Catching UP! So much has happened!!

I was being gently prodded by Sarah to post some photos and get everyone caught up with my doggie life :)

Below are some photos to play 'catch up' with. Janey here being so stinking adorable. She is such a love.

Walkin' about....
Yup, she's a tan pointed blue! (very light tan)

Here little Crockett man is looking for just the tiniest bit of affection from Sadie and hoping she'll let him share the space with her and Mitcham. It didn't work out...lol
This face is pretty much the cutest face ever. I'm not even partial.
My nephew is the cutest thing too! Here he is dancing. One day he just started dancing by twisiting his torso to and fro, and moving his feet up and down and back and forth, AND he claps his hands to the beat and slaps his knee when a really good song comes on. He's so cute.
Chase here with Grandpa and two of the pups.
Alamo's favorite spot is to sit on the treadmill. Here he can see his 'kingdom' and all his subjects. Erica said he would rule the world some day. I have no doubt in my mind that he will! (he is still available to a pet home too!)

On Saturday, Justice went to his new forever home. While I felt Justice has some redeeming qualities, there were also some things that his breeder and I decided were just not going to turn out. I was sad that he was my second tri boy that I've had to home as I just love that marking and its getting seemingly more rare all the time (he was the only tri dog at Western Reserve this year....there was one tri bitch only also). I do think however if you are going to show, you must only show the best. Not just what you have available. Justice still had a level top line and he wasn't out at the elbows which are two of my pet peeves. There is more to a dog obviously, and he still moved well and such, but some things just didn't seem to turn out. I hope I'm wrong and he turns out smashing and I'm kicking myself.However the home he went to is probably the best home ever! Nancy has two other Cardigans (10 yrs and 9 yrs old) and Justice has brought puppy hood back to them and to their househould. He has fit right in and they are already talking obedience, rally, therapy dog to name just a few. Justice is also cattle and sheep experienced too!. Nancy, when trialing competitively was in the top 10 Cardigans of the year for obedience and agility when she had her dogs competing, so he is going to be a great dog with her! Make sure you watch for updates on him.

The best part is he is now in Fargo, so I'll be able to see him at trials and whenever I have time to visit him. So I guess I'm lucky too :)

With older dogs Puppy Pics (part 3)

Mitcham and Justice. Still the best of buds....
Justice LOVES being an 'older brother' to the puppies, showing them how to play, and he is ever so gentle with them too, usually rolling over so they can chew on his face and legs and tail.
Alamo and Ava cut him off and he falls over defeated!
Mitcham trying to drink and then this 'thing' comes up to investigate. He is thinking 'if I don't move maybe she won't see me'. It didn't work!
Mitcham after several rounds around the coffee table and trying to use evasive maneuvers gives up and starts to lay down so Alamo can mouth play/ face play with him. Alamo was very persistent until he got his way and Mitcham was also much too gentle. He is only allowed with puppies under constant supervision. I think it took him awhile to realize that they are DOGS and not rabid hamsters or something. Not that Mitcham has SEEN a rabid hamster :)
I didn't get the photo of Janey on his tail and Ava and Crockett nibbling on his legs! Hey that coat took me 60 hours to groom in December! I'm not letting some PUPPIES chew it off in seconds! :)

Puppy Pics Part 1

Before I show you more puppy photos let's see a few of the less blogged about dogs. Here I give Penni so much grief and then I do the same thing :)

Below is Daisy one day after our one and only huge snow storm. She wouldn't stand still for me and was running around the dog pen like a crazed animal (hence Crazy Daisy). Here she is shown getting up out of a pouncing position and her tongue is hanging out to the side. I assure you she is not chubby or overweight. She is a lean 30.8 pounds and the way her coat and shadows are in the photo give her a deeper bodied illusion!
Justice today trying to be sneaky. what you don't see is a plate that has bits of cheese and tortilla chips left over from when I had Nachos at noon. He thought I wouldn't see him reaching with his giraffe tongue (that's long in case you hadn't seen one before) and I thought it was a great opportunity to take a photo. I just love his head and markings......grow mister grow! Wait..fill out mister fill out!
Alamo is the sleeper puppy of the litter. Meaning he steals your heart without knowing it. He's always cuddling and then he will take after his siblings or mother and terrorize them. Once its out of his system he goes back to cuddling. What a cute kid.
Waiting for me to play and he falls asleep waiting in the door of the whelping box....
Here is Ava chilling in the same doorway. One day there were three there, but by the time I went for my camera they were all out in the xpen screaming at me to come in and play!

More photos....SOON. My computer is dying but i might just make it!

Someone is bored

Birthday Boy!

