Noah's Ark

First off I wanted to post about some amazing wins in the Invictus family this weekend. Adine at Charisma Ridgebacks, way over in Alberta, is experiencing an almost unheard of weekend with two puppies from her first litter, Atlas and Zuri. The puppies are out of Karma, who is from my Christmas 2007 litter out of Halo. Atlas is the puppy who fought and won against parvo 6 weeks ago (can you believe it's been that long ...?). Anyway, on Friday only Zuri was competing against a Champion (Specials) bitch and at 6 months and 1 day old Zuri not only won Best of Breed, she also won a second placing in the Hound group! That win put her on 5 points, halfway to her Championship. Then yesterday she won Best of Winners for another 2 points! The judge then pulled her handler aside and said that he would have given her breed if she'd behaved a little better ... ah puppies, they keep you on your toes. Speaking of which, naughty Atlas, who has been having an issue with his teeth exam, didn't win anything but Adine was told that had *he* behaved he'd have done better too. So today, they will both behave and both will win.  Are you listening puppies?

Also, Zero continues his Reign of Fire racking up breed wins. As of shows to date he is sitting in the #4 spot in Ridgebacks in the US and he's still got a few weekends to go. He has over 500 breed points to his name which is amazing for a dog who was not supposed to explode onto the scene this year. He was supposed to just get some experience under his belt, work out the kinks in his showing style and then hit 'em hard in the next year or two. He has surprised everyone, except those who know him, with his multiple group placements and even more multiple breed wins. I couldn't not be prouder of this handsome boy and am ever grateful for the dedication and hard work put into him by his adoring Mommy Erin and his adoring Handler-Mommy Juliet. You guys rock! Can't wait to see what he and Leeloo produce together!

Over here on the east coast we are having what I would describe as Biblical Rain. It has been pretty well pouring for 3 days straight. I'm thinking I'll need to get the boat out to row to work. Yesterday we braved the wet to walk in the woods but today everyone is holed up under their down throws, I had to PUSH Raimi out the door to go pee and even then I think he just stood at the door and looked forlorn which means he hasn't peed in about 15 hours. Leeloo does go potty in the rain but she has to think very hard about it and Esme doesn't appear to notice that it's raining except to come in and shake water all over my house. So I rather think today is a sit-in day where we catch up on some TV, enjoy some popcorn and pretend that we don't see the fish swimming past the windows. Oh, and wait to hear how our extended family is doing across the continent!