2 Days in a Row

Wow, I'm posting 2 days in a row. You can tell Xmas is over. Hardy was a welcome distraction every morning and evening, and he didn't even mind getting up at 5AM every day for weeks. I remembered to take the camera this morning when we dashed off to find Danny and Barkley, the Irish Setter and Saint Bernard, owned by a PVE neighbor, Brian. If we are running late, we have to jump in and drive over to the school so we don't miss them.

The 12 Days of Xmas

Actually meant "the 12 Days Since My Last Post and another retail Xmas is finally over." Ha ha. Here are some photos from the 25th-27th. Hardy will turn one next Thursday. Hard to believe! We've had such fun. What a year 2008 has been. Happy New Year, Everyone.

Yeti and Nitrous

Here is the video of cute little Yeti who took Opposite Sex to Tug. She is so beautiful. Also, here is the video of Nitro with his big win for Carlos.

Tug wins at Eukanuba!

Hardy's grandpa won big on Sunday at the Eukanuba championship dog show here in Long Beach yesterday. Some aren't very good, as they were taken inside the convention center. I'm also posting the video of his big win.

Tug also won this event in 2006. Susan almost didn't go because she had to work on Saturday morning and it was going to be a long drive. We are so proud of Susan and Tug. When Tug won in 2006, he was expertly handled by Anna, and this time Susan did it herself. Wow! And what a gorgeous bunch of samoyeds.

I really liked the little girl who won Best of the Opposite Sex to Tug. She is from Estonia, and her name is Yeti.

Christmas a bit early

We had our "holiday" celebration tonight, as Molly is only here for this weekend. We went to dinner at Gina Lee's Bistro, then home to open presents. Hardy wasn't interested, which was a relief (so we could open presents in peace.) We snuggled on the floor afterwards. I was tired (Christmas in retail, you know...)

Hardy 'n Meadow

Hardy and Meadow were hanging out in the afternoon and David caught them on video. Molly is home for the weekend. Hooray!! Maybe I will catch her on video and share. We are going to see Tug on Sunday at Eukanuba. That would be a good video day.

Gettin' raggedy

Hardy is starting to blow his coat, so he looked pretty silly at the Costa Mesa shows with Oliver as stiff (and coatful) competition on Friday, and adorable Bailey on Saturday. We went home and skipped Sunday. I dropped him off on Monday morning with Carlos and left him to get some ring time and bonding while I went to work. I picked him up after work, and line brushed him again. We are skipping Palm Springs, and hope to be coatful by Scottsdale at the end of February.

Here are pictures of Nancy's cutie-pie Bailey and some random dogs, and at the end are some photos I grabbed off a near-home video today after I brushed him.

Hardy Bein' Hardy

Here's a clip of Hardy doing Hardy-things at home this weekend.

Hardy Goes Herding in the Sunshine

Hardy had fun herding. He also was terribly interested in a horse in the ring behind the herding area, and the dogs fighting on the other side of the fence, and the 11 week old puppy. I made a short movie with action clips, and here are some fun pictures from the morning.

Vodessa

Ah! I found a photo of another of Hardy's friends. Carlos shows this beautiful bloodhound, who is a great champion.

Family Afternoon

We had my sister, Janet, and brother-in-law and nephew here this weekend, and today had lunch with Janet's in-laws including her sister-in-law, Pam and daughter Donna. Here is a short video and some photos.

Grandparents

I fooled around on the web and tried to find photos of Tyler and Hailey and Tug (Hardy's grandparents) as young dogs/puppies. I successfully found Tug and Hailey, and though the photo of Tyler is not as a youngster, you can still see that Hardy has Tyler's eyes. The first photo is Tyler, then Hailey, then Tug. We loved seeing Tug's puppy photo, since we have so enjoyed him spending time with him as a big boy.

Hardy Gets Herding Practice with Jerome M. Stewart

Hardy absolutely loves his Thursday herding practice. David and Hardy drive out to Long Beach and Jerry works Hardy in the herding arena. Don't know why Hardy understands all those directions from Jerry, but he seems to. He drove us nuts this morning before I left for work. Jerry told David that Hardy knows when its herding day :) He was complimentary of Hardy's effort today, saying he worked hard.

Sunday at the Set Up

Here are some photos from the set up, with Hardy, Mica and Hector on the tables. Cassy is grooming Hector. Everyone is looking at something on the dam in the first photo. The sun was out, so the water was pretty.

Saturday in Irwindale

Another pretty show site at the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area. Who knew that So. Cal had all these nice places? He was actually exceptionally perky in the ring, as a result of a lot of pent-up aggitation. He didn't want to be in his crate at Carlos's set up. That isn't like him! And I had to move away because Hardy was interested in me, at ringside, which is also unusual, and he even looked over at some random person during the down and back! What a funny day. He looked really nice went he went around.

We enjoyed seeing Nancy R.'s puppy compete in his first show. What a cutie pie. I'm going to put up a movie of him on YouTube tomorrow so Nancy will have it.

I can NOT be counted on to take the still photos. Not a single shot came out well today, so I stole some off the video camera. David will have to be in charge of the Nikon, because I am so unreliable!

Pro Shots from Lake Perris

Here are the 3 real photos from Hardy's big weekend at the Kennel Club of Riverside Show.

Don't know how...

Don't know how I missed this nice photo from the weekend. I really like it. It is of Tracy Turner with Hardy while we wait for his BIS photo.

Sunday at Lake Perris

The weather was spectacular and the show site was amazing. Gorgeous lake with mountains rising in the distance. Here's a video from today. Hardy showed beautifully for Carlos, and he did get Reserve Winners Dog. We were happy. He looked great.

Wins Puppy Best in Show

What an exciting weekend! Hardy won Winners Dog, Best of Winners, Best Puppy, Best Working Group Puppy and Puppy Best in Show. So cute. We had a great time at Carlos's set up all weekend. Tracy Turner was set up next door, and she was a wonderful support, getting Hardy groomed perfectly and earned him his G1 in Puppy Group.

I have lots of pictures and movies. I'll post the movie from today (Sunday) in a separate posting. Sorry the Group judging video and the Puppy Best in Show video are so long, but David didn't come with us this weekend, and I wanted him to have a feel for all the action.