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Posts Tagged 'Evanix Speed air rifle'
Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle: Part 4
by B.B. Pelletier
The Evanix Conquest has features that set the bar very high for air rifles.
Today is velocity/power day for the Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle. In a reversal of the norm, I tested the rifle for accuracy first, and this is a follow-on to that. Of course, now we do know which pellet works the best in the test rifle, but I will also test it with a couple others to get the true power potential.
First test: JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes
The rifle was filled to 200 bar before the test began. The first pellet I tested was the one we know to be the most accurate — the JSB Exact 15.9-grain dome. Since this is the pellet I would chose for this rifle every time, the results of this test will give me realistic performance parameters of the rifle as I would use it. I'll be testing velocity, which translates to power, and also the useful shot count. Velocity comes first.
The first string of 10 shots gave an average 955 f.p.s. The high was 960 and the low was 948, for a total spread of 12 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the rifle produces 32.21 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.
Please notice that we already know the rifle is most accurate at this speed. This relates directly back to what we learned in the Pellet velocity versus accuracy test. Now we know that harmonics and not velocity are the most influential forces when it comes to airgun accuracy.
The average velocity of the second string of 10 shots was 948 f.p.s., with a spread from 943 to 954 f.p.s. That's a spread of 11 f.p.s., which is one foot per second less than the first string. It's still a good, tight velocity range; and we know from the accuracy test that the rifle is just as accurate on the second string as on the first. The full-auto group that amazed us all was fired on the second string of 10 shots. At this velocity, the rifle generated an average of 31.74 foot-pounds of energy, so not much difference between this and the first string.
The third string of 10 shots averaged 944 f.p.s., which is a small drop from the first 10. The low was 927 f.p.s., and the high was 949 f.p.s. The total spread opened up to 22 f.p.s. That's still reasonable; but if you lump this string in with the first two, the total spread is now 33 f.p.s. That's still a good spread for accuracy at 50 yards, yet the third string was where the groups opened up a little and also dropped on the paper a little. On this string, the average muzzle energy was 31.47 foot-pounds, which is still very respectable.
The fourth string of 10 shots averaged 924 f.p.s. and ranged from 915 f.p.s. to 932 f.p.s. This spread spans a total of 17 f.p.s. The average muzzle energy was 30.15 foot-pounds. Again, it's a fairly tight string; however, if you throw it in with the first three strings, you get a total velocity spread of 45 f.p.s. That's too much of a spread for a smallbore pellet rifle to be accurate across 40 shots at 50 yards. And it was seeing the results of the fourth string during the accuracy test that made me stop after 3 strings of 10. The point of impact dropped over an inch and the groups all opened up to twice what they were in the first 2 strings.
If you're shooting the Conquest at 50 yards and going for the ultimate in precision, refill the rifle after 20 shots. But if you're just shooting casually at 35 yards, you should be good all the way to 40 shots. After that, however, the velocity starts to drop rapidly.
After 43 shots, the onboard pressure gauge reads about 130 bar remaining in the gun. The gauge is too small to be more exact than that. When I refill the gun, the reservoir inlet valve opens at around 2,150 psi on the large gauge on my carbon fiber tank.
Okay, this first pellet has taught us a lot about the Conquest. We now know the power, the velocity and the shot count. But we're not finished testing the rifle.
The Conquest has a shrouded barrel, and on the rifle range it is quieter than a .22 rimfire. But it's not a quiet airgun. I rate the discharge noise at a solid 5 according the scale Pyramyd Air uses on their site. Nothing short of a big bore or an AirForce Condor is as loud — despite the shroud. So, this isn't an air rifle for the suburban backyard or shooting in the house.
Second test: Eun Jin 28.4-grain domes
The second test was with the 28.4-grain Eun Jin dome. Because the Conquest is a pneumatic rifle it should give the highest power of which it is capable with the heaviest pellet. Being a magazine-fed repeater, also, we have to be careful to choose pellets that actually fit and work in the magazine, but that was already done at the range.
With a drum magazine, the fit we're concerned with is the length of the pellet. Will it fit the chambers and not protrude on either end, which would tie up the action when the rifle tries to advance the magazine to the next pellet? The 28.4-grain Eun Jin both fits the magazine of the Conquest and works well. The accuracy was only acceptable — in the 1.25-1.5 inch range for 10 shots at 50 yards, so I wouldn't use it in this rifle unless there was nothing better.
The rifle was again filled to 200 bar for this string. The average muzzle velocity was 697 f.p.s. for 10 shots. The low was 691, and the high was 707 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the rifle generated 30.64 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. That is lower than I expected, as PCPs generally become more powerful with heavier pellets — but that's what it did.
Third test: Beeman Kodiaks
Next, Beeman Kodiak pellets were tested. In .22 caliber, these weigh 21.1 grains and would be ideal for a rifle of this power. But they don't group as well as the 15.9-grain JSBs, and that has to be the most important criteria. Out to 50 yards, they're okay. Beyond that, they can't keep up.
Kodiaks averaged 819 f.p.s. for 10 on a fresh fill. The low was 813, and the high was 825 f.p.s. At the average velocity, they produced 31.43 foot-pounds of muzzle energy. Again, the heavier pellet wasn't as powerful as the lighter one.
Fourth test: JSB Exact Jumbo 18.1 grains
The last pellet I tested was the 18.1-grain JSB Exact Jumbo heavy pellet. They averaged 895 f.p.s. on a fresh fill, with a low of 891 and a high of 901 f.p.s. At the average velocity the rifle, produced 32.2 foot-pounds of muzzle energy with this pellet. So, it equals the 15.9-grain pellet for power, but not for accuracy, as we have seen.
The trigger of the test rifle releases at a very consistent 1 lb., 10 ozs., but the release is different than any other trigger I've ever felt. If you squeeze slowly, you'll feel the solenoid fire an instant before the gun fires. It's a small click before the boom. The actually firing is felt as a prolonged forward cycling of the bolt to push the pellet into the breech and back again to clear the magazine. The feel through the trigger while the gun fires is long and sloppy, but as you saw in the accuracy test, it works well and doesn't affect the hold at all.
Bottom line thus far
The Conquest is stacking up to be a fine hunting air rifle. It's powerful and amazingly accurate in the .22-caliber version I'm testing. And I'd like to mention that all the pellets tested fed through the magazine with no problem. Sometimes a rotary magazine like the one on the Conquest has problems accepting longer pellets, but even the big Eun Jins fit this one.
Without question, the one best pellet for our test rifle is the 15.9-grain JSB Exact dome. It's not only more accurate than the others, it's also more efficient, which was a surprise result. Test other pellets just the same, but make this one your primary choice until you find something better.
This was the fourth part of what would normally be a three-part test. I feel compelled to return to the range with a more powerful scope mounted on the gun and have another go at it. Maybe — just maybe, mind you — I'll also take this rifle out to 100 yards. It will take a perfect day, but as I am planning to test other airguns at that range, I thought this one might be included.
Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle: Part 3
by B.B. Pelletier
The Evanix Conquest has features that set the bar very high for air rifles.
The cat's out of the bag, so to speak, because today's title tells you what my big news is about. And I tied reader Kevin to this report because he owns an Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle that hasn't given him much joy. Today, I'll show you the most astounding shooting I've ever done, but I'll also address a mechanical concern and how it was corrected! This will be a report to remember, and here we go.
The Conquest is a very different air rifle. It took me two separate reports just to get through the general description because there are so many differences and unusual aspects of this airgun. The action is operated by a battery in the same way that an AEG airsoft gun operates, so I had to show you all of that. And, as I predicted, the forums are full of discussions about upgrading the battery pack — discussions among shooters who haven't even seen the gun, yet. My advice it to see it and shoot it, first. It might just be good enough as is.
The rifle shoots both semiauto, which very few pellet rifles do, and full-auto, which only one other CO2 gun (the Auto Ordnance SMG-22 belt-feed carbine) currently does. Until this test, I had a lot to say about the wisdom of providing a full-auto mode — likening it to a shopping cart with wheels rated to 200 mph. That's my way of saying, "Who needs it?" Today, I'll eat those words. Stick around.
Posting backwards?
Also, I am reviewing accuracy out of the usual order. Normally, I look at velocity first and accuracy afterwards. Several readers have commented that they do it the other way, because who cares how fast certain pellets will go if they aren't accurate?
Believe it or not, I put a lot of thought into doing a review in the order I usually do it. When I review velocity it's not to correlate it with accuracy, but rather to show the power potential of the powerplant. I do understand the readers' viewpoint that only accurate pellets are interesting; and like everyone, else I do tend to shoot only the most accurate pellets. But when I do the velocity test, I'm separating the power question from accuracy. I want to know what the gun is capable of doing as far as power is concerned, then in a separate test I want to discover what its accuracy can be.
Yes, I'll recommend shooting the most accurate pellet, but if it only produces 20 foot-pounds while the most powerful pellet produces 25 foot-pounds, I want to show that the gun is fully capable of producing 25 foot pounds. Who knows if there will be a new pellet in the future that will be able to use all the power the rifle has and be accurate at the same time? So, my test will have demonstrated the peak power potential. If you look back at my discussions of accuracy and power in many past tests, I think you'll see this has always been my thrust.
Today, we're looking at accuracy first, because I had the opportunity to get to the rifle range on a dead-calm day. I could not let such an opportunity pass. So, today is accuracy day, and velocity day is still to come for the Conquest.
A couple corrections
During the time I was examining the rifle for this report, Edith wrote the most comprehensive airgun manual I've ever seen. She wrote it for both the Conquest rifle and the Speed, and we had to operate the gun extensively to check facts for her manual. Several things I initially told you have been changed as a result of this more detailed look.
