Baby Teeth!

Byron is almost finished losing his baby teeth. I'm sure he is annoyed with me checking every few days on his last two teeth left, his upper canines.

He actually lost one last night finally. It was really wiggly the day before so I figured it would come out soon. Especially since Basil is his designated Dentist right now:


So now we've got one left that we're waiting on to come out.


Life with Byron has been really great. He's been making friends at agility class and has a blast at doggie daycare when I take him. I'm surprised with how easy he has meshed with Bernie and Basil. I thought Bernie would have more of an issue with a new puppy but she hasn't really seemed to mind at all. He annoys her sometimes but quickly stops when she tells him to.

Cardigans are very different from Pembrokes. I think I'm just about sold on the idea of only having Cardigan Welsh Corgis. We will see as life goes on. Byron loves to make little noises about things going on in the house, he often will whine while he plays with a squeaky toy - we don't know what that is all about but it is adorable. I think he's talking to the squeaky toy. He likes to carry his toys outside and play with them there. You show him how to do something once and he knows how to do it from then on.

He is a pretty vocal dog. He gets frustrated when he is crated and I'm running Basil on an agility course and will tell me the entire time I'm out there. Not as vocal as Bernie but more vocal than Basil. He whines, cries, barks, groans, sighs and makes various other noises.

Looking forward to relaxing this weekend. This week has been nuts.

A Scare of the Byron Kind and Other Updates

Last night was a fun time taking Byron to the ER to find out what was up with him.

Around 10PM I let the dogs out in the back to do their business before bed, then I went to call them in. Everyone came in except Byron. I looked out and he was laying in the grass. I called a few more times, he just looked at me. I shook the treat jar and had two corgis jumping on me but no Byron. I fed Basil a treat in his eye line so he could see, still, didn't get up.

Knowing Byron like I do I immediately think something is wrong. I walk over, pet him, he responds a little bit but still won't get up so I carry him inside. I set him down on the patio room floor to see if he will stand. He does, slowly. I walk away to see if he will follow. He is really lethargic and his conjunctiva of his eyes are super red. His eyes also looked swollen and he was having issues retracting his inner eyelid.

One of my first thoughts was "Did he eat something out in the yard?" and I know with all the rain, mushrooms have a tendency to pop up even if they were not there before since the ground is moist and we've had some hot weather the past few days. I check my yard for mushrooms and haven't ever had issues. Being that he wasn't vomiting or having loose stool I wasn't convinced it was poisoning but every dog is different.

I offered him some kibble, normally when I go to the food bin he is bouncing all over the place so happy that he is about to have dinner. He just moped around and wasn't happy. He ate the 1/2 cup of food I offered very slowly though. I took it as an ok sign but still really didn't have a great feeling about it.

Putting him in bed I noticed his eyes seemed to get worse, he was still lethargic and I just decided better to be safe than sorry and made the trip to the 24 hour ER vet. We have pet insurance to cover any illness or injury over $200 up to $12,000 per illness/injury, especially after what happened to Bernie.

He perked up when we got out of the car going into the vets office and we waited over an hour to be seen. She thought it was an allergic reaction to something. He got an eye wash and a little shot of epinephrine to help with any remaining reaction that might be going on and I was given the amount of Benedryl to administer if he needed more.

By the time we got back home and in bed it was after 1AM. I felt much better and I know he did too when he bounced into the house happy to see Bernie and Basil. They checked him out all over to see where he had been and they all settled in together in bed.

He seems to be doing ok so far today. I'm going to do a thorough yard check and remove anything suspicious looking. 

Everyone at the vet ER loved him and several people in the waiting room came up to say hi to him.  He was a popular dude last night.  

Other than that I've just been busy with agility practices for the upcoming trial, trying to get my house back in shape after the holiday crazyness, getting used to my husband's new shift, and some sewing when I have the time.  

Byron Photos from Vaca

I took quite a few photos while I was up in Woodville visiting my parents.  Too tired to edit all of them so here are the ones I took of Byron out in the leaves of the yard before sunset.  Hope everyone is having a good week!

Wordless... Thursday?

