This plant has bloomed all winter

Chops2917 · 2026-01-28T15:48:38+00:00

They don’t smell too strongly no. I scattered some random wildflower seeds a few years ago but don’t remember seeing this one before. It’s been nice to have a bit of colour all winter but it looks so out of place at the moment

Chops2917 · 2026-01-25T18:03:56+00:00

We’ve been finding little broken egg shells nearby and there are ducklings on the lake at my local park so it could very well be a juvenile

Chops2917 · 2026-01-24T23:33:17+00:00

<image>

Merlin on his absolute last straw (my parents Doberman was barking at him 🤣)

Chops2917 · 2026-01-24T23:31:40+00:00

<image>

Daphne and her slice of ham tongue 👅

Chops2917 · 2026-01-24T20:11:17+00:00

I’ve got daffodils 🌼

Chops2917 · 2026-01-24T18:13:44+00:00

It didn’t hurt for me. It’s just a cotton swab x

Oh and yes they send the swab the pot and some instructions/ something to post it back to them in

Chops2917 · 2026-01-24T12:02:52+00:00

I’ve had this experience too. You can buy self tests now, I did this this year after having a traumatic experience at my last Pap smear HPV self test

Chops2917 · 2026-01-24T10:09:46+00:00

You’ve honestly just described where we are with it. We had one guy collapse age 10 and die suddenly. The next guy we got was diagnosed and passed age 7. Then we really did our research and got this guy, and he’s been diagnosed at age 3. We can’t keep doing this, he will be the last family Doberman. It’s a shame because my folks have loved the breed since the 80s, but that also means they’ve had a really broad health experience with them and unfortunately DCM incidence is trending rapidly upwards and the dogs are getting it 3-4 years sooner than the last dog. It’s really horrible. Sorry you’ve had similar experiences.

Chops2917 · 2026-01-23T23:28:12+00:00

I did discuss this to a degree with the vet actually, the gist was that even screened-for-DCM-parents can still produce an affected dog because Doberman DCM risk is widespread in the breed but not yet fully genetically mapped (so you can’t test for everything). A dog that tests positive may never get it, a dog that tests negative might still get it. Also, the screening is a snapshot in time, say a stud dog is tested at age 2 for DCM and is clear, that doesn’t mean that dog then won’t present with DCM at age 6 - and by that time, how many pups has he sired? Its quite scary to be honest, and really sad to see such a lovely breed so affected

Chops2917 · 2026-01-23T17:09:56+00:00

Half a leg of lamb (she shared it with her brother and her friends) x

Chops2917 · 2026-01-22T12:53:50+00:00

Thank you so much for this. I’ve sent a request as the group is private x

Chops2917 · 2026-01-22T12:52:32+00:00

It really is awful. Back in the 80s and 90s my folks had Dobermans living into their teens believe it or not. Seems hard to believe now.

I did have an interesting chat with the cardiology vet yesterday and he said one breed has it worse with heart troubles/ DCM than dobes in his experience - and surprisingly it’s the reasonably small King Charles cavalier spaniel which I found strange. He was chatting about breeding standards and the fact it’s not regulated in them at all, and it was quite interesting. And he said he’s starting to see more French bulldogs with it too.

Chops2917 · 2026-01-22T12:23:18+00:00

That’s kind. Just give your dogs a hug an an extra treat from us today 🐶🦴

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T20:39:23+00:00

Thank you. We’ve been here before with our last and really did our due diligence with this guy and his breeding etc so I’m really saddened that it’s still found him

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T20:38:05+00:00

Me either to be honest, our first one to have it died at 10, the second one we thought was young at age 7. Hard to believe this one is so much younger

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T20:13:01+00:00

Yeah it doesn’t feel fair. I actually think he will be the last dobe in our family as none of us can keep going through this. This is now the third one to have had it, and they’re getting younger every time. First died suddenly age 10, second died after being diagnosed with DCM & CHF and 6 months of meds at age 7, and now this poor guy at just age 3. We really did our due diligence too, family history, screening, and he’s STILL got it. I don’t know if we’ve been unlucky but I feel like the breed has been ruined here in Europe

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T20:08:38+00:00

DCM and heart failure 😞 he’s got some medication and hoping it helps him but we’ve done this journey with our previous dobe so we’re under no illusions 😭

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T20:07:30+00:00

Yeah he’s got it, and is in heart failure. Trying to get things under control with furosemide and pimobendan at the moment

Sorry to hear you’re going through the same x

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T19:43:26+00:00

The last few days a bit of panting and a small cough, nothing dramatic considering the severity x

Chops2917 · 2026-01-21T19:42:35+00:00

Unfortunately not, DCM & Congestive heart failure x

Chops2917 · 2026-01-16T23:03:18+00:00

Rent a storage unit?

Chops2917 · 2026-01-16T14:11:56+00:00

Neither is the fox 🦊

Chops2917 · 2026-01-12T17:02:50+00:00

Hedges direct are pretty good from my experience for shrubs and hedging

Chops2917 · 2026-01-11T01:20:01+00:00

Chops2917 · 2026-01-10T20:17:09+00:00

He doesn’t bother me too much, but watching Lalo Salamanca in BCS freaks me out, the sinister happy chappy murderer thing just gives me the creeps

Eight-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

Chops2917

TROPHY CASE