1. The batteries need at least an 8-hour initial charge before the first use.
2. The magazines hold only 10 rounds instead of the 12 rounds I told you (with all double-mags holding 20). That holds true in all three calibers (.177, .22 and .25) but not for the 9mm, which is yet to come.
3. There was a problem with the magazine sticking in the action that was corrected by lubrication. Let's look at that right now.
Magazine sticking problem
When I first examined the gun, I noticed that sometimes the magazine would not come out of the action when it was supposed to. When this rifle fires, the bolt passes through the magazine and pushes the pellet into the breech just before an air blast propels it out the barrel. If the bolt doesn't retract all the way after the shot, you can't remove the magazine because the bolt will still be inside.
Now I know what the plastic window on the right side of the receiver is for! Use it to access the bolt, so you can lubricate it properly. Then, it'll retract and the gun will run perfectly — or at least mine did.
The bolt has two diameters — a large rear section and a narrow front section. Both diameters must be lubricated, because they pass through different passages in the receiver.
Use an oiling needle to get oil onto both diameters of the bolt. The larger black steel portion on the left looks oily in this picture, while the smaller silver portion on the right, to the right of the hook-like part in the middle of the window, looks dry. That's because the surface is too smooth to see the oil. It's there. I used bike chain oil, but Pyramyd Air used FP-10, and both products did the trick.
Once I lubricated the bolt with the oiling needle, it worked fine and there were no more sticking magazines. But if you do encounter a sticking mag, the recommended solution is to pull the trigger and hold it back for a few seconds after the rifle fires.
A great day at the range
Well, it was a great day for shooting the Conquest. The morning was foggy, where not a breath of air could be felt. I shot the entire test in the most perfect conditions imaginable. And all shooting you are about to see was done at 50 yards.
The rifle comes without sights, so I mounted a Bushnell Trophy XLT 4-12x40AO scope on low two-piece rings. I then sighted-in the rifle with Beeman Kodiak pellets.
The first four rounds got me on target, and then six more went into a group that measured 0.811 inches between the two widest centers. If I accepted 5-shot groups as standard, my job would already have been done, and the Conquest would be a very accurate air rifle. But that's not how I roll, as you know, so I reloaded the magazine and shot a full 10-shot group.
Ten Beeman Kodiaks went into 1.241 inches at 50 yards. That's okay, but not great. Time to try the next pellet.
Ten shots into 1.241 inches isn't the level of accuracy I'd hoped for, even at 50 yards, so I decided to move on. However I note that the 21.1-grain Kodiaks do feed smoothly through the magazine. Length is not a problem.
The trigger and what it feels like to shoot
Shooting these two groups (6 shots, followed by 10 shots) afforded me the opportunity to get used to the Conquest's trigger. I remember saying that a rifle at this price has to have a perfect trigger. Well, the Conquest trigger is far from perfect. But then I thought of another semiautomatic air rifle — the FX Revolution, which I'd tested a couple years back. It also has a less-than-desirable trigger that slaps you back through the trigger blade every time the rifle fires. In comparison, the Conquest trigger is less annoying. Instead of breaking like glass, this trigger has a rocket-push feel to the release. It's difficult to describe, but you feel the movement of the bolt through the trigger blade.
But the magic of shooting a semiauto with almost zero recoil allows every shot to go where you want, and soon you forget the trigger. Knowing the rifle will stay exactly on target — and all you have to do is pull the trigger for another shot — builds your confidence like you wouldn't believe!
JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy
Next, I tried the 18.1-grain JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy pellets. In many rifles of this power, the 18.1-grain Jumbo Heavy JSB is the most accurate pellet, but not this time. In the Conquest, 10 JSB Jumbo Heavys made a group measuring 0.958 inches between centers. That's not bad, but it's still not the best the rifle can do.
Now this is more like it! Ten JSB Exact Jumbo pellets in 0.958 inches at 50 yards. This kind of performance is very credible, though not as good as the Conquest can shoot.
JSB Exact 15.9-grain
The next pellet I tested was the JSB Exact 15.9-grain dome. JSB calls this one a Jumbo, but I find that confusing with the Jumbo Heavy, so I make an exception by referring to this one by its weight. Over time, I've found this pellet to be the most consistently accurate .22-caliber airgun pellet.
Now, that's a group! Ten JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes made this 0.547-inch group at 50 yards. This is fantastic performance. It is accuracy rivaling some of the finest semiautomatic rimfire rifles — after they've been accurized.
The 15.9-grain JSB Exact shot many groups between 0.50 and 0.75 inches, time after time. It was so dead-reliable on this perfect day that I would have picked it over all other PCPs for a benchrest match. But there's one dynamic you do need to watch.
Other pellets tested
I also shot the .22-caliber Crosman Premier and the heavy 28.4-grain Eun Jin dome. Both groups were about the same as the Kodiaks, and I did not pursue them beyond a single group.
Shot count
The Conquest holds a lot of air, so the tendency is to keep right on shooting for magazine after magazine. If you are shooting spinners at 35 yards you'll get away with it, but out at 50 yards things start to look different. That's why I test at that distance with super-accurate PCPs like the Conquest.
I noticed that the first three 10-shot groups were all very tight. The group of JSBs going into 0.547 inches, shown above, was the first group fired on a fresh fill of air and also the best group of the test, but let's take a look at the fourth group fired on the same fill with the same pellet.
This group of JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes was the fourth group on the same fill. It measures 1.267 inches between centers. Three 10-shot groups are the limit at 50 yards when the best accuracy is required.
That fourth group is approximately the same size as the group of Beeman Kodiaks I showed you first. While it's a good group, it's not representative of this rifle's true capability at 50 yards. What this means is the total shot count you'll get on a fill with this rifle depends on what you're shooting and how far it is. If you want the absolute best the rifle can do, refill the gun after 30 shots. But if you're hunting squirrels at 35 yards you can go to at least 40 shots, if not more.
This 10-shot group of JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes measures 0.760 inches between centers. There were many groups like this, and I would say this is representative of what the rifle will do all the time under good conditions with this pellet.
Of course, semiautomatic is only half of the game with the Conquest. I had to fire the rifle on full-auto, even though I was scoffing at the thought. Why would anybody even do that, I wondered. Well, the first group I shot answered my question.
The big surprise!
When I looked through the scope after the burst was finished I couldn't tell if all the pellets were in the group or not, so I checked it with my new super-sharp spotting scope. What I saw caused me to jump up and down and pretty much stop the shooting on that range.
I am fortunate that my shooting buddy, Otho Henderson, was there to witness what happened. I had told him the Conquest was a full-auto gun; but until you hear it rattle the shots off, it doesn't sink in. Seeing me this hyper after looking through the spotting scope, he knew something was up because I don't even crack a smile unless a group is really astounding.
We both walked down to the target to examine what was a single ragged hole at my exact point of aim. I had used a 12-inch by 12-inch paper target, stapled to a 24-inch by 48-inch cardboard backer that had no other holes in it close to this target. The other target on which I'd been shooting semiautomatic groups was 12 inches above this one, so it was clear that all 10 shots went into the same tight group.
The first full-auto group from the Conquest measures 0.568 inches between centers! Never in my wildest imagination did I think this rifle could ever do something like this on full-auto!
Now I know what many of you are thinking. This was a fluke. You'll never do it again. I thought the same thing, so I shot a second full-auto group for you.
Ten JSB Exact 15.9-grain domes went into this group measuring 1.001 inches between centers. I would expect this to be more representative of a full-auto group at 50 yards. Even so, it's fantastic!
I'm guessing that this second group is closer to what the Conquest will do on full-auto at 50 yards most of the time on a perfect day. But since 90 percent of all the air rifles in the world can't do as well shooting their pellets one at a time, it's still pretty amazing.
In fairness to Mac, he did predict exactly such a thing when we were still in Las Vegas. He once owned a .22 rimfire semiauto that would occasionally dump its whole magazine; and he noted that when that happened, the group was always smaller than what he could shoot pulling the trigger each time. Apparently the gun takes care of business before the shooter can screw it up. I didn't believe him until this happened.
All the good was used up!
Following the Conquest test, I went over to the 100-yard range and proceeded to shoot my old Ballard with the new bullets and loading techniques. Nothing worked, and the best I could do was shoot 4-inch groups! Then, I tried a 30-30 that had shot a half-inch at 50 yards the time before and it, too, shot four-inch groups. So, all the accuracy for the day was used up by the Conquest.
One last thing
Perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier, but I thought it would be a nice surprise here at the end of the report. I had mounted a 4-12x Bushnell scope on the Conquest for this test, but in doing so I failed to notice exactly which Bushnell it was. When I got to the range and tried to adjust the power ring, it wouldn't budge. I had mounted a broken scope on the rifle, so the entire test had to be shot at 4x!
I doubt that mounting a 32-power scope would improve the groups all that much, simply because these groups can't be improved much more than they are right now. But please feel free to imagine what might have happened if the scope had been better.
We look at velocity and power potential next, but at this point in the test my mind is already made up. The Evanix Conquest is a most worthy precharged pneumatic air rifle. It has a number of interesting deviations, some of which, like the battery, will turn off some shooters. But other features, like the full-auto capability, are surprisingly more effective than you might imagine.
As I look at these results, I'm reminded of two weeks ago at Las Vegas, when I pounded a 200-yard metal silhouette with the 9mm Conquest that's still in development. Who knew these guns could be this accurate?
Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle: Part 2
by B.B. Pelletier
The Evanix Conquest has features that set the bar very high for air rifles.
Today is a second look at the general characteristics of this new Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle with thumbhole stock. I was surprised that a couple of you criticized the woodwork in Part 1, so today I'll show you the butt of the rifle I'm actually testing. Neither FX nor Daystate has anything on this stock — it's that good. Criticize the real faults all you want, but let's evaluate the rifle on its merits and not on where it was made.
