To New Members

[Mike Jordan]

Hi,

If you are a new member to the forum, please take a moment and introduce yourself (and your dog(s) if you have any) so that others will know that you have joined.

Welcome to the Echo Bouvier Message Forum.

Mike & Sue

[David]

I just yesterday joined the forum. My wife and I have three Bouviers (Sadie is age 10, Roxanne is 8, and Vivie is 5), and we also have one Affenpinscher, Rrruff is 1. We live in New York State. Seven years ago we started a yearly gathering of Bouvier people and their dogs which we dubbed BouvStock. After a couple of 'bouvwalk' attempts had come and gone here in New York State, we were not sure how our effort would go, but it has been quite successful. We have had visits from people and Bouvs from 7 states and Canada.

I am an artist, have been drawing most of my life, and in the last several years started engraving glass. My glass engraving subjects, and drawings, includes many breeds of dogs, especially Bouviers, portraits of people, scenes from nature, and my original compositions which are usually surreal in nature. I donate many of my glass engraved pieces as trophies for dog shows and for fund-raising for ABRL and for NAWBA. Since we cannot get to most of the events it seems to be a good way to help support those organizations.

David

[Mike Jordan]

Hi David, welcome to the forum. I think it's great that you have the talent to capture Bouviers in drawings and in glass. I've seen some of your work and you do some great work.

Hopefully we'll get the sizing problem worked out so you can display some of your work on here for others to see.

Mike

[Neandy]

I am a new member to the forum.... but I think I am more a ghost from the past :P

Sue... read your mail :P.

Rob "Neandy" Berkers.

[Sue]

From the past surely, but hardly a ghost....

Rob and I are olllllld friends from pre-Internet days. We first met on a FIDONet echo called ASIAN-LINK in the early 1990s and eventually both became members of the worldwide moderator team for the echo.

It was an absolute delight to hear from him via the forum and EMAIL today.. it's been MUCH too long without contact.

In 1994, I had plans to travel to Germany as pay back for a visit from our German moderator Klaus. Rob was crazy enough to insist that I visit Holland too and I spent a wonderful two weeks as his guest. We saw so much of Holland... so many wonderful sights and interesting places. I still marvel at the day we spent at Apenhuel, a primate sanctuary where the monkeys are loose all over the grounds. If I lived there I would visit there as often as I could. We traveled by foot and bicycle a good bit of the time so it was almost a "boot camp" for me, but we sure had a good time and I came home in MUCH better shape than I had left in. I have never forgotten the warm hospitality I enjoyed there.

I am also indebted to Rob for very good advice he gave me while I was visiting. I could easily have come home from Holland with a Bouvier, but I took his advice and decided to look closer to home, and in retrospect his advice was right on target. Thanks again Robby!

I even had my own little bed puppy while I was visiting.... Bommel the JRT was such a hoot, and I came to love Rob's old Bas too...the first Friese Stabyhoun I had ever met....a lovely old gentleman he was.

So welcome Robby... and don't be such a stranger again!


Doeeiiiii!

Sue

[Mike Jordan]

Rob, let me add my welcome as well. It's great that you have joined. But tell me, how did you find us? :D

Mike

[Neandy]

From the past surely, but hardly a ghost....


Ha... my gray hairs may proof differently :twisted:

Ah, Fidonet... at times I still missed. Dealing out to BBSes all over the world to deliver crash-mail :P.
But the community of Fidonet was great.

I have been last year again to the Apenheul.... It is still as awesome as it was at the time we were there.
Only thing which is a bit sad it that nowadays they discourage direct contact between the (smaller) monkeys and humans. Even with big signs telling people that for a monkey petting on the head is threat and not a treat, people kept doing it... with all consequences of that.

We have been indeed to some nice places here... but if you would come again, I would show Amsterdam (where I have been born)... only because this fun memory I have...
Some time ago a young lady from Switzerland (a far relative) was staying at our place and I showed her Amsterdam. So at a certain moment she asked me "So where is this famous Red Light District".
I placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around: "We are standing right in the middle of it!"
I never saw a girl getting red that fast and blushing that deeply.... I am mean, I know :P.

