Lark and Dave Visit the Malheur Militants

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A few words about my visit to the USFWS Malheur Wildlife Refuge yesterday. Joan and I started visiting Malheur and nearby Steens Mountain soon after we moved to Oregon almost 30 years ago. We and many of our friends believe this area is one of the most beautiful places in the state. For more than a 100 years, much of Malheur Wildlife Refuge has been in public ownership and dedicated to conservation purposes. So when a gang of out-of-state extremists invaded the Refuge, we and many other Oregonians get defensive.

Oregon Public Broadcasting Coverage of the Malheur Insurrection

IMG_4960_1600pxYesterday at dawn the 180,000 acre refuge was almost completely desolate of human presence. The militants only hold a couple of acres of ground and so the land continues to serve its most important function, providing habitat for more than 300 species of birds and a wide range of other wildlife. But its a shame that the public is prevented from enjoying the place because of the actions of these thugs.

IMG_4956_1600pxI first stopped at one of the rear entrances into the headquarters area yesterday. The driveway was barricaded and guarded by a single man. I got Lark out out of the SUV and we walked as far as the first barrier where I posed her for pictures. The sentry said hi and asked if he could help me. I said no, we’re fine. I spent a few minutes with Lark doing obedience exercises in front of the barricade, then loaded Lark into the SUV and headed back toward the main entrance. A moment later, an old guy on a horse comes cantering down the road toward me. At about 100 ft away, he attempts to turn sideways in the road to block me. But his horse, swerves and lunges, almost throwing the guy off. His hat goes one way and his cell phone flies another. The guy was shaken, but trying his damnedest to hold on to his dignity. His name was Dwayne (or Dwight?) and he also asked if he could help me. I asked if I could help him. He said his horse is always a little frisky in the morning. I refrained from saying that maybe maybe he needed some more lessons riding a horse. He dismounted and asked if I would hold off driving ahead until he and his horse could pass behind me. Before I left, he warned me to be careful around headquarters. His words were “there are a lot of scared kids with guns up there”.

A couple minutes later Lark and I visited the main entrance to HQ. There was a guy getting out of a black Cadillac Escalade and he walked past the roadblock to a few others sitting around a camp fire. A young man asked if I wanted to come over to warm up at the fire, an offer which I declined. I don’t care how hospitable these guys were towards me. They were stalking and harassing BLM and USFWS employees. Men and women who actually live and work in that community. I didn’t want to be friendly with any of these extremists. I posed Lark for more photos and we did some more obedience exercises in front of the roadblock. It was just me, Lark, the militants. No media and no law enforcement presence in sight. I don’t know what the guys around the campfire were thinking, but I figured there must be at least 1 or 2 leaders in the gang that were thinking about public perception to their occupation. So when tourists show up at the barricades to pose their puppy for pics and treat the guys with guns as nothing more than interesting background, I have just a glimmer of hope that those leaders will start to wonder about their public image.

20160122_085800There are good reasons to be concerned at how the US attorney treated the Hammonds. It was this issue that gave the Bundy’s the pretense for coming to Oregon. The case has enraged a lot of folks in eastern Oregon and it could have been handled by the US Attorneys office a whole lot better than it was. The Bundy’s and their stooges have come from out of state to assist the citizen’s of Harney County gain local control of public lands. Apparently the militants can’t see the illogic of their arguments so clear to the almost everyone else. I came away thinking that maybe the FBI is doing the best thing by letting these nut jobs stew by themselves out there. No need to make martyrs for the other crazys that want to privatize public lands.

Caring for the High Performance Dog- The Sequel

Posted on by Obsidian Master

I received a lot of comments on the story I posted about Knife’s shoulder injuries back in July.    Clearly there are a lot of competitors struggling with how to keep their canine athletes healthy and safe during sports and work.  Knife’s path to recovery has been slow, but steady.  The care he has received at Oregon State University Veterinary School’s Ortho/Rehab Department represent the most advanced treatments and technology available to athletes, canine or human.   Lucky for Knife and us, we only live 20 minutes from OSU!

