Snow Breeze

We ended up with about six inches of snow at my house today.  When I finally pushed the patio gate open to let the dogs out in the big yard, Breeze took off.   Then she discovered one of her buried basketballs -- much to her delight!   (I have no idea where the background noise is coming from in the video.  It sounds like my teeth are chattering, or there's a woodpecker on my shoulder.  Hmmmm!)

We braved the weather this past Saturday & Sunday to make our conformation "debut" at the Puyallup Dog Shows.   When we first arrived Friday afternoon to set up and walk around, she was a bit taken aback by the vendors' dogs in x-pens misbehaving and acting aggressively towards her.  But she recovered quickly and was thrilled to meet a young boy who reminded her of Spencer!

The grooming area was hectic, as usual, but she took it all in stride.  Although she didn't do anything beyond blue ribbons, I was thrilled with how she showed.  She was up and happy and playful outside the ring, but inside she settled down, gaited, stacked and held still for the judges.  At the end of the down & back she was happy to bait off and schmooze the judges, both of whom commented on how "happy" she was.   When a puppy starts its conformation career, all I ask for is happy and relaxed. 

Going into the show building one day, a clueless and obviously non-dog person opened the door, stepped out and immediately pointed her umbrella at Breeze and popped it in her face -- about 3 feet away.  Just like a puppy temperament test!   Breeze growled and jumped backwards, then immediately recovered as I chastised the woman for popping an umbrella in a dog's face!

The one day I was able to show Tory in obedience he delighted me with a 197.5 to win Novice B and a 197+ (we won a run-off at 5 pm after arriving at 6 am) in Beginner Novice B.   Here's Tory, pictured above, before the snow got deep.  In his opinion, it's never too cold or too snowy or too anything to play Frisbee!

While I was at the dog show with the big Belgians, Journey (my 14.5 yr old Schipperke) had a vacation at Auntie Alda's house.  Here he is curled up on the bed with Anka Cat, Alda's kitten who "adopted" Journey and really enjoyed having a small dog around the house.  (As opposed to Alda's two Belgian Sheepdogs.)