"~shady angel~"  wrote in message 
news:48604b9f$1@news2.actrix.gen.nz...
> Kathleen wrote:
>> So yesterday my daughter and some people from her barn were planning
>> to enter a local horse show.  DD had driven out to the barn earlier
>> in the day to give Reno a bath, braid his mane and tail and pack her
>> equipment. An hour before the show was about to start I got a phone
>> call.  The people who were supposed to pull the trailer had backed out 
>> and DD had
>> no way to get to the show.  This was to be Reno's first show and she
>> was crushed.  So, in spite of some fairly serious misgivings, my
>> husband and I located our ball hitch and took the van (my 10 year old van 
>> with the
>> dinky 6-cylinder engine) to see if we couldn't get her and Reno out to
>> the fairgrounds in time for at least some of the events.
>> When we pulled up at the barn, there was Harley, the Bernese Mountain
>> dog we'd taken care of last summer.  I'd been worried about him and
>> had thought of him often, but hadn't seen him since.  I don't know if
>> he remembered us or if it was simply a case of a gloriously sunny
>> disposition but he greeted us like long lost friends.  He came
>> gamboling over like a giant puppy, his butt periodically overtaking
>> his front end and causing him to spin around.  Healthy, happy and in
>> great shape!  It felt so good to kiss his muzzle and dig my fingers
>> into the teddy bear fur behind his ears.
>> We hitched up the trailer, loaded the horse and tack and set out on
>> the 40 mile drive to the fairgrounds.  My husband drove and I rode
>> shotgun, alternating between looking behind us to check the trailer
>> and DD, following behind in her little truck, and watching the gauges
>> nervously, expecting the engine to overheat at any time.
>> We made it there safely and although she'd missed the halter classes
>> she was in time to sign up for western pleasure, trail, poles and
>> barrels. During western pleasure Reno was edgy and tense; he'd never
>> been in a show ring before, never heard a loudspeaker, never ridden under 
>> harsh
>> sodium lights.  Nevertheless, he did everything he was asked to do,
>> although he carried his head so far up and lifted his feet so high
>> that several people asked DD if he was gaited ("No, just nervous"). He 
>> didn't place but didn't disgrace himself, either.
>> By the time the trails class came up, he'd settled down and negotiated
>> the obstacles quickly and with style. The third place ribbon they
>> earned was made even sweeter by the defeat of DD's arch rival and
>> nemesis, a woman from her previous barn who had gone far out of her
>> way to sabotage my daughter.  I have to admit, I smiled when her
>> horse balked repeatedly, reared and threatened to dump her on her ass 
>> when she
>> lashed her with the reins, trying to force some speed out of the
>> crackheaded mare. Poles was next and I was a little worried.  Reno
>> had never even seen a pole, let alone run the pattern.  Once again,
>> though, he gave DD everything she asked for, navigating the pattern
>> at a goofy trot that was a lot faster than it looked.  They placed a 
>> respectable 5th,
>> earning a green ribbon and a glare that could bubble paint from their 
>> enemy,
>> who'd been denied once again.
>> Barrels was the last class of the evening.  I noticed that my jaw was
>> aching, made a conscious effort to unclench my teeth, rolled my neck,
>> shrugged my shoulders, trying to relax.  Barrels was the event the
>> other woman considered her specialty, something she took a lot of
>> pride in. DD knew it as well.  She and Reno had done some work with the 
>> barrels,
>> but her rival had been at it for years.
>> The other went first, screaming and spurring her mare, whipping her
>> with the reins.  She turned in a good time, but it wouldn't be enough
>> to place, not with the crew from the local speed barn there in force.
>> I knew that the same would go for DD and Reno.  This wasn't about the
>> ribbon, it was personal, a grudge match, time against time for the
>> most delicious of prizes - bragging rights.
>> "Don't do anything stupid", I warned her, as she waited in the hole
>> for her run.  "Don't worry, Mom, he won't let me", she replied.
>> As I moved away to watch from the stands with her dad I saw her lean
>> forward and hug Reno around the neck and whisper in his ear.  Then I
>> saw her do something that literally brought tears to my eyes when I
>> understood what I was seeing.  She'd reached down, pulled off her
>> spurs and handed them to the judge.
>> Her rival edged her mount forward through the crowd, rudely
>> shouldering horses and riders aside for a better vantage point. People 
>> rounded on her indignantly, then yielded, forfeiting front row seats for 
>> a view
>> of both the ring AND herself's face.  Good theater, that.
>> And then DD's number was up.  Dust hung in the air like fog.  The big
>> paint gelding and his 17 year old red-haired rider cast razor-edged
>> black shadows in the yellow light as they entered the ring, the gate
>> swinging shut behind them.  They circled, gaining speed, once, twice,
>> then exploded forward, breaking the sensor beam and beginning their
>>  run. The first barrel was gorgeous, textbook tight.  He was on the
>> wrong lead at the second barrel, his butt drifted wide, barely missing 
>> the
>> sensor beam and I held my breath.
>> They rounded the third barrel and she gave him his head, leaning
>> forward as he dug deep, driving for home.  The picture they made will
>> be etched in my mind forever, two beings with a single purpose,
>> totally focused, totally intent.  They broke the beam at full speed
>> and my heart was in my throat.  The people leaning on the gate
>> scattered, it looked like horse and/or rider might be coming over.
>> At the last possible instant Reno braked and turned, throwing up a
>> scattering of dirt clods, DD clinging to his back by the grace of
>> thigh muscles that could crack walnuts and an inherited 80 year old
>> high cantled roping saddle.
>> They waited, Reno dancing with excitement, ready to do it again, DD
>> gulping air, pale with adrenaline.  Then the announcement came, of a
>> clean run and a time two tenths of a second faster than her rival's.
>> The older woman jerked the reins, sawing at her horse's mouth to wheel
>> her in a tight circle, then trotted off, trailing a banner of excuses
>> and rationalizations behind.  I was sick and dizzy with relief and
>> pride. I'm getting too old for this stuff....
>
> Congrat's. Sound's like you duaghters a good rider. I miss riding!