Since I have to show a lot of details, much of today's report will be pictorial. The captions have as much info as the text, so be sure to read them.
Fully ambidextrous, the Evanix Conquest rifle stock is a thing of beauty. The woodwork is perfect, and the wood itself has deep, rich grain. The red switch at the upper left is the power switch for the gun.
Electric action?
Yep! Like an AEG airsoft gun, the Conquest is run by an electric motor that's powered by a battery in the butt. Before you start asking all those voltage and amperage questions, this rifle works exactly the same as an AEG. Add amps, and the charge lasts longer. Add volts, and the motor turns faster. And also like all AEGs, there's only so much room for the onboard battery.
According to the manufacturer, one charge is sufficient for about 500 shots, but that's a variable that depends on many things. Cold weather decreases the number. As the battery loses its charge, it heats up, which is undesireable. And I would expect that full-auto fire would use up the battery faster than semi-auto because the motor runs longer in that mode. I'll try to give you an estimate of how many shots I get on a charge when I know something. Thus far, I've shot the gun about 35 times and everything is fine.
I charged the battery pack for 8 hours before my initial use. The batteries do not come precharged.
The batteries fit into the butt, so the rubber buttpad must come off first. The batteries use single-wire connectors — red to red and black to black. From what I see, there's just enough room in the butt for the wiring and the battery that comes with the gun, so I doubt battery upgrades will be possible, as space is a concern.
The buttplate comes off with a single slotted screw to reveal the battery compartment.
The battery pack is connected to an adapter to connect to the charger, but it connects straight to the wires when installed in the gun.
Once the battery pack is installed and the reservoir is filled, the gun is ready to fire. Turn it on with the red switch at the upper left rear of the receiver, insert a loaded magazine and you're ready to go.
The .177 and .22 versions of the rifle have 12-shot magazines. The .25-caliber rifle has a 10-shot mag. All versions of the gun also have optional double mags available, but I mistakenly wrote in Part 1 that they come with the gun — and they don't. They must be ordered as options. So, this .22 rifle would have a total of 24 shots when the double mag is used. However, after the first 12 shots, the mag has to be slid over to the left to index the second mag. So, it's really 12 and 12 — not 24 without stopping.
The back of each magazine has two holes through which pellets can be seen. The hole on the left is where the pellets are loaded. There's a coiled wire band spring that runs around the circumference of the drum to hold each pellet in its chamber until the bolt pushes it into the back of the barrel. When you drop in a pellet, the head stops on this band. Like all circular magazines and clips with this feature, you have to press in each pellet past the retaining band. Nothing works as well as a ballpoint pen. If the magazine didn't have this band, pellets could vibrate out of their chambers and jam the action — especially with the vibration of firing full-auto.
This is the back of a single 12-shot magazine. Pellets are loaded through the hole on the left. Note the black tab that sticks down at the top of the middle hole. This is used to release the magazine spring when you want to unload the magazine, or any time you want to reverse the direction of the chambers. When the magazine is loaded, a ratchet catches it at every empty chamber, and this tab gives you control over that ratchet. When the mag drum is not under spring tension, this tab does not appear.
I'm going to show you loading in detail because it's very important to the gun's operation. Everything I say about loading a single magazine applies to a dual mag, as well, because it's just two single mags stuck together.
Here a JSB Exact 18.1-grain pellet has been dropped into the loading hole. Notice that it has stopped on the wire band and isn't in the chamber all the way.
The tip of a ballpoint pen is used to seat the pellet past the wire band and into the chamber. Once seated this way, the pellet is secure from vibrating out.
And this is what a properly seated pellet looks like. This is a large JSB pellet, so you can see there's plenty of room for big pellets in this mag. Now, rotate the mag drum one click counterclockwise and load the next chamber.
The magazine body has a small key or shelf at the bottom edge of the front side. This fits into a mating groove in the front of the receiver notch and prevents the mag from being incorrectly inserted. The front of the mag has a spring-loaded ball bearing that indexes the mag in the receiver. It's important that the mag is indexed properly, because the bolt moves by electrical power and could damage the mag or the gun if not aligned with the hole that runs through the magazine.
Here's the front of the magazine. There's just one hole where the pellet can be pushed out of the mag and into the breech by the bolt. Notice the small shelf at the bottom of the mag. This is a key that prevents the mag from being installed incorrectly.
This picture shows the receiver slot that accepts the magazine key. You can also see the hole in the front of the receiver above the barrel that indexes with the magazine ball bearing.
Because this gun fires electrically, DO NOT stick your fingers into the receiver magazine notch at any time. Every time the gun fires, the bolt first comes forward to push the pellet out of the magazine and into the breech. If your finger is there, the bolt will go through it like a nail from a nail gun! Never put your fingers into this opening, no matter where the safety and power switch are set. For this reason, do not let children or anyone who's unfamiliar with the rifle handle it.
The mag is installed. Push it in from the right side of the receiver until you hear the ball bearing click into the hole in the forward part of the receiver notch.
The double mag is two single mags joined together. In operation, you exhaust one side first, then slide the mag over to the other side — pushing from right to left. In .22 caliber, this mag gives a total of 24 shots.
Fill procedure
I mentioned the fill coupling in Part 1. Today, I'd like to show you the available space where the gun is filled, which is why it has to be a proprietary quick-fill device and not a standard Foster fitting. Besides the fill connector, the pressure gauge is also in this space, which is tucked out of sight in a slot under the forearm.
This macro picture shows the fill port that accepts the quick-disconnect adapter. The manometer reads in bar for the first time! Although this looks like a lot of room, my thumb is just as wide as this slot.
Well, that was a long introduction, but a gun this novel warrants it. I probably have still not told you everything you wish to know about the gun, but we have both the velocity and accuracy tests yet to come, so there's more than enough time. Ask your questions, and I'll attempt to answer them as we go.
Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle: Part 1
by B.B. Pelletier
Announcement: Some time soon, Pyramyd Air will change the log-in process for comments. I'm hoping it'll be active no later than Thursday of this week. We're getting hundreds of spam comments every day, and the blog now requires 24-hr monitoring to delete the spam so it doesn't overwhelm the legitimate comments.
If you've been a reader of this blog for a while, you may remember that we had a spam attack when we used Blogger software to write the original blog. We ended up tightening the comment process and stopped much of the spam. We're going to use the same process for this blog. It involves entering a randomly supplied word when you log-in. If you decide to not log-in and just write your name anew every time you post a comment, you'll have to go through the same process each time you make a comment. Obviously, logging in will save you time and effort. Thanks for your understanding.
Now, on to today's blog!
The Evanix Conquest has set the bar very high for air rifles. It looks great, but let's see how well it does in testing!
Well, new year, new gun. I'm surprised I haven't been besieged with questions about this latest offering from Evanix — the Evanix Conquest PCP air rifle with thumbhole stock — especially, in light of the YouTube videos! What you'll see on YouTube is a semiautomatic pellet rifle that is also capable of full auto! We'll discuss that feature at length in this review.
The first thing you will note about the rifle is the price. This one is not intended for those just starting in airgunning. At $1,700 ($1,759 for .25 caliber), this rifle has got to be serious enough to hold its own in the world of pellet rifles. Here's what I think that means.
What is has to be
The rifle has to be accurate. It cannot afford to be any less accurate than any high-priced pellet rifle or any lower-priced rifle, for that matter.
It has to be quiet. It must have the best sound reduction technology commensurate with its power level, which is advertised as 35.50 foot-pounds in the .22-caliber gun I'm testing for you.
It has to deliver a reasonable number of full-power shots. We'll see what this one has to offer in the velocity test.
It has to be beautiful. It is, and I'll comment on that some more in a little bit.
It has to have a fine trigger. It should be adjustable at this price; but if it's fine, I really don't need that feature.
It has to be reliable — as in absolutely and without equivocation. So, I plan on testing the sample rifle more than the average pellet rifle.
It should be straightforward, and I will comment on this today. I think the builders could have done things a little differently to get a better reception from the established airgun market — because that's where all the sales will come from.
The rifle
Okay, when you open the box on this one, there are many surprises inside. The first is the need to charge the batteries for at least 8 full hours before installing them in the butt.
Yes, this rifle has an electrically driven action that runs on rechargable batteries. They drive the semi-/full-auto feature. Don't complain about them, because in the world of airguns there's only one conventional full-auto .22-caliber rifle and it isn't for sale — yet (or perhaps ever)! That's the M16 made by Mark D. (Doc) Schavone, and it shoots only round balls — not pellets. Then there's also a belt-fed full auto .22 submachine gun made by Air Ordnance. The SMG 22 is full-auto and can be run on high-pressure air, but the primary fuel is CO2. When I tested one for Shotgun News last year, I found the air-powered version was slower than the CO2, which is odd, but there you are. At any rate, other than these two guns, the new offerings from Evanix are the only full-auto pellet rifles available.
There are actually two models, the Conquest I'm testing and the Speed, which is a lower-priced ($1,400) model that shares many of the same features, including the semi-/full-auto action. But I asked for a Conquest, because I know you guys want to see what is entailed in the best of the best, as do I.
Because the action is electrically driven, you don't really have to cock the gun. The electronics do that for you. Personally, I plan to shoot the gun a lot more on semiauto than full auto, but I'll put it through its paces on rock-n-roll to test the reliability factor.
You get quite a few accessories with the gun. For example, the battery charger comes with all the adapters needed for most national power grids. Naturally, you need to select only the correct one for your country and stick the rest into a drawer with all the other stuff you never use.
You get a selection of electrical adapters for the battery charger.
Here you can see the two switches that operate the action. The one in back is for "fire" and "safe." The one in front is for "semiautomatic" and "full auto." It is set to semiautomatic in the photo. Full auto is represented by the three dots seen at the bottom of the action.
