• 8/04/07    They're here!!!! 

  Not without some drama mind you.  I've been expecting them for a couple days now.  The excitement started last night, but not how you'd think.

  My Dear Old Buddy had some kind of episode in the night, I feared it might be a stroke, he lost control in the bed in the middle of the night, and then he had great difficulty walking, falling over, staggering, stumbling, running into walls.  Gosh I was scared.

  My vet opens at 7:30 on Saturday morning and when they opened I was about 5 minutes away (it's a 15 mile drive through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel for me).

   

  All's well with Buddy, it is "just" a geriatric vestibular incident, and he will get better (WHEW). Of course I had to call my mom's CNA to come over while I was gone. For the last several days I had been telling her the signs to watch for with Zephyr in case she went into labor.  I wasn't worried this morning because bitches almost always whelp in the middle of the night.

  Almost always...

   

  At about 10:00 Donna called me to tell me that she thought Zephyr's water had broken.

  HUH?  I'm at the vet's, at least a half hour away, Buddy is on IV fluids, they think I need to take him to the emergency vet because at that point they thought it was a complication of his kidney disease.

   

  Now what do I do?  I asked for him to be prepared for me to take him home quickly.

  Then I got another phone call "We have a black and white puppy".  Mind you Donna is a CNA but doesn't know anything about whelping puppies!  Good thing Zephyr knew what to do, cutting the cord. Oh My Golly

   

  I was in the car on the way home when the second pup was born.  Donna sounded less scared with that one than the first one.  Both were breathing, Zephyr was taking care of them...

   

  And fortunately my 86 year old mom with Alzheimers was still asleep!I got home for the rest of the delivery, fortunately everything was pretty easy and Zephyr is a great mom.

  Whew.

   

  We have:

  2 boys, both brindle I think (hard to tell if they are black or brindle when they are still wet!)

  4 girls, one I think is black, the other 3 brindle All nicely marked.

  Weights between 8 & 14 oz

  Buddy is OK

   

  Donna, Mother and I had champagne when it was all done!

  I didn't do anything fancy for a picture but here it is, I didn't want to disturb mom and babes.  I'll get more pictures in the next couple of days with better resolution so you can see the pups more clearly.

  I'm ready for a nap...

  Gayle

  shhhh, babies sleeping here!

   

• 1/10/07    I have a new baby to announce. Last night Zephyr, CH Yasashiikuma Zephyr at PV gave birth to a singleton black & white bouncing baby boy. He is healthy and vigorous and enjoying taking his choice of faucets at the milk bar. A second black & white boy was stillborn. Mother and pup are doing great. Zephyr is here on lease from Cathy Ochs-Cline. I took off work and slept much of the day, after a long night.

Absentee father is CH Warwick Larchmont Bodacious. I understand he was last seen in Sonoma, CA, passing out cigars to all his friends!

• I got out of the house this weekend for 2 local dog shows. My Whisper is 18 months old but really a novice in the show ring, she hasn't had much experience. We came into this weekend with one lonely champion point!  Yesterday was a day I won't forget for a while. She went Winners Bitch, Best of Winners, and Best of Breed over 2 specials! Then, icing on the cake, she made the cut in the herding group. Boy was I excited. I truly felt she "wasn't ready" yet, but I guess I was wrong!  Today she was Winners Bitch again for 1 point. She was more the goofy teenager today, providing more comic entertainment in the ring than good showing behavior. That's ok, I'm happy she's having fun.

The rest will come.

We will be out of the ring for several months. I have leased a bitch from Cathy Ochs-Cline (CH Phi-Vestavia Yasashiikuma Zephyr) for a breeding to Bodacious.  She's pregnant, due January 12. (Yeah!) You know I don't have pups often, so this is a special occasion. My mom loves the babies and is looking forward to it as much as I am (when she remembers, that is!) Holiday blessings to all of you!

Gayle

Florence

Buddy

Candy

Jesse

Reba

Whisper

Zephyr and the bellyfull of babies!

• Reba (CH Troubadour All Dressed Up) finished her AKC championship today (27 November, 2005)! I wasn't there, but my friend Kim Moshlak who is a professional dog show handler piloted her to this win. The show was in Maryland. She won Winners Bitch, Best of Winners, and Best of Opposite Sex. She earned 4 championship points today, and that's just exactly what she needed to finish.

• Willie (CH Troubadours Kilwilie Of Keith) yes, you read that correctly, Willie finished Saturday at the Mattaponi Kennel Club in Manasas under the guiding hand of Kim Moshlak. He was the 97^th dog she finished. He won with 2 points as WD and BOS. Kim has done a wonderful job with him. I also want to say congratulations to Gayle. She is a wonderful person and breeder. I know she is as proud of Willie as anyone.

• Buddy earned his first CD obedience leg at the Tidewater Kennel Club trial in Jamestown during Memorial Day weekend. That was his very first obedience trial! Best yet, he was third place. I'm very proud of this special dog and all the things he can do.

• 2001 Cardigan National Specialty Report The Troubadour Cardigans had a wonderful week in Lexington Kentucky for the 2001 Cardigan National Specialty dog show. The week started out with the herding competition. Fergie and Jesse both had qualifying scores toward their HT herding titles. They really showed their herding abilities!

The next two days brought obedience and agility competition. On Tuesday Buddy earned the second leg towards his CD obedience title. He won first place in Novice B, and high scoring Champion of Record in the trial. The next day he completed the requirements for his CD title. What a way to earn a title! Candy wasn't about to be outdone by her brother. On Tuesday, in the blazing heat, she qualified for her second Agility Excellent leg with a clean run and second place.

Once the conformation competition began, Buddy had one more big surprise for me. I had entered him in the Herding Titled Dog class, and he won it! I was just proud to be standing there among my herding peers, and when judge Chuck Murray pointed to me, I could hardly believe it.

That week in Lexington was one I'll never forget! Candy earned her Agility Excellent title at the Danville KC trial in Sanford, NC, on July 7. She flew around the course, earning second place and her title. This qualified her for her CWCCA VCX title. I'm just waiting for CWCCA confirmation of that. Candy also earned the first leg of her Open Jumpers title at the same trial. We have so much fun running agility. I hope she continues to enjoy this for a long time to come.