Sefina turns THREE & Morgantown Agility

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy belated Birthday to me, Sefina, Happy Birthday to me! Sorry, we’re a little late in posting recent events. So first up, April 10^th was my 3^rd birthday! WooHoo! We were at an AKC agility trial in Morgantown. I didn’t get to play cause AKC trials STRESS me out too much but I went and saw our friend Cathy Guyer who makes pawesome homemade dog cookies and ice cream. She didn’t have any ice cream (we were so bummed) so she gave me a box of special birthday cookies.

The day before my birthday, Kiwi earned her Excellent FAST (XF) title & got 1^st place! The boys were wild and crazy but they both Q’d in Open Jumpers w/ weaves on my birthday. Calvin had a clean run so got 1^st place and Robin got 2^nd place even though he was a little faster but he barked himself out of the weave poles once so had a 5 point fault. It was a Keeshond one-two punch since they were the only 16” dogs to qualify.

The next day, mom took pretty boy, Calvin, to Cleveland for OFA X-rays. She says it’s so he can be a daddy someday. That’s a scary thought! He’s so goofy, I can’t imagine him being a daddy. Mom went to a sandwich place in Cleveland called Corky’s & Lenny’s. They are famous for corned beef so mom ordered a large sandwich thinking it would be longer, like a sub. But instead it was served on regular loaf rye bread and large means more meat – lots more meat. So there were lots of leftovers. Calvin got some in the car since he was still feeling loopy from the drugs and then mom gave us all some for dinner in honor of my birthday. Yummy! Then mom ate half of what was left for dinner and made corned beef hash the next day for breakfast. Talk about a good deal! We think she needs to drive to Cleveland every weekend!

Well, that is all for now. We are taking a little break from trials and supervising while mom cleans the house. At the end of the month we get to go play NADAC agility. Mom entered me in a couple of events with no jumps. I haven’t been very fond of jumping lately. Then in mid-May we get to go to Keeshond Nationals at the King’s Island Resort in Ohio. Voodoo has to stay home but the rest of us are going and playing agility, rally, and conformation and Kiwi & I get to be in a rescue/companion parade. Below are a couple of pictures of me. Enjoy!

Sefina at 3.5 months, She loved unfried green tomatoes!

Sefina at 2 years 10.5 months

WPKA Conformation Weekend

Hi Everyone!

Calvin here. This is just a quick update on the WPKA dog shows this past weekend. I got Select Dog both days and mom thinks that I have one whole Grand Champion point now. Not sure what that means but I like the sound of it. Kiwi will be sure to throw a tantrum when I become a GRAND Champion :)

I’m really looking forward to this weekend. Kiwi, Robin, & I get to play 2 days of AKC agility in Morgantown. More importantly, we get to see Cathy who makes yummy cookies that she lets us sample. Mom is hoping she’ll have ice cream, too since Sefina’s birthday is Sunday. I really LOVE her peanut butter ice cream. I’m the only one who really knows what it tastes like since the others inhale theirs.

March Agility & Conformation

 

CH Cinderlad Barefoot In The Park NAJ

Howdy! It’s me, Calvin, Champion Extraordinaire. Mom says I shouldn’t get a big head about it but Kiwi always has so I think I deserve to gloat for a while. Anyway, I get to tell you about all the fun stuff we’ve done this month.

The first weekend in March, mom took all five of us out to practice agility in a new place called You Go Little Dog in North Huntington, PA. It’s owned by a couple with 8 Pomeranians. They like us since we’re like really big Poms to them but we prefer to think of their dogs as miniature Kees. Mom took us there in hopes that Robin would learn to hit his contacts on different equipment and that I would like doing different teeters. Well, Mom had better luck with Robin than with me. I didn’t mind the purple teeter so much but then she wanted me to do this blue one and that one really freaked me out so I decided I had enough of teeters for the day. But we all had fun playing agility that day.

The next weekend we played CPE agility in Washingtonville, OH for 3 days! We always like going there. We had lots of fun even though mom says it wasn’t a very good weekend for Q’s for any of us. The biggest news is that Voodoo qualified in Level 1 Jackpot to earn his Level 1 Strategy Games title and finished his Level 1 title. He really enjoyed running to the table which ended the games in his other 2 runs but mom kept his focus away from the table on Sunday long enough to finish the course. Sefina was in one run a day and finally Q’d in Wildcard on Sunday after she was adjusted by Dr. Dave. He said her hips were so locked up she couldn’t extend when jumping. Kiwi had a un-Kiwi-like weekend and only Q’d in 6 of 10 runs. I only Q’d in Snookers and Wildcard, but I had a lot of fun bouncing and jumping around the ring. Rockin’ Robin turned 3 on March 13! Mom was hoping that since he was out of his terrible twos that he would hit his contacts that day but he decided that it was his birthday and he could blow contacts if he wanted to and he did. But he did qualify in Jumpers which is his favorite thing in the world.