Justce is 1 year old today. I can't believe where the time has gone?? Seems like only yesterday this photo was in my Inbox:

Somewhere in this pile 'o' puppies is Justice at a few days of age......

Here he is WAAAAy on the right of this photo. I called him Mr Cute Face when he was little. I just LOVED that head!

Just after I got him home from the Saint Paul, MN dog who. The Beashau's brought him from Ohio to MN. What great ladies! Here his ears are finally up!
Justice winning his 2nd two points in Vermillion in June. I think he's going to be an AWESOME boy when he finishes growing up!

Justice is taking some time off to grow up a bit. Mr cute face is a little gangly right now, but we are hoping to bring him out in St. Paul this January, or perhaps wait until the spring shows in April/May. Time will tell :)

Happy Birthday Juicy J! Ice cream for everyone again!! Ok and maybe an extra chicken neck too :)

He's a little hard to live with these days as Daisy is making him go crazy with whining and whistling (which in turn makes me go crazy). He is sleepin in the laundry room with the fan on and door closed. I am sleeping on the OTHER side of the house with MY door closed and MY fan on and can still hear him during the night. I am a light sleeper but COME ON! :) It'll all be over shortly...I hope....well...until Ell comes into season...which is any day...! Oh the joys of having boys!

Justice is in LOVE

Well I guess I need to cancel Daisy's appointment for her hips and elbows.

She has come into season (thanks to Zoe pulling her in) and Justice in in LOVE with her. All he wants to do is play with her and chase her around. She's at day 3 and she's officially been denied the right to play outside with Mitcham and Justice (her two favorite in the house!)

He and Ell ( I think its a Merrymoon trait (HA HA BARB!)) have this tea pot whistle (similar to GSP whines) and Justice will NOT stop whistling/whining/pining for Daisy. Its ridiculous. Mac and Oliver NEVER did that when the girls were in season. Heck Mitcham doesn't even do it now.

*sigh*

I guess I'll reschedule for two months from now >:)

Justice's photo from puppy group

This just came from our NSHGC newsletter and thought it would be fun to share :) You will have to click on it to biggify it to see us better!

New Champion, another major, puppy group placing and its still not over!

I decided to come home this afternoon to celebrate my only nephew/Godson's 1st birthday with him and the family. This is giving me the opportunity to blog about the weekend so far. Dawn has had a great weekend so far getting a 4 point major on her Music that is owned and shown by Joyce and a 3 point major on her girl Peace! More info for them is on her blog. The Mann's got a three point major on their dog today as well.

The big news however is that I now have a champion! My first champion! For those not on facebook or in my texting column, it was my Zoe aka Bendi Ebonwald Smthing 2 Prove! Zoe got the cross over 4 point major yesterday to complete her AKC CH title with two 4 point majors and a total of 16 points! I'm really thrilled to have her finished after many RWB and looking for those ellusive majors that almost seem like urban legends up in the North Central part of the country this year.

Zoe's show days are over and we are going to concentrate on her agilitly training now which she REALLY enjoys.

In other news Justice aka Merrymoon Ebonwald Retribution was given the Best Puppy award and then went on to get a Puppy Group 3 in some really deep quality at the North Star Herding Group Club Specialty! He made his daddy proud.....he is SO happy out in the ring....:) This is Justice's fourth Puppy Group placing out of four times in the puppy group ring! Exciting!!

Today justice was RWD to a 3 point major and looked really good out there. I think he just needs to grow up, fill out and stuff before judges may take him seriously. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings :)

Also today Mitcham the Briard aka Reine Dior Diving for Gold earned this THIRD 3 point major! That now puts him at 11 points with three majors! WHOOP WHOOP!! He is such a sweetheart and is really fun to show! Now if I can just pay attention to what is going on in the ring I will get INTO the ring at the right time LOL :)

What a great weekend!

CWCCWR Regional Specialty

Greetings fellow bloggers!

I am finally home and finally functioning :) I have a lot of work to do today but wanted to bring you all up to speed on what went on at the Western Reserve Specialty!

First off many thanks to those who made this show possible! The ring stewards, the catered lunches, the meeting of other blogger friends (Kate says way more on her blog than in person!) and Jeri was so much fun to meet and talk to and listen to Vivian and Kathy give puppy evals. I learn a lot when I do this listening!

