Sharing Puppy Pictures

The black boys, 1 week old

Well, there isn't much news. We've been busy watching the puppies grow. They were a week old yesterday, and I wanted to get photos posted because I know that at least three of you are excited about seeing them.

The gold boys, 1 week old

Gabe left for his new home in Indiana on Saturday. He is learning new things and is very much loved. He's been meeting lots of neighborhood dogs and people. Mary, his new owner,  said the vet and staff fell in love with him.

Rafe is not quite sure what to do with himself now that he is the "only" puppy left  at home. Even with the extra attention, he misses rough-housing with his littermates. He'll be riding along to the Wisconsin show this weekend to get a first taste of life as a show dog.

Maggie is going to be shown this weekend. The entry is not huge, which is good, because she has not been to a show since the beginning of March. It'll be nice to ease back into the routine. Last time, she was being a pill about letting the judges look at her bite. We've been working on that. Wish us luck this month as we finally get to go to some shows.

The black girl, 1 week old

Between the puppies' birth and Gabe's leaving, we focused on celebrating our granddaughter's 6th birthday. She was so excited about the idea of being 6! Remember when you could not wait to be older and the time between birthdays lasted forever? Now, while I am glad I am still around to have birthdays, it seems as if the years are flying by! I don't mind being older, as long as I am not expected to "act my age!" Being a grandma is keeping me young.


Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you! If you have one handy, give that sweetie a kiss!

Gabe at his new home

Joyce

Puppies Have Arrived!

GCh. Ch. Joyslyn's Heartbreaker

Breaker and Mira's litter of five arrived last night, April 25. Of the five puppies, one is a girl. She is black. Two of her brothers are black also, one with white across his shoulders. The other two boys look brown now but will eventually light to some shade of gold.

I'm posting photos of the newborns, taken about 6 hours after the last one was born. I'm also posting pictures of Breaker and Mira. Enjoy!

Breaker and Mira's new puppies

 

Ch. Karlyn Joyslyn Who's The Fairest

I'm feeling a little sleep deprived right now.

Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!

Joyce

Catching Up and Sharing Memories

Rafe - about a month ago

The dog news is sparse. We've gone to no shows since early March, but I did take Rafe to training class last week. Our class is in Peoria, so I have to leave home by 5:15 to get there by 7:00, and I don't usually get home until after 10:00. For that reason, it is not always convenient to go. I'd like to go every week. Rafe had not been at class for a few weeks, nor had he had a lead on since the last time. I was very proud of him because he remembered what to do and gaited so well around the ring, stood still for examination on the table, and free stacked himself a few times on the floor. I'm very excited about his prospects as a show dog. Time will tell! Oh…and he is now officially registered with AKC as Joyslyn's Inherit The Wind.

Soon there will be more dog news as we begin going to the May shows: the Badger and Janesville shows in Jefferson, WI; the Scott County shows in Rock Island, IL; and the 4-day Memorial Weekend shows in Bloomington, IL. I am really looking forward to them—to showing Maggie again, to seeing my other Lhasa friends, and to starting Rafe's career on May 27 when he'll be 6 months old. Mira is due to have her and Breaker's puppies on April 30, so there will soon be new baby pictures to see.

On the people side of my news is that on April 15, Lynn and I will have been married 40 years! I'm posting some photos about the wedding. We were so young! There is an interesting story about our wedding cake that was written for a newspaper. I hope you'll be able to read it. (If you click on the  photo, you should be able to enlarge it a bit.) Our mothers were so worried when they found out that Lynn's roommate, Ron, had volunteered to make our wedding cake as his wedding gift to us. Lynn and I agreed to have him do it, but the moms were beside themselves with worry. Ron got the white frosting on but did not get the lavender frosting decorations done, so only an hour before the wedding, he ran to the flower shop, bought fresh flowers and decorated the cake with them! It looked good and tasted good too. Another funny story about the cake is that the friends I'd asked to cut the cake had no idea how to slice a round wedding cake. So they just cut HUGE pie-shaped pieces from it. Funny! Fortunately we had plenty to go around.

I found the receipt for our wedding bands in a scrapbook. Mine did not even cost $70! I'm also posting the receipt for the flowers. My bouquet was $15.50!! Ah…"the good old days." Gas prices were probably under 75¢ a gallon too! I can't remember!

On our honeymoon we searched for puppy. (Gee…that's not what every newly-wed couple does on a honeymoon???) We had problems finding one we wanted and could afford so at last found a cutie from the animal shelter who ended up costing us an arm and a leg in vet bills during her short life. She probably was not more than 6 weeks old and way too young to leave her mother. She became so ill while Lynn and I were doing our student teaching and my mom was caring for her that she had to be euthanized. Oh my that was awful. She was such a character, even through all her illnesses, that letting her go was so hard. For example, when she was about 5 months old, we lost her. We found her marching with the high school marching band that was practicing across the street from where we lived!

It was a lonely two months without a dog but we were busy moving to Iowa where I had my first teaching assignment. Once we were settled and I'd receive a couple paychecks, we purchased our first Lhasa, Pheebe, followed shortly by Buffy, and Lynn said, "Maybe we could show these dogs," words he has probably come to regret! If you are interested in the history of Joyslyn's and haven't read it yet, you can find it in some of the early blog posts in the archives.

Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!

Joyce

A picture of our wedding band design and the receipts

The invoice for the flowers

Happy April

Well, as Edward de Bono, noted for his expertise on creative thinking, pointed out, “If you never change your mind, why have one?” Indeed! So, part of today's bulletin is my announcement that I have changed my mind! Remember when, a few months back, I claimed that I was not, was not, was not going to keep a male puppy from Dancer and Walker's litter? Well…that darn little Rafe, who reminds me so much of Walker, managed to worm his way so totally into my affection, that try as I might to ignore it, I made the decision that he'd be staying! Since my goal was to keep only one puppy from the litter, that means I have to let Olivia go. I think she may have a home already, but I'll know more by the middle of next week. Talk about hard decisions!

I now have to get Rafe registered with AKC so he can be entered in a May show. I have lists and lists of potential AKC registered names that include the words "Wind" or "Walk." After a week of brainstorming, I think I've finally decided that Rafe will be Joyslyn's Inherit the Wind. I had many hours to think about a name for him since I drove to Nebraska on March 23rd to visit Mom. We had a wonderful visit because it happened that all three of my nieces were home and a cousin and her husband from Omaha decided to visit that weekend also. Mom and my sister are the greatest, and I wish we could see each other more often! It took 8 hours to get to Mom's and longer to get home since I took a detour to David City, where Lynn and I lived for 16 years and where all of our kids were born. I stopped at KV Pet Supply to stock up on some much-needed dog supplies and to avoid paying mega shipping charges on three gallons of shampoo (e.g., a little over $12 shipping charges on a $16 gallon of the rinseless shampoo). We still have good friends who live in David City, but I knew everyone would be at work. That was confirmed by a phone call, so once the supplies were purchased and loaded in the car, the journey back to Illinois began. In spite of the 16 hours of thought, the final decision about what Rafe's official name was not made until this morning.

It is a very good thing that I had not tried to use my credit card since I returned from the Nebraska trip! Friday's call from the fraud department of the card company informed me that the card had been suspended due to suspected fraudulent activity. Oh boy. Fortunately, there was only one big charge and a bunch of $1.00 charges (????). So, I shredded the card and the account is now closed. What a bummer…but I am so glad they caught the problem before the (insert the swear word of your choice) making the charges ran up any more. The customer representative I spoke to admonished me about traveling without calling to let the company know I was going on a trip. Good heavens…who does that? His English was not the best, so I am not sure I understood him correctly. Am I behind the times??? (Well, yes I am – on a number of things – but I had not heard that one before.) So, I should call whenever I go out of town to a show??? Something else to add to my already long pre-dog show to-do list!

Why is it that when I'm away from the office, even for two days, the amount of work that awaits makes me regret having been gone? It's one of life's mysteries!