Anyway... talking about Bommel. I still miss the little fellow. He and I were big friends.

On my Flickr-page you will find some pictures of Bas breed... Binke and Boukje :)

Do you remember Ryan? The old pony? She turned out to be a though one. Around last Christmas she passed away on the age of 34....

Who a stranger? Me? Where were you?

Don't worry, I stick around :P.

Rob.

[Neandy]

Rob, let me add my welcome as well. It's great that you have joined. But tell me, how did you find us? :D


Thank you for your welcome, Mike.

As I told Sue in my mail, I found you by pure coincidence.

As you may know, Flickr (the site were I store my pictures) has a very detailed map where people can add the locations where they made their pictures.

So I was moving my mouse-pointer over North America... and suddenly, completely unexpected, a name I was trying to remember for so long popped up there: Hillsboro.

So I did a search on Google on Sue Matthews and Hillsboro.... and when of the first results showed Sue Matthews, Mike Jordan and Bouvier I knew I found what I was looking for...

And well... here I am :)

Rob.

[Sue]

Yeah, I noticed a few gray hairs in the picture on your Flikr site Robby. You're not alone in that though!

I remember all the signs at Apenhuel .. "Don't Touch the Monkeys!" but what they really needed were signs for the monkeys... "Don't Touch the Humans!" We figured out pretty quickly that if we just stood really still with hands in our pockets the Capuchin and Rhesus monkeys would climb right up and sit on our shoulders. The tiny little monkeys that were shivering in the hedges outside of the gorilla house were only too happy to jump into my hands to warm up too.

There was a news story the other day that said they were razing a lot of buildings in the red light district in Amsterdam...no more sidewalk level "picture windows" I guess. Ohhh well...


So sorry to hear about the old mare. She was such a nice girl. I still chuckle when I remember how surprised Joke was when we were at the stable that day and you two tried to play a trick on me by asking me to longe the mare. Joke was just stunned that the mare moved out, changed paces, and stopped when I told her too. "But she does not know English and you do not know Dutch!" Fortunately though for me Ryan understood body language.


You take care Rob...

Cheers,
Sue

[Kathleen]

Hi to all - I am Kathleen and I live near Belleville, Ontario Canada with my Hubby of almost 21 years and 5 bouviers. Harley and Norton are our 2 purchased bouviers and Cooper, Gus and Bella are rescues. We had one more who passed on in March of 2007.

Harley will be 15 in August of this year and Norton turned 13 in February of this year. Gus will be 6 in December, Bella 5 in July and Cooper is a good guess - we think around 10-12.

Harley is dealing with Glaucoma, Norton with being an old fart :)), Cooper has bad hips, Gus has attitude and Bella is just telling everyone what the reorganized pecking order is.

I would love to hear form anyone who has dealt with Glaucoma and their bouv to help me understand how to deal with it.

Thanks

Kathleen, Gord and the pack.

[Mike]

Hi Kathleen, welcome to the Bouvier Forum. From your list of Bouvs, you have a few that are getting up there in age as well. We have 3 getting ready to turn 11, one turning 8, a 2 year old and a 3 year old male (all the others are girls) and one 12 or there abouts miniture Dacshund that pretty much raised all the Bouvs and keeps them in line. :D

While we have not had Glaucoma in any of our dogs, Sue has had to deal with it in others that we've fostered. She will jump in and answer your question here or on the Bouv List as soon as she gets a chance. We have been dealing with one of our 11 year olds that has bad hips and she's lost motor function in them last week. The vet says she's pretty healthy, even for her age, so we're trying to find something to get her back on her feet, if that's possible. So we've been busy dealing with that and getting a lot less sleep than we normally do. But Sue knows you are on and I'm sure she will be answering you on it. I don't anything about stuff like that and I just play welcome wagon for when people join the forum. :D

So, again, welcome.

Mike

[kwhugo]

Hi there! We are Karen and Whitney, along with our Bouviers Hugo, age 10, and Hillary, age 9mo. We live in West Seattle. We've joined to continue our knowledge of Bouviers. Even though we have had Bouviers since 1986, the more we know, the more we don't know. Our beloved Stoney died last summer at age 9 yrs.