Original Story: Caring for the High Performance Dog

Knife’s bilateral supraspinatus tendonopathy was initially treated with platelet-rich plasma injections and activity restriction.  Although not enough activity restriction evidently.  A follow up exam and ultrasound showed some improvement in the supraspinatus tendons, but also a serious tear in a biceps tendon.  It was very disheartening.  Nevertheless, Dr. Baltzer remained optimistic.  She had just gotten started on Knife.  In early October, Knife had another round of ultra-PRP injections and an omental transplant.  Omentum is the fatty tissue in the abdomen.  It has cells that produce cell growth factors and specialized lipids with restorative functions.  In human medicine, omental transplants are being used to treat brain injuries and and improve outcomes in plastic surgery.  Dr. Baltzer has been using omentum tissue to repair bone fractures for a couple years.  Knife is one of her first patients to receive such treatment for a tendon and muscle injury.  The procedure involved the extraction of omentum from Knife’s abdomen and packing the tissue around the lesions in his shoulders. The tissue will become vascularized on its own without the surgeon connecting it to blood vessels.  There it sits pumping out growth factors to aid healing in Knife’s tendons.

Two weeks after Knife’s surgery, we still noticed swelling around Knife’s shoulders and we got worried about post-op complications.  When we told Dr. Balzer about the swelling she laughed.  It was the pads of omental tissue!  They are now a permanent part of Knife’s shoulder anatomy.  Theoretically, they should be able to help repair any future injury to Knife’s biceps or supraspinatus tendons!

During the transplant procedure,  another small amount of omentum was harvested to grow stem cells at OSU Vet School’s new stem cell lab. These cells were given to Knife two weeks later in ultrasound guided injections.  After these treatments, Knife was locked down in an ex-pen for 8 weeks. He wore a shoulder stabilization vest that limited his range of motion during his brief periods of exercise.

l_supraspinatus_20141208Yesterday was Knife’s follow-up exam. We had been waiting for this day for two months. On her physical examination, Dr. B found just some slight impairment to the range of motion in his right shoulder. However, the ultrasound imagery showed a lot of new tendon fibers!  It’s great news. Now the goal is to strengthen all the new fibers as well as all the other structures that stabilize shoulders.  Six- to eight more weeks of conditioning exercises and back to ring sport and agility competition by the end of February.

knife_joan_tday_400X500pxHas it been worth it?  So far this vet care has cost about what we spent for oneyear of training and competing with Knife.  If all goes well, he will have just turned 4 years old when he is ready to trial again.  Hopefully, Knife will have another 5 years of attacking decoys and agility courses.  He is an amazing dog. Yep, it’s worth it.

We’d like to thank Dr. Wendy Baltzer, Sara, Dave, and Kristina the rehab therapists, and all the other faculty and staff that have provided such great care to Knife, Rocky, and Heart!

 

 

 

Sharpy: New TDU Title

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sharpy_tdu_award_miller_20141005This morning Obsidian’s Accipiter (“Sharpy”) earned her Tracking Dog Urban (TDU) title at the test held in Monmouth, Oregon by the Luckiamute Tracking Club.   Sharpy kept her nose down and negotiated some complicated passages along the track. It wasn’t until the last 3 yards, with the glove in sight, that I started to doubt whether we were going to pass.  Sharpy was proceeding very strongly on damp grass along the last leg of the track.  I saw the glove indicating the end of the track near the corner of a building ahead. As Sharpy approached the finish, she caught scent of a squirrel and shot around the corner, jerking herself hard when she got to the end of her lead.  The “self-correction” caused Sharpy to run back to me with her ears down and apologetic for chasing wildlife. To prove she had changed her ways,  she stayed at my side and refused to move toward the squirrel or the glove.  In spite of multiple commands to track, Sharpy stood fastened to my hip. I was in a terrible predicament.  The end of the track was 3 yards away and my dog wouldn’t restart.  Just when I was about to give up hope, Sharpy caught a whiff of the glove and laid down where she was.  The judges recognized this as Sharpy’s article indication from the previous articles we found on the track!  So they signaled to me that we had successfully finished the test.  I’ve had close calls in tracking tests, but never quite this close before.  The judges today were Curt Curtis and Judy Stromquist.

sharpy_tdu_map_20141005 Rogue and Heart also were entered in today’s test.  Rogue got into trouble midway down the track and we wandered off until we heard the whistle.  Heart made it down a difficult first leg that included two driveway crossings and quite  a lot of other non-vegetated surfaces.  I knew we had come to the first turn and held Heart patiently until she committed to a new direction…the wrong direction unfortunately.  Even though we failed, the judges let us finish the track.  Heart performed very nicely and was hardly distracted by a tractor that passed within a few feet of her or by the barking huskys lunging toward Heart at the end of their leads just as she approached the glove.  A very strong performance in spite of the fail.  Of five dogs in the test, only Sharpy passed.

