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I am so tired. Kitsune's first, and likely last LOL, weekend at the dog shows went well. She is a new UKC Champion, and came home with 3 Group 1 win's, and 2 Total Dog awards. She is made for working, this running around the ring looking pretty stuff bored her to death...and a bored Dutchie is a loud mouth annoying as hell Dutchie Hahaha. Hence why she will probably not show anymore. The Dutch Shepherd is such an amazing and versatile breed, they really can do it all, so I would like to title her in as many different areas as possible. Now that her conformation championship is marked off the list we will move on to something else...while still doing our IPO training of course. Official pictures coming soon. Here are a couple candids from our 3 day show weekend.
My copilot wanting to take over the drivers seat.
My friend Dina brought her Dutchie Lycan, and daughter too. Lycan also came home a Total Dog, Group 1 winner...and a new Champion.
The mornings were early, and the days were long and freezing. I haven't been to a show in at least 8 years, since back when we were showing Gangster to his Grand...I forgot all about the sucky parts of dog shows LOL.
The big ribbons from the weekend. The blue ones are her Group 1 wins. Going Group 1 means she beat any other Dutchie there (Lycan was the only other one there) and then beat any other herding breed there, her only competition this weekend was a White German Shepherd. To get your UKC championship you need 3 majors with competition, from 3 different shows/judges and a total of at least 100 points...so she is finished!
The red ribbons are her Total Dog awards. This is from weight pull, she got 2 qualifying legs for her United Weight Pull title...just one more to go. When you get a performance leg during the same show where you get a conformation win you earn a Total Dog. She would have had 3 and her weight pull title but on day one I tried to be the one to call her (so she would pull the cart) and she wouldn't pull for me, snot. The other two days Jason came to the show just to call her and she pulled no problem for him. She weighed in at 46 lbs and had to pull 8 times her body weight, the cart alone weighed 340 lbs, then they added 2 cinder blocks on top of that to get her to pull a total of 360 some pounds...which sounds like a lot but it is not, that is like the starting weight, the big pullers (Pitties and Saint Bernards were pulling fully loaded down carts...it is amazing to watch).
We had fun, but beauty contests are not her thing at all LOL. I haven't decided if we will try herding next or rally....stay tuned!
Happy Thanksgiving y'all. I have so much to be thankful for. My family is healthy, happy and prospering. Our kids are growing into wonderful people. My husband is my best friend and true partner. He treats me like a princess, which I usually don't deserve LOL.
This year has been a whirl wind, out of the blue we decide to put our house on the market and before I knew it I am living my childhood dream. I have started filling up our 10 acres with critters and our kids are filling it up with laughter and amazing memories. Yes, so much to be thankful for, and to appreciate.
We spent the afternoon at Grandma's, it was a chill and cozy Thanksgiving this year.
Games got played.
Lego masterpieces were built.
Brothers had some quality time together LOL.
I got some relaxing time in with my hubby.
The kiddos were very helpful, they are getting so grown up. Setting the table and helping set out the food.
Thankful doesn't just happen one day a year around here...and the list of things to be thankful for is long.
The kids were of course thankful for dessert Hahaha!
OK the final critters to join our little farm, to my husbands delight (for this year anyway LOL), are here. Our trio of pedigreed standard Rex bunnies.
The kids are still doing the super hero theme...but this time they picked more bad super hero's. Mostly because Xander insisted his bunny be named Dr. Colosso...and he really hopes to hear him say "I'm a bad bunny" one day....any fans of The Thundermans will get it :)
Xan and Jericho saying hi to Dr. Colosso.
He is a broken black...but mom's side is all black otter, dad is a chocolate with black otter grandparents.
Rex are known for being really sweet, they make good pets...their fur is amazing and they are decent for meat too. I chose this breed to be a triple threat, like our Silver Fox buns...pet, meat and fur.
This little girl is a blue...her pedigree is full of lots of different colors. Her name is Dark Sparkle...a Barbie super hero for those that aren't up on their Barbie movies LOL.
Finally, this is Phoenix, she is a black otter...as is 50%, on both sides, of her 3 gen pedigree. Otters have the tan or cream under belly, under paws, under neck, eye circles and inside their ears.
Sadly I am toying with the idea of making my blog private. I haven't felt the need in the last 7 years of blogging here, but it may become necessary. If you are a friend, family member or long time...non sicko, follower and find yourself in need of a password to continue viewing the blog, email or FB message me for the password.
It seems some disturbed perverts in need of serious help have found my blog, and the occasional baby booty shot...from oh I don't know 5 years ago when my kids were babies, are causing them to show their crazy.
If you are someone who gets off on images of children please get help, please. It is not OK, it is not healthy for anyone, and I hate to think of the kids that get hurt.
That said, because I took pictures here and there of my kids bare bottoms when they were babies does not make me in any way shape or form the sick one in this situation. You need help, you are the one in control of your thoughts and actions...and how you choose to interpret innocent content, no one else. Please seek professional mental help right now.
As if this Nutty Nutterson wasn't enough, I got to deal with another weirdo today.
Thanks, creepy dude at Wilco, for the teachable moment...and 15 min long conversation that I had with my kids in the car directly following my run-in's with you.
Me, to my girls: Stay away from weirdo's. Do not talk to strangers.
Me, to my boys: Always be a gentleman. Never ever say creepy things to a woman no matter how "beautiful" you think she is, no matter how badly you want to "hang out", and no matter if you mistakenly think you will "see her soon"...and don't call her "sweetie". For sure do not then wait outside the store and continue trying to talk to her...or ask her for a ride.
She might be armed.
