House of Cardis

April 19, 2009

New Blog, New Webpage!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 8:44 pm

Two weeks ago, I hadn’t the foggiest idea what “cascading style sheets” or “dynamic HTML” meant. Honestly, I didn’t really want to know–learning about those things fell pretty much at the bottom of my list of things to learn about.

But I did want to update my blog and website and so, through the magic of books, internet searching and just some plain ol’ playin’ around on the computer, I learned enough to update both sites. I’m actually pretty pleased with how they turned out–and I’m darn tired of working on them! I’d much rather be taking photos or playing with dogs.

So, come on over to the new blog and let me know what you think–let me know if things look OK on your end and if you find any broken links, etc. There are new FLASH! photo galleries on my website–I’m lovin’ lightroom for sure now.  

The website is HERE, the new blog is HERE. See you over on the other side…

April 14, 2009

Two More DM Results

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 11:29 am
Tags:

Wow–they are really getting these tests done quickly. I mailed these (priority) on Friday. They arrived yesterday (Monday) and results are already posted today (Tuesday at noon).

KENLEIGH’S ZEALOUS ZOEY
ZOEY
F WCC
DN07580102
DM Received: 04/13/2009
Processed: 04/14/2009
Test: Degenerative Myelopathy
Results: CLEAR (Homozygous N/N, Clear)
CAYUSE ROWDY RUGBY
RUGBY
M WCC
DL67860706
DM Received: 04/13/2009
Processed: 04/14/2009
Test: Degenerative Myelopathy
Results: CLEAR (Homozygous N/N, Clear)

It looks like two more Cardis have tested ‘at risk’ since the statistics page was last updated.

April 10, 2009

One down, two to go…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 8:53 am
Tags:
C-MYSTE KAMIKAZE
RILEY
M WCC
DL79947701
DM Received: 03/31/2009
Processed: 04/02/2009
Test: Degenerative Myelopathy
Results: CARRIER (Heterozygous A/N, Carrier)

April 9, 2009

Anyone from the NW driving to the national specialty?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 11:01 am

I just read the following message on the Performance Corgi list and wondered if anyone from around here is driving to Kansas (and is interested in bringing a Pem puppy back with them):

I know that the Cardigan specialty is coming up –� Would anyone be coming into
Kansas from toward the PacNW?� I have a handsome puppy that would love to
entertain and provide puppy breath on his way toward Seattle.� I would gladly
get you started back home with a gas money contribution, and his new mom will
help out at delivery…� We want to avoid having to put this adorable dude in a
plane if we can.

Sonic is 10 wks already, with appropriate shots, CERF, and his Cardiac appt.
will be done Monday afternoon– so anytime after the 13th would be
appreciated… his mom can’t wait to squeeze him in person.

The breeders’ website is: http://www.croswyndcrew.com/index.html

April 4, 2009

Just a Little Story I Made Up…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 10:18 pm

Dick and Jane decided to get a puppy one day. Their friend Bob had an adorable male Chorgi that Dick and Jane had often admired.

Dick and Jane found a Chorgi breeder online and chatted with them. Dick and Jane were good candidates for a Chorgi–they were familiar with their personality, Dick stayed home during the day so the puppy wouldn’t be left alone for long periods of time and both Dick and Jane had been raised around dogs.

The breeder sold them a lovely Chorgi puppy and when they went to pick their puppy up, the breeder spent a couple of hours with them discussing lots of things–what food to feed the puppy, how to carry the puppy properly (“Never let a Chorgi puppy go down the stairs!” the breeder told them). Dick and Jane both listened to all the ‘instructions’ that were given (though they were somewhat distracted by the 8 Chorgi puppies running around and playing) and both remembered being told something about their Chorgi being a ‘carrier’ for some sort of disorder, although neither could remember exactly what the name of the disorder was (they were pretty sure it was two words, each with many syllables). The breeder also told them the puppy needed to be spayed when it was six months old.

