Re: Rosie's birthday video

What a lovely tribute to a lovey dog.
-deb and eowyn

On 8/26/2012 8:54 PM, Heather Gerquest wrote:

http://youtu.be/9CnBWuFV7LQ

Hi everyone!  It's Heather and Rosie in Maine.  I thought you all would enjoy seeing Rosie's 8th birthday slideshow!  I hope everyone is well!

Take care,

Heather Gerquest and (Jaydens) Rowena

Bangor, Maine

--   Deborah Eve Rubin  Eowyn ( http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1113559 )  Toby ( http://www.dogster.com//?411209 )          

Guardian of the Blueberry Barrens!

Happy Howlidays!

This was our first Christmas card with Rosie.  She was very young so wasn't trained to sit and pose yet.  She just knew to look into the camera!  (2004)

The three wise dogs.  My friend and I were able to get all three dogs to sit and stay for this rare shot.  I of course dressed the photo up to make it more of a Christmas picture and we made a local doggy newspaper with this picture.

I posted a lot of puppy holiday photos because Rosie was a Christmas present.  My  mother and I picked Rosie up at the breeders when she was 9 weeks old!  It was a really cold snowy winter that year so it was not the easiest time to potty train a puppy with hardly any fur and no fat on her.  Especially since we screwed up the training early on by "I don't want MY puppy to have to stay in a crate!"  Many of those "I don't want MY puppy to..." ended up going right out the window.  You have to be flexible!

In her second Christmas season I promptly went out and got her a frilly collar with the matching Santa hat.  She was wonderful and posed nicely for all of my photo sessions.

In this picture she was still at 8 weeks.  She was at the breeders and my husband and I went in to see the pups.  She had personality plus where as her brothers wanted nothing to do with the real world.  She was an easy choice.  It was actually November when I took this picture, but she was a Christmas present!

New puppy comes home!  She was totally terrorized by the 8 cats.  I had her leash under my knee so that I could properly introduce her to the cats, but she slipped away with out my knowing it.  Next thing I hear is a sharp YELP! from the living room.  Then we see her come tearing into the kitchen where we had just set up her styling new metal bowls into the holder.  She crashed into those and there was a huge clanking noise.  So right off we had to deal with a puppy that was afraid to go to her own food dish!

Rosie was potty trained by Christmas but she didn't quite understand that the rules applied in other places and not just at home.  She made a few messes at Gramma's house at Christmas.  I was trying to appease my cat loving sister by having Rosie be perfect, but Rosie just wasn't.  She was only a four month old puppy and she would stay a puppy a while longer!  I was doing all I could do to make sure she was well-trained.  I don't think I did that badly either!

"Are they all for me??"

At ten weeks old she broke a toe.  A cub scout accidently stepped on her foot (she wasn't yet trained not to go after feet and pantlegs yet) and  her outside toe was broken.  I dressed her splint and bandage up for the holidays.

This is a "Yes I am freezing my belly off for this picture!" moment.

The rule is not to get puppies or other animals as Christmas presents.  A puppy is something that requires time and money and attention and training.  If you are not prepared to take in a puppy, this would be a poor gift choice.  Also, often many pets end up in shelters  because they are unwanted.  Also you don't want an impulse buy when you are buying a live creature. Wait until after the holidays and then include the person in on the gift.  Rosie came early for me as a gift.  I had been approved to have a puppy in my apartment (especially since she was going to be trained to become my service dog).  I had received my doctor's script prescribing a puppy to train as a service dog (laws in this state give service dogs in training the same rights as service dogs).  I had already been hunting for a border collie breeder (and I had been researching about service dogs for several years as well as border collies) talking to people who have border collies to see what kind of pets they are.  Those who actually had them as household pets only had great things to say.  Those that didn't have one but knew someone who had a border collie could only say that they are hyper and need sheep to herd.  My girl had a job.  She got plenty of stimulation to keep her happy and a tired puppy towards day's end.  She would fall asleep on my lap in the bus.  I would hold her in my shirt, holding my shirt like a little hammock.  Once daddy came home though she turned into a little hellion!  My husband would request her presence in the bedroom where he rested when he came home for work and minutes later he is yelling "Come get the puppy!  She keeps attacking me!"  She wanted to play when he got home as she hadn't seen him all day.  My husband would come home to a sleeping puppy and thought that she might come cuddle with him and sleep too.

WE WISH EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

WE WISH EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!



