Too Long

Wow, I can't believe it's been since January that I posted to my blog....me bad. I'm currently working as a Pharmacy Technician, Tyler is out of school as of tomorrow and will be heading to the 4th grade.

I've been showing my dogs now and again. I have a new boy from Sporting Field, his name is Spencer and is a son to the gorgeous Tawny that Amanda has been showing. We just completed a weekend at the Eastern Specialty and Spencer got a lot of nice compliments from fellow breeders and handlers. He placed in his class all three days.

Another addition to Eclipse is Willow, a champion bitch I purchased from Dianne Reimer of Snowcap whippets. She is a super big mover and I also had tons of compliments about her at the Eastern, where she made a deep cut in the Specials ring.

Father's day weekend is another show, and also coming up is the Potomac Hound Show in conjunction with some all breed shows. Hopefully I can get Spencer's championship in short order.

I had no puppies this spring, but do plan on having some pups out of Willow come fall. I think we've chosen a "man" for her, but not 100% yet, so I'll announce that later.

I'll try to keep this blog more updated in the future.

Update 2 at Eclipse

Hi all. This past weekend was the American Whippet Club Eastern Specialty. Tyler and I went with only two dogs, Vanna & puppy Rayne. We didn't do squat all weekend, unlike last year when Vanna won WB, BOW, BOB & Group 3, and Rio was RWD, Best Puppy & puppy Group 4. I guess you really can't have it all...lol.

But I got to see a lot of people and friends that I did see at the National in Atlanta, but with such a big show, didn't get to spend a lot of time with. Friday night we went out to dinner for Amanda's 25th birthday (lord I remember when she was a chubby 5 year old). We had a great time with her new beau Jonathan, Susie & her friend, Barb, Vince & Laura.

Saturday was the Specialty day and we had the thrill of cheering on Amanda & Tawny (Rio's sister) on to Best of Breed and a Group 2. Although it was very exciting, it amazes me to no end how one person will actually talk to a judge and can fix a show so that someone won't win. It's just mindboggeling to me. Anyway, it was exciting just the same.

Saturday night Lesley, Jeannie, Allan, Tyler and I ordered pizza and had it delivered to the Red Roof where we were staying. We sat outside drinking beer, bloody marys and eating pizza.

Sunday was another day that was mindboggeling as to how a judge will do just what you expect them to do, cause of the closeness a person has with that judge. Or that person has that judge in their pocket. Don't know how that works.

Tyler was bored at times until he discovered that Lesley could get U-Tube on her I-Phone, and he watched You-Tube videos of the Family Guy, the Simpsons and who knows what else. I don't know how many times she had to recharge her phone cause Tyler had it constantly.

Today was the last day of school, so Tyler is home now and already driving me crazy with lets do this, lets do that, and so on. We'll go to Dorney Park one day, and we'll go to the Smithsonian sometime, and maybe to the Philadelphia Zoo. We'll keep busy over the summer with stuff I'm sure.

Till next time...

Atlanta - Tuesday 4/7/09

Tuesday proved to be another very cold and windy day here in Atlanta. I showed the Jaycie/Riggins puppy today in the futurity and for a puppy that has never seen a show ring and I was told he did lots of puppy things (leaping, bounding around), he made quite a nice showing. He made the cut in his class and was actually placed 5th out of about 15 puppies. Odeon was a star!!!

Tuesday night was the welcome party, costume contest, and karaoke. There are so many clever people out there making costumes for their dogs. The theme was of course Easter, so we had "whippeeps in a box", a little "lambppet", a "chicken-whippet" and even a Hugh Heffner Playboy whippet. It was great.

Then we had our karaoke. WHAT A BLAST!!! There are a lot of very talented whippet people out there. I was a backup singer for "Tina Turner" and I myself sang All Summer Long by Kid Rock. I had so much fun, I wanted to do it again tonight. Guess I gotta wait till another time.

Atlanta - Monday 4/6

Today we arrived in Atlanta at the Hilton which is just aside the Atlanta airport. We are here for the Whippet National Specialty. There are around 900 Whippets entered and everywhere you look there are whippets. Pretty awesome.

We have a great room, a suite actually, that has windows on two sides of the room. We have a nice view of the airport and can sit here and watch the sunrise. The dogs are comfortable in the room and having a good time. They get to go outside and romp around in the fenced in tennis courts.

Being we have a suite we have the priviledge of going up to the 17th floor to the executive suites to get breakfast, so I'm off to take a shower and then off to get breakfast.

The welcome party is tonight along with karaoke, that should be a riot. I just need to figure out how much I need to drink before I get up and attempt to sing my song...lol. I'll keep you all updated.

Time Flies

Wow, where did the time go!!! I can't believe I haven't posted anything on my blog since October 2008!!! Wow, what's been happening here lately? I'll have to give you a brief overview from then until now.

October: Steeler lands safely in Germany and new owners Joachim & Werner just love him. He was shown a few times in Germany and at his first show he won his class. A few weeks later Steeler, now renamed Stevy was awarded his first CC.

