A Magical Sighthound in the Imaginary Garden

I was drawing this watercolour with my friends in mind; they have sighthounds and I adore those dogs. One friend has Saluki, and another one has a racing bred Afghan hound which means less hair and more muscles and temperament, simply put. However, the dog in the picture looks more like a greyhound which is okay as it is a sighthound, too.

I wanted to make the picture look somewhat medieval in style, and I tried to remember all the paintings, miniatures and tapestries I have seen which were relevant. This is magical dog in the imaginary garden, as you can see, and I wanted the garden to be as full of beautiful things as possible.



This was my first attempt after a long while. Basically, I wanted to remember how to do it. Of course the picture is not as it was planned, as I am still very clumsy after many years of not drawing and painting, but I enjoyed the process immensely. Now I have some other projects in mind, and I think it will be easier technically.

Quest for the Most Beautiful Rose of this Fall

In order to make our walks a bit more fun, we decided to embark on a quest for finding the most beautiful rose of this fall. That is, I suggested and Jager agreed, being a very agreeable dog and a good friend. So, all our morning walks now are focused on reaching some parks and gardens in search of roses - and, of course, we take a lot of photos.

Autumn roses are very special to me. I love roses altogether, but if you see a lovely rose in the summer, you know there will be many others. In the autumn, you never know if you will see many more roses, and for some reason this year there are not many at all. So I decided to loot at them and take photos and share. I love these flowers, love everything about them, even the first signs of fading - this imperfection makes them look more alive, vulnerable and dear to my heart. When you know something is going away soon, you treasure it all the more...

This is the rose that we found today, and it can well become my most beautiful rose this fall. However, there are two more photos in one of the previous posts, and there will be many more, I hope. We will continue our quest while there are still roses in the parks and gardens.

This is Jager posing next to this lovely rose.

And this is Jager just being silly!

...As you can probably guess by the format of the photos, they were cropped for Instagram. I opened an account several days ago and will be very happy to connect with you there! My address is https://instagram.com/mulberrywhisper 

Highlights of Our Morning Walk

Today, Jager and myself went to a large park situated quite far from our place. We walked past the empty streets - at 6 am there are no people around.

Here in Uzbekistan we have a lot of basil which is used both as an edible and a decorative plant. This one is part of a large flowerbed near a water supply enterprise office. I love the scent; it brings back so many childhood memories. To me, basil is closely associated with my land.

We came to the park and I was dismayed to see a lot of garbage around - plastic bottles, bags, various boxes... I do not understand how a person can come to a beautiful place - to enjoy the beauty - and then leave thrash after themselves. Eh well... I am not a fan of cleaning, especially after strangers, but I had had enough. Jager was thrilled, because I asked him to look for plastic bottles. This is just about one third of what we picked.

This is some unknown fruit falling from a tree,

Jager having rest after running up and down grassy slopes.

As we were going home, I spotted some roses, I love autumn roses in their mature beauty. The age marks which might seem imperfections to other people are somehow endearing to me, making the flowers look more real and vulnerable.

Roses and fat hen - the combination is unusual, but elegant. When I see fat hen, I always remember what my great grandmother told me: people ate it during the WWII in order not to starve to death. Now champions of healthy lifestyle say that fat hen is a very healthy food. Yes, I suppose so, especially when you are not confined to it only.

That was a nice walk, and lasted almost three hours. I am grateful to the dog for dragging me outside and making me move, breath fresh air and see things. Tomorrow we will choose another destination.

Our Persian Tabriz Rug

This is Jager testing our new Persian Tabriz rug. He clearly approves of it! I love the rug - it was a very good buy from Kumkapi Carpets, a reputable dealer on German Ebay. This shop was recommended to me by my friend who is also a rug dealer. The rug is in excellent condition, and I paid a fraction of what I would have to pay in a brick-and-mortar shop for a new one. Now I feel I need to make changes to furniture, so that it fits the rug better. Anyway, what we have now will do for the time being. This mellow autumn palette is good with many colours, right? Certainly good with a Malinois.

The Awful Donut Syndrome in Dogs

This is an old comic picture drawn by my friend Jasur Rakhimov (http://jasur.rakhimovs.com) a while ago for my dog website. We wrote about the Awful Donut Syndrome. We had a lot of fun, I know it is somewhat silly but thought I would share anyway. We are concerned about dog's health and breeding practices.

...Imagine that in your favorite breed now there is a terrible inheritable disease which affects dog's hearing, nerve conductibility, coordination and ability to understand commands (well if you do not train your dogs and do not give them any commands, the latter might not be a big issue). This disease manifests itself all of a sudden, without any initial signs and leads to full disability. Your dog curls into a donut, stops eating, rolls around the house and shits everywhere despite not eating anything (a real enigma of nature!). Then of course it will die a painful death.

