Hurricane Deck

Lots of changes have been happening at the Jackalope House. I finally have a dining room table and lots of chairs - it makes the house seem so much more cozy! I really need to get on the ball and put plastic over the windows. Now that it is getting cold the old windows are really leaking some warm air. I need to face the fact that I am not going to get the trim painted without a massive dose of motivation that I really don't see myself having in the next 3 months. It is always harder to do things once you have moved in! I went fox hunting with my friend Erin last Thursday - I didn't take any of my dogs because I had a 3 day dog show starting on Friday. Thank goodness I didn't - Ana will hunt anything, including skunk. And yes, she found one. And yes she got nailed. UGH! AGAIN! She immediately came out for fresh air and Erin and I rubbed dirt and snow on her to get some of the stink off. We ran home for a shower - Erin got the brunt of the stink so she washed off herself and

This post has been sitting for a while - mostly because I was more annoyed than I should have been that Blogger ate most of my post, and I didn't feel like re-doing it! Anyway, this post should have been posted on November 14th. I discovered on Wednesday evening when I came home from Bible study (the topic of which was gratitude, natch) to discover that my tub faucet running at full blast. Thankfully I am intimately familiar with the location of the water shut off valve to the house, so I shut off the water. My next thought went to my hot water heater - should I shut it off as well? A quick Yahoo search revealed that YES, I should shut off Bliss lest I burn him up. With that done, I went to bed, not feeling very grateful. The next morning, I cracked open my Home Depot book about faucets and ta-da! I figured out what it probably was, so I took apart the faucet to confirm what the book said. And I, dear readers, fixed that sucker. After a work meeting. In a dress and heels no

that make a house more like home. It is the big things - like from my last post a fully functioning hot water heater and a fully functioning range. Today I am thankful for a screaming deal on a used washer and dryer. The washer is a Maytag and the dryer is an Amana, but I could care less - they are fairly new and I got a screaming deal on them. Thanks be to Craig and his list! Now I just need to get a door built around the washer and dryer because that washer is pretty damn loud in this little house!

There is nothing like a long, hot shower curtesy of one of these babies: My new hot water heater. His name is Bliss. A fully functioning one of these makes my heart happy: The stove with a fully functioning oven. He doesn't have a name yet. And yes, that is a coffee pot on one of the burners - I am woefully short on outlets in the kitchen, so it is catch where catch can so there is the coffee pot. Not terribly convient, but nothing in a house this old really is! And my office is pretty much set up, even though I have YET to paint the trim in it. Or any of the house - it has had to wait. At least I have some pictures up. I haven't put up my law school diploma yet because I actually dropped the damn thing and broke the glass in the frame. Nothing like dropping a piece of paper that cost more than the house I just bought to make you think about the direction your life is going! I am still playing the doggie shuffle due to Rodear being in heat. Sniper is on my "you'

I've gotten myself most of the way moved into the Jackalope house. What does that mean? It means that some of my clothes, all of my artwork and all of my dogs are here. That really is about it. I think today I am going to go out to the house on Irvine and get the rest of my clothing, my Oliver kitteh, my printers, my massage table and my shampoo and spendy conditioner. And the fish - I might bring the fish over today as well depending on how adventurous I feel. Not that the shampoo and conditioner matters - I still don't have hot water here because the hot water heater is busted. Or an oven that works for that matter - but I will count my blessings that the stovetop works and that I have several leads on a new to me gas range. It showed for the first time this fall season yesterday. It is supposed to warm up tomorrow and Friday - it will be good for a muddy mess everywhere! The dogs are enjoying brief stints in the snow. We are playing the doggie shuffle here due to Rodear b

The regular job has not slowed down, the dogs still demand the same amount of attention, and SOMEHOW I still manage to work on the new house! It has been 12 days since the house has been closed on, and there has been quite of bit of work done on it by myself, with some weekend help from my baby sister and my friend Erin. Here are some progress pictures: This is the dining room with the gas heater: We ripped out the carpet and painted the wall, ceiling and then the floor. The floor was painted because mama is on a budget. I could have put more carpet down and with dogs, no. I could have had the floor refinished but I was told that it was a cheap floor that was unlevel and not worth refinishing - and if I did, it would be a pretty penny. So, I did what they did in the olden days and slapped a couple of coats of paint on the floor! The living room is also done in these same colors. This is the smaller of the two bedrooms, which will become my office: I LOVE the blue! It is my fav

