Category: Misc

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Missing Corgi

We had a sad situation here in my area.  A family traveling through on the interstate were in a car accident (see Newton Daily News article) a week ago today.  They were traveling with their two Corgis.  One was killed in the accident 🙁 and the other escaped in the confusion.

This was a week ago today and the dog has remained missing (second Newton Daily News article).  There haven’t been any reliable sightings of the dog.

Until tonight.  We spotted him in our yard a couple of hours ago!  We live right off the interstate where the accident happened and don’t have any Corgis in our area, so fairly positive that we saw the dog in question.

Guinness - missing Corgi
Guinness the missing Corgi

I talked to his owners on the phone and needless to say, they are very excited.  Unfortunately, the dog is super shy and has now been loose for an entire week…making him even more skittish.  He took off when I attempted to call him and I didn’t pursue for fear of driving him out of the area.

The owners are working with someone here in the Midwest that specializes and tracking and catching dogs in these type of situations.  I spent some time on the phone with this person, getting tips of what we could do to help.

My initial thought was to put out a lot of food, to keep him here.  However, she cautioned that we want to keep him hungry, so not to put out too much.  Did some cooked hamburger and spread the juice out over the grass and tree leaves, to make the area smell stronger.  We also set a live trap, although it’s doubtful he can be caught in one.

Some Corgi friends are coming out to our acreage tomorrow with one of their Corgis – who is in season.   We’re going to put her on a long line and walk her around the area, hoping she might draw him out.

Sounds like the owners are driving back (they’re several hours away in IL) here tomorrow.

Please cross your fingers that this boy can be reunited with his family very soon!!

Update: Check out our happy ending!

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AKC Outstanding Sportsmanship Award

Thank you to the members of the Central Iowa Kennel Club for honoring me with the AKC Outstanding Sportsmanship Award! 

One of the things I love most about showing dogs is all of the friends I’ve met.  While the CIKC has had its fair share of bumps in the road, we’ve persevered and the club is thriving.  I enjoy working with my fellow club members to benefit the sport of purebred dogs.

For anyone looking to start showing dogs, go get involved in a club.   You’ll learn so much about showing and met great folks along the way.

CIKC has many dedicated and wonderful members.   I’m very flattered to be selected as our first club recipient of this award.

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Nails – Dremel

Keeping your dog’s nails short is good for your dog’s foot.  Long nails can cause discomfort for the dog and be hard on your floors or furniture.   Not to mention they hurt like mad when the dog steps on your foot!

I use a dremel to grind my dogs’ nails. I like the dremel as I’m less likely to injure the dog (quicking the nails with clippers can be a bloody mess) and the nails end up smooth.  I picked up my cordless dremel at Target for around $20.  Use the course sanding head.

There are now specific dremel tools for doing your pets’ nails.  It isn’t necessary to get the pet-specific tool, although if they’re price comparable, there isn’t anything wrong with them either.

I have to charge the battery immediately before use (I plug it in the night before I plan on doing nails), in order to make it through both dogs’ nails.  I also find that I have to replace my dremel about once every year or so as the battery gets to the point it will barely make it through the job.  I’ve thought about going to the electric variety, but like the freedom of the cordless.

To keep the nails short, I do nails about once a week.  If your dog currently has long nails, you won’t be able to get them short in one sitting, you’ll have to make the quick recede over a period of time by doing the nails more frequently, every 3-4 days.

When dremeling the nails, keep in mind that the friction will cause heat to build.  Use a tap-tap method on the nails and be mindful of the heat.

To start, I dremel off the ends, taking the desired length off of all of the nails on one foot, similar to if I was using a nail clipper.

Notice how the end of the nail is blunt

Then, I go back to each toe and smooth all the sides:

In the end, you’ll have nice, smooth short nails!  They look nice on the dog and help prevent injury to their feet – and yours!  (Please disregard Kizzy’s dirty feet – we had just come inside from a run in the field!)

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Pet Expo

Today both Skyy and Kizzy got to attend the Great Iowa Pet Expo in Des Moines with me.  We volunteered at two different booths:

Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue booth:

Tiana (Bree’s mom) with Skyy, Kizzy and Bree

…and the Central Iowa Kennel Club booth for the Meet the Breed:

The Expo was a lot of fun.  Lots of different booths and lots of people in attendance.  The girls both got to work for rescue by wearing donation collection vests (made by a creative rescue volunteer!):

The dogs thoroughly enjoyed all the attention lavished on them by all the people.  They were tuckered out by the end of the day!

Bree was tired, too, and convinced her mom to become a human dog bed:

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Lights! Camera! Action!

Skyy is going to appear in a commercial!

I got a call last week from a production company, interested in having a harlequin Great Dane in a commercial spot they were filming today.  We discussed the particulars, the production manager viewed pictures of Skyy and it was agreed that she would fit the bill.

The script was that Skyy would be sitting by her “owner” and a small dog would come into the scene, bark at her and “scare her off”.  The “owner” then looks surprised at why her big dog suddenly ran off.

The set was done up to look like a park, filmed in front of a blue screen that will (from my understanding) become a park background during the editing process.

Skyy was such a good girl!  She was extremely patient and tolerant of all the people, the small dog (who vocalized to her that he was very, very tough), the camera, the lights, etc.

Her job was mainly sit-stays and a “look down” (to appear she was looking at the small dog), then the running out of the scene.  The two dogs were filmed separately and the scenes were combined in the editing process.

Our biggest challengewas that they wanted Skyy sitting facing one direction and then to run out of the scene the other direction.  Because I had to stand behind her to call her, she ended up twisting her head around to watch me during her sit stay, which didn’t work for the shot. 

The “look down” was comical, as she mostly ignored the distractions trying to encourage her to look down.  We resorted to throwing treats on the ground!

All in all, she did a wonderful job.  Her solid temperament really shinned to be able to take all that in stride!

The commercial is for MetaBank and will air regionally.

It was certainly an interesting experience!  Hopefully her new found fame doesn’t completely go to her head.  Excuse me, I must go now…Her Highness is currently resting and has requested steak for dinner.  I mustn’t keep her waiting!

Update: Check out the finished commercial.

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Dane related injuries

Earlier this summer, I broke my little toe while walking the dogs in my new Vibram Five Finger shoes (which are awesome).  I had commented that was my first broken bone inflicted by the dogs.  I should have knocked on wood or thrown some salt over my shoulder.

Late this past Wednesday, I took the dogs for a run in the pasture behind our house.  We had been gone most all day and the dogs were extra exuberant.  In fact, Joe and the boys weren’t even home yet as they spent the night at resort a few hours away but I had come home early so that I could make it into work the next day.

As I walked down one of the hills, the dogs were playing with each other and came roaring down the hill.  Straight towards me.  I noticed too late and they plowed straight into the back of me, taking me down hard.  My right leg twisted behind me .  As I lay on the ground in the dark, howling in pain, the dogs circled around me trying to tell me they were sorry.crutches

It took me several minutes and many attempts, but I managed to stand up and hobble the very long trek back to the house.  I then I called a friend to take me to the ER.  X-rays showed that I had two spiral fractures in my fibula, one near mid-calf and the other just above my ankle.  Of course I’m on crutches as I can’t bear any weight on the leg.

A visit to the orthopedic doctor the following day was good news in that I shouldn’t have to any surgery.  The bad news is that since it’s my right leg, I can’t drive for the next 6 weeks.  Work is still questionable as the doctor hasn’t released me to return yet.  I have to go back to see him in a week for more x-rays to check on the healing progress.

Oh, the joys of Danes!!