ASCA Obedience Trial Champion Panda!

   I am giddy to hear that Nancy Pantusa, Dallas, TX, and "Panda" have earned their ASCA Obedience Trial Championship!  Officially, "Panda" is now ASCA CH OTCH Ebbtide Your Wish's My Command UD. I couldn't be happier for one of my favorite teams!  Adding more goodness to the Wish Litter by CH Tri-Ivory Make A Big Wish x AKC/ASCA CH Ebbtide Fern. Thanks, Nancy!

ASCA CH OTCH Ebbtide Your Wish's My Command UD

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 ;-)

2009 ASCA NATIONALS - Part 4 : CONFORMATION

If you're getting tired reading about the 2009 ASCA Nationals, just think how it was to BE THERE!?!
Not that it wasn't enjoyable....
Which brings us to the actual Nationals Conformation competition. First shown was EBBTIDE FENNEL HILL CD in ALTERED OPEN BLACK DOGS - FIRST PLACE and WINNERS DOG!! Again. That's right - it's been almost a year since I had the pleasure of showing him at the Las Vegas ASCA Nationals (where he won the same award). It took us 3 tries in Greeley to get back on our game, but, happily, it came together on Wednesday ;-) By the way, he is now called ALTERED CHAMPION EBBTIDE FENNEL HILL CD ! Nice way to finish a championship!
Next up on Wednesday (after Spencer's awesome Novice B win), was the BROOD BITCH class. EBBTIDE MADAM PRESIDENT CD "Maddie" at 11 years young, WON THIRD PLACE with those over-achieving offspring of hers: CH. SPENCER CD, A-CH FENNEL CD and A-CH GOTCHA CD! It was icing on the cake to look down at those pretty faces and realize all 3 had made a significant win in the Obedience ring the past 2 days!
That was Wednesdays Nationals results...let me catch my breath....
Thursday, EBBTIDE AS YOU WISH "Cali" made a beautiful showing in the BRED BY EXHIBITOR BITCH class, but failed to make a placement. We're not calling it a failure, thanks to our many long-time breeder peers who complimented us on her showing that day. Thank very much to all of you for taking time to give us a thumbs up. It was appreciated.
Friday: EBBTIDE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH "JJ" and I got our game on and were thrilled to win the BRED BY EXHIBITOR DOG class! We missed some of our old cronies in there (but wait: maybe we wouldn't have won...!). What an honor to win that class at Nationals! Later that day we returned to the Winners Dog class and got sooo close, ahhh, oh well - we're happy, too, with RESERVE WINNERS DOG! Yes, the old handler, surrounded by the young, quick and wrinkle-free (I'm not talking dogs here) dug deep and trotted soundly (again: not talking dogs) with that amazingly huggable JJ to the bridesmaid (best man? I need oxygen to think) spot. Yes - oxygen: Did you know Greeley, CO elevation is 4, 860 feet? Did you know Cloverdale, CA is 800? Yes. Yes, I should win an award for not dying. Thank you. But, enough about me...
There was more Friday: JJ's cute cute CUTE (and sound) little sister, EBBTIDE YOUR WISH'S MY COMMAND "Panda" (you know: from Texas) made the final cut and unofficially won 6th place in OPEN BLACK BITCH. There were, like, 20 in that class. Nice job, Nancy & Panda! And just 20 months old and still growing hair ;-)
Which now brings us (thank God) to the very last day, Saturday, and Best of Breed. 193 Special Dogs?!?! We were pleased that CH EBBTIDE FINE FELLOW CD "Spencer"made the first cut. It was brutal out there ;-) Congrats to our fellow Northern California buddies, Maddie Ruble and her crew, AND longtime friends Cathy & Alan McCorkle for their BEST OF BREED win with CH Heatherhill Dazzle Park Laine.
Time to go home. Believe me, there are many more stories to tell...but I'm beat!

2009 ASCA Nationals Greeley, Colorado, Part 1

Seven Ebbtide dogs made the trek to Greeley, Colorado for the ASCA National Specialty to compete in conformation and obedience. From Northern California came:

• A-CH Ebbtide Gonna Getcha CD CD RN CD JSN GSN RSN "Gotcha"


• CH Ebbtide Fine Fellow CD (AKC) "Spencer"


• Ebbtide Fennel Hill CD "Fennel"


• Ebbtide As You Wish "Cali"


• Ebbtide Careful What You Wish "JJ"


• Ebbtide Madam President CD "Maddie"

And our Dallas, Texas buddy drove up (with her crew, Nancy, Cathy & Flirt):

• Ebbtide Your Wish's My Command "Panda"

We opened at the first Pre-Show (Saturday's ASC of Utah show) where Panda and her owner/handler, Nancy Pantusa, started things off with a really nice 3rd place win in Open Black Bitches (18 in this class). The "Wish" litter is 20 months old. A very nice win. At the 2nd Pre-Show, I suggested I show her (you know - the Expert helping the Non-expert). Panda & I got nothing. Ok. Next day Nancy shows Panda and gets 4th Place Open Black Bitches. So much for the so-called Expert... Way to go, Nancy and Panda!!! You two rock!

Panda's Best of Winners Photo!

Here's the as-promised photo of Panda (EBBTIDE YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND) as she won the 5 point major at the New Hope ASC ASCA show in Texas on June 13, 2009. Owner/handler Nancy Pantusa had remarked she was naked (errr, that's neked in Texas): The win photo seems to support this allegation...thanks to judge Anne Shope for seeing past the lack of hair. Lookout when she gets her hair back!
Congratulations again to Nancy & Panda! We are proud of you two!

Panda Does A Michael Phelps: Swims Great AND WINS BIG

That little black bundle of energy, cuteness and correctness, "Panda" (Ebbtide Your Wish Is My Command) wowed them in College Station, Texas today! Team Ebbtide -Texas Coordinator, Cathy Franklin, called ASAP after the Winners Bitch class at the New Hope ASCA show : Ms. Panda did, indeed, win First Place in a stellar 12-18 Months class, and then waltzed out of Winners Bitch with either a 4 or 5 point Major! The Coordinator wasn't sure of the exact number of points -she has now been schooled on such important matters. Incredibly talented owner/trainer/Senior Handler Nancy Pantusa showed those Junior Handlers how it's done and trotted Miss P again to a BEST OF WINNERS award in the Best of Breed class. Yee haw! Panda is a member of the WISH Litter, by CH Tri-Ivory Make A Big Wish and out of CH. Ebbtide Fern. Again, we weren't sure how many points Panda earned today, but they assure me it was 4 or 5 points. I'm still waiting for the exact number, Cathy & Nancy... and the Win Photo!

Update: Nancy says it was a 5 Point Major !!!!

In lieu of that, I offer the most recent photos of Panda and her Team, that I have:

In this photo, above, left to right: Trish, Panda, Cathy, Flirt. Not sure what they did with Nancy - oh, I remember: Nancy and I were off on a plant hunt at this incredible nursery http://www.wildseedfarms.com/ on our first leg of the Awesome Texas Vacation. Trish, Cathy & Susan (the photographer) were a bit bored and took photos while the gardeners in the group ooohed and ahhhed at plants. Back to Panda: Isn't she just beautiful? And her BFF, Flirt, who is also an Honorary Ebbtide dog. We love you, Flirty.

Once we arrived at The Ranch (look for a future blog about this), Panda, Nancy and I strolled down to Ebbtide Creek:

Nancy snapping off the leash at the creek. FYI: It was soda in the cup.

First Panda got her feet wet...

Then, below, she's doing the famous Fern-Bubble-Blowing-In-Water Trick (I didn't know that was an inherited trait):

Then she just went for a swim. Nancy says this was the first time she'd ever been in water:


Below: Panda NOT drowning (relax, Nancy):

Then she went back up to the creekbed where she decided to submerge her head:

THEN she decided to submerge her entire BODY! That black spot in the water, lower right, just above the rock wall, is Panda:

Turns out, she was rolling under water, in algae. Nice, Panda.

When she came up, she looked like this:

Here's hoping Nancy and Cathy send today's win photo soon, so we can see a pretty Panda!

A HUGE congrats to Nancy, Panda and many thanks to Cathy, Team Ebbtide Assistant #5 !