Here's something amusing.

[ysobelle]

My lovely dog, Clue, may one day be a show dog. We're not sure. Maybe, maybe not. But just in case, she has to have her ears "tip" or "break" in the appropriate Collie way-- they can't stand up, or be "prick ears" like a wolf or German Shepherd Dog's ears.

To effect this break, sometime the ears have to be helped along. That's where such esoteric sites as "WicketsByMel.com" come in, and such odd substances as ZoEse and Skin Bond and large sheets of faux moleskin. Thus, tonight, I went to my folks' house, and while they held the squirmy ball of blue fur that is Kahlua, I put together a bizarre contraption of moleskin and Skin Bond, and glued it into her ears. Humorously, my parents kept asking me what to do next, and how to do it, until I finally replied, "How the hell should I know? The only one here who's ever done this before is Clue, and she's sure as hell not going to tell!"

But she's all braced up (down?) now, and fairly unfazed by the whole debacle, as she had her ears braced for weeks before she came to me, and the memory of it still lurks somewhere in her puppy brain. She scratched at her ears briefly, and shook her head wildly once or twice, but on the whole, she seems far less aware of the indignity inherent in essentially having her ears in curlers than I am. Someone sent me a photo of my ex's current S.O. in the skimpiest costume possible, and I know I shall spend the next three days analysing everything I eat, whereas my dog has a giant pink band-aid across her skull and couldn't possibly care less.

If it weren't for the menu, I'd rather be a dog.

Comments

[silverstah.livejournal.com]

Ha. I know what you mean.

With my ex, it's not the body but the brains--she's supposedly more "intellectually compatible" with him, whatever that means. I run a very successful business and had a 3.5 (3.8 in my major!) GPA on a 4.0 scale in college, and I still feel like a retarted dimwit when I think about not being "intellectually compatible" with my ex.

As for dogs... they're pretty adapable to just about anything, thank goodness. :) Unfortunately, my two came back from kennel with fleas, so we've been fighting that particular nasty battle for a few days. I might flea-bomb the apartment while we're at MDRF this weekend just for good measure.

Bleah.

[cozit.livejournal.com]

Odd. I was under the impression that either they were born with that fold-down or not.

My aunt bought a "pet quality" sheltie some years ago. What determined that was that he was a one ear up, one ear down puppy... she was told that wouldn't change. Of course, in his case, highly pedigreed though he was, we decided he was cuter that way, and as we not only had little desire to show, but they had also purchased him quite significantly cheaper than if he had had proper ears, it was definitely better off for us that way.

In the long run, he ended up growing to a shoulder height 1/2" taller than show anyway... so having "fixed" the ears, if possible wouldn't have helped anyway.

[ysobelle.livejournal.com]

Well, they do usually start with properly tipped ears, but about the time their teeth start coming in and all that extra calcium and such starts zipping around their systems, the ears stand up. Some collies' ears will break again later naturally, but most need a little help sometimes. Show dogs will often have their ears taped until just before they go into the ring. My dearest Kayli-- the beautiful sable & white in my avatar-- had one ear prick and the other tipped until she was about four, then, as you can see, they both stood up. I certainly never loved her the less for it.

It was mainly my mother's nagging that got me to actually do this this time. She thinks, with Clue's otherwise perfect conformation, it'd be a terrible shame not to tip her ears. I'm not sure why she thinks this, as I don't believe my folks would help out if I decide to actually ship Clue off to "Puppy Boot Camp" in Oklahoma for two months to train her for showing and get her started. But it's fun, and it doesn't seem to annoy the dog overmuch, so why not? I'm out $30-something for the supplies, but was repaid manifold by the sheer amusement factor alone.

As for the flea thing, this is why I swear by Frontline. It didn't stop the wood ticks, but she spent the majority of the summer flea-free. And the vet assures me that Frontline DOES kill ticks, but more importantly, it prevents them from latching on long enough to really do any damage. And she's had her Lyme vaccine, anyway. But oh, I remember flea-bombing. We almost killed an old roommate's bird that way.

(Roommate, roommate's boyfriend, me, and dog racing down the stairs.)

"Oh, my G-d, Jenn!"

"What?"

"YOUR FUCKING BIRDS!!!!"

Hm. The irony of us both being Jewish has only just hit me. Anyway, the birds were, I am relieved to report, quite fine. Damned noisy creatures.

[caitriona27.livejournal.com]

Poor Clue!!

Remember I think you are gorgeous the way you are. Screw the pic of the SO in skimpy costume.


See you Sunday!!!