I’m sorry that I’m late in updating the site, but unfortunately in the several couple of weeks I’ve not only added additional responsibilities at my job, but we are also trying to deal with the loss of our sweet old boy Mickey. Please bear with us and we will catch up as soon as we possibly can. Thanks for your patience.

I was starting to lose hope there for a bit as I was going through last week’s shows. Seemed like there was not going to be even one this week. And then… I found a big one and then another! Doesn’t take much to excite me

Congratulations to Austin McCarty (and his grandma Mary) and Buddy on a big fat BLUE ROSETTE at Apple Valley KC on March 13. The judge was Ms. Marcie C. Dobkin. Nice to see a bulldog breeder can appreciate a shiba! Not being satisfied with that, Austin also took BJH under Marissa O’Connor! Buddy is also known as Ch. Jogoso’s Fool For Love.

Then the following day, another shiba placed 2nd in the group at Apple Valley KC (2) under Mr. Robert A. Indeglia. This day the winner was Shizu, Ch. Rihatsu Shizu-San Go.

I’m going to be publishing some Canadian placements soon thanks to one of my FB friends, still pulling it together for now.

Still playing catch up here.

Nice to see shibas placing in the group this week.

First, two placements for Ch. Cantebriar’s Hot Toddy at Sequoia Kennel Club on March 4th & March 5th. He got a Group III from Dr. Roger S. Pritchard and a Group IV from Mrs. Barbara Dempsey Alderman. These are two judges that are good to shibas in the groups, I’ve always liked showing to both of them.

Then on the other side of the continent in sunny Florida … although I was at these shows in 1980 and it snowed, so maybe not so sunny, Mr. James E. Frederiksen awarded Ch. Yuko’s Chief Red Eagle a Group IV at Pensacola Dog Fanciers on March 6th to round out the weekend.

I was supposed to be at Wisconsin KC myself and was hoping to take some photos but the bug finally got me and I didn’t want to spread my germs so I stayed home. Fortunately I was only entered one day. I can tell you that Tammy’s Rowdy got the breed both days, and Leah Crowley’s new black and tan boy Kai picked up a major both days. Rebecca’s Morris Powell’s Cleo got a major on Saturday (I believe she is co-owned with Jane Chapin) and Pat Doescher Kiku got the bitch major on Sunday. Wish I could have been there guys!

I think that just about catches me up until Monday.

Sorry for the late report, but I was waiting for Onofrio to publish complete results and in the meantime I got sick! I’m feeling a little better today so time for some catch up.

I was not entered at the Thursday and Friday shows, but here are the results.

On Thursday Mrs. Peggy Lloyd was the judge and only half the shibas entered actually showed up. Bonnie Gibbon’s Mimi, Katai’s Screamin’ Mimi was BOS, WB and Lori Pendergast’s Ichi was BOB. NOthing in group, but the groups were STRONG as usual at IKC.

Friday, however was another day, with all new winners. Katrina Nielsen traveled all the way up from TN to visit the Windy City and nearly missed her judging. Partly my fault as I had advised her to park in Lot A which was right next door to the dog show … LAST YEAR! Yes, they moved the show to the other side of the lake. I think Katrina found this out before she actually parked though, but it did cause a delay. So sorry, Katrina! and a belated Happy Birthday!

Judge on Friday was Mrs. Connie S. Clapp and Best of Breed for a major the hard way was Sandra Rolenaitis’ Kokusho Go G-Typhoon JR JP. He is a black and tan boy.  His kennelmate Tenko Go G-Typhoon JR (also owned by Sandra) was WB. BOS was Katrina’s Dolce, Ch. Kobushi La Dolce Vita, who is also co-owned by Bill & Kim Fletcher way out West somewhere, somewhere past Iowa. Way out there

On Saturday I’m proud to say I took the expressway for the first time since 2003 when I had an anxiety attack on the Kennedy brought on by a bad prescription on my glasses. Ever since then I was literally terrified to drive to that show on the expressway which made for a really LONG drive in.

This year, I just made up my mind I was going to try and I managed to make my way all the way to the IKC show where I happily parked my car in Lot A and went into the doorway to find … a Dentist convention. That’s very nice if you’re looking for toothpaste, not so much if you’re dragging a dog, grooming table and crates.

Ended up walking through the building and over Lake Shore Drive, that’s roughly three city blocks, to the shores of Lake Michigan to get to the dog show in the building where it has not been for YEARS. Seems they couldn’t break down the auto show fast enough to put the dog show in the other building. They are so not getting A+ for parking this year.

Fortunately I had given myself PLENTY of time to get settled so it was not a time crunch or anything. Was happy to see Katrina Nielsen and Mark Peterson there so I wasn’t alone on the bench as most of the shibas were in the handler section. I shudder to think of how it would have been if not for them and then Jaclynn Lewis being there as well on Sunday.

Happily Trouble took it all in stride and truly seemed to enjoy his public. He also remembered how to walk on a leash!

The judge on Saturday was Mr. James G Reynolds from Canada. So tall … he also has a great voice too! I got to be the first dog in the ring in our time frame. Oh joy, never got to see the pattern. Fortunately it was nothing too weird. Amazingly Trouble went all the way around the ring without shaking his head. A miracle! I was so happy that I kissed him when I put him on the table, I’m sure the judge was wondering … oh so professional!

