Thank you SO much Donna it is an honor.  If you have not checked out DonnaAndTheDogs you totally should!  Donna has a knack for writing, and boy does she have a lot to write about. She has a house full of dogs (A GSD, Vizsla, and Lab to be specific)  she has rescued who each have their own special needs.  Lately she has been put through quite the health and behavioral ringer with her pack, and I give her major Kudos for all her and her husband go through for these dogs.  I don’t think I could handle the situations you have been in lately, especially with as much grace and patience as you all have.  Thank you for sharing what you go through with all of us dog lovers, I know I have learned a lot.   So if you are looking for another blog to add to your list, go check out Donna’s blog, even if it is simply because she has a lab and Vizsla! Sometimes we even luck out and get pictures!

The rules for the Versatile Blogger Award are as follows:
1. Thank the award giver and link back in your post. (See above)
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to as many as 15 blogs you enjoy reading and let them know about the award!

Okay 7 things about myself, this shouldn’t be too hard right? I will most likely include Luna in quite a bit of it as well since it is a blog about her and I afterall.

1. Where to begin, maybe the beginning of it all. I spent months researching dog breeds when I felt the call to get my very own personal dog.  If you know me you know I have always been interested in learning about dog breeds, it’s kinda my thing (among others) and sometimes I get lucky enough to be asked to share my knowledge on the subject. I first saw a vizsla on a hunting show, doing what it loved… but then got a glimpse of their sweet side after when they gave more info about the breed and it just stuck in my mind.  After making my Pro/Con list I noted that the Vizsla fit into many of my requirements in a dog… then when I found a very reputable breeder only 10 minutes away I took it as a sign. So we jumped into the interview process. I really did not think I was even a candidate for getting one of these puppies, but then it turned out that I was high on the list of prospects.

Can you imagine how sad I would be if I hadn’t been able to bring this puppy home??

2.  Though she has a cute face, Luna lives up to all they say about first-born and then some. Yep, she is the first of all of Maddy’s (her mama) puppies, little miss pink collar.  The first couple years were not all roses, whoever coined the phrase that Vizslas are not a dog they are a lifestyle, hit the nail on the head.   Thankfully her arrival home was right after I got home from a 2 week trip to Africa, and fell between jobs.  So our first couple weeks were wonderful, it had it’s ups and downs but there was plenty of time for adventures.  We went hiking several times a week and had lots of trips to see the then-boyfriend and lots of love from family… basically we lived the life back then. A new puppy, new toys, no job, a boyfriend… what more could you want. (okay, I admit it… I often wish I could go back to that, who wouldn’t?)

She learned early on that posing for the camera/treats would be a big part of her life.

3.   Speaking of treats and things Luna eats.  Some of you may know this already, but I assume most don’t, I do not eat meat… of any kind.  I have nothing against those that do, I actually married a big meat-eater who also hunts.  I have actually always loved anatomy and behavior so I am also probably one of the few non-meat eaters who will also happily gut/clean an animal if I know how, and am happy to learn how if not.  So outside of not actually consuming the meat I clean and cook, my dogs and my husbands lucked out. One day I will have enough forethought to set up a camera to record my facial expressions as I clean a chukar.

Those gray birds are Chukars

4.  Though you see many pictures of Luna on here, my passion for photography started before her. It began with ancient point and shoots, then began to include a film SLR followed by several DSLRs you have heard mentioned  A big part of  the artist in me probably had something to do with picking a Vizsla, and it was by the grace of God that I got such a beautiful regal looking one to boot (though that is not a hard description to find in the Vizsla breed, and I am probably totally biased).  My dad likes to call her an “Anna” Dog.  You can think of your own meanings for that, but she is totally my type physically, though I did not let that rule my decision for the breed it was just a bonus.

5.  It took me nearly 4 years to figure this out, but Luna and I are a lot a like.  Independent, stubborn, outdoor lovers, observers, and thinkers to name a few.   You know how they say people become like their pets, well it’s kinda like that only we just had similar personalities from the start.  I think this is part of the reason she has been a challenge for me (the first couple years she nearly had me in tears pretty often, as she just took so much work I often wondered if I had gotten the wrong dog).  I know I know we should not humanize our dogs, and in my eyes she is still totally a canine but I can’t help but put thoughts to her looks sometimes. She is so expressive and really seems to put a lot of thinking behind her actions.   I may get pictures of her looking all pretty and curious but it is truly hard to catch the subtle looks she gives all the time. Usually she goes to her default “I am SO not impressed” look when I try and get a photo of them.  I just realized this tonight but this is one of the things I love the most about her (the breed), and honestly unless you could guarantee my next breed of dog would still do these things I don’t know if I could chance another breed.  I always say that if a dog could act human-like a Vizsla is that dog, and I have been around a lot of dogs. This both is endearing but also is one of the biggest challenges in the breed, and yet is probably a big reason for people getting a second one.

