.

Sage flew on a big bird to Texas to live with her Grandma Cha'tima and Grandpa Tucker and all of our relatives there.

It's pretty quiet with those two gone; they were obviously the noisy puppies and we're all angels. So we're working hard to make sure Momma and Daddy don't miss the other girls.

Here are some pictures of us after our horrible baths today. Aren't we adorable?

Delano
Denver
Tipton
Emmy

Let sleeping dogs lie...

I've probably used this blog entry title before, but it bears repeating...at least around here.

"Awwww, isn't that adorable?" I can hear you all thinking it. And believe me, no one loves the sight of a sleeping puppy more than I do. Let me tell you how my Saturday started.

First, the dream. I was trying to get ready for a dog show (shocker, I know) but I kept tripping over puppies, lots and lots of puppies. And then they started screaming because I was tripping on them. What was happening in reality about 4am this morning was that a particular group of puppies was hungry and they were expressing that hunger at the top of their freakin' lungs! Now, they may be 7 week old puppies...but they've got adult sized volume on 'em. There is no sleeping through the "I'm HUNGRY NOW" chorus. Some morning I'll wake up enough to record it for those who think I might be exaggerating.

So at 4am I stumble carefully down the stairs, grab a bag of whatever's at the top of the doggie food drawer in the fridge, go upstairs and dump it in the puppy pen....ahhhhhh blissful silence. About 2 hours later it started again...I dumped the contents of the next bag in the doggie drawer in the puppy pen and went back to sleep. Around 7:30....Yep. Again. But this time Daddy was awake and did the honors for me. AND he let me go back to sleep!

I was going to be the best puppy mom. I was going to document every bit of their growth and development in pictures. Heck, now I know a little more how a new mom feels. I'm lucky I have time to brush my teeth between feeding the puppies, playing with the puppies, cleaning up after the puppies...and starting it all over again 2 hours later!

I wouldn't trade it for the world. But next time I'll think twice before I leave the puppy pen in my bedroom past 3 weeks!

We have names!!!!!

Girl 1, Star, Girl 3, Buff Boy, Whitey and Gray boy.....boring names, no question about it. Now we're the 99'ers. Named for small towns along Hwy 99, the drive from Denali's to Satinka's, Mom & Dad have finally decided to give us names. We're so excited...and pretty certain that we can get away with murder 'cause a) we're cute and b) they won't remember who is who!

Girl #1 is now Madera, or Maddie. Star (aka Girl#2) is now Manteca, or Teca. And Girl #3 is now Pixley. Buff Boy (aka Boy#1) is Delano, or Del. Whitey (Boy #2) is now Modesto, or Des. And Gray Boy (Boy #3) is now Tipton.

The Rule of Sevens

Yep, there are rules for everything! By the time a puppy is seven weeks old, a well socialized puppy will have:

1. Walked/played on seven different surfaces - we've already covered tile, carpet, vinyl and fleece...three to go, we're thinking that grass, gravel and concrete will round out the seven.

2. Eat off of seven different types of bowls - well, tonight's first food was out of an aluminum pan...we're going to have to do some work to cover seven surfaces...I wonder if eating the spillage off of vinyl flooring counts...I'm gonna count it!

3. Experience seven different kinds of toys....right, like THAT'S going to be a problem?

4. Experience seven significantly different sounds - well, they've heard an alarm clock, tonight they got to hear a drill and a vacuum cleaner...I'm sure I can come up with four other sounds...oh, wait, they've heard me snoring! That's another!

5. Been in seven different locations. We're going to have to work on this one. So far they've only been in my bedroom. But hey, they're just three weeks old. We've got time for this.

6. Met and played with seven different people. Well, now that their eyes are open, we should probably start this count over :-)

7. Been exposed to seven challenges - well, this will be fun. Some of the examples I read include: climb on a box, climb off a box, go through a tunnel, climb steps, go down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide and seek, in and out of a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence

8. Eaten in seven different locations - this one may be tougher. Do you know how messy puppies are? My general rule is that they can only eat in easy to clean places.

