Parade to Honor All Ridgeback Rescues

If you live near Gettysburg, PA or can make plans to be there on September 23rd at 6:30 PM, there is an exciting event for all rescued Ridgebacks.

The national Ridgeback Club has a annual meeting. Most years they have a Parade of Rescues. I have always wanted to go and especially wanted to take Bacari as he made such strides since being rescued from a puppy mill. He never made it- that brings tears to my eyes. I hope I don't wait too long for Roadie. I think it is wonderful that the Ridgeback community supports rescue efforts.

Anyway, here's the information:
Subject: Ridgeback Rescue parade


Attention All Ridgeback Rescue Dogs & Owners,

Please join in the Ridgeback Rescue parade being planned for the 77th
National Specialty.

The parade is planned to be held prior to the Veteran Sweeps on Tuesday
evening at the Host Hotel.

There will be an MC to announce each participant and to read each entrants
Bio.

All Ridgeback Rescue Dogs are encouraged to participate; all Ridgeback
Rescue Groups should encourage their adopters to be in the parade. This is
open to all.

You will notice on page 11 of the Specialty packet, an entry for the Rescue
parade. There is No Charge to enter. Rosettes will be presented to all
Rescue Parade participants. The photographer will be there so participants
can also pose for formal pictures and it will be on the RRCUS video as
well.

This will be a special event to showcase your Rescue dog. A double-header
for sure as there will be a Kleenex alert for the rescue parade, followed
by a Kleenex alert for the Veterans Sweeps!

Contacts for this are:

Celia Hoffman KARHIBA@aol.com

Cheryl Fraser chaza@pobox.com

http://www.rrcus.org/club/specialties/2008/index2008.htm click on "Info
Package"

If anyone gets to go, please post some pics for those of us who can't make it this year.
Amanda

Our beautiful TJ (aka Koda)

I was taking pictures of our new home and just looked down to see TJ lying there and took his picture. Every single day we remark on what a treasure he is and how lucky we are to have him. We took TJ and Taylorsue to the vet and had a lot of baseline bloodwork done on them (we lost our beloved Trey (RR and Corgi mix) to a mis-diagnosed thyroid cancer) and the vet said TJs labs were absolutely perfect. Taylor had a couple that were only slightly off.

Getting TJ was such a risk because Don was so early in his very difficult rehab, but somehow Foster Mom, Terri, had the instincts to know this was a perfect fit. TJ is devoted to Don and Don adores him and I feel TJ has been responsible for much of Don's successful rehab (following a brain artery dissection (inner layers of artery). We really aren't sure why Terri put up with our many requests for extra tests for TJ and why she took a chance on such old folks to be the caretakers of this wonderful furkid, but we are so grateful she did. I have even been sort of running with TJ which is a riot because I haven't run in years.

We have stopped his private lessons and do not agree with the trainer that choke and prong collars are the way to go. We even got 2 of Cesar's Illusion collars. TJ was a real 'puller' but for anyone who has this problem I HIGHLY recommend the Clicker and Treats - worked so fast and TJ is so anxious to please. He just needed to get the message. The trainer keeps emailing me as to when to start again and the answer will be, Never. We never got the prong collar--it looked horrible and the choke never released correctly. I hate them. If he were bigger, maybe, but seriously, Clicker and treats were magic. He seemed to know that I did not want to hurt him and even with the choke he tried, but failed and the day we switched it all came together.

TJ and Taylor get a lot of admiration from most folks except for one psycho who hates him. I am sure she thinks his ridge is a show of agressive hackles. She is a nut case, but has made us so uncomfortable that we avoid her and wish we were young enough to get a five acre place instead of a high density retirement community. But most folks compliment their behavior and stop to pet and enjoy them. Also, they love THEIR new golf cart for rides on hot days.

One other thing that has really worked for us. We have two good-sized crates for when we must leave them. Taylor gets upset and nervous. Finally figured that the crates had two doors, so now they are side by side (like a suite) and when we return we always find both in one crate, but the other crate is there to give them room to move around - so cute.

Our best to all, Jackie

Featuring our Dogs

The national Ridgeback CLub (www.rrcus.org) has an annual meeting. Each year a video is made of some of the rescues that were saved over the past year. Many of RRUS former foster dogs are in the video.

Here's a list of the dogs I know made the cut; there could be others!
Dogs that should be featured in the DVD (the dogs will be listed by the names they had while in rescue):
Roadie/Bacari
Bruno
Ruebin
Blaze
Nala
Delta
Izzie
Sadie (Katrina rescue)
Harley
Tee
Zuri
Rocky
Rosie (AKA Spoon)
Reece
Cubby
Peanut
Kayla
Daisy
Missy

If anyone wants one of these DVDs (they are $10 plus shipping), please let me know. I am ordering a few copies and will have them available for RRUS volunteers and adopters.

Amanda

My First Loss

Bacari was my very first Ridgeback. The sweet soul that started the love affair w. the breed. I adopted Bacari was RRUS back in 2005. He was the most pleasant dog. He had NO bad habits. He was brought into rescue from a puppy mill. He was a basket case. His foster mom, Evelyn, was determined to get him ready for adoption. I am not sure how many months it took before he was deemed ready but it was a slow process. I am grateful for Evelyn's hard work- she laid a solid foundation on which we built.

I lived close to Bacari's foster home so I visited often to allow him to get to know me before I actually adopted him. We signed him up for obedience. It was here that he came out of his shell and came to trust me. He easily passed his Canine Good Citizen exam. I have never been so proud of him.

Over the next few years, Bacari came to totally trust and relax at home. He held an important position in our home- the couch anchor! He was a total food hound and would almost knock you over to get to his food bowl.

Bacari must have been much older than anyone ever imagined. He seemed to age overnight. He had been sick off and on for the past few months. A trip to the vet lead to no definitive diagnosis. So once again, he got sick over the last weekend. It was then that the decision to let him go was made. He was miserable and lethargic.

I have shed many tears but finally feel able to focus on what a wonderful life he was given. Thanks to RRUS for saving him and allowing my house to be his HOME. Bacari will be missed. I still look for his smiling face when I walk through the door.
RIP my sweet Bacari- you will be missed but never forgotten. ? to 8-2-08

Jogging with dogs

Hi, everyone,

I recently ran my first 5K and a few people there had their dogs with them. So this weekend I bought harnesses for Hannah and Cheever and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried to train a dog to keep pace as a jogging companion before. If so, what mistakes should I not make and what tips do you have?

Thank you.

David

How much is that Ridgeback in the window?

Those doggies are NOT for sale!!