Friday, August 28, 2009

Denver Specialty, and the Puppies are Growing!

well, the Denver Bedlington Terrier specialty is over for another year. Like most small clubs, it seems a minority of the people do a majority of the work. I guess it's not much different than anything else in life.

The trophy table was absolutely gorgeous, with artwork that was made by Regina Mays. It was all Bedlington themed, and made of marble.

Freddie decided that this was his day to behave! I couldn't have asked for a better-behaved dog. He was a real little trooper in his Sweepstakes class. He won the 12-18 month old dog class, then won Best in Sweepstakes! We were off to a good start. He then went back in for his regular class, Bred-by-Exhibitor. Again, he was a perfect gentleman, showing his heart out but behaving. He went on to win the Bred-By class and go Winners Dog.

By Best of Breed, Freddie was getting tired. Michael showed him in the breed, since I had Skylar to show. He's not as confident a dog with Michael, perhaps because I always show him, but he was fine, once he knew "mom" was only a few dogs ahead of him. He went on to go Best of Winners for a 4-point major, finishing his championship with all majors, and all from the Bred-by classes.

The puppies are growing by leaps and bounds. Each received their new piece of jewelry last night; their collars. As usual, there was lots of scratching, while they tried to figure out exactly what was around their necks, but by this morning, they're all but oblivious to the collars. I'll start grooming them this weekend, getting them accustomed to the grooming table, a nice soft pin brush, and a small pair of clippers. The Andis finishing clippers work great for them at this age, since the blade is only about 2/3 the width of a regular clipper blade.

They also ventured outside for the first time last weekend. We set up the exercise pen on the lawn for them, put up the shade tarp, and added a few toys to their pen. At first they weren't sure of the new footing underneath them, but soon they were back to playing.

On a sadder note, my last Afghan Hound, Corrina, had to be put to sleep on Tuesday. She's been extremely frail for some time now, but was eating well, and other than her incontinence, and the fact that she got around slowly, she enjoyed every day. Tuesday morning I went outside, and she couldn't get up. She just had that look that said "it's time". So I made an appointment for her that morning. She was never a great show dog, but an extremely fun-loving dog that enjoyed each day. The fact that she lived to 15 was amazing for a breed that generally doesn't have a lifespan nearly that long. I look at the Bedlington puppies, and I can remember Corrina being in the whelping box, she was from a litter of two that I had bred. It's hard to believe that was fifteen years ago.