Belle Poignee actually French means beautiful handful

So that's where you are off to mALX! You didn't tell me you were getting another pooch!

Actually, the Belle is poignient as well - it is her grandmother's name !!


Abney's Belle :


http://www.donabney.com/images/our_dogs/pi.../belle_body.jpg


Belle is also the mother of my other female. Whistling Dixie Belle - she is the little blue eyed girl, the big brute beside her is the stud :


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...la/S6301752.jpg



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This post has been edited by mALX: Oct 24 2011, 06:02 AM

GAAAAAH !!! URK !!! I thought I had Ooops?

Stud looks like a Rottie....

Lol, he's big all right, but is pure Catahoula. He looks like a throwback to the original Dogs of War that made the Catahoula or something. Two of the dogs in his line have grown too big for showing - he is one, and Double Ott Catahoula has the other. His full brother from the same litter is scraping the top limit for show (26").

It is the Grand Champion King Augustus line, one of the best - but you have to watch what other lines you cross with downline on him, or it will throw out these moose-sized studs.

I haven't delved into the show dog realm so am not as well versed as I could be on the specs. I do have an affinity for the larger breeds though, I'd be the one that would take the Cata that was too big to show....if I had a place for it. I currently have in residence a Pomeranian who believes to her core she is the Queen as well a shih-poo that belonged to my eldest daughter until she moved into an apartment. She was a rescue and has a few issues not the least of which is being agoraphobic, she hates going anywhere including outside, but she is the sweetest creature I have ever known.

Until I struck out on my own a couple years ago I had a huge fenced yard that allowed me the luxury of having an enormous boxer with a heart the size of a small country and thought he was the size of a chihuahua. I love the little ones but I miss the interaction with the big dogs.

I've always been a big-dog lover. I raised Rotties and Dobies for years. Three years ago (right after my last Dobie died) I baby-sat my son's Catahoula for a few weeks - and fell in love with the breed. That is when we put a deposit down on what ended up being the moose looking dog. The breeder called me and asked if I wanted this "pup." He looked like a horse, grew faster than any dog I've ever seen, and got his adult teeth at 7 months. I finally cut him off the Eukanuba trying to slow down his growth - then cut him off puppy formula the day he turned one.

The little girl beside him is 16 months, and still on the puppy food - she just reached show height and got her adult teeth in the last month.

Go figure !!!

TO HELL WITH HAVING TO POST A FEW TIMES WHEN YOU FIRST JOIN! Anyway I'll be posting my oblivion character's story in the rp forum once im finally able to post...

You'll be happy for it when the spambots attack, it keeps them at bay. We'll be waiting when the time comes to read it, lol.

This post has been edited by mALX: Oct 27 2011, 01:07 AM

Patience, my friend! Enjoy a cup of coffee and get to know us a bit! I look forward to your story.

lol. When I first joined I was so confused because I couldn't send a PM!

I'm always glad to see more roleplayers. Just make sure to read not only the general rp rules, but our own rules as well.

Hello again all. Sorry for my long absence, uni and RL in general are keeping me unpleasantly busy. Frankly not much other news of interest here, just thought I'd say hello.

It is a method intended to prevent first time posters from spamming the forums and PM boxes with porn and mmo real world trading sites.

Unfortunately it has been a problem in the past.

mALX . . . *shakes head*

Just read your post about the new puppy. Let's hope she doesn't inherit the same problems Dixie has. I think we agreed it was the sire's - umm - seed that was at fault, but ya never know!

BTW, just how is Dixie doing?

Oh, and at this rate you'll be classed in this state as an animal hoarder. Watch out! Once you get started you'll never go back!

Where are the admins? I noticed that Alexander's profile lists his last visit being back in August...that is quite a while back. Hopefully the forums don't disappear anytime soon due to neglect.

I think they are lurking somewhere in the background... Now I'm here almost every day though..

I was concerned over that too, and worked closely with the University of Tennessee Veterinary College and Hospital Geneticists over the issue.

They could never determine if the frozen "seed" had become degraded over time or during Hurricane Katrina without wasting a vial of it for testing (and the breeder wasn't going to do that since Dixie was the only pup with a heart murmur and neither Sire or Dam had ever thrown a genetic defect before).

