Fern: Working on her ASCA Championship

AKC CH EBBTIDE FERN has been busy earning TWO 5-POINT MAJORS on her way to becoming an ASCA Champion. The first was at the PASA show in March.



She repeated the win in April at the big Delta ASF show in Turlock:


Way to go, Fern!

NEW ASCA CHAMPION! Miss Panda P.

HUGE congratulations to Nancy Pantusa, Dallas, Texas, and that adorable "Panda", EBBTIDE YOUR WISH'S MY COMMAND on completing Panda's ASCA CHAMPIONSHIP! This outstanding team won FOUR MAJORS (2 Five-Point majors and 2 Three-Point majors) to finish! (In dog show speak - that's "really good" ;-)


photo by 2MC Design

Nancy very capably owner/handled Panda all the way through, with the able assistance (?!) of BFF Cathy Franklin. Thanks, Cathy! And Cathy's husband Mark, who sometimes drove them around Texas. It's a big state, y'all.

Panda and Nancy will be back in the conformation ring to work on her AKC Championship in July. We're hoping there are more judges like Becci Maloney, pictured, who said "She never put a foot down wrong".

And did I mention Panda has been showing some nice herding talent - something brand new for Nancy to spend her money on. This little black tri girl has talent, no doubt about it.
Just like her brother, JJ ;-)

GO BIG OR GO HOME

Who else? A-CH EBBTIDE GONNA GETCHA CDX RA GSN JSN RSN "Gotcha"!
shown at the NorCal ASC/TRACS AKC Agility trial: 2nd PLACE NOVICE JUMPERS and 2nd PLACE OPEN B OBEDIENCE. Gotcha earned her first legs in each of these classes! Congrats to Owner/trainer/handler Susan Gore and co-owner Trish Maddan (and me!).
Love, love, love this photo!

It's April 15...this must be the blog post for...JANUARY 31st, 2010

Raise your hand if you think I do all this dog stuff for the thrill of the big prizes, fame, glory, professional photographs and nice suits with pockets (stuffed with liver treats)?

Judge Klaus Anselm, and "Cali" Ebbtide As You Wish with me handling. Miss Cali won BEST OF BREED BRED BY EXHIBITOR, AND FIRST PLACE IN THE HERDING GROUP BRED BY EXHIBITOR COMPETITION at Golden Gate KC 2010 show.

Ooops - she also won WINNERS BITCH and 2 points toward her AKC championship that day! Cali is owned by Judi Scherrer and yours truly. We are a great team!

Back to my question: The answer - Hell NO!

I do it for FUN! And this was, quite possibly, the most fun I'd had EVER! You see, I never went to a summer camp as a kid...sniff...but I camped, alrighty! YOU bet - with my parents and 4 sisters and our little trailer all over the USA. It was great! But never a CAMP CAMP...you know: two weeks away from your parents, matching t shirts, and other stuff I'm not quite sure of...But I realized the people who've recently (past 5 years, I'd say) bought some Ebbtide dogs and go to dog shows with me, and all our shenanigans, could qualify as an All Year Long Summer Camp. So that was part of my inspiration. Then I saw THIS:

Michael Miller is an exciting fabric manufacturer - you can check them out here: http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/MMF/Swatch.cfm?&Kwds=flowers

They designed this display for a fabric show (FABRIC show?! who knew?). Of course, the teardrop trailer caught my eye, but it was the sign that set things in motion.

After about 10 hours working on my own Camp Ebbtide handmade sign (you think I'm kidding?!) , purchasing 6 Coleman doggie sleeping bags, bribing family members to take the kayaks to the lake (during one of the rainiest months on record),

sing around a campfire (between rain storms)

and make s'mores (during a clearing),

we were able to create our own CAMP EBBTIDE (in the dry indoors):

Yes, those ARE doggy-sized pillows and pillowcases with the doggy-sized sleeping bags! omg.

We need to add the stars of the show - on the right side:

Cali, Spencer, Beau and JJ (left to right, above)

Add 5 Aussies and one "honorary Aussie" and you get the totally completed Ebbtide bench:

Jack the Sheltie, Gotcha, Cali, Spencer and Beau (JJ didn't fit in this shot)

Yes, that IS log cabin wallpaper behind the dogs. No, smarty pants, I did NOT have to Overnight Shipping to get it here. Or anything else I ordered this year - THAT is a BIG WIN!