I had considered beginning a brand new blog about the work I am doing on the house that I bought in Douglas, but I figured that eventually the work will be done and there would just be this sad little blog sitting out there with no updates once I got the house finished (kinda like this one - sorta sad with it's random and often piecemeal updates!). Why the Jackalope House? Well, Douglas is the "Home of the Jackalope." It is where a very bored taxidermist took a jack rabbit and threw some antelope horns on and ta-da! A new legend was born. I find it hilarious that the town takes so much pride in the creature that their city logo has a Jackalope on it. So the Jackalope house it is! But, I decided that I might as well just add it to the existing blog that I have - especially since the Little Nothin' Rotten Dogs* are moving to new digs as well! So instead of dog updates, look for house updates! I hope to have lots of before and after shots to add to show my progress. So w

Putting on a dog show is tough work - especially for a club's first show! There were ribbons to order, a show site to find, judges to contact and contract, forms to order, advertisement to do, rules to follow and tears to shed. Okay, I didn't actually cry, but at times I wanted to - even though I am obsessively organized I kept thinking something might go wrong. What could go wrong? Well, I don't really know. The worst case scenario is that the UKC decides we are completely incompetent as a club and doesn't let us have a show again. Right now, a week after our first show, this doesn't seem like a completely bad thing (I guess I am still a little shell shocked). Last week, however, it did. The worst thing that happened was that on Saturday someone complained to everyone that would listen about the regulation ring size- it was too small for her hunting breed. So the next day, we made it bigger. Then she had the audicity to not use the whole ring when she was

It seems as if the dog god has decided once again to frown on my plans. First we had the PLL fiasco with everything in my kennel testing out to be either a carrier or at-risk. After the genetic test for the PLL marker came out I tested a litter that I had just had - turns out the father was at-risk and the mother was a carrier. Each puppy had a 50/50 chance of either being a carrier or at risk - and 4 out of 5 puppies tested as at risk. So much for those who said that the numbers would even out in the litter! Fortunately, all of my puppy buyers understood the issue and took it with more calm than I had. Having witnessed the effects of PLL myself, I swore off any breeding that could possibly create an at risk dog - so no carrier to carrier or carrier to at risk crosses will EVER be made here. I will spay my prize bitch before I issue a painful sentence to a puppy who was created through no fault of its own. And here we go again with the bad news. A year of waiting on a litter. A year an

I will admit it, I am a movement snob. I believe that dogs should move as their standards have them built. Since a Rat Terrier has a well laid back shoulder and "matching" rear angulation, its movement is not flashy nor is it "terrier-like." A Rat Terrier's movement should be balanced and efficient. I've argued for years that a Rat Terrier should move like a "trotter" - mostly like a Dalmatian amazingly enough! Their movement should be smooth, their toplines should not roach, their feet should not be caught up in a tangle at mid-stride, their reach and drive should be easy and go from the tip of their nose to the tip of where their tail would have been (easy enough to figure out). They should be able to trot all day and not get tired. They are not built for sprinting like a Whippet nor stopping to dig as a Jack Russell. It is a unique movement for a terrier, but it is fantastic to see nonetheless. Previously I have discussed the exaggerations of ce