Trouble went on to take Winners Dog, his littermate Mimi was BW, WB and Mark Peterson’s Tracer, Ch. Fanfair’s Without a Trace at Glenchester was BOB with Dolce picking up the BOS.

Then back to the bench and crowds of people. In case you don’t know, a benched shows means the dogs are on the benches from 9:00am till 3:30-4:00 depending on the day so that people can come into the show and meet the breeds/breeders, etc. And a lot of people attend this show! We alternated the dogs on the tables because they were literally like magnets and we didn’t want the dogs to be too exhausted since we had one more day to show.

I also took the opportunity to do a little shopping as usual the show gets an A+ for vendors. They are very plentiful and often are running show specials.

Katrina and I watched group to support Mark and Tracer, although we completely forgot to clap … what can I say, we were practically comotose

So around 4:30 I exited the dog show and had to walk over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house to get to my car. At least I had no trouble finding it. Got loaded up and onto the road … except the Dan Ryan was at an absolute standstill through downtown. By the time I finally got home it was 7:30pm which was a really long day. I was tired and my feet hurt. The things I do for public education.

The next morning up again at about 4:30am to do it all over again. Except I parked in the recommended lot, where I carefully noted where I was but did not carefully note there were two ways in and out of the garage. This will become important later!

Dragged Trouble and his “stuff” back up to the benching area. Groomed a little, well as compared to Mark and Katrina. I feel so delightfully lazy … but I did all my big grooming on Friday and he looks quite beautiferous. I take great enjoyment in teasing Mark about his grooming which I’m sure was just annoying the heck out of him

Dragged our stuff over to the ringside where Norman B Kenney was finishing up his last breed before shibas. At least this time I got to see some ring patterns. Trouble managed to get around the ring only shaking his head once today so no kiss on the table! He did manage another Winners Dog though. His sister Mimi repeated her BW (I would put her BW right now too … she’s a bit more mature). The judge was having a hard time selecting his Best of Breed but finally decided upon Lori Pendergast’s Ichi and Katrina’s Dolce was once again BOS.

I think we were all done with judging pretty early and then just sat there for the rest of the day with our admiring public. And there I think there were a lot more on Sunday than there were on Saturday. We seriously need to put together an FAQ.

1. Yes, they look like a fox.

2. Yes, this is their full-size or pretty close

3. Yes, they shed (see all this hair on the floor?)

4. Are they good with kids? Are your kids good with dogs?

5. Yes, they will run (like the wind) if you let them outside off lead. All you will see is that white tail waving bye-bye.

I can’t think of anything else now, I was much more clever before I got sick.

I also took the opportunity to watch malamutes where they had a pretty big entry. I remember the days, though at the old International Amphitheater, when 100 malamutes lining the benches were the norm, but that was a long time ago and entries were a lot cheaper!

At the end of the day Katrina and I packed up with all of our stuff on my wheels and headed for the parking lot. I was pretty sure I knew where I was going until we got to the line (yes, a line that extended forever!) waiting to go down the elevator. Fortunately Katrina knew an alternate route … the service elevator, so we took a jog past the line, down a long hall way and there we were … except I had no clue of how to get to my car from there. We found Katrina’s car and got her stuff unloaded and then tried to find mine.

Well I knew that when I got out of my car and went to the show, I exited to my left, thus my car would be one row in from the left wall and facing to the North … except we came in from the the other side so North was really South … or so it seemed. Fortunately after 15 minutes of looking I started pushing my little alarm button and heard a little beep beep. There was my car not 20 feet from Katrina’s only facing the wrong way! Had to go fetch my stuff from the next floor up where Katrina was guarding it and then get going. At least I didn’t have hours to drive like Katrina, only about 90 minutes. I don’t know how she did it, but she made it home and went to work the next day. (Note to Katrina, take the day after IKC off!)

In closing, it was a fun show. Not quite as much fun as it was last year because it was a pain in the posterior again to get in and out. But it was nice to win the points

Let this all be a lesson to me: read the premium much more carefully to ascertain just which building we are in before entering. This year the show gets a B minus. Parking not as good as last year, and food not as easily accessible. Still … a great opportunity to educate the general public about one of my favorite subjects, the shiba inu

From Susan Norris-Jones: We just HAVE to tell the world about last weekend. Bob and Dash (grandfather and grandson) each went Best in Show (Show 1 and Show 2), Bob went Reserve BIS (Show 4) at the International Show in Washington, and Best Veteran in Show twice. Both handled by Rowan, with assistance by fiancé Luke Baggenstos (some of you may remember him from the National weekend in California – he handled our Umi to WB at the Regional).

Oh, Bob is Ryuukyuumaru Go Gold Typhoon (almost 10) and Dash is Katai`s Daichi no SunoJo (bred by Bonnie Gibbons).

Pictures to come later.

Only one lonesome group placement this week. But it’s a nice one

Buddy (Ch. Jogoso’s Fool for Love)  and Austin McCarty teamed up for a Group III at Silver Bay KC (2) under Mrs. Wendy Paquette. Even though my favorite color for a rosette is obviously blue, I do think the yellow ones are awfully pretty!

I will have a complete show report later this week for the International KC of Chicago which I attended for two days this past weekend. My feet still hurt from all the walking …