Another feature I want to call attention to is the magazine. Each side of this two-sided circular mag holds 12 .22-caliber pellets, so this is a 24-shot rifle. Whether you get all 24 shots on a single fill remains to be seen. (edited 1/4/12: the gun does not include the 24-rd double magazine) In the video, they had the gun tethered to a scuba tank, but I'll make this one perform on its own. In .177, the rifle is also a 12/24-round gun (edited 1/4/12: 12-rd mags only; edited 2/26/12: all calibers of the Conquest have 10-rd mags). In .25-caliber the numbers change to 10 and 20 (edited 1/4/12: 10-rd mags only).
With the rifle, you get one 24-round magazine, (edited 1/4/12: the 24-rd double-mag is not part of the package) two 12-round mags (edited 2/26/12: 10-rd mags) and a proprietary quick-disconnect fill probe.
You can also see a window in the right side of the receiver. I'll have to find out it's purpose, but I'm sure they put it it there for a good reason.
The woodwork is stunning! In fact, the rifle I'm testing (serial number 1111H012441) has even better wood figure than the rifle shown above. The stain is dark and rich, like a medium-dark chocolate. And the checkering on the grip (one panel each side) is flawlessly executed — as befits machine checkering. The stock is completely ambidextrous and needs no apologies. Since most of the high-end European air rifles get their stocks from Korea or Turkey, it doesn't surprise me that this one is the equal of anything they produce.
This rifle is short and relatively light for an air rifle. It's just 40 inches long and just a shade under 8 lbs. It's ever-so-slightly longer than a carbine, which I think will appeal to hunters. So, is it a hunting air rifle? Well, with all the power on tap, hunting is what it will do well. At this price, it'll probably appeal to a broader group of owners. If it's as accurate as I hope, it could become another long-range legend. But that's yet to be determined.
You also get a quick-fill adapter, and this one is proprietary. I wish they'd used the male Foster hydraulic fitting that has become the airgun standard all over the world, but they didn't. Fortunately, their adapter works easily enough once you get used to it. Knurling on the part that moves to unlock the fitting would be an improvement, because there's precious little room in the stock where the fitting has to be attached and detached.
The manometer (onboard air pressure gauge) reads in bar! Hallelujah! No more learning some other pressure quantification, this one is something we all understand. I filled the rifle to 200 bar, and the job was straightforward.
The barrel is fully shrouded, so I'm looking forward to a reasonably quiet operation. At 35 foot-pounds, it has to make some noise — but it shouldn't be a bear.
I'm going to stop here, because there's so much more information to cover that this introduction will take place in two parts.
Let the games begin!


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To bring you the world's finest iWotsit protection we've hooked up with consummate case professionals Uncommon. They're an industry leader in making superbly high quality and durable iPhone & iPod cases – one of the few brands chosen by Apple for Apple Stores. They invented a revolutionary and top secret printing process called TATT™, which embeds the design into the case – so no fading or peeling, ever. It all sounds a bit space age really, which we quite like.
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This short video shows how dads can help with newborn nutrition and general support for the primary caregiver. Dads also explain how they have been able to help their partners in the period following birth.
The Raising Children Network invites organisations and individuals to download and add this parenting video to their websites free of charge. The video must not be edited and must appear with the following statement:
Sourced from the Raising Children website, Australia's trusted parenting website. For more parenting information, visit www.raisingchildren.net.au.
This video is taken from our DVD, Raising children: a guide to parenting from birth to 5. It includes three main movies, 'newborn', 'baby', 'child' which are not available as videos on this website. You can order a copy of the full DVD.


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Mary Lothrop
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Professional Background: Prior to coming to Middlebury, Mary was a college faculty member and academic adviser in the health sciences. She earned a BS in Biochemistry from Hobart & William Smith Colleges and an MS in Chemistry from Dartmouth College.
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How Sally Got Owned: An Illustrated Example of How Piracy Can Endanger Your Mobile Device
Last week, a fake iOS App Store server went live with simple instructions for how to circumvent paying for in-app purchases (such as bonus levels in games) and unlock them for free. Most apps were vulnerable to being duped into believing the user had already paid for their content. Many people willing to engage in software piracy eagerly followed the steps and found that they worked, but there was a lot of confusion about how it could possibly work and whether it was safe.
The particular person who published the instructions added a note to remember not to type in your real username and password when prompted, which should be a big hint that while he was not looking to harvest the passwords, they were all being sent to his fake App Store server. Anyone could set up an alternate server – especially if his is blocked by law enforcement – and conveniently "forget" to mention that whatever username and password you type in will be sent to them. Even with the warning, many people admitted to using their real username and password with the pirate server, because they did not realize they were giving it away to a stranger.
Let's be clear: the existing fake iOS in-app purchase server has not yet been caught being malicious, but the techniques it uses to enable piracy are dangerously insecure. This is a story about exactly how it can go wrong.
There is a full transcript after the images for screen readers.
How Sally Got Owned – a sad cautionary tale by Melissa Elliott / @0xabad1dea
(picture of young girl with tablet computer)
This is Sally. Her parents got her a tablet for her birthday, but she doesn't have much allowance to spend on things like apps and music. That's a shame, because her favorite game just came out with an add-on pack that costs $5.
(picture of a cheerful pirate with an eye-patch)
But wait! Peter Pirate claims that he has an easy way to get the expansion pack for free! Sally is internet-savvy enough to wonder if it's a prank, but her friend already tried it and it really works!
(picture of Peter Pirate holding up a tablet with the settings screen)
"It's very simple," explains Peter. "First, go into your wi-fi settings and find the one called 'DNS Server.' Change it to the number I give here."
(picture of a shiny certificate that says "Fakey McFakeFake, totally a legit authority")
"The second step is to install this file I made called a 'root certificate' to your tablet. No matter how many times the confirmation dialogue warns you that its authenticity cannot be verified, keep tapping yes!"
(picture of Sally looking uncertain)
Sally doesn't know what a DNS server or a root certificate is, and instead of asking someone she thinks to herself: "Well, what's the worst that could happen?"
Sally follows the instructions and gets her free stuff. The next day, Sally finds that someone has logged into her Facebook. What?!
This is based on the true story of a real hack, although no-one has gotten their Facebook stolen – or maybe just not yet. Let's examine how this hack works, why it only works with Sally's full co-operation, and why these two simple steps empower Peter Pirate to steal the private accounts on Sally's tablet if he wants to. Should you really trust someone who is helping you cheat your way out of paying?
(A picture of Sally's tablet and Peter Pirate. An arrow reading "TOTAL TRUST" connects the two.)
Sally has modified settings on her tablet that instruct it to believe whatever Peter says. She's counting on him – whether she realizes it or not – to play by friendly rules. But will he?
DNS stands for "domain name system" and is an essential part of the internet that converts people-friendly website names like "veracode.com" to computer-friendly IP addresses like 220.127.116.11. It's essentially just a giant phone book that is constantly updated, not only because new websites are added but because existing ones have moved or changed ownership.
(a diagram of a tablet looking for veracode.com. The request goes through its wi-fi router, which forwards it the ISP's DNS server, which asks an authoritative server for the newest information.)
That's highly over-simplified but you get the idea. Under normal circumstances, your computers will automatically find your internet service provider's DNS server, which chats with other DNS servers to keep up to date. The system is not perfect; when an incorrect domain-name-to-IP-address conversion (often planted by a hacker) gets spread, that's called DNS poisoning. However, such poisoned info is usually fixed within hours.
Most computers allow you to override your auto-detected DNS settings with a specific server; maybe the default one is too slow or participates in censorship or redirects you to tacky ads when a domain is not found. However, you had better pick a replacement server that's honest!
(diagram: The tablet is looking for veracode.com but asks to skip the ISP's DNS server and be sent straight to Peter. Peter gleefully cackles: "I can say whatever I want and you'll believe me!)"
When you manually change your DNS server, you are giving whoever runs it the power to lie to you – and to the apps running on your computer. That's the first step in how Peter Pirate's cheating technique works. He has set up his own DNS server which only has one answer to give: itself!
(picture: The tablet says "I'm the store app. I need to find the payment site." A pirate server says: "It's… right here! What a coincidence!")
When the app store attempts to connect to the payment server, it receives a fake answer from Peter Pirate and proceeds to start an inquiry about payment with Peter. If the payment connection was not authenticated, that would be the end of it as Peter has successfully impersonated the real server and can lie about the payment having gone through, fooling the game into unlocking the bonus pack.
Achievement unlocked: Blatant Piracy!
However, of course the programmers of the store app were smart enough to use authentication; this means that – if Peter only fakes the DNS – all that will happen is this:
(a computer message that says "ERROR! Could not connect! Try again later.")
Mind you, this is a good thing – it's what keeps important websites like your bank from being easily impersonated. The store app detected that it had not been given an authorized encryption key from the payment server and refused to talk to it. Now, I'm skipping over a lot of details here – SSL encryption is very complicated – but Peter notices that the store does not only accept one specific "certificate" (an encryption key that is bundled with the info of what site owns it) but will accept any certificate issued in the payment server's name if it's certified as authentic by a trusted Certificate Authority.
Peter Pirate needs to get in the business of being a trusted Certificate Authority!
(picture of Peter proudly holding up a fake certificate, exclaiming "Here at Pirate Passports we guarantee to issue ID!")
Your computer came pre-stocked with a list of Certificate Authorities (CA's) that are considered safe to trust, such as Verisign or GoDaddy. Every once in a while, a CA is disgraced and removed from these lists – that was the sad fate of one called DigiNotar when it was hacked and used to sign off on fake certificates for sites such as Google. If Peter is willing to commit some serious crimes, he could try to hack a reputable CA and make a forged certificate for the payment server. However, he has the advantage that Sally is willingly co-operating, so there's an easier way.
