Last year at this time we were crossing our fingers and praying that the weather would be warm enough for Argus to fly with us to NYC for the Westminster Dog Show (it was and he did). This year I'll be watching it on TV, along with millions of others, many of them not "dog people", just dog lovers who enjoy watching the show every year. Westminster is now sponsored by Purina/Pro Plan rather than Pedigree, so the ads will hopefully be geared more towards purebreds and responsible breeders rather than the "rescue a mutt from a shelter" mentality.
My Westminster Tradition is to spend the two evenings at my mother's since I don't have cable or satellite. I provide dinner one night (usually Davani's pizza) and she supplies it for the second night - this year it will include a homemade pie from her freezer. Not sure mom will stay awake for the show each night, but she does enjoy the tradition. I'll be rooting for "London", the Standard Poodle who won Eukanuba, but really like the Affenpinscher "Banana Joe" too.
With Weather & Letty already in season, Jess's Meribel came in too - seems early for all three girls so it must be the weird rather. The timing is good though as it will not screw screw them up for the spring specialties. I was bumming that everyone was in season except for Lucy, who we want to breed . . . And then I got an email from Patti to advise me that Lucy had just come in too! Argh. So next week I will drive up to Duluth to meet Patti who will drive down from Thunder Bay, and Lucy will stay with me until she is ready to be bred. We'll get her brucellosis test done, and a couple of progesterones too, so we will know where in her cycle she is, then she and I will head off to Lincoln where we will meet up with John and "Indie", Lucy's husband-to-be. Lucy and I will stay for a few days to get the job accomplished, then I'll bring her home and she'll go back to Patti and hopefully have puppies in 9 weeks. Both dogs have all their health testing complete, and we've just been waiting for her to come in season.
Of course this also means I have to retrieve Sparkle, either when I pick Lucy up or when I return her. Chalase has been waiting for Sparkle and will be very pleased. I'm leaving it to Ann (her breeder) and Chalase (her new owner) to work out the details. I'll show Sparkle eventually, but she won't live here. Hopefully living with Lucy will bring Sparkle in season too as we will not take any girls in season to DCA. Too much hassle!
In addition to this, we are going to provide dogs for the St. Paul Fire Foundations upcoming Gala at the Xcel Center. Fortunately Stephanie & Carol can bring Nena & Tate. Jess is not available to help, so I need to find one more person with a very stable dog. I had intended to bring Argus, but we'll see how he is functioning about then, with all the girls in season! Oh yeah, he's doing a chilled semen donation on Friday, as Story is almost ready to be bred too. Just as well she is NOT flying up here for a live breeding! Not sure I could manage 3 girls at the same time. Not sure Argus would survive. Know Ron wouldn't!
Puppies anticipated the end of April, ready for new homes in June!
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