July 23 TXWAG Meeting Canceled!

                                July 23 TXWAG Meeting Canceled!
BUT  The Shows Go On! See Reliant Show Ring Numbers and Show Times Below:

We have had no  acceptances of our EVITE invitation to the Beaumont KC shows, so  I will have to cancel the meeting.  Fortunately the club had not yet committed for the lunch service!  Stay tuned for another meeting attempt in the fall in the Austin area.

If you decide to come to the show any of the days I’ll be there (showing two puppies Thurs- Sat/ hanging out on Wed), I’d like to see some WT people  I know and meet some whom I don’t.  Come and see  me at ringside or at my grooming space or both.  I will be in Reserved Grooming space # 420

Here are the ring numbers and times :

Wednesday 9 at 4:10 PM  (The all-terrier show is an evening affair the first day.)  I may be around then, but am not entered.  I thought 3 days was quite enough for young puppies.  If I am there, the puppies will be, too, at my grooming area.  If you are coming Wednesday PM, let me know and I’ll be sure to be there to meet you.
Thursday 13 at 2PM
Friday 3 at 10:25
Saturday 9 at 1:05
Sunday  11 at 12:40  I won’t be there, but a few WTs will be shown.

We aren’t doing  Meet the Breeds, since it really takes more than one person and more than one dog.

I will be driving down Wednesday, arriving in the PM sometimes — I’m not rushing down from Boerne.  I will have my cell with me, though it’s almost impossible to hear anything in noisy show halls.  I will check it for messages, though, if you want to call.
The # is 210 870 9404.

If you can let me know your plans ahead of time, that would be great.  Otherwise just show up when you can!
Home # is 830 537 5255.

Hoping Somebody Will Drop By The Shows Next Weekend!
Becky Eterno (jeterno@gvtc.com)
Tollgate Terriers

TXWAG 2011 SUMMER MEETING — A Day at the Dog Show!

This year’s TXWAG meeting is going to be something different — a day at
Houston’s Reliant Center for the Beaumont Kennel Club dog show on Saturday,
July 23.

These are the plans as they stand now:

The Reliant “World Series of Dog Shows,” as they call the weekend, is a four-
day weekend of big shows which attract dogs from all around the country. In
addition, the winners of a Houston kids’ dog art show occupy a place of honor
near the entrance to the show. AKC always has a large presence, as do other dog-
oriented organizations. Many local rescue groups come, bringing dogs and filling
up a whole aisle near the shopping area. And let me tell you about the shopping
area. Great, just great!

We will have our own meeting room for socializing, lunch and our annual
meeting. The Reliant center will be catering a light luncheon, cold cuts and
sandwiches, probably, though a menu isn’t planned yet. We can watch the WTs
show, too, of course.

I hope we can also take part in the Meet the Breeds. This event takes place in a
corralled –off area at the show hall where a few breeds at a time are featured;
the public is invited to come, see and pet — and they do! The area is always
swarming with people – lots of kids, too. Though unentered dogs aren’t welcome
at shows, Meet the Breeds dogs in the past have not always been showdogs.
More information about that later, the show premium list will have all the details
when it comes out.

So pencil in this date, and we’ll get more info out to you as it becomes available.
This should be a nice relaxing day out of the July heat!

More Later!

Becky Eterno

President, TXWAG

Summer in Texas – Keep your Welshies Healthy!

The extremes of a Texas summer challenge us to keep up with routine health maintenance on our dogs. Bugs, worms, reptiles, and pathogens burgeon with unrelenting heat and, in most of Texas, humidity. Here are some reminders for the long hot summer.

Fleas: Omnipresent as the weather warms up, with Ticks common in non-urban areas. Fleas are a nuisance to people, but keeping dogs free of ticks prevents the spread of tick-borne illnesses like Lyme Disease and Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever, which also afflict humans.

Once-a-month flea/tick preparations like Frontline do a good job. A new entry, once-a-month pill Comfortis, is an “organic” alternative to the standard chemicals. Its main ingredient, spinosad, is also an organic insecticide for garden use and fire ant bait.

Worms: Heart, hook, round – small and large, whip — sounds like the beginning of a dog-unfriendly alphabet song, doesn’t it? All of these worms aren’t everywhere in TX, but a good number are, especially the deadly heartworm.

While many worms, roundworms, for example, sap the dog’s vitality without doing permanent damage, heartworm is a killer. Treating a heartworm-infected dog involves a fairly dangerous multiple-day regimen of medication and a vet stay and can cost over $500. A trauma for the dog and for the owner’s pocketbook.

