SPICE AND HAROLD AT CC of MN

WEEKEND UPDATE

I love a good dog show weekend, okay so I love any dog show weekend. This one was just particularly good. The weather cooperated, the "girls", Maddy, Dora and Bella stayed at my vet's boarding kennel and got spoiled by the techs, Rumor and Trace headed to Auntie Jean's for cardigan play time and the ugly brown Collies and I motored north. Despite my attempts to locate the Arctic Circle we made it to New Hope, MN thanks to multiple cell phone calls to Peppi. Supposedly there is a collection being started to donate a Garmin GPS to the "Judy Is Lost Again" fund. Friday night was rally and Sahra and her dog Bryce earned their first RA leg--Go Bryce! Sat. started with obedience, Sahra had Bryce and Deb's dog Camille entered in Open along with Mary and her dog Beyla. Beyla missed qualifying by one itty bitty return over the high jump, Bryce missed the same exercise and Camille worked beautifully but went down on the long sit with about 3 seconds to go. Sigh...
Sweeps and class placements were shared amongst the group of us. In his first conformation show Harold earned a 3rd place. Spice earned 1st in her class and won a dog bowl filled with goodies. Jerry Sulewski and his dog Ch. Lisara's Smooth Operator was BOV and BOB! Peppi and her best buddy Bejing won Smooth RWD and got a beautiful rosette. We all had a fun filled, yummy pot roast dinner at Peppi's and then moved the party to Amy's for puppy playtime. She has 4 week old babies and they are adorable. Sahra tried to sneak one out in her coat but Amy's pretty fast and "rescued" it. Heehee.
Sunday started out with gorgeous weather and another great day. Beyla did the retrieve over the high jump but didn't go all the way down on the drop on recall. Bryce was spot on until the dreaded broad jump. But how can you not love a dog with his enthusiasm for working? Camille had an outstanding run and qualified for her 2nd CDX leg--huge congrats and hugs to Deb and double circle snaps for Sahra's handling! More sweeps and class placements for the group. Harold took a 2nd on Sunday and Spice another 1st to earn another rosette-YEA I love rosettes!
Unfortunately, the weather in southwestern MN turned ugly and Trace and Rumor are at Camp Runge for a few more days until I can retrieve them. Yea, they have it tough. The weather coming home was good and the new powersteering repairs held. Really, what more could I ask for?
Oh and Amy took pics of Harold and Spice which I will post later. And she got some portrait shots of Jam to send to me that made me get teary-eyed. I love that dog so much.
I'm pooped out of course as usual after a show weekend, but am signing off now to watch Westminster.
Until next time...

NORTHBOUND

The car is packed to the top and on the top. I am getting too old for the schlepping around of crates to the top of the trailblazer, but the money I had put aside for the hitch carrier went into the power steering problem this week. Sigh...
We are heading up north for the Collie Club of MN shows this weekend. Spice and Harold are bathed, blown out, brushed and fluffed. I'm exhausted. Jam is going along because he's Jam and I need him. I am so excited, Sahra and I are both staying at Peppi's and Amy is having a puppy party on Sat.
I'll check in again next week and give the show results--fingers crossed--it's Harold's first conformation show and I have a feeling he will be doing his automatic sit instead of standing. Oh well, he's so darn cute it makes up for it. :-)
Until next time...

Spice and Bryce Pics from Oshkosh

This is Spice's boyfriend, Bryce. Yea we know Spice and Bryce--it's a little "matchy, matchy" isn't it? This is Anstett's Allstar Is Bryce, CD, RN, etc, etc. owned by Sahra Jola. Fingers crossed that this weekend he outdoes himself and comes home with his CDX. He is also OFA hips excellent and normal eyed. Gorgeous, correct, sound and smart--can I be cliche and say "the total package"?


And here is Spice, Oak Knolls Pumpkin Spice, who we now know is extremely trainable. Thanks to Sahra who had her doing sit, down, stand, heel, sit pretty, nose poke and bow in 20 mins. The miracle of the clicker and an experienced trainer. By the way, Sahra's blue pants set Spice off beautifully don't they? :-)

As promised in a past post, here are a couple of pictures from Oshkosh. My thanks to Amy Ross for her superb photography skills!

