Black-and-tan dapple dachshund. Photo by Erwin Loh.

From Dog World

Dachshund breeders in the UK and the Kennel Club are to be commended for this action.

Maybe the next step will be to allow dogs with somewhat longer legs so they don’t move around like weasels or mink. After all, this is still a working breed. The smallest doxies are supposed to go after rabbits in pipes and tunnels. Their small size has a function.

There is nothing wrong with this color in dachshunds. It just should be bred responsibly.

Important note: The dog above is a single-dapple. Her sire was a black-and-tan dapple (silver dapple in every country but the US) and her dam was a solid red.

Let’s hope other merle breed fanciers get their acts together.  Dapple and merle are the same color genetically.

Another breed that comes in merle (and may be a descendant of the Dachshund):

Blue merle Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Photo by Muu-karhu.

Yeah, I don’t know who they are. But everything with Andrew Bird is fine to me So this is straight copied from pitchfork.

The Preservation Hall is a 48-year-old French Quarter mainstay known for its deep New Orleans jazz legacy. In honor of the venue and its music outreach program, an impressive group of artists recorded tracks with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a benefit album called Preservation (what an original title!), due February 16 via RED.

Performers on the record include Tom Waits (who does a version of the Mardi Gras song “Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing”), Andrew Bird, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Pete Seeger, Dr. John, Steve Earle, Blind Boys of Alabama, Merle Haggard, Richie Havens, Jason Isbell, and more.

My boyfriend drove me to West Eugene today so I could get Kelso some new toys. He’d recently polished off a rawhide and his tennis ball is nowhere to be found So . . . we went to the thrift store first and got him a cute stuffed toy. I think it’s one of the characters from Monsters Inc. Very cute. And only like 79 cents too. Then we went to the dollar store to get him a rope toy and a new rawhide. I know the dollar store has low-quality stuff, but unfortunately this is all I can afford right now. My Standard Poodle (who is living with my parents right now) LOVES rope toys and I am hoping Kelso will to. The only cautionary note I can share (and this goes for any toy) is to make sure you throw the toy away before your dog has reduced it to little pieces. Rawhide, rope, plastic can all get stuck in a dog’s throat if he swallows little pieces.

The grey merling on Kelso’s back has gotten darker. Now his head is the only place left with light grey. I wonder what he’ll look like when he is full grown. It could be that the merling will fade until he is just black and tan colored. I’ve never had a merle cocker spaniel before so I am not familiar with the color stages.

I got a nice check in the mail today for renting my condo.  I immediately deposited it in the bank and went home to pay off a few pressing bills.  (Lengthy aside:  how did people manage their money before the internet and cash machines?  I pay all my bills on-line.  It save so much fucking time.  Ten minutes on INGdirect and I’m all done.  No writing, no stamps, no looking for a mailbox.  I have a checkbook, but it’s been so long since I wrote a check that I don’t even know where it is.  When I went to the supermarket branch down the street from my house I marveled at the long teller line.  What were all those people doing that couldn’t be done through a cash machine?  Finally, how did people pay for anything before ATMs and debit cards?  Say it’s Saturday night and you wanted to get some cash to go out.  The banks were closed, and unless you withdrew money on Friday, you were pretty much fucked.  I’m old enough to have lived like that, but, for the life of me, I don’t know how I did it.)

Speaking of money, I read a long article about Merle Haggard in Rolling Stone this morning, and it said that on the day his youngest son was born Merle got a letter saying he owned 14 million dollars to various creditors.  I’m gonna pause to let that number really sink in…

14 million fucking dollars! How on earth does that happen?  It reminds me of all those fat people on The Biggest Loser. You don’t just wake up one morning weighing 450 pounds, and you don’t wake up one morning owing 14 mil all of a sudden.  Haggard had to sell 700 acres of land and the rights to his back-catalogue in order to pay things off.

Actually, that gives me an idea.  All I need now is 700 acres of land…

“I’ll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle” by Pure Prairie League

This is from a record my dad had when I was a kid.  I haven’t thought about this song in forever, but it came to mind this afternoon while I was putting this post together in my head.  It sounds exactly the way it did thirty-plus years ago.

I signed Kelso up for an obedience class at the Greenhill Humane Society. It is specifically a class to prepare dog and handler for the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test offered by the American Kennel Club (AKC). Here is the class description:

“The American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program is a certification program that is designed to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. Beginning September 18th, Greenhill will be offering a 5-week course to community members and their dogs who wish to become certified taught by Greenhill Receiving Manager and Certified Evaluator for the CGC Program Theresa Iverson and Certified Dog Trainer Nancy Yamin. The goal of the course is to teach responsible dog ownership to owners and to certify that their dogs have the training and behaviors needed to be reliable, well-behaved members of their families and communities. Dogs who pass the CGC test at the end of the course will receive a certificate from the American Kennel Club.”

I’ve passed this test with another dog (my standard poodle, Heidi), so I know what is involved and how to train Kelso for it. The problem is that he needs to be socialized. I’ve noticed that he growls at people he is not familiar with and he is scared easily by things such as cars and bicycles. I think this class will be an excellent oppertunity to get him some socialization in a controlled environment. It will probably also motivate me to take him out for walks so he can meet new people. If all goes well, he’ll also have himself a CGC certificate at the end of the class!

Le soir le chant du merle
Du paysage fait une grappe
Sous la treille des étoiles.

Chaque chose que je nomme
(Arbre, pré, buisson, labour)
De la pensée se détourne.

Mon regard est l’aveuglé
Du tout sans nom
qui me regarde.

(Gaston Puel)

°

Sur l’pont des Arts, trésor,
tu passas en bas-résille
sous les sifflets de jeunes merles
parisiens admiratifs
et j’étais pas peu fier
à ton bras
c’était il y a une éternité
et un divorce
…
1 couple sur le quai s’amuse

°
d.(21/7/09)

°

merle et martinets

entremêlent leurs voix

(ce) soir de juillet

°

ce soir

la longue agonie d’un moucheron

sous ma lampe

°

d.(4/7/09)