Eurasier Don vom Isselbruch, Diary part 4

Diary 1:   until the 4th  month

Diary 2:   the 4th to 6th month

Diary 3:   6 months to 1 year

Diary 5:   from 2 years onwards

Diary 4:   from 1 year onwards:

with the

Zuchtgemeinschaft for Eurasier e.V.  

was fun.

Blikki marched happily along.

Don had lots of fun playing with a  Eurasier puppy and with other Eurasiers and dogs.

Meeting of the board and breeding board  of the  

Zuchtgemeinschaft for Eurasier e.V.

Among a lot of other things, we did an outdoor study of the movement of our Eurasiers. A learning session concerning planning a mating was also highly informativ and brought deep insights.

ZG  

Eurasier Walk at the Mittelland Canal - Hiddenserborn  

We were happy to meet Eurasiers and their families that were new to us.

Don and Blikki had great fun with the waves that were made by ships.

Our Eurasiers are feeling great. 

We use these few free days for a necessary "time-out", as we had caught a kind of flu.

Many nice people attended with their Eurasiers. It was a special treat that a young female puppy and a seven month old male participated, too. 

We were very happy that Arwen von der Tschifflik had come, too. Arwen is now 13.5 years old. We wish her all the best.

Don is still a young male and sometimes behaves accordingly ... 

A real "Schnoesel" ... a lovable one

Don showed a lot of interest in Branca, a black and tan Eurasier female. He enjoyed playing and being with her.

Poor Don cannot romp and play with Blikki for the next days. How good that we meet other dogs with their owners on our outings! 

Friends of ours showed their dogs there and we were over the moon to see them again, and meet their lovely dogs. 

Both shows were a welcome opportunity for us to get a glimpse of various nordic dog breeds, of which some find use as working dogs. This is a different world, compared to our Eurasiers. The presentation of these nordic breeds in the ring showed clearly that these dogs are for active people with endurance and a great interest in nordic sports. A quick trot for several rounds must be a piece of cake not only for these dogs, but especially for the people they belong to. It was interesting and fun to have a look into this specific dog world. 

And I was happy I got kisses from two Sibirian Huskies (Taysa's Moments of Magic and Taysa's on a Mission).

Her appointment with the veterinary dental doctor was due. Unfortunately, bacteria had entered the pulpa. So I am very happy I had seeked an appointment with a veterinary dental specialist. Blikki was sedated, and the fang tooth and the infection were treated. After a good four weeks we have to come again for the final treatment. Blikki was very cooperative. The teeth were also cleaned and plaque was removed. Blikki now smiles at me with the shiniest white teeth.

I had left Don at home. He coped well and had been a very good boy. He probably slept most of the time and was very happy to see us again in the evening.

Arwen von der Tschifflik, 13,5 years, at the ZG meeting in Kirrlach

Blikki is in season. A severe summer flu gets me down for a few weeks. I take a rest and do some re-thinking. A prolonged weekend at the river Ems, together with Peter and the dogs, does us a world of good: wellness for us and a lot of time, attention and walks for Blikki and Don.

Our hobbies:

Don: Footbath in mud

Blikki: Searching for mice

We find a bit more time for the good things in life. We enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon in Bad Muenstereifel. A Eurasier male detected us from far away and persuaded his owner to let him say hello to Blikki. 

Dog photographs - HundeAugenBlicke - by Dr. Ruth Marcus, caught our interest, and so we went to the fortress in Ehrenbreitstein in Koblenz, to the Landesmuseum Koblenz – Festung Ehrenbreitstein to see this exhibition. The photos made by Ruth Marcus are magnificent. It is a wonderful experience to see them in full size. This exhibition is really worth visiting. The exhibtion is open from August 23, until October 3, 2007, daily, from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As a Thank You for his webmaster job from 2003 - 2007, Peter got a wonderful book "HundeAugenblicke" by Dr. Ruth Marcus from the board of the ZG. I received a colourful flower bouquet.

An important birthday: 3-4 hours drive to, 3-4 hours drive fro, for a lovely afternoon and some coffee and cake. A walk before leaving, a walk there, Blikki and Don go along and enjoy this just as much as I do.

I treat myself with highly interesting lectures by Perdita Luebbe and Guenther Bloch during the Happy Dog Tour 2007 at the Hotel Bristol, Bonn.

This time I took Don along. He seemed worried when he saw Blikki slowly falling into a deep sleep in front of our feet. He was so happy to see her later on - after the "wake-up" shot - on all four feet again. The long drive home was welcome. Both rested during the trip. At home, a little walk was already possible. To prevent Blikki from licking at the wound, I let her wear a T-shirt, especially during such times when I could not fully concentrate on her. Three days later, Blikki no longer needed to wear a T-shirt. We do not have to have the threads pulled, either, they dissolve all by themselves.

Yippee, the result says "benign". But from now on, I need to be even more alert and check both milk canals on a regular basis for tiny knots or other irregularities. Such a check-up can easily be disguised in a few extra cuddles.

A good two weeks later, we have rather cool autumn weather. Blikki now turns her turbo-motor on again during our walks. She runs and plays wildly with Don. Great to see that Blikki is doing fine.

