Friday, July 16, 2010

Jackson's Website

Now that Jackson has his RN, CGC and hopefully soon, his CH, he has a website on his breeder's page. Dawn made a beautiful page for him at: http://www.classiquebmd.com/Jackson.html.

For other news... I've started working on the 2009 blog to photo book project. It is actually REALLY easy with Booksmart, a program that you can download from one of the photobook webpages. Looks like the "scrapbook" goal may be met after all!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Exciting Weekend--Jackson Achieves His Goal!

Jackson finally achieved his goal this weekend. He got to take a nap above-the-cab with his papa. But more on that later.

Jackson and I also achieved another, less significant goal (in Jackson's mind at least). Jackson got his second major this weekend. That means he only needs one more minor point to finish his championship. Then he will be: CH Classique's Original Moonwalker RN, CGC. We've been saving the last minor point in case a major fell through at some show, so hopefully it won't be too tough to put that last point on him. It will, however, be bitter sweet, as I will really miss showing him in conformation. But, it will be on to focus our minds towards the versatility title.

Lemon also had a great weekend. Her temperment is just as sweet as can be, and the judge's love her for it. Everytime they come back over the top of her body, she is craning her neck back, face in the air, body wagging like crazy with happiness. The judge on Friday gave her a kiss on the nose he thought she was so cute. In addition to being a bundle of sweetness, she also is becoming a nice conformation girl. On Sunday she took the major reserve, a nice compliment when she is amongst a group of lovely bitches.

Congratulations to Mike and Orvis who recieved points on Friday! To Dawn and Patsy who recieved points on Friday! To Gary, Penny and Spencer who took a major (and on a puppy!) on Saturday. And to Layal, who finished Liesel this weekend by taking both majors Saturday and Sunday. The Berner group is great. Supportive and fun. We were thrilled to meet a few new faces this weekend, and had a great time bbqing out with everyone.

On Sunday, the atmosphere was somewhat special...for me of course as Jackson got the major, but I think for everyone there. There was quite a crowd of Berner people, being that 26 Berners were entered. But the crowd grew even larger. The Berners were the last group in the ring before lunch, and all the other rings finished before us. Everyone in the building had kind of migrated that way. When Jackson took the boy's major, a big cheer went up. It gave me goosebumps, and made the judge jump a little, but it was such a nice reaction from our Berner friends. When Layal took the girl's major (and Lemon reserve), another big cheer went up and the judge turned and addressed the crowd, commenting on how nice the selection of Berners was at this show.

When we all went into breed, she went over the specials and addressed the crowd again, commenting on how nice the dogs were. The big group of spectators was cheering. I haven't seen that kind of thing before at a show, so I was glad we got to be a part of it in addition to getting the major.

To explain the photos below... We didn't take any photos of the dog show, oops. But we did get evidence of Jackson's weekend highlight (not the major). Ever since Chris and I started sleeping above the cab (less dog hair), Jackson has also wanted to sleep above the cab. He is somewhat indignant/pathetic that he has to sleep either on the dinette benches, the floor or one of the two twin beds in the back. So he stands on the dinette with his feet on the bed over-the-cab silently pleading to be allowed to sleep with us rather than suffer such a trauma as to be forced to sleep in one of the other options. We have pretty much ignored these pleas for compassion...until Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, while Jackson stood with his hind legs on the dinette, trying to climb into the bed above-the-cab (no way he could get up there on his own, poor guy) I promised him that if he won the major, he could go up there. Well, he didn't win the major. But he was beautiful and expressive and tried his darndest, so Saturday afternoon he was allowed to climb up in the cab and take a nap with his papa. A good lesson in enjoying the smaller pleasures in life. It may have been my favorite part of the weekend as well, as it was about the happiest, most content he has ever been. And...I guess the restful slumber did him well as he went on to win the major on Sunday.


My two favorite boys:









Everyone was very tired after a long Saturday:




This isn't actually from the weekend, but I thought it was a super cute photo of my girls, snuggled up together: