Jade gets spayed

The decision to spay Jade was very difficult. I delayed the surgery for months weighing the pros and cons to having her maintain her ability to have puppies. At the age of 10 months (64 lbs) I finally made the appointment to have her fixed.

When the day to drop her off at the vet arrived, I was so grateful to have my dad available to drop her off. I knew that it would have been impossible to walk her through that door, much less drive her to the clinic. Breaks my heart.

Here's my sweet girl on the ride home before wearing the "Cone of Shame"

Rarely does this little girl make a peep, but on the ride home, she was whimpering very quietly...made me want to cry....

The moment we got home, Timber was eager to be by her side and smothered her in kisses...

Awkward and uncomfortable in her Cone of Shame...

Jade is 9 months old!

My silly girl Jade is now 9 months old

*Jade now weighs approximately 67 pounds*

My Valentines

One thing I did for Valentine's Day was spend the afternoon with my two furry Valentines, Timber and Jade. I took them on a late afternoon hike to Contra Loma where all the cows were out and about eating and competing for lady friends. (The males were fighting and talking up a storm while we were hiking, getting ready for mating season I gather, but I like to think that they were competing for a female for Valentine's Day lol)

The hike was perfect. Warm sun, cool breeze and fresh air. The dogs had a blast checking out the other dogs and their owners as well as the cows. It never fails, they always find a nasty puddle to get into and end up stinking like a pile of manure! They sure stunk up the Pilot on the way home and got the hose in the back yard as soon as we got home....I was pretty dirty too...and my shoes got the hose as well...these hiking boots I got are awesome! They truly are waterproof! Not a drop of water seeped through despite the pressure washing I gave them when they were still on me feet. :-)

Disorganized Visit

Sunday I drove up to see Aimee and her family for a visit and to drop off some things for her to borrow....my attempt to lend her some of my video equipment fell through the cracks due to my equipment bag mysteriously lacking the supplies needed to do what we needed.

My job of searching through my boxes in the garage and in the storage unit will be long and frustrating. Over a year and a half after moving away from Chico, I'm still in limbo staying with my parents and it feels like most my life is still in storage or boxes buried in the garage. I have no desire to establish a studio in one of their spare rooms...that would further my permanence of living here. Yet, getting out on my own feels so far away....I'm hoping within the next 6 months. *fingers crossed*

But on to the point of this blog....

The visit to Aimee's was still worth while. I got to spend time with a great friend, enjoy her two beautiful children and since the weather was pretty harsh, driving up to the snow after the visit to play was out of the question. Thus, my pups got to run around her property a bit, then out on the patio while poor Onyx looked on through the window, unable to play rough and tumble with my crazy beasts. Aimee pulled out her camera and got a few shots while they were still enough to pose.

Jade and Timber, say thank you Auntie Aimee for the nice portraits.

Bittersweet News...

Jamie sent me a picture text message this morning regarding Jade, the dog we shared while we were married. I wanted to keep her in the divorce, but he would not allow it, much to my despair. When we first got her, we had plans to breed her a couple times, but she was not old enough until now. On June 22 she will be three years old.

While Jamie and I were still together, I had arranged for her a sire with a dog at the dog park who was also a wolf-hybrid mix. He followed through with this person and advised me that he would be breeding her soon. Despite knowing this, getting this message was a big surprise.

Jade gave birth to 10 puppies (they were only expecting 8 puppies), all healthy and loud according to Jamie. He says that she is a good mother and has "snapped back to her slim figure". He said he plans on selling 5 or 6 of the pups and will keep the rest to start a sled team.

Not being able to have Jade in the divorce was painful. After accepting the defeat, I decided it would be good to adopt a new dog. As you know, Timber was a wonderful gift from a special friend for Christmas.

Prior to finding Timber, I had hoped to adopt again from Jade's parents. I had called the family who owns her parents to find that a neighbor had shot and killed Jade's dad. I was devastated for them as well as myself. I have met many of their offspring from various litters and all the dogs had wonderful personalities.

I had decided that maybe later I could breed Timber with Jade's sister, Chico. My close friends in Huntington Beach has Chico and they planned on breeding her. It would be nice to have one of Timber's offspring so he would have a playmate. However, it would be even nicer to adopt one of Jade's female pups so Timber would have a companion and they could breed in the future. I am unsure as to if Jamie would even consider giving or even selling me a pup. In addition, I am not in the position to have a second dog since I'm not situated in my own place yet. Sometimes we can't get what we want...I will just have to keep working towards the goal and hope it all works out.

Here is my first "baby" Jade and her beautiful little pups

5/17/09