A long overdue update...

I havent posted in awhile, mainly due to things being so hectic with Brian gone....

So here goes....

I started Pyro in a Rally Obedience class with one of the local trainers (and also a RO Judge in AKC and UKC...so hopefully we will be off to a good start!) and hes doing well. It was a struggle at first, switching his brain from "Show Dog" to "Smart Dog"...but hes catching on and remembering things quickly, which is awesome. Hes so smart, he amazes me. My biggest challenge is going to be keeping him interested, as he gets bored soooo quickly! I'll try to post updates as we progress through the class and beyond. In AKC, Pyro is sitting on 7 points with 1 major. Again, he gets increadibly bored in the show ring, and I'm hoping our little excursion into obedience might help his focus a little. We are going to try a UKC show this weekend, and see how we like it. I've never done UKC, so it should prove interesting!!

Louie is sitting on 9 AKC points, with both majors. He is a great little boy, loving and sweet, and actually really enjoys showing (I think he just likes the running and getting fed parts, but oh well :) ) So I've been looking for a home for him with a Junior where those talents can be fine tuned and used for good instead of just laying on the couch all the time at my house :) A home has been found, and in late 2009/early 2010, watch for Louie in the Mid-West with his new owner and Junior handler. In the mean time, Louie is going down to New Mexico for the Sporting Dog Specialties down there, and is entered in sweeps and breed. I'm hoping for a good showing and hopefully a few more singles (FINGERS CROSSED!!!! lol) to add to his collection before he leaves here. As it is, I'm looking forward to leaving Colorado (where it is presently snowing - or at least trying to!) and heading towards the desert and warmer temps!! After NM, he is entered in 1 day of the Pueblo, CO shows, and I think that will be the end of his show career at Grandiose, as he heads off to his new home at the end of November.

In late August/early September timeframe, I lucked into 2 fantastic pet homes, and was able to thin down the "herd" a little bit. Tony is now living the spoiled rotten life he loves in Northern Colorado, being the center of attention and only dog in his new family. Prada is also living a spoiled rotten life in New Mexico, where she is also the only dog in her new family, and enjoying it quite a bit. She is definatly developing her "Pointer Princess" personality!!

On October 1st, our long time resident Princess, Maui, turned 7. A milestone age in the dog show world, she is now eligible for the Veterans classes. Sad, but at the same time, exciting. She absolutly loves to show (a trait that has made her a wonderful Juniors dog!) and I cant wait to take her back out in the Veterans classes! Her first appearance as an "Old Lady" will be at the Pueblo, CO shows in November.

Broker is simply just hanging out. A few offers for pet homes for him have fallen though, and I believe fate intends him to stay with us. Hes a doll, and once I get Pyro out of the beginner levels in Obedience/Rally, I'm going to start taking him to class and maybe by making him think, he will grow a brain ;) In the mean time, hes just hanging out, slowly beginning to learn manners and basic commands, and being a crazy fuzzy dog. I really do enjoy him, as hes a sweetheart and loves to cuddle, and who can resist his face???

Annnnndddddd....Stacey and Rodger bred Miss L again (L is Louie and Pradas dam) and she produced 8 puppies, 4 males (3 Lemon, 1 Orange) and 4 females (2 Lemon, 2 Orange). I'm quite excited to be able to go evaluate the litter at 8 weeks.....more info and pictures can be found on my website.

Thats all for now....hopefully more later, hopefully a lot more after this weekend!!

OFA Results!!!

Got the results back from the OFA for Gibbs and Tony!! Both OFA Hips "GOOD" and Elbows "NORMAL"!! YAY!! So Excited!!

Another Great Show!

Last weekend was the Buckhorn Valley Kennel Club shows...I just love this show. They have an awesome site, ample room, plenty of parking, and A/C!! LOL. It was HOT outside this weekend!!
Sooooo...started out the weekend with Pyro taking 2nd in his class. The dog that won the class ended up going WD for his first two points, so not that bad to go second I guess. Gibbs took WD/BOB, and Louie was Best Puppy. I left Prada at home this weekend because shes doing the weird "I'm trying to come in season, but not really." thing, and the boys are going NUTS over her...so I thought it best to just leave her at home. So going BOB left Gibbs with 7 points, no majors. Louie is still sitting on 7 points, both majors! Ugh. Broker...was funny. He decided he didnt like the mats, and didnt want to move on them. He CRAWLED around the ring...like gaiting in slow motion. HILARIOUS! All I could do was laugh. He ended up going Reserve, and Best Puppy. He behaved much better for Melissa in the Puppy Groups! Speaking of Puppy Groups, they were soooo fun!! I handled Louie...that boy can MOVE! Hes all leg right now too....but, at least I know his front will straighten out, he proved it to me in that Group ring...hes just young and loose. Melissa took Broker in for me, he moved a little better for her...decided he *really* had to pee at the very end...yeah. Puppies. So much fun!! lol. Melissa went Best Junior on Saturday, which was exciting as always. Photos of her and Maui in Juniors can be found here: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4871328
Photos of Gibbs in the Group ring: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orderpage.aspx?pi=0JMI00C0080035&po=35