The TDU is a relatively new AKC tracking test. The major specifications of the test are:

  • 400-500 yards in length
  • The track is aged between 30-120 minutes
  • The track has 3-5 turns
  • 10-30% of the track must be on non-vegetated surfaces

I believe that Sharpy may be only the second Belgian Sheepdog to have passed the TDU test.

The award photo is courtesy of Peggy Miller.

 

Reunion 2014

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Glace Noire Sabre d'ObsidianLast Sunday we had the chance to visit with seven of Heart’s offspring at the Obsidian Kennel reunion held at the Rogue Farm in Independence, Oregon.  Pack members traveled back to the Willamette Valley from California, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The Obsidian offspring in attendance were:

  • Obsidian’s Atlas (Flag)
  • Obsidian’s Aye of the Hurricane (Storm)
  • Glace Noire Sabre d’Obsidian (Sabre)
  • Obsidian’s To Build a Fire (Colt)
  • Legendary Broadsword of Obsidian (Kupo)
  • Obsidian’s Black Rock Buccaneer (Blaede).

and of course our own Sharpy (Obsidian’s Accipiter).  Sota, sire of the Obsidian B-Litter, also stopped by to be admired by the gathering.  The guest of honor was Heart herself.

The center of activity was the shaded deck behind the farmhouse.  From there is was an easy walk to the Willamette River where the dogs could cool, and it was even a shorter distance to the tasting room where we could refill a growler with Rogue’s Brutal Bitter.

8. Which of the following is considered a fault under the AKC standard for the Belgian sheepdog?
a. 25 inches tall for a male
b. Chest broad, not deep
c. Eyes: brown, preferably dark brown
d. tends to single track on a fast gait

Legendary Broadsword of Obsidian After a picnic lunch,  I subjected the gang to a game of Belgian trivia with 18 questions about breed history, the AKC Belgian sheepdog standard, performance event rules, and the Obsidian family.  I thought I’d stump everybody when I asked them to name the sire or dam of the earliest Groenendael foundation couple,  but Connie Batsford had been waiting for that one.  “Petite”, said Connie.  Good Girl!  Trivia was followed game in which we blindfolded one of the group, who was then presented with three different dogs and they had to choose which was their own.  Those A-Litter boys look like they were made with a cookie-cutter, so it was definitely not as easy as it sounds.  Joan, hands down, proved herself the champion by correctly identifying all three dogs, only one of which she owns.

Obsidian's Aye of the HurricaneIt was wonderful to see how nicely the A-Litter has matured at three years old.  They are a very handsome pack of Belgians.  Kupo and Blaede from the B-Litter show so much promise.  We know they can look forward to success in the show ring or the performance arena. They are all lucky dogs to have the owners that they do!  Thank you Connie, Wendy, Maggie and Michael, Sean and Lauren, Heidi and Jeff, and the other owners who couldn’t attend for the rich lives you are providing these dogs.

 

Sharpy: Tracking Dog!

Posted on by Obsidian Master

td_award6_croppedSharpy really did a brilliant job on her TD track at the Southern Oregon Kennel Club test last weekend. She proceeded along very methodically and gave easy-to-read corner indications. We encountered a couple of geese standing 30-40 yards from the last corner, which caught Sharpy’s attention for a few moments and gave me a bit of panic. But she got going again with only a word from me. Then one long pull to the glove. Thank you judges Mitzi Young and Sil Sanders!

TD Track MapSharpy has already been in training for TDX and VST tests, so it won’t be too much longer before she will be ready for those more difficult challenges.  Sharpy takes after her mother, Heart, who passed the TD and TDX tests on the first try.