Sheesh. And this is after we did the Day 3 to Day 16 "Super Puppy" exercises! And some people think this breeding thing is easy. I've got a word for them...but I don't think I can publish it on Blogger!

Something new every day

One of the joys of puppies is watching, almost hourly, their development. From finding their feet to being able to navigate the bedroom on the tile floor (under supervision of course, otherwise I'd have to go fish puppies out from under the bed!) to finding their voices (not so thrilled about this one at 3am!) they seem to change on a daily basis.

They've finally figured out that there's a big world outside of their whelping box. How they made the connection, I'm not sure. We take them out of the box to play a couple times a day, but they're always pretty content to hang out in their bar and have the mobile catering unit come by when called. It seems that little bit of nirvana (mine). All too soon it'll be time to set up the downstairs puppy pen and let them explore a little more of the world. I know it'll be a lot quieter at night when their world encompasses more than just my bedroom!!!

Today we discovered our feet!

Six little toddlers running around the whelping box. That's what's happening in my bedroom these days.

Just a couple of days ago, Girl #2, aka Star, started opening her eyes. Little, tiny, squinty eyes...but I saw eyeballs! Slowly her brothers and sisters followed and this morning, when I went up to torment...errr...play with the puppies, they all had their eyes open a little bit. Some of them don't seem to be as inclined to open their eyes and face the world as quickly as the others. Here's Sunday's group picture. That's Star there on top (see how creative we got with her name?) and that yawning puppy on the right? That's one of the boys. Don't ask me which one, can't you see how similar they all look?

And watching them try to walk is SO adorable. They'd get up on their feet, so darn proud...but a yawn or a too-fast turn of the head would send them tumbling like defective Weebles. (If you don't know what a Weeble is, I don't want to hear about it!) I went upstairs about 10 minutes ago, in response to a cacophony of noise on the baby monitor (yes, we got a baby monitor so I could listen to Satinka and the puppies...next up? KaosKam!). They're WALKING! The whelping box is a hive of activity with the little dudes and dudettes toddling across the blanket. Satinka doesn't look as excited over this development as I am. She really has to rush to get into the box and into feeding position because now they move really fast...well, compared to before when they were simply dragging their little bodies across the blanket.

Today we toddle, tomorrow the Iditarod!

And, yes, if you haven't checked lately, there are new pictures from last weekend's photo shoot on the website. And we'll take more this weekend, but it may take me a few days to get them up because...drum roll please...I have a new job! Of course, it happens just as the puppies are getting interactive...but hey, it'll pay the bills!

The Satinklettes have arrived

From the first squeak at about 4:30 this morning to the surprise #6 puppy at about 10:30, the Satinklettes made their way into the world. The first one out was a gray girl (gray, not so surprising, girl, very exciting). Then, after about 30 minutes, gray girl #2 showed up. She's the one with the diamond on her back. Then, after another 30 minutes or so, gray girl #3 showed up! I can't tell you how excited I was at this point, because I wanted a girl. Now I have three girls to choose from.

Then the boys started arriving...boys as in PLURAL! We were hoping for one more, and the arrival of the bonus boy, #5, produced cries of joy (after all, we didn't have to do anything but watch).

Then a little bit later Sean hollered "there's another puppy!" Number SIX! WOOHOO!

Six darling gray and white puppies, three boys, three girls. A little later today, after Mom and the kids have had some time to bond and eat and rest we'll take their Birthday pictures. For now, we're just going to enjoy them!

This is Satinka....

Here's Satinka...isn't she a lovely, elegant looking young lady?






And here she is, a week before she's due.

She looks thrilled, eh?

We're almost there!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. From just a month ago when we first saw the puppies on the ultrasound screen to today, one week from The Due Date.

