Baby

Baby’s Arthritic Back

Baby is 10-3/4 years old, and has some bad arthritis in her back. A vet sent us home with some Arthrimaxx in October, 3 month’s worth, but it didn’t help. Baby stands slanted sometimes due to the discomfort.

I have been giving Baby 1500 mg of Glucosamine in the morning and at night since the Arthrimaxx, which has done a better job for her. I had heard about another product called Platinum Performance Plus, which is supposed to be excellent. So I called the company to find out the size of tub I should order for Baby.

According to the website, Baby would need 2 TBS a day, but the wonderful people on the Platinum Performance phone lines told me that is a maintenance dose. Baby needs a therapeutic dose, so for two weeks, she will get 2 TBS in the morning and 2 TBS at night. Week three, and thereafter, she will get 3 TBS in the morning and 3 TBS at night. So we got a 10-pound tub. It arrived today, hence my posting.

I thought it was going to be white, but when I opened the lid tonight to give Baby her first serving, surprise! It’s brown.

It has a little blue scoop inside, too. One full scoop is 1 TBS. There is a line within the scoop that measures tsp-sized servings too. It’s very convenient.

The website says to use the product within 5 months. Fresh is better. The phone support person, told me to keep it in the refrigerator for better freshness.

Baby had her first dose in her dinner tonight and liked it. I did, too, much better than the Arthrimaxx. I didn’t like the way Arthrimaxx tasted. Platinum Peformance looks and smells like something you could put in yogurt…there’s no scent! Maybe I’ll try it.

The bucket came in the mail solo. That saves on shipping costs and paper usage because no need to put the product in a box to mail. I called the company when I found out there was no packing slip/invoice attached to the bucket. They told me it would come in the mail.

Baby is going to keep us informed on how Platinum Performance does for her. She’s always willing to give a product review. OK, she is a Diva, so maybe not always. But when she feels like it, and eventually she’ll feel like it.

Helen, Baby’s mom

Baby, Health

05

Mar

2008

P P G L

Helen

SHOOT!

I talked to the MB-F people, who are superintendants for Friday’s AKC trial, and they said Baby’s and my entry arrived after closing – at 2:25 – and they closed entries at noon, so they sent it back to me. Wow. That’s a first. I think I even Fedexed it, but I can’t pull Fedex up on the Internet this morning (infuriating!), so can’t check on that.

A little later in the day, I got a letter from the MB-F people. A letter? I mean a strip of paper with my check. Now on the paper they say the entry got there on 2/25! Which 225 was it? I don’t know. But I mailed the entry through US mail, as Fedex finally came up on the Internet and no record of my sending to MB-F was listed. Now if I mailed our entry through US mail from Broward county to Brooksville, which is in Hernando county, on the 18th of February, one would think it would take only a day to get from here to there. Seven days? It’s a 4-1/2 hour drive! Where’s my Rescue Remedy!

This is yet another entry for the People Plan and God Laughs category. I asked to take off Friday from work even. Eeewww kay, did I already say

SHOOT?

AKC, Baby, People Plan God Laughs

04

Mar

2008

A Chef Questions Her Efforts

Helen

I don’t know, but I’m thinking. I just made tomorrow’s dinner tonight for the FDSP. That’s because I need to get home and feed them and scram to a new dog class as soon as I get home. No minutes to waste. What bothers me is I work hard to make dinner for my babies, and when I was looking at the directions on how long to cook the macaroni, I laid the bag on top of the burner I’d just boiled water on for tea. I don’t know why, but I did. Well, the next thing that happened was the plastic bag melted and macaronis fell from the sky. Go figure. Dogs were dive bombing to eat these morsels faster than mosquitoes on a sleeping target. So why do I bother cooking the macaroni? Why not just put them in the bowl with the cheese and forget about boiling the veggies, too. Just chuck them in there as a frozen topping.

Why not? Well, I thought about that and came up with the answer. Because Baby, the Diva, would not go for that, that’s why. And she’s the Queen Mother.

She’s the reason Fort Doberdale exists. So I will continue being the FDSP Chef and cook the food unless the Queen Mother wants a raw chicken or turkey wing for a snack.

Baby: Did she come or did she run?