My Beauty Queen: Rosie's Poses! A Slideshow

Rosie's YouTube Debut: "Wild Child of Frisbee"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEf9oBq4Jpg



Music by Enya: A Day Without Trees "Wild Child"

"Border Collies at the Fair: Disc-connected K9's (frisbee dogs) Connect at the Bangor State Fair!

Usually Rosie is the only Border Collie I see at the Bangor State Fair, but this year there was a very pleasant surprise to both Rosie and myself... there were frisbee dogs performing an exciting and acrobatic show! Down where the rabbit tent usually stands for the fair, this year the mean rabbit man. For the past 2 years I have been harrassed by the rabbit guy, following me around the tent and grumbling away about how dangerous my dog is...

My Rabbit man ramble... Who is the rabbit man??? (He watches over the rabbit tent which is a big party tent full of rabbit hutches lifted about four feet off the grass on sturdy built on 2x4 legs, and feels that every dog... including those vicious service dogs that come through every year are going to either rip the bunnies from their little cages or that the dogs will, from their very presence, scare the rabbits so much they will totally flip out in their cages and "break their little necks" as the rabbit guy put it. I have had rabbits and have seen them totally freaked with a dog on their tails in hot pursuit. They are not these weak and helpless creatures that break if a carnivor breathes near them. They are strong, fast and very agile. They can jump VERY HIGH! I have seen rabbits hopping and flipping all over the place, thumping off of every object he lands on with a dog right there chasing. Not once though have I seen a rabbit flip out and break it's neck. I hate to ruin the rabbit guy's bad day at the tent, but my dog could care less about a rabbit. She is curious, but has been around bunnies and will sniff them and then just go back to her business. The rabbit did the same. No broken necks.)

So, this year, an area was marked off for a great dog performance. Lawrence Frederick and Jodi Frederick of Jacksonville , Florida choreographed this leaping good time with a number of rescued dogs that had accompanied them to Maine for the show. Mr. Frederick performed with the dogs, one at a time as each dog had its own routine and worked at different levels. Flash, an adorable little freckled, petite, smooth-coated border collie who was mostly white with large black splotches on her back was the biggest performer of the show. Flash, also known as "The Frisbee Freak" (with theme song) is a 2006, 2007, 2008 World Finalist in frisbee and it showed. The other dogs I saw perform were: Harley Davidson (2007) World Finalist) a tall, lanky smooth-coat, Zorra (2008 World Finalist) a classic, petite, black and white smooth-coat, "Easy Rider", a predominantly white with a beautiful thick, shaggy coat, a rescue dog team member, and Bella, a brown and while Aussie and another rescue dog team member. If I missed anyone, I apologise. There were a different selection of three dogs every show I attended. All dogs ranged from experienced pros to "newbies", but each dog did an amazing job regardless of what level they were working from. Of course it doesn't hurt that Mr. Frederick himself is a champion frisbee twirler himself!

Rosie was a bit TOO excited to watch other dogs play frisbee without joining in, so we watched the first show up front at the rope and after the first throw, Rosie began to go nuts so I had to turn her around and get her to look and focus only on me for the rest of the performance. She did great for being such a distracted dog at the time, and I was happy she was able to pull it off. However, for the next 4 performances through out the week that I attended, I stood up on the hill and watched the shows. It wasn't perfect, but provided a neat perspective for photos and video clips. Rosie was better able to control her competitive athletic side that I do encourage at certain, more appropriate times. I bought 2 t-shirts and we got 3 frisbees from them and one miniature frisbee as well!

Awesome group... awesome show.

The Fredericks rescue, train, rehab and adopt out dogs which is how they get their canine talent.

Find out more about this great group of all stars at http://www.k9frisbee.com/.

Below: Zorra performs her routine...

"Who's Alpha?" Rosie learns a new trick (2006)

This is an old video clip, but since I have never been able to post videos before now, I am going to share this clip with you. Here is my girl showing me that I'm indeed the Alpha dog! What a sweety!

Now What Has She Done...

Rosie returns to the exam room at the Eastern Maine Emergency Veterinary Clinic after having her foot splinted and bandaged with pink bandages with purple hearts on it. She did really super for everyone there even though they took her away from me and didn't let me go with her. When they splinted her, Rosie looked back at me from the other side of the nurse's station on the exam table there and I looked at her until they made her lay down so they could put the splint on. I wish they understood that when they take her from me like that that it is not like she is just a pet dog. She is my faithful service dog who has followed me everywhere since she was 9 weeks old. We are together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week all year long. I was very proud of her, being so brave and calm and she did not need to be sedated like when she was a pup (and had broken her toe... the outside one next to this one.)


