Updating fail

So obviously I've not been updating my site on a regular basis.  Life has been a continual challenge this past (almost) year.  I think that this was due to challenges in areas of my life that were not physical per se.  My physical  health remains about the same, although one knee is worse for the wear.  I am trying to challenge myself physically and have made physical challenge my 2020 goal.  I'm hoping to be able to start physical therapy sometime in January or February.  Also, due to other circumstances, I am seeking medical guidance from Mayo Clinic.  However their waiting period is 6-9 months to begin care with a family physician.  I've requested an appointment with Neurosurgery as well.  So fingers crossed.  A friend of mine coaxed me to get into the Mayo system since they are an all encompassing medical care facility.  Their doctors actually talk to one another!  Something that was lacking during my previous surgery in 2015.

As for dogs - they are pawesome!  They are the driving force behind my desire to participate in life daily.  I adore them.  I do my best with them and they adore me regardless of anything happening in my life.  We continue to adore one an other immensely!

And puppies??  Yes, we have a litter on the way!  Due on Christmas Day.  What a gift!!  :D

More to follow . . . . . .

Where Have I Been

So it's been a minute . . . .


Life has a way of getting away from you when you let it.  It seems that the older I get, the less time I perceive as having available day to day.  I fail to make lists and I need to make them.  Especially due to the challenges I face medically.


Things are okay.  The dogs are fine - healthy and happy.  I am so blessed to still have them with me through the struggles I have faced.  Part of me wonders though when the train will derail, but I try to lock that negativity away.


With regard to puppies . . . I have had litters although only a couple and they have been sold prior to birth, so I've not posted anything about puppies being available since my last post of 2017.  But for those who have been waiting and recently inquiring . . . I will be posting information in a separate post.  This post is just for those wondering if I'm still around and in the Shih Tzu world.  I am.  Just flying beneath the radar, mostly because that's only as high as I've been able to fly.  :)

The Graduate!

Abbie graduates from her Level 1 Puppy Training!  This makes me so proud!

CH Magic  x  CH Kiki

"Abbie"

Lil Bit had been placed at 12 weeks with a family that HAD to have her.  Against my better judgment, I placed her with that family.  Less than two months later, "Lil Bit" as I had called her before she left, came home to me nothing like she was when she had left.  She was "too much" to handle according to the family that had her.  My heart ached when a puppy that usually ran to me and covered me in kisses now cowered on the floor and urinated in fear.  I spent the next few months getting back the puppy I once knew - showering her in love and affection while training her to be a good girl with positive reinforcement.  I knew that once I had her back to the loving puppy she was in the beginning that eventually the right family would come along.  And they did!  My thanks to the Carlson family for making a loving and positive home for Lil Bit - who is now proudly and lovingly called Abbie!

We Are NO LONGER LIVE!

ETA 12/13/14:
My subscription to Join Me has expired and at a cost of nearly $200 to renew, I can not justify the expense right now.  I can run basic, but the code changes daily and I can not isolate the camera screen so my entire desktop would be visible to the public.  Plus, during the past two weeks I have had numerous technical problems that kept kicking the whole thing offline.  Many of you out there probably don't understand also the amount of time I have to dedicate to bring this feature to you on a day to day basis and I just can't continue this considering my current medical issues.

I'm sorry to those of you that enjoyed the cam, but this current litter is older now and I'm not really sure when I will breed another litter, so for now we are offline until further notice.  My apologies to current puppy buyers.

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Original post 11/8/14

Finally!  Puppy-cam is BACK! 

I'm tweaking resolutions and trying to make the experience even more clear.  We'll see what happens. 

Try it out!  Go to www.joinme.com.  This is a secure site.  Join my meeting with the password wotehsinst - that's it!  You can download an app for iOS and Android devices or watch on you desktop!  Be advised that this will suck your data on mobile devices so be sure you are on wifi.

Enjoy!

I Found It!

Get ready puppy-cam fans!!   I found my iPad!  :)

Puppy Cam!

