OK, more brags and not about puppies

So, the weekend of Oct. 27, 2012 we went to Ridgefield, WA to dog shows down there.  Saturday was OUR day!  I took Zinger and entered her as a champion because she had finished her championship.  That day she took Best of Breed and there were nine specials that day, meaning nine champions competing.  That was a very nice win.  She then went on to win a Group 3, and she was handled by Caleb Campbell, a junior handler.  Pretty nice win.
Ono took the boy points and that was a major win, and that finished his championship.  Pip won the girl points and then was proclaimed Best of Winners so she also got the boy major.  A major means that the dog has beaten a pre-set number of other dogs.  AKC doesn't want a dog to just beat one other dog fifteen times; they must beat a number of other dogs to be considered good enough to become a champion.
Elwha Border Terriers did well that day.  We didn't do as well the next day, but we did well.

Zinger winning Best of Breed  She is a very nice little girl and I am excited about her.  She is doing fantastically at Nosework too, she, Betty and Bonnie.

Pip, sideways, getting her first major.  I don't know how to rotate this picture, even though I tried. (Don't look at the doofy breeder in the picture!!)

Zinger's Group 3.  She looks mighty nice there with Caleb, doesn't she?!!!

I don't know if I ever added Zinger's Group 2 that she got.  This was even better as she was not yet a champion, but took the breed over champion and went on to get a Group 2, even better than the Group 3.  Like I said, nice girl.  Sweet girl.

That was at the nearby dog show in Sequim at the end of July.  Zinger turns two years old tomorrow.  Sorry about the rotation here too.

Finally found Ono's win picture.  Is your neck stiff yet?  Sorry.

On a very sad note, Zinger's brother, Norman, who took Select Dog at this year's National Specialty and Winners Dog at last year's National Specialty under a British judge, was lost from his backyard on Oct. 30th.  My heart is broken as well as Star Ott's and Joni Gibson's hearts, besides all the people who wanted to use him as a stud.  I have learned at least one thing from this tradegy, and that is to have TWO fences around my dogs, so that someone would have to stupidly leave open TWO gates when leaving a yard and maybe that would keep them from leaving any gates open allowing my dogs to escape.  I have boarded up my gates so that this doesn't happen to one of the ones at my house!!!  I will take those boards down when I get the inside perimeter fence up.  What we do to protect our loving companions!!!!  It will keep me from having a broken heart again, hopefully.

Enough.  The Sad Curmudgeon, and The Proud Curmudgeon.

How boring can I be? Or, can I put you to sleep while I brag?

I was in Hawaii for two weeks moving the contents of my house back into the house after the inside was painted.  I also was buying a few more things it needed.  It will become a vacation rental, starting today!  I get to "rent" it myself when I want to see Frank, Michelle and the boys and all the other sweet people there who mean so much to me.  Kathleen threatens to move there to be near her brother, so I am happy I could find a little fixer upper!  ANYWAY, back to dogs!
I arrived in the Seattle airport from Hawaii on Oct. 18th at about 10:00 PM and drove home, arriving about 0130 on the 19th.  I worked on that Friday, and Saturday the 20th, the dogs and I went to Whidbey Island.  I had signed Pip up for a MOCK Nosework 2 trial, despite not having practiced for the two weeks I was in Hawaii.  I will tell you that Pip has not yet done much in the Nosework world besides passing her ORT for birch.  ORT stands for Odor Recognition Test and tells the governing body that the dog can at least recognize and tell the handler that they recognize an odor.  Then, when that is passed, the team can enter a test.  We passed the ORT, but have not had a test to enter since we passed the ORT.  Note the "we."  I should have said "she."  Pip is a "sniffaholic," for sure.  She LOVES this game.  I love to watch her play the game and am as delighted as I can be at how much fun she is having.
So, our instructor told the judge that Pip had never practiced "containers," which means Pip telling me where the scents are in spite of there being distractants planted inside some of the containers to stymy some of the dogs.  The judge told her she'd tell me where the distracting things were and Pip could practice finding the birch and anise smells since she has practiced both.  We had only just started on anise a week or so before I left.  The distractants were things like bacon grease, cinnamon rolls, bison treats, etc.  That is what the judges told us afterwards anyway.
When we went into the gymnasium, I told the judge that I would just like to see what my dog would do, not to tell me anything.  She motored through the gym and told me right where the anise and birch were and we passed!  Then we went outside and passed half of the vehicle search.  I was happy, but happier yet at lunchtime when they announced the best dogs and Pip came in fourth for the morning!  I cried I was so flabbergasted and pleased.  This novice dog with her love of sniffing and playing the game made her mom proud, proud, proud!

No pics of Pip hunting, but some of the house in Hawaii!

The front porch, a room in itself!

Backyard, looking toward Maui which we see in the AMs before the clouds roll in.

Some of my sweet, favorite people in my living room.

The banana patch Frank and I planted a year ago.  It is forming its first bananas right now!

Another view toward Maui, in the afternoon!

For the afternoon we did average, meaning she did not find the scents outside where the bunnies distracted her.  Another story for another day!  She did great on the inside finds and the judge even gave us a "pronounced" designation, which means that she thought we were a great TEAM.  I was pretty pleased with that too!
So, I just got to bore you.  Now you know what makes me cry, besides the fact that Zinger's brother, Norman, Select Dog at this year's National Specialty, is lost.  Someone left a gate open Oct. 30th, where he lived in Temecula, CA.  I'm sick.
What I REALLY want to tell you in this blog is to go out and do Nosework with your dogs!  They LOVE it and have a blast doing it!  Old dogs, deaf dogs, sick dogs.  All can do it and have FUN!