Satinka is due next Wed/Thurs. Her milk is coming in...from the feel of it, these puppies are going to be WELL fed :-) She's decided that she needs to be next to me at all times and woe to the dog who tries to get between us. She spends a fair amount of time demanding that I rub her belly. Last night I felt a puppy move for the first time! Holy cow was that exciting or what! Then, of course, I kept her up for a couple hours hoping to feel it again...but they must have been stretching before going back to sleep. I did hear puppy heartbeat with the stethescope too. That's way cool.

The whelping box is clean and tonight the husband is re-caulking the corners. I scrubbed most of the caulk off. Tomorrow I'll be setting up the Whelping Palace (no mere box or pen for La Diva!). She's heading into the vet for an x-ray on Thursday or Friday...Monday at the latest, but if she surprises me and goes into labor sooner than expected, I'd rather not be on the road.

I've got batteries for the baby monitor, a radiant ceramic heater, puppy pads to provide Satinka with somewhere to pee if I'm not around to let her out, blankets and towels, everything I could possibly need for the Event, including the phone numbers of some good breeder friends who I'm sure won't mind me calling at 3am in a panic (uh, right?) and a sleeping bag because I'm certain that if she can't be on the bed, I'm not going to be allowed on it either! Tomorrow I'll start taking her temp AM & PM and charting it in my very first Whelping & Puppy Notebook...not that I'm obsessive or anything.

She does think it's pretty cool getting two meals a day, I'm sure I'm going to hear it in a couple of months when she goes back to pre-puppy amounts.

The Official First Picture

Well, it's that time...we finally have a picture of the first Kaos puppy. See that little + sign at the left? That's near the head. And the one on the right? That's near the opposite end :-) The little bugger is 2.85 cm long and about 32 days old. Due date for the trio (there are at least two more in there) is Jan 11. I can't wait! There's so much to do to get ready.

Kaos' Kamping WeeKend

Daddy and Grandma took 7 of the crew (Katie, Aleska and Abby went with Grandma; Ice, Frosty, Arwen and Blaze went with Daddy) off to the SCWSD camping weekend somewhere where there's no running water or electricity (hence the reason you don't see MY name on the list of attendees!).

Grandma got a few shots of Kamp Kaos, where Katie, Aleska, Abby and Grandma reside when they camp as well as a shot of Nichole's team and a couple of Sean's Krew. In Sean's team, that's Frosty and her Grandpa Ice up in lead and Arwen (the loaner aka Satinka's stunt double) and Blaze at wheel. Arwen ran lead the other two short runs of the weekend and did great.

Sean said it was great fun having four dogs who actually work the whole time (not to mention any Ryder or Satinka names). It was Blaze's first real run and I'm proud to say that Daddy's not cutting him from the team yet (unlike Ryder who will be out to create symmetry in the team hookup, not do any actual work).

http://www.picturetrail.com/kaossiberians

Did somebody say Dog Show?

Knowing he's got a big week coming up, Blaze spends a little extra time on facials and pedicure. And I suppose this also answers the age old question...what do they do while we're at work all day?

Someone's going to pay for this!

Says Robin...aka The Red Headed Demon Child who was forced to wear Katie's hand-me-down, puppy sized costume.

Where's my shoe?

Puppies chew shoes and anything else they can find, right? I mean, it's a known fact. We've never had much of a problem with shoes and puppies...well, other than the time that puppy Katie took off with my shoe and dunked it in the water outside.

But Robin? She adores shoes. LOVES them. CRAVES them. And she's sneaky good!

Grandma had (note the past tense) a pair of Crocs. You know, those ugly, clog like rubber sandal things? She took them away from Robin once and put them on the sofa table. End of story, right? Nope. Robin got up on the sofa, took the shoe and settled down for a good chew. She was a fair way through the shoe before I heard a funny noise (funny noises and quiet are two things that we worry about) and found her curled up with the remains of the Croc.

Sean was laying on the sofa one night, having removed his shoes and put them under the coffee table right in front of him. Enter Robin, exit shoe.

