Obedience news from Mississippi

Mary Gail Holcombe (MS) wrote that Loteki Just A Gentleman CDX RE has qualified several times in Open B and was fourth in Open B last weekend (April 25) in Montgomery. Which was the first placement in a B class. They are still working on getting ready for Utility. Rascal knows all the exercises, it is just a matter of being sharper and more consistent. They are hoping to enter some Wild Card classes during the summer and the real thing in the fall. Good luck, Mary Gail & Rascal! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some exciting news!

Mid-April news

April 18 & 19, Terry and I went to the Waterloo KC shows. We brought home the point in each sex each day for a total of 2 for Regal (Loteki Inherit The Wind) and 2 for Paris (Loteki The Heiress). It was great to have Terry along. He even showed dogs on Saturday! The weather was cool and wet, it was nice to have an extra pair hands with me!
On Saturday, April 25th, Cheryl Geer (TN) had a long day at the rally/obedience trial with good results. Felix qualified in Rally Excellent B and Advanced B with scores of 92 in each class. That's his 4th RAE leg - 6 to go!
Jackson showed in Wildcard Novice, electing off-leash heeling as his wildcard.

The first week of April

Cheryl Geer wrote that she attended her first Teacup Agility Association trial which was held at the Nashville Dog Training Club building very close to her home. It was their first try at Teacup Agility and they had some great results! They boys came back with titles and everyone had a lot of fun. Both Jackson and Felix finished their TBAD titles (Teacup Beginner Agility Dog) and both earned one leg on their TG1 title (Teacup Games I).

I drove to DeKalb, IL, for shows, with great results on Saturday. Loteki Just Plain Outrageous was WD for 3 points. Loteki The Heiress was WB/BOW/BOS for her first major! Tug came home with me from Louisville and we had a great time. He's quite the little show dog and shows his enthusiasm with his leaps in the air. Two more points to go to achieve his CH! Keeping my fingers crossed.

Paris is coming along beautiful, although she would prefer just sitting in my lap or being held! After an absolute beautiful day on Saturday, Sunday turned into winter one more time with bitter wind and snow on the drive home.

Rally and conformation news

Cheryl Geer wrote that she showed her boys, Felix and Jackson at the Nashville rally/obedience trial this past weekend only one day. Felix showed in Rally and got his 3rd RAE leg. Jackson showed in Pre-novice and qualified, but not with a great score. It was good to know where he was thus far with training.

I showed at the Clinton Iowa KC show on Saturday (3/28/09). Terry went with me, actually, he took me and helped out in the ring! He took Regal (Loteki Inherit The Wind) back in for Winners and went WD! He also showed in the breed, this time with some chicken in his pocket and won BOW! I showed Nelson (CH Loteki For The Good Of Mankind) to BOB! What fun! We stayed for the group watching first, sleet, then snow and then sleet again. The drive home was fun, as there were many cars in the ditch. I opted not to try to make the trip to DeWitt early Sunday morning, which dawned with 3 inches of snow on top of the sleet. It did mostly melt by 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 2, Tammie Larson let me know that Vinnie (Loteki Vincent Van Gogh) completed the requirements for his championship at the Toy show in Wichita, KS! Vinnie is owned by Alex Larson and myself. Alex's dad, Greg, showed Vinnie for us. Tammie & Greg are ISTA ShihTzu - http://www.istaprofessionalhandling.com/.
Vinnie was Winner's Dog at the Tulsa Papillon Specialty this past October! Thank you, Greg, for showing Vinnie for Alex and I!

Agility News from Tennessee

Cheryl Geer (TN) had a great agility weekend in Harriman, TN. Felix earned his 8th MJP3 leg today and Jackson picked up his 3rd double-Q! Yippee! What great results!

Louisville!