Sunday was fun as well :) Juniors and Dobermans were not only at the same time, the rings were right next door to each other. Maui decided she didnt want to listen very well to Melissa, but they still ended up going second in thier class. In Dobermans, I couldnt disappear, because Pyro won the 12-18 class! YAY! He was being a butthead on his down and back, and just wanted to be a goofy puppy. But oh can that boy stack! OMG...just standing there with him and knowing how gorgeous and intense and powerful he looks gives me goosebumps! He was ON as well. Made me happy. We walked into Winners...went around, stacked. The judge pulled us out and had us do the down and back again....and again, Pyro was a butthead. Started over, and he behaved. Went back to our spot, Judge had another dog do a down and back...and she pointed to Pyro for Winners Dog. YAY! Too bad the major had broke in the classes by 1 dog!!! UGH!! Oh well, there were 2 male Specials, we would just have to beat them! Bitches took seemingly forever, finally time for BOB. 5 Specials, plus WD and WB. Of course, the bitch that Cyndi had in front of me (I think shes #5 or #6 Dobe right now, not sure) was in season, so I spent the entire time in the ring with Pyro facing backwards, with liver shoved in his nose so he hopefully wouldnt smell her too much! WB needed BOW to finish (Dogs were 2 points, Bitches were 1 point...she needed 2 to finish!) and I needed BOS for the major! After all the Specials were examined, we were all stacked up waiting for the judge to make her decisions.......she walked past her entire line of Specials and straight over to Pyro. (At this point, my heart was in my stomach and all I could think was "Dont screw this up!") She stared at him for a bit....looked back up her line, and moved Cyndis bitch up to the front, WB behind her, and Pyro behind the WB. Go around again, BOB, BOW, and BOS. YAY!!! Pyro got his major!!! And the WB finished! So exciting! During pictures, the judge took the time to tell me how much she loved Pyro, and that the second he walked into the ring, she knew he was her winner, and that someone would have to work very hard to have beat him. I'm glad other people love my gorgeous redhead as well :) On to Setters, where Broker actually MOVED around the ring this time!! Still ended up going Reserve. Oh well....he needs to grow up...A LOT! lol. Pointers were next, with Gibbs repeating the same as Saturday, only adding Best Bred By to his group of ribbons. Hung out the rest of the day and chilled. Took a run up the road to Panera for lunch (soooo much better than expensive dog show food!!) and stuck around for Groups. Gibbs showed well in the Sporting group (pictures here on pages 1 and 4: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=4877886&g=0JMI00C104) and in the Bred-By Groups. His BOB win puts him at 8 points, no majors. Pyro is now sitting on 7 points, 1 major.
Our next shows are in Eagle next weekend...singles in Dobes, singles in Pointer bitches...wish us luck!!

What A Feeling...

When everything in your body just sinks. Its horrible. Its hard waking up in the morning knowing its the last time you'll get to wake up next to him for a year. Its hard making breakfast knowing its the last you'll eat together for a year. Its hard to smile and try to have fun knowing its the last few hours before the last car ride together. Its hard sitting at a table talking and laughing with Soldiers in uniform when you know that in mere hours they will be on a plane to Afghanistan. Its harder to watch the final formation before families have to leave and the Soldiers draw weapons. Its harder yet to know its the last hug, the last kiss, and the final goodbye. Putting the key in the ignition and the car in drive have never been harder to do, and never has the drive off post been so long, or the desire to just turn back around been harder to resist. The tears dont stop. Its hard to be strong, but easier to break down in the car instead of in front of everyone. The drive home is long, traffic isnt noticed. Music turned up just to drown out the thoughts. Home to the couch and the dogs, thankful there are no kids to try to explain this to. Heart sinking more and more as the hours pass by in silence. A few texts, "We are on the buses" "We are on the plane" "I love you, goodbye". A quick call to make sure all is well on both ends. Plane leaves, another group of Soldiers off to war.

Good luck, keep safe. Please come home, all of you.

704BSB - especially HHC, most importantly the Security Platoon- you are all in my thoughts and prayers daily.

Flatirons KC Shows

....were interesting.
Pyro went Reserve to the major on Saturday, which was exciting and disappointing at the same time. Would have been much nicer to just win the darn thing! He got completly dumped in his class on Sunday. Prada got dumped on Saturday despite turning in a beautiful performance for me...oh well...the judge either hated her front or hated her lack of pigment. Gibbs went WD/BOW for point #5. Sunday, Gibbs again went WD for point #6 (although the judge marked the book wrong, and I need to call and get it fixed) and Prada, handled by Brian, went WB/BOW for point #8 for her. I just may get them all finished this year! LOL. Just need two majors for Gibbs and one on Prada!!
We are done with shows now until the end of June...plenty of time for maturity between then and now! lol.
Broker will debut at the next shows...and then of course, Gibbs, Louie, Prada, and Pyro as well.