Most computers have a way for the owner to manually add a new CA to the trusted list, both because a new one might become popular and because many corporations, schools and governments run their own private CA's. Hence, Peter can merely make his own private CA and ask Sally to manually approve it for her tablet. There's no paperwork involved; making a private CA consists only of Peter running a program on his computer to generate a file called a root certificate. He sends it to Sally, and her tablet warns her that it could be issued by anybody and she should be very certain she trusts it before saying yes.
(A picture of Sally saying "meh, why not" as she taps on her tablet.)
Now he can make his own "genuine" certificate for the payment server and the store app won't be able to tell the difference. It will first receive a fake IP address and then a fake-but-real-looking SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate. It will now proceed blissfully unaware that it's been had. In security parlance, we would say that the server has been "spoofed."
Sally thinks nothing of it when she taps her username and password into the store app after configuring her tablet to be hacked. She doesn't realize that she just transmitted that information to Peter!
Sally, was your app store password the same as your Facebook?
(picture of Sally looking embarrassed, saying "…Maybe?")
Sally, this is why everyone tells you to use different passwords!
It was a prank after all – a cruel prank to steal the passwords of people willing to do anything to not spend $5 in the app store.
Now suppose Sally was savvy enough to have a unique password for every important website. That should keep the maximum damage Peter can do pretty low, right? He only got her app store account.
… Not really.
While Sally is busy unlocking free stuff in her game, her email app hits its fifteen-minute timer and logs in to check for new mail. Peter planned ahead for this and made fake certificates for the most common mail providers. Hence, the email client is tricked by the fake DNS and fake certificate, and sends Sally's email account name and password to Peter. There's probably a lot he can do with that!
(a picture of Sally sobbing) It all ends in tears for Sally, who now has to explain to her grandparents why her Facebook is covered in (censored).
Good luck, Sally.
Don't make yourself an easy target. Stick to legitimate software from trusted sources as much as possible. Piracy often leaves you exposed with dangerous techniques like this, with unpatched security holes, or with deliberately infected copies of games or movies. Trusting cheaters is how Sally got owned.
veracode.com – application security in the cloud (including iOS and Android!)


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After splitting the first two games to go 1-1 on the season, the Mustangs women's volleyball team was determined to be above 0.500 at their home opener when they took on the Queen's Gaels on Saturday. But when playing in front of the home crowd, nerves are sure to be a factor.
"We have practiced really hard all week, so we knew this was going be a tough game especially because it was our home opener," Kelly Frattenburg, Mustangs middle, said. "There's a lot more nerves, and we knew they were going to come out hard. We just thought we'd go out and give it our all-that was kind of our mentality."
However, things didn't go the Mustangs' way. Though they put up a valiant effort against their bitter rivals, the Mustangs lost 3-1.
"Last year we embarrassed them in our gym. The girls were going to come back here wanting revenge. They wanted to win more than we did tonight," Dave Edwards, head coach for the Mustangs, said.
The rivalry between the two schools didn't impinge on the Gael's mindset at all.
"I know there is a history between Queen's and Western, but we prepare for every match the same and I think the girls were prepared to do whatever they needed to do, regardless of the opponent," Joely Christian-Macfarlane, head coach for the Gaels, said.
The Mustangs got off to a decent start in the first set, matching the Gaels point for point. That was until Becky Billings of the Gaels hit several clutch shots to win the first set for the Gaels by a score of 27-25.
The second set was more of the same, as Billings and the Gaels went up 18-6 in the frame, until the Mustangs turned it on. Led by some important hits by Frittenburg, Rebecca Oxland and Danielle Marshall, along with clutch blocks by Frittenburg, the Mustangs battled back to win the second set 28-26.
"It was one of those times where a coach has to say something to motivate them a little bit. They came back and played very well and it was kind of a turning point," Edwards explained.
Losing the second set didn't sit well for Queen's and in the third and fourth sets, momentum shifted back in the Gael's favour. The Gaels went on to win the third and fourth sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-21 respectively.
"I was hoping we would carry the momentum into the fourth set, but obviously it didn't happen for us," Edwards commented.
"We had a huge lead in the second set and let it go, and I think they realized how hard they would have to work if they wanted to win the match. It was a realization for them. I didn't say anything to them. I let them figure it out," Christian-Macfarlane said.
Both teams lost some key players this year, and are both in a process of rebuilding and easing the new girls to the competitiveness that is Ontario University Athletics.
"We're transitioning from a full starting six to some girls who are new on the court, so right now it's about learning how to play together and get better and better every match," Christian-Macfarlane said.
The loss of players is especially hard on the purple and white, who lost Jenna Thomson along with five other important players. At the moment the Mustangs are without the leadership and veteran savvy that Thomson brought to the team.
"We lost six starters from last year which makes a huge difference. They are a young team. Our key to success is hard work and effort," Edwards said.
"We are waiting for someone to step up to that position. We are still trying to find our voice," he continued further.
However, Edwards may not have to look farther than Frittenburg to find his next leader of the women's squad.
"We have a super young team—the whole dynamic is a little different. I'm starting to play more of a leadership role. There's a little bit of pressure but it's a lot of fun," Frittenburg said.
After this game, the Mustangs now know how they must approach future teams and attain success during the season.
"Learning from our mistakes, we've got to communicate more, work more as a team rather than as individuals," Frittenburg remarked.
The Mustangs also suffered a 3-0 loss on Sunday when they hosted the Ottawa Gee Gees. They will look to turn it around on November 12 when they travel to Ryerson to faceoff against the Rams.


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Richard Pitino may or may not be a mad scientist but the formula he whipped up against No. 11 ranked Ohio State was perfect. The Gophers played solid defense as per usual but instead of living and dying by the three pointer, the Gophers pounded the ball into Elliott Eliason who finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds in the Gophers 63-53 win.
"It was certainly a great win for us. I thought we played tremendous defense," head coach Richard Pitino said. "Elliott Eliason obviously impacted the game in so many ways. He was huge for us. We finally started to go inside, and it was big for our basketball players. It was a great win. We've got to certainly learn from our mistakes and continue to get better."
Leading by four with under five minutes to play Minnesota used a 7-0 run to stretch the lead to 11 and seal the win.
"We have had some close games against Big 10 teams this year," junior guard DeAndre Mathieu said. "We talked to each other during the halftime that we are going to finish it this time. This time we had to finish it to let Michigan know that we can finish the game really good too."
Mathieu finished with 13 points while dishing five assists and pulling down four rebounds in the win. The Gophers shot only 14 three-pointers in the win that boosts their conference record to 3-2 overall.
Eliason was named captain earlier in the week for his consistent play and he showed up big giving Pitino and the Gophers a signature Big 10 win.
"We lost one on the road, and we needed a bounce back as a team," Eliason said. "You know they were really hungry as they came off from two tough losses as well. So we were prepared to play with these hungry and talented players."
The Gophers take to the road to face Iowa on Sunday afternoon. The Hawkeyes are currently 3-1 in conference play.
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ATHENS, TN (WRCB) -- A McMinn County woman admitted to police she intentionally hit her aunt and uncle with a car. Now she faces several charges.
In a police report obtained by Ch.3 the suspect Kia Rashae Key simply said they needed to be taught a lesson. She's now being charged with 2 counts of aggravated assault and vandalism.
Family members confirmed what the police report said. On Monday Key intentionally backed her car up aimed at her aunt and uncle and pinned the gas.
Her aunt was hit and tossed 20 feet, her uncle was sent flying into another car. Both survived with a few broken bones, nothing life threatening.
Her aunt declined to speak on camera but told us has no idea what sent Key over the edge. After the incident key drove away hitting several other cars and was arrested shortly after.
Athens police captain frank Horning said the situation escalated very quickly, "At this time there's nothing involved with alcohol or drugs. It seems to be domestic violence where they wanted the child not near the family and it went from a discussion to haywire."
Key has not bonded out and is due in court on Feb. 22nd.
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This is Siouxsie.
Since a very young age, she has been dealing with a myriad of genetic defects. I got her from a breeder at 8 weeks and after just a few days with her, I could tell something was very wrong.
My original vet for her optimistically gave her 6 months at most to live.
Siouxsie has been diagnosed with SM (syringomyelia), scoliosis, a severe heart murmur, minor dysplasia, and all of the related symptoms because of these health issues- have been very hard on her. A lot of expense went into just figuring out what was wrong with her before we could even get to the business of trying to help her.
The breeder I got her from wanted her euthanized when I had her vetted and the results came back. She wouldn't give me a refund or a replacement puppy unless she received a death certificate for Siouxsie. I can see now how she might feel that way...
The attending vet gave her no more than 6 months to live without having to consider humane euthanization because of how quickly she was developing issues. I, for quite possibly selfish reasons at that point, decided that I was NOT going to just give up on this puppy.
I had 6 Cavaliers of my own then, and had raised 3 litters, so I thought for sure I could figure this out and fix this dog.
By 3 months of age, Siouxsie was nearly horseshoe shaped and could not bend her spine. I left her attending vet and took her to 2 specialists who also discovered that her juvenile heart murmur had not lessened and she was exhibiting CM/SM symptoms as well.
I thankfully found a good canine chiropractor and confided in a friend who taught me massage regimens to share with her to help her spinal fluid blockages and the scoliosis pain and well as to help her range of motion. This friend later taught me acupressure and recommended that I look into acupuncture as well. I will never be able to express enough gratitude to her for her knowledge, support & guidance, and for not judging me or expressing opinion when she may well have felt I should just let Siouxsie go.
