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 ...

Christmas, 2009

Here's wishing a wonderful holiday season to all our friends, human and canine. I decided today's overcast weather was a sign that I needed to take the camera outside and take a Christmas photo. With a pocket of dog cookies, the trusty camera, and a cursory brushing of all four dogs, we took a little walk around the property to find a good background for the photos. I (and the robins) have been admiring the red berries on our native Toyon. Unlike the robins, I don't flutter around noisily and eat them. Actually, I don't generally flutter anywhere. But I'm glad the robins didn't eat all the berries:

Back row: JJ (Ebbtide Careful What You Wish) & CH Ebbtide Fern
Front row: Ebbtide Turbo & Maddie (Ebbtide Madam President CD)

We headed farther up the hill, into the sheep pen, where I set Turbo on a mossy rock I had admired earlier this week. I'm wondering if I can get the tractor to it and relocate it in to my garden. I love mossy rocks. Some of those bare branches may be poison oak, I realized AFTER I tried to move one out of the way. I have been known to develop a "skin allergy" to poison oak. WebMD reports "Serious symptoms may include: Swelling of the face, mouth, neck, genitals, or eyelids (which may prevent the eyes from opening). Widespread, large blisters that ooze large amounts of fluid." Hmm. Been there, done that as a child. I'm confident (overly?) I will enjoy an itch-free holiday season, and think the risk was well worth this engaging photo:

We'll see...Left to right: Maddie, Fern, Turbo and JJ.

And I'd be disappointing my one loyal reader if I left out yet another cute photo of the J Man:

"JJ" - Ebbtide Careful What You Wish

Or his very beautiful mom:

CH Ebbtide Fern

But all is not Sweetness and Light in the holiday season here. Once, last year, there was a vicious attack on an unsuspecting cowgirl ornament. Her boots, and sadly, her entire feet! were dismembered. I was too late to save them for surgical re-attachment. Save them: I couldn't even FIND them. I fear they were..gulp...eaten. Not too worry: Being the tough cowgirl she is, she hangs today on the Christmas tree, with nary a discouraging word:

Look Ma: No feet!!

Did I mention there was great sentimental value attached to this cowgirl ornament? But, I, too must suck it up and not be brought down by this seemingly completely unprovoked attack. The worst part: The suspect in this dismembering, was, shockingly, JJ!! Yes, reader, that same JJ whom I constantly shower with undying love and accolades. I had attributed this lone attack to media-induced, credit card holiday stress (that and the fact he was 10 months old). I could not, with all my heart, fairly judge JJ too harshly. Could you? Of course you could not.


Which is why it pains me to show you this photograph of The 2009 Attack of The Christmas Tree Ornament: Warning: Extremely Graphic! Due to extremely graphic nature of photo, only those 18+ years may view the following:






Oh no, Mr. Bill Soldier! One of Mr. Husband's Favorite Vintage Ornaments. From His Grandma. There was mention of "handmade". crap. And who were the only dogs in the house when this happened? Turbo and....gasp.... JJ.
I know. You are just as shocked and saddened as I am about this random act of violence by JJ. I told my husband: "I can fix that!" Hot glue the dismembered hand: Can do. Hot glue the Hat back to the head and attach the bill back on the hat: Can Do. Buy another 1" Styrofoam ball and paint brown hair and a face on Mr Soldier: Can do. Allow JJ access to the Christmas tree when un-chaperoned: No Can Do.
Will I ever be able to look at JJ the same after this second mauling. Yes (I never liked that soldier, anyway. I never liked the look on his face...well, I guess you can't tell any more..). Perhaps I'll grow to like Mr. Soldier after his face reconstruction :-)

What does Maddie think of JJ and his "transgressions":

One can hardly blame her.