The weather in the Midwest is what it is - unpredictable! On March 10th, we had very cold, raw wins from the NW that froze everything. Kelli & Jeff Alseth of Proctor, Minnesota, arrived just before I arrived home from work with their crew in their motorhome. We loaded all my 'stuff' and then sat down to eat wonderful thick cut, grilled Iowa chops, a specialty at the King house, fresh asparagus and brownies. We let the dogs have one last run and then loaded them up and were on the road shortly after 8:00 p.m.
We pulled off about 10:30. The wind was just too strong. It was so cold! We pottied dogs and went to bed. We were back on the road about 4-4:30 a.m., the wind still blowing, but not quite as fiercely. We arrived in Louisville just after 9:00. We were all settled by 11:00. We were looking forward to four days of dog shows in the same spot and better weather.
Thursday, dawned with gray skies, but not quite as much wind. Papillon judging was late morning with Mr. Edd Bivin officiating. I was lucky to have won the BBE class with Loteki The Heiress and then to win the Open bitch class with Loteki Ima Heiress. Rachel was Winners Bitch and Best of Winners. What a nice start! Jeff was invaluable to me in assisting getting everyone in the ring!
Friday morning, our judge was Jackie Stacy, Loteki Inherit The Wind won the BBE dog class and went on to win the major in dogs! Unfortunately, Regal decided that two times in the ring was enough for him and made a very disappointing showing in the BOB class. Friday's weather was spring like, what a nice change after the bitter cold of Tuesday night and Wednesday!
Saturday morning the gray skies prevailed and then it started raining. Papillon judging was late in the afternoon, when my crew is use to sleeping. Rachel did win the large Open bitch class, and went RWB. Kelli & Jeff were busy in the agility ring, winning 3 different Qs on two different dogs!
Sunday morning, again we awoke to gray skies, I was ready to head home, but prepared my dogs for a late morning ring call. Terry Stacy (Jackie's husband) judged the breed. Loteki Ima Heiress won a very large Open bitch class. My heart was pumping as she just need to go WB to complete her champion requirements and in BIG style with a FIVE point major! Mr. Stacy gave Rachel the nod! YIPPEE!!! Rachel was also Best of Winners.
While taking our finishing photo, Mr. Stacy was very complimentary of Rachel. He went on to tell me how she fit the standard, complimenting her on her beautiful head, topline, ears, fine bone, showmanship and movement! A wonderful way to wind up the weekend.
I hope that Rachel will continue to mature and growing coat and fringe. She is a lot of fun to show, never letting down! Rachel seems to know that she has a new title - CH LOTEKI IMA HEIRESS! Thanks Kelli for your help in getting everyone in the ring!
When we took everyone back to the motorhome, for a quick potty and then loading the crates, making all the final preparations to leave for the 8 hour drive home in absolutely beautiful weather. We saw people walking in shorts and sleeveless, one gentleman was fishing shirtless!
We pulled into the driveway about 8:00 p.m. Unloading went quickly. The dogs that had made the trip were so happy to run! They spent an hour just running. I was happy to be home too!
It was great to see my 15 week old puppies, Crocker and Sugar, they were happy to see me to, as all the dogs were! Felicia's babies had opened their eyes while I was gone and grown!
Back to work on Monday, another spring like day of temperatures in the lower 70s! Hope you are enjoying springlike weather where ever you are!

NEW UD TITLE and more weekend news

Great news from Dorie Madsen and Colby this past weekend! Colby earned his third leg for his UD! YIPPEEE! Way to go, Colby, now LOTEKI PLAYING WITH FIRE UD!!!
This is a video of the two of them - http://www.youtube.com/doriemadsen with Colby's Utility on the second page.
I had some great luck in Columbia, Missouri, this past Saturday and Sunday. My Loteki Ima Heiress, a.k.a. Rachel, was WB/BOW/BOS under judge Norman Patton for four points, on Saturday. On Sunday, Loteki Inherit the Wind (a.k.a. Regal) won the dog points. Rachel won the bitch points, unfortunately the 5 point major in dogs was broken down to only 2 points! What a disappointment, but that's dog shows! Rachel just needs a major to finish. This was Regal's first points, but I am certain they won't be his last, now that he is semi-leash trained!
We received 2-3 inches of rain here at home overnight on Saturday! More flooding, but let's hope nothing like last June!