Thursday, November 02, 2006

case in point

See..... Moxie goes everywhere with me!!!!

Two peas in a pod


"the girls"... Not to be confused with "the boys" of which I need to get a picture of them as well. It's funny because I never "used to like" the partis... I always had ASCOBs (any solid color other than black) or BLACKs, but when I got into being a foster home for cocker rescue, we used to have a number of partis. One little dog in particular, came to us around Christmas time, she was little black and white girl that we called "Holly", we kept her thru the holiday season, as rescue tends not to place dogs during that time of year. Holly was a true neglect case, when her owner passed away, the rest of the family kept her out in their barn. Finally they were convinced that this wasn't the best situation for her, and turned her over to rescue. When we got her, she had about 40 stitches... some from having been spayed and the rest from a large tumor which had been removed from her neck. Once everything was healed, we then discovered that she also had seizures.... so, she wasn't going to be the easiest dog to place. After some family discussions, we decided to keep her... our first parti cocker. She turned out to be a pretty nice little girl, and for two summers, my oldest daughter used her as her 4H project, and did quite well with her in the ring.

When Holly passed, I sort of missed that "splash" of color around the house, so I called a good friend of mine who bred cockers and asked where I could go to get another parti dog. As it turns out, she was expecting her first litter of parti pups, and promised that I could have one. I told her I wanted a black and white female.

When the litter arrived (3 days before my own birthday) there were three little girls and four little boys. Two of the girls were black and white and the third was a brown and white tri. I remember my friend saying, "there's one for you and one for me". At four weeks I went to see the litter, the little black and white girls were so cute, but the brown and white tri, was trouble!!!! she first ran under the TV and got tangled in the cords, then got herself stuck under the couch, she just had to explore everything there was, and I was hooked!!!! I told my friend that her name was "Moxie" and I would be back when she was nine weeks to take her home!!!!

Well, for those of you who know me... you know Moxie, as it is the very rare occasion that I am anywhere without her!! She has been shown in the US and in Canada and with the United Kennel Club... she has been the highest scoring dog of the entire show three times (twice in Canada) she has more titles than any dog I have ever owned, and "makes me look good" in dog class!!!

But there are two. When my little Randi passed (a sweet little red cocker) another friend of mine offered me Camille. She, too is a brown and white tri, which my friend had planned on showing, but Camille is a little too small. She thought that Camille would be a "good match" with Moxie. And since I already owned two black dogs, she thought that I might like having two "matched pairs"... which of course, I really do!!!!

One of my favorite things to do is go walking with the four of them. Moxie and Camille go together on one coupler, and Hunter and Trevor on the other. I am beginning to get used to the looks (mostly smiles ) and the comments (usually "are they all yours") and everyone pretty much knows them. Especially in the bank, where they love to go, because if they are good (and they always are) they get a cookie. I guess because we have always had "a few dogs" , I don't even think when I have four dogs that I take. I guess it is a bit unusual to the "normal"... but who ever thought of me as "normal"?

So, in this "new world of blogging" there is my first picture!!! which I was able to put up, thanks mainly to help of my daughters, who certainly can operate this machine better than I can!!! But now that I have the idea, I think there will be more to come