Lakeshore Pembroke Specialty Results

We just heard from Tammy that Ransom did very well at Lakeshore! Ransom won the 6-9 month Puppy Dog class in the sweepstakes show, and then went on to place 2nd in the 6-9 month Puppy dog class in the regular show. Way to go Ransom and Tammy!!!

Another Letter from Boot Camp

Dear Mom and Dad,

Boy, am I ever having fun!! These days of all play with my buddies is great! Drill Sergeant Tammy is still insisting on those stupid forced marches to the highway, though. Man I hate those things!! But, I still do them to keep her happy. A happy drill sergeant means she can go bother someone else. See?? I'm learning!!

She says that I now have something called a waistline. I'm not sure what that is. She told me that it means that I'll be a lean, mean, showin' machine (my words, not hers). I also hear her talking about something called the Lakeshore Specialty. Wow!! Does that mean we get to go play in the water?!?! That would be SO much fun!! And we get to stay in a hotel!! I'll have to remember to tell the rest of the guys and girls that.

Anyway, I better run. Bobby made some comment about going back outside to chase the girls, and you know I'm all for that!!

Love to all,

Ransom aka Chunky Monkey

Letter From Boot Camp

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm really enjoying this so called Boot Camp. I've met some really cool friends, and we get to wrestle and play for a long time every day!! It's so great!!! Their names are Bobby, Valene, and Lucy. Boy are those two girls CUTE, and can they ever wrestle!! I haven't been able to see Luna Tuna, except through my house door. We've exchanged words but that's about it. Hopefully one of these days, I'll get to play with her again. Drill Sergeant Tammy says that I might be able to play with her in a week or so.

My days are pretty much spent playing with my new buddies, although we get these forced marches that I really don't care for. Drill Sergeant Tammy makes me and my brother Riley walk a whole mile to the highway and back every day. WHY??? What is so special about that, when all we do is turn around and hike home. I just don't get it. It must be a military thing.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm ok, and doing well. I'm losing some weight and toning up, so hopefully I'll look really buff for those girls at the shows when I'm done here.

Tell everyone I said hi, and kick brother Bear's butt for me. I miss the little bugger! Oh, and tell Aunt Cindy that I can't wait to nibble on her ear again. I love the looks she gives me. :o)

Love,

Ransom aka Chunky Monkey

Top Dog

Phantom is the top dog in our house....of the boys. Duchess runs the house overall, and no one is willing to challenge her, which is probably very smart as she doesn't take crap from anyone.

Bear has been missing his partner in crime, Ransom, who is at Boot Camp Riverun for another week and a half. So, to amuse himself, Bear tries to get anyone he can to play with him, including Phantom.

Now, Boo isn't completely enamored with puppies. He is very tolerant of them, and will co-exist with them very well, as long as they give him his space. Usually, Phantom will growl and bully his way with the other dogs to get what he wants, and typically succeeds. He has that, "I'm the top dog, and don't you forget it" voice. But, there is a learning curve involved for the little ones. Dream and Emmy were pretty good about giving him space, and they loved to mess with Ruby anyway. Ransom had always been good, and Boo and Ransom have always had a special bond, so he is more tolerant of Ransom that he is with most everyone else.

Then there's Bear. Most of the time, Bear is in his face, lick, lick, lick, aw come on dad...you love me! So Boo growls and grumbles, and tries to get to where Bear can't get him. Usually it works. Recently, Boo has been more tolerant of Bear and we have spied them actually sleeping on the same pillow. Just don't let Boo know you've seen him...then he puts on his macho act and growls.

Well, yesterday, I'm home for lunch, and things are pretty subdued. Boo is sitting in the middle of the floor, and had been chewing a bone. He always watches me closely just to make sure that I didn't drop any food that he might eat. Next thing I know, Bear is under his chin, and licking his face. Boo just sits there, allowing his face washing, closes his eyes, and looks as if he's really enjoying himself. Then, he cracks one eye open, sees me watching, and the look on his faces changes to one of, "Oh wait....I'm not supposed to be enjoying the attention of this little guy". He lets out a very small gr, and walks away, leaving a very bewildered Bear in his wake.

Our boy is so macho...

Cardi High Dive

We got home last night from the show in Rochester, and let all the kids out together in the back yard like always. Everyone has their own routine, and as the younger kids get older, their routines change off and on. Well, Emmy has this routine of racing around the yard, barking her fool head off, and doing her business wherever she lands. Now to spare you the graphic details, she'll do two of these three things at the same time in various combinations...you get to figure that one out on your own!!

Anyway, getting back to last night, Emmy pulls a new stunt, and we pray it's not a new routine. Our patio is surrounded by railroad ties stacked on top of each other, to act as a kind of decorative retaining wall, as our patio is set into a small hill. Emmy and Dream love to climb on the ties and hop over the decorative fencing into the yard. Occasionally, they will both do their business on said ties, as they get too excited to make it into the yard. Oh yippee....now I have to clean those stupid ties!! Oh...and they hunt for ground squirrels around the ties as those ties are havens for the little varmits, but I digress.