In the past we have shown in confirmation and enjoy herding. We are fair weather herders, I'm afraid. Too much mud, but the dogs love it so. We do it primarily for the dog's enjoyment and exercise.

These days we are spending all our time 'bringing up baby'. What fun and how much I have forgotten about puppies over the last ten years. Looking forward to learning from everyone.

Karen, Hugo, Whit and Hillary

[Mike]

Hi Karen, welcome to the forum. I'm glad to see we got you all squared away with getting signed up and logged on.

Fair weather herders? Now that's something that you don't see very much here in the Northwest. :D Probably neither the sheep nor dogs would know what to do if it wasn't wet and muddy out in the fields during herding trials. :D

Again, welcome to you and your herd.

Mike

[melisawaltz]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum, and i like this one. I have only one dog named sladra.

Thanks














I am a new member to the forum.... but I think I am more a ghost from the past :P

Sue... read your mail :P.

Rob "Neandy" Berkers.

[Mike]

Hi Melisa, welcome to the Echo Bouvier forum. We have a number of people that read the postings, but it's been slow getting them to post. So I'm glad to see you took the time to post your message.

Again, welcome.

Mike

[dell]

Hello to all,
I have 2 bouviers living with me at this time. My first Bouvier came from Debbie Potter, War Bouvier Kennel, and was the perfect service dog. He lived to be 10 years old. Now living with me is another of Debbie's dogs, a black boy named Bandit who is almost 3 and my son's female Bouv, Medusa who is 5. My son is in college and is getting a house this summer so his girl is going to live with him and I decided we could not be a one Bouv home. Someone was watching over me and Sue happened to have a female puppy available. Sue and Mike have graciously agreed to help me out by starting her training. While I have never met Sue in person, the Bouv internet world has been a life saver for me and Sue has helped me many times with training questions and concerns. From my first Bouv until now we have communicated by email. Now I will have one of those little girls I saw nursing Dyna. I found this forum by following a link on Mike's message about Sue's trip to drop off Scarlet and Mr. A. I watched puppies nurse for the first time and it was easy to pick out the girls because of their tails. Thanks for letting me join. Dell

[Mike]

Welcome to the forum, Dell, I'm glad you found your way here. :D

I had the best intentions of taking some pictures of the 3 puppies still with us, today, but after spending time cleaning up the living room (where we've had the whelping area set up) and them speading things back out as fast as I picked them up and then two of them deciding they couldn't get out from under the furnature that they had been crawing under and back out for the last 10 weeks and I had to unstack all the stuff that I'd stacked in the corner... well, I just ran out of steam. Not that I've had a lot of steam left over after the last 10 weeks. :D

I think GG, Mr. G and Mr. Y are trying to make up for the lack of the other 4 puppies. Dyna, the mother doesn't seem to be all that concerned though. She's been playing with GG like she played with Scarlet, although GG isn't quit as intense about it as Scarlet was.

Again, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your future new Bouvier. :D

Mike

[easygoing]

Hello All,
We are Ed & Nancy from Bellevue, WA. We found this site by web surfacing looking for Bouviers. After 24 years of Bouviers in our house we lost our 15 year old this year. Well if we can't find one to love; at least, we can look at pictures of others' and talk to people who have Bouviers. Wish us luck in our search....
Love the pictures of the puppys!!!

[Kathleen]

Hi to the Easygoing crowd:

I am Kathleen and I live near a city called Belleville, Ontario CANADA. My husband and I have 3 bouviers (down from six), the oldest is almost 16 and the youngest bordering on 6.

I am sure you will find a bouv to fit your lifestyle. Bella, our youngest, joined us from the Quinte Barter (online sale yahoo group). She is a CKC registered dog for whom we paid a simple sum of $50 for a wonderful dog who just is so in love with my husband. I think she is finally accepting that we aren't going to give her away.:D

Kathleen, Gord
Harley, Norton and Bella

[Mike]

Hi Ed and Nancy. And a belated welcome to the forum. I believe you no longer have to just look at pictures to get your Bouv fix. :D Congratulations on your recent adoption by Max. I hope he's settleing in ok up there.

Again, welcome.

Mike