HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE "GRAPES"

Wow, it is hard to believe it has been a year since Hattie and Kona's puppies were born. We have been so blessed to have wonderful families that they all live with!
Ivy in the ring...Merl in his new home. Now, I just need some cute Lou and Tipsy pics!

Club Posts Pictures and Kudos to Betsy

The Cairn Terrier Club of Southern California has posted lots of fun pictures on their website. Here is the link to it...http://cairnterrier.net/
This is the event that Betsy, Dena and I just got back from. It was great fun and I would do it again. That club knows how to throw a party! :-)

NOW...a really important acknowledgement of one very special lady...Betsy worked hard to make sure she blogged of our adventures. THANK YOU BETSY!!! YOU HAVE DONE AN AWESOME JOB!!!! (I think we'll keep you around.)

Snakes, Hats and bully, part Deux

This is Carol (sorry, this is the best shot we have) and Ruby on the table.

Heidi and Ivy (2nd pair) in the ring. Kim and her girl are in the first position

Alex on the table

Here's the classic Val and Hat snake pose

Here's Sully and the bully

Sully on the table

Oz on the table

Day 4: Hats, Snakes and bullys

Up early; ready, set, go! Off to the show grounds at 7, stop at Carl’s Jr for “to go” breakfast and then to Starbucks for “the usual”. Heidi’s been riding with us in the morning so Sue can sleep in, her boy isn’t in Sweeps. Heidi sits on a sleeping bag in the back with me, Ivy riding in wire crate nest to her. Today I put the arm rest down so she had another “oh shit” handle.

Sweeps ring time is 9am, we had plenty of time. We decided to unload everything but the dogs then go park and walk them so they can potty on the way. As usual, the parking lot was at least 1/8 mile away from the set up/grooming. I must say tho that the grooming was just a short short walk to the ring. It was drizzling, just kind of the clouds sweating on us… EW! This kept it cool and that was OK by me. The weather man said last night it was 10 – 15 degrees cooler than normal. Yahoo! As we were unloading we heard the show wouldn’t begin until 9:30 due to a wreck and one of the highways had to close down. No worries, more time to prepare…

We put Sully and Oz up onto grooming tables. Oz needed his butt de-fuzzed. Between Val, Dena, Heidi and Nancy D it was quick and painless. There are still a few fuzzies but he looks good. Sully had some minor work to be done on the same end as Oz but was having issues staying still so Val hung a bully stick on the second grooming arm she has on her table. Sully played a game similar to the one we all played as kids at Halloween where we try to get a bite out of an apple hung from the ceiling. This worked so well that when she took him off the table she used it as bait… worked pretty darn well. The only problem, besides the obvious one of size, was that throwing it was totally out of the question.

We all waited with the other exhibitors for our turn in the ring. Val and I were both in the same class, 12-18 month boys, Heidi in 9-12 girls. We all did well, the judge for the day was very very thorough and when she was done she’d pat the dog on the back, pick it up and place it on the ground. Remember this regiment; it will be important later when Alex and Dena are in the ring. Sully took 2nd, Oz third and the dog that won yesterday took 4th. I turned to him and said “Well it just confirms it is relative”. We both smiled and nodded.

The drizzle slowly turned to sunshine as the Sweeps continued. The sun was getting a bit warm and Dennis asked Val if she needed a hat and offered her one of the Indiana Jones decoration hats to wear. We aptly adorned it with one of the many rubber snakes, just cuz we could. The theme of the specialty was “Raiders of the lost Bark” and the ring was decorated to the hilt. Friday the decorations were in the way, the ring was too small for the camel, tombs, mummies (see Friday’s story) and other items in the ring. The classes were the biggest I think I’ve ever seen and Friday the ring was way too small so today they made the ring larger, which was very nice. They did a great job decorating but I question the fake palm trees when there were so many nice real ones around us.

For the second day we made it all the way through Sweeps and the regular dog classes then broke for lunch to continue the bitches afterwards.

The sun was out full force but thankfully there was a nice cool breeze when Alex and Dena entered the ring with the same determination as the day before. We knew the judge liked her, she kept watching them. There were at least 10 bitches in the ring so they had to go around twice, the ring was still small even tho they had tried to make it bigger. They were first in the ring, that can either be good or bad but I was banking on it being a good thing. Remember the judges routine now? Go over dog head to toe, pat on the back then pick it up and set it on the ground. Well, what happened was when the judge picked up Alex to set her on the ground it kind of coincided with Dena pulling the lead over her head which consequently snagged the huge clip on the back of her head holding her hair up. A bit of an uncomfortable moment for both the judge and Dena. I’m not sure what Dena said to the judge but there was a hug and some giggles, I thought for sure she had it, the judge just tried to decapitate her. Val was on the opposite side of the ring taking pictures, I was playing bucket bitch, faithfully fetching water, handing out bait and telling Dena when to pull her skirt up in front.

Round and round they went, then the cut…. Dena was #3, then round and round then moved to #2 then at the last minute she moved her to #3 again. Very dramatic. Oh well, tomorrow’s another day.

Later on in the evening we went to the park with the doggies. They played Squirrel tag barked and ran like crazy. After that we drove to a women’s clothing establishment cuz I am SICK AND TIRED OF MY CLOTHES!! I got the cutest skirt and Dena got the deal of a lifetime in a “Lucy Jacket”. After 15 minutes of shopping we went for dinner at… Panda Express… We’ll suffer later with that.

OK, everyone is in bed now.. I’ll post pictures later. Love ya all!

Day 3: Mummy 1, Alex 0

Ring time for Sweeps was 10 am. Val’s Sully and Oz were both in 12-18 month puppy sweeps. Only 1 more pup was in the ring with us; Kari L.’s Aleck. We all trotted around the ring being very cute. Sully was great, Oz was wonderful but Kari’s boy took the prize, Sully #2 and Oz #3. Oz is a bit naked these days, someday he too will be a fur machine but right now he’s scantily clad. Between Val and I we paid for parking that day and some extra pocket change so that is great.

Ivy and Heidi did ok in 9-12 month puppy sweeps bitch class. Ivy (Croftersdream Calypsi o’Carirngorm) took second in her class.

Regular classes:

Heidi did a marvelous job and Ivy took second in her 9-12 month bitch class!! They both looked marvelous. (see pics)

The piece d’resistance was open bitches, Alex’s class, 10 bitches in this class. Alex came out swinging, she looked incredible and Dena did a kick a!@#$ job handling. The ring was very small and 10 bitches was an issue. Plus there were “obstacles in the ring… (see camel pic). Some very nice girls but Alex was in the lead the whole time, no one could touch her. FIRST PLACE!! Yeah Alex and Dena, Great job!! Now, for the winners bitch class.

Alex, again, was the best of all the girls in the ring with her. She strutted her stuff like the queen of the Nile we all know her to be. She had it, we all knew it. Even Lydia said she was doing a great job and her grooming was wonderful. We were all on top of the world until (drum roll please) Alex spotted the mummy sitting on a table just inside the ring where they stood. Alex was indignant that that ugly thing was staring at her, she was quite vocal about how she felt. She would have nothing to do with bait or mention of rats. The judge was having trouble deciding between Alex and a bred by bitch Maverston Small Town Girl so she asked them to spar. Alex wanted nothing to do with another bitch or food, nothing she just kept looking over her shoulder at the mummy. The judge made up her mind.

Sorry, gotta go to the yarn store and find running space for the doggies. Later.

We’re back in the hotel after quite an exhilarating outing. Lorin will be happy to hear that Dena needed different needles (smaller) to work on her sweater so Dena used her handy dandy cell phone to look for a yarn store. Nothing of quality was open that late but she found a Michaels.

