A Bit of This and That

Kirsten, it was great meeting you and your family. Thank you for introducing yourself.

As always it was great to see Karyn and Scott.

We met so many great people that at times it was a blur. I finished taking antibiotics this morning and I was much better than Darlah who really is recovering from double pneumonia and insisted on working the show.

We had the pleasure of Sweetpea and Holly Ashley staying with us for a few days. They were up from Florida for the show. They did very well indeed and I believe enjoyed themselves throughout. We certainly enjoyed their company.

Yvonne stayed at our home from Thursday to Sunday with her four Havanese. So we had a full house of dogs and people. The only light missing was our little boy, Kat!

Wasabi and Abigail are coming to the end of their heat. Lola just went into heat. Kat got banished to Yvonne's place while the girls got to stay here. It was immediately apparent to me how much he is the center of our household and of all the dogs. It just wasn't the same without him and we miss him terribly. He'll be back on Wednesday. It is the first time he has been away from home without one of us in over two years.

Anyway, a bit about the show ... I knew I was in trouble the second we walked into the building on Friday as Fiona’s tail went down. Those that follow along with Darlah's posts know that her tail never goes down. It either had something to do with the bright lights, cement floors and echoes, noise, a combination of all of the above or maybe even Fiona is about to go into her first heat. With Abigail in her first heat right now, Wasabi, who we bred, also in heat, it can set off Fiona. Anyway, Fiona was not her usual spitfire self which really sucks at the specialty because I am, as always, so very proud of her and wanted her to show everyone how special she is even with my still learning handling skills on the other end of the lead. That was not to be. Usually she is entirely focused on me, oblivious to anything else. Not this weekend. She was constantly looking around to make sure no large monsters were creeping up on her. She went to sleep as soon as we got home and slept like a rock. This is so unlike her. Saturday and Sunday she was not much better. It just wasn’t her. She did win 4th and then 3rd in her class Friday and Sunday and they were very large classes. Abigail placed 4th but showed only one day. There were over 40 Havanese both days and I think 62 on Saturday.

On Saturday Fiona and Abigail won Best in Brace. I believe this was an event enjoyed by all. I was in the ring and trying to get Fiona to relax while Abigail was trying to jump on Fiona’s head. Keep in mind that when in brace they are supposed to walk demurely, like synchronized twins, calmly and properly. Normally when Abigail jumps on Fiona to play Fiona will immediately jump right back and off they’d rock and roll. But Fiona was having none of it. So when we were in stack position waiting for Deb’s Brace I tried to quietly pick up Fiona and place her on the inside instead of on the outside so I could be closer to her. I was hoping not too many people would notice I was swapping their positions. The swap worked so when we continued walking they were actually pretty good together. I suspect though, from the laughter from the crowd in the background, that everyone in the place saw me swap the dogs.

It was great meeting so many people from across the country. As this was the national specialty held once each year in a different city, this was the first chance Darlah and I had to meet so many of the national breed club members. We had the chance to discuss a lot of things that are of interest and importance to us and should be important to any responsible breeder such as health testing. The Havanese Fanciers of Canada sponsored and ran a BAER clinic on Friday so that anyone that wanted could bring their dogs for this once in a lifetime hearing test requirement. By the end of the day I think the Doctor tested 28 dogs, most being Havanese. Yvonne spent most of the day being the receptionist for the Doctor. I filled in for a few hours. At one point the next dog to arrive was a Bull Terrier. Oh my. If you are not familiar with the breed they are massively muscled, a real powerful breed. Naturally the dog was a total sweetheart. At one point one Havanese puppy got away and went running off into the hotel lobby. Freedom at last she thought. I finally walked her down at the end of a long hotel corridor. Never a dull moment.
HAVANESE RULE!
Nathan