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Kane's World... and Ponny's
Saturday July 18th, 2015
❤️️❤️️❤️️ My favorite picture ❤️️❤️️❤️️
Thursday July 16th, 2015
The silence is overwhelming. Miss you, my Kane 💙
The last day: July 15th, 2015
The vet called me that morning. Her voice sad, she told me my Kane was worse. Much worse 💙The neurological damage was so much worse; the nystagmus of the eyes, no coordination of his body, a strong tilt to the right. We went down there and had that final discussion with the vets. He was so tired and spent, he just put his head into my neck and rested, and we knew it was time to let him go.
I had promised him he could go home, but the vets couldn't come before after several hours to do that final act. So I called a family friend, a vet with her clinic right next to a forest. I carried Kane out into the car. My husband drove slowly, Kane sat on my lap - and I rolled down the windows. It was raining, the air heavy with the scent of summer, and he leaned his head into it. I carried Kane out i to that forest, his little family following him. We sat down on a blanket, my husband held an umbrella over our heads. Kane and Ponny shared a box of liver paté, his favorite that he got a small piece of every night before going to bed. He gave his favorite squeaky toy, the hippopotamus, a last chew. The sun came out, the vet came and sent him to sleep - he went so fast, that he must have been ever so tired. The little guy ate the rest of the liver paté while I held him those last minutes as he grew cold. Then my husband carried him back out of the forest.
When his ashes come back, we will spread them out i to his favorite lake as autumn grows close. That will be the last entry of this blog.
Tuesday July 14th, 2015
A glimpse of hope ❤️️
When we arrived at the cli ic that mornkng, they took Kane out to meet us - and to go outside. He was very weak, still blind, but seemed better.
He seemed more tired and wouldn't walk, only stand, when we came back for a second time later that day so I carried him out and sat on the grass outside with him. He put his nose i to the wind that day, and sniffed into it, closing his eyes...
It was heartbreaking, but I was told he could come home with us the day after. He started eating a bit, and drank some water, but was still on IV. His body grew stronger, it seemed: No more vomit or diarrea. It was hard to leave him that night, but I told him to "wait" and that he would come home with us the next day.
Monday July 13th, 2015
The saddest day 💙After two weeks on holiday to the World Police & Fire Games in USA - the dogs boarded at the best possible small, wonderful kennel, I got a message the night before our plane headed home. Kane was ill. We kept in touch, and I was there a day after he went i to the clinic to be under surveillance. I walked into his room, and realized he couldn't see me. My wonderful boy who never took his eyes of me and could stare lovingly into my eyes forever, couldn 't see me. But his nose worked, a d I could hold him. I stayed with him that day. We hoped, and prayed.
June 29th, 2015
Out for a walk at Fetsund. The boys posed for a be ch photo, like these two older buddies sitting there discussing the weather and the world problems and women ❤️️
June 27, 2015
Went for a long forest walk all four of us. Bjørn and Kane went for a swim in the forest lake - me and Ponny stayed ashore... too cold for us! 😄
june 14th, 2014
Wedding day! 💍Of course the boys came along for this happiest day of our lives! I decided on matching white bowties for them, and they came for the photos, for the party and stayed in the honeymoon suite at beautiful Losby Gods. I think they may have been too rowdy for church... and we scared the poor next couple that had the time slot after us enough already: With our vicar speaking longer than usual, being an old family friend, and all my husband's firefighter colleagues gathering outside the church with altogether 5 or 6 engines and ladders, they thought there was a fire!
December 8th, 2013
Best boys in the world! This is the sight that meets me when I come home!
November 2013
Dausjøen revisited: We occasionally return to our beloved Maridalen valley, to Dausjøen... Kane was screaming with joy when we make the last turn into the valley by car. He virtually grew up here...
November 2013
More Losby photos, Kane likes to break the in ice, but I have taught him to "watch it, ice"... Ponny is naturally cautious!
End of November, 2013
Losby photos. We love the golf course in fall and winter!
Late November, 2013
Kane finds the fried sausages - of reindeer! - very tempting. But he contained himself, he is a very polite guy, and seems to know he gets his share. I wrote this about a recent episode:Now I got confirmed, what I have suspected is the case Friday, we were in such a hurry, leaving on the early train for work, that I forgot the breakfast on the window shelf by the front door. It was a piece of bread with cheese on, very easily in reach for Kane... Well, returning home after work, I open the front door, then the door to the hallway - and there is Kane, I could swear with one eye on me, and the other on the cheese sandwich! He sat down with nose touching the bread, tail wagging, and of course I gave it to him - with a piece of it for Ponny too. I have thought this might be the case... I have seen how he guards my food when I leave the room, never trying to steal it. But that he would last for a full work day LOL He seems to consider it a "job", to be rewarded afterwards by me... He is quite forward in most other ways with food, after we have eaten, he and Ponny get our plates to clean out with leftovers, and he will try to serve himself if we forget - when we don't keep our part of the deal!