Blikki and Don accompanied me during an important and very  busy weekend meeting.

Two years ago, our beloved Merlin went over the rainbow bridge. In loving memory of Merlin and his mom Ayla, the words for a poem in English come to my mind ....

Well, we had rain and encountered a lot of mud during our walks. Don loves water and he enjoys skipping right through the mud. Blikki, who usually likes to elegantly circumvene any puddle, now runs with Don through the mud. Good, weather-proof clothing is so important for dog-owners ;-) 

Murphy's Law (or what can go wrong, will go wrong): I like to listen to the radio, especially WDR 2. Among a lot of interesting things, there is a humorous series by Gerburg Jahnke. One day, she dealt with Murphy's Law. I was listening to her while driving to dog training, and, as always, I laughed a lot about her funny account. When I got to our training area, there was a big commotion. One of the participants faced the following problem: Her dog was sitting IN the car, all doors were CLOSED, the owner was OUTSIDE of the car ... the car keys were INSIDE of the car. Things such as her purse, her mobile phone and the keys to her house, were all INSIDE of the car, too. Luckily, it was not warm on that day, so we did not have to worry about the immediate well-being of the dog.  The lady tried to call her husband with our trainer's mobile phone, but could not reach him. So we started to think about possible solutions: We could call the help-line of the car manufacturer; we could bring her to her husband to get the house keys and then a spare car key; if all else failed, a car window would have to be broken to gain access ... when, all of a sudden, the dog solved the problem all by himself: He had stepped on the keys, and - simsalabim - the doors were open. What a relief! We were all so happy about this lucky turn. Murphy's Law, it can work the other way around, too.

All through the day on December 23rd, Blikki smiled at us showing both of her upper fangteeth, late in the evening I noticed that one of it was broken, only about 2 mm could be seen. Luckily, this was the fangtooth with the root canal treatment so that we did not have to rush to a veterinary surgery straight away, but could wait until the next morning. Not many veterinary surgeries are open at this time, so I am very happy I know the veterinary clinic of Dr. Staudacher in Aachen-Brand. This clinic offers competent veterinary services on all kinds of fields including dentistry, and a 24 hour emergency service all year round. And so Blikki - and out of solidarity Don - did not get any breakfast, we went for a short walk and then Blikki and I headed to the clinic in Aachen. There, the waiting room was full due to the normal surgery hours from 10 to 12. Dr. Staudacher took a good look at Blikki's fangtooth (with the root canal treatment), which had broken off and had very sharp edges. Dr. Staudacher and I agreed that it would be best to pull that tooth now as there was little left worth saving and it could not stay like that, either. Blikki was lightly sedated, the operation itself took place under full anaesthesia (inhalation anaesthesia). When I saw the fangtooth later on, I understood why a full anaesthesia was needed: The root of a fangtooth is much longer and much broader than the tooth itself and could only be pulled by also cutting into the bone. The supervised anaesthesia, really good medication against pain along with antibiotics helped Blikki through this operation. Dr. Staudacher asked Blikki to make an appointment in future if she wanted an operation on such short notice, best even before doing anything that might end with needing an operation. I was very happy and relieved that Dr. Staudacher could help Blikki that quick, on the day of Christmas Eve. 

The pain killer Blikki had received would last until the next day. They gave me some antibiotics which Blikki should take over the next two weeks. Blikki could walk slowly on her own to the car, although she did not have full control of her legs. It would take a few hours until the anaesthesia is fully out of her system. I carefully lifted her into the car. Blikki slept all the way home. At home, she headed to her sleeping place in our living room and slept there most of the time, with the exception of two or three short and wobbly rounds into the garden, during which I stayed at her side. Don was curious, at the same time he kept a small distance and was very gentle with Blikki. And so we all spent a quiet, peaceful Christmas Eve in our living room - happy and grateful that everything had gone so well.

We could see that Don felt insecure: He did not really understand what was the matter with Blikki. They both did not get anything to eat on that day. I slept in the living room with Blikki and Don. The next morning, Christmas Day, Blikki had clear eyes again, and as usual, she curled her tail over her back and could walk much better than yesterday. Blikki enjoyed a small and "soft" breakfast, consisting of a boiled egg with some canned food. Due to the antibiotics she must take, she has to refrain from her beloved milk products such as quark, creme fraiche and yogurt, as they could interfere with the effectiveness of the antibiotics. As soon as the course of antibiotics is finished, she will get her milkproducts again, as they can then help assist in building up good bacteria in the intestines again.

My husband took Don for a long walk, while Blikki and I went for a short one. In the late afternoon, we all went for walk together, always keeping one of the dogs on a leash so that they could not start to romp and play. Blikki also loves to inspect mouseholes, but we managed to keep her from doing that, too ... Blikki needs to slow down a bit the next few days. 

Already a day later, Blikki is doing fine, she eats some of her dry food again, while I still offer appetizing and nourishing "soft" food with each meal. She enjoys running again and would romp and play with Don, but we see to it that they do not play wildly. 

The diary continues here:  Diary 5, from 2 years onwards