Emmy is on the highest point of the ties looking around and barking. Their wading pool is sitting in the middle of the patio and is quite full from all the rain we had over the past several days. I'm standing on the ties about three feet from where Emmy is, watching the others to make sure everything is going like clockwork, when I hear this huge SPLASH!! And I get wet!!!!! I look over and there is Emmy in the middle of the pool, looking extremely pleased with herself and dodging the waves that crested about a foot over her head, soaking everything in a 5 foot radius.

Next thing you know, she hops out of the pool and shakes herself off, in her imitation of an Olympic diver, and struts to the house....no bark, no chirp, not a sound. I think she may have found a new profession...

Rochester, MN

Always a bridesmaid and never a bride. That's Emmy's M.O. She garnered her 5th Reserve to the major this weekend in Rochester, MN. The Little Professional, as she's affectionately known, showed her little heart out, was the consummate professional, and was letter perfect. But, it wasn't enough. Garrett's little brindle girl, Ell, beat Emmy for Winner's Bitch. Both girls were pulled out together in a really tough Winner's class (There were 5 bitches entered this weekend who needed a major to finish). We heard after the fact from various sources that no one envied the task of picking a Winner's Bitch, as both girls looked fabulous. We gave Garrett a hearty congratulations and a fond "We'll get you next time". I love to win, but if I can't win, then I love to lose when the competition is as tough as it was this weekend. It brings out the best in all the handlers AND the dogs, and you could tell that was the case this weekend. Congrats to all the winners from the weekend!!

Ransom, Chunky Monkey to all who shows with us, was also in action this weekend, when he wasn't performing his now-famous imitation of roadkill in a crate (now THERE'S a redneck business opportunity for someone!! LOL). He won his class this weekend and is getting better by the show. This is another dog who loves to show and has a ball doing it. He is always happy and always hungry. He is now at Camp Riverun prepping for the Lakeshore Regional Specialty, playing with some of his Pem buddies, and spending quality time with his breeder mom, Tammy.

So, due to Ransom's absence from our house, the Adventures of Frick and Frack will be on hiatus until he returns in a couple of weeks. Unless, that is, Bear finds a willing accomplice to guest star in the highjinks. Right now, he's auditioning 3 candidates...Ruby, Dream, and Emmy. All three have been ably filling in as frapping replacements for Ransom. Wow....that does sound like a bad joke...How many Cardigans does it take to replace a frapping Pembroke? (If someone knows the answer to that mind bending question, please let me know)

A huge thanks to everyone for a great weekend, one of the best we've ever had at a dog show. The fun in the RV, watching movies, dodging Wiimotes and frapping puppies, drinking the wine and all of the WONDERFUL food...too good to mention. A HUGE shout out to Nick for allowing me to play hockey with him on his Xbox. We'll have to do that again sometime buddy!!

I do have to say that I didn't envy those staying in the RV Saturday night. After watching the puppies clean up spilled chili remnants and Moose eating everything else in sight, I didn't even want to be in the same county if that food fought back!! LOL

We will not be showing much at all for the rest of the year. We just completed 7 straight weekends of shows, and we need the time off to get the house back in order, and give Boo and Emmy a break. It looks like the next scheduled show will be the January St. Paul shows, in with Bear will debut with his siblings.

If you want to read about all the rest of the details from the weekend, tune into Cindy's blog.....it's well worth the read!! http://cindy-foggybottom.blogspot.com/

Where Did THAT Come From!?!

Yesterday was a pretty typical day in the lives of the Winjammin' herd. A typical day is something like this: Out time in the morning, while we get ready for work, and then back in the crates until lunch, when I can get home and let them back out. Then, it's Frap time for about an hour at lunch, followed by more crate time, until after we get home from work. Then more Frapping and lap time until bed.

Ok, so like I said, it was pretty typical yesterday.....until lunch. The kids go outside to do their business, and then come back into the house after a little delay (10 minutes of herding Corgis back into the house by yours truly) to enjoy the nice crisp air. Once inside, that cool air must've really gotten into their noses. It was instant Frap!!! 4 of them (Dream, Emmy, Ransom, and Bear) were literally rolling in one big multicolored ball from one end of the living room to the other, yapping, growling, yipping, and making all manner of obnoxious noises. It was so bad that Duchess, Ruby, and Phantom ended up on the couch, just to get out of the way. Ransom turned himself into a little red comet and was literally bouncing off the back of the recliners to back onto the floor, with everyone else in hot pursuit. I broke out the listerine squirt bottle to try to restore some resemblance of order. Well, it worked, for the most part. They still played but it was a little more under control, thank goodness!!

