Kate was kind enough to sludge through the roughly, what, 1500 pictures taken during Nationals week and send me a lot of the ones I cared about.    The lighting conditions weren’t great without a Very Nice Lens, but should still give you an idea!

Lizzie peeking at me around the grooming apron, getting poofed (as much as we, ahem, could) for the Megan.

Lizard on the table

Jennifer going over her and thinking to herself, "Wow, she looks better with hair."

Nash in Sweeps.

Yes, he's still a bit high in the butt.

Take a moment to pose during Brood Bitch

Our matching outfits. I swear when I asked Garrett to help I did NOT tell him he had to coordinate.

Whew! Gettysburg is about a 10.5 – 11 hour drive from me, which is just on the outer edge of what it doable in one day. I was exhausted when I got home last night! Thankfully, when driving through Tennessee I was on the outer edge of the storm that went through and caused so much bad flooding in central and southern areas. I barely drove through any rain, thank goodness…my drive up on Monday was nearly all rain, so it was a relief not to have to drive through it again LOL.

I always love seeing so many people that I rarely get a chance to see! And some I’ve never met in person before. We started introducing each other by blog name , so it was very fun to put faces with names and dogs. Tuesday was the Megan…when I entered, I had been very excited to show in the Megan for the first time! But as I mentioned before I left, Lizzie started shedding hand over fist and sadly looked very raggedy by Tuesday evening. She didn’t make the cut. I’ve been trying to put weight on her too, ironically my “easy keeper” who has always been a touch fat has started leaning the other direction. We’re going to try a few different things and may have her checked out at the vet. So yes, for future reference, naked and skinny isn’t a good combo.

Wednesday it was the puppies’ turns in sweepstakes! I had Scout’s handler Cheryl Mika groom Nash up for me…it’s amazing what a difference that can make. I don’t think I’m a “bad” groomer but I’m not good at those last steps to make them look really polished. She did a wonderful job and, if I don’t say so myself, I think he looked great! He showed pretty well for me and I was thrilled when he was awarded 3rd in his large sweeps class. Junie went a bit later (different judge, also) and Kate and I decided that I would show her and see how she did with me in the ring. Well, she showed GREAT although she didn’t get a placement, but made the cut in her very large class. I think that Kate’s camera has some nice pictures of them in the ring that I’ll get posted once she sends to me.

Thursday was class dogs. I overslept and hence didn’t get Nash down to Cheryl in time, whoops! Thankfully, due to the work she put in on him the day before, he still looked pretty good so I just fluffed him and went. I showed him in the very large and competitive Bred-By class, he was pulled out for an extra down-and-back but didn’t get a placement. I had several very nice compliments on him though and was just proud to show him off as “mine”!

Friday was the class bitches. Kate and I went back and forth and finally decided that she would show Friday for Joanna, and I would show June (they were in the same class). Junie again showed pretty well for me, but it was Miss Friday who stole the show by getting 2nd in the class! It was a very large class, I know Joanna is thrilled. Later we had brood bitch and Garrett stepped in (color coordinated, even) to help us with Lizzie, June, and Nash. We swapped around handlers a bit to find who showed best with who, and it was fun but no ribbons. I personally think we should have gotten one as the most color-coordinated group in the ring.

I decided not to show Lizzie in Best of Breed because, as raggedy as she looked at the beginning of the week it only got worse and worse each day. Plus after a whole week of showing dogs, talking dogs, and missing my family, the idea of coming home a day early to relax sounded Pretty Darned Good. I watched some of the boys in BOB and then took off for the hellish drive home.

Which brings me to the last announcement:

Hmmmm...3 poop colored dogs...

That would be Miss Junie B, who has come to stay with me for a little while. Nash is BEYOND thrilled, and it has been one giant frap fest at my house all morning. I can’t know for sure whether she remembers this place or not, but she sure has moved in like she does, just happy as a clam. She’s been very sweet with Dave and the kids, properly submitted to Brady, and has generally just been bouncing all over the place. I corralled her long enough this morning to take these:

Little too stretched out, but not bad for first tries

Nice face, Junie.

Part of the reason she’s here is to go to “Grandma’s Fat Camp”…the simple fact is that she just has too many things she can get into at Kate’s house, like chicken feed, goose poop, etc etc.  She’s very resourceful when it comes to food and will pretty much eat until stuffed…while she’s here it will be harder for her to find things to eat beyond her dinner bowl.  She looks better now and I know Kate took a couple pounds off of her before she got to the Nationals, but she probably still needs to drop 2-3 pounds.  I also have her entered in a show in Tennessee in a few weeks that I’m hopeful might pull majors, and either way it has some very good judges.