Baby’s first win pic
OK so it’s not great, but it’s better than I thought it would be. 
God, he looks scrawny. His coat flattens out quickly…I need something to keep him foofy.
Yay for pretty days
We are having GORGEOUS weather this weekend and have been taking full advantage. Most of yesterday was spent outside, tending to the backyard and playing with the kiddos…we had a flood in December which “relocated” all of our woodchips from the flower beds to various piles around our yard, so finally getting some of those raked up and tossed out. I spent a disgusting amount of time doing the disgusting job of picking up dog poop so that we could freely play. I always tend to neglect that job in the winter, plus we’ve had so much rain this season it’s been hard to find a day to do it. I will spare you all a photo of the giant bag full of poop that I ended up with, but suffice to say that it was impressive.
Charlie's attitude this morning was, umm, less than desirable.
Jack, however, was having a grand time
Today was bath day since the yard is actually somewhat dried out and less muddy than it has been for weeks. I know you all probably hate Cardi photos in the grass as much as I do, but this part of the yard is by far the best light for taking photos and I wanted to try him on the ground instead of the table. I think he looks MUCH better when he free stacks than when I hand stack him, for some reason he has a tendency to lock his back legs oddly when I hand stack him, so we’re working on that. (I’m speaking in general, not about these pictures. I hand stacked him for these) He’s starting to look like a grown up all of a sudden, is high in the rear OFTEN although these photos turned out ok I threw away a bunch that were really bad LOL. Ah, the fun growing stages of puppies! They turned 8 months old a few days ago.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today I promised Charlie that we would make pink heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. I didn’t have a mold really, so just poured them into heart-ish shapes…not bad, really! They were prettier before they browned but that’s ok, she was tickled. It may have been helped by the chocolate chips inside, too.
Jack wasn't sure what to think at first, but ate them after a bit
And the extra special part of today…..SNOW!!!! After hoping to get some yesterday morning and being pretty disappointed with just a dusting, it starting snowing here early this morning and gave us a good ground cover. The snowman didn’t last long as it was warming up quickly, but the kids had fun! Nash wants to spend the whole day outside. We are supposed to get some rain later (eww), and maybe more snow overnight.
Jack stayed on the sidewalk for a while...he kept pointing at the snow and saying "Yuck!". He did eventually venture out into the yard but mostly stayed in the cleared tracks, LOL.
Throwing snowballs for Nash
Charlie chasing Daddy with a snowball
Nashville takes on Atlanta
(yes his name is sometimes Nashville. Mostly when he’s in trouble.)
So, Nash’s ring debut yesterday can pretty much be summed up with the following thoughts from him:
“Look, there’s dogs!! Want to play? Playplayplayplay?”
“MOM!! There’s FOOD ON THE FLOOR!”
“Did you hear me?? FOOD. On the FLOOR.”
The worst was on the down and back when he just straight up refused to move because about halfway down there was a hotdog within eyesight. He just stood there and STARED at it, and me giving him a leash pop (or twelve) had no effect whatsoever. I think he was lucky to get 2nd of 3 in the bred-by class.
Sooooo, Saturday evening after BIS there was a free handling class, so we went and basically worked hard on “leave it”. Got a couple of other good suggestions too. Must have worked, because he was much better today! Not on the table, but that’s a different story…judge made a funny sound to get expression and Nash took that as a cue to try to jump on his shoulders. Whoops. Never did get him to stand still after that but luckily the judge was understanding. He also asked me how old he was (since he was in bred-by) and replied with “Aha!”when I told him. LOL And I was thrilled when he won Winners Dog for a 4 POINT MAJOR! During pictures the judge was quite chatty and told me several times what a “pretty boy” he is, he just loved his expression and movement.
So yay! Good boy Nash…sort of. 
We have lots of work to do, but at very least he did definitely have fun!
And we’re off!