November: Tyler started wrestling with the booster club and a few weeks into practice they have what they call wrestle-offs to determine if you will be on the actual JV or Varsity team or just wrestling exhibition. Well, Tyler won his first match, but lost his next two and I asked him to ask the coach what he would be wrestling. So he went to ask and came back and said, "Coach says I'll be wrestling EXPEDITION". I asked him if he was going on a trip or what...lol.

The middle of November Melissa, Dana, Shelbi, Louise, Gloria and I went to the Philadelphia Kennel Club bench show which was held in Reading this year. We had our bench decorated with bunnies and stuff and we got a nice ribbon for being finalists. I think the human bunnies were what got us into the finals. We met a very nice man from California named Michael, and being he was benched right next to us, we let him join our little circle, offered him some of our beverages and he still kicked our butt in the ring. So much for trying to get the competition drunk. The almighty Vanna won one day and Melissa's Hank won on another day so they both picked up a few more points.

December: Well December is all about Christmas so getting the tree trimmed and the house decorated was in order. Everything was quiet around here for Christmas and New Year, but I didn't get to see the ball drop on New Years Eve cause I was busy watching Tyler shoot his new 20 guage shotgun he got from Santa.

Tyler also liked the Webkinz Santa brought him too.

I guess that's it for now, I'll try to keep things updated better.

Dog Showing in Canada

Well, I've just recently returned from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada where there were 3 all-breed shows, and the National Whippet Specialty. Vanna had a great time strutting her stuff, although the judges didn't find her worthy of any points, I got tons of nice compliments about her. Rio was only shown on Saturday at the National and the Sweeps. He ended up winning Best Opposite Sex in Sweeps, and I was quite proud of him. It was a stormy kind of day (no rain though) with distant thunder and whipping winds that made the caution tape flap and make tons of noise, which Rio absolutely hates. He was actually quite frightened of this all, but still managed to be good enough for this win.

I got to show a Scottish Deerhound puppy who is just gorgeous, but extremely tough to show. I think her handler should get paid double what she actually gets to show. I also showed her beautiful bitch Feather and she too is such a PITA to show. Lesley makes it look so easy when she shows them that everyone thinks its a cinch...lol.

My friend Leila was to stay with me, but she decided to visit friends in Toronto and ended up staying with them for a few nights, so I hung out with my other friends Lesley & Jenny. Jenny lives in Canada, and Lesley lives in NY but was staying at Jenny's house, so I was graciously invited to Jenny's for dinner a few nights. She and her husband have a beautiful home, and her whippets are just as beautiful. We drank enough Bloody Marys, Beer, and Margaritas that my cooler was empty of all alcohol once returning home...lol.

I had tons of fun, and look forward to my next trip to Canada.

Eastern Specialty 2008

The Eastern Whippet Specialty is held every year during the first weekend in June. It was a fantastic weekend for Eclipse and their relatives.

Friday at the Greater Philadelphia KC show, my new puppy Rio was awarded RWD and Best Puppy by judge Roberta Campbell and onto a Hound Group 4. Melissa's boy Hank won BOS in the Specialty Sweepstakes to his sister Feather under breeder/judge Chris Durance-Watkins.

Saturday, the Specialty day judge John Simm awarded Vanna...aka Daydream's Nights In White Satin, Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and BEST OF BREED from the Open class over BIS and Top 20 Winning whippets, then to top it all off she went Hound Group 3. It was a big decision for me to put an 18-1/2 month old bitch in the Open class, but I thought she looked mature enough. Was I ever surprised when judge Simm came over to me in the final lineup of Specials, bent over and said, "you're my Best of Breed". I just about died right then and there. It was a day I will treasure F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!! Thank you judge Simm.

Bucks/Trenton 2008

Highlights of the Bucks & Trenton shows:

Bucks:
- Cold, damp & rainy
- Dogs showed well regardless of weather
- Gloria needing to sleep sideways on bed due to some Feng Shui belief (she called it fung shoo)
- laughed and drank a lot

Trenton:
- nice day starting off with Mimosa's (champagne & orange juice) in the morning
- got Shelbi a little hiccuppy from the Mimosa's (lol)
- Hank went WD and BOS over specials
- Vanna and Steeler both showed well too

Overall a great trip due to spending time with good friends. Looking forward to next year.

Our Latest Dog Show

We traveled to York, PA for the March 15 & 16 shows. I had Vanna and Steeler entered, and was hoping they would behave as Vanna hadn't been at a dog show since January, and Steeler has been out of the ring since September of last year. I am happy to say that Vanna won her class both days and was RWB on Saturday, and Steeler was 2nd on Saturday and 1st in his class on Sunday. They both were very good in the ring and I was very pleased with their performances. I had a lot of nice compliments about my girl Vanna, so I think her fan base is going to be big. I just hope she continues to "behave" like she did at these shows, as she is such a goof ball.

Pictured here is Vanna in the ring, thanks for the picture Peg!!!

I had a great time visiting with old friends, seeing a very nice new litter in the ring that will likely be kicking some butt in the future, making new friends, and just relaxing back in the motorhome, thanks for letting me stay with you Pat.

