I winned I winned I winned

OMG 2010 off to a good start. Mummy took me to a competiton on the weekend. I had such a nice time. Lots of people came up to me and stroked me, telling me how handsome I am, and feeding me tidbits. I got ham and muffin and bun (amongst other things) it was darn good.

So the competition was for obedience, Mummy hasnt done any obedience with me for ages, cos she does agility with that poo. We she decided we give give it a go. WE entered two events and the first one we came nowhere cos Mum keeped tugging on my lead when I wasnt walking fast enough.

So in the second competition, she didnt tug on my lead, she just kept patting her lead and calling my name so I trotted along after her. Then we had to do a recall, which I wasnt very happy about cos it was a hot day and I was getting a bit bored and tired.

The we did some stays and that was ok, I sat for a minute and then lay down for a minute and a half. No Problem.

Then when everyone had finished, and Mummy thought we didnt come anywhere again (this event was harder than the first one) they called my

number and two others to do a run off!!! Arrgghh we had to do another recall. Now I didnt know this, but Mummy put an empty plastic treat bag in her pocket. I saw her put it in her pocket....but I thought it had food in it (I forgot that I just just eaten it all). So when she called me in the ring...I ran straight to her to get that treat, and sat down nicely in front of her (she likes it when I do that).

Well, we ended up getting fourth place so I won a ribbon (I think Mummy is pretty pleased with me).

Heres a pic....

Oh...I spose I better mention that the silly poo also won some agility ribbons. She got a fourth place and a second place.

My year....

Can't believe the year is nearly over, I have been so busy, really I have. There's been lots of hedgehogs to shoo out ot the yard. Endless people walking past our house. The occasional smelly carcass washed up on the beach to be smooched, ya get my drift???

Anyways, I think somethingbad is happening in my family. My Mum doesnt seem very happy, she's grumpier than usual (though I still sleep in her arms every night). And my Nana doesnt let me climb all over her like she used too. They cry sometimes and um...I think my Nanas hair is falling out!!!

There's talk about someone called non hodgkins grrr woof...I'd like to get my teeth on Mr Hodgkins and teach him a lesson.

I know my Mum still loves me (Nana too) but I sure hope things get back to normal soon. Nana's lap must be getting cold by now.

Well, Mum did the inevitable and made us dress up for a Christmas photo...heres the evidence.














This is the one she chose for her Christmas cards















This is the one where Daisy is about to fall asleep cos she is sooo bored (Poodles havve a short attention span)















This is the one where I say ENOUGH and poke out my tongue















This is the one where I buggered off.

A Bichon Merry Christmas

So I'm a bit late but the festive season was a busy one (as it was for most Bichons I'm sure). In fact my Mum organised a wee Christmas photo shoot and My pic was in the newspaper. Heres the pic...


Then she took a pic to go in all her Christmas cards. So consider this my Christmas greeting to you all...and wishing everyone a the very best for 2009...

A Warning about Raisins and Dogs

A Message from BeeGee's Mum

I feel awful as I'm writing this, like I'm such a bad Mum.
On Thursday I came home from work to discover that BeeGee had consumed a bag of mixed dried fruit that I had forgotten to put away. I actually thought it was funny at first, That naughty BeeGee, he's such a piglet.
Thats night he had diahorea, which I had anticipated, having eaten all that fruit, and the next morning he vomited. I was a little concerned but not overly. I thought he was just suffering the effects of being a piglet.
On Friday evening something didnt feel right. I was actually worried about the peanuts that had been in the mix. So I logged onto Bichon.ca/forum and searched 'peanuts', discovering that I shouldnt be too worried, although best not feed our fluffs peanuts as they dont digest them. But something else caught my eye. To my horror I read about raisin/sultana/grape toxicity, and that it can kill. I just turned cold inside. My poor baby! I really thought I was going to lose him. If I had realised I would have rced him off to the vet on the Thursday, as he must have had a window of about 4 hours in which to consume them, and they could have made him vomit.
However, 24 hours later, its too late for that kind of treatment. So I phoned the afterhours vet. She confimred that it was serious. That they didnt really know how much needed to be consumed to cause a problem, that it was different for every dog (BeeGee had at least a handful). That there is no antidote. And that I needed to watch out for him to be off his food, and for lethargy and pain.
Needless to say I didnt sleep last night. BeeGee was up vomiting again in the middle of the night and I knew the vet was open this morning for a few hours (Its saturday here) so I took him in to get the vet to assess him (the only help they can provide is a saline drip and meds to help stop vomiting and diahorea). We told her that apart from the vomiting BeeGee seemed ok. He still has an appetite, and he still has plenty of energy, seems to be behaving pretty much like the usual BeeGee.
She took his temperature (much to his disgust) which was fine. Said he didnt look dehydrated (she pinched his skin and it bounced back nicely) and then took him off for a blood test. I think she checked his renal function. She said it was at the lower end of the normal scale, so still ok. And that she couldnt see any signs of toxicity. She said that in acute renal failure (which is what happens) she would have expected to see him very sick, very fast. certainly within the first 24 hours of having consumed them.
She said that if he is still ok by Monday, then we can assumed that we've been very lucky and learned an important lesson. She also prescribed him something to coat his tummy lining as a preventative, because apparently renal failure causes ulcers (or something like that).
I guess thats why I'm writing this. I know we have lots of new Bichon Moms and Dads and they may not know of the danger.
The other thing is... I actually did know...I had read it before on this forum...but I didnt really take it in I guess.
I just know that I could bear to be without my BeeGee :cry: and I wanted to warn others to be careful about leaving food around that our babies can scoff into.
Oh...the other thing the vet told me was that they have had other cases of dogs dying from this toxin, so its really not that rare, and definately something we should all be aware of.
Sorry for rambling. I think thats all I wanted to say.