End of November, 2013
So much has happened in our lives since I last updated. I met again the big love of my life, Bjørn, 25 years after we split. We are getting married next summer, and the boys have one more human in their lives - and love him too. Their walks now often are in the Losby area of Lørenskog, near the house that soon will be ours too, they have their own garden with a friendly Bernese Dog girl to flirt with through the fence, and we go for long long hikes.The picture is from one of these late autumn walks, to a lake where we camped.
November, 2013
The boys in their new sweaters!
October 14th, 2011
😀
The Greatest News Ever
In this past week, I finally got around to what I have been dreading to do: Going to the vet to do a full x-ray checkup of my Kane.
As some of you might know, and that most have forgotten - since he is such an active dog, Kane had surgery done to both shoulders as a little pup; on one side removing a loose piece, and on the other actually severing a tendon to allow a bit of the joint to grow together.
The vet also warned me a bit about a hip that seemed loose, and that Kane seemed to have something called an "ssymmetric lumbosacral transitional vertebra".
I decided to let him live to the full - running free, no restrictions, just proper warming up and lots and lots of exercise, and then also a proper diet. And he has never been lame, even with a lot of use.
Well, this week I went to wonderful veterinary surgeon Trond Bergsjø, one of the most experienced in this field in Norway - and he agreed to x-ray Kane, although "warning" me in advance, that what I should consider is how the dog is, not the x-rays. I just said "I know, but I want to know still".
It was almost touching to see how pleased this veteran veterinarian became, when he looked at the pictures as they came up on the computer. Kane's hips are absolutely great, perfectly in place - and not the tiniest sign of anything wrong. His shoulders were the same case; nothing to be seen, except for a less than perfect smooth edge where the loose piece was removed, but no secondary changes.
As for his back, that also seemed to be causing no problems.
I also had a "date" with our great chiropractor, Geir Wiik, specialising in dogs - who also gives Kane every green light there is, except that I should do a bit of stretching since he is so muscled.
Ponny has been slightly lame off an on, and the chiropractor is fixing that too: He asked if Ponny liked tug-of-war, and I had to admit that he loves it so much he was allowed to do a bit of bite work... I forget that my little man will be 10 years in March, so perhaps we should take it a bit easier!
October 14th, 2011
Long time, no home page update.
Things have been busy, I have yet to fix all the summer pictures - of my great trip to Else's, seems to have become an annual outing, as well as from our week in the Ringebu mountains - training Kane in search with good help.
I will make albums from that, have great pictures!
In the meantime, we're long into the autumn - I love this time of year, but dread the winter coming up fast. The boys are happy, running about on the fields, and we have still some plans for the rest of the season.
Kane has been started in some working dog competitions, and have one still upcoming. I am getting there, but perhaps not before coming spring season. We also did one obedience class III, didn't get our first prize - but better luck next time, I think I know what I am doing wrong. Me of course 😉
Ponny is the light of our lives, he is such a happy little man now. I had to castrate him this spring, because there showed up some tumors in his enlarged prostate - and medication didn't help. He is now all well and fine, and in a better mood than ever - so he might have been uncomfortable. Also, I have a feeling that Kane is much more relaxed around him, and that this gives Ponny an opportunity to be more carefree - the little control freak. He is still ever the boss, but now Kane actually watches a bit over him when we meet other dogs, in case they behave undignified towards the little (ball-less) warrior...
So Ponny also have made a return to the competition ring - after an absence of many, many years, just being my "companion dog". His first obedience trial, he placed 2nd and was moved up to the next class - with a great 182 points. In November, he will debut in working dog trials tracking. Keep your fingers crossed for him too.
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Will we be ready? 🤩
After having competed a couple of times in the A (elite) class in forest search (rundering), I have realized that we have a slight problem...
Kane is great, he is a good worker, but his breed's inherent independence and self-reliance kicks in at times they really... shouldn't!
Last time, he found all three helpers out in the woods, but still got a zero - for working too independently, and not being obedient enough (i.e. running out in warm weather to search areas where he "knew" noone was hidden).
Oh well, the judge is a GSD breeder, and he did have a point. I still don't think he should have been telling me that I needn't compete, and do feel that he was out of place doing so - there should be room also for newbies to get competition experience.
Today I looked at the list over dogs and handlers qualifying for the Norwegian Championships, and we were number 22! Not that bad, since the 15 first dogs/handlers get to compete in the Nationals.
So now I have a little dream of improving mine and Kane's performance, and coming back stronger this fall. Maybe, just maybe, we might do a little bit better... that is my next goal, anyway. It's important to have something to reach for, when we are trotting around hour after hour in the forest... training!
We need to improve all three trial parts, both the forest search (rundering), the object search (felt) and the obedience - or rather: Get a more stable performance. With good helpers, I have some hope!
Kane thinks it's fun anyway, as long as we get out and DO something
Monday, June 27th, 2011
Summer plans!
This will be a busy summer, and we are looking forward to it - all three of us 😀
Good that I this week will pick up my new "dogmobile", which will be trusty and take us around Sweden (as usual) and Norway (new adventure)! For my three weeks' holiday will involve a lot of driving....