Wordless Wednesday

Exhausting Week and Weekend

Last Monday I decided I'd had enough of this being sick and went to the doctor.  I was diagnosed with an ear infection along with a sinus infection.  Went home after that to rest and get ready for family coming in later that week.  I didn't really start to feel better until Wednesday.  The cough syrup makes me SO sleepy.

My parents drove down Wednesday afternoon and we visited for a bit until Ringo came home.  Ringo's grandfather died on October 9th so they came down for the funeral.  He was such a sweet man and the short time I knew him I loved seeing him.  Ringo was so lucky to have him in his life.  Thursday was the funeral.  He was buried in the National Cemetary in Bushnell.  I don't think there was a dry eye around when they played Taps.

Friday we drove up to Orlando to pick up Byron.  He was the last puppy there as all the others had been picked up earlier in the week.  I couldn't believe how big he was compared to Bernie and Basil as puppies.  The breeder showed me how to tape his ears and we loaded up in the car for the ride home.  He settled in between mom and me in the backseat and napped most of the way.

He is quite the cuddler.  His favorite things in life are soft toys and sitting in your lap getting his neck rubbed.  He hates the ear tape but likes to have us scratch his ears since he can't get to it.  He's running around the house and yard really well and the dogs are getting used to him.  Basil was not pleased when he first came home.  Bernie seemed rather indifferent after giving him the once over.  He was up every two hours the first night home.

His vet visit went really well.  Dr. Ricci loves him and commented about what a great puppy he is.  He was very calm and let her do the exam without protest.  He weig  He even took treats from her which surprised me since he's been a bit of a fincky eater since coming home.  He met his first scary little boy in the waiting room and warmed up to him after initially being a bit scared.  Once I showed the little boy where he likes his neck rubbed he fell in love.

I'm hoping he starts to eat a little better.  We're switching him and Basil over to Nature's Variety - Prairie kibble.  He will eat about half a cup and then get distracted and go watch something else.  He only woke up twice last night so maybe he's getting more comfortable at home.  He doesn't cry much in his crate at all which is nice.

I'm taking him to agility practice tonight with Basil.  My friend Ellen has been kind enough to offer to check on him during the day when both Ringo and I are working.  I leave the radio tuned to 80's music so it isn't too silent.

He played with Basil outside for the first time yesterday.  Previously Basil would just ignore him or raise his lip when Byron came near but it seems he is warming up to him.  Byron's neck was soaked after this short play session.



He's a good little puppy.  He follows us around and is already responding to his name.  He is making good choices as far as things to chew on so far, I'm hoping that continues.  All in all, great addition to our family. 

Slow Weekend

The weekend was started off nicely with my boss taking out most of us for a round at the local pub before I headed home.  I tried a new IPA but wasn't impressed with it.  Thus, I didn't remember the name of the IPA and I don't regret forgetting that one.  We had a huge storm blow in right as I parked my car at the pub so my jeans got totally soaked as I waded to the door.  We went out that night for dinner with our friends and then just relaxed at home.

We watched two movies this weekend.  Daybreakers (vampire movie) which I'd already seen in the theater but Ringo hadn't and Harry Brown which was new to both of us.  Ringo liked Daybreakers and we both liked Harry Brown. I'm a sucker for any movie with Michael Caine. The movie is a bit slow to get going but once it does hang on for the ride.

Bernie and Basil always love movie night because they get to cuddle on the couch. Bernie floats back and forth until we stop petting her and then she crams herself into a corner of the couch. Basil gets uneasy with the thunder so he ends up climbing into my lap until the rain calms down.

Saturday we ran some errands before settling at home again. Basil went with us for a trip since he won a photo contest at a local pet store. He hates having to stand still in a crate for a car ride and not be able to look out the window. I just don't feel safe keeping him in a car harness. We got some toys for Byron and a food bowl. I picked out a toy for Basil. Our goodie bag had tons of treats in it. I'm set for agility for a while.

My friend Ella from Iceland was very kind and sent Bernie some fish treats to try out. I'm sure she will love it.

The dogs have been squirreling away toilet paper rolls. Basil has always enjoyed them but now Bernie has gotten in on the action. I'll see her pull out a shredded piece to gnaw on and have no idea where she got it from.

