:The icing on the big weekend cake
Posted: February 19, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos 3 CommentsWas up all night. Nagpo whelped her first puppy at 11PM. The current count is 2. 1 female. 1 male. Strong. Thriving. The ultrasound count was 3, but those can be deceiving. She appears done.
And so am I.
Want to write more about the last two days of the show weekend. Tomorrow. Gotta get to work. Running on empty…fumes. Dante won the breed again Sunday. Saul is now a champion. Zena won a 5 point major Monday. That’s it in a nutshell.
:Saul wins the Bred-By-Exhibitor Non-Sporting Group
Posted: February 17, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos | Tags: Debby Rothman Leave a commentIt seemed as is Saturday would never end. By the end of the day, most bailed from a long-planned dinner at an Italian restaurant. The results of Saturday’s show were entirely different than Friday’s show..which is very often the case. Another day. Another dollar. Another dog show.
Saul was awarded WD for a 3-point major and Best-Bred-By-Exhibitor Lhasa Apso. The same procedure I described yesterday for Best Puppy applies when an all-breed club offers Best Bred-By competition. Saul and I managed to pull off winning the Non-Sporting group.
It was a nice win. It was fun. Then the wait began. The show dragged on and on. And on. Our dinner reservations were at 6PM. At 6:40 Saul and I finally entered the ring to compete for Best-Bred-By-Exhibitor in show. He performed with enthusiasm, far more enthusiasm than I had!
Carol and I stopped at the Italian restaurant, sure we’d find everyone else fed and gone. Not so. We shared a nice meal with Tammy, Matthew, Mark and Ginny. It was a pleasant, relaxing way to wind down from the day.
Ruby walked around the ring again today. Her tail was up. Yippee!! She won her class. Yippee!! Yippee!! Christi was thrilled.
I’m off again this morning for an 8AM – did you read that?! 8AM!!! ring time. This is unheard of with Lhasa Apsos. The short haired breeds, especially the bulldoggy breeds start at 8AM. Not coated breeds. I left my grooming stuff at the show site to force myself to groom there, but I’m stopping by my grooming shop on the way. Edie is getting a bath.
It’s 3:55 in the morning. I think I’m nuts to show dogs.
:Dante wins the Specialty!
Posted: February 16, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos 1 CommentVickie adeptly piloted Dante – Ch. FFT Kisses of Fire – to Best of Breed at the Lhasa Apso Club of Central Colorado’s Specialty show yesterday. Way to go Vickie! And Dante!
Before I continue to report yesterday’s wins, I want to share a victory that won’t be recorded in annals. Ruby walked around the ring with her tail up! Without planting her feet or bucking like a rodeo horse! Score! Christi had her done about for the ring to near perfection. Keep up the good work ladies.
Saul, my Bred-By-Exhibitor (BBE) dog looked awesome, for the first time since his puppyhood. But, he showed ringside spectators that even an ol’ pro like me can be humbled. Halfway through his individual gaiting pattern, he stopped to poop. “Let him finish” the judge directed, from across the ring. Thanks to Linda for the assist! With her help, it was almost like it didn’t happen. Ya. Right. 🙂 He placed 2nd out of 4. The dog that placed ahead of him finished his Championship title, so perhaps we’ll have better luck today. Maybe he’ll have breakfast after he shows…
Ginny’s Ethan and Chloe both showed nicely, from the glimpses I caught. Chloe placed 2nd in a nice class of 12 – 18 month bitches. As sometimes happens – right, Vickie! – Ethan happens to be the only male his age being shown. Since he’s been old enough to be exhibited, he’s always competed alone. Meanwhile, the bitch classes in the same age group have been larger than usual.
My Sadie boys – Wyatt and Thateus – were entered in both Sweepstakes and the regular classes. Tammy handled Wyatt. I showed Thateus. Born August 7, this was their first dog shows. Wyatt was awarded Best Puppy in Sweepstakes. In the regular classes, Thateus was awarded Best Puppy and RWD (Reserve Winners Dog) to a 4-point major. Way to go puppies!
This particular specialty is called a designated Specialty (as opposed to an independent Specialty). What that means is the Specialty judging occurs within the context of an all-breed dog show. Plum Creek Kennel Club holds further competition for puppies one day. The next day of their show there’s further competition for dogs awarded Best-Bred-By.
Because of this, Thateus competed against all the other Best of Breed puppies in the Non-Sporting Group. Cheered on by Shirley, Bud, Ginny, Christ and Vickie, he was awarded 2nd in the group!
Carpe Diem! I saved my own personal best for last. That nice 12 – 18 month puppy bitch class I mentioned above…well, Edie won it, both in Sweepstakes and the regular classes. She went on to win Best in Sweepstakes under Tibetan Terrier breeder Andrea Reiman. In the regular classes she was awarded Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite Sex for her second major, another specialty major, another specialty Best of Winners.