The only way to be certain that your dog does not carry the Donut syndrome is to check if you can teach it to crawl under your bed following the command "Tara-Bara-Schmeps-Fuchs!" and then to crawl back. Please bear in mind that the bed must be of the relevant size so that the dog actually fits under it. This test was developed by certified specialists, biologists, veterinarians and ethologists. They chose that very combination of sounds and movement that allows to confirm whether the dog bears this awful genetic heritage. If the dog cannot pass this test, it will definitely have the Donut syndrome and will pass it to the progeny, in the autosomal dominant way.

Would you be interested in filtering these dogs out of your breeding program, assuming of course that you do not like such donuts? And if yes, would you agree to train and test your dogs, given that you know that the problem exists and three dogs of your friend have already turn donuts? However those who passed the test will not donut at all. So, how about testing?

And, if any of your breeding stock does not pass, will you avoid breeding the dog, despite all its champion titles? Let us say that is a stunning dog, a show star, but definitely a future donut?

And please do not tell me that dogs do not go donut in our country. They do. Especially as everyone now tries to import new modern breeding stock. Please do test and be fair with yourself, if you see that a dog is a potential donut - do not breed it! Even though the Donut Test is not mandatory, please test your dogs. Also please consider bringing in new lines and bloods fully free from Donut. Although... of course it is up to you. You are allowed to breed Donuts if you like.

Our Friends Long Gone

These are my friends' Bull Terrier and Great Dane. Sadly, both dogs are gone now and only good memories remain. This was almost 9 years ago; we enjoyed spring weather, and the dogs played like crazy. They were just pups back then. About three years ago, the huge Great Dane died of heart attack, and two years ago the Bull Terrier died of kidney failure. It is so hard to accept that a beloved friend can die so early and all of a sudden. At least the memories remain...  

This is part of the Black and White Sunday bloghop hosted by Dachshund Nola and Sugar The Golden Retriever. I found it on the wonderful blog of Sue Muir 'Greyhounds Can Sit'. It is very interesting and I hope to participate again.

My Favorite Essential Oils: Myrrh and Frankincense

I use some aromatherapy methods for my family and myself. It is mostly small things, like a home-made cream for hands and feet, or several drops of oil in the bath, or a massage with diluted oils. I have a modest collection and they last for a long time.

Recently I bought Myrrh and Frankincense by Nature's Kiss. I have been wondering about these oils for a while, as they are legendary, mentioned in Bible many times and are highly praised by aromatherapy specialists. I have made a small research, looking at prices and reviews, and thought that this would be a good value for money. My other oils are by Eden's Garden and Now Foods; I like them, they feel good, and I think they are decent quality. However for these two, I opted for a somewhat more expensive option of Nature's Kiss, based on reviews.

As I have no prior experience with these oils, I cannot make any comparisons. I just have to say that I love them very much, and they are wonderful to smell and to apply. I use a blend on my face and neck instead of a night cream, and also rub into my feet. Frankincense has a very strong coniferous smell, while Myrrh is earthy and soothing. Fragrances are hard to describe, and I am groping for words, as I am trying to express my feelings. I am afraid I am not succeeding. I just love Myrrh; it makes me feel at home, protected and warm. I think I might use it instead of perfume - diluted, of course.

Yesterday I thought of using some Frankincense on my dog, too. We have had a very bad year in terms of health, with too much antibiotics, and I feel that his immune system needs support. I give him probiotics and prebiotics, feed him a cooked food, and try to restore him back to the state where he would not need medicines. As for Frankincense essential oil, many sources name it as a very beneficial overall oil for dogs, so it was a very obvious choice.

I took a small amount of blend containing peach seed carried oil and Frankincense essential oil and gave Jager a rub. He greatly enjoyed the massage. Today we repeated the procedure. At least, he loves the massage and does not display any adverse side effects, so I will continue for the time being. If there are any visible results, I will write about them. For now, we are having fun during these rub sessions, and the added bonus is that Jager smells so nice!

And have you ever used essential oils for yourself or your pets? What were the results?

Snow Fun with the Dog and Sleighs

Last year we bought a weight pulling harness for the dog to make winter even more fun. My daughter loves her little sleighs, and I thought that some additional exercise would be beneficial for Jager, so I did some research and bought this harness. Obviously, for sleighs like this - small ones, where the rope is fastened at a low level - you need weight pulling harness rather than the more professional sledding harness. A professional sled harness is for taller sleighs, and the vector of effort there goes in parallel with the ground like here:

(source: www.windchill.com.au)

Obviously, with the children's sleighs like ours, it would be uncomfortable and even damaging for the dog, because there will be a very large pressure on the croup. All that pulling effort actually should go evenly and smoothly to the sleigh, without pressing too hard on any spot on the dog's body, so for our needs a weight pulling harness was the best, according to the professional advice. You can see that there is no pressure on the tail area if the dog pulls. The load distributes evenly to the dog's back. 

