Say Cheese

Hope you enjoy these photos of Kylie & Watson following the Williana Specialty this past weekend! Thanks to Kylie for presenting Watson so beautifully at this event. Congratulations to Schroeder (CH Clussexx Tickling the Ivories) on his BISS win and to all of the other winners.

Shoulda Taken That Left Turn at Albuquerque...

Well, we've had a busy evening.  

First, we erected temporary fencing around the pond in an attempt to repel any nosy Clumbers (or Frenchies or Salukis) during tomorrow's Clumber Jamboree.  Sure, our dogs get into the pond occasionally, but the main culprit from our household is out of town.  (Gibson is traveling to Toledo with Becki and Kylie this weekend, to compete in the FSSA supported entry there.)  No, I am primarily concerned about Fannie, who last time managed to get dirty despite the fact that we had drained the pond and covered it with a tarp!!  She is persistent.

Wooster naturally wanted to inspect our work, so he was allowed to go out into the yard after that. Surprised to see him intently poking one area of grass with his nose, Michael called him back.  When he didn't come, Michael went to investigate and found the source of Wooster's interest: a nest of baby bunnies that somehow miraculously survived yesterday's mowing and were now attracting the wrong kind of attention from Woo.  (Unfortunately, there was one dead one.  Since we didn't see any marks on it, however, we conclude that it was the victim of neither the mower nor Wooster and must have died of "exposure" or some other appropriate baby bunny disaster.)  

We finally called the emergency animal clinic, which directed us to cover the nest back up and hope the mama bunny comes back tonight and moves them.  Here's hoping, since we're expecting, at last count, about 12 people and 16 dogs to invade our yard tomorrow around noon!!

After dealing with the bunny crisis, we spent the remainder of the evening getting our digs squared away before tomorrow's invasion.  (Did I mention we may be hosting a Saluki?!  I've never met one before...)

On tomorrow's agenda: cleaning, grocery shopping, hopefully grooming.  Then, enjoying an afternoon with friends and hoping all the dogs get along.  A lack of drama would be refreshing!

Counting Down

Getting very excited about the National coming up in a little more than a week.  I guess we leave for St. Louis in about 10 days.  In honor of the coming event, I thought I'd post a few pics here from prior years' gatherings.  Unfortunately, I apparently took very few photos at most of the preceding events and don't have access to the husband's camera (or hard drive) just at the mo, so I'll have to make do with what's on my own computer.  Note to self: take more photos this year!!

First, one of my all-time favorites:

Watson (l) and Wooster (r) with the "Duke of Newcastle," who lugged his period costume (fresh from Crufts!) all the way from England and did photo ops with the dogs as a fundraiser for the Clumber Spaniel Health Foundation!

Above, Wooster & I take a picture after placing in the Veterans' class.  You can just barely see the Delaware River in the background.  We showed in sweeps & classes for the National and classes for the regional that followed.  We weren't exactly the star attraction, but it didn't matter-- it was just great being in the righ with my Woo-man for the first time ever!  I am looking forward to showing again this year!

Terrible photo - great memories!  This was taken as we took Kipper (1993-2006) on his "victory lap" in the CSCA's Rescue & Placement Parade.  This was the 2nd time he made an appearance in the R&P Parade, the first time being in 2003, before we even joined CSCA.

Kipper with his friend June.  June does instinct (a/k/a "birdiness" testing every year at the National.  She comes all the way from Wales to do this!  In 2005, when Kipper was about 12 (we only got him at age 8 or so), she tested him.  He was "off the charts" (in my unbiased opinion).  Afterwards, he followed June all the way off the field, pouncing on her bird bag the whole way!!

Hopefully, you've enjoyed this little mini-retrospective.  Stay tuned for more National-themed photos after the event!

The Pitter-Patter of Little Paws

No, don't get excited. I do, in fact, mean little paws - four of them - not feet. As in, "When you don't crate the puppy, you spend the entire night listening to the pitter-patter of little paws."



