Heeeeeeeerrre's Puppies

1 am Sept 13: The puppies are here...or some are here and more are on the way...
And Cali is being a good mom, despite the scare she gave me when the first pup yelped when I rubbed it vigorously, and Cali tried to leave the room. Really, I can see the value in that (I have a teenager, remember?)... so I could hardly hold it against her...joking, Marshall, joking.
I need to give Marshall credit right now for stepping in to help. He was a good midwife (?) while I was hustling up more blankets, towels, etc. I sent him off to bed after Puppy #3 and it was past midnight. So here I am in the laundry room with my laptop on the dryer, folding chair, lots of towels and yummy blueberry frozen yogurt (Thanks to Marshall for that, TOO! His new job at the Yogurt Shop..mmm).
We're up to 6 pups at 2am (pup #1 at 10:45 pm). The score at the 6th inning is Girls 4 Boys 2. A few too many mismarks for me to be jubilant...but these things happen sometimes. We'll see what the final score turns out to be...She seems to be taking a slow and easy approach to this job. Maybe I'll go sit in my folding chair now and snooze a bit.
NOT! #7 A Plain Jane black tri girl (no white collar, tiny blaze & a snip!) just arrived (2:15 am). I don't understand why we just can't have moderate white on ALL the pups, instead of LOTS of white of some and almost none on others...lol...Go figure...
New Score: Girls 5 Boys 2.

FINAL SCORE: 5 girls (3 blue merles, 2 black tris) and 2 boys (black tri males). And now I will FINALLY go to bed (it's 10:30 am): Back from the xray at the vets, Cali has eaten, pups are quiet.

The lovely sire of this litter? CH Calais Carolina Vintage T-Bird "Vinnie". Thanks, Vinnie, for the pretty puppies!

The Waiting Game...

Which dog is pregnant below?

That's CH Fern on the left and her daughter, Cali (Ebbtide As You Wish) on the right. Cali is due to have a litter of pups very soon.

"Hi. I'm Cali. And I seem to be having some sort of hormonal/hot flash thing going on."
Pant. pant pant.
Or is it pre-labor? Stay tuned...

Still smiling?

Lost Coast Kennel Club Show, Ferndale, CA

Three and a half hours north of our home is where you can "find" The Lost Coast

WHERE else would Fern go for the Fourth of July weekend, except Ferndale? She went to cheer on her son, JJ, at the Lost Coast Kennel Club shows: JJ (EBBTIDE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH) wins three Firsts, WINNERS DOG for 1 point and Reserve Winners Dog (bridesmaid - no points). That puts JJ at 13 points, 2 majors in AKC. He is in his "summer clothes" (read: shedding ALOT), so I'm not sure when his next outing will be...

I'm calling this JJ's Lost Coast KC win photo ...

In obedience, Fern's brother, ASCA A-CH EBBTIDE FENNEL HILL CD (ASCA CDX) "FENNEL" competes in Open A , winning SECOND PLACE and EARNS HIS AKC CDX TITLE! Sunday, he had a lovely work for FIRST PLACE with a 196! Congratulations to Fennel and owner/trainer/handler Laurie Rubin!

Fennel, Laurie & judge, 1st Place Open A

We watched and encouraged new Aussie exhibitor Teresa King & Rainedance Ticket To Mischief "Emmit" (he's related to the Ebbtide "G" Litter ;-) in Rally Novice A. They won a first place on Saturday and qualified both days. Yay Teresa, Emmit & RJ! Teresa has inspired me to get hoppin' with Fern in Rally.

We had an afternoon show-time on Sunday, so the dogs and I went exploring in the morning. Here's what we found:

An old barn in a beautiful spot...there are LOTS of beautiful spots

A beautiful Brown Swiss heifer in a field on the outskirts of Ferndale. This breed produces a high percentage of butterfat in their milk. In the 1800's, the prosperous dairy industry provided the economic base for Ferndale and cattle like this provided an abundance of milk: They can be thanked for their part in Ferndale's splendidly ornate buildings, known as 'Butterfat Palaces".

Ferndale Victorian homes


Back on the Lost Coast: Ranch AND Ocean view and cooling breezes...I could live there...

Fern and JJ pretend they are models

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!