Helen

On our way to the show grounds this morning, Baby and I saw a Golden Retriever in the back of a pick-up truck, which was towing a boat. Bad news. Illegal news, but no police were doing anything about it.

Once again, Baby and I arrived at the show grounds.

This show we had to arrive at a later time than our last trial, which was nice. Novice B was to start at 11:20.

I can’t say I got a warm, fuzzy feeling when I snapped this picture. I figured Baby was in one of “those” moods again.

And she was. She wanted to be loved by everybody. She is such a socializer, unlike her mom. She poked people, and prodded, and many just weren’t amused. When Baby finally figured I was it, she settled down and annoyed me to no end. If I stood by her ex-pen, though I was trying to watch the goings-on in our ring, she insisted I pet her. Loud and louder barks were her way of demanding, er … communicating.

These were some of the vehicles we saw in the parking lot, and I have to say this first one gives me the willies. It’s too much like an animal control vehicle rather than a dog show vehicle.

The person who owns this van has the neatest windows. Her dogs are on either side of the rear windows. This is Star.

And this is Ringo!

Corgis are really cute little rascals.

This van was full of crated Akitas, as I remember. There’s quite an ordeal to groom them for a show.

This is a Rottweiler Rescue vehicle. I can’t imagine fitting too many of those characters in that little mutt of a vehicle. Now chihuahuas? Perfecto!

Of course, this was my favorite. You know why.

Well, here’s the moment I’d been waiting for. Would she come or would she run? Baby, the Recall Specialist, came. She came straight at me, full speed, and right by my left side into a half-assed finish. She didn’t think stopping in front of me and sitting, looking up adoringly at me, was the thing to do, so she tried a new twist. When I told her to heel, she looked at me and moved about a half-inch with an “I already did!” look. Uh huh.

Well, here we are. Baby looks smashing in this picture. The photographer was another exhibitor in the same class with us, so I have to thank her for the great Baby picture.

We got a 188. We lost 5 points on the recall, and the rest on the heeling exercises. Puh-leez. Baby was not in the mood to do anything but socialize, and I asked her to “just get the leg,” and that’s what she did. No bells and whistles. Not my DoberDiva. And she was rewarded heavily for doing as little as possible with plenty of chicken tenders. That was our deal. So whoopie! Now we have one more leg to get and Baby will have a CD to put after her name…besides all her other titles…like QM (Queen Mother), FDSP, RS (Recall Specialist), RN (Rally Novice) and such. Ewwkay.

One unusual turn of events in our Novice group is that everyone qualified. That’s highly unusual. It is. We had ten total. Several, three to be exact, were absent from our group.

There were plenty of beautiful dogs at the show grounds today. Here are three beautiful collies.

The most beautiful Dobermann…oh wait! It’s Baby! She went on a shopping spree after she got her qualifying ribbon.

Baby was a little teeny weeny jealous of this gal’s hair. I mean, it is the cutest hairdo.

Then we saw another Dobe…oh wait! It’s Baby again. Still shopping.

Here is Karyn. She has done magnificently with her Dobies in the confirmation ring. Last year, I met her Doberboy, also red, who was first Doberboy in the nation. This is Karyn with her Dobergirl, who is not 2 years old yet.

Here’s a good look at Karyn’s sweetie pie with her beautiful green jacket on.

Even show dogs drool.

Here is what some people do when they don’t want their dogs to know they’re watching while they are performing in the ring. Mommy has gone outside the ring with a sibling.

Here is a high-ranking Great Dane, who is owner handled. He’s so cute.

There’s a lot of grooming going on behind the grandstands.

Here we have several more shots of Baby in the parking lot as we are packing up. First is her ever-generous raspberry. She started out with it and is ending with it. She’s consistent.

This is an unusual look for the Diva.

This is why she’s a Diva. She has so many looks and in seconds can change from one to the other right in front of the camera.

She’s a model at heart.

When we got home, the most beautiful sky was waiting for us.

After the sun set, well, Baby need to catch up on her beauty Zzz’s and got right to work at it.

I wonder what she’s dreaming about. I hope it’s a dream about getting high in trial at her next trail, which is Friday! If she passes then, well, she will get that CD title.

Until then…I will need more Rescue Remedy.

AKC, Baby