Yeah. It only took her two tries to find a horse she could sit:

*For the regulars, my daughter was finally convinced that Luna,
 her mustang, was never going to be a safe, fun horse to ride. After
months and months of dedicated training she was still making
frequent, spirited attempts to murder anyone sitting on her back.
Albert is keeping her, though, and trying to get his hands on her
brother so he can use them as a matched pair to pull a buckboard
at next year's Chuckwagon Races.

Reno, her new horse, is a sweetheart.

                  ------------------------- 

 Luna can pull a buckboard but can't ride a child who BEATS an KICKS IT.

"I had a BC, a horrible escape artist who had learned to stick his
head  into the shadow box fencing and use it to lever to pry off
boards so he could go bumming around the neighborhood.

Obviously the canine spine is not made to deal with this.

 The docs at the ortho clinic did the dye test on the spine and called
me with the news that it was most probably cancer - they said they
were about 85 percent sure.  Said there was evidence of a mass well
above and below the disks that were supposed to be ruptured.

And that the kindest thing might be to not allow him to wake up
from the anesthesia.

  I was flabbergasted.  Devastated.  How could cancer have such
 a sudden onset?  And my own vet had been so certain that it was
trauma...

  So I said "absolutely not" to immediate euthanasia.  Told them to
proceed with the surgery.  Open him up and see what's in there. If
 it was the disks, patch him up, and if it was cancer, just debulk the
 tumor, get asmuch of it out as possible to relieve his pain and buy
him some time.

 It was the disks.  They'd ruptured with such violent force that the
 squishy stuff inside had spurted all up and down the spinal canal -
 that's what they'd been seeing on the dye test.

 It still makes me sick to my stomach to think about what would
 have happened if I'd been willing to follow "expert advice" instead
of my own instincts.

  Connor had staples in his neck holding the incision closed.
  12 days post op I took him to have them removed and the
  incision just FELL OPEN.

 Thank god it happened before we left the office.  Healing was delayed
 by the oral steroids he'd been given to try to relieve his pain prior to
 his consult at the ortho clinic.  They re-stapled him and we returned
 again in another 14 days.  This time it stayed closed.

 As I recall, I kept him crated for that first month, taking him outside
 in the yard on a belt that wrapped around his waist so as not to put
any strain on his neck.  He was so relieved not to be hurting anymore
that I had to keep him confined to stop him from doinging around like
a maniac.

                            ------------------- 

Dogs are TERRORTORIAL critters by NATURE.
Dogs ONLY run away from their HOWESES when
they're ABUSED by ignorameHOWESES like yourself.