I can't believe how busy August is going to be! This weekend is the Beartrap Summer Festival up on Casper Mountain. It's a great line up, and should be fun! I will probably be bringing Sniper with me to hang out and socialize. He needs a little bit of Mama time. The weekend after that is the dog show at the Scottish Festival and Rocky Mountain Highland Games. Athletic and broadchested men in kilts - YUM! Then we have the Greeley Kennel Club Show, a weekend off, then the Cheyenne Kennel Club Show, and a weekend off and THEN a friend's wedding deep in the heart of Texas. And THEN dear readers the Rocky Mountain Rat Terrier Club hosts its first show ever in Glendale, CO. Craziness! Ah well, if I weren't busy I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Ah, breed type, how elusive you are! Or are you? One would think that Rat Terrier breeders don't even know what their dogs are supposed to look like, much less the judges! Breed type is going straight out the window in exchange for ribbons. It makes me ill to hear over and over "for the betterment of the breed" or "we breed for the standard" and even "I know structure, and my dogs are correct!" (when they have 7 differently structured Rat Terriers in their yard - from a whippet to a bull terrier!). I will grant that the breed standard is somewhat open for interpretation, however that is for a very select few items! "Moderate" is one word that seems to stymie many breeders. I will agree that there is a range of dogs that could be considered moderate of bone and substance. However, there are dogs that fall outside of that category. If the dog looks elegant like an Italian Greyhound, then perhaps it is too fine of bone. It it looks like it could

One of my BFFs is Tracey from K2 Rat Terriers . I want to be her when I grow up. She's an amazing mom to 2 great kids, an incredible mentor, has been raising some amazing Rat Terriers for the past umteenth years, is a UKC judge and she is an extremely talented photographer. When we went to Premier in Kalamazoo, MI this June, we decided to go and check out the dog beach at Kruse Park on Lake Michigan in the town of Muskegon. I want to share the amazing action shots she got of my little Rat Pack, who enjoyed the cool water and the sand dunes of Lake Michigan! Air Rooster Synchronized Head Shaking Rodear is stalking Jada Jada didn't take kindly to Rodear's stalking There isn't much I don't like about this girl - all that muscle and even on sand she's a beautiful mover! Air Sniper! Jada's eyes always make her look really intense Jada waiting for Sniper - LOVE this picture! Me and my Pack To see them all, click here. Thanks again Tracey!

Go here for Part One. Is there a difference between the behavior of “show dogs” and “working dogs”? Well, it depends! [Fair warning : For the life of me, I could NOT keep a straight line going with this post because this subject really could turn right into a book. So please be kind!] Before I can get into why I think that is, well, let me do some defining of terms. (It’s the law school student coming out in me – before we form any sort of opinion we like to say “It depends.” Other times we like to say “It depends on what you mean by X.” See, we can switch things up to keep you on your toes!) Behavior: an observable activity in an animal, most directly related to temperament and training. Working dog: A dog whose job is to work either by itself or with the supervision of one or two people. When I think of a working dog, I think of the Great Pyrenees out in the pasture guarding a flock of sheep, an Akbash chasing coyotes away from its herd of goats, a dog trained for schutzhund work, a

And yet again, the Terrierman has me thinking – and this time I might actually have something to add to the musings of he and his emailer. The post, in part, read as such: I was bird-dogged to Heather's post just moments after responding to an email asking me whether I thought there was some genetic slippage in dogs as far as dog-to-dog communication was concerned. So many show dogs seemed somewhat infantilized in their behavior, while the working dogs were generally more serious and self-purposed. Could this be a genetic issue? Were modern dogs losing their ability to communicate as natural dogs? Click here to read the rest of the post, and to get yet another link to a great photo series called Not Your Stick! I found two different questions in his paragraph: a) Are modern dogs losing their ability to communicate with other dogs? b) Is there a difference between the behavior of “show dogs” and “working dogs”? I will tackle each in different blog posts and try not to bore the he

If you believe that, you probably also believe that every time someone buys a puppy from a reputable breeder, then a shelter dog dies. Horsepucky. Why should you buy a dog from a reputable breeder? - We health test for everything that our breed club recommends, and sometimes go above and beyond that before we breed the two parents together. In Rat Terriers, for example, the breed club recommends testing knees for soundness , hearts for murmurs and other irregularities, hips for dysplasia and a disease called Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease. Keep in mind, these are the MINIMUM! Most breeders also test for elbow dysplasia and also for Primary Lens Luxation, also known as "PLL." While these tests do not guarantee that your puppy will not develop these diseases, HOWEVER, it lessens the chances. With the PLL test, we can virtually guarantee that your puppy will never have the disease. Can you guarantee that with a shelter dog? - A reputable breeder will do their best to ma

