Posts made by SeattleMax

‎$6 worth of fancy celebration steak, lovingly cooked outdoors on the BBQ grill, chilled to perfection and cut diagonally with restaurant style presentation: gone in four seconds…

Here are some "memories" of Shaun and his love of toilet paper…

Shaun competes again today. So far he has won Best in Maturity on Friday, WD/BOW Saturday to finish his Championship, and also wins Best BBE in Breed and a BBE Group 3.

Definitely getting a steak dinner this evening once its all over!

Couple more pics from Friday:

Thanks!

I can't wait to get Shaun and Mbali back home…

Today was the day: four more points to put him over the top at the 2011 EBC in Washington state. The EBC is the largest Basenji show of the year. He competes again on Sunday ( a new class maybe) and then I go pick him up…

Here is a shot from yesterday with co-breeder Katie Campbell congratulating co-breeder and handler, MaryK Quinnett, with an excited Shaun looking on. Shaun had just won first place in the Maturity contest at the EBC.

One more of Shaun watching squirrels in our trees…

I think Shaun weighs in around 20-22 pounds?

Judy Lang is the long time grand Basenji lady of Washington state. She attends/conducts the puppy training classes that we bring Shaun to. She congratulated us on Shaun's 5-point major win last weekend and asked us about his condition. Did we run with him? No, we are not runners, but Shaun does get a ton of long walks each week which probably makes him look fit and handsome…

Thanks!

Katie, aka Taji Basenjis, entered Mbali, Shaun's' little sister, in her first show today (same show as Shaun's huge win). She is 8-months-old so I am not sure what class she is in? She won a third place ribbon! Off course this class had only three competitors, but who's counting…

A dog fighting ring in the Seattle area was just busted the other day. Sad what people do for money and entertainment…

Shaun won again today at the Hurricane Ridge Kennel Club in Washington state.

Best Dog, Best of Winners, Best Bred by Exhibitor, Best of Group and then Best in Show!

The little guy is on fire. Be interesting to see how long this lasts. The biggest Basenji show of the summer (in Washington) is next week (Evergreen Basenji Club). More competition for sure. But even if he wins nothing he has had a very successful run this summer…

Here is a very recent shot of Shaun, with his cheeky younger sister, Mbali. Photo taken with a 40-year-old lens converted to the Canon EOS mount…

All this points, majors, and specialties is all kind of odd to a movie like myself.

Shaun's breeders seemed super pleased though. In 2011, Shaun has been entered and shown in five shows, winning points at four of those shows. One that was a Specialty which I have learned is a big deal? He also won the Best Bred by Exhibitor Award (not worth points, but it is worth a lot to breeders.) We are starting to collect ribbons, towels, picture frames, boxes, toys and other prizes. But it really does not matter that much to us. Shaun is still that cute, naughty boy that gets away with too much! Actually he is very well behaved and is a great older brother to little Mbali…

Here is one photo from the previous win (with MaryK handling…)

Shaun just came home: he won big at the WVBC Speciality in Oregon: WD, BOW & Best Bred-By-Exhibitor for a 5 point Major.

This is his second Major win a row. Very proud of the little guy. Actually Shaun is now a mature 1-year-old. Ten points under his belt already with just five to go for his championship…

Cast/splint came off today and all looks great!

Thanks Sharron!

It was nice meeting you at the dog show the other week…

That is total natural Basenji INSTINCT!!!

Our breeder, Katie, recently went to the Congo. She actually brought back three different Basenji puppies on her trip. Long, fascinating story.

What she noticed is was how all the Basenjis would sit in the fire pits. Apparently all the native Basenjis do this. Obviously the residual warmth from the previous nights camp fire is the attraction. But they also get into the habit when there is no warmth left. Some of the African Basenjis do have bad scars from misjudging just how "warm" some of these camp coals are though…

To Rev's Mom: thank you!

Mbali is really sweet. She is very affectionate and loves life. Having two Basenjis is a blast. Its somehow easier. As both are so young the activity level gets insane at times, even with Mbali in a leg cast.

Mbali is extremely food motivated. We feed her in her crate. She runs into her crate but then can't wait the two seconds it takes to snap the metal food bowl onto the grating on the door. You have to get it done just right in an instant or the food will go everywhere. Mbali attacks her food like its her last meal ever. She also acts like she has not been fed in three weeks.

Mbali and Shaun have bonded wonderfully though. They do have angry sounding squabbles. At first we used to rush in as we were concerned that Shaun was beating up his little sister. But its 99% angry noise and Mbali gives as well as she takes, as the saying goes. I really need to capture this on video. My friend heard one of these episodes while we talking on the phone. "Oh my God…" was the reaction...

Interesting is the word!

We have been under the radar coping with these two. Three weeks ago both got some kind of tummy bug. Awful experience with projectile liquids from "both ends."

We were concerned that this was taking too long to clear up so we made an appointment with our vet. About 45 minutes before leaving I took them for a walk. Walking these two is our little version of a comedy act. While reaching down to collect "a sample" both leashes got wrapped around a pole. In the process I stepped back and stood on little Mbali's foot! Never even noticed she had darted backwards.

She screamed but then seemed ok. She limped home for about the first block but then walked on all four legs the rest of the way. Once home she hopped up on the favorite chair. While I was putting Shaun in the car (both were going to the vet) I heard Mbali scream loudly from inside. I rushed in and she was standing on three legs next to the chair. She must have jumped down and something was definitely causing her pain. Luckily I had a vet appointment in 20 minutes.

The vet felt her paw and decided to take an x-ray. Sure enough Mbali had two hairline fractures in the two center bones just above her foot. The two outer bones were fine though. They gave her some laser therapy and then wrapped her entire rear leg in a splint. I felt simply terrible having caused all this. The two main joints in her leg were wrapped so they could not bend. To my guilt ridden eyes the cast looked HUGE.

Once she was back in the house Mbali seemed very unhappy; trying to settle with the cast etc. But by the next day she was moving, walking, eating as before. Both dogs were also given meds for their tummy issues. Thankfully that all cleared up in a couple of days. I made boiled chicken, boiled potatoes, pumpkin, cottage cheese, etc. The big hit were the little jars of baby food we mixed in.

The issue with Mbali then became keeping her "calm". But she decided to run, jump off furniture and wrestle with Shaun like nothing ever happened.

We went in next week. Her cast had slipped a little so Mbali's toes were sticking out more than the vet liked. They rewrapped the cast and were told maybe three weeks more. After another week I became concerned about the cast again so back to the vet we went. She asked me for all the details about Mbali's activity etc. The vet then decided "lets do the x-ray a week early!" She came back with the film and she said she could not see ANY fracture anymore. Her age, the thin clean nature of the fractures, the laser therapy and these homeopathic bone healing pills seemed to do the trick. The big factor is the fractures were the two center bones and not the two outer bones. The outer bones act like a natural splint. The big positive news was that Mbali was sent home with her cast unchanged and she would only have to have it on for one more week just to be sure. Three weeks total it seems.

Her cast comes of this Tuesday! Hopefully all will be fine. The vet seemed sort of surprised at how quickly Mbali has healed. We cant wait!

I think we will be taking both of them to the vet tomorrow. Just to be sure.

They are definitely better: they play, they walk nicely, they cuddle with us, they seem normally happy now.

But their poops are still very "liquidly" and every now and then there is the worst puke puddle on the floor. I am feeding them "plain food" but they are not as interested. I think this is a thing that needs to run its course. But we want to be sure we not missing anything…