Coincidentally, horses train an handle JUST LIKE DOGS <{}: ~ ) >

kathleen's personal philosophy:
culprit wrote:
> if you snapped a picture of your proud dog with
> his first kill, would you post a picture of it?
> someone at work posted a great pic of her JRT carrying a squirrel
> (nearly his size!) to the dog group there.  she was very proud of
> him.  a bunch of other people jumped in saying how horrid it was
> to post pix of dead animals.
>
> i don't think it's any different than posting a pic of a retriever
> with his first bird.
>
> what do you think?  how would you react to something like that?

        I wouldn't have a problem with it.  But I know for a fact that
 there a lot of folks who would.  Personally, I'd only share a photo
like that with kindred souls.

        I have a young JRT named Cooper who refuses to go to ground
at the local EarthDog Fun Days.  He's scared of the rat in the cage.
I suspect his phobia relates to an incident last year.  We had an
invasion of mice in the pantry.  Lots of ruined food, and it reeked
of rodent.

I had to clean everything out,and purchase gnaw-proof packaging.

I also put baited traps on the pantry floor.

        Now, I was in the next room, so I don't know exactly what
 happened, but I heard the "snap" of one of the traps going off,
and then Cooper and both of the BCs came flying around the
corner, tuck-tailed, wild eyed and scrambling for purchase on
the Pergo.

I don't know which of them set the trap off, but it evidently
 impressed the hell out of all three of them.  And I think
Cooper associates the smell of rodents with nasty snappy things.

        I'd like to see him be able to do the things his breed is
famous for, and I've been told that the best way to "boost his
confidence" would be to purchase a rodent and let him kill it.

But I just can't do that.

Even though I eat meat, drink milk, wear leather and kill wild
rodents with traps.  Too many of my kids' friends keep vermin
for pets, and I can only imagine the reaction that my 4th grade
 son would get on Monday morning when the kids in his class
share the interesting things they did over the weekend.

        Unfortunately, personal philosphy aside, you have to
decide whether the end is worth putting up with Joan Q.
Public's reaction.

Kathleen Hansen
Z-Control Skid Boots
Leg armor for gonzo dogs!
http://webpages.charter.net/dhfm/ZControl.html

                -------------------- 

kathleen's business ETHICKS:

HOWEDY kathleen,

"Kathleen"  wrote in message
news:9WR5j. 964$Aw4....@newsfe07.lga...
> chm...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Has anyone used www.dogtravelcompany.net to book either
>> a flight or a vacation package?  My husband and I want to go
>> on vacation with our 2 labs and just found this company.
>> They're the only company I've ever seen that
>> let's you fly with your dogs in the cabin.

INDEEDY! And you could certainly take advantage
of a nice arrangement like that when you hand deliver
your sister's puppy mill puppy to his new owner:

"In other news, I will be taking advantage of an
extraordinary opportunity for travel.  On January
18th I will be flying to Chicago to meet my sister
and our mom, and from there we will be heading
across the Atlantic to Spain.

My sister is delivering a Norwich terrier puppy of
her own breeding to a buyer  living just outside of
Madrid, then we will embark upon a 9 day tour of
the country.

Wish us luck - I'm having a hard time imagining how
we're going to keep a 4 month-old puppy happy and
quiet during the 13 hour flight."

               --------------------- 

That's EZ, kathleen. All you gotta do is learn
a little bit abHOWET doggy behavior <{}: ~ ) >

> A total rip-off.

That so?

Might you be the SAME kathleen who's own dog
CRIPPLED HISSELF tryin to ESCAPE you pupperty?

Might you be the SAME kathleen who COULDN'T
TRAIN her own horse and had to GET RID OF IT?

Might you be the SAME kathleen who's own
terrior won't murder a rat on accHOWENTA
he's AFRAID of them?

Might you be the SAME kathleen who's own
dog PISSES HISSELF when her darlin husband
comes into the HOWES?

And might you be the SAME kathleen who'd only
show pictures of your dog MURDERIN a innocent
defenseless dumb critter to like minded souls?

AS STATED in your own POSTED CASE HISTORY below?

             Might you be the SAME kathleen who
                          SELLS CRAPOLA
                              on the web?:

                    Kathleen Hansen
               715 Brickingham Drive
          Saint Peters, Missouri  63376
                  kh...@charter.net
   http://webpages.charter.net/dhfm/ZControl.html

You know from personal EXXXPERIENCE HOWE
 difficult it is to establish a REPUTATION as a
TRUSTWORTHY, legitimate business person when
startin a new business.

> Run away as fast as you can.