Well, tomorrow morning that is. Tomorrow is Nash’s debut show in Atlanta, and yes I think I’ll show Lizzie too, naked belly and all. Naturally, it has been raining for about 3 days so the yard is a mud pit…I’m washing and drying dogs knowing full well that they will get filthy again before tomorrow. Sigh. We leave at about 7 am and show around 2:30ish Eastern time.
Wish us luck! If nothing else, I want Nash to have a good experience. I’m not too worried as he pretty much thinks life is a party thrown just for him, but you never know when something weird will happen to a puppy! And Atlanta is indoors, noisy and usually crowded. These first shows are so important for building that great show attitude for later, so I will be trying my best to keep it lighthearted and fun.
In which I question the wisdom…
…of creating a litter full of very smart, eat-anything-not-nailed-down puppies.
I received a lovely report from Harmony’s people the other day. Apparently she has figured out how to open drawers (!!)…she just grabs on and pulls while walking backwards. Cindi and Patti are missing a few items (whoops) and will be investing in child locks soon. Ha! It’s so very naughty…but I have to laugh, too.
On the wonderful side, Harmony just graduated from intermediate obedience class and will be heading to an advanced class soon. Patti is doing a lovely job training her and they have started attending a class for service dogs together. They are hoping that by the time she’s a year old she’ll be ready to take her CGC and Delta Society therapy dog tests, and get her certification as Patti’s service dog. And I’ll tell you what…as proud as I am of the show dogs from the litter and their owners, I am JUST as proud of this family! I know that Pilot’s owners will be thrilled also…grandma Alice, in addition to helping propagate the trashund genes, seems to have contributed a few more desirable traits also. She’s also a Delta Society therapy dog. I’m glad that Harmony can use her evil powers for good, also.
Another entry fee down the drain…
When I entered Nash in Atlanta, I brashly decided last-minute to enter Lizzie too, in BOB. I looked down at her lovely shiny coat, good weight, happy demeanor and said “aww why not, I’m going to the show anyway.” I conveniently, ahem, forgot one little thing…oh, remember that abdominal surgery? Not too awfully long ago (little over a month)? Oh yeah, that’s right…her BELLY IS SHAVED. *doh*
Today was bath day so after drying her I decided to snap a few pictures to see if maybe it didn’t look “that bad” on the table. Uh huh. Damn shame too, because I think she looks awesome otherwise!
A very angry Jack-in-the-box
I was in the kitchen when I heard Jack calling for “help, I need help….MAMA!”
Eeek!
Well, I entered the Atlanta shows knowing that sometimes they pull pretty large entries. In fact, when Lizzie was a baby she made her debut at those shows and it was a 5 point major in bitches. *blink* (she was reserve both days) Now it’s her son Nash’s turn to dip his toe into the show world, and the entry was posted today…yep, a 5 point major in boys. Can I admit that I got a little tingly/excited when I made the entry for him? It was my first time to ever enter in Bred-By, and somehow that’s just really cool.
If you’ve missed it on Carolyn’s blog or Facebook, sister Lucy has done really well on HER debut weekend in Portland. Reserve Winner’s Bitch twice to majors! I’m thrilled! Many friends and family are showing tomorrow and Sunday still, so good luck to everyone!
Morning romp
Nash and Brady have gotten to be really good play partners. Nash is still easily submissive, which appeases Brady’s inflated sense of self-worth. So every morning after breakfast they have a good long play session. I whipped out the video camera to try to catch them in action, but naturally as soon as I had the camera on them they changed the game. It’s still cute to see Brady play so much even though he’ll turn 12 this year. Lizzie is sometimes in on the game also, but generally she lays at my feet while the boys act like idiots. However, if Brady starts to get out of hand and is “too mean” to Nash, Lizzie is RIGHT THERE in his face. She puts her body between them and grumbles at Brady to knock it off…he always seems to back off like “ok ok, sorry!”. It’s kind of cute to see her protecting her son like that, and it’s been really interesting to watch how the pack dynamics have changed since Lizzie had the puppies and Nash joined the family.
Here is Nash-the-dork showing you his chewie:
Brady and Nash playing a bit: