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!

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!

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!

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!

A lot of news

I've been remiss on reporting the comings and goings of Loteki Papillons for the last several weeks. 

The last weekend of April, Jeannine Rash (PA) had a great weekend showing in obedience.  Nicholas (OTCh CH Loteki Ima Firecracker OM2) had sustained an injury and it was his first shows back.  Jeannine showed him in utility two days and he still managed a 4th and a 3rd place.  "The third day he did a great job and went clean and won the class over some really nice dogs. he has beaten 3 top 25 dogs last year for Otch points in the last 4 shows."  He also tried Open for the first time in a while, while he did touch the front board on the broad jump--but he won second in Open. he came home with 21 points. He's up to 181."  What a great comeback weekend!  Congratulations!

The weekend of April 30-May 1st, Cheryl Brown (TN) attended "the TDAA trial in Simpsonville, KY just outside Louisville at the Superdog Dog Center there (nice facilty with spongy agility matting)   On Saturday, Felix was perfect with 2 Standard Q's and 3 Games Q's. On Saturday, he was shaking his head some and seemed off his game. He refused a teeter on one Standard run and took a wrong course into a tunnel on another run. So, he only had one Standard Q and 2 Games Q's on Sunday. 7 of 9 Q's for the weekend. He needs 10 more Standard Q's and 11 more Games Q's for his TACh4.

Jackson did very well when he did Q! :) He Q'ed in three of the 5 Standard runs and had a first place in two of those runs and a 3rd in the other. He Q'ed in all 5 of the Games over the weekend and earned 1st place in two of the five games. He needs 9 more Standard Q's for his TACh4. (He already has his Games Q towards that title.)

Jackson earned his TMAG7 and TAM6 and Felix earned his TAM 6 at that trial. A TMAG is a games title and represents 70 Q's past the Games 3 title. A TAM is the Standard equivalent and a TAM6 is 60 Q's past the TSAD."  What a great weekend!  Two in a row for Cheryl and her boys!

I went to shows in Marshalltown, where there was no competition in Paps, so no points, but I picked up my new Long-coat Chihuahua puppy bitch, Donavins One Gordita To Go Go Please.  She was BOB both days for a point each day.  What fun!

Mother's Day weekend, Molly and Amy Nesselrodt, spent it together attending the Mount Nittany Dog Training Club Agility Trial on Saturday.  Molly and Pippin qualified in their Open Jumpers class for a first place ribbon and a second Q toward that title (they need three to get the Open Jumpers title). In their first try ever in Open Standard, they qualified with a clean run and a very fast time for a Q and a first place ribbon.  Way to go, Molly and Pippin!!!  Congratulations!

On Friday morning, May 13th, our family suffered the loss of Lena, as I posted previously, but I was not allowed to mourn too long, as Rose (CH Loteki Rose From The Ashes) presented me with three beautifully marked, healthy red boys.  All are doing fabulously! 

I went to the Sunday show in Rock Island May 15th, no points again in Papillons, although Gina (Loteki Touch A Rose) beat her sister, CH Loteki Down The Garden Path for BOB so she got a point.  I showed Gordita to BOB, another point, and showed her in the group.  She is a lot of fun!  We received a lot of attention together, along with some very nice comments!

This past weekend Terry and I left Friday night after work to go to Dan and Marlene Edgerton's home in Leavenworth, KS.  We arrive quite late, but safely, pottied dogs and went to bed.  Saturday morning, Marlene helped me bath my two entries, Henri (Loteki Rose To The Throne) and Asia (Loteki In The Heat Of The Moment).  After a wonderful breakfast prepared by Dan, we all went off to the show.  Henri won WD and BOW for two points!  I think he is finally getting the hang of this dog show thing and actually going on lead pretty well, as well as paying attention, showing and baiting!  We went to lunch and then back to the Edgertons to enjoy a relaxing afternoon with the dogs having a great time playing.  Saturday evening we went to dinner, when we came out of the restuarant the sirens were blaring, TORNADO WARNING!  We quickly made it back to the Edgerton's brought all the dogs into the house in the hall way and proceeded to watch the weather for the next couple of hours.  Luckily although there was many scary clouds and some wind, the Edgertons were totally missed.  There were others not so lucky in southern Missouri.

Sunday morning, back to the show, Henri was once again WD for a major!  Asia was WB, BOW and BOS for her second major!  Judy Ingrasin came to the show and we had a nice lunch together afterwards.  Judy video taped some of the judging, so hopefully I will have a link to post soon!  It was so very nice to see Judy and do some catching up, like comparing grandchildren photos and stories.  I hope we will do it more.