What did we win? Who cares! We looked AWESOME and we had a BLAST!! Isn't that what matters???

More results next post! But a clue: Gotcha and Fennel win in Obedience, Beau is undefeated, JJ learns humility and Spencer and Jack have fun, no matter what!

It Started Out Innocently Enough...

Lots of rain and a couple of days of sunshine and POP: Spring has sprung!

A request from my partner-in-crafts-crime (AnnC) for a couple of vases of flowers for her school library, led to this:

The Crayon Vase - really easy! With flowers from my garden.

Then JJ and Fern came over to help with the photos - a nice addition to the arrangements, I'd say ;-)

Close up of the Marker Pen arrangement:

Then I took this lovely photo of JJ and the Marker Pen Vase. But I forgot I had found a dead hummingbird on the pool deck and set it on the chair...

Did I say dead? I mean sleeping hummmingbird... poor guy

I don't think it was Ed the Cat..found on the opposite side of the hummingbird..err pool.

He has himself a comfy bed of dead Pennisetum 'Red Bunny Tails'.

Note to self: PRUNE those NOW) . But I DO like the chair with the dead morning glory on it, too...this photo should be a sepia or black & white.

The Sheep aren't saying a word... They are just wondering when Ann will get back to the Round Pen building and JJ and Fern will be out to "take them for a spin". Sort of an Aussie joy ride.

Happy 2nd Birthday WISH Litter!

They are officially Grown-Up Dogs now: JJ, Cali, Panda, Beau, Emmy, Capri, Dash, Dottie, Tim & Izzy! Please send some current photos to share here. This litter continues to impress me with their steady temperaments, desire to please, work ethic, athleticism and talent. Not to mention their good looks and soundness. There is no doubt his litter will put Fern in the ROMX records. Thanks to all the owners who are training and competing with their best friends. Age two brings another milestone: time to get those hips & elbows xrayed and submitted to OFA. About time for the yearly eye check, too. Send me all the results, please.

We wish one-half of the credit for this great litter was still here to enjoy: BIS CH Tri-Ivory Make A Big Wish. "Biggie" passed away in December. I enjoyed every minute of his stay here back in December 2007 when I brought him here for the breeding. The whole family fell in love with his easy going, calm and gentle manner. A perfect doggie house guest.

Here's a photo of Biggie I took during that stay:

We'll miss you, Biggie.

I guess we should give thanks to the mom, too ;-)

CH. Ebbtide Fern

Here's some fun photos of the litter at 6 weeks of age, their first time out in the big dog yard:

Poor Dash (L) worried about silly grandma Maddie. Fern standing over Beau (on his back) and JJ. Somebody blue sneaking a snack under Fern.

A game of tug: Capri (L) perhaps Dottie behind her, then Beau, Fern and JJ.

Above: Capri and Dottie

Cali

Panda with a leaf, Beau

A Great Way to Start 2010!

OR..WHERE GOTCHA EARNS HER CDX!

Happy 2010! We are happy to report that
A-CH Ebbtide Gonna Getcha CDX RA GSN JSN RSN "Gotcha"
has earned her AKC Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) obedience title!

But, not so fast: Not just EARNED... she and her super-focused owner/handler, Susan Gore, blew the competition away with TWO FIRST PLACES and a Highest Scoring Herding Group award. The score? The scores for the first places were a 197 and a 198!! She finished with a 195+ (NICE! Won part of a run-off!) and a 4th place!

Which is okay: Ebbtide is all about not being greedy ;-). That 195+/ 4th place? That was in the same day she earned a 198! OH. And did I mention there were 26 dogs in her class! What's that sizzling sound I hear? Oh yeah: Smokin' Gotcha ;-)

Thanks also go to Gotcha's other co-owner, Trish Maddan, who always is there to help and support Team Gotcha. And videotape. You'll notice I don't have it here...yet. Stay tuned: Trish says she has a DVD of the winning performance for me. I'll add it here later.

Doggy mom, Maddie, is proud of her Obedience Star!


Since I don't have a new Obedience photo of Gotcha - how about an old one of her as a baby puppy trying to steal the ball from big sister Fern?

I didn't think you'd mind ...