We had a successful weekend in Hamilton with everyone on our string doing something! Thai, the golden, finished his Canadian Championship and picked up 2 BOB's; Bailey, the malamute, finished hers by winning a BOB; Marky Mark, the malamute, picked up points towards his by winning 2 BOB's, but it was Jazz, the golden, who had the banner weekend winning 3 BOB's and a Sporting Group 3rd. Way to go Jazzy!

Man oh man, have I slacked in the blog update department lately. I feel like I am pretty scattered and juggling a few to many balls. I have been traveling to shows with Cassie, Elliott, Beatrice and occasionally even Crystal, quite a bit this spring. In fact, you won't find me at home on weekends and I am very blessed to have my very own Edmund to keep it all running smoothly in my absence. Here are some highlights of our recent shows:

Purina National - Am/Can Ch Spiritrun's Singular Sensation, Cassie, wins Best of Breed all three days over a very competitive entry and goes on to win a Working Group 2 on Saturday night at the Purina National under judge A. Zee and a Working Group 1st on Sunday under judge C. Myers-Egerton. This is a very prestigious show in Canada with an international panel and large, competitive entry, so suffice it to say, it was a thrilling weekend! And miss Beatrice made her show debut at this big overwhelming show and managed to attain her first points. Yay Bea!

American Shows - Ch Spiritrun's Grandstand Man, Elliott, and Cassie have been in the US regularly, too as Elliott is working on completing his AKC Championship. He picked up points in December in Cleveland, a reserve to a major in Connecticut River and then collected both of his majors at Syracuse, leaving him with now only one point needed to complete, we think :-/ Crystal, at 12.5 years old, came with us to Connecticut River Working Dog to compete in Veteran's Sweeps. She came 2nd in her class on the first day and won her class the next. She had a ball!

Just this past weekend we ventured through Algonquin Park to find ourselves in Petawawa for the Champlain shows. Cassie earned a Working Group 4th under judge D. Windsor and Bea worked on her ring skills. We were the only mal entry. Six month old Golden retriever, Thai, was handled by me and won the Puppy Sporting Group on Friday in show #2 and his first points by going WD/BOW/BP on Saturday. Yay Thai!

Sipping my coffee now before bathing the crew for our annual trek to Harrisburg, PA for the Specialties there. Crystal, Elliott, Cassie and Bea are all entered. All I know is I need a bigger van...

Here is our beautiful Cassie at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show 2011!!!!

Congratulations to Annika and Darren for being the proud owners of new Canadian Champion Spiritrun's Hunt for Lucanus, CGN. Lucan finished his championship at the Brandtford show in Dec 2010 under judge Heather Langford. Now Lucan needs some time off to enjoy winter pursuits and to mature a bit.

And we just received confirmation that Cassie, Am/Can CH Spiritrun's Singular Sensation will be the first Spiritrun bitch to grace the floors of Madison Square Garden this February at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. We are so excited!!!

At the Credit Valley Shows, my Standard Wirehair Dachshund client Victory's Mr Magoo, won a Puppy Group under judge Wendy Paquette! He also earned another two points towards his championship!!!

We had a great time as we do when everyone on our "team" comes home successful! Lucan, Spiritrun's Hunt for Lucanus, was BOB Friday and Saturday for another 3 points and Gambit's daughter Sunii, Howlingpines Has Come to Shine, was BOB on Sunday for another 2 points.
Mr Magoo, Pam Meyer's SWD Dachshund whom I had the pleasure to handle for the first time, experienced his first show weekend at 8 months of age, and it was a busy one. In addition to the all-breed regular classes each day, he had a specialty each day, capping it off with the DCC National Specialty and sweeps on Sunday. We had tough competition! The #1 SWD was up from the US to work on his Canadian Championship. He took all the dog points Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the points we available again and Magoo just had to get past his very nice brother in his class. He did, when it counted and he earned his first point at the regular show on Sunday morning. That afternoon, our friend and "team-mate" Jenn Oliver, took the dog points with my first SWD love, Victor, who went WD at the National to finish. Nice!!! Mr Magoo, went RWD which wraps up an awesome weekend and a wonderful start to his show career! It is fun to learn another breed!!!