Slice of Nice

Well, it seems that I’ve been running into a few people lately who have had a problem.  Their dogs have been sprayed by a skunk!  Thankfully, I’ve never had that experience, but a very good friend of mine seems to have this problem a lot.  Her Rottweiler has been sprayed a number of time since he seems to like to play with skunks at his place outside of San Antonio, TX.  She has tried all sorts of remedies and she finally asked her local zoo and she now swears by this remedy.  Though she does say that it turns their coat a funky color because of the peroxide, so show dogs beware!  So, here’s what the local zoo recommends:

This recipe is more effective and cheaper to make than using tomato juice. Anyone with a dog should keep some of this on hand at home, “Just in Case…” If it can resolve skunk odor, anything else stinky your dog may get in to can be taken care of with the following recipe:

Combine 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide with 1/2 cup
baking soda and 1 teaspoon liquid soap. Bathe dog, leaving solution on 30 mins to an hour, depending on the strength of the odor, and
rinse thoroughly with plain water.

Meet Scout.  She is 13 and Arizona Border Collie Rescue’s first dog, the one that started it all for Kelly.  We did some new shots for her and the red rocks presented a nice back ground today.  All in all the shoot went well, the day was nice and overcast, but I missed the blue sky from yesterday!  We did three of the calendar dogs today: Scout, Rhett and Pope!

Keep an eye on here and Twitter for more ABCR calendar fun!  Next week we are off to Flagstaff to look for snow for November, December or January calendar dogs!

It’s finally time again to start shooting the Arizona Border Collie Rescue 2010 Calendar!  So, today Gary and I ran out and scouted a location at Papago Park for tomorrow’s photo shoot.  Here’s the pre pics -

When we are looking, we have to remember to look from dog height.

Look how nice and blue the sky is!

This will be a tricky shoot tomorrow trying to get calendar worthy shots with red rocks in the back ground!  Let’s not forget we have to avoid all the people who will walk into the shot too!

Most handlers before doing their down and back cinch up their lead, do a courtesy turn and just do it.  Stephanie is so proud of her boy, that she bent down and gave him love before showing him off to the judge.  She is just showing off that human animal bond  :).

Here she and TAG are while the judge goes over him.

Here’s Lori with Noble.  Last time I saw Noble, he was dressed in a Christmas outfit and sound asleep in my studio.  Noble was one of the most popular Slice of Nice models during Christmas this year.  Click here to see him as a puppy.

Getting up at the crack of dawn does have a few perks, the lighting is great!  I just love this effect on Goldens.  And the best thing is, it’s not an effect, it’s just plain ol’ sunlight.  

Tasha looking for cookies

Vicki was trying to set Tasha up for her stand and she couldn’t figure out why she was so figity.  The judge was turned looking at the dog showing to her with her hands behind her back, facing Tasha.  Turns out that Miss Tasha was wondering if the judge had cookies for her!  

Jackie watching the judge

Just another little puppy who found the judge interesting that day!

  Today was the first day of conformation showing here in AZ at the Fiesta Cluster.  Today was a special specialty.  This past November, we lost one of our good friends, Cyndy Heisler, to Cancer.  Cyndy had made a name for herself here in the Valley of the Sun.  She was THE golden breeder here. She was a mentor to many and bred some beautiful dogs.  She did so much for showing Goldens in Arizona.

She bred her Sage to our Bailey and that produced Duncan and Tess.  Tess is Emma’s Mom.  Emma’s Dad, Kramer, won a Best in Show for Cyndy.  So, today during the speciality we had a moment of silence for her and our other good friend, Dawn who also lost her battle to Cancer last year.  In the ring, all of Cyndy’s friends gathered with all the Sonora (her kennel name) dogs in the ring to observe the moment.  I can’t tell you how many time’s I’ve heard “wow, these Sonora Goldens are all over the ring” as I walk ringside to enter and show.  Cyndy may have lost her battle to Cancer, but she will live on in the pages of each Fiesta Cluster program for years to come as the owner of some nice dogs who have given us our Duncan’s and Emma’s.  

Here are a few more pics from today.

Tess (Emma's Mom) with Vicki

Emma's sister, Tasha

Tessie

Emma