Yesterday we had a lot of rain...like downpours! And even though the dogs would go out for just a short period of time, when they came in they would be soaked. One of their games is to try to shake as close to a human as possible and see how wet they can get them. Another good game is to shake hard and get the floors wet and slick.

I was putting Dylan and Stormy away, and because I had been reading, I had my Crocs on instead of my usual sneakers. Dylan was quite wet, so I moved aside to try to avoid getting soaked as he rubbed against me on his way by. My left foot slipped off the horse matting we have on the floors in the dog area, and twisted and I saw stars! For a few minutes I thought I had broken my foot.

I hobbled into the house and put my foot up, but there wasn't any swelling or bruising at all - just pain! It didn't seem too bad at first, but after a couple of hours it was very painful and stiff. This is when you learn that having one bathroom on the second floor is really not a very smart way to design a house.

I iced it after Marc got home, but I couldn't tell that it helped much. I sat on the couch with my foot up on some pillows, and every dog had to come by and either sniff or knock into it at least once. How is it that they can hone in on any injured part of the body like they have radar? Anyway, it was a rather uncomfortable night.

It's a little better this morning, so I guess it is just sprained - I'll try to keep it elevated as much as I can today and hopefully in a couple of days I won't be gimping around here like a 90 year old man!

Thirteen things about Akitas and dog shows that you'll never find in a book.

1) The minute you send an entry in for a circuit of shows with really good judges for your dog, he starts to blow coat by the handful.

2) It never fails - you have two bitches you want to breed this year, and they come into season at the same time. If you breed both of them, either both of them will have puppies, or neither of them will!

3) Keeping Akita puppies warm enough is never a problem, but keeping them cool enough can be.

4) A litter of puppies is guaranteed if the breeding is accidental.

5) When you are going away for a weekend of shows, judging will be at 8 am the first day, and 2:30 pm the last day.

6) When your dog needs a major to finish, none of the shows you enter will have a major entry, even if those shows have in the past; then the shows that were always single point entries, that you didn't enter, will have majors!

7) When treating an Akita for a medical problem, most of the time your vet should read the book then throw it away, because these dogs do everything different from most other breeds.

8) You will have all male pups in your litter if you want to keep a bitch, or vice versa.

9) After picking the perfect mate for your dog, researching health issues and finally making a decision, when you have the litter of puppies and one of them has a problem, it is never the problem you worried might crop up, but something totally out in left field that you may not have even heard of before.

10) If you've worn a particular outfit three times in the ring and lost every time, get rid of it, or at the very least, don't wear it to a dog show again because its unlucky.

11) When your dog needs one point to finish, and you enter him and another dog of yours at a small show, and they are the only two entries, it is guaranteed that the one you don't want to win will!

12) Always be very nice to the steward in your ring, because you never know when he might be judging your own breed...even if he doesn't look familiar to you.

13) For all the joys and pleasures we get from our dogs, remember that heartbreaks are right around the corner.

It always cracks me up how these strong, muscular dogs love to be comfortable - they will find the softest place to lay down, and will take over the couch or the bed if allowed to. I have a few pictures of dogs we have sold over the years, in their most comfortable spots.

Here is Tria on her chaise lounge, in her owner's bedroom.

Next, we have Stella, Mouse, and Sitka on the couch, with Bug on patrol.



Here is Moe, who lives in San Jose, CA, in his spot as a young pup.



And this one really makes me laugh - Nushi in a good spot on a hot day. These dogs are not stupid!

I got a note from Charles this weekend, and Che is doing great. This is a cute story, "We took him on a visit to a farm sanctuary, where they care for animals that have been rescued from unsanitary or abusive farms. For whatever reason, Che fell in love with the enormous (over 1000 pound!) pigs there! It was very funny: he went right up to their pen, sniffed a bit, and then lay down right outside. He seemed totally content!"

"Here are some photos of Che making friends with the pigs! I took them with my phone, so they're not very good quality, but the story is there! He was just over eight months at the time. At first, Che looked sort of baffled and amazed by the pigs but, after a little sniffing, he seemed to decide that the pigs were his friends and that he should sit down in the mud, just like them! It was very cute."





I love these photos!

October is a busy doggy birthday month at our house. Today Dixie and Gringo are 4 years old, and Marc is guest blogging in their honor.

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Four years ago today, Lonny was at the Akita National in St. Louis, it was the last day of the show and she and Kim were on their way home. She had gone and put me in charge of dogs for the week, a chore that I took very seriously because that included keeping a casual watch on Cassie who was pregnant with a litter. I was told that the puppies wouldn't be arriving until several days after she got home, so there was "no need to be concerned".

Anyway, on Sunday night, I was sound asleep in bed when this noise awoke me about 2:00 AM. This was that kind of noise that is familiar in one way, but on another level it seems strange and surreal. I decided to go downstairs and investigate, realizing as I began down the stairs that it was some sort of whimpering and one of the dogs probably had to go out.

I went onto the front porch where Cassie's crate was and saw that she had an "accident" in the crate. It didn't really smell like the normal accident though and suddenly, I noticed her "BM " was moving around.

I said "oh my gosh" to myself (anyone who knows me can figure out what I really said) and quickly ushered Cassie out of the crate and picked up this puppy. It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on, but while I was grabbing this puppy, Cassie had found herself a nice spot on the living room floor.

I grabbed some towels that I had done earlier in the week but hadn't gotten around to putting away yet (Lonny wasn't due home until much later that day so I still had time) and wrapped this puppy up. I started to call Lonny on her cell and about a minute after she picked up and heard me screaming at her, told her I had to go. Lo and behold another one was coming out!! Fortunately Cassie knew what to do on this one as well and the puppy that would become Gringo made his debut on the floor.

Now I am holding the first puppy (Gumbo) in one hand, trying to grab Gringo with the other and finding a place to put these two. I would have used the laundry basket, but it was full (should have put those clothes away four days ago), so I ran into the kitchen and found one of the boxes that Lonny's books come in.

By now, Cassie had settled down as did I to an extent and after getting the two boys settled, I called Lonny back.

Well, over the next few hours, I was able to reach our son, Bryan and persuade him to come over and help poor old Dad, get assurance from Lonny that Kim was driving home as fast as she could and there was no magic transporter like you see on Star Trek in the van. I also got a hold of two of our friends, Miriam and then Jackie, both of whom were experienced breeders and did a great job talking me through. When Bryan got here, we had coffee, set up the whelping pool and got the other dogs fed. Oh, we also delivered more puppies, another 6 would come, including a red female who we named Dixie.

All through this ordeal, I kept updating Lonny on the cell phone as they were going through the mountains of Pennsylvania, hence Gringo's registered name is Ch Nutmeg's Can U Hear Me Now.

What makes this story special is because even though we had been in Akitas for over 20 years to that point, I had never whelped a puppy before. I must have picked a little something up even on the nights when I was still in bed when Lonny was delivering litters. It is like when someone goes to bed with one of those tapes and wakes up knowing how to speak French!!

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Dixie and Gringo as well as your littermates who have their own homes. I am glad you survived that first day.>>

I finally managed to get a half way decent picture of the birthday duo together. Dixie loves to pose, but Gringo is too busy looking around at everything and being silly. Here they are!