Friday, December 15, 2017
It was a busy year and a few curve balls thrown our way in the second half of the year, personally. However, to highlight some lovely accomplishments by our dogs in both breeds:
Chicory the Scottie finished her Grand Championship in late February and on the same day that Hetty the Scottie finished her American Championship prior to exporting to Australia in early April. Misty welcomed a litter of 7 puppies on March 24, 2017 - 4 girls and 3 boys. Isami welcomed a litter of 6 puppies on May 13, 2017 - 4 girls and 2 boys. And Nita welcomed a litter of 10 puppies on May 21, 2017 - 4 girls and 6 boys.
During this same time frame, Misty's daughter Lexie finished her championship by winning Best of Breed all four days at the Beehive Cluster in Utah and became known as CH La Chanson's Object Of Desire.
Our pups represented at the SoCal Bouvier specialty during the Mission Circuit weekend and although those judges didn't find as much favor on that day, we were thrilled to have Millie go Winners Bitch and Best of Winners the remaining 3 days she was shown for a 5-point, 4-point, and 3-point major and Bennett was awarded Winners Dog 2 of the days he was shown (we pulled him the final day) and he won a 5-point and 4-point major. Millie finished her championship the very next weekend at the Pasadena Kennel Club and her owners the Mellingers were rather gobsmacked that in two swift weekends their girl was a champion - CH La Chanson's One In A Million!
Jack's hopeful family didn't work out and we found another single guy that has experience with schutzhund and he chose to give the Big Guy a try. They've had a few challenges, but overall things seem to be working out pretty well. Jack is a "working dog" and is teaching Don about living with a Bouvier (which is VERY different than just working with one that doesn't live with you).
Moving on to Scotties, we showed our class girl Mona Lisa at the STCC Specialty and Great Western weekend after having held her out for the first part of the year. She wowed everyone by going Best Opposite in Sweepstakes at the Specialty and then Winners Bitch and Best of Winners both Saturday and Sunday for back-to-back 5-point majors AND went on to win Best Bred By Exhibitor In Show at The Great Western Terrier Association!
In early July, we showed China (Bennett's baby sister) at the Summerfest shows and she managed to pick up Winners Bitch and Best of Winners for 5-point major. This was after she had gone Winners Bitch both days at the Mt. Palomar shows for her first points just prior to the SoCal Bouvier specialty in May. In late July, I had to turn attention to myself due to a cancer diagnosis from 2014 (returned in 2016) and ongoing pregnancy challenges, so we were able to get 9 viable embryos stored in preparation for an upcoming hysterectomy that I had hoped to be at the end of November, so trying to put my own medical needs aside, we focused on our national specialties.
At the Bouvier National held in Ventura, CA, Bennett was awarded Best Bred By Exhibitor at the NorCal specialty the day prior to the national starting. China was awarded Best Bred By Exhibitor at both the National and the SoCal Bouvier specialty the day after the national. Camille won her 6-9 puppy class. Svindal won one of his Sweepstakes classes. Alexis and Sage entered the ring in the 4-6 Month Puppy Competition and made everyone smile. Mal was in the Performance Top 20 and pulled a draft cart with the ribbons for the presentation that night. Lexie was awarded Senior Bitch in Futurity and an Award of Merit at the National and River was awarded an Award of Merit at the SoCal Bouvier specialty. It was nice to have such a display of our dogs represented and all the owners were happy to see their dogs in the ring.
While there, my oncologist called and wanted me to come in for my hysterectomy a month earlier than we had originally scheduled and I had to decline due to traveling. Rod and I finished with the Bouvier national on Saturday, September 30th and hit the road Sunday, October 1st for Montgomery County.
While in Pennsylvania, Mona Lisa showed at the STCA Independent Specialty and was awarded Winners Bitch and Best of Winners from the Bred By Class for another 5-point major that would complete her championship once officially recorded. We chose to pull her the next two days from the all-breed shows and keep her in the classes for our national specialty and she won a large Bred By Exhibitor Class there, too. We were very proud of how far this young lady has come since her unfortunate accident last year. Gabby was also shown and was awarded an Award of Merit at Montgomery County. Rod and I were very proud to drive home with these Scotties and our recognition. We also got to watch River's daughter Delaney enter the ring for the first time where she was awarded Winners Bitch and Best of Breed over a special for her first points!
On our way back, we stopped to see Rod's parents and my parents and snuck in a day of fly fishing in Colorado. Gearing up for surgery, my doctor scheduled my hysterectomy for November 2nd. All went well at the time, but the pathology report came back with a major and scary curve ball - an invasive small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma tumor was discovered deep in the left side of my cervix requiring upcoming PET scans and treatments of low-dose chemotherapy, external radiation, internal radiation, and most-likely high-dose chemotherapy. The upside was the PET scan was completely clear, but Rod and I had to re-evaluate everything in our lives swiftly upon this news. We had scheduled a vacation to Hawaii earlier in the year and took that week to make memories and get our "game faces" on for fighting cancer upon our return.
We chose to enter the last dog shows of the year prior to my treatments starting and we were thankful we did. Alexis and Sage entered the "real" dog show ring and was awarded Winners Bitch, Best of Winners, and Best Opposite Sex for a 3-point major, Mona Lisa was awarded Best of Breed both Saturday and Sunday and a Group 4 under breeder-judge Dr. Vandra Huber, and Bennett became CH La Chanson's Orange Is the New Black by going Winners Dog and Best of Winners on Sunday, December 10th.
Ending the year, Delaney was shown in Florida where she was awarded Winners Bitch and Best of Winners at 3 of the 4 all-breed shows and then went on to go Winners Bitch AND Best Opposite Sex over a special at the Royal Canin National Championship! We are thrilled with this young lady!
And Mal the Magnificent was extremely popular during the Christmas season as Santa Paws. He made many appearances and had tons of pictures taken with kids. We are so proud of all that he and his owner Brenna do to continue to show the versatility of the Bouvier as well as make hearts smile.
As we continue to deal with my own health matters, we still look forward to 2018 and all that we plan and hope for in both of our breeds and for all of our dogs that we love and show and encourage our puppy owners to do the same. We consider ourselves extremely blessed to have all of our dogs and their people in our lives.
2018 is gonna RAWK!!!!!