By 6 months of age, her syringomyelia had already began to show aggressive signs which is very early for that disease to be that symptomatic. After her second MRI, the attending vet stated again that I ought to not consider prolonging euthanization for fear that her condition would only worsen. But I was gambling on the hopes that since the SM disease was then quite shadowy and often misunderstood, that I could still utilize the curve and get her well.
I spent a lot of my time educating myself on practicing massage, acupressure and eventually sharing Reiki with her several times a week. She was always my practice dog for new things I would learn about; flopping over on her side as soon as I walked up to her- asking for help- and I owe my initial interest in learning more methods of medical and supportive animal care solely to having her in my life.
I cannot imagine the pain she dealt with on her bad days, but when she had good days, she greeted those with great exuberance, a swooshy butt and a never-ending affinity for FOOD. On the bad days, she was quiet, symptomatic and tired. On those days she got extra massage, heat packs/cold packs, and added herbals.
Within a year's time and with regular care, her spine straightened until she had only minimal muscular tension and curvature across her left shoulder. As her growth slowed & her adult structure came together, her neck and ear scratching, fly biting, and star gazing lessened considerably. Her SM symptoms subsided and she had far more good days and far less bad days. Her range of motion was remarkably better and I could see her personality start to really come out from under the veil that her pain had been hiding.
Over the years she remained my massage partner, my Reiki and meditation partner and my reminder that as a breeder, I had a responsibility to never give up on a dog or to not remember for even a second that every pup I bred never really stopped being a member of my extended family. She never gave up on me and I never gave up on her.
Today Siouxsie turned 8 years old.
She still has bad days, but when she does, she flops on her side and asked for me to help her. And I do, and she helps me, too.
In honor of her pain, her healing, her journey, and for all she taught me, Siouxsie will be my hands on dog for all of the instructional photos in my Canine Massage Therapy book and its accompanying videos. I thought it was only fair that in honor of her memory, whenever SHE decides to take her light to another place, she help others here to better care for their pets and maybe to show them that just about anything is possible if you try hard enough.
Below is a simple chart showing the growth stages of the canine double coat; one with a dense guard coat to undercoat ratio.
This is a handy chart to have on hand when relating to clients the importance of keeping up their double coated breed. It diagrams how a coat works either for or against the dog's well being and comfort.
Hello Everyone!
If you are looking for one more opportunity to learn some new tips and tricks, to shop, and to have a day to yourself to just relax before the holiday season starts gearing up, then be sure to come out to the Pet Stylists Invitational trade show!
Sunday October 20th, from 9AM to 8PM.
The Olympia Resort & Conference Center in Oconomowoc, WI
Complete Show Info:
On Site Certification with these National Orgs. will be available:
The NDGAA
The ISCC
The PCGAA
A 3 tiered Grooming Competition will be held, with guest judge Lisa Leady!
There will also be a New & Used Tool Swap & Sale for all attendees to bring in their unwanted grooming related items to sell or trade.
This all day event boasts a schedule full of classes including:
Terriers 101- Hand Stripping and Rolling Coats
Caring For the Canine Coat- the physiology and optimal care of canine hair coats in the grooming salon
Scissoring Mechanics- how to choose and properly use the correct tools for the job (bring along your personal shears for fitting and technique demos)
Asian Fusion Grooming- the hows and whys of achieving this signature form of grooming in your salon
Feline Grooming Tips & Tricks
Breed Profile Grooming Demos
And of course there will be PLENTY of shopping available all day for some of our industry's top product lines!
One of the most common questions that I see and hear in our canine skin & coat care classes are surrounding the topic of grooming dogs which enter the salon with itchy, dry or pink colored skin due to allergies. It can be seasonal or contact allergies, but these dogs repeatedly come in with uncomfortable skin, and lackluster and unhealthy coat.
We have to remember that we can do all the best we can on the outside of these dogs, but what is causing these symptoms is continuing to well deep inside the pet. In these cases, it is ever so important to try to take the time to educate your pet client owners about allergies, symptoms that you see and possible causes. Most of all, try to recommend them to a vet who specializes in systemic and supportive care practices that really get to the root of the problem. Without a good vet in place and pet owners who will work with, your only method of providing relief for the pet is to use your tools and supplies in your salon that you know will provide the pet the most benefit, some relief, and the least amount of stress during their visits. Sometimes we can only know that we are doing the best we can for the pet and giving some relief even if it visits again with the same symptoms. It is also equally important to try to be kind and helpful to these pet owners; understand that these symptoms at home can be difficult to live with and difficult for a caring pet owner to witness, especially if they have tried multiple methods of helping their pet to no avail. They may be frustrated with the little or no change they see in their pet's symptoms, and really need some kindness and support to help them move forward in a different direction for their pet if at all possible. Also, possibly try to see that these dogs continue to come to you for grooming care so that you can at least help them a little. Meaning that you want to handle your concerns gently and professionally, and not have them go elsewhere if that can be avoided. Then you'll know that this pet is still getting at least the relief you can give. After all, it isn't just about sales or revenues, it is also about using your skill, knowledge and perception in your profession to promote wellness and better life quality for the pets in your care.
In that effect, I want to again remind all readers to always work with their pet owners and grooming clients, and the pet's vet to help these animals receive the best care that we can; to never diagnose, but to always speak up and suggest your concerns to your clients in hopes that a pet who needs additional care will receive it thanks to your knowledge and care.
There are natural and simple ingredients and products that you as a groomer or stylist can easily have on hand to help provide relief and create a beautiful groom for your clients at each visit. Having these on hand will enable you to give some genuine physical comfort to the pet and to well clean the "canvas" on which you will lay your finished groom.
One of the most simple, whole, and safe products you can have in your bathing rooms is colloidal oatmeal.
Colloidal Oatmeal
Colloidal oatmeal, is also known by its Genus Species name, Avena sativa L.. What colloidal oatmeal does is to help smooth and comfort itchy, scratchy, and dry skin. To get the benefits from the oats, you add this all-natural product to your bath where its soothing effects take over when you relax in the tub. The same effects can be made for your pet clients as well.
Following is an in depth excerpt of work from Alessandra Panoni of the clinical properties, uses & benefits or colloidal oatmeal. Beyond this continues my article on using colloidal oatmeal in our salons.
Oatmeal has been used for centuries as a soothing agent to relieve itch and irritation associated with various xerotic dermatoses. In 1945, a ready to use colloidal oatmeal, produced by finely grinding the oat and boiling it to extract the colloidal material, became available. Today, colloidal oatmeal is available in various dosage forms from powders for the bath to shampoos, shaving gels, and moisturizing creams. Currently, the use of colloidal oatmeal as a skin protectant is regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) according to the Over-The-Counter Final Monograph for Skin Protectant Drug Products issued in June 2003. Its preparation is also standardized by the United States Pharmacopeia.
The many clinical properties of colloidal oatmeal derive from its chemical polymorphism. The high concentration in starches and [beta]-glucan is responsible for the protective and water-holding functions of oat. The presence of different types of phenols confers antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Some of the oat phenols are also strong ultraviolet absorbers. The cleansing activity of oat is mostly due to saponins. Its many functional properties make colloidal oatmeal a cleanser, moisturizer, buffer, as well as a soothing and protective anti-inflammatory agent.
History of Oatmeal
Enzymes, such as lipase, lipoxygenase, and superoxide dismutase, have also been found in oats. (23,24) Because oat grains are rich in lipids with a high content in unsaturated fatty acids, they contain various compounds with antioxidant activity to protect the lipids from oxidation. (25) This activity is mostly derived by the presence of phenolic esters. (25,26) The oat plant at various growth stages has been found to contain a large number of phenolic compounds including all major classes: benzoic and cinnamic acids, quinones, flavones, flavonols, chalcones, flavanones, anthocyanidines, and aminophenolics. (25) The most important antioxidant phenols in oat flour are the glyceryl esters of hydroxycinnamic, ferulic, p-coumaric, and caffeic acids. (27)
Oats also contain flavonoids (phenolic structure) with strong absorption of ultraviolet A (UVA) in the 320 to 370 nm range. (25) Other phenolic esters, called avenacins (structurally belonging to saponins), have also been isolated. (25) These have a large lipophilic region and a short chain of sugar residues, which interact with nonlipid components. Because of this structure saponins have a soap-like action. (28) Lastly, oats contain a variety of minerals and vitamins. (29) Among these, vitamin E, present mostly as [alpha]-tocopherol, is the most clinically relevant. (23,27)
Clinical Properties
Because of its chemical polymorphism, colloidal oatmeal presents many functional and dermatological clinical properties such as cleansing, buffering, moisturizing, protecting, soothing, anti-irritant, and antioxidant. As a skin protectant, colloidal oatmeal is regulated by the FDA as an over the counter drug, and can be included in tub baths at a minimum concentration of 0.007% if alone, or at a minimum concentration of 0.003% when combined with mineral oil (30%-35%). (15) The monograph defines a skin protectant as a "drug product that temporarily protects injured or exposed skin or mucous membrane surfaces from harmful or annoying stimuli, and may help provide relief to such surfaces." (15)
Other types of phenols in oat are responsible for different functional properties. In fact, the oat flavonoids are strong UVA-screens, (25) and the avenacins have potent antifungal activity as well as a soap-like function. (25,28)
Tocopherols (vitamin E) have anti-inflammatory and antiphotodamage activities. They have been found to prevent or reduce UV-mediated damage in the skin and to inhibit the biosynthesis of prostaglandin [E.sub.2]. (38)
The anti-inflammatory properties of oat have been substantiated in several investigations. A study using extracts of Avena sativa showed strong inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis in vitro. (39) Another in vitro investigation found that the oat extract decreased mobilization of arachidonic acid from phospholipids, suggesting value for ameliorating inflammatory skin disorders. (40)
A few investigations have also been conducted in vivo. Vie et al (41) used the sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) irritation model to study the anti-inflammatory effect of oatmeal. They pretreated the test sites on the arms with oatmeal extracts (Avena sativa or Avena rhealba) under occlusion for 2 hours and then applied a 1% SLS solution under a patch for 24 hours. The results showed a significant decrease in irritation with both extracts, demonstrating a preventive effect of these compounds on SLS-irritated skin.