After lunch back to the Edgertons to pack up and head home.  What a great weekend with wonderful people and the wins did not hurt!  We did get a call about severe weather in our area, but we were behind it.  Thankfully there was just a lot of wind and rain at home, the dogs were happy to be home and so were we!  What a lovely, lovely weekend.

CH Loteki As Good As It Gets

CH Loteki As Good As It Gets

"Lena"

May 18, 1998 - May 13, 2011

 The dreaded Friday, the 13th.....

When I went to bring the dogs in before work, Lena was sitting in the middle of the patio with her head up and her mouth slightly open. My heart cracked into a million pieces with just one look. I knew where this was going in my head, but my heart did not want to acquiesce to my head. She had been fine last night, she ate her supper, she demanded her time on the couch, and she jumped on it and snuggled in to watch a movie. In a desperate attempt my heart kept saying there has to be something to do to make her comfortable, to help her breath, to make her feel like her ole self.............my head knew it wasn't so.

Lena is gone now. Her place on the bed is now empty.

Lena is one of the three "Goodie girls". She and her littermates were the last litter of CH Loteki By Good Fortune. What a fabulous threesome they were. They turned heads at Papillon events. Each one of them was a beauty, each one of them was a wonderful dog in their own right, but THREE in the same litter, that was incredible! All finishing their championships with multiple BOBs over specials and two 5-point majors on the way to their titles.

Lena was a gentle soul.  She had a regal air about her.  Her outline and poise were outstanding.  She was one of those dogs you just love.  She made you because she was a dear dog.  Her name says it all, she lived up to her name without hesitation or pause in all aspects, she was 'as good as it gets'.

Lena was one CH short of her Dam of Distinction award. Three of her sons, all by different sires, make up the beautiful tri trio on the red velvet couch that has been the inspiration for so many individuals and graces several of my ads and my web site. It is a simply smashingly beautiful trio. Thankfully, I have her children and grandchildren, thankfully, I was graced with her for just short of 13 years.

 Lena moved into the role of matriarch very easily. She came from a long line of queens of the household. I am going to miss her demanding bark, letting us know she was done with her dinner and she wanted to come sit on the couch - NOW! How I will miss her snuggling up right next to me in bed or on the couch, oh how, she loved to be close.

 We love you, Lena. We love you.

Home from the National and a new champion

It's good to be home!
I left Tuesday about 3:00 in the midst of rain.  It poured about 45 minutes on my way, so much so I had to pull of the interstate.  I got to Meg Peifer's home in Bloomington, loaded her up and her dogs and on our way to Nashville our stopping point.
The rain continued with lightening, thunder, hail and straight line winds, as well as continued downpours.  We saw numerous semis on their sides in the ditches, we made our way slowly, arriving in Nashville about 3:30.
We pottied dogs quickly and went to bed.
We spent a leisurely morning with Ellen Akers Perry and headed to Chattanooga about noon, arriving at 3:00 p.m (eastern).  The weather was warm and humid.
We got checked into our room and then ate at the hotel.
The National was one of the smallest entries in many, many years.  We arrived in time to watch the bitch judging and BOB.
Friday, we headed north to Terre Haute, IN, after BOB was over. I had an excited text from Cheryl Brown, who was in Terre Haute already, that Spencer (Loteki The Winds Of Change) had went BOB from the 12-18 class over two specials for 2 points with Cheryl handling!  She was so excited! We arrived in Terre Haute about 9, checked in to our motel and settled in.
Saturday morning we headed off to the show site under cloudy skies.  Papillons were early.  Spencer was WD and BOW and Asia (Loteki In The Heat Of The Moment) was WB.  Hillary (CH Loteki Down The Garden Path) was BOS.  We had a full afternoon to hang out, so we went shopping.  We headed back to the show site to watch and support the Papillon in the group.  
Janet Wallace came to hang out too.  So we all headed off to dinner, adding Rosemarie Williamson, the five of us had a great time laughing and eating.  Our sides hurt and cheeks hurt from laughing!  What a great evening!

Sunday morning dawned with pouring rain, ugh, the Papillons really hated the wet.  Thankfully it stopped before noon and remained overcast.  We were in the ring about 1:15.  Spencer was WD again and on to BOW and BOB.  Asia was WB and BOS, with Hillary winning the Select Bitch.  Spencer finished his Championship with this win.  We were all very happy!  I showed Spencer in a very tough group and managed a 5th!  What a nice wind up of the weekend.  We each headed home under cloudy but dry skies, Cheryl with her new champion, and Meg and I with great memories!  After dropping Meg off in Bloomington, I headed on down the road, actually seeing the sun peek through the clouds a couple of times and arriving about 8:15 p.m.
How great it is to be home again!