Jim sent an update on their Daisy: "We made it back to Illinois over a month ago. Daisy managed the cross country drive very well. We spent a month back in the city and packed up and moved to Naperville. Daisy loves living in a townhome after two years in apartments. She loves going up and down the stairs, walking around the neighborhood and most of all, peering out of the top window to get aerial views of the squirrels in the yard."
Sally sent some photos of Ginger and wrote, "A few pictures of my favorite girl. She helped me in the flower garden and then there’s a picture with her friend Fergie. The last one is from today on the way home from the groomer. She was happy to get out of there but they always say how good she is and how pretty! I agree!"
Judy B wrote about Zoie, "I'm sending more Zoie photos. She has doubled in weight since we brought her home and seems to get longer every day. She is really a delight and so smart. She sleeps all night, walks on a leash like a pro and is pretty much potty trained. She had her first full grooming and did pretty well."
Luna had her 6th birthday and Molly Anne sent some photos and a note about her girl. "Lady Luna had a busy birthday. As rainstorms were predicted for today, yesterday she had a full play day at Day Care. With Covid they come outside and take the dogs in: Luna always has to be carried anyway (same at the vet). She really is a Mama’s girl, for which I am glad since I know she will not go off with anyone. Upon picking her up I was told Luna immediately adopted the new little kitten they just got, and mothered it all afternoon. Unfortunately, she was told “no, you cannot have a kitten for your birthday “. Today she spent time with her favorite neighbors, went to two dog parks and had a cart ride around Petco. As you can see, she did get a “kitten “ for her birthday, after all. Her “locket” is a photograph of the moon, but not just any moonshot : this is the moon as it appeared on October 10, 2014."(Note: Luna's registered name is CH Joyslyn Ja-Ma Dancing By the Light of the Moon, if you are wondering why Molly Anne bought her a moon locket.)
Theresa wrote about her Rocco, litter brother to Little Joey. "Rocco is so adorable, with a larger than life personality but I'm sure this is not news to you. He is a scrapper. His name definitely suits him. He is crazy about Kitty. Quite an adjustment for Kitty as Kojak was pretty laid back in his senior years. Kitty is very good with him. It seems as if he knows that Rocco is just a puppy. We all love him so much, and he seems to be pretty fond of us too."
Sharon wrote about Gemma: "Hope you’re well. I just wanted to send you a copy of Gemma’s registration and give you a quick update. It has been a very busy two months. Gemma has started puppy classes and is doing quite well. She picks things up pretty quickly, especially when treats are involved! Two weeks ago Gemma had her first visit to the groomer. I had been trimming her eyefall but alas, it definitely looked as though her mother trimmed her bangs. We’ve all been there! She now looks beautiful and we can see her gorgeous brown eyes! Gemma was finally able to meet our granddaughter. Thank goodness she is a Lhasa who loves children. It was love at first sight for the both of them. In fact, Gemma made an excellent soccer buddy - she is quite good at stealing the ball. I will be thrilled when it is safe for them to see each other more often.Well, I’ll end here. Again, let me thank you for matching me with Gemma. She is a joy and the best snuggler!"
From Julie M about her Daisy: "Daisy is doing very, very well. She had her last shot today – she will not need another until next year. She weighs 9.7 lbs. and has lost her top 2 front teeth and you can see the new ones coming in. She is doing well on her potty training, and for the last week or so has been “signaling” on her own when she needs to go out! It was rather slow going in the beginning, but she and Peaches are now friends, as I expected they would be. She LOVES her big sister and when Peaches has had enough she lets Daisy know. Daisy gets it and gives her a little break."
Joy wrote: "Here's Lucy, our little white monster who disguised herself as a cute poof ball! She looks so innocent, but is full of mischief!"
Michelle sent these photos of Sunny.
What Have I Been Up To??A lot of traveling!!
In September, my Shiba Inu friend, Jane, and I attended dog training classes each Wednesday in Peoria. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes each way, but the drive was worth the opportunity to get our young dogs (in my case, Archie and Aspen) out of the house for some socializing and training. Millie went along also, to remind her of what showing is all about.
Once those classes ended, we then attended class in Milan, about 1.5 hours each way, with the same goals in mind.
The first weekend in October there were shows in Mason City, IA. The plan was for Marsha to come down from Fargo, and Jan and Karen to come from WI in the motor home where we would all stay for the weekend. Best laid plans and all that! Jan was loading the motor home and tripped and fell. She was badly injured so the plans quickly changed. We were able to get two hotel rooms and the other three of us attended the show.
I have to say that the show superintendents are doing a great job setting up the shows during this COVID pandemic. We felt very safe and everyone was following the rules about mask wearing, social distancing, and the 6' apart rules in the show rings. Each ring had separate entrances and exits.
The weekend was long and tiring because each day there were two shows, so the days started early and ended late.
So...how did my dogs do? Well, Archie was a disaster. He is deathly afraid of strangers so when the judges approached the examination table, he fell apart. He did not want a stranger touching him and I had an awful time. Embarrassing for sure, but I felt so bad for him to be so afraid.
