It’s been such a long time since my last update. I did not feel like writing anything, I have been really low, very affected by Britas condition. Despite so many years spent working as a vet nurse I am totally broken seeing my own dogs being unwell.
The only thing I could do, when I was not occupied with something else, was playing bridge with robots. To kill the time and take my thoughts away. Highly recommended way to forget about reality!
But, happy news first! About Britas rehabilitation.
It´s with great relief I claim we have left the difficult time behind us now and Brita seems to be totally recovered. We started from short walks to the garbage bin, made a lot of exercises recommended by our rehab therapist, done some swimming in the dog pool and now she is allowed to run freely in the garden. She has never been lame or in any other way showed weakness on the right side. Her muscles are equally developed on both sides and a bit bigger that before the surgery. Everything seems to be back to normal and her chances for long and active life are obvious now.
In the meantime she was in season for the first time and celebrated her 1st birthday. Except her lovely character I love her looks though I would like to have some more furnishings of course. It´s such a shame I would never be able to use her for breeding…
Now sad news. About Orca.
On April 5th my husband veterinarian was called to our friends taking care of the old lady. Her condition has worsened dramatically in the evening before and the right decision has been made. She was euthanized at home with people around who loved her dearly . She was my oldest dog ever, 14 years and almost 4 months old. I am so happy she could spend her elderly days being loved and spoiled by my friends. Run free my very special friend!
Time for hot news! About Ruda.
We have been to Tibro and visited the male called Puzzle. Hopefully the result of this visit will be seen on ultrasound examination in the beginning of May!
But not everything went smooth this time.
As she is 7 years old I wanted to be sure she is in good health before the mating. Except physical examination I have even done an official eye examination, just in case. I thought it was just a formality as she was clear before but this time I was rather chocked when the veterinarian told me she had a very mild grade of Y suture cataract in both eyes! The word “cataract” sounds terribly serious in my ears so I thought my dog was going blind soon!
Hopefully, after talking to the vet and reading all the science material I could get I found out that this condition does not affect the dog’s sight at all and does not exclude from breeding according to the Kennel Club.
And I suppose many dogs used for breeding carry this disease but nobody knows about it since breeders check the eyes in young dogs only.
With this obstacle ruled out I was patiently waiting for Ruda to come into season. As usual both her and Prima started at the same time. But then something happened. I know Rudas heat cycle very well. Or, at least I thought I knew. For this time everything went with high speed. Puzzled by their sexual behaviour I run progesteron test on her and found she was very high! At least 5 to 6 days before I expected! I packed and drove with high speed myself and really hope this was the right time!
Well, we will know soon. In all the hurry I forgot to take my camera with me. So I found an old pic of him and Ruda and put it together. Once more I was really pleased meeting him! Such a lovely character in Laekenois is hard to find! Friendly, playful and totally confident! I really have high hopes for this combination!
Now we shall not forget about Prima. Nothing really new about her. She has been nice to Ruda for a long time now and I hope that things will stay this way.
Otherwise our life is almost back to normal now. I try to train as often as possible now when the snow disappeared. However we have had lots of rainy and very windy days and sometimes walking in the woods seems to be brave enough. Today it’s such a day with stormy northern winds. Cold and frightening. I just hope no trees will fall on our house. We have some real giants around that might break any time!
When it comes to training both me and my training mate Anne with her Border Collie Alvin are feeling we are not making enough progress lately. That´s why we have planned a 2 day long obedience seminar with a very well known trainer for the holiday of May 1st. That will be fun! We are going to travel away and live in a little cottage together and all that is a bright element of our rather grey reality.
And I hope a real spring will come soon! We have had few really warm days just to wake up the desire and make the earliest flowers bloom and then the cold was back again. I admire the nature for being so adaptable to all the conditions!
