Hickory NC Show Weekend!

October 10, 2012

As many of you know, I’ve been planning to make a trip out to North Carolina this month for the United Poodle Breeds Association specialty show, being held in Hickory NC.  My good friends Gloria and her daughter Kelsey live in NC and asked me to try to attend.  It just so happened that my wonderful Mother could watch the kids and I didn’t have any puppies or rescues to care for, making it as good a time as I was likely to have for the next few years.

After driving up to Arkansas to drop the kids off with my mom, I made the two day drive out to Hickory.  The weather was warm, but not hot and the fall colors were just starting to arrive.  I hit the Smokey Mountains early on Friday, the 5th.  My hopes of taking some nice fall foliage photos were dashed with the combination of heavy fog during the trip in, then steady rain on my trip back to Arkansas.

Upon settling Jazz and Mocha in their crates at the show, I was put to work setting up the obedience mats and ring gates for the American Hairless Terrier club, who was hosting a 3 day show in conjunction with our specialty.  I think this was about 10AM on Friday.  By Noon I was brushing the girls and taking a few candid photos of the ribbons and a handling class being given at the poodle specialty.  I’ll be sending a few of the best photos to UPBA to use in the newsletter.   Somehow I completely missed taking some shots of the Raffle table, which was covered with many wonderful items.   I also didn’t take a single nice photo my own dogs the entire weekend.  Only my phone camera which is hardly passable in low light.  Next time I do this I have to remember to include my own dogs!  I will say it was great putting real faces to names and meeting new poodle fanciers.  Everyone was warm and welcoming to this Texas gal.

Thanks to Gloria’s careful planning and calm, cool, collected nature, the show went off without a hitch.  Nothing phases her and she always remembers the end goal, to have a good time.  Thank you Gloria and everyone else who helped make this specialty a hit.

Now for the exciting stuff.  Show results!

There were a total of 6 conformation shows.  One specialty, 5 All breed shows.

JAZZ:  UKC CH Tintlet Rhapsody in Blue earned 2 Grand Champion passes by winning the Champion class at two shows, one of which was the specialty.  She needs a total of 5 passes to earn the title.  She also has a new Rally 1 Title with 1 first place (score 96) and two second places (score 96 and 91).  Jazz is co-owned by her breeder Gloria Ogdahl.

ZIVA: Tintlet Livin So Divine ( Ziva) earned her last win on Friday night to gain her Championship, then went on to win the Champion Class 3 times, 2 Best of Breed, one Group 2. Ziva is c-owned with her breeder, Kelsey Wolf and lives full time with Kelsey.

Mocha got one reserve (second), but I could not handle her and Jazz in the same class.  She wasn’t really interested in showing for anyone but me.  Jazz’s sister won the Champion class once as well, so we did spread the wins a little.

 

LEVI: UWP GrCH Sisco’s I Like It Like That came out of retirement to show this weekend. We loaned him to a new Jr Handler. These were Cheyenne’s first shows and she came away with 3 Altered BEST in shows, plus 3 Best Jr Handler!!! Levi also did one weight pull and earned 5 points towards his next title.  Levi is 8 now and spends most of his time warming the couch and beds at Gloria’s house.

The shows had both terrier races and weight pull.  I did give Mocha a try at weight pull but she felt the weight behind her and did what any good ‘tether trained’ dog would do.  She prompted laid down and held a nice stay. :)  I put the leash on her and walked her down, letting her pull the weight and she was starting to grasp the concept.  It was great to see what weight pull was all about.

Six days on the road for 3 fun days of shows.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely!

~Becky

Posted inOur Dogs
BACK TO TOP CONTACT ME EMAIL POST TO FRIEND
add a comment
link to this post

Libby Update

September 30, 2012

Sue in MN sent me some new photos of Libby, the girl we co-own from the Zelda and River litter January 2012.  I think she is maturing into a lovely little lady!

We are in the process of getting Libby registered with UKC.  Hopefully she will hit the conformation show ring soon.  She is also training to do Therapy and Rally.  She has a lot of potential, and I believe Sue will harness it!

~Becky

Posted inOur Dogs
BACK TO TOP CONTACT ME EMAIL POST TO FRIEND
add a comment
link to this post
Elizabeth Penning - September 30, 2012 - 9:25 pm

Hey Becky, can you put Sue in touch with me? I think I’d like to meet them both!

Courtney - October 1, 2012 - 5:20 pm

She’s beautiful! She’s a nice mix of River and Zelda. I see a little bit of both of them in her. She’s groomed beautifully too, Sue! :)

Sue - October 2, 2012 - 8:52 am

Thanks Courtney! She is so much fun.

Jazz is officially a UKC CH

September 28, 2012

I thought I calculated up her points and wins correctly, but you can never know for sure until the certificate arrives.

Now I can enter her in the Champion class at the UPBA annual show in Hickory, NC next week!!

Jazz would like you to know that the only things that really matter are her toys and her couch. Just keeping it real.

~Becky

Posted inUncategorized
BACK TO TOP CONTACT ME EMAIL POST TO FRIEND
add a comment
link to this post
Summer - September 29, 2012 - 12:48 am

Jazz, you’re so right. Ultimately, a good toy and a good couch are way better. (But a big fat congratulations anyway, girlfriend.)

Breeders who give us all a bad name.