Many thanks to Joanne and Ferris for letting me stay in the camper again and set up with them, and for taking me all over NE Ohio and western PA in the following days after the WR. Photos should be coming sooner than later :)

In my dogs' news, Justice was in the 9-12 puppy class. All three days of regular and sweeps classes he was the only dog. The good news was I still earned Sweeps money so I cannot complain :)

Ell was entered in Open two days and on her first day under breeder judge Kim Neilsen, she was awarded 4th place in the tough open bitch class. His comments were (verbatum) "I think this bitch is a lovely, typey bitch, much like the 3rd place bitch (it was Ell's sister Flash) and that she moves the same coming to you as the 3rd place bitch does. He would like to see more fill of muzzle but other than that thought she was a lovely side mover and excelled in breed type.

Flash, Ell's littersister was 3rd that day under Kim Neilsen, and then won the open bitch class on Saturday under breeder judge Nancy Cunliffe and then on Sunday won the Open bitch class. I know on Saturday under Nancy Cunliffe, Flash was Reserve Winner's bitch and Flash/Ell's grandmother Hannah (Merrymoon Noblestar Hot Ice) was Best Veteran Bitch and Best Opposite Sex!! She is 11 1/2 years old! Talk about a great day for Merrymoon! I was so happy for Barb Hoffman, my mentor, and her winnings! On Friday Hunter, aka Merrymoon Firestorm was Best Veteran Dog and Hannah was Best Veteran Bitch. Truly a testimony to Barb's sound breeding program who can have an 11 1/2 year old and a 13 year old in veterans and still be competitive with the younger dogs and look much younger than the other veterans out there! Ok I'll stop gushing :)

I had entered Ell in A-O-H on the sunday supported entry and during the final lineup for Winner's Bitch the judge remarked how lovely his lineup of bitches were, including the single entry classes. that was great to hear :)

Its nice when you can go to the largest specialty in the world for Cardigans and place in competitive classes under breeder judges. It sure makes the all breed shows and judges seem a lot less important :)

Justice win photo

Justice going WD for two more points under Pembroke breeder and judge Candace Kramer. That darn front foot! Note to self to stack better even if the photographer says its ok!

Duluth weekend

Duluth was a fun weekend, albeit a very tiring one!

I had planned on going up Thursday night ( I wasn't entered on Thursday) after work to stay again at Steve and Barb Peterson's house. Mary Morris was also staying there and Mary and Barb told me in their motherly tones that I needed to stay home Thursday so I didn't hit any deer on the road and then just get up when the sun came up (about 5am) and head to Duluth. I had a hard time falling asleep and then turned off my alarm. At around 7am Mary called me wanting to know where I was. Thankfully she woke me up as I was still sleeping! I got there in plenty of time and set down to groom Mitcham. He was in first (about 30 dogs ahead of Justice in the same ring). Our judge was Michelle Billings and after winning WD for a single point (one other male entered) the judge told me " He is a beautiful boy, best of luck with him!" Cool! That was pretty exciting!

Justice was next and he was the only dog entered. There was only one point in bitches as well and we were just hoping for the cross over points. No such luck there! We went out after the show to a place in Superior, WI called "Elbow Room" a great Italian, steak and fish restaurant with Sammy's Pizza (locally renowned pizza) in the front end.

Saturday we had late ring times again but I rode in with Mary to the show who happened to have 8am ring times! I spent most of the morning grooming Mitcham, or holding dogs for Mary or my friends Mike and Donna Johnson of Fargo, ND. Our judge was the same for both Briards and Cardigans and we had Jean Fournier. After every time Mitcham went around the ring Ms. Fournier would say something like "He is a beautiful boy" or "You know you have an excellent dog" or something along those lines. Every time I would politely say Thank you and continue on what she asked of me. She gave Mitcham WD again for another single point and I thought we may have it for Breed as the bitch special was acting up quite a bit and Mitcham was being an angel in the ring! But no luck. As I was leaving with my BOS ribbon Ms Fournier stopped me and told me that in time my boy would be spectacular and to find her again and show him to her!! That's the nicest thing yet I've heard from a judge and was just tickled and honored to have such high praise.

Justice was in the ring after about six other dogs and Ms Fournier then said. Wow! What a nice boy! You go from a lovely Briard to a wonderful table dog?. I replied "Thank you yes! Its so I don't have to run so much" :) To which she laughed. She must not have thought he was so wonderful as we didn't get the cross over again so that was a bummer for the "Juice Man" (Justice) .

Cynthia and I went over a small drawbridge across from the show site to a Chocolate Store. We had caramel apples that were drizzled and dipped in various toppings such as pecans, chocolate, chocolate chips, snickers, marshmallows, etc. They were worth every penny!

Mary and I snuck out and headed over to Grandma's Saloon and Bar and had a nice tall cold beer and some nachos. Then we watched groups and then headed out to supper at a place in Proctor, MN called BlackWoods. Famously good food!