There was also no way to know if that was caused by the surgical procedure of the artificial insemination itself for the same reason.

They determined it may have been just a fluke of nature - but whatever the cause, we had to spay Dixie so that defect wouldn't be repeated.

The breeder kept both a male and female from the litter, and neither of them showed any health issues at all. I had the University of Tennessee Veterinary hospital check the pup as soon as I arrived in town, she had no heart murmur (or any other health issues, thank goodness!).

Hoarding? That is so funny! I feel sorry for any dog or horse breeders there then, lol. We will have only one breeding pair as foundation stock when the pup reaches 15 months old, and don't plan to expand into a fullscale operation by adding any more.

We will never get rid of Dixie, but unfortunately her prognosis is that she will die young. Around here two dogs and a puppy on a farm (with a full acre penned as a dog lot) isn't considered a hoarding situation, lol.

When the pup gets old enough to breed (15 months old), all issue will be secured for sale with a good sized deposit before any breeding takes place.

Between the male and this new female pup they encompass three of the top national and regional Grand Champion Catahoula bloodlines - Stones Throw Colby G, Crane Strike 2, and King Augustus. It took a lot of research and four years of planning to get these three bloodlines.

When Dixie showed with the heart murmur, I was worried and immediately got together with the geneticist at the University of Tennessee Veterinary College. The bloodlines are totally free of any defects, they determined Dixie was most likely a fluke of nature, and since she has been spayed - one that won't be repeated in future issue.


@ Everyone - I'm back! (Yeah!) I got back early Sunday morning - about 2:30 am - had to take the pup straight to the University of Tennessee Veterinary hospital before even going home, she got a little ill on the trip home. I was afraid she was dehydrating because she wasn't drinking the water when I put it down. Didn't actually get to the house till about 5 am.

Sunday was spent trying to sleep and juggling dog feeding/play schedules around. The big surprise to me is the initial reactions by the big dogs - the male was fine at first, then later decided he was upset by the presence of a new pup. The female turned kujo at first, but mellowed out relatively quickly.

I spent all day sunday trying to fine tune schedules between the dogs and the new pup - finally came up with one that is working so far.

The older dogs are getting some bonus things they've always wanted:

1. For the older female dog - sleeping in the living room instead of "The Kennel" (our guest bathroom with a child gate across the entrance) at night - the pup has taken over "The Kennel."

2. Since the pup has to eat four times daily (as opposed to the older dog's twice) I have been making a tiny bit more than needed each time the pup eats - and putting a small spoonful of it in the older dog's bowls - not enough to mess up their feeding schedule, just so they don't think the pup is getting something they aren't.

3. The older dogs always wanted more time inside the house with the family. (they are usually turned out in the mornings and only come in for meals and at bedtime). Now they get to come in a few times per day (individually) to play with the pup for short supervised stints.

The puppy has to spend most of its time in "The Kennel" because she isn't housebroken yet, but she gets several walks per day and several indoor playtimes - either with just me or with one of the older dogs - just so she is not in the kennel all the time.

Anyway, I finally got some sleep last night - thank goodness !!! So hopefully as the new routines around here begin to settle down a bit, I'll have the next couple weeks at home to relax and catch up on reading, etc. - maybe even (hopefully) play Oblivion some, lol.

There is a part of my that misses having puppies around but then this very loud voice in my head screams "WHAT???" hehe.

I backed off on rescue work a few years ago when I went to work full time and I miss it at times. I seemed to be the one to call when babies got sick because I would bring them home and nurse them until they were well and ready to be adopted. Although there were times when I sat holding one crying all night long hoping against hope, the end result was, all but once, well worth the heart ache. The one pup I lost, in the 5 plus years that I was involved this deep was exposed to parvo along with two others that I was hand raising. They were found on the side of the road in a box, hours old, stiffling heat, and still covered in after-birth. The little one I lost was compromised from the beginning, almost completely deaf and limited vision as well as being much smaller than the other two. They were exposed, of all places, at the vet. The other two survived, and are healthy and hearty. Unfortunately, working in rescue, parvo is a recurring nightmare.

Good luck with the little one mALX!!!! Keep us posted on her progress. OH, What did you name her?