It amazes even me how long I can go without a blog post. I have three pages of topics that I want to write about, but I never seem to get around to it. My job as a landman keeps me busy, as does having a spouse, a sister, a brother in law, and a total of 6 dogs living in the house with me on a full time basis. I am relishing right now my adult beverage and a tiny bit of quiet time with the computer. I wanted to share a picture with ya'll: There is so much I love about this picture. One, it is of my dearest Rodear earning her Grand Champion title. Two, her "other mama" is in the picture with me (it being Premier, we might have had to wait around for ages for the judge, and I wasn't into that!). Third, Rodear looks fabulous. Fourth, I think that this is one of the best pictures taken of me ever. And I LOVE my giraffe print dress that I got at the thrift store for $3. Enough of that! Right now I am trolling the internets looking for silhouettes of dogs because I a

First, go read this little piece of wonderfully investigated journalism. Or you can just read my snide comments throughout the article: Please, don't call these dogs mutts. Uh, why not? Now we know that THIS is going to be a wonderful, well researched and thought out article. They're goldendoodles , cockapoos and puggles and they are among the most popular cross-bred dogs in the U.S., according to the American Canine Hybrid Club. Nipping at their heels are cavachons , shih -poos and schnoodles , says the organization, which has registered and named 671 different hybrid combinations since it started registering litters in 1990. 671 you tell me? Wow. Currently, the AKC recognizes 230 - so just out of AKC stock alone one could possibly have 52,670 different cross bred dogs. Why are you stopping at 671? Surely there is more money to be made! More dog owners are looking to create custom varieties that combine in a single dog the best traits of two purebreds. Dog fanciers have b

Note: This started off as a post about feet, but it went elsewhere! I’ve wanted to post about feet for a while, but I have found that there is so much to get out of the way first before I can even craft it! In the world of dog fanciers, a saying that is often bandied about is “form follows function.” The origin of the phrase comes from the world of architecture; it means that the form of a building should reflect its function. It is a simple thought and some believe that it doesn’t leave room for anything other than strict utilitarianism. When I think about the true function of all domestic dogs in general the conclusion that I come to is that the function of a dog is to be a companion to humans. There are dogs with jobs (hunting, tracking, guarding, etc.) but in just about all instances a dog’s work happens in tandem with a human. An obvious exception would be the many guardian breeds that are bred to stay with and guard a flock or herd of animals without human direction and in

Well, it hasn't been much fun the last week at the Hurricane Deck Household! We've been playing the doggie shuffle since both of my girls are in heat. It goes something like this - put the girls in the bathroom. Let the boy dogs in and put them in their kennels. Put the girls outside for a few hours, then reverse! I do appreciate that the weather has been nice enough to leave them outside for a few hours at a time or the Rat Dogs would have to spend more time in their kennels then I like for them to during the day. I am VERY appreciative of the fact that Rodear and Jada were kind enough to cycle at the same time so that I have another six months before I play the shuffle game again. Over the weekend we went to the High Plains Kennel Club dog show (UKC). Rooster was being an ass, so I only showed him one show. I hope that one day his brains outgrow his ball size. Rodear showed the other three shows and she was dumped all three times - I wasn't really happy about it

How pathetic that I've let my blog go for THIS LONG! But, it's been a wild and crazy last few months. On a personal front, I have a new occupation as a contract landman, and I just love it! The courthouse is 10 minutes from my house, and I do the vast majority of work from my home. I love having more time with my dogs. As for the dogs, well - wow - I am down to four! I did some serious paring down of numbers and recalculated my goals for the next few years. It almost feels like I don't have any dogs at all, really. The biggest news I have is that my little rabbit, fox and raccoon hunter, Sniper, is the #9 Rat Terrier for 2010. I am VERY proud of my boy - not only is he an amazing hunter, but his temperament is just to die for, and he's a beautiful representation of the breed! This year we are only hitting mostly local shows, and of course we are going to hit Premier in Kalamazoo in June. I haven't been to a show since December, and I am ready to hit the sh