After a night of listening to Barb's dogs bark, Mary and I were up very early and headed to the show. Mary finished her GSP bitch that weekend and got a point on our friends Vizla. Getting nothing on Sunday she left after helping me reglue Mitcham's ears and I sat around and waited for Justice to show. I didn't enter Mitcham on Sunday as I knew there would be no competition. Justice I was hoping for that cross over point but we didn't get it again and the handler (Frank Murphy's helper) apologized ever day they got the BOW ribbon. I told them not to worry about it, but it was still a nice thing to say.

Justice is really learning to like the showing and he is an awesome self stacker thanks in part to Wanda Bendinelli! Both boys are a joy to show and I couldn't be happier with them!

Many thanks to everyone who was there to make it a fun and enjoyable weekend! Between lots of laughs at Barb's house in the evenings to the jokes Paul and I shared during the day at the dog show, it was a riot! Also a big pleasure to meet more of Mary's GSP friends! I've heard about them but hadn't met them all until now!

This JUST in!

Justice's first 2 points under judge Dorothy Christiansen at Cambridge MN.

addenum

I had forgotten to mention (in my sleep deprived weekend) that on Thursday was the Best Puppy match!

Mitcham was expertly handled by Christy Collins and got a Group 2! Justice was expertly handled by Wanda Bendinelli (Zoe's breeder) and got a Group 4! Oh how I wish I didn't have to go back to Perham to work that afternoon! But I am so happy for my boys! They make me gush with pride :)

So far so good!

I'm at my buddies house and finally have time to report on my weekend (so far)!

Thursday at the Cambridge, MN cluster, I had a great day!

Zoe was Reserve Winners Bitch, Justice was Winners Dog and Best of Winners for his first two points at his very first show (aside from the National)!

Mitcham was also a good boy and was Winners Dog and Best of Winners for a cross over THREE POINT MAJOR!

Friday at the same cluster was another good day!

Ell was Winner's Bitch and Best of Winners for a single point! It was the last single point she needed so she, along with Zoe both have 12 points and 1 major, so we are on the look out for those elusive last majors! Justice was RWD.

And Mitcham once again was a cool dude and was Winner's dog and Best of Winner's for another cross over Three Point Major!!

How blessed am I?!! Two majors, back to back on his 3rd and 4th days out! wohoo!!!

Today, Saturday wasn't as great of a day . Zoe was RWB again (she's got at least 25+ of them!) and that was it! The other Briard boy was pulled today so there was no points in the dogs. Mitcham didn't get the cross over points and BOW was awarded to the bitch I was showing for Liz and she got a 3 pt major! So I still got a major on a dog, just not mine ;) I can't complain! The show cluster has been good for me!

Tomorrow is the last day and I am POOPED! I'll keep ya'll posted as to how we do then! Fingers crossed!

Justice photo shoot

Justice hasn't had much 'air time' on the blog.

We've been watching him grow up and I thought tonight in the evening hours that I should bathe him for the long show weekend and take a few photos. They are ungroomed, except for a blow dryer post doggie shower. Its nearly impossible to take photos that do him, well, justice, but you can get the basic idea. Neighsayers will say he has a short neck. while its not a llama neck, it is proportionate for his body. The lack of white doesn't help matters (at least for the initial once over) but I've also seen dogs with full white collars that have no neck and the white makes their neck look long. I digress....

Show side...he looks so sad doesn't he? >:)
"MY" side.
hmm....I'm bored...I wonder what's going on back in the house?
Oh RIGHT! Look at the camera. How much longer will this take? I have a bone to chew (no pun intended)


*SIGH* Ok yes I'll turn my head for a 'profile' shot. i'm rather bored....can I go now?

Emily and Sarah Special :)

I can't usually get a photo of Mitcham, unless you get them like this one:

So I put him behind the fence and let the rest of the dogs out. Below is the Sadie Princess surveying her domain.
Or Mitcham smiling for the camera and Daisy frolicking around!
This one isn't so close?
Finally...laying down, although through the chain link!
Finally standing still...but he is on a potty break! (Notice ears UP!) and Oliver with his happy face. don't you just love the random cardigan in the background of each photo??!!

I was able to get him MOVING fairly nicely. He is so happy!I had to throw a few non Mitcham photos in! (Sorry I know I know!) Below is Justice taking a tinkle....he did get a bath last night and of course wasn't completely dry when he went to bed...so needless to say that hair normally does NOT look like that....new bath again tomorrow :)
Zoe is turned funny but is waiting and watching Justice and Ell running like maniacs...she was waiting to pounce :)