This last weekend I ACTUALLY WENT TO A DOG SHOW! I know, seriously. I was about ready to keel over from withdrawal. Sarah’s been shlepping and handling Friday for me for a full year now, while I kept things running smoothly (well, as smoothly as they ever run) at home. So it was a rare treat and a wonderful one to get to attend.
And you KNOW I brought the camera!
Above is Ollie, who is the son of Bronte’s daughter Ella and Ch. Rush. Isn’t he just a picture?
This is Valentine, Ollie’s litter sister. Both of them are doing very well in the show ring, but more important they’re so happy and loved. It was just so great to see them.
We also got to see Whiskey, Dawn’s cute baby girl (for Cardi wonks, she’s a Dickens-Knickers puppy).
And we got to see MY puppies too! That’s the puppy formerly known as Harold (Daisy Poppy x Shade), and the big knucklehead formerly known as Bernard (Clue x Shade). Bernard went to Sarah and became Zen, and then Sarah and I decided that he was asking for his own place. We are THRILLED to announce that he’s moved to live with his little brother, and that his new family is everything we were dreaming about. His new name is Porter, and he will hit the show ring in a big way this summer. He’s a really lovely puppy and we’re super proud of him. And WOW is he a happy kid.
And here’s Ella, who needs no introduction! Ella looks AMAZING. She’s hit that magic three-year-old mark and everything is cooking with gas.
I somehow completely forgot to get a picture of Friday, who came along and was shown in the Supported Entry. This was also her retirement party (Friday is living proof of the adage that the best dog you’ll ever have will be the hardest to finish). She gets to rest on her modest laurels (she IS major pointed, after all) and have babies. Which is all she ever wanted anyway!
Were you at the Scarborough show? I went on Sunday with the intention of watching Cardis purely because of your blog!
Yes I was! Saturday only, though. I am so sad that we didn’t get a chance to meet – will you be anywhere else looking for Cardis?
My Canaan puppy is entered at the upcoming Wrentham shows on Saturday and Sunday, but I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the future even if you’re not planning on going that weekend.
Your opinions on dogs and all the myriad topics that one could reasonably (or unreasonably) associate with dogs are so similar to my own that I’ve been compelled to read nearly every entry you’ve written, just to be sure I don’t miss any morsel of wisdom! It’s really more that I was looking for you, but I figured the easiest place to find you would be where the shorty dogs were! Alas, on Sunday we arrived too late to watch the Cardigans, due to an incident with a not-completely crate trained Springer.
How *is* dear ol’ Bronte?
Every dog pictured in this post is gorgeous! Wow!!! And Friday is retiring because she doesn’t really care for the show ring, am I remembering right? Do you know that I always think of her as the Tahitian Pearls dog? LOL, I have issues.
We’ve given Friday a really good effort (on the part of lots of people), and I’m not going to enter her a hundred or more times in order to eke a championship out of her. There are some dogs who can ask for a championship (and get it) despite some faults – Clue is a great example of that, because as much as I adore her she’s nowhere near as good as Friday. Friday has some faults (her ears are small, and her coat is not as hard as it could be, and her bite went level at 9 months, which is acceptable but not preferred), but mostly she’s not going to ask for it. She behaves beautifully but she’s not throwing off sparks. You can see her thinking in the ring how much she’d like to be herding or playing with babies right now. She’s gotten some VERY nice placements, Nationals and Specialty placements, a Breed win, but the grind of getting those points is not for her. So we’ll breed her to make sure we’re addressing those three things, and choose a puppy who is throwing poses at us from day one, and she’ll get to stay and play with ducks and sheep the way she’s always wanted.
Aw, Harold looks happy… and his new big brother is STUNNING. Sad he couldn’t come live with us, but it was just not the right time. We’re moving in a few weeks and will take some time getting settled and see how our senior citizen Tai does in the new place. Adaquan BTW, has been a miracle drug for him! Way more peppy than when you last saw him. Thanks for the dog pix, I need them. And chicken pix too!
LOVE CARDIS !!!!! ♥
(and Pembokes too, of course…;0))