Thursday, June 30, 2011

Great weekend at the dog shows

I had a great weekend at the Cambridge, MN shows.  There are four shows at one site.  Often times the weather is so hot, but this year it was as perfect as one could ask for.

In the rain on Wednesday, I did laundry, packed, loaded and washed a large number of dogs.  I did not get on the road until about 2.5 hours later than I had planned, but everything worked out.


Thursday, Gretchen and I headed to the dog show bright and early to help by stewarding.  The temps were quite chilly.  The club was quite proactive in providing handwarmers and gloves!  Papillons showed in the afternoon.  I was thrilled to have Loteki In The Heat Of The Moment win WB, BOW and BOS for a major.  She completed the requirements for her championship.  Asia has become one heck of a show dog!  I also had entered Nelson, (CH Loteki For The Good Of Mankind), who was Select Dog.


Friday morning dawned overcast but a bit warmer.  Min Pins were at 8:15, so we left about 6:40 for the shows.  Papillons were about 2:00, we managed to set up a washing station and give the Papillons a bath and blow dry, through the courtesy of some wonderful dog show friends.  Today was another great day, as Loteki Rose To The Throne was WD, BOW for a major, his second!  BOB went to Nelson for a second major towards his Grand and Asia was BOS for her first major towards her Grand Championship!  Nelson got a pull in the group, which is always nice!


Saturday morning dawned partly cloudy and another day on the road to the show by 6:45 a.m.  The Min Pin specialty was Saturday night, but we had to set up their raffle, which is always a fun time with some really nice prizes!  After getting the raffle set up I went off to steward for a couple hours in one of the hound rings.  Papillons were again mid-afternoon.  WB was Loteki Touch A Rose for a major!  YEA, Gina!!!  Nelson was Select.  Asia was BOS for her 2nd major towards her grandchampionship!  Kelli Alseth had driven down so I was able to visit a bit with her!  It's been far too long! 


I had my first judging experience and judged the BBE group!  Although initially I had butterflies in my stomach, it went well.  My BBE group winner was Lisa Pertile's Phalene bitch, Alasera's Catch Me If U Can OA OAJ.   


The Min Pin specialty was after BIS, so after picking up and putting tables away, it was 7:45 p.m. when we drove back home.  We bathed my Papillons and crawled into bed about 11:30 p.m. 


Sunday morning dawned far too early.  I headed off to steward for a couple hours. While I was stewarding, the Alseths did a bit of puppy sitting.  After stewarding, I walked out to see the Alseths who had brought their motorhome.  It was great to see Jeffrey, who had been shooting a wedding on Saturday.  We visited a bit and then we went out to shoot some photos of some of my kids.


Papillons were on again about 2:00, by this time Kerstin Hokanson showed up with Kate Gustafson, whom I had not seen in a very long time!  Henri was WD for two points, with both, Nelson and Asia winning the Selects!  One more point to complete his championship requirements!


What a great weekend.  The weather was wonderful.  The people were fabulous and it did not hurt to go home with three majors, a new champion, and two dogs well on their way to their Grand Championships!  BUT it was so good to get home and sleep in my own bed!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

AKC Agility

From Cheryl Brown (TN) reports from their first AKC trial since Jan 2010, on June 17 & 18 in Paducah, KY. 

They did not come away with any Double Q's but close each day.  "On Friday, Felix was easily cruising to a double Q and I didn't support one of the closing jumps well enough and he went around it. Oops! My fault!"

Saturday, Jackson was sailing towards a double Q but Cheryl bent over and sent him into the wrong end of a tunnel. Oh no! 
 
Felix was the only 4" dog running Excellent, since the other two dogs scratched. So, he did get first place for both of his runs. He ran well though and seemed really happy to running full-out again after all the TDAA trials.

Jackson didn't have much competition on Friday and then everyone came in for the weekend on Saturday. He did get first place on Friday, beating a MACH Bichon by 5 seconds.  With the mulipliers in effect, he brought home 34 points on that one run!  SUPER!  On Saturday, he Q'ed again in Standard and ran very well, earning another 12 pts. but no placement."

A good weekend overall!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Happy Birthday to me!

A great weekend away!  Lots of news!

After several days of intense heat and humidity last week, Thursday and Friday we received inches of rain and cooler temperatures.  Saturday morning was cool and damp again, off to work for the last ACT of the year.  I got off work at noon, came home, bathed the puppies, loaded the van and off to Minnesota for a birthday picnic at my friend, Gretchen Hofhein-Wackerfuss.  We have celebrated our birthdays together for several years, her's on the 7th and mine on the 11th.  I arrived about 6:15 in time for hamburgers fresh off the grill!  Yum!  I was hungry.  She had purchased a fabulous cake from a special bakery in Minneapolis.  My friend, Donna Erickson, brought a special bottle of wine, too.  What a lovely relaxing evening.

Sunday morning, I got up and bathed and groomed my dogs for the show.  We were not in the ring until after 1:15.  Once the dogs were bathed and groomed, it was my turn.  Then, Gretchen fixed us both some eggs and toast!  Yum, it really hit the spot!

We left for the show, picked up her father and arrived shortly after noon. 

I had a great day at the show with my Chihuahua, Donavins One Gordita To Go Go Please, was WB and BOS for another point at her 4th show.  She has been shown 4 times, 3 BOBs and 1 BOS, and a total of 4 points now!

Papillons were right after Long Coats.  Henri, Loteki Rose To The Throne, was his typical ADHD self, a bit out of control, but I was able to get him together a bit, and finally get him under control for a beautiful last go around.  He was WD for a point.  Next in was Asia, Loteki In The Heat Of The Moment, she won the BBE class and was WB, BOW, BOS for a point, closing in on the championship, one more to go!  Last but not least, I showed Nelson, a.k.a.  CH Loteki For The Good Of Mankind, who was BOB! 

At the show was Mary Waller *MN) and Loteki Just Blew Into Town CDX, a.k.a. Gunny, showed up at the Pap ring before we showed.  They had great news, Gunny, as earned two utility legs, with scores in the 190s!  Way to go Gunny!  Unfortunately, much to Mary's chagrin, Gunny decided to take the bar jump twice or would have had his third leg!  I am sure they will earn that title very soon!

Kerstin Hokanson, another Gemini, showed up ringside too.  It's been a while since I've seen Kerstin, but it is always wonderful to have a chance to visit.

Amy Nesselrodt (PA) wrote that her daughter, Molly (age 11) and Pippin, a.k.a. Loteki High Flyer NA NJ NJP NAP finished Pippin's Open Agility Preferred title with a FIRST PLACE at the Williamsport Dog Training Club agility trial on Sunday.  Molly and Pippin have turned into quite a team!  Congratulations! 

I am now a woman of 'leisure' for the next 8 weeks, so off to start my long list of 'to do', first to pot my flowers and a few more vegetables!  Today looks beautiful!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

TDAA weekend in Tennessee

From Cheryl Brown, "Jackson was perfect on Saturday!  He got his TACh4 (25 Standard and 25 Games Q's past TACh3) and Q'ed every one of his 5 runs (3 Standards and 2 Games).

On Sunday, he took a vacation and decided to only Q once. :) Felix got a slow start on Saturday with only 2 Standard Q's and 1 Games Q but then did great on Sunday and got 2 more Standard Q's and 1 more Games Q. 

I was really proud of the Fee on the last game--Four-Leaf Clover. I did a lead out, leaving him on a sit-stay and walked out past 4 jumps in a straight line. He held his stay and came right to me over the 4 jumps. What a good Fee! The rest of the game had you stay within the center of the "leaves of the clover" and send the dog over a jump into a tunnel without passing the jump. Fee did that 4 times! He was perfect!"

Sounds like a great weekend, I stayed home from shows and did some work around the house.  Sunday we had a major storm move through and lost electricity for about 5 hours.  Back to work on Tuesday morning.....only a 4 day work week, YES!

Followers