Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Where I've Been

At a dog show of course!

This past Friday thru Monday was the kick off of the show year for the WhiteStar Sammies. Babe, Ilsa, Kelly and I went up to the big (2800+ dogs) shows in Denver where Babe made her show ring debut in style winning Best of Opposite in Puppy Sweepstakes at the specialty show, going undefeated in the Bred-By-Exhibitor class all 4 days and finishing up the weekend with Reserve Winners Bitch to a major. Not too bad for a puppy who just turned 8 months old yesterday!

Kelly had a nice weekend too. On Sunday she took Best of Opposite Sex over a field of other girls that included two Best in Show dogs!

It was a really fun weekend, and I especially enjoyed watching some of the winners from last weeks Westminster Show as they made a stop in Denver. That Great Pyrenees is really something up close and personal.

Did I Do Any Knitting?

I knit while watching other breeds show. I knit while watching group judging. Here is the progress so far on the Fir Cone Square Shawl...



I am way farther along then I thought I'd be in such a short time. 10 of the 12.5 required repeats for the center square are already done! When I began this project I expected that finishing the center square would take me several months given how I tend to flit from project to project. But the Silky Wool is so nice to knit I just can't seem to stop.

Here's some (unblocked) stitch detail:



I'd really like to get the center square completed and the stitches for the outer edges picked up before I leave for my Arizona trip. I have exactly one week from just about an hour ago.

One More Thing

Last week in the comments, Jon asked when we'd know if Raven is pregnant.

The problem with dogs is that after a girl goes in season, her hormones do exactly the same thing whether she is pregnant or not, so it can be really difficult to tell until it's OBVIOUS. There is no EPT for dogs.

There is a blood test, which can be done at about 30 days post breeding, which looks for something called Relaxin in the blood. Veterinarians have no idea why pregnant dogs have Relaxin in their blood or what it is for and some people don't believe the test is very accurate.

Some people have the dog's abdomen palpated when they are about 28 days post breeding. A good vet can often tell if there are puppies, but again it's not 100% accurate and sometimes if there are only one or two pups they can't be felt.

The other option, and what I will probably do with Raven, is have her ultrasounded, again at about 28 days post breeding. Still not 100% accurate but it really is pretty cool to actually see the little guys before they are born. Here is the result of Aliy's ultrasound last summer.

In Raven's case, I'll be taking her in after I get back from Arizona, probably about 2 weeks from today.

Anne at 4:03 PM        
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