Perhaps we should wrap HOWER legs so's we don't
get abrasions on HOWER ankles in the scuffle like
HOWE your own ill trained fear aggressive hyperactive
HOWETA CON-TROLL dogs do?:

"Z-Control Skid Boots were born out of my frustration
 with other methods of skid protection.  Wrapping with
Vetwrap was tricky and time consuming, and was a
constant source of worry at busy tournaments...

"Only four races in between...  Do I dare leave him
wrapped, or will his feet wind up swelling?  And if I
DO leave the Vetwrap on him, will he shred it as
soon as I turn my back?"

There had to be a better way.

          -------------------- 

And INDEED, there IS, kathleen!

 If you LEARNED HOWE to pupperly wrap
 legs and COULD LEARN HOWE to TRAIN
 your hyperactive fear aggressive dogs to not
 shred them off soon as you stop jerkin an
 chokin an turn your back on them, you
 WOULDN'T NEED your useless spam leg
 protectors.

malinda has told us she sees such booties litterin
the Arctic tundra like discarded condoms.

Hey kathleen, have you ever heard of these terms?:

defamation
noun
1.  a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation
of someone's words or actions

2.  an abusive attack on a person's character or good name [syn:
aspersion]

                           ---------------- 

 li·bel
 noun, verb, -beled, -bel·ing or (especially British) -belled, -
bel·ling.
-noun 1. Law. a. defamation by written or printed words, pictures,
or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.

b. the act or crime of publishing it.

c. a formal written declaration or statement, as one containing
 the allegations of a plaintiff or the grounds of a charge.

2. anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or
 damagingly misrepresents.

-verb (used with object) 3. to publish a libel against.

4. to misrepresent damagingly.

5. to institute suit against by a libel, as in an admiralty court.

slan·der
-noun 1. defamation; calumny: rumors full of slander.

2. a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report:
 a slander against his good name.
3. Law. defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing,
 pictures, etc.

-verb (used with object)
4. to utter slander against; defame.

-verb (used without object)

5. to utter or circulate slander.

                  --------------------- 

kathleen's SUCCESS with her own dogs:

"My JRT is skittish around men, including my
husband, and he was never abused or neglected."

My JRT, Cooper (a two year-old neutered male), has a similar problem,
although only with my husband.  Dad has to maintain a very low-key,
neutral, matter-of-fact demeanor around Cooper, especially when he
first gets home.  Any hint of either exuberance or gruffness is liable
to turn on the waterworks.  Babytalking in a high squeaky voice
guarantees a mess.

 Another thing that seems to boost Cooper's confidence is
greeting Dad as a member of the three dog pack instead of
one-on-one.

Kathleen

                -------------------------- 

That's curiHOWES. Submissive urination, like
FEAR of NOISES and ESCAPE behavior is
CAUSED BY MISHANDLING.

You can CURE submissive urination NEARLY
INSTANTLY if you know HOWE.

                 LIKE THIS:

From: Eric
To: jho...@bellsouth.net

Sent: Friday, November 29, 2002 7:54 AM
Subject: just checking in...

Jerry!

You helped me with my pal Dundee about a year ago regarding
submissive peeing.  Just wanted to let you know he's doing
great- he was "cured" in about 2 days using your techniques!
He has since become the "smartest dog in the world"!  Once I
stopped thinking like a human and got inside his head, I can
teach him ANYTHING, usually in a matter of minutes.  Makes me
look like an expert dog-trainer.

I rescued two strays last week, cleaned 'em up, wormed 'em,
and am getting them their shots. Time to get inside their
heads and teach them to teach themselves how to be good dogs!
Instead of feeling like "training" is a chore, I look forward
to working with these guys a couple times a day...

 Although I don't follow your instructions "to a T",
 I learned from you to "think like a dog" and stimulate
 their brain rather than beating ass or pinching, or any
 of that nonsense.  I know damn well I would NOT be loyal
 to someone who beat MY ass lol!

 Well, just wanted to thank you for rattling the bushes out
 there and teaching folks the RIGHT way to "train" dogs.  A
 horseman friend of mine uses very similar techniques in
 training his horses- he calls it "natural horsemanship".  He
 is hated by nearly all the local "trainers" yet somehow he
 repeatedly wins at every show he attends. He rarely shows any
 more, but goes now and then to rub their noses in it (pun
 intended)...  Too cool....

Have a great holiday season and keep up the good work!

Eric , Dundee, Sammy, and Maynard

              ====================

               BWEEEAAAHAAAHAAA!~!~!