Waiting for the judge to mark his book, Dante and Edie the only Apsos left standing in the ring, it occurred to me they’re Tequila kids. The judge found a half-brother and half-sister as his choice for Best of Breed and Best of Opposite Sex. Best Male. Best Female. Am I ever glad Julie let me breed Ian to Tequila! I didn’t have a compatible female here in Colorado for him, so she allowed Tequila to have one last litter. And that Best Puppy? He’s a Tequila grandson.
Before I close, feed the dogs breakfast, groom Saul and Edie for today’s show (Wyatt and Thateus were entered only for yesterday’s judging) and head down the hill at 8:30, I want to acknowledge Tammy. And thank her for all she does. There’s no way I could have shown 5 dogs yesterday! (And I’m glad we’re not showing 5 dogs today!) Tammy helps with everything; from training, to grooming, to exhibiting, to packing up, to hauling. She does a great job presenting the dogs in the ring. She’s been giving private handling lessons to Ginny and Christi. She’s great!
Off for another day of fun, seeing friends from far and near.
:Edwina sent..a Bella update
Posted: February 9, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos Leave a comment
Just thought that I would up-date some pictures of Bella.She seems to get lighter as she gets clipped around her face, more towards her Mom I think.
She is going on ten months and everything we have read about Lhasas fits her to a T. She just has to have something to chew on and can entertain herself quite well. I haven’t figured it out yet but she loves the snow and is forever going after ice chunks, this also includes sticks,etc. I keep telling her that she is a Lhasa Apso and not a beaver.
She isn’t very fond of going in the car tho. Not since she was spayed. I think she associates the car with a bad time and  we say lets go or put our jackets on she heads for her kennel and ‘ here she stays. I have taken her but she shakes til we get out on the highway and  settles down.
We be came the grandparents of twin baby boys last October and she is so good with them. She probably would have made a good Mother. If the babies cry she is very concerned and runs to get help. When they are in their bouncie seats she goes from one to the other to check on them. When she first saw them we sat on the floor, let her smell them and since then she has been great.
She is and continues to be a joy to have around. How are her sisters doing???
:Another blast from the past
Posted: February 4, 2008 Filed under: DRambles on Black Mountain, FFT Lhasa Apsos | Tags: Debby Rothman, Julie Timbers 3 Comments
Okay, I have to share. I just have to share! Some of you may have read Sondra’s comment over the weekend – Sondra on A Blast from the Past. The blog only allows the 5 most recent comments to show up in Recent Comments in the left hand column, so don’t know if you read it…I’ll cut and paste it:
Wow! That photo was 20 years ago–sometimes those days seem like yesterday and other days it was a whole different lifetime ago. Thank you once again, Debby, for finishing Delilah! Our last lhasa, Razor, a gift from you to Harry on his 10th birthday, is still going strong at 8.
Sondra, that makes Harry 18?! Let’s don’t do the math for Tiffany and Shawn. Nate turned 23 in December.
For those of you who don’t know Sondra – and that would be most of you – we met not long after I started showing Lhasa Apsos in ….gulp…1979. She had Dandie Dinmont Terriers. I had Smooth Fox Terriers. We each had Lhasa Apsos as a ‘second breed’. Sondra, do you recognize any of the dogs or people in the above photos? I’m showing Zshoi (Joy is the pronunciation). And, surely I’m wearing my best dress! 🙂 I’m serious and Sondra will know what I’m talking about.
At one point in time, Sondra was secretary of ALAC (American Lhasa Apso Club). Maybe that’s what did her in! She retired from showing and breeding shortly after, if I’m recalling correctly. Not to mention the arrival of Harry… The gold Lhasa Apso ring IÂ wear was given to me by Sondra. It was hers. She gave it to me. It’s on my right ring finger as I type. We’ve been friends a long time.
Sondra moved to Florida some years ago. I miss her. She introduced me to scrapbooking. And look where that’s led! The website is actually a morphed, 10th generation product of my love of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is why I learned PhotoShop. It’s one of the reasons I learned about websites, web design and now, blogs! We would meet sometimes on Fridays, rent the back room in the scrapbooking store, spread out our layouts, get out our scissors and paste. And memories. And history. And knowledge of the dog world, people and players. Even though Sondra was no longer active, she understood everything I’d share about the dogs and the dynamics within the dog world. We’d start with breakfast at the Le Peeps next door to All My Memories. We scrap away until lunch and then walk across the parking lot to either Red Robin or the Hoffbrau. Have some lunch and drinks and go back for more.
Here’s another one. Name those dogs! Name those people! And surely that lavender outfit was also a ‘best dress’! Right, o-person-wearing-lavender.
If you’d like to see Delilah, the Lhasa Apso I exhibited for Sondra and Niall, do a search on A Blast From the Past in the upper left hand search box.
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 