Poodle Moments 02

OK, it's already mid December, I know, and I've been too busy.... You probably can guess what I am going to say next.... "Sorry, I have given up making Poodle Moments '02 in a newspaper style this year too."
No problem, right?? You can save these pages and can print them if you like. <g>

Getting Old

2002 is the Year of the Horse of the Chinese zodiac. There are twelve animals to indicate years, which are the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Hare, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep, the Monkey, the Chicken, the Dog and the Boar.
We call this 12-animal-year "Eto."

Nanako was born in 1990, which was the year of the Horse. In 2002, her year (Eto) has turned around one cycle (12). She has become 12 this November.
In Japan, we have a custom to celebrate 60th birthday as 'Kanreki,' that means his/her Eto turned around five times. I really don't know why fifth round is so important. I imagine that 60 years is old enough and probably people in the past couldn't live as long as we can today. This may be the reason for the celebration of long life.
Anyway, it is, as long as I know, impossible for any dogs to live up to 60 years.
I always feel that 12 years of age is good to be dog's Kanreki but I didn't do any special thing to celebrate her 12th birthday.
I was a bad owner, was just too busy to remember it!!
Now I want her to live until the next Dog Year. She will be sixteen and I'm sure I will have a big party for Nanako then.

Bloat

As you can read in the Poodle Moments '00, Nanako had a serious health problem. She had been under steroid treatment because of the thrombocytopenia. After about two year control, we decided stopping giving her steroid nor other immune restraint drugs, because her condition had been very good.
The result has been so good after quitting all the drugs! We have to have a routine check-up but I am so glad to be able to say good-bye to the steroid pill, for taking it for a long time can lead Cushing's syndrome.

The night mare came to me one night in May.
It was about 10:00 p.m. We always have our supper very late at night, usually around or after 9:00. As usual, I was sitting at the dining table after supper, taking out my Power Book to check emails and Nanako was lying on the floor.
Nothing seemed to be wrong until Nanako woke up suddenly. She looked alright but she stood still there and tried to vomit several times. Nothing came out. I felt something wrong and I reached out to touch her belly. It was growing bigger!
Is this "bloat"? Health problems in Poodles is always one of my concerns but I never want anything wrong, especially the fatal disease happen on my dogs. I didin't want to think of it. I couldn't believe the thing happening on Nanako.
I asked her to lie down but it seemed it was not easy for her to do. I called my husband (he is always taking a nap after supper!) and asked him to take care of Nanako and I rushed to my car with my cell phone. I called the closest vet. I knew the clinic was closed at night. I left a message in the answering machine and waited for the call from the clinic. I was very upset because we should be in a hurry. I waited for a call for a while but my phone didn't ring.
I decided to go to the other clinic, where I should drive more than 30 minutes. Can Nanako's stomach hold its position until we get to the vet? If it turns over before we can get there, that means she must die in pain.

Making a long (really long!) story short, we could get to the clinic before the worst thing happened on her. The vet put a tube from Nanako's mouth to her stomach and thank God, it went through and we could draw out a gas.
When we got to the clinic, her stomach had grown up like a ballon and it was much wider than her chest. She had a trouble walking around but to my surprise, she walked into the clinic with a WAGGING tail. She even smiled at the vet as if she was saying "Nice to meet you!" She's really a good dog.

Leanne in a NEW FASHION

Leanne had turned one year old in the end of January and according to a show rule, she undressed her puppy clip and wore an adult coat.

Puppy clip is always my favorite style but she also looks so cute in continental clip, doesn't she? I still have been busy with grooming her but I am enjoying both grooming and showing.

However, being honest, it is hard for an owner-handler (amateur) to win at shows even if the dog is nice. Well, I really don't want to talk about this much though... You can imagine how it is like. In the show world, it is sometimes common that there exists 'something' behind professional handlers, judges, etc. <g>

Photo on right is captured from video.
Though it is small, she looks gorgeouse, doesn't she?

Anyway, besides those kinds of politics or something, the most difficult problem we have to face here is that there are few SPs in our show rings. In our show system, we need at least 2 other dogs before Winners or Best of Breed to get CC (Champion Certificate card). At many times Leanne was the ONLY SP in the show or even we had another one, there is always 'one' bitch to compete and even if she wins Best of Breed, we can't get CC because of the lack of number. If we would be placed in group, the CC should be given but it is extremely hard to get a Group placement in current situation.

In late August, Leanne got Winners Bitch from an American judge at the Poodle Specialty. It was exciting and it sounds like a big win (Sure it was. We defeated a professional handler.) but we got nothing other than a big ribbon. There were to be two other bitches at that night, but one of them was absent!! So I usually have to murmur "I wish there was another one bitch...."
Some professionals supply themselves two other non-showy dogs to get a CC. That's one of the ways to finish a dog but I don't like it so much.

This kind of situation can happen on other rare breeds too. One of my good show friends is handling English Springers and Salukis, but there are always few of them at shows. At many times she has hard times too.
In these years, number of Standard Poodles is increasing, so I want more SPs in the show ring.