Our next set of shows will be outdoors on May 3 & 4, Saturday being at the beautiful Tinicum Park in Buck County which is on Route 32 on the Delaware River, and Sunday at Mercer County Park in Trenton, NJ. So if you aren't doing anything, stop in and say hi (you can contact me FMI).

Westminster KC - 2008

I have attended the Westminster Kennel Club every year for the last 15 or so years, missing only the year my son was born. I am a country girl through and through, but I LOVE to go to the Big Apple. Probably cause I don't drive, the train is the way to go. This year my niece Melissa, her friend Dana and my friend Pat came too.

Anyway, Melissa, Dana and I got to the Garden on Monday morning around 8:00 am and drug my luggage up to the 17th floor of the Pennsylvania Hotel. Pat wasn't arriving until around 10:30 am. My friend Debbie, her friend Nikki (and my new friend too), and her handler Reggie were already camped out in the room. We got Debbie's dogs, Aerly and Trent, ready for the walk over to the Garden and headed out. Aerly's ring time was 11:30 am and Trent 12:30 pm. We all found a good place in the stands to sit and watch the action take place in the Border Collie ring. There were 17 BC's entered and we screamed and clapped for the one we liked, which was Debbies of course, and the one standing in the end at the Best of Breed spot was Debbie's boy Aerly along with his handler Reggie. What a great thrill it was to watch a young up and coming dog win the Breed over seasoned winners, and Debbie was teary-eyed and elated to say the least.

There wasn't much time for celebration cause Debbie needed to get Trent ready for his ring time. Melissa, Dana, Pat and I headed up to the stands to watch our beloved Whippets in the ring. Trent has been in semi-retirement and comes out at a few select shows. He was the #1 Whippet in 2004, and he's been taking it easy the last few years. There was a total of 20 Whippets ranging in age from 2 - 7 years entered for judge Lou Guerrero. He narrowed the field down to about 8 whippets, and when he finally chose his winner, he went over took hold of Debbie's hand, pulled her out into the center of the ring and said "thank you, you're Best of Breed". It was chaos and bedlam where we were sitting as our screaming and whistling was immense. We were thrilled to watch the 7 year old Veteran, Trent, being chosen BOB over all the current winning dogs. This time tears came to my eyes. I was so happy for Debbie and Dan and Bruno. It is a dream come true to win the Breed at the Garden, but to have two breed winners the same year was beyond real. The rest of the day was a whirlwind, lunch with friends and talking to other whippet people back at the bench while waiting for the groups that night. Trent did make the cut in the Hound Group, but didn't place, and Aerly was not a very good boy in the Herding Group ring, so he didn't make the cut, but I'm sure we'll see more of Aerly in the next few years winning the breed at the Garden once again.

Tuesday was lots of fun with Pat, everyone else went home. We watched some breeds we knew nothing about, and actually Pat picked a lot of the same winners the judges did, I was impressed. We walked 11 blocks to go to dinner at Carmine's (44th Street between 7th & 8th Ave), had a few drinks, bought a bottle of wine on the snowy walk back to the Hotel Penn, drank some wine and headed over to watch the groups and Best In Show. The Beagle ended up winning Best In Show and is a very nice dog, but I was routing for the Australian Shepherd to win it all.

If you've never been to the Westminster Kennel Club, it is something you must do once in your life. I'm already anxious to go next year, but that is a long way away. But for now, I have these memories, and memories from "Westminster Past", I'll tell you about them sometime.

Watching Aerly Win BOB - PRICELESS
Watching Trent Win BOB - PRICELESS
Just Being at Westminster - PRICELESS

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The Puppy Match

The Saturday night puppy match that I prepped, washed & packed for is over. I never did end up showing Zaria as she was like a lead balloon at the end of the lead and brother Zeke...aka Tyson, actually took 4 or 5 steps in the ring. Things went better with my niece Melissa's boys, although Hank got dumped,he is a growing gawky puppy right now, and this was the first time for him in the ring, and he showed very well. Housemate to Hank is Vader and he won his class.

Sunday was another day, but unfortunately I couldn't be there due to prior commitments. Today Zeke...aka Tyson, acutally went around the ring AND won his class (only he was the only one in it), Melissa's two boys Hank & Vader both won 2nd in their respective classes, and my girl Vanna...aka The Almighty Vanna won her class (only she was the only one in it).

All in all is was a lot of fun, wish I could have been there on Sunday, but it was great to see Kristen, Karen & Pat again who drove up from a race club meeting near Baltimore on Saturday night. Congrats to all the winners and we'll see ya down the road.

Show Preparation

Getting ready for a show is a big deal round these parts. I've baked the liver, done the laundry, got all their walking collars and leashes, put in drinking water for dogs and humans, resupplied the tack box, put crates, expens & chairs in the van, made sure I have their dog coats (cause it's cold outside), bathe dogs, clip nails and made sure the dogs are good and dry (did I mention it was cold outside???), made sure I have something for son Tyler to do, pack snacks & drinks for humans and pack liver in cooler. Hope & pray I have everything I need, and stuff that I probably won't need, but packed it anyway, load up dogs and off we go. And this is only a PUPPY MATCH show!!!!!