1/4/14

ETA:  Puppy Cam is now OFFLINE.

 

By far the very best thing I've ever done as a breeder for my puppy buyers - I did completely by accident and it strictly started out as a means for me to watch over my litters while I was away from the house.  And so started Puppy Cam!

I've had dogs placed near and far.  It isn't always easy for people to come by to visit the puppies as they grow up.  But now - it is!  Almost every day when I have a litter of puppies, I fire up the webcam in the morning before leaving work, focus it on the "nest" and wham bam in less than a few minutes I can pull an app up on my iPhone and see my puppies via wifi.  Thanks to a little website called "Join Me" my puppy people can watch each litter all day long!  It's so nice for them to be able to see a litter develop!  It's one thing to send pictures, but quite another to watch them move around and play with their litter mates.  Or sleep in a pile o'puppies.  Or have lunch with their momma.

Puppy Cam is up almost every day right now thanks to my beautiful Samantha and dad Future who created a lovely foursome of puppies.  The babies are three weeks old and starting to toddle around; checking into mom's food or coming up to me to visit.  Tail wags will start soon.  They are already pawing at their brothers & sisters making the first moves of play time.  Check them out - just click on the Join Me link above and the code to watch is wotehsinst - Enjoy!  :)

More Than Just A Pretty Face!

Not even four months old and Lola is such a smart girl!

 

 

Chronic Pain

In June or July I started having significant pain radiating down my right leg.  I'm a back surgery survivor if you will - having had a laminectomy in 1995 between S1 and L5.  The pain was familiar, but add to that a new twist with new pain in my front right thigh compounded with a nasty heel spur that just wasn't going away.  Finally I had testing done.  Uncountable x-rays, a whole morning of multiple MRIs - one that included a most painful injection into my right hip.  The diagnosis - torn right hip cartilage, complete medial meniscus tear in my right knee with an additional tear of the lateral meniscus in the same knee.  And of all the scans, my back looked the best, but for some reason the sciatic nerve is inflamed.  Maybe because most of my right leg joints are messed up.

I've since visited a pain specialist and an orthopedic specialist.  We are not doing any knee surgery yet.  On top of the meniscal tears, I have so much arthritis in my knee, that even if he fixed the tears, I would not have any less pain.  So until the knee completely fails we do nothing - except physical therapy twice a week.  If I want a cortisone injection, I'm welcome to it.  But for now I've declined.  I'm scheduled for a lumbar epidural injection in January and from there we will decide if I need an injection in my hip.  Fun stuff. 

I've avoided prescription pain killers and I am in significant pain every day.  There are good days where I can walk pretty well with low grade pain.  The physical therapy is helping and believe it or not I see a gym membership in my future.  Kind of ironic, eh?  For me?

This has been game changing for me in so many ways.  I don't want to spend my life in a wheelchair and I don't want to lose my freedom or independence.  I want my dogs in my life for a long time to come.  So I fight.

This ordeal has left me even more jaded - if this is possible.  Every day is a struggle.  My dogs are my haven for which I fight daily.  That will not change.  They make life worth it. 

So fair warning.  I don't feel well.  Enough said.

A Puppy For Christmas

The emails start coming in for Christmas puppies in December usually.  I actually received a few inquires beginning in November this year. 

Here's a lovely example of a recent exchange I had:


Name: XXXXXX XXXXXXXX
Email: XXX.XXXXXXXX@gmail.com
Message:  I found your Shih Tzu listing at Breeders.NET

Hello I am interested in buying a baby girl puppy for my kids for Christmas. If you could please let me know if you have one and what price. Thank you:)


And my standard Christmas puppy response followed:

On Nov 16, 2012, at 6:03 AM, wotehsinst@aol.com wrote:

XXXXXX:

Thank you for your inquiry, however even if I had puppies available at or around the holiday - I would not place them as Christmas presents. Nor do I entertain birthday or anniversary inquiries. Please refer to this article.