2013 Spirit of Chilko Award!

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Chilko was our first purebred Belgian Sheepdog. She was an exceptional tracker, earned high-in-trial in obedience competition, worked on professional wildlife detection projects, helped us with sheep chores, and had fun in agility. She always had a big smile for humans and dogs alike. Chilko showed us how versatile Belgian sheepdogs can be and she inspired us to become breeders.

To celebrate Chilko’s life, we offer an annual award named in her honor and announced on the birthday of our A-Litter (Feb 12). Each year we select one dog bred under the Obsidian kennel name to represent our hopes for generations of accomplished, healthy dogs to come.

sabre_connie_1000px

Joan and I are very pleased to announce that the recipient of 2013 Spirit of Chilko Award is Glace Noire Sabre D’Obsidian BN RN HT CGC, just Sabre to his friends. Sabre is owned by Connie and Rick Batsford of Vacaville, CA who bred Belgian sheepdogs under the kennel name Glace Noire. Our own Rocky is from Connie and Rick and he’s another one of the great dogs whose qualities we hope to be able to produce from our own breeding program. Sabre is already competing in obedience and rally, tested in AKC herding, and is training for agility and tracking. At home, Sabre is something of a service dog, whose strong shoulder’s provide Connie some stability as she climbs stairs (Two knee replacements and Connie is still doing dog sports!). Sabre also patrols the Batsford yard doing his best to keep deer from eating all the roses. Sabre really demonstrates how versatile our breed is. Connie says of Sabre “Everyone loves his exuberance and flash when working. Like others of his litter, he loves to be busy and he’s fun to work because of it. He’s a great ambassador for the breed.”

soc_sabre_2013Thank you Connie and Rick for all the time you put into training Sabre and showing others in the canine community what a fantastic breed we have!

Sabre will be receiving a cast figure of a Belgian sheepdog by Czech craftsman Milan Sorm with Sabre’s name engraved on the base. More information about the Spirit of Chilko Award can be found in the files section on the Obsidian Yahoo site.

Dave and Joan

Even Dogs Get 15 Minutes of Fame

Posted on by Obsidian Master

Well, 6 minutes, 26 seconds anyway.

National Public Radio broadcast a story about conservation detection dogs this week which, in part, featured a couple of the Obsidian Belgians.  NPR science reporter Adam Cole first met me on a wet field where I was training Knife to find western pond turtle nests during December 2011.  The photos for the NPR website were taken by Portland photographer, Rob Finch, while I was using Rogue to find turtle nests at the East Thornton Lake Natural Area.  Sharpy was there too getting some foundation training in detection work.  The story can still be heard at the NPR website:

http://www.npr.org/2013/09/03/192798179/the-latest-in-scientific-field-equipment-fidos-nose

 

Old Partner/Young Partner

Posted on by Obsidian Master

Rocky was one of the fastest Belgian sheepdogs in the country at the peak of his career.  He and Joan  competed in AKC National Agility Championships and the 2009 and 2010 AKC Agility Invitationals.  Rocky finally retired in 2011.  All those thousands of A-frame contacts and weave poles took there toll and Rocky had back surgery last year.  Since then, Joan has been keeping Rocky fit through a program of regular exercise, manual stretches almost every night, and frequent runs over short sequences of low jumps.  Rocky still has the spirit and drive of a top agility dog!  This weekend Joan entered Rocky in a local fun match.  You can still see the old guy still has it!

2010 Invitational video clip

2013 fun match video

And a brag about Joan’s new partner, Knife.  This weekend at the Sheltie AKC trial, Knife and Joan Q’ed 5 for 6, earned his first triple Q, and won 5 first places in the 26″ class.  Sorry, no videos from the weekend.

 

Portland Agility Club AKC Agility Trial

Posted on by Obsidian Master
Groenendael Knife Agility
Photo by Joe Camp

Knife has only been competing in agility for seven months, but he finished his AX title last Friday and went on to earn his first double Q at the PAC trial today.  He took first place on the 24″ jumpers and standard course, racking up 40 speed points!

Both our girls also did well.  Sharpy finished her novice standard title this weekend and Heart took second place in a competitive 16″ standard class on Friday.