Archive for category puppies
Happy 4th of July!
We’ve had a good weekend here so far! Went to the local farmer’s market yesterday and finally got to talk to a wonderful local source of beef and chicken. We’ve been trying to eat “more local”, and while we thankfully have an Earth Fare market here now that carries “local” chicken (by local they seem to mean a 3 state area), I’d rather support truly local small farmers. So we have a 1/8 of a side of beef headed our way this fall, yay! Guess I’d better clean out the outside freezer LOL. I also bought some truly delicious cinnamon raisin bread, homemade pickles, heirloom tomatoes & potatoes, and summer squash. Yum! Still waiting for peaches to come into season here, that’s my favorite!
Also had some wonderful news from puppy owners…June was in MS with her owner Leslie, and was BOS 3 days in a row to pick up 3 more points! That puts her at 12 with her majors, and Leslie is under strict orders not to finish her before the Western Reserve specialty in August. 
Also, sister Echo hit the show rings for the very first time with her co-owner Emily Fish…and was WB both days she showed, picking up 2 single points! That makes the FIFTH puppy to be pointed from the litter. EDIT: I also saw that Vegas was in the ring this weekend too and picked up another point, putting him at 7!
Speaking of puppies, Miss Lizzie is in season now, and we have pretty much finalized our plans to breed her again. She will be bred on her NEXT season, which should be in December or early January. You can see more details on our Puppy Page if you’re interested.
I think she’s getting along OK there…
June & Leslie
Happy Birthday, Charm babies!!!
Today the Charm babies turn 1! I can hardly believe it’s been a year since they arrived…it’s been interesting! A huge learning experience for me in many ways, and a lot of fun too. I love hearing reports on each of the kids from time to time and watching them grow up.
Speaking of my own charming Plizzard kid, Nash is such a silly and goofy guy. He finally grew out of most of the “baddog” phase and is just a lot of fun! He is, in many ways, exactly what I was hoping to get out of this litter….fun-loving, sweet, gets along with everyone, pretty, structurally nice, and brindle! He’s easy to train and very agile, so after we’re done with the Ch thing I have high hopes for him in agility. Oh speaking of conformation, I’m quite proud of the other show pups from the litter….4 of them are now major pointed! June leads the way with 9 points and both majors, Vegas and Lucy both have 6 points and a major, and Nash has a 4 point major. Not bad for a group of puppies that, overall, are taking their sweet time growing up. LOL!
So happy birthday, babies! I couldn’t be prouder of all of you.
Echo
It’s been a while since I’ve updated about Echo! Dixie decided that Echo needed to get away from her sister for a while and see the world, so she went to live with Emily Fish for a bit. Now that Emily has puppies coming out of her ears, Echo is with Mandy! She’s a very sweet girl who bonded closely with Emily’s young son Evan…news that doesn’t surprise me in the least. But while she’s on vacation with gramma Mandy, they snapped a few pictures of her this weekend while at the puppy party.
Echo always has been, and will continue to be for a while, one that needs to grow up. I’m quite pleased with how she’s looking right now though…not quite as gangly, and reports are that her movement is coming together very nicely. It may take her a while to get there, but I think when she is mature that she’s going to be one striking Cardi girl.
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June goes home
After a long week or so with talking with various people who were interested in June, many of which would have made GREAT places for her to go…. she’s going to be staying very close to home. My good friend Leslie Reed of Keel Mtn corgis dabbled in Cardigans a few years ago with her happy red girl “Candy” from Kathy Davis. Unfortunately, Candy didn’t turn out to be a show superstar, so eventually she found a great pet home and retired. Ever since then, Leslie has really NEEDED a tail in her life. Remarkably, she managed to resist getting a puppy when they were born, despite helping me whelp the litter and coming over several times to snuggle puppies LOL. But June coming back home proved to be too much for her to resist.
For myself, I’m thrilled about this because she gets to stay so close! Leslie lives about 15 minutes from me and I know will take wonderful care of Miss June. And hopefully, she’ll get to have some fun in the show rings with her too. I meant to take a picture today before they left, but I forgot! Hopefully Leslie will post some soon on HER blog, http://keelmtn.com.
Nash misses her already!
A little bittersweet
In talking with Kate in the month since the Nationals, she has decided to focus more on her blue puppies and therefore, the pretty Miss June will not be going back. I guess we can’t convert everyone over to poop-colored dog love. 
This is a mutual decision on the part of Kate and I, and is no knock on Kate OR June. There’s nothing wrong with either of them, but sometimes things don’t work out how you plan.
No, I’m not keeping her, although she can stay here as long as she needs to. I’d love to find another show home who would like to finish her and potentially use her in a breeding program…I think she’s beautiful and sound, and would make a nice addition. But if that doesn’t happen, I will keep her here long enough to finish her and then find a forever pet home for her.
June is sweet, loving, mellow, and happy. She’s not a “superstar” in the show ring, she takes after her mother too much there, but she has been consistent for me even if she’s not super showy. At home she romps with Nash a LOT, but is equally happy to flop on the couch and pant in my face for a while. She plays with everyone, actually, dogs and kidlets alike. She can be a bit pushy physically sometimes with Nash only (because he doesn’t care), but is quick to give me a sheepish wag when I tell her to knock it off. She can be a bit food possessive but not overly so. She’s not barky, and she doesn’t mind being crated (although she will avoid me if she knows she’s going to be LOL). In the past she has sometimes been wary of men but I haven’t seen much of that since she’s been with me…she loves Dave and has been sweet when meeting strangers. I feel that June needs someone she can bond with…she’s a better dog here than she was at Kate’s, honestly, and I think it’s because our personalities mesh better than she and Kate did. She’s not overly biddable…I wouldn’t place her with someone who really wanted to do performance, because she’s not very driven to learn new things.
So if you’re interested in Junie B, drop me a line at jerilamy@gmail.com. Hopefully we can find the perfect place for this sweet girl.
June at 11 months
Dog show report
I just got back from shows in Gray, TN, which by the way is no where near Nashville. Just in case you were going to take the word of Heidi when entering shows. As a matter of fact, it’s very close to the Virginia border, which made it pretty much a 5 hour drive for me instead of a 1.5 – 2 hour drive, and necessitated an overnight stay or two. Ah well, the entry was worth the extra distance, as we had a good judging panel and cardigans pulled the 2nd largest entry of the SHOW. Actually I think that today (Sun) it was the largest. We had 23ish cardis entered, which is amazing for a little teeny show in NE Tennessee. There wasn’t quite a major in dogs, but there was in bitches both days, and several specials.
I took the brainless idiot err, Nash, and the lovely Junie B who is staying with me. She has trimmed down quite a bit, could still probably use 1-2 pounds off but is looking more the right size for her frame. Nash won his bred-by class each day, but Miss June stole the show by winning a 3 and a 4 point major! Her win on Sunday was Best of Opposite Sex, over at least 2 bitch specials, which is what bumped it up to 4 points. !!!!! I sound very relaxed but the truth is that I’m THRILLED that she did so well and was shaking with nerves/excitement in the ring . Especially nice was that today’s judge was a breeder-judge. Yay Junie!
Nationals Pictures
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.
Poop-colored dogs
Nash shows off his gangly teenager body
Junie
"It's on!"
Junie in repose
Nash is a great fetcher (June is too!)
Perhaps a bark at the neighbors?
Junie
So gently "sharing" the toy
June dispenses with the niceities and tackles Nash
June ADORES Charlie.
Nationals report
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.