A recent investigation in burn patients demonstrated the soothing benefit of a shower/bath oil containing 5% colloidal oatmeal in liquid paraffin. The results showed that the group using colloidal oatmeal had a significant reduction in itch compared to the group using paraffin oil alone. (42)
Many older studies have demonstrated the soothing properties of colloidal oatmeal. (7,9-13) In a study with 139 patients (aged 21-91) suffering from various pruritic dermatoses, colloidal oatmeal was used as a bath and regular cleanser for 3 months. Complete or marked itch relief was experienced by over 71% of the group. (12) Another investigation involving 152 pediatric patients, mostly presenting with atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, fungous infections, or seborrheic dermatitis concluded that baths with colloidal oatmeal in an oil form were excellent adjuncts to therapy, with soothing and cleansing properties and lack of irritation. (10)
New technology in the formulation of oatmeal products has allowed more cosmetically appealing topicals for improved moisturization, cleansing, and shaving, and new products are constantly being developed to address different skin types, skin conditions, and age groups. (8)
I thank Dr. Alessandra Pagnoni for providing her expert opinion and critical help in the organization and preparation of the manuscript above.
But How Does Colloidal Oatmeal Work?
Colloidal oatmeal is simply oats ground into an extremely fine powder. When added to bathwater, it creates a milky dispersion that prevents the oatmeal from settling rapidly. So the oatmeal stays in the water and doesn't just sink to the bottom of the bath. When you get into the tub, the colloidal oatmeal feels silky, as it coats, moisturizes, softens, and protects your skin.
What Conditions Are Helped By Colloidal Oatmeal?
Colloidal oatmeal works great to help relieve dry, skin patches (Eczema), psoriasis, acne, bug bites, sunburns, and other minor skin irritations. It also helps relieve chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes. Since colloidal oatmeal has an anti-itch property that helps reduce the "need to itch," soaking in the bath brings soothing comfort to those infected. When your skin is itchy and irritated, its pH level may be higher. Colloidal Oatmeal helps bring the pH back to normal levels, taming "the need to itch."
What Conditions Are Helped By Colloidal Oatmeal?
Colloidal oatmeal works great to help relieve dry, psoriasis, skin patches (Eczema), acne, bug bites, sunburns, and other minor skin irritations. It also helps relieve chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes. These rashes also work twofold with the central nervous system as they continue to create- to keep it simple- an itch signal to the nerves and then on to the brain- from within the skin tissue. Regardless of how aggressively it is scratched on the surface, it is still telling the brain that there is something there that continues to not feel right. This subsequent scratching can be the source of much more than simple itching. Self mutiliation response to relieve allergy itching often causes both secondary skin infections, a cycle of hair and skin loss, sores, and general anxiety and even depression in a pet. Imagine being trapped in your body for weeks, months or even years and always feeling itchy and uncomfortable. To me, it would be maddening! Remember that these pets likely are not "themselves"- they could be skittish, reactive, aggressive and just plainly unhappy at their visits. Now's your chance to step up and help them. And here is your chance to start a positive change for them, even if it is only a few hours of normality and relief following their groom. What good things we can do if we choose to try.
Since colloidal oatmeal has an anti-itch property that helps reduce the "need to itch," soaking in the bath brings soothing comfort to those infected. When skin is itchy and irritated, its pH level may be higher. Colloidal oatmeal helps bring the pH back to normal levels, taming "the need to itch."
Checking in a pet who may have allergies
It is important to address your concerns straight away with the pet owner. Both to possibly help create a change back home while they are in your care at the salon, and to avoid possibly having any issue blamed to your hands. Help the owner to leave your salon with an idea of what services you plan for their pet, and WHY. Helping to integrate their help will almost always help them feel empowered and have initiative to make a change. In a way, we are instilling our knowledge and care into the pet owner to create a better life for their pet. Most any owner will be proud to help and with your ability to be kind, honest and helpful. Still, if you get an owner who simply does not care to listen or help, do not give up, be patient. Care for the pet as best you can during their visit, and repeat that care every time you see them. At least you are still helping. Sometimes the changes an owner sees back home in their pet will get the ball rolling.
As soon as the pet arrives, do a thorough check in before the owner leaves, talk with them about what you see and give some advice on what you'd like to try to help and for follow up care back home and with their vet. Look for: oily or sticky coat residue, thickened or calloused areas of skin, open lesions, hair loss, healing sores, rashes, and lumps. Look well at their feet, ears, eyes and even into their mouths for signs of systemic issues. All things within a body are connected, so you will be looking for things like discolored or abnormally dry or weepy mucus membranes, discharge from ears, eyes or around the lips and flew areas, odor from the ears, folds of facial skin, feet and breath. Redness of any area on the pet usually signals an area of high yeast count and/or an area that has recently received prolonged chewing & itching. Mention for them to try to clean their pet's bedding, food bowls and toys while they are at your salon- this could help lessen the allergen contaminants for when they return to their surroundings at home. If this is a contact allergy, it could help prolong their relief a little longer. Next I will then trim the pet's nails, take a look at helping their ears with thorough cleaning if they are not too inflamed, and then straight to the bath. If the pet is really matted where you cannot get the skin and coat clean, you may need to first remove some or all of the coat as a rough in clip first. If avoidable, I will always try to get them into a cool bath straight away and wait for grooming work until the coat is clean and the skin has a little of its moisture and elasticity back.
If your grooming clients have skin that is mildly inflamed, reddened by irritation, is coated in dander and oily or tacky residue, colloidal oatmeal can help soothe their skin as well.
Here is the method that I prefer to use in the salon for clients, it takes an extra 10 minutes for prep time and allowing the pet to soak, but it still gives genuine help in a short time so it is well worth having as a tool for relief.
Providing a Colloidal Oatmeal Soak
Rinse the pet for 2 to 5 minutes with cool to luke warm water. Light water pressure and heavy water flow is beneficial. You do not want to water spray or mechanically rub the skin too hard when it is aggravated for obvious reasons.
Follow the long cool rinse with a gentle cleansing shampoo. Some may find that a gentle shampoo does not adequately break up excess skin dander or oils to be effective in their removal, so it may be necessary to step up to a clarifying shampoo if there is excess debris on the coat. Always remember that gentler is better, but we also want to be effective in our results to make a difference for the pet owner and the pet. If the skin is not built up too badly, step back down to a gentle formula shampoo, and bathe at least twice. Be careful about manually scrubbing too hard, let the water and products work for you, and follow this bath with another cool rinse for 2 to 3 minutes to help seal in moisture.
After the bath, you can now get your oatmeal soak ready for the pet. You can keep the pet in the tub, or remove them, towel dry lightly, kennel, and keep them warm while you mix the soak.
Add 2 Tablespoons of colloidal oatmeal powder to a luke-warm bath of up to 5 gallons of water (a hot bath will irritate the skin), the heavier the mix, the only change will be that you must be more thorough in rinsing. You can either cup up & pour the luke warm water over the pet's back and neck, or allow them to soak supervised in a bath deep enough to cover them up to their neck. The dilution ratio for the oatmeal should be listed in the product's label, but in the effect that it is not, a good rule of thumb is to mix 2 Tablespoons into 5 gallons of warmer water. You want this soak to be warm, but not hot and not so cold that they may chill. Be sure they are supplied with an anti-slip matt in the bottom of the tub, and never leave them unattended. Add your pet client, and let them soak for 5 to 7 minutes. You can pour the luke warm or cool water over the pets back and neck, or allow them to soak supervised in a bath deep enough to cover them up to their neck. Again, be sure they are supplied with an anti-slip matt in the bottom of the tub, and never leave them unattended. And be sure not to get the colloidal rinse into the pet's eyes. Allowing the ear leathers to soak in this solution is a great help for inflamed ears as well. After a soak rinse them again for a minute or two with cooler water, towel dry by softly squeezing the water from the coat, and either kennel or hand dry as needed. If the pet has needed a clarifying or deeper shampoo, you will want to apply a diluted cream rinse or conditioner to their coat to be sure the skin is given added moisture. We never want to over condition the coat, but we do not want to leave it at all stripped as well. *Remember with conditioners, less is more, and slathering on a heavy cream or oils will only cause coat build up and keep the skin from regenerating and cleansing itself as it was designed to do. In the case of all pets with abnormal skin, we are seeking to normalize the skin, help the skin to create its own healthy flora, and then to stop subsequent treatment in the salon once that is achieved. Meaning that you may not need to treat the skin in this manner at the next visit, or that you may need to alter your care as the skin's healing and normalization continues. We want to bridge the gap in the pet's normal skin condition and then let the body step up to continue that normality on its own if possible.
After the rinse, it is normal for both your hands and the pet to feel very silky and smooth. This is the oatmeal doing what it was designed to do; lightly coat the skin, seal in moisture, and providing elasticity back to the skin & hair. Since colloidal oatmeal also pulls out the annoying irritant that are on the skin's surface, and even superficially in the skin's upper cellular layers, your pet will be feeling better in no time.
This treatment will help as soon as it is applied for most every pet, but must be repeated every two to three days either with you or at home if this is what the pet owner wants to rely on for relief. Using colloidal oatmeal is a very gentle and non- invasive remedy to topical irritation and itching, but simply will not end allergic responses unless it is used as part of a care regimen that helps end the allergen(s) inclusion in the pet's daily life. Remember that an oatmeal bath is a remedy, NOT a solution to an underlying issue which may be at the root of the itchiness or odors. Again, always work with your pet owners and their vet to be sure your pet's health needs are addressed and fulfilled.