Bear also had a vet appt in the late afternoon, and Ruby tagged along to keep him company. The good news was that Bear learned to walk very nicely on lead as long as he is next to one of the big kids. He was all kinds of proud of himself, and he got all kinds of oohs and ahhs on his way through Petsmart (to get to the vet's office, which is in the back of the store). This was a normal pup check, so he got a couple of pokes, prods, things up his butt, which he glared at the techs about, but that was it. He's the picture of health, according to the vet. While we were waiting for the vet to come into the room, he realized that there were other dogs in the rooms next to us. Bad news: he decided to bark. Boy, oh boy, did he ever find his voice!!!!!! Sherilyn and I were looking at each other, like, "Where did THAT come from?!?!" The poor vet tech who was documenting vitals at the time about jumped out of her skin. She literally jumped about 6 inches. She just looked at Bear with amazement in her eyes. Little boy has a BIG bark, oh yippee....another one.

Once he found out he could bark at everyone, he never shut up. On the way out, it was a rather large dog (read well over 100 lbs) that caught his attention, and that poor dog was even trying to figure out where the voice was coming from....cocking his head from side to side with the now famous, "I don't get it" look for Bear. Meanwhile Bear is just venting his spleen at this poor dog as we practically drag him into the parking lot to go home.

Once we get home, you think it was back to normal?? Heck no!!! He starts in again, this time on his pack. It was bad enough that even the other dogs walked away from him and literally gave him the paw. This included Ruby and Emmy, who are exceptional barkers themselves. Break out the listerine again, and peace descends back on the household for a typical end of the day.

Boy was he ever proud of himself!!

Des Moines Dog Show

Wow...what a whirlwind week!! Between getting the dogs ready for the show weekend, cleaning house, purchasing all things BBQ, mowing the yard (that was done in the rain on Friday), showing on Labor Day (which made for a really short prep week), and gee...we had to work too?!?! It was crazy around here. That good thing was that everything came off without a hitch and a grand time was had by all at the BBQ.

Cindy and Meredith, Russ, Eddie, Frank, and Torch, came to stay with us for the weekend, and everyone had a ball. I think Meredith (aka Gigglepuss) spent more time on the ground getting pounced on by 10 dogs than she did on the furniture....not that it was much safer up there, as she found out later thanks to Emmy.

For those who do not know Emmy that well on her home turf (we call her the Little Professional at the shows), she has this stealth-pounce thing that she does, and you never know when she's going to break it out. Her M.O. is to act like she walking by you, and then jump (almost a levitation) right into the middle of your lap or chest, or whatever vital parts she can reach, and give you a huge slurp upside your face, nose, eyes, ears, head, you get the idea. Well, Meredith was her latest victim. The only thing that Emmy did differently was that she was running at Mach 10 when she pounced. She nailed poor Meredith in the chest with both front feet, and all you heard was, "OOOOOOOOOOOOF" as the air went out of her. It was rather cute, but I feel for Ms. M, as I have been there, done that.

Oh, I almost forgot show results!! The entrants were Phantom (in BOB), Emmy (in Open Bitches), and Ransom (6-9 Puppy Dogs) on Saturday, and then only Ransom on Sunday. All the kids showed well, acted like they were having a good time, and generally behaved themselves, other than Phantom wanting to play with puppy Russ....nothing like winding up an already spinning top LOL!! Emmy went on to win Winner's Bitch, and Ransom won his class both days. I want to compliment all of the exhibitors in both breeds, as they all really worked their tails (or bunny butts) off trying to get the points. It made for great competition on both days.

Next up is Rochester this coming weekend with the same three. Hope to see everyone there!!

Frick and Frack

When we last left our heroes, Ransom had taught Bear how to pee down the a/c vent, and Bear added more substance to the feat. So, today’s, and last night’s adventure involved ear taping.

Last week, we started with duct tape on Bear’s ears and an e-collar. By morning, he had not removed the e-collar, but had still managed to untape an ear. We never did figure this one out. Segue to last night.

Bear gets his ears taped again, and again the e-collar comes out. He whined and complained about it, but was generally a good sport. Don’t bother taking him outside with the e-collar on...he won’t even stand up on his feet, let alone walk or do anything else he’s supposed to do. We put him to bed last night, and he just collapsed in his crate and wouldn’t even look at me. I’m sure he was just a little put out with us.

This morning, I took the e-collar off him to go out and eat breakfast. He seemed to be in better spirits and was running around and generally being his usual happy puppy self. Then, I had taken my breakfast to the office downstairs and was on my way back up to get my coffee when I see Ransom PULLING Bear across the living room floor by the bridge on his ears!!!! I call Ransom off, of course, and he leaves it alone for awhile…like 45 seconds, MAYBE. Then, he’s back at Bear’s ears, trying to untape them!!

You can’t tell me these dogs do not communicate...

One Upsmanship

Well, everyone knows that when Ransom was but a wee little thing, he liked to pee down the a/c vents in the house. Well, he has taught Bear well, and Bear has taken it to the next level. Wednesday, Bear and Ransom were playing like normal, and then all of a sudden, WHEW!!! What a smell!! I turn and look, and lo and behold, Bear had tried to crap down the a/c vent!!! And this wasn’t a small 12 week old puppy pile…This was the "I am my father’s son" baby elephant pile!! He didn’t hit the target (the vent), but he got the edge, and with the a/c fan running, there was quite a new aroma emanating from the dining room.

Such is life at lunchtime for me. I’m so lucky…