This is a cleverly made and inexpensive harness that fits well. I bought it on Ebay from there very nice and helpful US sellers - 5kpetproducts. They make these harnesses themselves with a number of other products, and helped me choose the size properly.

We have had lots of fun with it last year; we even gave a ride to my younger brother...

...only he was not very good at driving this vehicle and got lost somewhere on the way. 

I could not see any difference in the physical shape of the dog, frankly. He is fully grown and, while I think such workouts are beneficial for him, I do not believe they can make his chest wider or muscles bulkier. That was just time well spent. 

If you have a large-size adult strong, healthy and energetic dog, you can try this, too - chances are you will both enjoy playing like this in the snow. And then, who knows, you might become a fan of weight pulling or sledding! Just make sure that you start with empty sleighs and increase the load gradually, and be patient while teaching the dog. 

On Dogs and Children. And Happy Holidays to Everyone!

My daughter Madina and my Malinois Jager became best of friends during the last year or so. When she was smaller, she would often feel jealous because I spent quite a lot of time with the dog, too. Besides, she could not really do much with him - he was too strong for her to play with. Of course Jager was always extra careful with her, because we explained to him in a very persuasive way that he should not hurt the human child, but that meant they would not play - he would prefer to keep away. Now they weight about the same - Jager being much stronger of course, but still, it is easier now for them to interact. They play games - for instance, Madina hides toys for him to seek. She is also now very skilful in petting him - she used to be somewhat clumsy before.

All in all, I am very happy about how they go together - my 8 years' old daughter and my 4 years' old Malinois from a working kennel in the Netherlands, a very serious dog who can be quite dangerous and make great harm to a person (which is basically what he is bred for - protection work). We did our best to ensure they both understand how to treat each other and have a clear hierarchy - the human child is more important and is never to be harmed. So, now they are a great team, but I always keep an eye on them to ensure safety. I do not leave them alone if I leave home and put the dog into the crate, just in case; this is not even so much because I do not trust the dog, but who knows what the child might invent while I am not looking? 

These are just some thoughts which came to my mind while I was looking for an appropriate photo for the New Year Wishes. So, now come the wishes! 

Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing you peace, love, great health, prosperity, cool adventures and lots of fun! Take a good care of yourself, your family and pets, and enjoy life! 

Our Morning Walk Today: Sculptures and Dandelions

Owning a dog results in a number of obligations some of which are actually benefits; I believe dog walking to be one of them. No other power in the world would make me get up at 6 am for a walk.

At this time, Tashkent is beautiful, empty and silent; streets are wide and clean. It is a chilly morning despite the clear sky and bright sun. We go along several narrow streets and arrive at the small park close to the City Exhibition Hall. There are several nice sculptures which I remember since early childhood.

The little boy riding a horse is my favorite; as a child I believed them to be real. My mother showed them to me when I was very small... Where are they heading to? Most likely, to the land of dreams, some hidden realm so different from our routine life. It looks especially magical in the dim light; the joyous morning light today is too lively and happy for them. They belong to twilight and mist.

The wise man is counting stars, even when there is sun in the sky. For the one who has vision, time of the day does not matter; nor does the century.

As for these, I have no idea who they are. Age and moss make them look strange and noble.

This is my own sculpture - alive, breathing, smiling, wagging his tail - occupying someone's vacant pedestal. He copes with my whims in the most patient way; if I want to take photos today, he will keep company without complaints.

Dandelions seem to emit their own light.

And Jager, wet and happy, steam breathing, amidst the grasses and flowers; there is still time to walk, run and enjoy life.

A Joint Training Session with a Caucasian Shepherd Dog

Today, my Malinois and myself trained together with a Caucasian Shepherd Dog owned by my friends. Caucasian Shepherd Dogs are quite difficult to train, and I am very impressed with what I have seen today.

A lot of attention to the handler and readiness to work.

A very decent heeling.

This is how Jean does "come" - not fast, but this is not a fast dog. It is normal.

 He does love his trainer. They have a very good contact.

Jager's work today was mostly about waiting. He is a very active dog, and it is not easy for him to be idle when something is going on, and especially when I am talking and laughing.

But he did his best and was praised by me, and then we walked and played, and he was happy. 

Supposedly A Doberman: Rescued from a Rescue

This creature now lives with my friend in Russia. She took him home from a local rescue organization. Basically she and her friends saved him from that rescue - the rescue people found him somewhere and then were trying to sell him (for a long time), obviously forgetting to feed him. It is amazing that a rescue can behave like that! My friends literally crashed the doors of the rescue and took the dog (which may not be quite legal, but I totally approve of it). The rescue people tried to squeeze out some money for this skeleton of a dog! (A minute ago my 6 year old daughter looked at the lower picture and muttered - 'What is that thing? I do not get it').

