I got a new photo of Bubba today, taken at a show in Sweden. He is just turned 9 months old in this photo, and looks good! I love his black pigment! Ellie Mae has good pigment, but its not as black as this is.



We are FINALLY having normal weather, after another 89 degree day yesterday. Enough already! I want some comfortable fall temperatures before we are plunged into snow and winter. It was in the 70's all night last night, then around daybreak the temps and dew point started dropping - it's now 63 degrees (at about 3 pm) and overcast with some much needed rain expected tonight and through part of the day tomorrow. It's been so dry, even the weeds are dying!

The squirrels are getting brave now. The past couple of days I have seen them in the unused puppy pen, digging around in there, looking for food I suppose, but there's nothing there. I let dogs out in the yard and those brazen creatures sit there and look at them through the picket fence! One of them was too brave this afternoon - it was sitting there watching Dixie and Gringo go out to play, when Dixie spotted it. Faster than you could blink an eye, she popped the gate latch and ran in there - the squirrel jumped up on the stockade fence and ran down to the trees at the back of the yard. In the meantime, Dixie and Gringo were having a smellfest in the puppy pen, getting a good snootful of squirrel scent. You can bet that every time Dixie goes out the door for the next week, the first thing she is going to is to check out that pen!

Michelle and family are back from Germany, and I can't wait to see all their photos. There is a link to her blog on the right hand side of this blog, and I'm sure once she gets them all downloaded they'll be available to see there.

ARWNY is having an incredible raffle at the end of October!

iWON RAFFLE

1st Prize: 42" LCD Flat Screen TV ($1100 value)
2nd Prize: Home Theatre system ($800 value)
3rd Prize: APPLE iPOD ($400 value)

http://www.akitarescuewny.com/Nationals%20raffle/nationals%20raffle%
202007/hi-techraffle2007.htm

You get a 3 in 250 chance of winning because once we sell 250
tickets, we aren't selling anymore -- you can't beat those odds, eh?

All you need do is go to this site:

http://www.akitarescuewny.com/Nationals%20raffle/nationals%20raffle%
202007/hi-techraffle2007.htm

(just copy and put it in your browser if its not able to be clicked
on, ok?)

Scroll down the page to read the form -- this is a FABULOUS offer and
tickets are already selling FAST -- don't miss out!!!

Mail orders must be received by October 24th, 2007
We are accepting postal mail, fax, and Paypal orders.

Fax Orders ONLY accepted if using PayPal
Print off form and fax to
716.741.2124

Pay by paypal or mail your form ASAP!!!

HOPE YOU WIN!!!

Kathy D-ARWNY

Today is our Paula's (Nutmeg's Diabolique) birthday! She's 9 years old. Paula also had a pretty exciting birth. Our daughter Michelle got married on October 3rd, and we had two litters of puppies due the first week of October. Neither of the dams showed any inclination to go into labor on the 3rd, but it was a pretty stressful day, in many ways! Paula is named after the maid of honor in the wedding

Both of the dams, Shrimpy and Karma, decided to go into labor at the same time, on the same day, October 5th! I was jumping from one whelping pool to the next...Shrimpy had 4 males and was finished; Karma had had 4 males, one stillborn, and the one female, Paula. She felt like she had more in there, though, so around 5 pm we were off to the vet. Not our regular vet, he was on a cruise. We had made arrangments ahead of time with his former associate, who is also excellent. Dr. Brian took an feel and felt another pup in there, so in for a c-section Karma went. She had a beautiful white male, who was stained green from the afterbirths, and we called him DJ. DJ went up to Alaska to live with our friend Casey and her family, and finished his championship. He now has two legs toward his Rally title. The green staining wore off after a couple of weeks

Paula is a very sweet and happy girl. She needed a major to finish her championship, but that won't happen now, after her surgery on Monday. She is recovering amazingly well; you'd never know she has 4 incisions. Here are a couple of photos of her in her luxury bed recovering from her surgery.





Happy Birthday, Paulie-wally!

13 Things I love about October

1. Cooler weather (although not this year yet). I love when daytime temps are in the 60's, and nights are in the low 40's.

2. Baked apples and apple cobbler.

3. The crystal clear blue sky.

4. Foliage!

5. The way the air smells, crisp and clean and kind of "dead leafy."

6. Pork chops, baked potatoes, and baked winter squash.

7. Sweatshirts.

8. Seeing my breath when I go outside early in the morning.

9. Pumpkins

10. Chrysanthemums, especially the mauve and rust colored ones.

11. Cowboy stew

12. Needing the big comforter at night.

13. More foliage!

A day late! Yesterday was Babs' birthday, she is now 11 years old. It's hard to believe that its been 11 years since Michelle and I were rushing old Cassie to the vet in the middle of the night for an emergency c-section, and Michelle whelped Babs in the back of the van as we sped down the highway! That's how she got her name, Nutmeg's Dancin' 'N the Moonlite. That was a whelping we will never forget. Old Cassie (not to be confused with Cassie who is here now - young Cassie already had her name when she came to us at a year and a half, I would not ordinarily have two dogs with the same name!) hadn't seemed quite herself a few days before whelping, but it was unusually warm and she was HUGE and there was nothing wrong I could really put a finger on. When she finally started whelping she was a long time between puppies and she seemed totally exhausted. After 4, and with a big belly still, I called Dr. Joe and off to the vet we went. Babs was born on the way, and the remaining 3 were born by c-section. I had Cassie spayed at the same time, as she wasn't going to be bred again. Dr. Joe commented that it was a very clean surgery, very little blood. An hour or so later we were back home, and Cassie was settled in with her 8 fat pups. Around 4 am I was woken up by Cassie thrashing around - she was having a seizure! Called Dr. Joe, threw on some clothes, managed to get her back in the van and off we went. She was extremely anemic, and I called Marc and had him bring Lisa Sausage so Cassie could be transfused. She got about a pint of blood plus a bit, and she was definitely feeling better. We mostly hand raised the pups for a few days until she had her strength back and was able to nurse them more than once a day. I remember she got a lot of Ensure and cooked liver during that time!

All the pups did great and Cassie recovered with no major problems, except for a bout of mastitis a few weeks later. We will never know what caused the anemia problem, although I have heard stories from other Akita breeders describing a similar situation. One of Cassie's daughters had the problem, and Babs had a slight anemia, but nothing like the emergency her dam had. One of those medical puzzles.

Anyway, Babs is doing great and happy birthday to her!

Paula had her major surgery yesterday, poor girl! She was spayed and had three mammary glands removed, as Joe felt two small tumors in two other glands. She was pretty painful when she got home last night, but she slept well on all her blankets and was feeling much better by late this morning. She ate her dinner quickly tonight so is well on the way to healing up. Paulie is such a good girl, her tail has never stopped wagging, and the techs said she was a total sweetheart there wagging her tail the whole time .