After a nice Mother's Day weekend with family, Rosie broke her toe. Monday night (5/12/08) while playing frisbee in the field near the river in Bangor, somehow my talented service dog broke her right hind toe (second one in from the outside, second digit down from the claw digit.) The only way I can figure she did it is that when the frisbee landed on the ground, she tried to do one of her sliding stops, her claws dug in and her body continued to move ahead. All we know is that she came back on only three legs, and we know she went after that thing on all four. So, my girl with be "out-of-service" for quite a while. She's already bored and so am I.

Earlier on Monday, we had taken a nice walk up Beech Hill in Rockport, Maine after having spent the night at my Mother's house in Camden. It was so beautiful out and Rosie had fun... went to a swim in the river and took her first dock dive of the summer (and maybe her last). In this above photo she does a sit stay pose for me and looks like a beautiful Lass looking out to the ocean. The broken toe was such a horrible ending to the weekend and will really put a damper on both of our summer activities. Not to mention she might have to learn how to stay home alone if I need to walk to appointments or whatever.

My New Puppy Broke!: I know I have been here before...

This whole thing with Rosie and her broken toe reminds me of my new little 10 week old puppy that I took with me on a camping trip. There was a Boy Scout camping activity and I took my baby Rowena with me. For some reason, I rather inadvertantly handed my new puppy's leash over to a boy scout to take for a walk. I was just about ready to tell the boy to watch out "Be careful! She will get underfoot as she herds moving pantlegs!" But before I could get a word out, I heard a series of puppy yipes as the boys foot came down on my new puppy's little white freckled foot. Little did anyone know that at that moment, little Rowena's first toe on her right hind foot was fractured.
The whole weekend people would not even realize it, but I knew something was wrong. My new puppy still played and leaped around, but I could see, ever so slightly, that she was favoring that foot. Everyone said I was just being a nervous new puppy mom, but the next day I took her to her vet's to get it looked at. Little Rowena had just been into the vet's only about a week earlier at her first puppy well-check up. They sedated my new puppy and x-rayed her little foot, taking her from my view. The report was that her toe was indeed broken. They took her back (again out of my sight) to splint her little foot with a huge spoon splint and the pink and purple colored bandage per my request. A couple of hundred dollars later, I am carrying my tiny little gal home. She was heavy in my arms, still sedated. That didn't last nearly long enough though. I was supposed to keep a young border collie puppy quiet and still for a month. Yeah, right.

A long day with my new puppy... and SHE'S BACK! Little Rowena wakes up!

Over the next four weeks, the splinted foot got wet, dirty, worn, and duct taped. Seasons changed and holidays soon arrived, I found it only fit to not just repair her bandage once, but yet another time only dress it up for the holidays!

Above photos: (Click on photo for a larger view) Pink and Floral on the left... Red and white with green Christmas trees topped with yellow stars on the right.

Rosie's Veterinarian told me that now Rosie only has 2 toes left to break on that foot! Wow! I wonder if Rosie gets an award after all toes have been fractured! (knock on wood that doesn't happen.)

We Are a Certified Service Dog Team Now!

As of October 21, 2007, we have been a service dog team. We got a framed certificate that read the following:

"Certified Service Dog Team

Heather Gerquest & Rowena

The above named team has met the objectives and requirements outlined by Tail Waggin Training Center and has agreed to the professional standards of conduct, thus having acheived the status of Certified Service Dog Team with Public Access."

Below is the photo taken after our Public Access Test given at the Bangor Mall, Bangor, Maine US by Rob Boulier of Tail Waggin Training Center. It was an impromptu test... we were there just to go through and see what was involved in the test, but I was given the option to test. I did so which was probably a great thing because I did not have time to get nervous.

Rob & Lynn wanted to do something special, and I didn't know what the meant. I didn't know certification through them was an option for me since Rosie is a handler-trained service dog. In January, the Bouliers stopped by to deliver my certificate, beautifully framed, and the certification surprised me.
I feel quite honored that they trusted us as a team enough to put their name on our certificate... and very proud of Rosie, who will still always be "in Training".

2007 Spring Thaw Photo: Spring Beauty

Rosie celebrates the disappearing snow from the field with a high flying game of Frisbee!