Its HOT

It's been record breaking hot for the last few days (107°F degrees yesterday - that's 41°C) and I have blessed my Air-conditioning. We have some summers when it does not get much use, but not this one. And the unusual thing for us, is it has not cooled down much overnight. Today has been a mild 95°F!! And actually there was a slight cool breeze and so I got out on the lawn mower, not that the grass has grown, but the weeds have - now they are all the same length.

My puppies have been going out from 6:30 7:30 each morning and then demanding to come back in. I let them out again around 4 when I feed (so they can poop outside) but they only last about ½ hour before demanding back in. Then I put them out again about 7-10pm. But I think I am raising a littler of wimps! When they come in they crash for hours. Still its better than stressing them.

My trip “Up North”

On Wednesday I left quite early, to make the drive to Canada. I Took Thomas and Susan and met Carrie around Seattle to drop off my 4 ½ week old puppies, which she minded for me, while I was in Canada.
Hot weather had been predicted for while I was away, so I had purchased an air conditioner for the kennel, so that the dogs would not be too uncomfortable (they have heat in the winter) but although the kennel is well insulated I felt A/C was needed and the beagles gave a big cheer!
I arrived in Canada, without any problems and made my way to Jenn & Rob’s home – where I was treated like royalty, for the whole weekend.
The 4 shows had promised an interesting selection of judges, with 1 from each of the following countries – Canada, USA, India and Philippines – however the last 2 gentlemen were unable to obtain visa’s and were substituted with 2 more Canadians.
The first day Thomas won the dog points (1) and then Jenn’s young puppy won the breed & best puppy (3 points) - so everyone was happy. Although the weather had been predicted to be in the 90’s, it was actually overcast and quite chilly (and I was beginning to wonder if I had been stupid not to bring some long sleeved clothes) On Friday Thomas won the breed (3 points) and Susan (2 points) but none of us did anything in group. So it was back to Jenn’s where again she showed her hospitality skills and we enjoyed delicious Bar-B-Q and salads washed down, in my case with a NZ Sauvignon Blanc and Jenn had a Brahma beer.
Saturday was a repeat of Friday - Thomas won the breed (3 points) and Susan (2 points) and another great Bar-B-Q, this time Jan & Uli who live just up the road, came over and added to the great evening which was followed by a heavy rainstorm, complete with thunder and lightning.
It takes 10 points to be a Canadian champion and Thomas now had 7…… and Susan 4.
Sunday dawned hot and humid. We showed at 11 and it was Thomas’ day to win the breed, but we had one less dog and so he only got 2 points and Jenn’s puppy, again was the bitch winner for another 2 points. However Thomas went on to in the hound group which gave him 5 points and so he finished his Canadian Championship in style. To celebrate, we went off to the Olive Garden, so Jenn did not have to cook.
Today I drove home, collected my puppies, which had grown in my absence (I will do some pictures in the next couple of days) and got home to discover it was HOT (107°F degrees or 41.6° C) and so we all collapsed in the air-conditioning – happy to be home!
But it was a successful weekend and congratulations to Annette & Jesper on breeding a new Canadian Champion.

Canada - here I come....

Tomorrow I have an early start as I am driving to Vancouver , British Columbia. I am taking Thomas & Susan with me and we are going for 4 shows, up North. It will be an intersting car load, when I cross the border - me with a US resident card and Australian passport and 2 Danish dogs with pet passports!
I am staying with my friend Jenn and the Ahava beagles and going to what are, for them local shows. By US standards, they are small shows - just a total of 50 in the Hound group. But maybe I can acquire some Canadian points on the Danish dogs. We'll see.
More reports to come.