April promises to be a busy month. Easter is less than a week away; Belle, Gabe, and perhaps Olivia and Dancer, will be leaving for new homes by the end of the month; Lynn and I are celebrating our 40th anniversary (!) on the 15th; granddaughter Klara's 6th birthday is on the 27th; Mira's puppies are due on the 29th; and I have a couple of day-long,  back-to-back out of town meetings. Sadly, we have no dog shows scheduled for April, and I may be going through dog show withdrawal before May rolls around. In May we'll be attending the Badger and Janesville-Beloit shows in WI as well as the Rock Island and Bloomington shows in Illinois. If you live near any of those places and want to experience a dog show, come to see us! Rafe will make his debut at the Bloomington shows.

A friend told me about a product she discovered that worked to totally eliminate the urine odor from one of her cat's multiple "accidents" on her living room carpet. The product is Zero Odor Remover  zeroodorpet.com. My friend gave it a definite two thumbs up because nothing she'd tried before had ever worked. Another similar product that claims to work better is SCOE 10x, which none of us at the office who have pets have tried, but which sounds like it might work well too. scoe10x.com

Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!

Joyce

A Quick Photo Update

Dancer

The puppies went to class last week! I set up the exercise pen and intended for them just to sit, watch, get used to a different environment, different sights and sounds and smells. However, that was rather boring for me, so I put a lead on Rafe and -- wonder of wonders -- he walked as if he'd been born to it! (Actually, he was -- born to it, that is!) So then I alternated with the puppies and they walked and stood on the table. I was impressed! Being the youngest, my puppies were at the end of the line up. First in line was the Rottweiler until, of course, his turn was over and he came around the ring and ended up right behind us! I expected the puppies to be intimidated, but they were not. The dogs' owner kept him back and under control. I think he was more intimidated by the puppies than the puppies were by him. Rafe had a rousing romp with Kiara, one of Jane's Shibas, as they waited. I wish I had a video of that!

Gabe, almost 4 months

Here is a link to a  great article titled "Why Crufts Should Worry Us" from the Dogknobit website. Not only is the article good, but the comments are good too. They'll take some time to read, but it's worth it and provides food for thought even if you are a person not involved in dog showing. For those of you who do not know what went on, some background information might help.

I finally got around to updating the Joyslyn's website. This is how bad it was...neither Maggie nor Raven had a page! Three hours later that was rectified! I added show pictures and some baby pictures, which were fun to see again. I also posted  the one of Maggie holding her alien toy in front of her face. I love that picture. It's even funnier to see her in person as she carries that toy around.

Gabe, almost 4 months

Here are some recent pictures, taken last night. One is the latest of Dancer, who has recovered nicely after taking care of all those puppies. She is such a sweetheart. The others are of Gabe, who gets more handsome all the time! He has the cutest way of batting with his feet as he plays. I've been trying to catch it on video. No luck yet because he gets more interested in the camera than in playing. He's still waiting for the right home to come along. I tell him his time will come.

Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!

Joyce

Monday Musings

Happy Monday! 

For being a Monday, my day is going well. I hope yours is too!

As you may have imagined from my lack of recent postings, things have been dull around the Johanson residence – at least nothing has happened that I think would be of interest to readers of this blog. I apologize for not taking or posting puppy pictures lately. The "kids" are growing up and getting pretty (or handsome in the case of Rafe and Gabe.) Their coats are longer now and they have more hair falling over their faces.

Zora (formerly Gracie)

Here are some updates on the three who have gone to new homes. Zora's owner writes, " She went to the vet this week and has now doubled in size since we got her!  I can't believe how much she has grown.  She still has some of the puppy fat - this dog does not miss a meal. Our vet always goes on and on about the great condition of both of the dogs.  You would be very proud to listen to him talk about their structure, temperament, etc.  He is also impressed with Zeus's calm steady heartbeat.  Nothing gets him rattled.  Zora also put on a strong acting performance by pretending to be very quiet and sweet.  Spunky and outspoken is her usual mode. Her hair is getting longer so she is showing more red highlights."

I received a cute photo (see below) titled "Poor Little Griffin" and thought I'd share it and so it would bring a smile to your face as it did to mine. I've designated this boy as "Griffin 2" since he used to be "Sebastian" and has a brother named "Griffin" ("Griffin 1") whose new owners are keeping the name "Griffin" for him. Yes, we all agree that it gets confusing, but we all like the name "Griffin!" The numeral designation helps me communicate with my husband about the puppies, or he'd never know which one I was talking about.

Too bad this baby has no toys!

Griffin 1 left here on Friday when his new family returned from their trip to California. I had a report saying he was an angel on the 4 hour drive to his new home and that, once there, he captured the hearts of all who met him. 

The last time I wrote, I was getting ready to take Maggie to the show in Gray Summit. She showed well and received nice comments on movement but took Reserve both days. Maggie will have to start going to training class again because she is not happy about letting the judge examine her teeth. I'll be taking her and one of the puppies, probably Olivia, to class tomorrow.

The exciting news in Lhasadom happened at the Crufts dog show where the Best in Show was awarded to a  7-year old Lhasa, Ch. Zentarr Elizabeth, who was shown by her owner, Margaret Anderson, from Coventry.  What a gorgeous Lhasa! And what a fantastic win! I was amazed when I read that Elizabeth won the Breed over 165 other Lhasa entries. Compare that with the handful of Lhasa entries at the Westminister show in February. I wish the breed were more popular in the U.S. Many of us "old timers" in this area stand at ringside nowadays and reminisce about the times when there were 30 and more Lhasas at the shows where now we are lucky to have three or four of the same sex entered.

Getty Image

Here's a picture of Elizabeth and Ms. Anderson, taken just as the judge announced the Lhasa was the winner. Congratulations to both! YouTube has video of the judging. Just search for "Crufts Best in Show 2012."

Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!

Joyce

Catching Up

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite authors – Dr. Seuss! What would childhood be without him? Last night Klara and I read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: "From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere."

Sincere apologies for not posting for a couple of weeks! The reasons sound like excuses, so I'll not give any.

So here is sort of a run down on a couple of  things you might be wondering about:

1) Yes, we still have the two boys (Rafe and Gabe) available. We have not even taken pictures since the last time I posted. Yes, that is really unusual for us!

2) Belle is still available – and so is Dancer now that her puppies are totally weaned and on their own. She had such a hard time during her labor and delivery that I promised her "never again." 

I'm headed for a dog show this weekend. Everything is packed and ready to toss into the car as soon as I get off work. This time only Maggie is going. It is the first time she has been to a show by herself (i.e., without either Raven or Belle to travel with us). I won't know what to do with myself, having only one dog to groom and show. Maybe it'll seem like a vacation! LOL…

Finally, a couple suggestions about favorite products: A new favorite product of mine is Nature's Specialties Plum Crazy Tearless Foaming Face Wash. It smells great and is easy to use. You just pump the dispenser and out comes a cleansing foam that you apply to the dog's face. I work the foam in well, adding more as needed. Then I use a washcloth to blot and/or work the foam in more, and to soak up dirt and odor. The result is a clean mustache and much fresher smelling face! If you can't find the Nature's Specialties product (check online for distributors), you might look in the shampoo aisle at your favorite store for Tresemme's Fresh Start Dry Shampoo. (I don't think it is tearless though.) Nature's Specialties also has a waterless shampoo that works quite well. My waterless shampoo favorite by far, however, remains the Kenic Dry Pet Shampoo Waterless Cleanser.

Speaking again of Dr. Seuss and One Fish, Two Fish....: "Brush, brush, brush, brush. Comb, comb, comb, comb. All girls who like to brush and comb, should have a pet like this at home." I think he was talking about Lhasa Apsos!

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." Thanks, Dr. Seuss, for so many memorable books.

Give your Lhasa a big hug and kiss, and be glad you have each other.

Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you.

Joyce