Many rescues in our countries are like that now. They collect money and do not report on their use; they neglect animals; sometimes they let them breed, and even eat each other. Not all rescue organizations are like that, of course - we have some good examples in Russia, too. But not in Uzbekistan (my country). We still have a long way to go.

...The dog will live, most likely. It is a 7-8 months old pup. He eats and digests well. His whole life now is about food - when he does not eat or sleep, he keeps searching the house and sniffing for food. He is fed every three hours in small portions.My friend's Toller Retriever tries to play with him, but he needs to start feeling like a dog, rather than like an embodiment of hunger, before he can play.

However he loves to be petted; my friend says that he is 'pathologically tender'. He stands at her side, waiting for her to put her hand on his head. He stands, waiting, as long as he can... only he cannot stand long now. He starts waving and then he sits down if he manages to coordinate the movement or just falls on the floor. Lena does what she can to make him feel better.

Dogs in the Park

We went for a walk with my friends today - they have a Labrador and a Dalmatian. The weather was beautiful, the dogs played, and I took some photos. Not much to say here. My dog mostly spends time with me, but sometimes I give him a chance to play with dogs. He still checks on me all the time though.

It is funny that he looks naked to me without a collar. We take off the collars to avoid damage to teeth and Jager looks so unusual; just like a wild animal. And there is a lot of wild in him for real; I often feel somewhat surprised that he obeys me willingly and happily. My mentor says it is a power of love. I respond by telling him that he is a hopelessly old fashioned romantic.

Our Little Night (A Rescued Pup)

We spent a very hot July this year in the mountains - it was necessary to escape from the city. We stayed in a small town high in the mountains, in a cottage built on a slope of a hill. The land plot was made into three layers, like terraces, and the cottage was built on the two lower terraces (the third one is for the entrance and parking). I always have a feeling that there are two houses there although actually it is one with two floors, but the design is so strange, it's like my daughter's Tree House Lego.

Me and my dog occupied the lower floor of the house - the one closer to the swimming pools and the kitchen (excellent strategic position!), while my mother and 12 year old sister lived upstairs, and my daughter was everywhere.

One afternoon while mother and sister were having a walk, my daughter came into my room with this pup on her hands, saying: 'Look what I have found in Granny's room, under the bed!'. I was amazed. This little creature, completely starved, had crawled under the gates and then sneaked into the house. Of course we had to keep her. It was difficult to decide how to feed her the first days so that not to kill her with too much food - she was not used to eating. (Below is her picture after a week with us - she looks quite decent).

After a week with us she looked better and my sister found an owner for her nearby. The next day we were passing his house, talking between ourselves, and the pup overheard our voices and started whining and screaming. She was kept in a box, no food and water, and of course I took her back. Everyone was happy, especially my daughter. She is not much of a dog lover, but she loved Nochka and hugged and played with her a lot. She also learned to train her with pieces of cheese and meat.

 

I named her Nochka - that's Russian for... eh well... Night, but in a very tender way. Little Night. Lovely Night. By the end of the second week she looked excellent, with smooth and shiny fur and no ribs showing (I even had to cut her portions a bit, but did not help because she was also sharing my dog's food as well as taking food from by mother's rescue Dachshund mix). My Malinois obviously adopted her and played with her in a very gentle way.

They also liked to have rest in the shade together. I think Nochka felt safe beside him.

My mom's Dachshund mix also loved her and they played in the sand like crazy.

Nochka has amazing temperament and is very fit for obedience training, in my view - very easy to train, lots of drive and excellent wits. Pity we have no dog sport here. And she is amazingly curious and energetic. She wants to be everywhere and to take part in everything.

I placed lots of ads but only four people wrote, and three of them I would not trust with a teddy bear, leave alone a real pup. I started thinking about spaying and keeping her although that would be a nuisance; I did not want to have a new pup at that time. However the fourth person to write was a very nice young lady, well informed and with a firm intention to love and care for 'My Treasure'. The day we came back to city, she hurried to come to us, and left with the pup. To tell the truth, Julia seemed too glamorous to me to be a good dog owner: I looked at her heels and my heart dropped... but then I decided to give it a try.

How much I missed Nochka the first two days, I cannot tell... I was ready to go and beg to give her back to me. But is she is in good hands. Julia keeps writing and calling, we met twice and I was very happy to see two glamorous ladies - the owner wearing Swarovski studded walking shoes, and Nochka (called Sophie now) boasting a pink Swarovski collar. She recognized me immediately both times, but her bond with the new owner was already very good (we waited for several weeks before meeting), so there was no stress. She is a lovely dog, and I feel very lucky to have found such a nice owner for her.