Lhasa Apso Blog: June Already! Some photos, Some News, and A Lot of Miscellaneous...

"What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade."
- Gertrude Jekyll, On Gardening

Well, there is a lot to say about June, which (for our area) went from chilly, windy, rainy weather overnight to high 80's and low 90's. The extremes were a bit much to take. I prefer to slide gently into hot summer temps!

In addition to the usual hectic pace my days have been, we have had some computer problems lately. It seems that our utility company has new equipment that they have determined to operate on the same frequency that our internet provider uses. So, any time the utility company runs diagnostics, does software update, or changes something, we get kicked off the internet - or slowed down so much that connections time out. It's been very frustrating as a customer, and I am sure the internet provider is getting many, many calls of complaints (including those from me!). There is nothing they can do, as evidently there are no laws to prohibit the utility company taking over/sharing the frequency.

You might recall that in May I told you Breaker had taken Best Veteran in Show at the Scott County Kennel Club show in Rock Island, IL. His photo finally arrived and here he is in all his glory. He will be 9 years old in August and he showed as if I'd been taking him to shows all these years, when in truth, he was out about 6 years ago to get his Grand Championship and has relaxed at home ever since - until 2016 when I took him for the first time to the Veteran's competition in Rock Island. The judge was Mr. Wayne Bousek.

GCh Ch Joyslyn's Heartbreaker

Following that weekend, Lynn once again went with me to a show -- a rare occurrence -- but since I had three dogs entered I needed his help at ringside.

This time we headed to Bloomington, IL, for three of their four-day show weekend. Results? In a word - disaster! The main problem was that Jenna was in season. As a matter of fact, all the girls except the puppy, Onyx, are currently in some phase of their season. If you think things are calm around here with the males, think again!

As I reported on my Facebook page: "We had to pull Josh this weekend because he was crazy with girls on the brain. It did not help that one of my own was in season (full bloom too!) but also another Lhasa exhibitor's bitch was also in full heat and right behind Josh in the line up! I should have known better than to bring him -- or should have left her at home, but was afraid that if I did, the other class bitch would not show up and then there would be no points at all.

Poor Josh. He cried; he drooled; his teeth chattered; he cried some more and then some more; outside the ring he tried to jump from his ringside table to the girl's ringside table; he refused to stand still on the table for the judge because he could see the girls; he moved looking over his shoulder and sideways to keep an eye on the girls! So pathetic! OMG...what a day. He stayed home the rest of the weekend and I was glad that the last two days of the show were peaceful.

Jenna, our "in season" girl was in a snit and uncooperative all weekend--those bitchy hormones at work. You'd think she'd have felt powerful and full of herself after reducing Josh to a sniveling, crying, sex-on-the-brain creature. But no, she was just totally ticked off.

On a positive note, as the weekend progressed Onyx became more comfortable in the ring and was walking great on the last day. She took reserve all three days."

Here are a couple pictures of Jenna after I groomed her last weekend.

I wish she'd express that "I'm so cute" happy attitude when she is in the show ring. Three single points is all she needs for her title, but my plan is to stop showing her after July, let her coat grow, and perhaps try again for the 3 points next year. Maybe she'll forget whatever is bugging her now. If you look closely at the photo of her side coat, you can see a line about halfway down that is a darker color. That is the new coat coming in. The horizontal stripe it makes across her body gives a weird optical illusion as she moves. Once that new coat grows another 4-5 inches, I think things will look better. Patience is not actually one of my finer traits, so Jenna is helping me learn patience and that all things do not necessarily follow my plans and timelines. It's probably a valuable lesson, but I cannot say that I appreciate it!

While we were at the Bloomington show, I was paging through a copy of Dog News Magazine and happened across an article titled "Government and the Health of Your Dog." One section of the article described an incident in Scotland where a neighbor turned in a woman for animal abuse because her dog was grossly obese. (Really, really grossly obese!) So, the dog was taken away from her, put on a diet, and now the SPCA is trying to find him another home. The author raised some good questions about what constitutes abuse and who has the right to take away someone's property (in this case, their pet) because they happen to disagree with the way a person is doing things.

Another interesting exhibit at the Bloomington show was the Will County pet disaster relief truck that was on display from FEMA. The people at the exhibit were showing us around the truck, which was holding many, many folded wire crates as well as having a lot of storage. They gave out pamphlets on disaster preparedness for pets. The one from FEMA outlined three stages: Prepare by gathering a pet emergency supply kit, Plan for what you will do if there is an emergency, and Stay Informed regarding the various types of emergencies. For more information, go to www.ready.gov or call 1-800-BE-READY. (I hate those phone numbers that use letters instead of numbers.)

Those of you awaiting news of a litter, please be patient. We have accomplished breedings but now have to wait to find out if they resulted in pregnancy. If you are on my waiting list, I will contact you in the order you appear on the list once I know if puppies are due.

We have two house guests that belong to a friend that I am helping out for a while. The dogs are being very polite, happy, and good guests. Here are some photos I took earlier this week. The first is of the male. The male is a retired champion and he may be available for a pet home in month or two. Neutering will be required. Let me know if you may be interested. You can email me at joyslynslhasas@outlook.com.

These are of the female.

The scary news for all of us with dogs is that the canine influenza is popping up all over again around the country. There is a vaccination out now that covers both strains of the flu, although your dogs still need 2 shots, about 2 weeks apart to be immunized. Here's a link to a recent article.

We are headed for shows next weekend in Ft. Dodge, IA. The Lhasa entry is small and the weather is supposed to be hot, but the company will be good -- friends I have not seen for a few months. Jenna and Onyx are the only two class bitches entered. My friends have a male puppy, and we each have a special, mine a male, theirs a bitch. After that, I'll have a weekend "off" to spend with my son and granddaughter as they come to Macomb for our town's annual festival. (I like it when my granddaughter comes because then I get to ride on the carnival rides!)

Then we'll do a couple shows in July and take time to figure out what comes next.

In the meantime, Happy Flag Day!