A weekend of dog shows and visitors

On Friday our local beagle club held their specialty show. I had 3 beagles entered – Zoey, Susan & Thomas. I had a good day with Zoey taking a 5 point major and best puppy in show and Susan was reserve winners bitch (being beaten by her Kennel mate, Zoey) Thomas showed well, but as the youngest special was not in contention that day.
For the rest of the weekend I did not show Zoey, just Thomas and Susan (our Danish visitors) Saturday was not our day but Sunday, Susan was awarded winners bitch for 4 points. Janet and Jo (who are nicknamed the “Paparazzi”, because of the large number of super photos that they take) stayed with me on Thursday and Friday nights and came to the shows and took lots of pictures. We also met up with Canadian friends Jenn and Jan and went out to dinner with them each night. Mexican the first night, followed by Joe’s Crab Shack the next night (nothing better than eating lots of crab with your fingers!) and then a new local Restaurant, “Lapellah”- 3 good meals, with excellent company. The weather was pretty warm on Friday (95°F) but cooled off a bit over the next 2 days, however we were showing inside in air-conditioning, so the dogs and humans did OK. But it was too hot to sit outside on the deck of the restaurant, even if we were alongside the river. Make sure you think about attending the next National Beagle Show as it will be held in Vancouver, Washington in October 2010 and you can find details here

We also took lots of pictures of the puppies (now 4 weeks old) a link will be posted soon, when I have processed them, from Janet selection.

My choice

I had several people ask what dog won Best in Show last weekend, when I judged, well here is a picture of the dog.
This week has been busy with lots of tradesmen coming and going and playing with the puppies in between, their visits. Also getting ready for a 3 day show weekend, with a specialty on Friday and all breeds shows, the following 2 days - we actually have chances at majors - yippee!

A quiet few days

After coming back from California, I have had a quiet few days. The weather here has been superb with temperatures in the high 70's.
I have been mainly catching up on lawn mowing and playing with the babies. Who are now 3 weeks old. Their eyes are open and they are staggering around and just starting to eat.
This is my red girl

and my tri girl

and one of the red boys sleeping. You can see the rest of the litter here

Tomorrow I am judging in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho I am flying out in the morning and back the same night as I only have 7 dogs to judge - as I am just doing Best in Show. It will however be much warmer out there - in the 90's.

Dolphin Safari

As it was another beautiful summer's day in Southern California we decided to go on a Dolphin Safari leaving from Dana Point. Our ship left at 1:30 and it was 75 degrees on the beach and not a cloud in the sky. There were probably about 40 people on the boat and they told us that Blue Whales had been seen about 4 miles off the coast and so we would go there first and see the dolphins on the way back.
Sightings of Blue Whales are much rarer than dolphins, so that was a great plan. We ended up seeing 4 different whales during our 3.5 hour cruise and we watched them play on the surface and dive many times and the closest we got was about 75 yards to them - that's pretty close!
Then we saw some Risso dolphins about 20 of them, they look different to what you expect a dolphin to look like - having a whiter, more bulbous head. There was also a baby amongst .
Then on the way back to shore we had some common dolphins riding our bow waves (so they were almost under our feet)

This was a PERFECT day.

Unique flight

As a frequent flyer it's not often that I have an unique experience on a plane. However yesterday I did. I flew back from the Oregon coast at 8pm when I arrived at this regional airport that has only 8 flights a day I discovered that I was the only person there at 6 when I was dropped off by the kennel club. There was no cafe or even a vending machine to be found. No TSA even , until 7:30, so just read my book in the waiting area. At 7pm a gate agent appeared and called me by name and told me I would be the ONLY passenger on the flight and as soon as the plane arrived and unloaded the passengers it would fly to Portland with me and we would not wait for the scheduled departure time- as everyone wanted to get home for the night. That was just fine with me.
So we took off in my "private jet" just me and a flight attendant and pilot and first officer- I enjoyed the short 35 minute flight and got home to watch the spectacular firework display put on by our neighbors - before falling into bed, so I could be up at 4:30 to get back to the airport for my early morning flight to California.
(This blog post is being written in the Red Carpet Lounge on my iTouch)

Oregon Coast

I flew down to North Bend yesterday (this is the closest airport to Bandon, Oregon) - where the Coos Bay Kennel Club is having a weekend of shows. I am however only judging one day, Saturday but I have a full load of 175 dogs (in fact I overloaded and another judge had to take some of my breeds) The oregon coast is beautiful and scenic and always much cooler than it is at home. After 2 days of 90+ temperatures, I was ready for a change.
The beach is beautiful and has some really unusual rocks, not far out into the ocean. I fly home tonight and then leave very early tomorrow to fly down to California to visit David, who is down there for a while.