The Ark

I was thinking that before Wow - remarkable similarity! She could be Toby's (not so) evil twin! ;) She is very cute, and I do adore Toby, Bec, so you know I'm joking! :cry: Aziah - thank you so much for all the great Bulahdelah info! And I know I sound like a serial dog collector - but I've just found out that my new Maremma puppy will be arriving Sunday (a bit earlier than expected)!! I have had a Central Coast breeder checking out some pups in Victoria while she just happened to be down there (yay - got to love fate!) and have made the decision tonight to have her bring a boy pup home with her on Sunday. We will be travelling back through the Central Coast from Pet Expo at Rosehill on Sunday, so as long as they aren't held up along the way we should be able to meet up and collect him on the way home. He will be my dark horse in the Working Dog ring in the New Year, Aziah, so I'll catch up with you there. Viviane won't be back in the show ring for a while, and her bubbas will be too young so I'll get a start with this boy. I thought I might as well get a main-registered pup this time round after my awful experience with our last beautiful girl, so he will be a show dog as well as a chicken-protector and family pet (cause we need another one). Having decided to retire Miss Charm (my min pin) from showing due to ear flop and general dislike of showing (hers, not mine) I have reluctantly advertised her only on Dogzonline, and have already fielded some pretty dodgy enquiries about her (like "I just want her as a breeder for my male min pin"....no queries about her pedigree, possible faults, etc, etc). Obviously the answer to these has been "not available, sorry!". Finally, I have had some lovely people ring who are just looking for a min pin to love and spoil so maybe I will be able to find her a home without too much heartbreak. I think she is much more suited to a life of leisure than one in the spotlight! Now all I need is some serious SHOW TRAINING!!!! Is there any way to find out if it's on or not next Tuesday? My red devil twin min pins really need some practice (well, I do.....). Miss Candy's ears are all the way up already - whoo hoo - and Master Chester's are totally dropped, which will be okay as long as they stay that way and don't decide to go waving around at half-mast! Both of their parents have pricked ears, so genetically his aren't likely to stay down. Deb :D

Here she is, Aziah. This is a tricky frontal shot so that I can't have my stacking technique laughed at, well not too much anyway! ;) Obviously I need to work on my photo posting skills!

The photo of the puppies wouldn't be very exciting - they all look blobby and grey! I'll put one up of Vivi, though (when I work out how)......... ;)

Now I can post in here - we are looking forward to our first litter of Aussie Shepherd pups around 30th Nov - 7th Dec!! We had our blue merle girl, Viviane, scanned today and there are definitely babies there. The dad is a gorgeous black tri, and both carry red, so we could get any of 4 colours! The due date is a little wonky as her first and last matings were a week apart (with a couple in the middle for good measure)....

Nice try, Bec! Chester does sometimes have a bit of a wind problem..... I would be happy to share if we need to. Ultrasound for the Aussie girl tomorrow!

Good question about Bulahdelah, Bec. Do we have to pay entry to the showground also? Deb

Dotty, There is a weekend full of shows in 2 weeks' time - 13th to 15th November (Friday to Sunday). We will look forward to seeing you on the Sunday then! I'm usually next to Bec at the toy ring (when not humiliating myself in the Working Dog ring). I just had a peek at your little girl - she is beautiful! Is she being flown up for you, or are you going back to collect her? Deb

Hey Dotty! Another Aussie newbie - fantastic! And a red merle girl - wow! Hopefully I won't be showing our gorgeous Viviane for a while because she has a belly full of puppies (everything crossed, find out next week), but look forward to having a youngster out there in a few months. I am, however, hoping to have a baby Maremma here soon to fill the hole left by my beautiful Inca, and he/she is going to hit the show ring as well as look after the chooks. Maybe we can be newbies together in the Working Dog sweepies! Look forward to meeting you and your beautiful Aussie when she arrives. Great advice there, Bec. I took Chester and Candy for their vaccs and chipping yesterday - Candy was very brave and Chester screamed like a little girl! He's the sensitive type! He got lots of cuddles afterwards, but I didn't stay in with him as I wanted him to blame the vets and not me for torturing him. I think it worked. And Jess - Leo a tough guy? I'll take your word for it! Deb

Thank you, Aziah! You are so sweet! ;) Vivi is in semi-retirement until we know for sure whether she's going to be a mum or not! You always present Viv in beautiful condition I have fingers and toes crossed for you for December babies :D

me too I just did my entries lol Are you going to do the toy and terrier show deb? I am and sweepies for that show I think - I think all us minors should enter sweepies in one hit - it will be the oddest lineup of dogs 6-12 months the sleek tiny min pin, the hairy hav, the cuddly field, huge tough leo and maybe even sammy's naughty black pug I haven't done mine yet. Our little girl is 6 tomorrow so I've been busy with birthday cakes, etc. I'll do them tomorrow. Yes I'm doing all the shows, Bec, including that one. I'll have a go at sweepies if you are going in - sounds like fun, although we will have to leave the comfort of our toy ring!!

