Remembering Kacy

With the passing of Ch. C-Myste Shepard's Moon, Carolyn's sweet Kacy, I think back on when I first met her. She had just returned to Oregon from a home down in the hot, dry, southern desert. Kacy had come back to Carolyn from a troubled home that was not ready for the touch of a sweet Cardigan. Juniper showed her at the Portland show, first time in the ring for Juniper, maybe for Kacy, I don't recall, and they came out with a three point major! Gary and I took her home for a month or so, to get some personal attention and work on getting her more comfortable. What had happened to her while she was away, none of us know the exact details. She had been tied or penned in a small area, she had some strong feelings about work boots and men. Kacy would become very defensive, to the point of nipping when a pair of heavy boots were worn into the house. She would come to my feet and act as if she were going to be required to lay her life on the line for me. Heavy footfalls, work boots; that seemed to be the key. What had happened we will never know for sure but most of us guess there was some unpleasantness that she was involved in and felt strongly about. With work Kacy learned to let down her guard, and later in life, seemed to rarely remember the time when work boots meant danger. She learned to sleep on Gary's lap, tummy up, and really enjoy herself. She loved her nephew, Bilbo. They took off one day, through a gate not tightly fastened, and headed off down the draw. This is an unsettled canyon that drains the high ground where we live into the Fifteen mile drainage. I went searching but got no response from the dogs. Finally, I got in the car and drove down the hill and around to where the road passes the mouth of the canyon. There is a wheat field, a good sized creek and then an alfalfa field before the dogs would get to the road from the canyon. As I drove by I saw the two of them crossing the creek. I stopped the car, called the dogs, (who were delighted to see me!) and they ran through the field and hopped right in. "Thanks for picking us up mom!" We returned home and I picked sixty ticks off of each dog before bathing them. Kacy loved to come to our house. And always when we visited with Tom and Carolyn, whether at a show somewhere, camping or at their home, Kacy would demand attention before we were allowed to visit, often rolling onto her back, whhoo-ooing and saying scratch my tummy I love you! We did take home one of Kacy's kids, a near clone, Stormy, who now lives with Juniper.

Pilot's Fetish

He seems innocent enough, Pilot, Mirrhi's little half brother. He is full of loves and kisses, in fact does not know when to stop kissing. He will climb your chest to get to your face and smear you with puppy kisses. He is young too, so I did not expect him to have developed any weird sexual fetishes. This past weekend though, as we were staying in the motel in Eugene for the dog show, all the dogs had crates in the room. Mirrhi's crate was across the room from Pilot's and everything seemed to be going fine. The dogs were taking turns out to visit everyone and playing with one another. Pilot was back in his box after a romp when I noticed what looked like Mirrhi's crate pad in a pile beside him. A little later it was spread out under him, sure looked like her crate pad, green with little paw prints on it. We were socializing as well so I just let it go. A bit later, Pilot was out again, he took the pad out of his crate and was rolling on it, all slobbery, then stood over it and marked it as his. I turned to his human mom and asked, "Is that Pilot's crate pad?" "No..."
All I can say is girls watch your crate pads and panties if you wear'em cause Pilot is growing up!

Well, I have no excuse, I am slow at learning to blog but with news of Mirrhi finishing her championship this weekend I am blogging. The picture is from the sidelines as we are setting her up for the win photo. She was done, didn't really care about a picture. So lets hope the professional one is a bit better. I even left the glowing eyes as it pretty much says how Mirrhi was feeling at the time. Thanks to Carolyn for all your support and for the lovely girl. And of course, thanks to Carolyn Cannon, Mandy Katasse and Jennifer Kramer for breeding Alice, Ch. Mariel Reese's Alice Springs to Trademark, Ch Shadowalk Trademark that produced this lovely big girl. She is home and happy and back to chasing squirrils and scaring the deer out of the yard. Now, what to do next? I am thinking she needs to learn some obedience, don't know if she will be interested enough to do Rally but it is a thought.

Entering the Blog world.

This is it! I have finally decided to join everyone else in the 21st century! For those who do not know me, I am a child of the fifties, 1950s and 50's. I have had dogs in my life since Spotty, a "Great Pyrenees" who rather resembled a small white mutt with black spots over his eyes, one at his tail, and curved dwarfish legs. He was a real buddy and would have defended me against all comers. Spotty was purchased from a man on a street corner with a basket of puppies in Caracas ,Venezuela. We brought him home with us and that was the beginning of dogs for me.

In the sixties I began my experience with purebred dogs, starting with Basset hounds in 4-H. Gus and Katie were my two drooling companions. At that time I was given an AKC Complete Dog Book and that was my introduction to the Cardigan Welsh Corgi. What a humble purebred dog! I thought they looked like the perfect dog for me but at that time they were few and far between. Time passed and many different dogs came into my life, then one day, about 12 years ago, we found ourselves dogless through mischance. I started my search for a Cardigan, found my now good friend and sister from another family, Carolyn, who sold me my first Cardigan, Ch. C-myste There and Back Again, Bilbo. Now there are three Cardigans at my house and two shared with daughter. We occasionally breed a litter of puppies and have had some nice successes. I have enjoyed meeting many new friends through the dog show world and value those friendships highly.