OK done with the mentally ill...on to the fun.
We had our first snow today, probably 2 inches but only up here at 1,500 feet elevation...just down the mountain from us and there was no snow at all.
The kiddos thought it was totally awesome...their mom thought it is not as awesome when the kids wake her up at 7 am yelling "It's Christmas!" Hahaha
This was from a couple days ago...
That time when your sons decided to tie a jump rope to the ceiling fan...and your silly Dutchie decided to pull the fan out of the ceiling by the rope. Is it bedtime yet?
Thankfully Dad was able to fix it.
Spent a couple hours with Ava today. It is looking like 80% of the problem is me...I don't trust her and she intimidates me, both of which she knows and exploits. So 'Get Comfortable With Your Horse 101' has begun. Thanks to my new friend Courtney for helping me and not letting me hand off the lead rope every time she started acting up and I got nervous...that helped me a lot. I'm working on being the boss, I'm working on showing Ava that she is not in charge. I don't know why I am having this problem, she has never done anything really out of line, and she is kind...heck when I was a teenager I used to ride a 3 or 4 year old Arabian...I'm not sure where my confidence went, but I'm going to find it. I am much more cautious these days LOL. I think it is my kids fault, now that I am a mom I look at everything so much different than I did in my teens and early 20's. Ava is a good girl, I am not ready to give up on her quite yet.
When she is in a mellow chill mood I just love this girl, it is when she gets antsy or amped up that I get nervous...I think a lot of that is just a horse, seems I forgot how horses behave at times.
Jericho came along for today's Ava visit.
Oh, Jericho had a blast on his ride, one of Courtney's little 4-H horses...he can't wait to come back.
It was a beautiful sunset tonight, I wish I had my camera on a better setting to capture it accurately. Still lovely.
Kitsune outlined by the sunset...so cool.
Ava is spending the next 30 days at a friends barn. She is pushy, disrespectful and needs a bit of a tune up with her ground manners. I don't think she is too far gone, but I am not confident enough to handle her the way she is. Hopefully we see some good results, if not I will be trying more training...but she is going to have to improve to live here. I can't have such a big horse that doesn't respect me, that makes her no fun to be around and dangerous. We were supposed to drop her off yesterday, but she refused to load into the trailer for me. The same trailer she has been in and out of 4 times already. Try making a 1,000 + lb animal do something they don't want to do, it was an hour wasted. I was about ready to just call the whole horse thing off...she is making me so frustrated, and question if this whole thing was a mistake.
Today was super windy and she spooked a tiny bit when I got her in her new stall. I hope my friend and I can get things working a little better with Ava...I really don't want to have to find her a new home.
I have had a couple sleepless nights over this horse.
She is nice and cozy.
She has already made some new friends too.
It is World Prematurity Awareness Day again, so here are my triplet preemies. Born at 31 weeks, weighing 3 lbs 12 oz, 3 lbs 15 oz and 3 lbs 7 oz. They were little rock stars right from the start, but still spent a month in the NICU. The days go by slow, but the years fly...today they are healthy strong 7 year olds. Such amazing people, we are so proud of them.
A kid funny from yesterday.
Hayden is a big music fan. She has her radio in her bedroom on 24/7...and if we dare turn it off in the middle of the night we hear about it the next morning, because she "likes to wake up to singing". Jason was just talking to her about her music interests. He asked her what kind of music is her favorite. Hayden answered "I like country music more than city music Dad." Hahaha!
Ava needs some training...certainly a big refresher course. She and I are not really seeing eye to eye on who is the leader. I hate that she makes me doubt myself, she shakes my confidence and is making me rethink this whole horse idea. It should not be this difficult. I think we both need a little help, or sadly Ava is going to have to find another home. I need a horse who respects me and wants to be a partner, not one that is pushy and always testing me. I hate to admit it but I am starting to get really frustrated with Ava and borderline not liking her very much...and I certainly don't feel at ease when we spend time together, all of which I have no doubt she picks up on.
I have been watching Clinton Anderson training videos on YouTube for days...I wish he could help us, he makes it look so easy. I know she is not a bad horse, but I am not a skilled trainer by any stretch, and over the last year she has got real settled into her role of not having to respect a leader. Today I had a girl come out who is trying to get a horse trainer name for herself, she has been training using Clinton Anderson's method for 2 years now. She worked with Ava and I for 2 hours. The trainer did a nice job, but I think a bit more experience, and certainly many more sessions, are needed. I don't know what I am going to do with this horse.
It was a foggy dreary day...matched my mood LOL.
Rubbing her with the training stick so she doesn't fear the training tool.
Whipping the stick on the ground to desensitize her. She didn't spook at this stuff, took it all really well.
More friendly rubbing with the stick. Teaching Ava that the stick is just an extension of the hand...it can comfort and rub, or it can give taps and reminders. It is not used to abuse the horse in any way. I encourage anyone who would like to learn more about natural horsemanship to check out some Clinton Anderson videos. He is truly amazing with a horse.
Ava is very good at backing up, pretty good at yielding her hindquarters...even though she wants to keep moving and come into my space. She is not so great at yielding her forequarters however. Alexis is trying to get her to do it here, hand up by her eye so she won't move forward into the trainer, stick taps her shoulder and she is encourage to move her front end to the right.
It was a pretty miserable training day, but Ava did pretty good...though she wasn't happy about any of it.
The kids spent the night at Grandma's last night, they got to go to a high school play. The girls were especially happy that it was Beauty and the Beast...they said the play followed the movie really closely too. It was like a 2 1/2 hour play with an intermission, which the kids also loved because they got snacks LOL.
Fun times with Grandma!
