We continue our celebration of the Wildflowers, newly age two.
Lucy Clover and Pozy Clarkia at three weeks
Lisa reports from Idaho Falls:
Lucy’s doing great! She still greets every day like it’s the best day ever. She loves to go for long walks and hikes. We walk with her and Sadie and the girls almost every day.
She is still such a sweet dog, and very talkative! She doesn’t bark, but the girls call it “clucking” when she gets excited. She has so much personality and has been a wonderful addition to our family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY CLOVER KING! That dog has a lovely life with a wonderful family.
And speaking of wonderful lives and wonderful families…
Zeus is having his best life in Washington. In addition to his fantastic family, Zeus has benefitted from living close to his littermate, Buttercup, and her amazing people. Penny reports that Zeus is happy, healthy, and doing well. Great job, Team Zeus!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ZEUS!
And speaking of Buttercup…
Georgia sends us this report to answer my favorite questions: What’s Up, Buttercup?
In preparation for the Wildflowers birthday the hay field is awash with our favorite wildflower: Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) and every year we take a picture of Buttercup in the buttercups.
Buttercup lives in "Doggie Disneyland" with a 100 yard FAST Cat course (a mechanized lure coursing pulley system), a 20 acre tracking field, a standard agility ring, a padded, heated/cooled training room, indoor and outdoor places to do Scent Work (all elements, including vehicle) and a mowed walking trail that winds through the pasture to the creek and around the perimeter of the property. [Editor’s Note: Can I move in?!]
Buttercup has just earned her first three scent work titles (Novice Containers, Novice Buried and Novice Interior). So far she is 11 out of 11 for Q's (Qualifying scores). The challenge has been not so much competing at the trials as much as it is getting into the trials. We didn't make it into the last five trials that we entered!! They fill so quickly, sometimes within a half-hour of opening. sigh. One more Q in Exterior and she will have her Novice Exterior title and her Novice Scent Work Level title and then it's on to Advanced!
Buttercup will be getting spayed in a couple of months and she also has her appointment to get her OFA hips and elbows radiographed next month. We decided to spay her even though we usually keep all our dogs intact, even the non-breeding females. Buttercup has been going through a false pregnancy after her heat cycles. For those of you who might not know about this...It's actually a pretty common occurrence I think, in this family, and maybe for Berners in general. (Our other Berner, Anja (no relation to Buttercup), also had false pregnancies until we "fixed" her). It's been approximately two months since Buttercup's last heat. (How does she know that that's the gestational age for puppies!!) and Poof! the little rubber lamb that was a squeak toy yesterday is now a 'baby puppy' today. She'll carry it up to the bedroom at night and downstairs in the morning. She'll poke it to make it squeak and then nurture it. Over and over and over. She's hormonal and not her usually bubbly self. She whines and her teats hurt. Dogs can even produce milk during these false pregnancies. It harkens back to the ancestral dog/wolf where only the alpha pair mated and only the top female had puppies but other females would help take care of them. It will pass in another week or two, but for now it's....Poor Buttercup!
While I was looking for photos to send for their second birthday, I came across this old picture of Buttercup and Zeus that I wanted to include with the more current ones.
At the time I had called it "Best Buds" and it is soooo true. There isn't another dog alive that Buttercup likes better than her bro'. We've been very fortunate that Buttercup and Zeus have had so many opportunities to play and romp and do scent work together. We can't wait to see him again!!
Thank you so much, Georgia and Patty, for being EXACTLY who and what Buttercup needed for her life — it was obvious from the beginning that Buttercup needed jobs and adventures, and she sure has them. Lucky Dog, indeed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUTTERCUP!!!