Holiday Visits

One of the best parts of the holidays is that so many friends get to visit. My good friend Sandra stopped by today for coffee. Here she is playing with Wrangler...having a laugh.

From Boston and Korbel

Look what Boston and Korbel got for Mike for Christmas!

From our family to yours....

Boston's son Rak

It was great to hear from Tom and Lisa who have Rak (pronounced Rock). Rak is Boston' and Slider's son. He has a wonderful life filled with doggy friends, babies, his own swimming pool and sled and lots of fun times playing. What a lucky guy he is!

Early Christmas Present

Boston and Alaska gave me an early Christmas present a couple of weeks ago and I have been wearing it every day. It is a title bracelet with a spot for each of them and their titles. On the other side (can't see it in the picture) is a picture of a Pomeranian followed by RA for Rally Advanced. On Boston's side there is a Best of Breed ribbon, then Champion and a picture of a Samoyed which is followed by a CD and RE which are her two obedience titles. Filling in on either side are paw prints in purple to go with my purple team vest. As they both add titles I can have them switched out. There is also room for Korbel when she gets started this spring. I just LOVE it!

Ho ho ho ho ho!

Here is Miss Sarah and her friend Sugar the cat with Santa Claus and Mrs Claus as they get ready for Christmas! What a jolly good time.

What is a Title?

What is a title?
Not just a brag, not just a stepping stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores, a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a way to honor the dog, an ultimate memorial. It will remain in the record and in the memory for about as long as anything in the world can remain. And though the dog herself doesn't know or care that her achievements have been noted, a title says many things in the world of humans where such things count. A title says your dog was intelligent, adaptable, and good natured. It says your dog loved you enough to do the things that pleased you, however crazy they may have seemed. In addition, a title says that you loved your dog, that you loved to spend time with her because she was a good dog, and that you believed in her enough to give her yet another chance when she failed, and in the end your faith was justified. A title proves that your dog inspired you to that special relationship, enjoyed by so few, that in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved and loved greatly in return. And when that dear, short life is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, the best you can give to a deserving friend. It is volumes of praise in one small set of initials after the name. An obedience, rally, agility or herding title is nothing less than true love and respect, given and recorded permanently.
Author Unknown

Pix at last!

Normally we get our show pictures back within a week, but for some reason this time it took almost two weeks. Here is my main squeeze with Chance (above) and with Creme. Don't they look great? I think I like the orange tie the best.

Team Picture

A huge thank you to Bill and Sharon Code for sharing this glimpse of the SAMD team! Bill took digital film and this is a still from that which Sharon was able to capture. This is us in the ring right before starting our heeling pattern. Left to right are Dana Thomas and Tundra, Deb Hedges and Janie, Me and Boston and Robin Clark and Leah. Go team!

Boston 1st Place Advanced B

Here we are together. Boston is showing off the pretty rosette and plate she won in the Advanced B class under judge Adele Yunk. The plate says "Love Me, Love My Dog".

Team Obedience

I am pleased to announce that my fellow Samoyed friends Robin Clark, Dana Thomas and Deb Hedges were brave enough to go in the ring with their beautiful girls and me and Boston to compete in Team Obedience at the Obedience Training Club of Greater Lansing's trial.
Team is where four dogs and their handlers compete together in unison. There were three teams competing and we came in a respectable 2nd! I'll post a picture when it comes.

Alaska too!

Poor Alaska, I left him out! Alaska went with me and Boston to the trial this weekend to make his debut in Advanced Rally. It was his first time in the ring off lead so it was hard for him, especially since there was a big dog that was out of control in the ring next to us, but he did manage to qualify and get his first Rall Advanced leg. Two more and he gets his title.

Boston Does it Again

Boston had another great run today! She was first place in Rally Advanced B with a score of 99!!! I was thrilled. Her Excellent run was almost as good but I did something the judge didn't like. I moved a certain way on an excercise and the judge interpreted it differently than other judges have in the past, and took ten points off for inproper performance. Another judge who was watching said he would not have done so. Oh well, go figure. She ended up with an 87....three points she lost herself and ten I lost for her. I plan to get a picture taken tomorrow with our judge. We are also entered in regular obedience tomorrow so I need to get some sleep now!!!

You just never know...

Well I THOUGHT Boston NQd, but apparently the judge thought otherwise because official show records are telling me that Boston completed her Rally Excellent title. Go figure!

In other news, we finally decided that Boston will be bred to BISS Ch. Snopack's Sneak Attack aka "Sniper" the next time she come into season. I am very excited about this breeding since it combines some lines that I admire very much and I believe will bring some attributes that I need to my breeding program for the future.

The Rest of the Story

The rest of the story is that on Sunday, Mike had another great day. This time Chance went winners dog, which unfortunately was only two points since someone broke the major. Then Creme was Reserve Bitch. So Chance and Creme each picked up two points this weekend (It takes a total of 15 to make a champion)!

Boston on the other hand was apparently as exhausted as I was and after a nice moving Excellent run, NQd on her Honor. Just decided to "stretch". Oh well, on to next weekend.
I had to be content with one Q in Excellent as far as the show arena was concerned. In Rally it takes three "Qs" to get a title. A Q is a qualifying run with 70 or more points out of 100. Boston has two Qs to her Excellent title which is the highest level in Rally. However one quirk of Excellent is that after the dog does their run, they have to "honor" the next dog. The dog who runs before us is lucky. They have a very short honor since Boston and I work fast, but some dogs take a very long time on the course and it can be hard for a Samoyed to sit still while another dog goes through very slowly. Now Boston can do a three minute sit stay or five minute down stay with me leaving the building, but that is a whole other story. She finds the honor boring!

What is Wrong With This Picture?

O.K. That is my husband Mike...and he is at the dog show today....but who is that dog? Too small to be a Samoyed....not enough fur to be a Pomeranian. That is JSL Chairman of the Board aka Frank. Frank's mom Erin is off in Florida judging a goat show, so we took Frank along to the show today, and I think I'm in love. He's a doll.

Frank didn't do anything at the show...too young and not quite ready for prime time. Chance was Reserve Dog to a big major and Creme was Winner's Bitch but the major broke in girls. Oh well there are those kinds of days. Boston earned her second Rally Excellent leg, so if she qualifies tomorrow will finish her title. In obedience she was brilliant but didn't hear me give the signal to go out over the high jump...just looked up at me expectantly. But it was so loud in the building that I couldn't hear the judge so how can I complain. Other than that she did great. So maybe tomorrow or next weekend when it will be quieter. We go back to the show again tomorrow...another day.

Getting Ready for winter

We are getting ready for winter here in Michigan. As you can see Kodiak (Boston's dad) is surrounded by trees and just a sprinkle of snow. By tomorrow it might be more than 6 inches deep. Time to get out the sleds and think "mush" because the forcasters are telling us that winter is arriving tonight.