We made it home without incident, but I am so sad it's over. My first Cardigan Nationals was a tremendous joy for me! I got to hug, shake hands, and have great conversation with some new folks, and some that I've "known" via email or FB. Emily Fish, Emily Rose, Rus & Sherilyn Mumme, Cathy Ochs-Cline, JoAnne & Ferris Beashau, Dayl Phillips, Yolanda Loveland, Shelley Camm, Laura Marrocco, Jennifer Roberson, Sue Buxton...and the list goes on and on! I know I'm not listing every single person, so forgive me if I have excluded you.
We made it in Monday afternoon and set up the RV. My husband, John and youngest daughter Jordyn made the trip too. Tuesday evening was my favorite...we were all dressed up, the dogs looked fantastic...Congratulations to Lisa Phillips and Isabella, who won the Megan! Ferris & her beautiful girl winning Best Black Bitch, and Sherri & Powell taking Best Black Dog. I showed Peabody, CH McLea's FullMoon Mr Peabody in the blue dogs class but didn't make the cut. My friend, Shelly Shirey did make the blue dog cut with her boy, Jazz!
Wednesday was Puppy Sweepstakes. My tri puppy boy Trace was entered in this very competitive group of babies. He didn't make the cut, but I was so proud of the way he showed! He was great out there! Thursday was the regular dog classes, judged by Jonathan Kimes. Trace again showed his little heart out in 9-12 month puppy dogs, and out of this large class of 22, he made the cut down to 7! No ribbons, but I was so very proud that Jon pulled us and even more proud of my boy! He'll be moving into the bred by classes very soon.
On Friday, it was the bitches' turn. Willow was entered in Open, but didn't make a cut. Hopefully, she will have puppies in her future since she was coming into season this week and should be bred this week...watch for those updates! Later in the day, my oldest daughter Kassi arrived. She caught a ride with Lauren (Sherri Hurst's assistant) out of Oklahoma City/Edmond. Thanks again Lauren!
Saturday was very exciting...Juniors & Best of Breed competition. We didn't enter Kassi in Juniors because we didn't know until later that she would be able to come up. But we enjoyed watching, and congratulate Johnathan Grieg for his exceptional Junior handling!
CH Pawcific Secret Wish aka Secret showed in one of the many groups of Champions for Best of Breed. Although she didn't make the cuts, we couldn't be more pleased to own her and cheer her along. Emily Fish...I can't thank you enough for keeping me patient, waiting for her to mature, and she will only get better from here.
Best of Breed was chosen out of the Veteran's class, which is confirming that Cardigans as a breed whole are slow to mature and only get better with age. I'm not familiar with the bitch that won, but did get to meet and later sit & chat with her owner at the banquet on Saturday night.
The banquet...what a good time! Wine tasting, and then a beautiful meal, followed by the raffle and auctions. I bought myself a BOOSTER BATH! I loved using them this week and decided to take one home! I need to raise it up about 2 feet so I'm still not bending over, but loving it otherwise! Oh, and between Kyle Randall and I, we took about 1000 photos! I'll post the links for the best ones later...there are some good ones and I hope to share them with those of you in them!
The memories that we have will last a long time. And we have hopes of making the trip to Pennsylvania next year. If we don't make 2010, you will surely see us in Houston in 2011!
THANKS to everyone for such an enjoyable time. I am so glad I was there!
5 months ago
