On Sunday we are taking our little girl, Morgan, to her first dog show. She is only entered in the unofficial 4 - 6 month puppy class, so it’s just fun and practice. Fingers crossed she has the best time, we want her to love going to dog shows.
We also wanted to ask our friends and readers to follow our Facebook page, Winterberry.Collies, for additional updates.
I’ll update with videos and pictures of Morgan Le Fay, Winterberry’s Spellbound By The Storm, at her first show as soon as I can…
On Thursdays, in the world of bloggers, we often post about things we are Thankful for each week. And this week, I have a lot to be thankful for! Yesterday we took ZuZu for her ultrasound, and the veterinarian gave us 8, possibly 9, reasons to be thankful! She thinks our ZuZu may be having 8 - 9 collie puppies!
Of course ultrasounds are not totally reliable, so we won’t know for certain until the puppies arrive. But what we do know, ZuZu has a nice-sized litter, and they have nice strong heartbeats! You can see the tiny heart beating in this video.
They aren’t due until Christmas Eve, so we have 5 weeks to go. We will keep everyone updated, but please send ZuZu and her puppies all your good thoughts and prayers for an easy whelping and for a healthy Mom and puppies!
Another reason we are thankful, Nolan received some mail this week. With all the winning he has done so far, Nolan earned this “Puppy of Achievement” certificate from the AKC. This program was created by the AKC to encourage puppy owners to begin practicing in the conformation ring, to socialize and prepare their puppies to begin competing in conformation shows once the puppy turns six months old. As the 4 - 6 month puppy class does not award actual points towards earning a championship, this certificate is sent to honor and acknowledge the puppy’s wins in those classes, as well as any points they win before they turn a year old. It’s a nice certificate to receive for Nolan’s wins, and we added it to our Winterberry Collies scrapbook. Our puppy, Morgan, will be going to her 1st dog show this weekend. She will be competing in the 4 - 6 month puppy class. Hopefully she will come home with a bit of ribbon, but even more importantly, we are hoping she has a lot of fun. We want her to think dog shows are awesome, and hope she gets a chance to shine.
Last weekend Addison and I did our very first educational session as AKC Canine Ambassadors! The AKC Canine Ambassadors Program is a network of volunteers who make presentations to children on various topics related to purebred dogs. The presentations can be done in classrooms, libraries, after-school programs, and at Girl/Boy Scouts meetings. We attended a local Girl Scout Troop meeting, run by my friend, Cheryl Lastomirsky Adkins. Cheryl and I were Girl Scouts together, a very long time ago, so when I was deciding where Addison and I should go, she was the first person I reached out to about scheduling a visit. Addison and I educated the girls on a few dog related topics, there were so many great resources provided by the AKC it was hard to narrow it down!
We started the presentation by talking about responsible pet ownership. We discussed how to approach a dog safely, how to properly care for a dog, including understanding their needs and respecting their boundaries. Addi helped me show the girls how many dogs prefer to receive pets on their body vs their head, and the girls took turns politely greeting Addison.
Then we discussed the different types of jobs/tasks that dogs can be trained to perform, including dogs who are working service dogs, therapy dogs and emotional support dogs. We also focused on the importance of asking permission to approach someone’s dog, and all the reasons why people should not distract or approach a service dog.
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| Addison posing with troop leader, Natalie |
We moved on to the different types of purebred dogs, and how all purebred dogs are divided into seven major groups. We briefly spoke about dog shows, and I let them know they could watch all the groups being judged on TV following the Thanksgiving Day Parade. I then moved on to the fun sports they could try with their dogs, and how to become a junior handler to compete with their own purebred dogs.
We did a question and answer period, and the girls were quizzed on the topics we discussed. The troop leaders handed out Addison’s stickers and trading cards to the girls who answered the questions correctly. They all loved Addi, and all the girls earned new badges through the education we provided. We had many wonderful AKC handouts, including coloring books about responsible dog ownership, pet fire safety, and many other topics. I had also printed out pamphlets from the Collie Club of America, to educate about the amazing collie breed. The girls and their families took home everything we had available. It was a wonderful experience, and I’m so happy we were able to do our first presentation as AKC Canine Ambassadors with the Girl Scouts!
It made me smile to hear the girls talking about how they wanted a collie that was just like Addison! Addi was the perfect collie ambassador, and the girls loved her. They even invited us to come Christmas caroling with them next month at our local nursing homes. If you have a purebred dog, and are looking for a way to help promote the breed and/or responsible dog ownership, I can’t recommend this program enough!
Last weekend’s dog show was a huge success. Puppy Nolan won Winners Dog, Best of Winners and Best of Variety over the specials on Friday. This gave him 2 more points towards his championship, and a total of 7 points. Then on Saturday he once again won Winners Dog, Best of Winners and Best of Variety over the specials for a 5 point major! This was his 1st major, and brought his total points to 12. He just needs one more major, or 3 points, to become a champion. We are so proud of him for earning those points so quickly, and for never being defeated. We decided to hold off entering him in any other shows until the National, so he can compete for Winners Dog.
On Friday my daughter also handled Nolan’s sire, Noah. Noah is already a champion, but is a few points away from earning his Grand Championship. He also won Best of Variety! It was very exciting seeing Father and Son win both Best of Variety Smooth and Best of Variety Rough at the same show, both handled by my daughter.
Noah is such a beautiful collie, and we recently bred our ZuZu to him. It’s way too soon to know if she is pregnant, but we are hopeful that the breeding will produce some beautiful puppies with their parents sweet temperaments.
As Noah is a rough blue merle and ZuZi is a smooth tri color, we could have both roughs and smooths, blues and tris, in the litter.
We can’t wait for ZuZu’s ultrasound in mid November, to see if she’s expecting. So please make sure to check back for updates!