Yesterday I was determined to finish quilting my pinwheel quilt so I got that done. I also had to make Bernie's food for the next two weeks. I was going to make a months worth but realized I was short two eggs and some plain yogurt for the second batch so I skipped it. I did manage to climb onto my kitchen counter to change out the burned out bulb finally. Now to do the other 25 things on my list and I'll be good.

Tonight, if we don't get rained out, Basil will do some agility. Since Byron is coming home on the 15th it cuts into the CPE trial that weekend so I'm just going to enter him in one day and see how we do. Won't cost me a ton of money and I (hopefully) won't be there all day since Byron will be at home with Ringo.

Since we've tossed around a ton of names I still haven't gotten used to calling the puppy Byron. I need to come up with a registered name that is cute. The breeder posted a cute blog showing the pups with their sire and dam having some fun. He's gonna be huge by the time he comes home.

Possible registered names:
Cornerstone's Byron the Charmer
Cornerstone's Three's a Charming Byron
Cornerstone's Byron is Thrice as Nice
Cornerstone's Byron Blue Boy
Cornerstone's Byron the Don Juan

I have plans to make the breeder a wallhanging featuring Cardis. I've got a little bit of it done and decided I needed to re-think the outline stitch. I'm gonna do raw edge appliqué for the first time so that the details stand out. I have two blocks cut and the Cardigan ironed on, need to re-do my third one as I messed it up trying to re-stitch a satin stitch around it. The cutout is small so I can't turn corners easily and have it show up nicely. I did some research and saw that raw edge might solve my problem. Worse comes to worse, I'll hand blanket stitch the whole thing.

Cardigan Update + Pictures

We went and visited our puppy today.  Still not 100% sure of the name.  We are re-thinking Bilbo after saying it since it seems difficult to say quickly.  I think I've convinced the hubby to let me call him Bramble!  We will see if it sticks in a few weeks.

Now for the pictures!  Our puppy has the black patch on the side of his head covering his left ear and he also has a mostly black left rear hindquarter.

Our puppy 5 weeks old

Our Puppy 5 weeks old - sideview

Our puppy likes to play!

He was trying to get to a toy

Mostly he likes to sleep

All the puppies were very sweet, playful, alert and you can see the beginnings of potty training.  We also got to meet the sire and dam.  The dam (Nibbs) is super sweet and personable.  Most Cardis that I've met aren't that eager to come up and say hi without knowing you but she did.  The sire is big!  Our puppy is going to be a large Cardi.  He's the biggest of the bunch right now.

We had a great visit and we will go pick him up in about four weeks.  I've got some things to do around the house before he comes home anyway.  Walking in the door I got the grand inspection from Bernie and Basil.  Then we went outside and played with sticks.

I also took a bunch of pictures at Downtown Disney since we were in the area and decided to stop and walk around.  It was hot but fun.  Florida shouldn't be 95 degrees in September.  :(

Cardigan Update

Breeder sent some individual pictures!  I think I downloaded the right ones for the two blue boys.  They are three weeks old now.

Sumo

Sumo

Choji

Choji

We get to meet the whole litter on the 18th.  I'm so excited.  Breeder is still picking for us the right one but I'm pretty sure we've got a good chance at getting a performance dog out of this litter.

Puppy Names

Nibs with the pups

Since the possibility of us getting a Cardigan puppy in a few months grows more and more likely, we've been kicking around names and we've failed to find one we really like.

My other two corgis are named Bernie and Basil respectively.  I wanted to find a Welsh "B" name for the boy but couldn't find anything.  We thought about other names like Leto, Newton, Liam but nothing felt right.  I know it seems silly to name a puppy before he comes home but it worked out with our other two and who am I to break tradition?

So here are some male "B" names that I like, take a vote for your favorite:

Bramble
Bob
Boswell
Bourbon
Baron
Beacon
Belmont
Barnaby
Boris
Bullet
Bacon
Bolero
Benson
Bilbo

Ringo really doesn't like Bramble even though that is my favorite.  Ultimately I know it'll come down to my decision but I've been hoping we can come to a consensus like we did on the last two.