getting papers off my desk into proper piles brings me to ... buying a horse.
it is common practice to have a horse vetted (?is this where the polititians get the word?) - to have a veterinarian look the horse over before you buy it..-- and i don't mean to imply that.... with all their training etc----- but after years... let me tell you how it works...
you bring out a horse that you have already looked over and it seems ok--and you all stand around as the vet picks up one leg at a time and fully bends it for a minute and person #2 then trots the horse away on a hard surface-- and you all watch for irregularities ( or the sound of the steps is "off") maybe even takes xrays--(more expensive)
and after all this... because horses are horses no vet in his right mind will tell you the horse is sound - so they say "he is pre navicular" - which is some arthritic type deteriation of teh small bones in the front feet.-- that is his business mind working--so he says that "for insurance"-- every horse is pre navicular--
i hear people type doctors use the same logic sometimes-- "we better operate on that knee because it is pre arthritic."
lets face it -- at 78... i am pre -arthritic.
i was bragging to a young- just out of school veternarian that in all our bloodlines we had no hip dysplasia.. and..... here i comes..."it is there in minor form, it just doesn't show"..ok...... if it doesn't show or affect the dog so it doesn't show then lets just ignore the topic and don't give me the line that the dog needs surgery because it is pre anything.
then there was old Dr Thibeault--at 80- a well respected horseman--he was a coffee drinking type friend- i had found a horse i thought would be good for one the kids.. - so i asked him to come look at THAT HORSE ( his name)---he watched the horse trot out - and didn't both with all the knee bending, he just said "if you don't buy him, i will".. now that is an opinion that was worth getting.
so back to my desk and teh chart
FIRST AND FOREMOST--
I STRIVE TO BREED STRONG HEALTHY GREAT DANES FOR SERVICE DOGS.
I LIKE HARLEQUINS - THEY ARE UNUSUAL AND PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITIES FIND THEIR SIZE AND COLOR A WELCOME DISTRACTION FROM DISABILITY.
IF WE ARE BLESSD WITH A WHITE DOG-- DEAF OR NOT-- THEY HAVE A HAPPY LIFE AHEAD OF THEM
I KNOW WHERE THEY ARE-- THEY ARE HAPPY-- AND I AM EVEN CONSIDERING NEXT TIME WE ARE SHORT IN DOGS, WONDERING IF A GOOD SOLID WHITE DANE WOULD BE A GOOD SERVICE DOG.
BAILEY OR EVEN RIOT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT.
HISTORICALY COMMON BELIEF AND THE AKC BREEDERS DECLAREED ALL MERLE DOGS INFERIOR AND NOT WORTH RAISING.. YET SOME OF OUR MERLE DOGS HAVE WORKED BEAUTIFULLY FOR 10 YEARS AS SERVICE DOGS.
SO i LEARNED EARLY THAT THE COMMON BELIEF NEEDED FURTHER STUDY...
HAVE A CHART OF (nearly)ALL THE DOGS I HAVE BRED SINCE ABOUT 1993
WITH THIER COLORS
# LITTERS BREEDINGS PUPS SERV DOGS white d
9 BLACK TO BLACK 55 20 36% 1
14 BLACK TO HARLEQUIN 70 36 51% 1
10 HARL TO HARL 37 5 13% 5 ( most back in the 1990's before sdp)
6 MERLE TO HARL 48 25 25% 5 ( GEORGE iS ONE OF MERLE X HARL)
so if we have to find pet homes for a few white deaf in order to get even one more george... so be it... ask bella's family if it is worth it..
so we will be breeding scarlot and bentley again -- that is merle to harl-- the rest of every pup seems perfect--- deaf is ot the worst thing...
rushing...
.got the lawyer apt today--- at the top of some elevator aaaauuugghhhhh