Ugh...What a LONG Weekend!!

You know how some weekends just seem to never end? Yeah, we had one of those this last Memorial day weekend!! I mean it wasnt ALL bad, just mostly bad. LOL.
I had entered the WY shows Saturday thru Monday (had to work Friday). The Saturday show is up in Casper, which is about 5.5 hours from home for us. Onofrio gave Pointers an 8 am ring time (which really sucked since I had the only 3 and staying for Groups would mean a LONNNNG day with a LONNNNGGG drive home!!) We woke up at 1 am to get ready to leave and I was in screaming pain, so decided against even getting out of bed. It ended up being a pretty decent day, we went out for breakfast, it rained all day, and we spent most of the day playing videogames and just having fun :) The puppies were upset they couldnt go play in the mud, but otherwise it wasnt too bad.
Sunday and Mondays shows were in Laramie, which is about 3.5 miles from our house. I should have known when we loaded the van and plugged the address into the GPS (both of them, the portable and the vans GPS) and neither could find the address, that it was going to be a bad day! Mapquest "found" the address on my phone, and off we went, following those directions. We had left the house with 2 extra hours of "buffer time". We hit HEAVY fog right around the WY/CO border. That took an hour off our buffer time having to slow down in the fog. Once the fog lifted, and we were finally in the "right" area (according to mapquest!) we realized that we were just heading out into the middle of NOWHERE! After about 30 miles and fewer and fewer buildings, I finally was able to reach someone on the phone who could tell me where to go!! We pulled into the parking lot of the show grounds with 15 minutes until ringtime. We pulled the puppies out of their crate, and they were both covered in poo! (and they had both gone before we left! ugh!)Oddly enough, they had covered it up at some point, and we had never even smelled it in the van!! Thank goodness for wet wipes!! We got the puppies cleaned up the best we could, and over to the ring (bouncing and spinning and playing and having a ball the whole way!) with just a minute to spare! The worst thing ever is to take a puppy out of a crate they have been in for a few hours, and walk into a show ring with them!! They were HORRIBLE! So horrible, in fact, that the Judge handed me Pradas ribbons and said "I'm going to tell you now that I'm not going to give her BOW." LOL...cant really blame him!! Gibbs went WD/BOW/BOB for another point. He was such a good boy :) We hung around for Melissa to show Maui in Juniors, and they made up for the Puppies being so bad by winning thier class! So it wasnt a bad show, just stressful to get to! lol. The drive home was GORGEOUS, although long. Still raining in Colorado Springs when we got home. I just put all the dogs out and let them get good and muddy. I also re-bathed 4 dogs before bed :)
We left the next morning EARLY...we had afternoon ring times, but there is NO WAY I was having a repeat of yesterdays fiasco! We got to the show without incident, and spent most of the day walking the puppies around and having fun browsing the vendors. Ring time finally rolled around, and we took the Pointers over. Louie was still acting crazy...but hey, hes 9 months old and wanted to play, so cant blame him. Prada was being a twit and wanting to RUN.........But my Gibbsie boy was an angel :) LOL. Another WD/BOW/BOB for him, and another point. Brings him up to 4 total now. 5 more singles and he will just be hunting majors. Another gorgeous drive home to more rain in the Springs (well, it was raining in WY too, and most of Colorado, but with the dirt in the backyard, rain in the Springs SUCKS!!). All the dogs loved it though. Oh, Melissa and Maui got thier 6th class win in Juniors. They are currently #2 Pointer Junior team in the US.

It was nice to get home. We re-arranged the dogs and put the crates downstairs, so they arent stacked anymore. Poor Tony keeps jumping up on top of Pyros crate and getting really confused that his crate isnt there!! LOL. Hes my acrobat though...he walks on the rail on the back porch...can almost jump up on it from a dead stand but prefers to use the chairs to climb up. He started doing it because we close the curtains on the patio door to keep them from jumping up on it, so he can peek in the dining room window if he is on the rail. Silly, smart boy!

Brian leaves in less than 2 weeks. (I'm about to cry thinking about it) Another dog show this weekend. Majors in Dobes. I have the only class Pointers entered. Large Juniors entries, so I'm hopefull that Melissa and Maui will SHINE like always and do well :) But its MUCH closer to home than the last shows! We arent really doing anything after that until the end of June because Brian is deploying the weekend of the Colorado Springs shows, and there isnt anything local until the end of June. Besides, all my money will be going to health testing in June! LOL.

Reality....

Has a funny way of hitting home. Mine came in the form of the Advon Party leaving this morning for Afghanistan. Its real now. It hit me at about 4 am when Brian came home from driving the bus of Troops to the Airport. I couldnt sleep the rest of the morning. From what we now know....deployment is about 3 weeks away. Part of me cant wait because I HATE the build up to deployment, but part of me is heartbroken over facing another year in agony never really knowing whats going on or if hes ok. The dogs help. Keeping busy helps. I have a LOT to do around the house while he is gone, and hopefully that will help keep me occupied so the time will pass quickly.