Millie was a different story. She showed like a dream and we came home with points and a lot of ribbons. She took Winners Bitch for the points at each of the shows and also won Best of Breed at each show. The second show each day also had a National Owner Handled Series competition and she did well there too.
Saturday at show 1, she was Best of Winners and Best of Breed. At show 2, she was Best of Winners, Best of Breed, Best Owner Handled.
During Saturday's Non-Sporting Group Owner Handled Competition, she was awarded a Group 1 (for those of you who don't know -- that's a big deal!). That meant we went back into the ring for Owner Handled Best in Show, Millie was awarded Reserve Best in Show.
Here is a photo taken at our grooming set up. Once I get the official show photos, I will post them for you to see.
Sunday at Show 1, she was Best of Winners and Best of Breed. At show 2, she was Best of Winners, Best of Breed, Best Owner Handled.We also competed in the regular Non-Sporting Group each day. The first 3 times we did not get a placement, but she was awarded 4th place during the last group competition. From that ring on Sunday, we went straight to the Owner Handled competition again. This time she took 2nd place and I was very glad she had not won again because we would have had another 2 hour or so wait before the Best in Show competition. The drive home took 7 hours as it was and I did not get home until nearly midnight.
The following week, we traveled to Jefferson, WI, for a 4-day show at the fairgrounds there. This time, we were able to stay with Jan in the motor home. Again, the show was set up well with everyone wearing masks and following the rules. This fairgrounds had many, many buildings spread across a large area. Each of the 12 buildings contained only one show ring, which cut way down on the number of people and dogs in each building and made it easy for people to keep at least 6 feet apart.
Archie continued to be afraid on the table; however, when he had to go back into the ring to compete for Winners Dog and was in the ring with another dog and not all by himself, he was able to pull himself together and get his tail up and sail around the ring! That made me happy for sure. On one of the days, he was even awarded Reserve Winners Dog. Archie and I have some work to do for sure!
Millie was again successful, at least for three out of the four days. She won on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday - two points the first day, and 3 point majors on the other days. Those wins upped her point progression to 12 of the 15 points needed for her championship.
Again, I will post a show photo when it arrives. The photographer has not yet uploaded the photos to the website for ordering.
Aspen got to go along for the ride to the Jefferson shows and she was such a good girl. She enjoyed the trip and eventually worked up the nerve to bark at every large dog that walked by our RV set up when she was in the exercise pen. Here is her 4 month photo.
Oh, you might be wondering how we got from building to building at that fairgrounds. As I wrote, there were individual rings in each building. The weather was windy and very cold. We were bundled up in winter coats. What we had to do to make it to the show rings with our three dogs was rent a golf cart. Here is a picture of us. That is Jan driving. I am in the front also with my legs over Millie's crate, holding Archie's crate in my lap. In the back is Jan's dog, Toppi, in his crate, our ringside tables, and our friend LaVonne who came to help us. Crazy Dog Show People! Hey...it worked!
And here is a photo of the group of us who competed that weekend.Now, there are such things as dog show disasters and neither weekend was without some upsetting moments for me. Two such "disasters" happened.I use a water bottle adapter to keep my show dogs from dunking their faces in a bowl and coming up dripping wet. The adapters look like this:
They work extremely well -- except when they don't. When we were in Mason City, I woke up to a thoroughly soaked Millie, discovering that during the night the entire 20 oz. in her water bottle had leaked, saturating her chest, belly, legs, feet, and tail. The only dry part of her was her head and her back. Let's just say I was not happy. To make matters worse, all 4 of the adapters I had with me leaked -- and two of them were brand new ones I had packed "just in case."At the Jefferson show, Archie decided that when I was not looking he'd jump out of the exercise pen and do a run-about! We heard shouting outside the motor home "There's a loose Lhasa!!" and went running outside. Sure enough, it was Archie and he was across the road in a grassy area, running as fast and he could flat out with the biggest smile on his face. Seriously! He was having a blast. Me? Not so much. I yelled at people to stop chasing him and called him to me. He came but at the last moment decided to veer to my left for one more lap. We were right in front of the entrance gate and thank goodness the traffic was stopped. He finally came to me and I scooped him up. I did not yell at him!! What would have been the use? Instead, I praised him for coming to me. He had some twigs caught in his coat but was otherwise fine. Memo to self - buy a taller exercise pen!
My travels continued...just yesterday I got up and at 6:30 AM headed south to Memphis (about 7.5 hours) to at last bring Winter home. Winter's handler, Sue Cannimore, who lives in MS was kind enough to drive part way to meet me. We met at a truck stop; I loaded the dogs and headed right back for home. I think I got here about 9:30PM. Once I got the dogs settled and said hi to my husband, I went to bed. What a day!
Oh, I forgot to tell you that we have a new litter of puppies, but those on the waiting list should not get too excited yet. I think (hope) the majority of these puppies will go to show homes. We will see. I am keeping my options open.
We are waiting for two of our girls to come in season "any time!" I wish they would hurry up because both are late. I know many of you are anxiously awaiting for puppies.
And that is what has been happening around here for the past month!
Thanks for reading the blog!
Joyce