We will honor our tradition of descending upong Kane's breeder Else at Whoelse's kennel (www.australiancattledog.se) and her family at their farm. This is one of the highlights of summer, in the lovely Swedish country side, where my farm dreams always gets a boost (untill Else reminds me that there's something called "winter" too).
Then we will go on down to the Swedish ACD Specialty show quite a bit down south, not to show - but to compete in obedience, and to look at what's new and meet old friends.
Next stop is a week of obedience camp, like last year, at kennel Kronvallaren, where the very capable instructor Heidi Billkvam hopefully will get us going a bit better and more stable in the exercises! This is a lovely place, also to go for walks and swimming.
Then we head back to Norway - and for a week in the mountains at Rondane, where we will train SAR work for competition. I have been invited by friends, and I hope this will give us some valuable input for the competitions in the fall - as well as a nice stay in one of the loveliest areas in Norway.
June 19th, 2011
Nice uncle Kane!
We went visiting Gry Erlandsen at the Ok Corral kennels, and went for a walk with a litter of five young cattledogs - and their mother Step and grandmother Izzie - in the woods.
That was a hoot, with the young pups carefully investigating: First the very nice, grey uncle (Kane), who tried his kindest face with this quite a handful of puppies.
Then the not so nice little brown uncle (Ponny), who ignored them and let them tag along and be admiring little hangarounds (like he did to young Kane and Bella). But who is very clear that noone, not even the cutest pup, gets to jump on his back or mess with his tail!
It is fascinating to see how easily young puppies "gets" this, with only a little stiff stare or a slightly raised lip. We meet a lot of rowdy and impolite pups in the parks, who don't know how to behave around grown, strange dogs - so it's great to see such signal-aware youngsters. Gry does a great job with them, and it is sweet to watch grandma Izzie helping out her daughter, who is more the realist.
Of course I have a favorite, the pretty Bittelille, but time and space does not allow more dogs than the boys!
More pictures of this walk in Kane's and Ponny's gallery.
Friday, April 22nd, 2011
We went with the obedience training gang, Ekebergs Lydigste, on a road trip to Sweden last weekend. I took a detour to Halden first, getting a training pass with rundering and feltsøk. Then I headed on to Bengtsfors; driving along narrow country roads, even taking a small ferry, with a forest walk and some playing at the beach for the heeler boys.
One of the goals there was for all of us to start in obedience, since the Swedish working dog clubs have their competitions on their grounds - and much less crowded than most places in Norway.
Kane started out good, with 10 on the long sit, 10 on the long down. Good start - but then he went a bit weird; he started out great on the fri ved foten (walking off leash), and then, after a sit, he was very upset - my guess is that he might have sat on a newly awakened bumble bee! He thought something had bitten him in his behinds, and first got a bit "low" towards me - and then a bit upset, barking at me!
Then we got a lot of different grades - from a 10 on the neseprøve (finding the right object which I had touched), to his barking utsending til rute... getting a 0. But at least he recovered enough to get 8,5 points on the avstandskommando, where he usually have been pretty difficult to move from first position.
So I very, very quickly decided - that we will go for the working dog competitions, and wait even longer with the pure obedience... they just aren't Kane's favorite.
Something he thought was way more fun, was when we went to Fredrikstad last Monday - doing some IPO bite work, just in the pillow, not the sleeve yet. He was very enthusiastic, hit it with full bite, and helper Paultje Roy was quite pleased with him. Kane needs to be a bit more possessive when he first gets his prey, there I see that his almost nonexistent fight drive kicks in. But when Paul took Kane and a Rottweiler male and a Boxer male in on the arena at the same time, "teasing" them all a bit, that fired Kane a bit more. He's too nice, my little boy. But good training - so we will do more of it.
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Finally a bit of updating here, Facebook steals a lot of my net updating, it seems - but my none-doggy friends there sometimes wonder a bit 😉
It's been a great start of the season. After what seemed like an endless winter, as usual, it finally seemed to become some sort of spring - and I had Kane entered in a Rundering (search) competition in Halden the first weekend of april. Halden is south of Oslo, and the terrain was actually snow free.
Since my usual training group is a bit slow to get started in the spring, and do not want to travel any further to get started (I'm the only one competing of them), this was Kane's first real go at searching since October.
My sister and a friend has helped me get a little practice, and I have trained him in blind searches, combining with "dead" objects for him to mark with his barking.
Kane went very willingly out, doing great - but he was a bit hesitant, with the two helpers that were completely hidden; lying inside huts of spruce branches. So I shouted the command when he was a bit quiet out there in the terrain, and then he started up. Of course the judge outguessed me, so we lost a bit of points - oh well!
Then onwards to obedience, where Kane went very well - no barking, just nice cooperation, ending with a full score with one of his favorites, going over the tall ladder.
The objects search out in the forest didn't go all that well, we need more training on "flow" - he tires a bit in the last minutes, and is a bit off.
All together we finished as number 5 out of 6, and with an "approved" score that was 30 points better than his class A debut.
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