6. Okay another thing about me… okay here is a random one, I come from a family of 10 kids. Yep 10, 7 boys and 3 girls. I fall at number 7 down the line.  I have 5 older brothers, an older sister, a younger sister, and 2 younger brothers.  Needless to say our house was always pretty busy and interesting… especially since both of our parents are artists of some sort and thus most of the kids are pretty darn different in personality.  This has nothing to do with Luna, outside of the fact that she loves all of them.  Oh and Luna was the first dog to ever live inside, now don’t jump on my parents old fashioned ways, our family dogs lived quite the life in the country and were more than happy to be outside. And though my parents are not dog people, they love Luna.  Mom gets so tickled when Luna decides to hop on the couch and lay next to her.

 7. I feel like this one should be the best but honestly it has been hard to think of things that you all might find interesting about me. Maybe I should have you ask the questions? That’s usually what I do. Okay another random fact I love to go fishing.  Back when Luna was young I actually would take her down the river with me, and I would wade out and fish in the middle while she swam next to me.  Occasionally she would chase a stick or leaf in the water, she even went under one time after a leaf.  The current caught her as she turned to reach backward and she got taken under and rolled, scared the crap out of me but I just reached under and pulled her back up. Then I sent her out to take a break.  She also loved when I caught a fish, she would go off after it when I let it go.  A half hour of swimming for a puppy (with breaks of course) meant a nice relaxed puppy the rest of the day. As I said, I really miss those days.

I wish I had photos of that, but this will have to do.  I don’t have many photos of her and I as a whole, one day I will hire some to take some.

Now to share this award with some others. Here are some of my favorites, some have nothing to do with dogs and touch on some of my other loves like photography, family, baking, sewing. I’m weird I know.

Love & A Six-foot Leash:  If you love dogs, writing, photography, fostering, or pitbulls this blog is a must read.  This is a blog that centers around foster work done by a couple and their dog Chick (and now their newest pup  Dude!).  I can’t say enough good things about this blog, and honestly it is difficult to really sum it up in words. That may sound silly, but there is so much to love about this blog it is hard to sum it up.  The work Aleksandra and her husband does, with a breed that get such a bad rap, is beyond commendable.  You really just need to go check this wonderfully written blog out for yourself.

Rescued Insanity:  Kristine probably is getting sick of these awards but I have to share her blog with you.  She is another wonderful blogger with a knack for writing about her life with her crazy (so she says) dog Shiva.  Kristine has a wonderful way with words, and often has me laughing out loud with her stories about her dog Shiva.  She also writes with an honesty that is hard to find anymore in the dog world.  She is not afraid to admit that having a dog can be very difficult at times, but then also is not afraid to admit how wonderful it can be.

RedBirdDog:  I have to of course share a Vizsla blog with you, and this one has been a favorite for a long time. The blog is loaded with great photos of Vizslas enjoying life, whether on a run or in the bird field. They are full of great information about the breed too, and I love how they try and keep people honest about the breed, the good and the not so good. If you are a red dog lover check them out.

Here are a couple other Vizsla blogs I watch: LivingthelifeofRiley ,  Belatarr , ATailOfTwoVizslas

2 Brown Dawgs: Alright so this blog gets a lot of awards, but it should. Again another dog blog, but this one is about a breed you don’t hear much about. Chesapeak Bay Retrievers.  And they do things with this breed that is not done often enough with hunting dogs.  They hunt/trial and show AND they are their family. See it is possible.  Take a look if you want to learn more about a wonderful strong breed of retriever.  Great photos too, plus they just got a new puppy!

VisualState: If you love the outdoors and photography you will love Andrew’s blog.  Beautiful photos of parks, street, and still life.  I know to some that may sound boring, but I constantly am amazed at this artist’s shots.  I don’t even mind that looking at his photos sometimes makes me feel totally inadequate as a photographer, I am a big enough to recognize talent when I see it.

