2008 Halloween!!!

I thought I'd post some pictures of last years Halloween (although I probably shouldn't since we are reusing costumes this year). My mom is making Lemmie a piggy costume this year so she'll fit in!

Update

Not too much going on lately. 2 weekends ago we were in Dallas visiting friends. Lemon got to take the trip with us and enjoyed her first dose of smothering attention from Chris and I while Jack and Hilga played with my folks for the weekend. We stayed in Diane's apartment in Irving, where Lemon was lavished with tons of attention from neighbors and on walks. Fun weekend for her, but no pictures.

This past weekend we took the moho down to Manhattan for KSU Homecoming. Had lots of fun with friends, and hung out with Chris's sister Danielle. The pups were glad to tag along and enjoyed their first KSU tailgate. Lemon was sporting her purple KSU jersey (she is still small enough to fit into it!), and we loaned her to one of our friends who walked her around and showed her off (i.e. pick up girls). Anyways, fun weekend for everyone! Although a bit crowded in the moho with 3 dogs and 4-11 adults at various points.

We're planning on heading to Springfield to show Lemon November 7th/8th.

BIG CONGRATS TO MURPHY, JEFF, AND DIANE WHO WERE BIG WINNERS IN THE VETERANS SWEEPSTAKES AT GOLDEN NATIONALS YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemon's First Point

We had a really fun weekend showing in Lawrence on Saturday and Sunday. We drove the moho down, and had quite the set-up with Jeff and Diane as our neighbors. Most dog-showers bring x-pens to set up around their moho to keep dogs in. Chris and I decided to go the classy, more flexible route and use green (green is much classier than orange) snow fence. Even after my practice run (done in the Cooper's yard), it was a bit of a challenge to get everything set up to perfection. But, it worked out great! We shoud have taken pictures...

Friday night, the 4 of us did a toast to at least someone getting points on Saturday, which just didn't happen. Between Lemon, Jackson, Fisher and Teazer, no winners at all, even with an overwhelming fan base. (Thanks to mom, dad, Kara, Jim, Rita, Danielle and anyone else I'm forgetting that came out to watch!!) Lemon did get reserve, and she won her puppy class, which meant she went on to puppy group, where she got second. I was convinced by Saturday night she was destined to only take 2nd place for the rest of her life (not that I'm not happy with 2nd place!).

Sunday things got much better. Fisher took Winner's Dog! Lemon got her first point going Winner's Bitch. She was very cute, and is finally stacking and letting the judge check her teeth (big winner in itself!). The judge pretty much said she wanted to put Lemon up for Best of Breed, but she gave Jack the cross-over and put Jackson up as Best of Breed. Jack went on to group, but didn't do anything there placement wise except be very well-behaved and beautiful (minus a very short barking incident).

We are having a few issues with barking in the ring. If you know my dogs, that isn't hard to imagine. It always gets a few laughs when they bark, and I'm trying to convince my dogs they are models, not comedians. It isn't a big deal to bark once or twice, as long as they are cute and not totally distracting. The best bark of the weekend was in puppy group, the judge was making cuts, and said "I'll keep the Bernese", which Lemon followed with a very low, cute bark. Everyone laughed. That I'm okay with. Jackson barking on the down and back during group with the grown up, professionally handled dogs in the ring... not a fan of! But poor Jackson, what can you do when you've got that much personality?

Trust (or lack of)

Chris will occasionally carry Lemon around the house on his shoulder, so I took a few pictures because its cute. Lemon loves it, look how relaxed she is:

Chris thought he would try Hilga as well. She isn't quite as trusting as Lemon is as you can see from the pictures. Ever since she came to live with us, if you do something with her body that she isn't comfortable with, she stiffens up and resists. We call it going into rigor mortis (a little morbid I know). When you try to push her over on the bed, she stiffens her legs and pushes back. When I trim her feet (I flip them over on their backs to trim their feet with their heads in my lap), her legs go totally stiff, straight up in the air. So, we weren't surprised to see her go all rigor mortis when Chris lifted her up on his shoulders.

Chris thought it would help if he walked her around a bit... it didn't:

I challenged Chris that he wouldn't be able to carry Jackson around because he was too big. Chris said that of course he could! I'd like to point out that I was right. Jackson thought he wanted to play too, but I think he realized pretty quickly that he prefers all 4 feet on the ground. I said he was like the fat girl from the Friends episode. She wants to dance on Ross's feet because all the other little girls are doing it, but she weighs to much. So sad... :

Chris sizing up Jackson...

Yep, not gonna happen...