We had the Glen Rose, Texas shows the first of January – brought home all reserves, but the dogs did well.

Our first truly successful shows were the first of this month, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Trouble (Rhodesian Ridgeback) finished her championship! Bailey (Long Hair Dacshund) earned her 14th point – one to go! And, Karlee Howard, one of our JR’s earned her first BEST JUNIOR!!!!!

Ok, more to come tomorrow!

Karlee started with Fonzi (Pointer), they got Best of Breed and Group 3 (level b). Then she showed Ayden (Chinese Crested) to a Best of Breed and Group 1 (level a). Next was Opal (Cardigan Welsh Corgi) who also went Best of Breed and a Group 1 (level b). Then she showed Zeigen (Dobe) to Best of Breed and a Group 2 (level b). She also got to show Charm (Chinese Crested) and Hunter (German Shepherd).

Then in Junior Showmanship she won her age class over two other lovely girls (including our own Ren) and went on to win Best Junior Handler!

She wasn’t done with that! She decided that she wanted to lead Ayden to Best Level A In Match!!!!

I was very proud of her, what a good morale booster for her for the 2010 show year!

Craig and I had to work on Christmas Eve, actually sort of a tradition. Craig was suppose to work 8 am til 6 pm, I was to work noon till past 10 pm. At abotu 7 am, I started hearing the pelting of sleet on our windows in the bedroom. At about 830, the noise wasn’t stopping, got up, called Craig, he said he made it to work but that the roads were getting bad. I looked outside and KNEW, this isn’t good.

I called work at 830 am. Gotta love my boss Dan. He knows I live out in the country with hills, I asked him about the conditions and he said he would bring me home that evening if i got stuck. We both agreed to watch the conditions and make our mind up closer to my arrival time.

On top of all of this, my mom was on vacation and was in Florida. I already had one of her dogs at our house but because of the ice, our dog sitter and I had agreed I would get the other dogs and bring them to my house. So, at about 930 am, i drove down the street to get them, only to be able to NOT pull up her drive due to the ice. I did get the dogs from her house, so we now had 11 dogs at our place – talk about a zoo.

By 10 after watching the TV, with everyone saying DON’T drive, I made the call back to work and said I wasn’t going to risk coming in. I wasn’t the only one calling in and I really appreciated my boss understanding – boy did I ever make the right decision.

We were also having power outages. Craig got hold of our neighbor and i went over and got a bunch of wood from them to help keep our house warm. It was sleeting hard, two girls trying to pile wet wood in the van, then I broke down a dog crate and used that and my dog dolly to get the wood in the house. But at least we had wood – fortunately by afternoon the power outages had stopped.

By noon the sleet was turning to snow and the wind kicked it up a notch. I just had the news on and it kept talking about get off the roads, too many accidents, State of Emergency. Was in contact with Craig and they had decided to shut down early, he was on the way home by two.

On the way home – - – well by 3 pm all major highways in the state of Oklahoma were shut down. Craig wasn’t home yet, I had heard from him once but chose not to call him because I didn’t want to cause an accident. There is no way to get to our house from Norman without getting on an highway and i prayed he was safely almost home. He did get home at 330 pm, it took him over 90 minutes when it normally takes 20 minutes. But, he made it safe and sound.

We sat and watched the snow continue until after dark. Dogs in and out and in and out and snow and wind and cold….. The State of Oklahoma was frozen solid by a record BLIZZARD!

We woke up Christmas morning to a beautiful white snowscape, sun shining, absolutely lovely day! We took tons of pictures of all the dogs enjoying the snow, built a snow-cardi! Santa brought us Xmas gifts, a bread maker for Craig and the Twilight series for me. In the afternoon Craigs buddies Myles and Tracy had the guts to drive out to our house and the 4 of us had a great Christmas dinner and movie marathon. The roads quickly melted where there weren’t snow drifts.

This morning/afternoon our ground is still covered in snow with the roads clearing more and more. The dogs are all having fun going in and out and we are just relaxing, in hibernation mode!

Christmas was truly a wonderful day and the down time was much needed. Oklahoma is slowly getting out of this weather mess but it was so much fun!

Doogies hip gave out on him on the 16th and we choose not to let him endure any furthur complications or pain. He spent is last morning outside enjoying a beautiful day with his kennel mate “Rocky”.

Doogie and his brothers were my first and only litter of Siberian Huskies. Calvin immediately took to my mom Kathy and Doogie to me. Rocky was the only show boy in the litter and so it just ended up with us keeping all 3 boys. Doogie excelled in obedience and the only reason he didn’t get further titles is that I his handler didn’t excel in obedience. He and his brother Rocky formed a deep bond and thus, they were always together.

The loss of Doogie has been harder than I would have hoped on Rocky. Rocky is at least eating, but he is not happy unless he is in the house in his crate. Anytime he goes outside, he immediately wants back in. If left outside we get to listen to his cries of sadness. Fortunately our neighbors are understanding as we are all enduring Rocky’s time of grief.

Our canine companions are only with us for a brief time and Doogie definitely will be remember for his sweet personality. He will be missed by all.

Jessica showed Ayden (Chinese Crested) and on Saturday they went Best of Opposite Sex over a top 10 special! She was thrilled.

We stayed with Lyn Buck and had a really relaxing show. It was nice and I needed it! We watched movies, let the dogs play, played on our computers, I took a nap, ate some great home made food! Yum! Thanks to Lyn for her hospitality!

OK – so the low down
Bailey (Long Hair Dachshund) went Winners/Best of Winners on Thur for a 4 pt major, Fri and Sat back to back reserve wins, then on Sun Winners/Best of Winners/Best of Opposite Sex (over special) for a 5 pt major! This nine month old girl is now at 13 pts with both of her majors! YIPPEE!!!

Ciara (Greater Swiss Mountain Dog) went Winners/Best of Winners on Thur for a 3 pt major and then finished her championship on Sat going Winners for another major! This young lady came a long way with me, she got spooked of the ring with her mom and after spending time in what we affectionally called Rainbow Bootcamp, she came around and showed like a dream and is our 14th NEW CHAMPION for 2010!!!!

Cosmo (Siberian Husky) went Winners on Sunday with his Junior Hanlder Laur’en showing him and he earned a 4 pt major – so now he is at 9 points with one major! Way to go Ren

Frodo (Cardigan) oh poor Frodo – this young man is fighting becoming a show dog with all his might – what he doesn’t know is his mom is more stubborn than he is! Anyways, Frodo went Winners on Thur for 1 pt, Reserve Winners on Fri, Winners/Best of Winners for 2 pts, and then on Sunday Winners/Best of Breed/Best of Winners on another point! Good job young man!

Jose (Boxer) was shown by me for the first 3 days but it took being shown by his mom to go Winner/Best of Breed for a point! Way to go Jeannie!

In Dobe – Karlee with Zeigen got 1 reserve win and me with Johann got 1 reserve win.

In Juniors – Laur’en showed Ziggy to 3 fourth place wins (if I am correct) and then she showed Cosmo on Sunday and there she earned a 2nd place.

I think that’s it for our wins – it was a faboulous show! Way to go team rainbow!!!