Heartgard Plus is probably the most commonly used heartworm preventative. Its main ingredient, ivermectin and the secondary ingredient, pyrantel, are also used in horses and other livestock. Several other heartworm meds also use ivermectin. Interceptor, another common wormer, is effective against a particularly wide variety of wormy enemies.

Snakes: Warm weather brings out the many snakes of Texas, several of which are poisonous. If your dogs are like mine, they will attack any snake, any time. Suburban and country dogs, more at risk from snakes than city dogs, in rattlesnake country are particularly lucky, since dogs can now be vaccinated against rattlesnake venom.

Leptospirosis: This nasty bacterial infection used to have a vaccination which was notorious for its dangerous side effects – so dangerous that I never had my dogs vaccinated. Lately, however, the strains of lepto which are prevalent in this area have changed and the vaccine has been vastly improved. Dogs which are not likely to come in contact with possum or raccoon urine (a prime source of contagion) probably don’t need this vaccination, but owners should consider it for wider- ranging suburban and rural dogs. I’m never one to encourage vaccination for its own sake, but this disease, unlike others which affect dogs, can be transmitted to humans. I think the lepto vaccine is in my dogs’ future.

Heat: Impossible to avoid in Texas, but easy to combat. Air conditioning works for everyone, human and animal, but dogs outside need to stay cool, too. They are wearing fur coats, after all! Water, as in always-full water bowls, baby pool, sprinkler and hose spray keep the heat at bay. Many WTs also love to swim, if water is available. Hydrogel-filled crate mats soaked in water can provide hours of coolness, as do little battery-operated crate fans. And everyone knows how quickly cars heat up in the Texas sunshine – even if windows are partly open.

Everybody have a happy, healthy summer with your Welshes!

Becky Eterno

Add TXWAG/2010 to your calendar

Hi there Waggers. Put this on your calendars!

Tx WAG 2010 will be Saturday, April 10. Becky Eterno has graciously offered her home in Boerne, Texas once again. We will be having the usual preWAG party Friday night for those of you who come Friday.

More to be revealed.

AKC Earthdog Tests

For those of you interested in Earthdog Trials, check out Tejas Earthdog Club’s upcoming tests on October 31 and November 1 being held in Santa Fe, TX

TEDSET Fall2009 Premium

Ride the Rails

The Story of Duncan and Walter (9th in a series of articles about how our club members became Welshie Slaves)

By Walter Davis

Back in the mid 1990′s, my wife came home from the Astroworld Series of Dog Shows with this marvelous tale about a dog sport called Flyball where teams of dogs ran and jumped and grabbed tennis balls — all things that our Jack Russell terrier did on a daily basis. We thought hey, this is the perfect sport for us. So we found a local trainer and took the little fella to classes and he was soon a superstar, at least in our eyes. My wife was the handler and I was merely the cheerleader on the sidelines. But I had the fever, and in early 1998 I decided to expand the furrier portion of our family by adding another pup that I could race. I wanted something with size and speed in the middle between the Speed Racer Border Collies and the determined Jack Russells. I did some research at the library and decided that a Welsh Terrier was the perfect fit for me. The problem then became how and where to get one.

Internet research told me that Welsh Terrier owners didn’t advertise their litters very much and kept prices relatively high, wanting to avoid the mass production problems that plagued the Jack Russells, who were suddenly in demand after movies like My Dog Skip, but then quickly forgotten or abandoned when new owners realized their high energy requirements. But sure enough, one Sunday in the pet section of the local Houston newspaper, there it was… a nearby litter for sale. I called and made an appointment to immediately go see the little rascals for myself, and we set out on what was to be an eleven-year adventure.

I rang the doorbell and a very sweet and very lovely lady named Annabella answered. As she sat and petted her boy Chester, she told us all about Welshies, their likes and dislikes, their personality quirks and the things that made them special to her. At some point during the conversation I believe it was Chester who calmly walked over and jumped into their pool for a quick swim. I thought, “WOW, this is the dog for me!!” I can only assume that Annabella eventually deemed us to be good prospective parents because then she introduced us to the two pups that were up for adoption. The female was already spoken for, but the little male pup was available to the right family. This little guy was CUTE!! He looked just like a little baby buffalo to me, all black with a bit of tan mixed in. He’d run and stumble, then pick himself up and roll over his sister with glee.

I picked him up.

He licked my face.

He settled into my arms and went to sleep.

I was a goner.

It was love.