Dick and Jane named their puppy “Spot”–Spot was sold to them on a limited registration because the breeder didn’t want any puppy owners to be using ‘pet’ dogs for breeding purposes. Spot grew up to be a lovely female Chorgi. She had purple eyes that dazzled everyone who saw them and she was smart–she learned lots of tricks. Jane took Spot to work with her some days and everyone there loved Spot’s personality. Sometimes people would even ask Jane if she had ever thought of breeding Spot because she was such a great dog.

When Spot turned two, Dick and Jane decided they should think about spaying her. When they took her to the vet for a set of vaccinations, the vet told them it would cost $300 to have her spayed. Dick and Jane were surprised it would cost so much–that was almost as much money as they had spent on Spot in the first place.

Dick and Jane’s friend Bob also loved Spot. Bob owned “Sam” the adorable male Chorgi that had lead Dick and Jane to get a Chorgi in the first place. One day when they were visiting with each other and letting the Chorgis play, Bob asked Dick and Jane if they had ever thought about breeding Spot. She was cute, had a great personality and seemed plenty healthy. And, after all, Bob reasoned, if Spot had just one litter of puppies that were worth a few hundred dollars each, that would be more than enough money to cover the cost of spaying her later.

Dick and Jane remembered the conversation they had two years earlier with Spot’s breeder–they told Bob there was some genetic condition Spot was a ‘carrier’ for. Bob got very excited–he remembered that when he got Sam, the breeder had told him Sam was ALSO a carrier for that disorder (mygenerative dyopathy). “Don’t worry”, Bob told Dick and Jane. “If we breed two carriers together, all the puppies will be carriers too!” That made Dick and Jane feel much better–they didn’t want any of the puppies to have problems.

The two Chorgis were bred to each other and a litter of 10 lovely baby Chorgis came to be. Dick and Jane, having long since misplaced the registration form needed to register Spot, realized it wouldn’t be possible to get papers for the puppies from the AKC, but it only took a few seconds of searching online to find the “Dog Registry of America, Inc” who actually state on their website:

  • Tired of registration & documentation hassles? Lost or never had papers? DRA™ Registers all purebred dogs, breeds unrecognized by other clubs, rare breeds, and developing breeds.
  • No expensive DNA certifications on each dog
  • Confidentiality and Integrity
  • Now that all their Chorgis would have official papers, Dick and Jane could feel good about selling them to other people.

    “Purebred Papered Chorgis. $500″.

    10 years later, 1 of the Spot/Sam puppies can no longer walk–his hind end weakened by a mysterious disorder. One other puppy from the litter (who really was a carrier) was bred to an ‘at risk’ dog and produced a litter of 7 puppies…

    March 31, 2009

    Sonic Update

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 10:35 pm

    Y-Nott Rescue Sonic, the Cardi who showed in obedience at the Albany trial this weekend, not only earned a UDX leg on Saturday, he also scored a ‘199′ in Open B!  At a lot of trials, a ‘199′ would pretty much guarantee you a real shot at 1st place and HIT, but at this ultra-competitive trial, three other dogs in the class also earned a  ’199′ !

    When the run-offs were over, Sonic ended up in third place behind an OTCh Aussie and a Border Collie.

    Way to go Sonic!

    Tracking…yep, I think that might be her sport…

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 10:24 pm

    So this afternoon I took Zoey out to the front lawn of the college I work at to let her chase sticks for a few minutes. As we are headed back to my office, she starts acting really, really goony. She takes off and runs towards the Vollum building–when she gets to the door, she jumps up on it, trying to get in. I call her back to me and she goes racing by me and heads towards another building. At this point she’s in full ‘find it’ mode only I have absolutely no idea what she’s trying to find. I begin to think she’s going after squirrels, but then it becomes apparent she’s really looking for a human–she keeps running up to random students who are walking through campus–she’ll run up to one, sniff them, and then take off.

