Good Bloggie!

Below is Cocoa winning her last points to gain her championship. Also added them to her blog entry here:

Huzzah for Cocoa!

We are very proud to announce: a newly, minted AKC Champion! This weekend Cocoa won both days at the Corpus Christi shows earning those last remaining, oh-so-critical points needed to take her to the level of Champion. She earned two points each day, bringing her to 16 points and giving her championship with one point to spare. (She says she wishes she could give that extra point to one of her kids, but can’t be done, darn it!)

She didn’t do it alone. She was in the ring with her handler, Colleen Murphy. Many thanks to Colleen for handling Cocoa at all her winning shows and this weekend. Cocoa had a special prize waiting for Colleen as a thank you gift: a one-of-a-kind, silver pendant engraved with artwork of herself and Colleen on it. (Tried to take a decent photo. More details below.)

Cocoa and pups had another treat in store for them this weekend – playing in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. They thought it was rather big and tasted funny, but soon decided it was quite fun and even venture out into the waves a little. (All on leash, of course.) They especially liked the convenience of having people right there, on the beach. One-stop attention and fun!

And as cliché as it may sound, we always feel we return home from shows with champions, no matter how they place. But this time, it was extremely nice to have a bona-fide AKC Champion softly snoring in the back seat during the long ride home.

Pendant production notes: a talented Anime and storyboard artist, Danielle Braden, did the artwork. The engraving was done by an online jewelry store called Sticky-J’s. While you can’t use Cocoa’s artwork, they can do custom engraving of your design. Simple line drawings with very little dark areas (or fill) work best. Tell Barry we sent you!

Here’s her photo from Saturday’s show when she received Best of Winners.

This weekend Vivian went to an International Show. Was the first time for both her and us. Up till now, she’s always shown at AKC sanctioned shows.

The premise of the show is based on international judges touring the USA instead of you taking your dog overseas or across a border to be judged. You get a written critique of your dog from each judge, based on the breed standard. Then the dogs are judged as a group. Two shows are held each day, so you have two of everything: two Class showings, two Groups, two Best in Show competitions. And unlike an AKC show, puppies never compete against the adults.

The show has many, many levels of championship and showing categories and the titles are in German. It can get a bit confusing trying to figure out what’s what.

Vivian was entered in the Puppy category and earned enough certificate cards to achieve a National Junghund Championat (JHA) title. (That is, if someone remembers to send in the certificates and a check to cover the processing fee.)

The highlight of the show was Sunday when Vivian won Reserve Best Puppy in Show for Show 4! There were some very nice Group puppies she competed against, so we were very happy to see her get this award. She was also entered in the Bred-by Puppy class and won Reserve Best Bred-by Puppy in both Shows 3 and 4.

She came home with some impressive ribbons, medals, and certificates. But her favorite part was the pink, crackly and squeaky octopus toy, and all the attention she got walking around the show. That’s the notice she likes best.

Caveat: Even though the picture states “Best in Show Puppy” the photographer ran out of room for all the plaques and had to leave “Reserve” off. So she’s really Reserve Best in Show Puppy.

Cocoa won a 5-point Major Sunday, March 25 at the Fort Worth shows under judge Dr. Richard Meen! Not only that, she also won Best of Winners! We are ever so proud of her and her handler, Colleen Murphy, for this amazing win.

We are also proud of Cocoa’s daughter Vivian for taking Reserve Winner at the Dallas-Fort Worth Spring Specialty on Friday. She has an impressive ribbon and statue to prove it.

The competition was quite stiff at the Speciality and Fort Worth shows. Many lovely and gorgeous dogs all four days. Which makes us even more appreciative of Cocoa’s win.

We’ll post our girls’ winning pictures once they arrive.

And the snoring? After four days of hotel life and shows, she’s catching up on some missed naps. For the record, Cocoa has a soft, delicate snore. It’s her brother who is the 5-point snoring champ in this house.

What about a 4 point major!?!

We are ever so happy and proud to report, our girl Cocoa took a 4 point major today!

She won 1st in her class (Open), then Winners, then Best of Winners, and finally, Best of Opposite Sex.

Her daughter, Vivian, took Reserve Winner to her win and 1st place for her Puppy Group. Monty came in Second in his Puppy class.

Everyone did very nicely in the ring, especially the handler Colleen Murphy. (She is grace under pressure.) We’d like to thank Judge George J. Heitzman for awarding Cocoa this wonderful major.