Bang:  Another photography blog that often makes my jaw drop.  Want to see an artist that shoots from the heart? Check out this blog, they have the photos to back up their fancy (and sometimes not) equipment. Amazing work, great technique, and a great eye! I can’t ask for any more from an artist.

The Modern Quilt Guild:  I just found this quilting/sewing blog but I fell in love. Wonderful work, great photos and ideas.  I have a dream to finish a quilt, so far I am maybe a quarter of the way there.

The Anderson Crew:  I LOVE this blog. Wonderfully written stories, photos, and moments shared about a family of 8.  I wish she had time to post more often, but I am surprised at how often she is able to post to begin with having that many kids. Major Kudos!

Alright, I have spent far too much time on this blog post so I will stop there. Thank you again for the award Donna.  And to the others that have passed awards on to me in the past I apologize for not acknowledging them with a post.  I hope to change that from here on out, and I would try and catch up with the past awards given if I had not lost the sticky that had all the names/awards on it (downside of cleaning up this messy joint). I hope  everyone has a great weekend.

]]> http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/versatile-blogger-award/feed/ 9 AKG Lunacoat_5276 Lunalog_5902 (1) lunamechuk_6945 fin_2676 copy lnaswm_8155 copy http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/a-vizsla-among-pit-bulls/ http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/a-vizsla-among-pit-bulls/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:09:06 +0000 Anna http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/?p=906 Continue reading →]]> Saturday brought a new kind of adventure for Luna.  Thanks to a wonderful friend (Bosley’s mom), who volunteered to drive us, we were able to join the recently created Pittie Trails group on a walk. You can find more info about them on their facebook page and recap of the first walk on a blog post.

Basically it’s a local group of Pit Bull/Mixes owners who get together to go on a structured pack walk.  You may be wondering why on earth we joined in with a Vizsla and a Schnauzer/poodle mix… neither one of which are even remotely close to containing any Pit Bull in them.  Basically I went to support the whole idea of these walks (and they are nice enough to be open to non pit bull dogs too). If you read the blog post you will see that they actually have rules, it is not just a big free-for all for pittie lovers.  These walks require you only walk one dog per person, keep at least 5 feet between you and all other dogs, and do not let them approach/say hello to each other even if they know eachother. What this allows is a group of dogs from all walks of life to go on a walk together with minimal pressure on the dogs in training and their owners. It allows blind dogs, half blind dogs, leash reactive dogs, shy dogs, and confident dogs to travel together in a structured way.  Honestly we need more groups like this out there, both to promote the breed as a good stable breed when in the right hands, as well as to offer the opportunity for growth for those that need a little work.

Anyhow we had wonderful 50 degree weather that morning, perfect for a good hour and a half long walk through the woods and fields. Here are a couple photos I managed to snap while walking with Luna.

I put Luna’s little backpack on, in hopes of it wearing her out a little more.  This is honestly  a bit of a joke because the  pockets are not big enough for much of a water bottle, but it’s the thought that counts.

So most of the photos look like this, as I was trying to prevent a traffic jam and keep moving.  And since I did not want to eat dirt I did not chance walking backwards with her but once, and then almost ate dirt because of a hidden rock.

I did stop once to capture these two

But then it was back on the move

We had a group of about 8-10 dogs I think (I did not count)… and some of them were dogs I had known about from blogs

Like Lily the wonder dog… and her great backpack… and I do believe Ginger was there too from another blog, but I am not for sure.  You see keeping 5 feet between people does not allow for much talking, so I still need to get to know everyone.  In anycase it was a great morning walk, and we appreciate Athena’s owners for being our map/companions for our second loop around after everyone left. After Luna got to run a bit in the bird field that evening she was happy to lay around the rest of the evening.

Thank you for having us Pittie Trails! And great work everyone!  I hope to make another walk soon

Recently we even competed in a fun match as it was nearly in our backyard.

(thank you to Nicole for taking this shot of us)

It had been a long time (probably a year??) since I went in the ring with her, and even at a funmatch I was nervous.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to compete at Westminster. Anyway we had fun, we mainly went to support our family who you can see more of on the other blog), and I thought it would be a good way to wear Luna out a bit.  I think I ended up more wore out at the end of it. As you can see in the picture above, one must fly to keep up with Luna in the ring. I am literally not touching the ground, I am not even sure if Luna is.

