Well, I'm computerless now but stealing my hubby's computer as much as possible right now to get online. I hate to see this board go stale. I'll try and get some discussion going as I love this board as it is very "international". I've been busy but I'll try to check here more often. I'm showing my new boy right now my self. He is my first homebred show boy and the first that I'm showing myself (versus using a handler). Also my husband scuba dives alot now, so we've been busy with that this summer and I have another trip down to Florida this winter to go swim with manatees (I've developed a fascination with them this year). I also have some fairly new babies here. They are eleven weeks old and ALL BOYS. AGAIN. 18 puppies have been bred by me, 13 have been boys. This is my second all boy litter. But atleast I did get red/white like I wanted! Well, I'm going to try and throw out a question now and see if we get any responses. PS any tips for getting bitch puppies in a litter will be much appreciated

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2001

Answers

Susan - thanks for the words of encouragement!

More boy babies eh? Well at least you got what you wanted with a red/white boy. If I knew a formula for producing more bitch puppies......I`d sell it!!!!

However, you never know, there might be the odd bit of folklaw which might be remembered and posted.

Tell me more about this fascination you have with manatees - was it a chance meeting or some such thing? (:o)

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

Susan it sounds as though you were really taken with them!

You mustn`t stop now, I`m dying to know about you snorkeling with aligators! Don`t be put off by feeling you are going `off subject`. The other forum I belong to is the Newcastle United Football Supporters forum. Because it has been going longer, and has many more contributors than this one, they catagorise the threads, one is a `non-footie` thread. Believe you me, that is the thread where you really get to know people, and it is a lot of fun - it`s like going down to your local pub!

Once this forum is bigger, it is a simple matter to do a similar thing.

BTW, I prefer boys (dogs!) as pets too - they are so affectionate.

Also, you are making me green with envy - St. Petersburg is where my husband and I were going to take a couple of weeks `r and r` before coming to the Nationals. Unfortunately, it didn`t work out, and we could manage either! (:o(

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Hi Roz! Believe me, I love my boys and all, in fact as pets I prefer males. But you have to have some good bitches for a good breeding program, we all know this. Right now I only have two intact bitches, Harley who is the dam of the 11 week old babies, and a 10 month old bitch puppy who is growing back out a patch of hair before starting her show career. About the manatees, I saw them for the first time in the "wild" (ie not at Sea World or other aquarium type place, but just out in the open waters in Florida) this summer. To keep it somewhat shih tzu related, it was during our trip down to Florida for Nationals. Nationals were in Orlando which is only about an hour from where my husband grew up, St Petersburg Florida. St Pete is on the beach on the other side of the bay from Tampa. Anyways, my husband took me to his old neighborhood. At the end of the neighborhood there is a little bay and a river also empties in there which makes the water brackish which manatees love. We walked out onto someones pier and within five minutes saw three manatee out playing. It was just totally facinating. They are friendly, calm and gentle, yet are close to 2,000 lbs. A couple of weeks later we went down to Crystal River Florida for my husband to go scuba diving. Again I saw manatee but didnt get a chance to swim with them (although I did "get" to go snorkeling in alligator territory, but thats another story!). They arent as abundant in Crystal River during the summer months, as they are then swimming up and down the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. But they winter over there in large numbers so we are going back down this winter to go swimming with them.

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

Oh, and if anyone is interested, this is Crystal River http://www.crystalriverflorida.com/

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001

Oops, sorry - I`ve made this thread get out of sequence by forgetting to use my other e mail address. Because my `btinternet` address is the one I use as administrator, it automatically slots my posting in at the top.(:o)

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Well, the alligator trip, fortunately we saw no alligators, but we were aware we were in their territory as one of the girls had seen a fairly big one there the week before. We were in Rainbow River which is about 10 minutes from Crystal River. These are all natural springs which lead out into the gulf. Being that they are springs, they are constantly fairly cool waters. Rainbow River is a constant 72 degrees F, which in celcius is approx 22 degrees. Fairly cold water. Anyways, the PLAN WAS to go out on the boat about 4 miles up the river to a hole where one of the springs was so my husband could do his test and me and my 10 year old stepson could snorkel off the boat. Well, we go up the river and find out the boat is LEAVING US and the only way back is to swim as all the land along the river is private property with no trespassing. I was NOT pleased! It was cold, I had no wet suit and just not happy LOL. It did end up quite interesting though. Water depths ranged from 2-3 feet to about 25 feet. And perfectly clear. We saw lots of fish, it was interesting as being an inlet right at the gulf, you saw fresh water and salt water fish. I probably make a bigger deal out of this than most, but you have to understand this scares me. I've always been a good swimmer and loved swimming, as a teenager I was a lifeguard. But thats swimming pools! I love the beach, but getting out in the ocean is SCARY to me. This summer was my first time getting off out into the ocean in water over my head. That was in St Pete, my husbands uncle is a fisherman there and has several boats and took us out to Egmont Key http://www.abfla.com/parks/EgmontKey/egmontkey.html You should go down to St Pete Beach sometimes. Its pretty there. Its not like alot of beach towns that are tacky with lots of cheap stores along the beach road. Its really nice. We found a really nice hotel there too. Its the Tradewinds Sirata beach resort. I recommend it to anyone. Its a very nice resort hotel and we found a cheap rate on the internet for $79 US a night.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Argh! My worst nightmare! I am a very adequate swimmer (just as long as I know that, if I want to, I can put my feet on the bottom!) Otherwise, I panic and sink like a stone! I really envy people who are confident in the water. (:o)

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2001

Well, I dont have confidence in the water either. But I am working on it. I will swim in a swimming pool as deep as they get and that doesnt bother me. Its the "unknown" of being out in the ocean, you dont know what you are swimming with! As I said, I have gotten out in it some this summer, but I've been scared and my rule stands that if I cant see to the bottom even if its only to my waist deep, I dont get in. I have to be able to see the bottom and the water clear enough for me to see all around.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2001