I’ll never forget a Flyball demo we helped put on at Delta Downs one weekend where Duncan ran down, grabbed the ball, ran back JUST out of my reach, jumped over the hay bales separating us from the crowd, and proceeded to run laps around the field while his fans cheered him on. The announcer simply laughed and said, “that’s why our mantra is train, train, train”.

Duncan never did race professionally, but he cheered from the sidelines for years until our other pups grew too old to race any longer and we retired from the sport. He is turning 11 years old very soon, and these days he can be found in our huge backyard being chased by our Border Collies and chasing our Jack Russell in return. It’s hilarious to watch them all play for so long, then have him suddenly lay down huffing and puffing and look over at me with joy in his eyes.
Someone asked me recently what I loved most about the little guy. My comment was this: Even on days when I’m frustrated as hell with him over something he’s chewed on that he shouldn’t or when he’s gotten too aggressive with the other dogs over toys or food, I’ll yell at him and tell him that he’s in trouble. And the little cuss will put his ears down, come crawl into my lap, lick my face, and curl up in my arms and close his eyes.. just like on the very first day I ever laid eyes on him.

What can I say?

I’m a slave.

Get down & Get dirty with Tejas Earthdog Club

AKC Earthdog Test October 31 & November 1, 2009 Open to all AKC approved Terriers and Dachshunds (Dogs must be registered with AKC to participate)

Join Tejas Earthdog Club at “For Dogs Only”
714 Algoa Friendswood Rd.
Santa Fe, TX

Directions: From I-45 heading south, exit FM 517 (#19) and turn right onto FM517. After you go about 5 miles you will see a wild animal park on the left. Turn left onto Algoa Friendswood road. After about 1 mile you’ll come to a stop sign. The facility is on the left, after about ½ mile. From I-45 heading north, ext FM 517 and turn left onto FM 517. Follow the directions from there.

Judging for Saturday:

Master – Morris Fraley
Senior – Doreen Workman
Junior – Doreen Workman
Intro – Morris Fraley

Judging for Sunday:

Master – Doreen Workman
Senior – Kellye Slatton
Junior – Kellye Slatton
Intro – Doreen Workman

Entry fees:

Master $22 day of test and $20 pre-entry
Junior $20 day of test and $18 pre-entry
Senior $20 day of test and $18 pre-entry
Intro $12 day of test and $10 pre-entry

The dig in and practice will be on Saturday, October 24th.
Dig in at 9:00 AM with practice starting after dig in is completed.

For more information, contact Cindy Camp at campwtz@att.net
Join us after the test on Saturday for a costume contest for the dogs!
Potluck Lunch both days – Bring a dish

Hill Country Spring Fling

Mark your calendars! Tx Wag 2009 will be held Saturday, April 4 at Becky Eterno’s new home in Boerne, Texas. Boerne is located northwest of San Antonio(about 33 miles from the San Antonio International Airport) and southwest of Austin(about 105 miles southwest of Bergstrom International Airport). It is a beautiful area with antique stores, good German food, and much more.

For those of you who may be new to the WAG, many of us meet at a dog friendly motel the night before, have dinner and visit. The WAG is usually a 10 am to 5 pm, or there abouts as we say in Texas, with lunch, an auction, and usually a session on some aspect of WT care. The Club provides a meat and everyone brings a dish. Lots of good company, food, and WT fun.

We will be posting information about exact times, motels, food, and auction in the near future. We are, of course, looking for volunteers to assist with food, coordinate the auction, and deal with all the other administrative, clean-up tasks. More information to follow.

YEE HAW to generous donors

The Texas Wag Welsh Terrier Club will hold a Texas-size raffle during the WTCA 2008 Floating Specialty in San Antonio.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the Canine Health Foundation for Glaucoma Research.

Barbara Arnold

Mary Beacon

http://tumbleweedstudio.com

Dick Briggs

http://www.briggsdale.net/

Dorothy Cameron

Drs. Foster and Smith

http://www.drsfostersmith.com

Doggone Good!

http://www.doggonegood.com

Dog ID Collar

http://dogidcollar.com

Dogwise

http://www.dogwise.com

J&J Dog Supplies

http://www.jjdog.com

Johnna Y. Klukas

http://www.jykboxes.com/

KV Vet Supply

http://www.kvvet.com

Lupine Collars & Leads

http://www.lupinepet.com

Donna Masters

www.dograllyo.com

Natural Balance Pet Foods

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com

Oster Professional Products

http://www.osterpro.com

Pearson Stripping Knives

http://www.strippingknives.com

Terrier Toys

http://www.terriertoys.com

Up Country Inc.

http://www.upcountryinc.com

Zuke’s

http://zukes.com