After our turn in the ring was done we waited ringside as I shot more pictures. Luna was quite good at waiting, cheese helped as usual.

Showing dogs was never very interesting to watch, outside of seeing different breeds I don’t get to see in person, until I started to show. Then I really had a feel for what went on in the ring when I was watching on TV. I guess it probably is the same with Golf as I find that very boring to watch, but others love it (and they probably have golfed at some point). I still think teaching Luna the basics for showing was one of the easiest venues to teach her, though she had to mature into the whole waiting game… but as time went on I figured out how to work with her and keep her happy in the ring (can you say flat rat toy? AKA rabbit fur with a squeaker in it).  I am happy I tried my hand at it, and even put a couple points on her myself, but I was happy to eventually turn over the reigns as I found it too political for my liking (though what dog venue isn’t to some degree??)

Just finished watching the Vizslas compete. Congrats to Corrine with “Kato” for taking BOB!! Good luck in groups!! A beautiful selection of Vizslas who all did amazing. Now off to post more show photos of others on the Photo blog shortly.

(side note: I have actually competed with Corrine,  she is a local I believe. In any case she has been at several shows we have been to.  So have several others, so cool to see fellow handlers that you know in person at Westminster.)

Warning: there may be some graphic words/descriptions to f ollow.. but it is for the sake of science and maybe helping others with some allergy problems.

For those who don’t want to read details… enjoy this photo of Luna staring at the horse chart at the vet office.

She is such a nut!  She notices things like this, charts, bugs on walls, shadows, clock hands, spots, fur on the floor…  Anything that was once moving or looks like it could move is game for her brain.  Cracks me up.

DETAILS:

Sunday we took the dogs to the canal for a walk, where the dogs got covered in mud while running through many trees and occasionally eating deer poop.  Needless to say they had fun, and Luna got a half bath when we returned.  Then we all settled in to watch the superbowl… only to go to bed early as neither were our teams (though I was happy the Giants won).  She woke me up in the middle of the night to let her out, which means she really needed to poop as she never fusses at night unless her stomach is upset.  Soooo happy I actually heard it and woke up.

Monday I noticed that her lady parts looked swollen and slightly red (she had just come out of heat in early Jan so I knew it was not that)… I also noticed a bump about half a pea in size on her back.   I checked it out but could not find any redness or bite area, it was simply a bump under the skin. I saw other smaller ones on her legs, the upside of having a tight coated dog, all i gotta do is smooth her hair and I can see small imperfections and feel thorns. Outside of the swelling and couple bumps everything was normal.  I gave her a half dose of benadryl just to help her itchiness.  But then she  woke me up at night again to let her out, I knew something really was bugging her.  But since her stools were simply just looser than usual I was not too alarmed.

Tuesday rolled around with much of the same.  Her lady parts looked slightly better though, but then I noticed another problem. She had swelling in her ears, well within her ear flaps?  Basically I pet her ears and noticed that it felt like there was a liquid filled area within it.  Basically I found out later it is simply edema of the ear. I then checked her all over yet again, saw some of the same small bumps along her legs, but her belly, armpits and everything else were clear.  I noticed a slight rash to her ear insides, but it did not necessarily relate to where the fluid was.  The fluid had me concerned though as I had not ever seen this symptom from her before, despite the allergies we fought early on. Normally her belly would blow up with spots that turned into pimples of sorts and would take the hair with them when they left.  I saw none of that time. Sooo in to the vet we went.

She was eating, drinking, and playing all like normal BTW.

They told me what I thought was probably already the case, it was some sort of allergic reaction.  They checked her feet, ears, and skin for other allergy areas but found none.  Normally when you see the allergies presented in the lady part area, or edema in the ears it is coupled with other allergy areas.  The reason it would show up there in the first place is because the skin is more sensitive there.  Luna yet again broke the rules by having edema of the ears but no other allergy signs.  We were sent home with an antihistamine with a slight steroid in it as well.

By this afternoon her ears had finally gone back to normal. Last night she did not wake me up, and she has been napping most of the day.   So I think the meds we were sent home with are working. Whoooo. I am glad it was nothing more serious and now I can add ear swelling to a semi-normal allergic reactions for my red girl.  I just wish I knew what caused it, as we were totally allergy free last year. Hopefully this was just a freak reaction and won’t be repeated.