And it doesn't stop there. I took off my loafers and put them under the coffee table and was playing with the dogs and reading (it is possible to do both). Next thing I knew, I looked down and there was only one shoe. ROBIN!!!! Sure enough, she's outside, curled up working her way through the leather loafer. You'd think, by now, we'd know to keep our shoes safe, right?

Last weekend Katie's boy, Zach, and his mom spent the night. I think we forgot to warn them about the Shoe Monster. You see Robin streaking out the door and say "everyone check your shoes" as you follow to see what she's stolen. Not only had she stolen one of Zach's shoes, but taking a page out of Katie's book, dunked it in the water bowl. So I put it in the dryer on that special rack that's not supposed to rotate..THUMP THUMP THUMP. I grabbed the door open and pulled the rack out before it killed my dryer and the shoe fell to the floor. I put the rack away and turned to pick up the shoe...it was GONE! GONE! ROBIN!!!!! The shoe was retrieved, unharmed.

This morning, as I was talking to Grandma, reviewing our plans for the day I felt something on my foot. I looked down. Now she's not even waiting for me to take them OFF! ROBIN, that's my SHOE! She looks up at me with that gleam in her golden eyes.....Yeah, Mom, I know. But you're not paying attention to it.

Passing the Torch

It happens, when you have new dogs move in. Inevitably one habit, one you were happy to see extinguished in a current dog, will raise its head in a new dog. Or, sometimes a characteristic behavior in a dog you've loved and lost will echo in the behavior of a new dog. We've got both going on at Kaos right now.

Remember Blaze, the Demolition Man who felt it was his sworn duty to help Daddy remove drywall, even the new drywall? Blaze, after some serious drywall removal, gave up that habit. Whether it was the gallons of Bitter Apple we sprayed around the edges of the exposed drywall (and, by the way, in a 2800 sq ft house, with NO baseboards reinstalled after the Great Re-Tiling Caper of 2006 there are a LOT of exposed drywall edges) or the hours of "Blaze, QUIT" that did the trick, we'll never know...but he stopped.

Yesterday Grandma reported that Robin found a tasty piece of drywall. The odd noise got Grandma's attention immediately and little damage was done. This morning, as I stepped out of the shower, I heard a noise I'd hoped never to hear again...sort of a scraping sound...like the front teeth of a dog scraping at drywall. I glanced in the bedroom to see Satinka, Frosty, Max and Lacy lazing, innocently, on the bed. Another step into the room and I saw Robin, over in the corner, busying herself. "That'd better be a nylabone" I said in my most impressive Mean Mom voice. I should have saved it. She didn't care. She looked up from her demolition project as if she didn't have a care in the world. I found a nylabone, handed it to her, showed her the inside of the crate and shut the door to continue my morning. Great, another Demolition Dog. This time Sean says if she destroys drywall, I'm going to learn to repair it myself. Might be easier to train the puppy.

And then there are the echos of dogs loved and lost. Tasha, whom some of you may remember, was a Grumbly Guss. At first we thought she was simply aggressive and were, quite rightly, cautious. As we got to know her, we realized she was simply a talker...a street-wise trash talker to be more specific. Walk by my crate? Grumble, grumble..oh, you're not impressed, fine. Get in my face? Grumble, grumble. Ok, let's go play. She was all noise. I can't recall that she ever even snapped at another dog or person. Of course, time may have dulled those memories, leaving only the good ones...but that's time's job, right?

Enter Abby. A couple of months ago she was a "save this dog" rescue post. Neglected by her owners, she had maggot infested open wounds. Knowing that Kaos wasn't a good place for her at that time, I forwarded the e-mails to some other folks who might be able to help her and put her out of my mind. Thinking about all the dogs you can't help will make you crazy. But Grandma's don't forget. Then she found out that she was with Chris, a local rescuer who got her out of the shelter, got her the needed vet care and was fostering her, looking for the right home. The right home wasn't a "we have one dog and it needs company" home, because Abby (well, she was Sheena then) wasn't super fond of having another dog roughhousing with her. She'd been separated from Chris' dogs for a few weeks, becoming accustomed to them by the separation and safe space of her own run. But she never, really, left Grandma's mind I don't think. I didn't think Kaos would be her place. We have a lot of dogs...a lot of active dogs who I knew wouldn't leave her alone. But Grandma wanted to try.