On the way to Michaels we found the most glorious park, El Dorado park. We quickly turned into the park entrance and snaked our way to a lot fairly deep into the park grounds. There was all kind of kids of different ages playing baseball at different diamonds located around the parking lot. We found a choice parking spot and took the doggies out for a romp amidst the trees and grass. They ran and played and pee’d on every tree and interestingly different smell they could. Amazing how much pee a boy dog has when they want to mark.

Back into the car and onward to Michaels. The GPS on Dena’s magic phone told us to follow some roads through the park at a different entrance so, like good girls who always follow the rules we took the scenic route through the park. What a magical place, there are lakes with water running over the road we had to drive through, geese, ducks, cranes, Cairns, plovers, very beautiful. We drove and drove following the GPS, turn left at here, bear right there, follow this road to the right…. RIGHT!! What we found was not Michaels but the Long Beach Police Academy AND a locked chain link fence! Hmmm, now what? Well, ok we’ll go back to there and turn left instead of right, Yeah, that’s it, we just misread the directions! NOT! We ended up at the same place. Oh well, we’ll go back and take the road marked “Exit”, that should work. J

Back on the normal road again and we miraculously found Michaels, and Ben and Jerry’s, and well a huge mall. Make mental note for later, we may need to shop. The trip back to the Motel was quick and painless. Val is knitting, Dena is showering, the doggies are sleeping soundly and me, well… you know.

Oh, BOB was #102, Ch Hampton Court’s Ashley.

Upping the ante

As some of you may know, Rain has killed a few small animals these last few months. At least three wild rabbits, and two of my chickens (they were both in the dog yard when it happened, so as much as I'd like to say I don't have a chicken-killing dog, I can't really blame him for it).

Now he is earning bigger trophies. His newest kill?
A coyote.

Speaking of what I'd rather not have my dog killing.....

Rain, Tally and I were walking along in the cow pasture this afternoon when Rain suddenly spooked away from something. That something then jumped out on the path we were on and took off. I first thought, "really large, really slow rabbit." But Rain wouldn't have initially spooked from a rabbit. He gave chase, Tally just behind him. I wondered if it was a bobcat, like the one I saw a few weeks ago at Portland park with a clients dog (who, like Rain, is very predatory, and also like Rain, who initially spooked at it).

Quickly I realized that I should worry less about what it is and more about the fact that Rain was currently overtaking it. It turned back into the brush beside the path and I saw that it was a coyote. Rain also caught it in that moment, and they rolled into the bushes together, the "yipe yipe yipe!" confirming for me that it was Canis and not Lynx. Tally disappeared into the bushes behind them, my yells drowning out all the other noises.

When I got to the opening, Rain and Tally were circling a tree a few feet away. I intercepted Tally but missed Rain, who then stayed out of my reach while he looked up. I thought it seemed strange- coyotes don't climb trees (that I know of). THe cats that Rain chases on a weekly basis, however, have taught him to look up. I stepped back from him and looked around the small clearing where we were. I spotted the coyote, sneaking along the edge of the blackberry wall toward another trail out- he must have gotten away and behind a log before Rain noticed, thus Rain was sure he was up the tree.

Damn Malinois looked toward me and saw where my eyes were pointed. He looked, the coyote went from sneaking to running, and Rain was after him, Tally screaming about the unfairness of it all from my arms. They were quickly out of site and I heard more yips and yelps (all coyote, none Rain's voice), then silence. Had the coyote gotten away again, I should have heard scrambling through the brush. In moments, Rain was back at my side, panting and looking around. A lost coyote is something to be hunted for- a dead coyote is something for Rain to leave behind and head back to his pack.

I've always promised myself that I would never love a dog so much that I couldn't let it be a dog. And Rain is still fine on that account- he can still run around, and while I'll try to not let him get to coyotes, the risk of him getting hurt in that game isn't enough for me to stop letting him have a good dog life.

Tally, on the other hand. Tally is no longer allowed outside of my bedroom.

Blogging issues

Just wanted you all to know what I have to go through to get this blog done.

Alex is behind me, you can see

Sully's ear above the screen.