Nibbles

Dottie's new nickname is Nibbles. I shouldn't have to explain why. Except to those people who maybe think it should be Chompies instead.

I put on the t-shirt I brought to work today to run in and discovered a hole I must have overlooked after the "Dottie pulled all my t-shirts out of my shirt drawer while I was sleeping and taste tested half of them" episode. I ran in it anyway, but it will now be "retired."

A post came across one of the Belgian email lists I'm on about small Belgians doing bite work. Someone asked what do they mean by small? That question was never answered (is Dottie small?- read on!) but eventually the original poster wrote back to thank the people for sending her videos of a not quite 50 pound French Ring III Mal, and some Tervs in the high 40 pound range. Last time Dottie was at the vet she was only 39 pounds. She was too skinny and I fattened her up a bit in the past few weeks and now she is up to a huge 40 pounds. This talk of small Belgians made me remember my "Big Bertha" post. I looked it up at, and at the beginning of January, Dottie weighed 38 pounds. She was 7 months at the time. She was also approximately 19 inches because the post reports she is as tall as Fancy. Dottie is now 15 months old and about 22 inches. How is it possible she gained 3 inches and only 2 pounds? I went back at looked at pictures around that time period and she was bulkier than she is now, but not overweight. Strange.

It appears Dottie (for all of her height) is considered a small Belgian. She has been called a pin head by more than one person, so if you go by her head, she is a small one for sure. As she matures, she could still fill out and then maybe she will be considered normal sized. But there is no way her head will grow so if she does fill out, then she will be a mega pin head!

The good news is small Belgians (Dottie included) do not have trouble doing SchH. Dottie was on a full sized sleeve for the first time last week and actually carried it better than full sized/ big dog Pie.

Dottie had 2 good agility practices this week. She's not a star yet, but there might be hope that she won't be a total dud in agility. Note to self: Remember that from day one Dottie learned "out" means "bark." If you are messing around with the dogs in the back yard, trying to play armchair gamblers, this is why Dottie will not stop barking as you try to get Pie to go "out" away from you to take a jump.

In me news- I went home sick from work yesterday and slept for almost 18 hrs. Today I was much better.