    After a couple of minutes watching this odd behavior I finally call her to me and put her leash on…she’s still wanting to search for whoever (whatever?) she scented on.

    Off we go into the biology building and ultimately into my offfice.

    About 10 minutes later, her ‘Uncle Orin’ shows up in my office–Orin is the person who took, oh, perhaps 5000 photos of Zoey when she was between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks. Zoey adores him and his wife Karyn. As it turns out, Orin had been walking in the very area we had been in (and had gone into the Vollum building) just minutes before Zoey and I trekked through. She clearly knew it was him and was desperately trying to find him…

    zoey-puppy

    (photo by Orin Zyvan Photography)

    March 29, 2009

    Cardi-Fest (Part 2)

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 11:52 am

    I had a very fun time at the dog show yesterday–it would have been even better if it hadn’t been raining most of the day. Oh well…that’s Oregon.

    The day started with Sky (my mom’s Border Collie) showing in Utility. Then my best friend from high school (and college roommate), stopped by to visit. We decided it had probably been 10 years since we had last seen each other.

    We graduated from high school 24 years ago–but yesterday, I swear it was like we were both 18 again! Kathleen and I have EXACTLY the same sense of humor (and it’s rather sarcastic to say the least). We can play off of one another amazingly well–several times yesterday we found ourselves finishing each others sentences. My stomach still hurts today from laughing so hard. The two of us watched a few Cardis show and then headed back over to the obedience building so I could show Sky in Open. We would have passed if I hadn’t screwed him up on one of his commands.

    My mom and I headed over to visit Kathleen at her place after the show. She and her husband own a huge (50+ acre) farm complete with boarding kennel. The Corgis and Border Collies all got to get out and exercise a bit before my mom and I headed back to Portland.

    There were at least two Cardis entered in obedience yesterday. I watched ‘Sonic’ (Y-Nott Rescue Sonic) in Utility–he is a fabulous working dog. I’d be willing to bet he’ll be the next Cardi OTCh. I think she’s working on UDX legs with him as he was entered in both Utility and Open yesterday.

    sonic1

    I never did make it over to the agility building to see if there were any Cardis showing over there.

    A couple of the conformation dogs:

    Cardigan-Welsh-Corgi-Dog

    Cardigan-Welsh-Corgi

    March 26, 2009

    DM–My Take (Part 5)

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 6:34 pm
    Tags:

    I would encourage anyone interested in understanding more about the ‘breed and replace’ method of managing defective genes within a breed to read these two articles:

    The Effects of Genetic Testing: Constructive or Destructive?

    and 

    Breeding Strategies for the Management of Genetic Disorders

     Please note how the author is not saying carrier animals should not be bred–only that they should be bred to clear individuals–and that IF any of the resulting clear offspring are superior to the carrier parent, that offspring should then be used to replace the carrier parent in a breeding program.

     

    DM-My Take (Part 4)

    Filed under: Uncategorized — Kristine @ 3:54 pm
    Tags:

    Reading story after story today of people who have watched their beloved pets and performance-partners suffer through the progression of DM literally brought me to tears today.

    To say, or even suggest, that DM is ‘painless’ makes me cringe. Sorry. I think the dogs do suffer–I think of my own ‘wild child’ Zoey who loves nothing better than running and jumping and I have a difficult time imagining how she would do if she could simply not walk.

    To say, or even suggest, that DM is ‘painless’ negates the emotional pain that the disease puts the owners through. These people are very dedicated to their dogs, willing to take their beloved pets to physical therapy sessions (often several times a week), drawing up detailed medical ‘treatment’ plans for their dogs and buying specialized carts for their companions just so they can remain mobile if even just for a few weeks or months.

    To say, or even suggest, that DM is ‘painless’ is to imply neither dog nor owner suffers any ill effects from this disease–not the dog that struggles to take every step and not the owner who must struggle every day with ‘quality of life’ decisions.

    I wonder how many owners of dogs suffering from DM would say, or even suggest, the disease is ‘painless’?

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