Getting All Caught Up!

Home sweet home! I got into Portland last night right around 10:30pm (missed my connecting flight that would have originally put into Portland at 8:30pm). And this morning I had Bess entered in an all breed show. Thankfully hubby bathed her for me so that all I had to do was clip her and get the remaining nail polish off of her toe nails. I was also VERY thankful that we didn't have an 8am ring time!! But I'm getting ahead of myself! I've got pictures and commentary for Friday and Saturday from the national.

Friday was all bitches all the time!;o) he he he....I just really like saying that! But it's true. Friday was the bitch classes. Or I should say, as many of them as they could get through in a timely manner. They made it all the way through the Open Brindle class that day and stopped. These classes I was especially interested in because I wanted to see the get of the two studs that I'm interested in for Bess. Since I intend to keep a bitch puppy, I want to see what the bitches look like! Needless to say, I was very pleased!:) And of course, I took pictures! I was starting to get a little worn out with the picture taking (go figure!) so I began just taking pictures of the classes when everyone was lined up.















I fell absolutely in LOVE with this natural eared fawn bitch!





And I can't forget to show you the vendors!! I did a little bit of shopping on Mon., a little on Fri., and a little on Sat. Trust me, it was hard to hold back!:)

First there's Louise Peterson, the well known dane sculptor! I love all of her statues! And she also had some jewelry there. One piece of which I just had to get.:)

Next we have Originals by Omar! I love, love, LOVE the jewelry here! However, it was a little more than I could spend without getting in some serious trouble at home.




Next up is Jerry Lobato's amazing sculptures and art work!

Next up is Virginia Perry Gardiner! Again, beautiful jewelry, but I would have been in some serious trouble if I brought any home! She also has some lovely pewter statues.








The next vendor I unfortunately could not find a business card for. But they had some wonderful dane pieces!






Next up we have Country Square! While I don't have a web site, I do have an email address for her. It's countrysq1@ yahoo.com. Her painted pieces are just beautiful and I picked some up on the first day!





Next up is the Thread Heads! They had all sorts of different cloth items embroidered with different dane designs and of all colors! On Sat. they had a sale where you got 20% off your entire purchase. Naturally I capitalized on that!






And finally, there was a vendor there making these really great beaded collars!
Now on to Saturday! Saturday started off by finishing up the open bitch classes, picking a winners bitch, the veteran bitches classes, and the brood bitch class. More bitches!;)







I got to watch a few of the groups for the Best of Breed competition, but then I had to leave. I was happy with the dogs that I did get to watch. Then it was off to the air port. I shared the shuttle ride with one of the judges who came out for the judges education and ring side mentoring part of the specialty. It was really interesting hearing a total outsiders perspective on things. She's obviously not new to dog shows, but is new to judging the breed. She came from german shephard dogs and papillions. So that was fun talking with her about the various different dogs and some of the pulls that had been made from the dog groups.

This morning I had Bess entered in an all breed show. Let me tell you, it was sooooooo weird to see other breeds of dogs when I had spent an entire week of only seeing danes. Bess ended up going reserve winners bitch and we did pretty well all-in-all. You know, aside from throwing my bait directly at the judge! That was one of those d'oh moments!

I also think I managed to catch something while I was in TN. Either that or I got what Adam came down with right before I left, which kind of makes sense. I've been feeling really crappy since getting home from the show and have even taken a nap. Not that the dogs really let me get too much continuous sleep since they're both wicked pent up. I did take them out to run around off leash for a while and that was about the extent of the energy that I've had.

I do have a few videos that I took throughout the week that I plan on uploading to YouTube tomorrow and I'll get around to posting them.