Enter Abby. Oh, I said that already, didn't I. But, no, really...Abby entered. She met Katie and didn't hate her on sight. Then she came to visit at Kaos. It's temporary, we'll see how she works out. She was a grumbly girl, not really timid, but not accustomed to the rough and tumble of Kaos. She'd perch up on the couch and growl at every dog who walked by, letting them know they were invading her space. I had my doubts she'd settle in, that we were going to be a happy home for her. Grandma had her doubts. Sean had his. We must have talked to Chris a million times the first few days "Abby's doing this, is this normal?" We expected a lot from Abby, too soon, was the consensus. We gave her space, she got the double run to herself while we were gone, getting used to the rest of the dogs in a safe space, where Blaze couldn't chase her into the dog house to play, where Katie couldn't play bow and leap at her to instigate a game of chase...where Robin couldn't simply pester her in an attempt to wear down her defenses.

But there was something, so we kept watching .... and then Satinka walked by and somehow her face ended up in Abby's mouth. That was Abby's last free pass from me. She didn't bite, she just held and released, much to my relief (and probably Satinka's too). She was sweet, engaging and made me smile, but my first responsibility is to the dogs who live with me...tough talk, eh? In the 10 days she's been her, Abby has won my heart..my carefully guarded, I don't want any more rescues 'cause they break my heart when they get sick so soon, heart.

She's got issues, she's not fond of having her space invaded. She guards the couch a little too much, so she's not allowed up there. You try to tell one dog why they can't be on the couch and everyone else can...it's TOUGH. Blaze drove her crazy, with his insistance that she play with him...he wore her down. Abby learned it was easier to play with Blaze for a couple of minutes than to tell him to go away. She has her snarky moments, but so do the rest of us at Kaos, two and four legged. She's learning that our hands on her body won't cause pain. Whether its remembered pain from the open sores or some other pain that hands caused her in her past, she's slowly forgetting that and welcoming the scratches and belly rubs.

She's got cataracts, so her field of vision is a little fuzzy. I guess that means we won't rearrange the furniture often, so that when her vision goes, she knows where things are.

Every time she grumbles I think of Tasha, my summer girl, her big blue eyes and mangled foot. Every time she cocks her head, looks up at me with those laughing eyes, I melt a little bit more.

Passing the Torch or Echos of the Past? I see a little bit of the dogs who've been through Kaos in each of the dogs who are here. Sometimes it makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry. Sometimes it makes me wonder how to hide the drywall damage from the husband. But each time it makes me realize how vulnerable I am to those furry faces, those smiles, those sweet doggie kisses and hugs.

Blaze The Magnificent

Last night we took Robin (aka the Red Headed Screaming Demon Child) to PetSmart, to work on some issues (namely screaming when told to do something she doesn't want to do) and we put all the dogs outside.

Sean pulled up as we were getting in the car, he opened the door and came back out quickly "Why is Blaze loose in the house?" Oh no, not again...so soon after having accidentally left Robin inside, I couldn't believe I'd done it again...and this time with a boy who a) marks and b) CAN reach the counter tops. But wait, I distinctly remember walking him to the door and closing it, because he wanted his own, special invitation from Mom. I decided to think about it later, then it hit me. The windows were open in the living room, and one of 'em doesn't have a screen. Blaze considers that his own, personal, doggie door.

Sure enough, as I went back in the house to tell Sean I hadn't completely lost my mind, Blaze excited the same way he came in...through the window. Good thing we don't wash the windows! I'd hate to see him plastered against one like a bird!