September 23, 2012

Last week, a breeder of Standard Poodles in WA state was raided and 29 dogs were placed with a shelter while the investigation is completed.  I did not know the owner of the Poodles, but I had seen her post from time to time on several poodle list I am on.  She talked the talk, but obviously wasn’t able to walk the walk.

Read the story HERE with photos

Facebook page for the shelter can be found HERE if you can donate time, funds, or help with eventual transport.

How do you keep from supporting people who breed dogs in such a manner?  How do you know you are dealing with a good breeder who thinks first of the dogs, anything else is a far far second?  The number one thing is to visit the breeder and see exactly how their dogs are kept.  If a breeder does not allow visits for ANY reason, walk away.  If you are to far to visit, speak to 2-3 people who have visited in the last year.  The old “The pups are to young, you can’t visit until they are older” saying is weak in this day and age, but almost understandable if the breeder has many dogs.  As long as the breeder allows you to visit at some point and you get to visit with both pups and adults.  I encourage visits anytime, even with infant pups.  However, I don’t have a kennel, I keep my pups in my house, and I ask that you wash your hands with hand sanitizer and take off your shoes prior to holding infant babies.  My husband is a physician, I understand the spread of germs / viruses.  I do not fear them.

It is extremely easy for a breeder of Standard Poodles to end up over their head, due to the grooming and socialization requirements of this breed.  They are not a breed who can be tossed outside and left.  They must be washed, brushed, shaved, and socialized to be happy members of our society.  Please, do not support breeders who neglect these poor innocent souls.   Research, visit, talk to others who have bought a dog from the breeder in the recent past.  Just because someone bought a dog from me 10 years ago and it was properly socialized and groomed, doesn’t mean I am still currently doing the same thing.

Sadly, I do not believe this is an isolated case.  Far to many breeders start out with the right goal in mind and slide down a slippery slope and lose sight of the most important thing.  The dogs.

I’ll leave you with a slideshow of our weekend to show how a Poodle deserves to be treated, even if they do live with a “Breeder”.  It was Jazz and Mocha’s first camping / hiking trip and let me tell you they had a BLAST!!  Flash is an old camping veteran, but he has issues with ‘critters’ and can’t be trusted off leash in the woods.

If you don’t already know, I foster or co-own almost all my breeding dogs with other people across the USA.  I do this so that each and every dog has an opportunity to have a life like my Jazz, Mocha, and Flash enjoy.  If I had every dog I ‘own’ living with me I would not have time for my kids, I would not have the ability to go camping, my life would either revolve around the dogs OR the dogs would suffer.  Please think about fostering a breeding dog for a quality breeder.  Give breeders another option to continue their line and their program.   Read about my breeding program with the foster program details HERE.  I am planning two litters next year with no firm foster homes lined up.  Those litters might not happen without good foster homes ready to take pups.  If you think your home might be right for this program, please contact me and I will explain in more detail and have you speak to one or more of my foster families to see how everything works. Fostering is not for everyone, but it isn’t difficult and can be both exciting and rewarding.

~Becky

Posted inUncategorized
BACK TO TOP CONTACT ME EMAIL POST TO FRIEND
add a comment
link to this post
Summer - September 23, 2012 - 11:22 pm

Guh. That’s heartbreaking. :(

Becky - September 24, 2012 - 12:04 am

I agree, Summer. People need to be aware that just because a breeder says all the right things and has a nice website with pretty photos doesn’t mean that is how things really are. This is why I love my blog. You can see the daily life of my dogs, know what we are doing and why we do it. I only have 3 dogs living with me because I start to feel overwhelmed training and grooming much more than that. I only have 1-2 litters a year because I suffer from serious ‘puppy burnout’ from the time I put into those little cutie pies. I can’t begin to grasp the time it would take to properly care for 29 Std Poodles.

Sharon - September 24, 2012 - 2:02 am

So tragic!!! Thanks for posting this info.

Jennifer B - September 26, 2012 - 12:06 pm

I saw this on facebook… its so disgusting. I don’t understand how anyone could force such wonderful dogs to live in such horrid conditions. It saddens me.

A day at the park

September 19, 2012

Yesterday was ‘blah’.  Between the start of a cold and Merlot’s birthday, a touch of ‘poor me’ set in.  Today I decided to count my blessings.  Even though I don’t have Merlot, I do have a few wonderful Poodles to keep me company and two amazing kids.  Here is a short video from our time at the park this morning.  It was Flash’s day.  I take a different dog every day we go out when the weather is nice, and this morning I wanted to jog while the kids road their bikes.  Flash is an excellent jogging partner.

There are few dogs in this world who can compare to Flash.  He is mentally stable and steady in all situations.  He is eager to please and quick to learn.  He is trusting of my judgement.  His health is amazing.  He is naturally protective of our home and my kids.  He is joy incarnate, there is no happier dog.  When someone thinks to themselves “I want a great family dog” in my mind they are saying “I want a dog like Flash”.

Poor Jazz.  The end of the video was suppose to say “Jazz isn’t the ONLY great dog around here”.  Oh well.

~Becky

Posted inOur Dogs
BACK TO TOP CONTACT ME EMAIL POST TO FRIEND
add a comment
link to this post
Courtney - September 19, 2012 - 4:11 pm

He is a very cool dog!