After all this napping I sure hope we get an actual snow to wear these guys out in.  It has been snowing since noon but it just now started to stick to the grass. Here’s to an allergy free Vizsla romping in the snow with her lab brother!

We had upwards of 10 dogs to our group, but all did fantastic.  Here is a look at what a meetup like this might look like

Dogs dogs everywhere… That is Gus the GSP to the right heading back out to the lead.  Luna is in the front with the big orange collar waiting for her buddy to come back.

Two peas in a pod, both born to hunt.   Okay she did not bond and fall madly in love with anyone, I admit it.  She is WAY too hunt oriented when she is outdoors but I did not mind in the least. I kind of just encouraged her to stay out of the main mix.  We had some rescue dogs in our group, so I did not want to have any confused confrontations.

A sea of red!  Can you see wyatt.  At first when I let wyatt off leash he simply didn’t know what on earth to do with so many dogs. I have let him play with quite a few of the training dogs in the yard, and he lives among Luna and 6 other dogs upstairs so he knows a sense of pack.  But not an unknown pack of Vizslas all at once.  At first he ran around checking everyone out, then back to me, then back to them… then off to steal a stick from someone.  But after the first initial half hour he settled in to a routine of running ahead, and then checking back with me (or someone he thought was me) only to be off again. Luna would have been happy to just stay in the front, but I made sure to make her check back as well.

I find this picture pretty funny, interpret as you wish.

Overall everyone did fantastic.  Those that needed to keep a closer eye on their dog, or keep them out of trouble were in front keeping up with the leaders and keeping a hawk eye on everyone.  The two lead dogs had us walking at a pretty good pace for probably 2 hours.

Occasionally we did stop to check the signs and keep on track

Miss Tia decided to pose for me during on of said stops, as we waited for her mom to let us know which direction to go.

Nora stopped to point some birds

And did a great job checking back as well.  As I said everyone did great, outside of one minor scuffle (which happened so fast we don’t even know how it started) everyone behaved well.  I hope to continue to make meetups as we are able.

I was a little worried about Luna, as she can be a bit of a brat with dogs in her face.  But I managed to just keep her moving and she listened well when I would tell her to ignore somebody. My proud moment was when she was right next to the scuffle and called away from it when I asked her to.  In the past she might have tried to jump in and see what was going on, but outside of raising her ears she came away nicely for me.  Sometimes you just got to bite the bullet and get them out and see what you all are made of.  I am so happy I did, despite the big turnout.  Both dogs came home tired and happy.

Have a happy weekend all

For once I have more images of wyatt to share, I thought it would be a nice change.

Trying to force myself to change angles a bit, as I become the zoom

Love this shot, so happy I challenged myself to change angles… and thankful Luna held still for me… and thankful for overcast snow sky.

Hope everyone is making it through these storms safely… we got off easy with our 2 inches of snow topped by about an eighth of an inch of ice.  Hopefully we can get out for some exercise tomorrow as I don’t think my dogs will be too keen on napping again.  More shots from our walk can be found on my photo blog.

Have a great weekend

These were shot with my new 50mm lens, I made a big photography change this year, more info on my photo blog.  Long story short I no longer have any Canon gear, and have switched to Nikon.

But nobody is complaining around here…

Well maybe Luna was a little… mostly because she wanted the treat..

Here she is “quiet talking” for me… which has started to become a default for her when I am working with her, rather than the usual full bark and smacking.  Guess we were getting somewhere with that trick afterall.

Tricks are something Luna and I will work on more this year… Call it a resolution if you will. But this year I am making a point to do more training/tricks with Luna.  Heaven knows she needs it.   I am usually horrible at resolutions, but hopefully this year will be different (don’t we all say that?)  One way I plan to accomplish this is to buy a trick book I have been eyeing for a year… and try and work our way through as much as we can.  I also want to sign up for a class with her, there is a local kennel club within walking distance, probably something for Rally.

Have you come up with any resolutions for you and your 4-legger??  I hope everyone has had a great 2012 so far. Off to get all these hooligans out of the house for a walk.

]]> http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/new-headshots-for-the-new-year/feed/ 12 AKG fin_2695 copy FIN_2642 copy fin_2683 copy fin_2674 copy fin_2676 copy fin_2679 copy http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/4-leggers-get-decorated/ http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/4-leggers-get-decorated/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:06:44 +0000 Anna http://akgvizslainspiration.wordpress.com/?p=836 Continue reading →]]> The dogs had quite an exciting night the other night… they got to get all dressed up in their LED finest.