It has become apparent that Gibson does not dig his crate, especially not for sleeping purposes, which is extremely detrimental to my own ability to sleep through the night. So Monday night we made the final leap in puppy-proofing the bedroom-- thereby exposing our own shortcomings in keeping the laundry current-- and let Gibson have the run of the bedroom, along with Watson, overnight.


So far, so good from my perspective. Turns out that even if I wake up a couple of times an hour to a 40-pound puppy vaulting over me to get back onto the bed, I am still happier in the morning than if I wake repeatedly to whining and yapping. There's just something about that noise.


Still, I'm not sure Watson would call the experiment a success. He vacated the bed in short order once he realized Gibson would be allowed to stay. Seems as though he preferred the noise.

State of the Art or "Technical Difficulties"

So I got a new camera for Christmas.  At first it worked great, then I began experiencing technical difficulties that caused most of my dog show photos to blur or appear very dark.  After checking over the manual tonight (thanks, Canon, for putting it online, since I can't locate the hard copy - except the Spanish language version!), it seems the device is compensating for the lack of lighting in the various venues when I turn off the flash.  So now I have to figure out how to set the ISO and shutter speeds.  Bummer!!  But at least I know what the issue is and can attempt to fix it.

A few of my pics were salvageable and are available via my Facebook album.    As you'll see, these most show our Watson.  However, I did manage to capture a few pics of a friend's FS puppy, another friend's nice Curly-Coated Retriever and some photos of Laura handling Jack, her GWP special.  The above is my favorite photo of Watson from this weekend.  Had more of the pics turned out, there might have been a cute head shot; however, the butt shot will just have to do this time around. Sigh.

P.S. - Two breed wins, running unopposed; nothing in group.

Fairgrounds in the Rain

Enjoyed the shows in Iowa this weekend - despite driving sleet on Saturday afternoon.

Note to the show committee: think about a different venue! We were at a fairgrounds. Grooming was in a different building than the ring. Poor Michael had to carry Watson, a featherweight at 70+ lbs., between buildings all weekend to avoid muddying that white coat after he was groomed! (Me = recovering from pulled muscle in back; yes, I think I injured it lifting/carrying dogs last week.) Once the sleet started Saturday afternoon, and continuing as it warmed/melted off on Sunday, the dirt driveways in the fairground turned to slushy mud puddles! At least the ring was on a concrete floor.

Note to the operator of the Motel 6 in DeWitt, Iowa: we understand you just took the place over and are in the process of making improvements. I hope new pillows and bed linens top your list!!

Thanks to Laura for presenting Watson so beautifully this weekend and for all the extra grooming help due to my aforementioned back issue.

We also had a (mostly) successful experiment with letting puppy (a/k/a Gibson) sleep loose/uncrated on Saturday night. The wee hours of Friday found him once again guarding the truck, and I was not about to venture outside in the weather on Saturday night, so we puppy-proofed the room as best we could and hoped for the best, knowing he'd at least be quiet if he wasn't crated. I think he "buzzed" Wooster's crate at least once, resulting in a loud scolding from the "big dog," and he must have gotten in a sleeping Watson's face once, too, from the sound of things. He also periodically woke us by leaping on and off the bed (and on and off of us), but my sleep-fogged brain was more tolerant of this behavior than of constant whining, so we were ahead of the game. Now if we can just puppy-proof the bedroom at home!

Am experience technical difficulties with my camera and so only got a few photos of the show. Will post them if any turn out.

Still Life with Tennis Ball

That's what I'm calling this picture of Wooster (even though it isn't really a still life) because, if you know Woo, you know he was rarely "still" in his younger days. He was a busy Clumber. (And he didn't come to our house until he was 2 and a half years old!) Knowing Wooster, it could also be titled "I know what's mine!"

When I wanted to take this picture, I didn't have my camera handy, so I got up off the couch - thereby waking him up. Luckily, he didn't move and, once I settled back down, went back to sleep in virtually the same pose...for a change, still. And beautiful.

(He's beautiful in action, too, but my talent and state of the art generally preclude my taking action shots in the field.)