HAROLD

HAROLD AND HIS DADDY FLETCHER

POO AND OTHER FUN STUFF

Yep, it's a post about poo. Apparently this is my tribute to Mike Rowe and "Dirty Jobs". It's now February in Iowa and we had warm (I use this term loosely) temps yesterday. This of course means one thing to multiple dog owners, poo patrol. I did about half of the house yard which may seem like very little until you consider the size of the yard, 8 dogs and the amount of poo they create. I finished it up today when it was not as warm, mainly due to going out at 8:30 a.m. fortified by 1/2 a pot of coffee. Having heard we were to get another 5 inches of snow I decided to chip away one of the many layers of frozen poo that have accumulated during this very long, cold winter. In defense of myself it does get difficult to keep the yard completely clear when you leave home in the dark and return in the dark 5 days a week. Flood lites for next year may be an option but I think that may be a job for Don Runge. I don't fool with electricity or plumbing. But I digress. I got out the hard core garden shovel and began chipping away at the frozen, half buried poo, filled my poo hauler (an old beat up rubbermaid tote--hmm...that would make an interesting commercial) and dumped it in the winter poo spot, otherwise known as the bean or corn field. I shall never have to worry about poo disposal as long as they keep farming around the property. Chalk another mark on the pro side of living in the middle of no where. I had alot of assistance this weekend in my poo patrol. Harold barked at me the whole time, dropping the odd toy into my hand every few minutes so I would throw it for him. He must love me because he never gives me the "geez mom you throw like a girl" look. Spice dive bombed my feet, Trace and Jam followed me every step of the way and Dora and Maddy looked bored and Bella and Rumor were horrified that I was taking away their fun of eating and playing with frozen poo. Well too bad baby girls.
We have had a good amount of snow but really not nearly as much as quite a few places this winter. It's the wind that I have problems with. It causes major drifting out here. After the last wind/snow storm my 5 foot yard fence disappeared in one corner and became an 18 inch fence. It was comical to see Collies and even Cardigans that climbed up the drift and just sat there looking out, watching me take trash out to the burn pile and take food to the garage for the farm cats. Not once have any of them even attempted to go over the fence. People are amazed when I tell them I have dogs that won't test fences, but it's true. I think that some of it came from our time on A Ave. in Cedar Rapids. Clara had helped me put up a 6 ft fence on the one side, but the front and back of the property I used 36 inch and 30inch ex-pens for fence. Maddy, Dora, Jam, Spice and Trace all lived there and I never had an issue with them. The funny thing was I had a Brussels Griffon at the time that would constantly climb the fence and be out visiting the neighborhood. You would think that a small dog wouldn't be a problem, but of course it's always the ones you don't think will cause an issue that do. Unfortunately the neighborhood was full of big dogs including pit bulls next door and siberian huskys on the other and I ended up sending him back to his breeder. I had nightmares of him being eaten alive. Especially since he didn't know he was a small dog and would literally challenge any other male dog. I miss the little dude, especially now that I'm out where he would be safe, but I felt better about sending him back than having him dead.
At least one of the good things about A Ave. was teaching my dogs to really know that a fence, no matter how high must not be breached. They have even made a ledge to lay on 1/2 way up. We have more snow 3-6 inch and wind so I have a feeling that ledge may be getting higher. A casualty of the winter has been the kennels. I shoveled them out once after a big windy snow storm and then gave up trying to keep them cleared out. And as all my friends knew anyway I wouldn't have used them. My babies just are not acclimated to the really cold stuff. I think the cats have taken up residence in the dog houses in the garage. If I was able to enclose the outdoor part of the runs more so that the snow wouldn't accumulate and keep more wind out than the tarps, I might, MIGHT consider leaving them outside during the day. Maybe next winter. Maybe not. :-)
Time to at least read this week's chapter and make some notes. I actually love my Statistics class but this instructor is a little heavy on exams and I have to make alot of notes for the formulas to keep them all straight. After this class I'll take a break until late summer. Still hoping for Spice puppies and I have shows planned starting in April, oh and more fence to put up and power tools to play with.
Until next time...