Oh and the antlers couldn’t be left out either…

Not to be outdone Wyatt joined in the fun too… anything for some roasted chicken

And one of my favorite outtakes

“What do you mean this isn’t how you wear them?”

Thank you to all who sent holiday photos in to Life + Dog Holiday Contest .  As of now they have raised upwards of 86,000 meals for homeless animals!

And now we shall go see if we can get the red truck started and go get some fresh cold air for a couple hours.  These 4-leggers have been far too wound up lately, we’re all due for a good walk.

Have a great weekend

There is a great magazine that we ‘like’ on Facebook, called Life + Dog  who is hosting a special theme this week for their weekly  Foto Friday contest.  Here is some info about the Holiday theme this week:

Friday, December 9, 2011 – Theme: HOLIDAY DOGS (Celebrating the holidays, dressed up, sitting by the decor…)

Prize (for fans): A HUGE assortment of holiday gifts from our holiday gift guide “Pick of the Litter” column in Issue No. 8. In addition, as a part of IAMS Home For The Holidays campaign, IAMS will donate 100 Meals to homeless animals in need for EVERY photo submitted! Let’s have thousands and thousands of bowls of food donated because of LIFE+DOG readers!!!!  Remember, one photo maximum per dog, but as many photos as you like, e-mailed to fotofriday@lifeanddog.com

Tonight we plan to work on our 2011 versions of holiday photos… Here are last year’s…. shield your eyes if you need to.

Hopefully this year’s will be better, I have learned a thing or two since then.  Location is the difficult part this year.  I no longer have my parents large house to work in, nor do I even have a tree this year. If this rain looks manageable tonight I will try and venture out to a friend’s house to take over her place with the Lunatic in hopes of getting us both some Christmas shots.

What are your plans? Do you dress up your pets for the holidays?  Do you send our cards with their photos on them?  I find that some people as they get older will just put the kids, dogs, or both on the card rather than theirselves… what’s up with that?

If you do dress them up or pose them with holiday decor, please send the photo in to Life + Dog and help some other animals.  You do NOT need to be a facebook fan of their to submit a photo, but hey why not?

In other news you will be seeing another post on raw feeding/supplementing my 4-leggers.  I was inspired by some recent posts on facebook by a pet photographer whom I admire, Scruffy Dog Photography, I want to share more info on the subject… it probably will mostly consist of photos of my dogs, as well as some links through Scruffy Dog… so if you have a strong stomach stay tuned.  It should be interesting to say the least.

PS. thank you wordpress for creating the drag and drop photo uploader… saves me tons of time.

Can you see it??  It’s tucked into her inner left thigh… pardon the crappy photo she was not into being cooperative and the phone was having a bad day.  Luckily the vet was not having a bad day though, her tattoo turned out nice and clear. A little larger than I had thought it would be but I guess that’s better than having a tattoo which leaves you guessing about numbers and letters. And from the initial look at the x-rays they took of the hips and elbows everything looked just fine.  We will have to wait for the official rating to come in the mail.

So why get her hips tested you ask?  First and foremost I have always planned to do it, it just has taken me nearly 4 years (well 2 technically as you can’t officially test before 2 years old).  That is not really a reason I guess.  I like contributing information and research to disease/genetic research.  And I feel like owning a purebred dog, it kinda is my responsibility to do so in the ways I can, especially if I decide to breed her.  Now before anybody gets on their soapbox about me breeding her or not… know that I am still on the fence about whether I will end up breeding Luna.   But I not only think it would be a good thing for her mentally, but I also do feel she has some things she would be contributing to the breed.  However, timing will probably  also be a big factor on my decision and it’s something I will probably have to decide in the next year.  But before I would ever breed her I want her to have a clean bill of health.  We have gotten an eye test, a cardio test, and now a hip/elbow test done and she has passed all with no problems.  We will continue to train and test in different venues but at least I know she is healthy and sound in body.

(the photo above is also sort of ironic, as that is probably the laziest sit she has ever done… normally she has amazing posture all on her own as you have probably seen.)

More OFA facts can be found on their website.

Now back to work in the rain… yep it’s raining cats and dogs yet again.