Christmas is really the absolute worst time of the year to place a puppy. There is too much happening for anyone to possibly focus on the needs of a puppy at that time. There are breeders out there that gear up for Christmas because it's their biggest sales season of the year for them. They will sell puppies too young to be going anywhere just to turn that Christmas buck.

But that's not how I operate.

You might consider giving puppy supplies as Christmas gifts to announce your decision to bring a pet into your home and instead focus on finding the right breeder and dog for your family. When it comes to finding the perfect member for your family, it's better to take your time and research the breeders involved and find someone that can provide you the best possible dog, health wise etc. for your family at your financial comfort level. Buying strictly on timing is the poorest way to find the right dog.

Check out the American Shih Tzu Club website for things to look for when selecting a breeder and also breeder referral.

Best of luck in your search -

Nancy Manelski

WoTeH'sin Shih Tzu

 

And here is the lovely response I received:

From: XXXXXX XXXXXXXX <XXX.XXXXXXXX@gmail.com>
To: wotehsinst <wotehsinst@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Nov 21, 2012 7:38 pm
Subject: Re: I found your Shih Tzu listing at Breeders.NET

Wow a little too much information a simple no would have been fine.....weirdo!!

XXXXXX XXXXXXXX

 

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Nice, huh?  Try to educate the general public and look what happens.  Nice manners and a lovely email to receive on Thanksgiving Eve.  Honey, are you raising your kids to be as polite and receptive to education as you obviously were? 

 

I hope no one places a puppy with this family.  Because honestly, I see the writing on the wall.  Loved for a moment in time and then forgotten, some poor puppy will likely end up in a shelter out of this home when that puppy is no longer convenient for the family.  Tossed aside likely as several other Christmas gifts that have outlived the instant gratification high the kids get once the next present is revealed, or the poor puppy has an accident in the house after being chased or hounded by likely unruly children that scare the poor baby half to death. 

 

Nope.  Not one of my puppies.  Ever.

Friendship

Dallas and Sunny

Princess Pretty Pretty

Angelique was born back in February of 2001.  She singled out in showing, but I never was able to get those majors on her.  I finally cut her down due to my working 12 hour days and not having the time, skill or knowledge at that time of appropriate products to keep her coat in good condition.  Angelique is a sweet little girl who is a champion producer and a girl that has more than earned her spot on my pillow every night.  She has the sweetest disposition and she makes me smile every day. 

Angelique just turned 11 years old last month and she is still going strong!  She loves her some cookies and is just a tad pudgy for her size.  She's cute as a bug and my groomer, Sharee, loves her best.  :) 

The things people search for

I'm not the most technically savvy individual, but I know enough to be dangerous. :) One of my most recent finds has been to see where all of you lovely people come from that visit my humble blog.

I know some of you find me through Facebook links. Welcome to all the new visitors!

My personal friends find me because that's what friends do! ;) Thanks for keeping me on your radar!

Some of you find me because you are part of the WoTeH'sin family. Thank you for stopping by!

Some of you find me because you want to keep track of me for one reason or another. You know who you are . . . and now, so do I! :D

And some of you find me through the wonders of search engines. And search you do. For things I would never imagine would point to my blog!

You see, one of the things that my newest technical finds actually shows are the links from which people visit! And if it's from a search engine, many times - most actually, it shows what the individual was searching for when they found me. And trust me when I tell you that this information has been incredibly entertaining recently. LOL

To the person in the southeast that wants to find out how to paint on eyestripes - I have three comments:

1) You should breed for eyestripes - not paint them in.

2) If you must paint them in - ask your MENTOR the various practiced enhancement methods and try them in the privacy of your own home to see what works best, if at all, for your dog. Don't search for it on Google. There is not one SKILLED exhibitor/handler out there that would actually post this on the internet for God's sake! Do you really think that someone would publicly post a practice that specifically is cause for ring dismissal??

3) After a most recent FB exchange regarding RESPONSIBLE breeders educating the puppy buying public, you're lucky I have some discretion! :) Do you tell your puppy buyers you paint on eyestripes? Just curious . . .