I agree with Lyndsay - the grooming isn't so bad. I was terrified of that at first, but although I'm a crap handler apparently my grooming is okay! I wash and blow-dry the night before a show then chalk & fluff up the legs and chalk her nose on the morning of the show. She appears to be pretty much okay with that for 3 consecutive days of showing, with just a minor "fluff-up" on the following mornings (I'm sure there are more technical terms than "fluff up", which I've used twice in the one paragraph). Deb

I'm going to try it for the first time tonight (note: they are due 20th October and today is the 19th....... I love last minute stuff)!

Poocow - Viviane is hopefully having puppies in December, too!! :D

Well done Morgie and poocow!

Oh, how true Black & White!!!!!!

Congrats Bec and Sammy. I was very excited watching Toby get his first "big" win! Well done!!! Congrats to you too, Sammy. I didn't realise that was you on the other side of Bec so I will make sure to say hello next time. And Jess - congratulations on Leo's nice rear end! How did Morgan go poocow? Good luck for those of you competing tomorrow. I'm off to a soccer presentation instead. Deb

I thought I entered friday morning but turned out I entered friday evening, saturday morning. And my receipt came back with a 5dollar balance because I overpayed them somehow ..I'm not getting any better at this lol. There is 8 Bullmies entered friday pm show! I have a $20 credit balance with one club, and $30 with another club because I tried to enter one dog in 2 classes at each - eg. Open Bitch and Australian Bred Bitch. I thought you could enter them all - and you can - but it seems I'd be cutting my own throat for a chance at challenge somehow. :p ;) At least overpaying is better than underpaying - I thought I'd paid for 3 catalogues at the last big weekend and had only paid for one - so had to scrounge off Bec to find out what was entered in the other shows because they wouldn't let me buy the other two! :p

Okay, I thought I was only doing 3 shows at Hillsborough this weekend, but just got my numbers for the Friday PM show as well. Looks like we're doing 4 in 2 days (we can't do Sunday as the kids have their soccer presentation). See you there!

It was great meeting you and Leo too, Jess. He is such a lovely big squishy boy! This is turning out to be great fun! Bec - you and Toby are really looking pretty good out there. He looked amazing when he was striding out on a loose lead, and so cute when he rushed in for those cuddles at the end! He knew he deserved them. I learned so much tonight. Nicky is great! Now all I need to do is get my hands & feet co-ordinated and the pups might have half a chance of going round the ring okay, and standing nicely on the table. It was amazing to watch Nicky stack Charm straight away - she was like a different dog when handled by someone who knows what they are doing. I know what you mean about the clothing, too. I have two outfits, although I'm now thinking that wearing black pants when showing a very small, black dog might not be the best idea as I'm sure she "disappears" against my legs when we are going around the ring. And they are my comfy ones too! See you all on Friday! Deb

Hey undecided - what a gorgeous pup! This thread has been great for settling my butterflies so stay in touch and let us all know how you're going. In my very brief experience judges have been very forgiving of both puppy behaviour AND newbie uselessness (in my case). You'll have a great time. Just remember to keep it fun for both of you. Deb

We had a good morning at the show. Having the only Baby Puppy Dog there, we were lucky enough to be the very first ones around the ring - Number 1 . I needed that extra pressure. Chester got Baby Puppy in Show (uncontested, of course) and Charm got "Best Black & Tan" (a property class award) - again, uncontested. She was beaten in the Minor Puppy Bitch class, but at least it was nice to have some competition in her age group for a change. Being a specialty show there were some beautiful prizes donated, as well as some lovely broad sashes that the kids love! We really need to get to those Hillsborough training evenings, so we'll see you there next Tuesday. My lack of handling ability sticks out like the proverbial when I'm actually in the ring with somebody else, especially people who've been showing & breeding forever. I think to be fair to my pups (and their breeder!) I need to get a bit better at it. The judge thought Chester's kangaroo gait was very cute, and said "why do they have to grow up" and he managed to actually get about two proper steps in just as we came back to her on the triangle, thank goodness. At least he was friendly on the table, and actually licked the her face. That was our first time at Erskine Park. It was easy enough to find, and we were able to park fairly close to the ring. There were a few other shows on there today - there were terriers in the ring next to us, quite a few hounds wandering around, and the German Shepherds were over the back in their ring as well. Deb

Hi Sammy, I'll be the one with the 2 x min pins and the Aussie Shepherd, so your pointer won't feel out of place at all. Off to Sydney right now for the Min Pin NSW Specialty - thanks for the practice yesterday Bec, although I think all Charm and Chester and I achieved was to provide some distraction for Toby while he was perfecting his trot and stack. He's looking great! Have a good weekend everyone. Deb

Hi Bec, I am still coming in. Just leaving home now. I probably wouldn't bother but I've got a min pin specialty show in Sydney tomorrow, and really need the practice!! Don't drag yourself out on my account, though. I can always just run around by myself if you'd prefer to stay cosy and warm. Deb

3 o'clock sounds good, Bec. I'll see you there with Charm and my other little surprise!!!

Hi Bec, That sounds great. Our kids are still in Tamworth so I will just bring furry ones. Let me know a definite time and I'll be there. Deb