Maceys Litter!

Congrats again to Macey.

I'm a bit late on this actually, the pups are a couple of months old now.

Macey gave birth via caesarean section to 3 boys and 3 girls.

Now I'm going to try and remember all the names, the first one's easy as its the same name as my oldest son.

We have

Ben
Adam
Stevie
Mary
Chloe
Riley

I believe Ben has found himself a home and I think Riley too. Mary and Chloe are going to be staying with Mum.

Well done Macey.

SherylP
www.workonline-info.ws

Congratulations Macey

I'm not going to talk about Kaiba today I just wanted to say a big congratulations to my sisters dog Macey who is pregnant. This is her second litter, lets hope all goes well.

Congrats Macey



ShezzP
www.depressiondays.com

Kaiba - My Rhodesian Ridgeback - Still Asleep

Kaiba is still recovering from our week away, I think we wore him out. Day 2 home and he is spending most of his time still asleep. He wandered outside for a little while to sleep in the sun but most of the day is spent on the sofa - that is while we sit on the floor.

We had quite a few comments about him while we were away, about how obedient he was. Even when we stayed in caravan parks he always stayed near our site and new he wasn't allowed past the boundaries of our site. He did get a little excited on our first night when he saw a rabbit run past and went for a chase, missed it though when it dashed under a big rock.

I think his favourite past-time on any given day is sleeping, so I guess now that he's had a week of running around in the wild, he'll probably need a week of sleep to catch up.

Ridgebacks Rule!!!
ShezzP
www.depressiondays.com
www.depressiondays.blogspot.com

Back from Camping in the Flinders Ranges

We have just spent a week camping in the Flinders Ranges and had a great time, as did Kaiba. He was a bit quite for the first couple of days which I think was due to the heat, it was fairly hot up there, he doesn't like the heat very much - or the cold for that matter. We had a cool change one night which came along with an extremely strong wind storm, so windy that I was very close to packing up and coming home but my husband and kids wouldn't let me, I was crying I was so scared, I have never seen such strong winds.

The next day was calm though and turned out to be a beautiful day. Kaiba really started enjoying himself now that it wasn't so hot, and we were staying in the bush - roughing it and not in a caravan park so he had lots of room to run around - and that he did. He paddled in the creek, rolled in the dirt, ran and ran and ran, he just loved it out there.

I must say though, young Kaiba knows when he's had enough, in the caravan we have a table that folds down to a bed, which Kaiba shares with one of the kids (they usually take turns sleeping there). At about 8pm he went into the caravan and just stood there staring at the table. So I put the table down and made the bed up, he jumped straight up there and fell straight to sleep and that was him for the night. First one in bed, he was just exhausted.

He was very well behaved while we were away though, even nights when we stayed in caravan parks he always stayed near our caravan and never wandered off, we rarely had to tie him up he just stays near us, we have never had a dog as obedient and well behaved, he is great.

We got home this afternoon and the kids found a baby magpie which can't yet fly and was near the main road, so Dad got it and brought it up to the house, Kaiba unfortunately I think wants to eat it so we have to keep it right away from him, I wish his good behaviour would kick in with the bird. We don't want to let it go incase it gets run over, we saw one get run over just near our house a week or so ago. Any ideas on getting dogs to like birds and not want to eat them???

ShezzP
www.depressiondays.com
www.depressiondays.blogspot.com

Rhodesian Ridgeback and Panic Attacks!!

Do dogs have panic attacks???

For a big strong looking dog, my Ridgeback is the biggest wuss on the planet. I'm sure he suffers from panic attacks from time to time.

Although he's cured of the blanket panic attack now. When he was a younger puppy (he's still a puppy really, he's 16 months old now), he was terrified if you tried to put a blanket or anything over him, he literally looked like he was having a panic attack. Now we're coming to the end of winter though he has finally discovered the advantage of the blanket, and will actually jump onto our bed in the early hours of the morning and try to get under the quilt.

Popping chewing gum - no big deal really - unless your a Ridgeback. The sound of popping chewing gum is another source of panic attack for young Kaiba, absolutely hates it, he runs for his life and hides behind me or under my legs in panic. Like I'm sure that little piece of chewing gum is going to jump out and get him.

Last week our smoke alarm went off when I burnt some toast, it was the first time he'd heard it. Panic attack again, he didn't know what to do, he was running around the house like he was lost and panicking.

Such a big brave dog he is. Although he is extremely intelligent, loving, beautiful, fun dog, boy is he the biggest wuss on the planet.

I may have to do some research and see if this is a general thing with Ridgebacks or if I just got a wussy one!

Ridgebacks Rule!!!
ShezzP
www.depressiondays.com

Kaiba - My Rhodesian Ridgeback

Shakuru Only The Lonely was born on May 21st 2005. He was the only puppy in his litter - hence the name - and was born via caesarian section and was conceived by artificial insemination. His father who was a champion Ridgeback passed away a few months before Kaibas birth due to a twisted spleen from memory, his sperm had been frozen and we were lucky enough to have the puppy conceived with the last of his sperm in Australia.

Kaiba's mother - BISS Aust Ch Simjhar Jewel O The Nite (Jewel)
Kaiba's father - BIS/BISS Aust GRAND Ch Skiska Solitaire Jest ROM (Axle)

We became the fortunate owners of Kaiba when he was 11 weeks old which is when we chose his current name of Kaiba - yes we got the name from the Yu-Gi-Oh character Seta Kaiba.

We did a lot of research before we decided to purchase a rhodesian ridgeback. We wanted a big dog but one that would not be vicious at all since we have 3 young children. I actually wrongly assumed that a ridgeback was a vicious breed - and based this purely on the look and them being big. However the more research I did the more I realised that they weren't and this was also one of the first things I asked the breeder before we purchased him.

I must say now that we have one, there is not a vicious bone in his body. He is such a loving dog and really a big sook.

We have previously had a cocker spaniel named Toby and a German Shorthaired Pointer X named Jake, who were both lovely dogs. Toby wasn't the smartest dog in the world though which sometimes drove us crazy. So after we lost both Toby and Jake one year apart and decided to get a puppy we were quite fussy on what we wanted. Had to be non vicious as I said, had to be an intelligent breed and although not vicious we wanted a look that would deter any would-be burgler.

I think we made a fantastic choice. Kaiba is by far the most intelligent dog I have ever had. Not vicious at all. As far as detering burglers - I came home one day and he didn't hear me, when he did hear something and didn't realise it was me he went off his head and believe me if you didn't know him and heard him barking the way he was - you wouldn't go near him.

Since this post is turning out to be longer than I planned I will leave it there though, more on his intelligence at a later stage.

Ridgebacks Rule!!
ShezzP
www.depressiondays.com
www.depressiondays.blogspot.com