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Augie is a 3 year old, black, Miniature Schauzer. He was discovered along with 4 litter mates in a box along side of the road, tails & ears docked & dewclaws removed...
Someone had no idea what they'd be missing. Since grooming him from just a little pup, he has grown into a beautiful and very intelligent young man.
Augie has a quite hard but thin coat, his furnishings are thin but his coat & skin are quite healthy.
Clippering in the pattern:
|Augie Nov 2010
Its all the rage to create nicely flaired legs with pretty colored
cuffs! The colors go from soft and muted and gradiate to a deep and rich
band of color at the foot- making the foot or leg look as if it was
dipped into some color.
This look is not hard to accomplish. And since I am just now getting into some
coloring and creative grooming- this was one of the neatest techniques
that caught my eye. I decided to give it a try. It took less than one
hour even with set up and clean up!
Our website for the 8th Annual Wisconsin Pet Stylists Invitational trade show is up and running!
Feel free to visit and take a look at all that this year's show has to offer!
Some readers may say, "What's the big deal?" about knowing how to properly set in bevels on a groom. So, that's the purpose of this article- not to just show you how, but to explain WHY such a simple procedure is important to every groom and every dog.
Aside from the how to-s of this, I want to explain a little more first on why each great groom is the sum of its parts. Without one thing, other parts may falter, so it is important to have an understanding that each thing touches the next, and so on- akin to the domino effect.
According to breed standards, many breeds of dog are desired to have a nicely round and tight foot, or to be viewed in their profile to be "up on toe". A well created bevel will make your dog look as if it is "floating" just above the surface of wherever it is standing, and this creates definite "presence" to any groom!
*A dog with healthy foot composition and structural mechanics that relate to the entire conformation of a dog, will be viewed in a more positive light whether you know what to look for when taking in a dog or not.*
So, how does this relate to us in the grooming salon?
More often than not, we as skilled stylists have the ability to create that nice tight foot, correct foot placement and most importantly- a foundational element of a balanced groom just by using the coat our client has to work with and our capable eye. And, more often than not, the pets that come to us for grooming can benefit greatly from our ability to perform fault grooming and to really have a knack for the tricks that create a beautiful signature groom.
The Foot is the Foundation of a Groom
When standing back and looking over a freshly groomed dog, where does it all begin?
Our eye should be drawn toward the center of the pet's profile. However, anything that is out of proportion or unbalanced will pull our eye away from the overall symmetry of a dog and detract from the fluidity that we view the entire animal. This creates a less than desirable look for the dog, and a less than pleasing groom as well. Sometimes, we cannot quite put our finger on what it is, other times when standing back, we can easily see where the groom fell apart.
Almost always- it has to do with one of three things- proportion, balance (or symmetry) and angulation.
These are three incredibly important words, for every single groomer. From a new groomer in school, to a groomer working every day in a salon, to a competition groomer, to the top competing show dog groomer.
Angulation: The precise measurement of angles.
Balance: A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements, as in a design.
Symmetry: Correct or pleasing proportion of the parts of a thing.
Proportion: A relationship between quantities such that if one varies then another varies in a manner dependent on the first...Agreeable or harmonious relation of parts within a whole; balance or symmetry.
Fundamentally every groom and breed profile relies on each of those attributes to define itself as aesthetically pleasing and mechanically sound.
So always think about those things each and every time that critique your grooms.
A Solid Foundation
The groom begins, where the dog begins,,, at the feet.
By starting your groom correctly from the ground up, you are setting yourself up for a better outcome.
If a dog's feet are too full, too large or they look like a pancake, that will travel right on up the leg, across the entire groom, and leave you with a dog that looks chubby, frumpy, and needs to be shorter all over. This means that by setting the length of a foot, you are also setting the length of the entire groom as much as you are with any other length of clip you do on the other parts of the dog.
Normally, The very FIRST thing I do is to set in the front (chest and neck) and the back (point of rump to bend of stifle) on every groom that I do. This allows me to see the overall length of the dog that I am working with so that I can correctly judge the center of the dog where the eye should be drawn to- typically this sets just behind the last, (or 13th or floating) rib of a dog. And this allows me to adjust every other piece of the groom in accordance with that central point based on all that I have to work with per the conformation and coat of the dog.
So what does this have to do with the feet?
Well, what do I do next on every groom?
I set in the feet.
Prepwork is POWER.
I have said it so many times that it sounds like a self help guru's slogan, but it is the truth. No one can create a beautiful groom on a dog that is not properly prepped.
Properly cleaned and dried and conditioned coat, properly trimmed nails, cleanly trimmed pads and well trimmed sanitary area are all foundational to a good groom- even a shave down!
~But let's stay on course & stick to the feet. Be sure that your pet's nails are trimmed as close as they safely can be. This will help keep the circumference of the foot as small and compact as possible. Also be sure that the pads are cleanly trimmed without cutting into the coat around the paw so that you have all of that to work with for creating your bevel. Another reason that I trim the pads first is so that I can clearly view the foot shape in case there is a missing, misshapen or superfluous digit that needs to be hidden with more hair.
Hind leg first:
Next you will want to comb all of the hair on the foot so that it is tangle free and well lofted or standing well up from the skin.
Now trim all of the hair that falls past the bottom of the foot-
So that is looks similar to this-
Next stand the dog as squarely on the table as possible as you will be setting in the hock angle and it is important that from this step on they are standing in a comfortable and square position.
While they stand, lift the back leg up carefully so that it is perpendicular with the table top. As so:
With the leg lifted, now trim the hair off the back of the foot and straight up the hock. When you reset the foot, this will most easily set the hock angulation needed for the hind leg in one easy step.
From there, now you can set in the front of the foot. I always do the back, then front, then pull the sides together, but that is up to your preference.
One easy way to set in the front of the foot and to find the tips of the nails- so that you do NOT cut into the needed hair to cover the nails up- is to take up your shears, and with the dog standing, pull the blades of the shear (closed) across the top of the foot, and down against the toenails. This way you will quickly see how much hair you can safely cut away and still keep the foot tight, but not expose nail.
Once you have that, just open the shears and cut off the hair straight across the front of the foot and upward at about a 30 degree angle from the table as so:
~A note- this can be done with straight shears, but is much easier with curved shears.
From there, you can cut in the outside angle of the outer edge of the foot a the same angle, and then lift the leg inward and slightly outward to set in the remaining inner edge of the foot.
**Please remember something important: The front assembly of a dog is held together by joints and ligaments, and the rear assembly of a dog is held together by a ball & socket- so lift the legs always very carefully. Never over the level of the dog's back, the front leg should not be over extended either forward or backward any further than its normal length of stride, and always push the hind leg in towards the body to create the most safe leg lift in case the dog is old, stiff, or slips.**
Next the Front Leg:
Again, fluff out the dog's leg hair, combing the foot hair well, lift the paw slightly so that you can view the underside of the pad and trim the hair which falls past the bottom of the foot.
Reset the foot squarely under the dog.
Locate the dog's nail tips with your shears, and cut in the front of the foot. Then cut in the sides at the same angle, and the inner edge of the foot as well. Once the foot is shaped, now you can set in the slight curve at the back of the foot across the stopper pad so that the back of the leg is tidy and the dog will look up on toe- as so:
Once your bevels are all set in, you can soften the edges of each foot if you prefer a less crisp edge. This looks most nice on a dog with straight furnishings such as the American Cocker.
And this applies to your Terriers with full leg furnishings also. Except that toenails can be exposed.
Thanks for reading!


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That Conflicted Feeling
In amongst this story on deadline deals by Jerry Crasnick, he mentions how good Kerry Wood has been for the Yankers. He's given up just 1 run in 23 innings, with 26 K's. As much as I despise the Yankees (almost on par with the Cards and White Sox) it would be nice to see Woody get a ring. Am I insane?


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Sue Wunderlich
Meadow Heights
7th through 9th
Social Studies, History
"Not only did I have her as a teacher in school, I had her as a teacher when I did my student teaching for college. I always had fun in her class as a student. I also learned so many great things from her as a teacher. As I complete my college education I will never forget the impact she has had on me."
"She has always brought passion and un-paralleled knowledge to the classroom. Even students who don't like history find it hard not to pay attention in her class. She has a way of making her lessons entertaining and has made an impact not only in my life but hundreds of students."
"She has dedicated her career to her students. She strives to reach each and every one. We love her and she loves us."
"Everyone around school calls her 'Mrs. Wonderful.'"
"She makes you feel like you are one of her own children. She treats you as if you were living with her in her own household. She is just one of the most caring and helpful teachers out there, that I love with all of my heart."
"She influenced me to want to be a teacher when I was in 7th grade. When a student was having a problem, she has been the teacher students would talk to because she has been the 'mom' of the school. She was there for me when I was picking a college and when I needed a shoulder to cry on. To this day I visit her at the school to keep her up to date on what is going on in my life."
"She and my mom would talk for hours upon hours about us kids at parent conferences. She kept us on the right path and she is an amazing woman."
"We had class projects and would end up learning in a fun manner that we didn't know was possible. I'll never forget the influence she has had on my life, not only as a teacher, but as a mentor."
"She is one of the most wonderful teachers ever. We would like the whole Heartland to know this."
"She wants every student in her class to be successful and has spent many hours after school tutoring students that need extra help. She loves her job and is wonderful at it."
"She has taught generations of students over the years. She has chosen to stay at Meadow Heights for so long because of the small school atmosphere and the students, which she knows are great. She is the teacher I aspire to become and hope I achieve her quality of teaching someday."
310 Broadway
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