Calvin earns Novice FAST title

This past weekend, mom took me down to Louisville, KY for a big dog show. We drove down Friday night and stayed in a really nice hotel. I like hotels, but I didn’t like the elevator in this one so much because the back wall was glass and I could see us moving. On Saturday, I got to play AKC agility in the morning. I ran Novice FAST first and I got 3^rd place and earned my Novice FAST title. Then I got really excited in the Open JWW and bounced around like crazy. We ended up going over time so I didn’t finish the course. Then in Novice STD, we got whistled off before we even started. I kinda sorta marked the gate entrance on my way in. Mom didn’t even notice since I was super quick and discrete but the judge saw me. OOPS!!! So then we had to go play conformation. We had to wait a really long time and I was really tired and not into it so I didn’t get picked in the breed ring. The next day we showed even later! Mom says she should have signed up for agility after all but she didn’t in case we had an early ring time and she wanted to be able to leave since it was a 7 hour drive. Mom says I did really well when we first got in the ring but then I got a little too excited about the liver mom was carrying (it’s my favorite!) and started bouncing and running. But it was a nice time overall. We got to see my co-breeders and our friend Meredith was also there to show her Pharaoh puppy, Gilda. I guess Gilda was a little excited in the ring, too since she earned the nickname Spider Monkey!

MORE SNOW!!!!!

Rockin' Robin

Sefina & Robin

Hi Everyone! We're just posting because Mother Nature has been getting a bad rep in Pittsburgh lately because we've been getting a lot of snow. But we'd like to say THANK YOU!!!! WE LOVE IT!!! See how happy we are?

Kiwi & Robin

Champion Fluff Monster

Sefina Halulu - OK, maybe not looking all that happy but we thought she looked pretty in this photo.

Indy Winter Classic

Hi Everyone! It's me Calvin. By now you all know that Kiwi got her C-ATCH last year and she's always rubbing our noses in it. She's always saying 'I'm a champion this and I'm a champion that and you have to do what I say and I get whatever I want'. Well guess what, Kiwi? You're no longer the only champion in da house! Yep, I got my conformation champion title on Saturday, February 12th at the Indy Winter Classic show. I was Winner's Dog which was a 4 point major win! I got to play with Charlie, who is my co-breeder since mom was afraid she'd screw up my chances of winning. But she did show me the next day for best of breed. It didn't go well (mom was a klutz!) but my sister Mia won. She won Best of Breed on Thursday, too before we got there. And my half-brother Radar took Winners Dog Thursday, Friday, and Sunday so we pretty much kept it in the family all weekend. Below is a picture of me getting my beauty sleep on the grooming table while waiting to get my New Champion picture taken. It's hard work being beautiful!

The next picture is of me after we got home from Indianapolis last night. Mom says I had a road trip hangover. I was really tired but I was also missing my new girlfriend, Danee. She's a Keeshond like me and a few months older. We shared a room with her and her mom, Ann, and we had a blast! She didn't want to eat so her mom kept putting things like buffalo, prime rib, and salmon in her bowl but she was holding out for pupperoni. I was like are you crazy???? I'll eat it. So I did when no one was looking! I also got to eat elk liver which Aunt Suzanne brought. We roomed with her as well and her two dogs Crosby & Sweetness. I didn't care for them so much because they are young & foolish boys.

In addition to getting my Champion title, I also got my CPE Level 2 title at the end of January at the Medina SWARM trial by qualifying in Level 2 Standard. I also Q'd in level 3 Jackpot, and level 4 colors and jumpers so I had a perfect day. That was better than Robin who only got 2 Q's and even her highness, Kiwi who had 3. Robin did earn his Level 3 Strategy Games title that day.

Out with the old, in with the new

HAPPY Q YEAR!!!!

We hope everyone had as much fun this year as we have. We’ve done a whole lotta bunch of stuff this year. Mom says we have done 32 days of agility trials, 32 days of conformation, and 6 days of rally obedience trials. Wowser! We’re so glad mom doesn’t have a life and can chauffeur us around to all of our events. Here’s a quick summary of our accomplishments:


Kiwi earned her CPE Agility Trial Champion title in August. She also earned 3 NADAC agility titles this year.

Calvin had quite a successful year as well. He got his first major win in conformation by winning Best of Breed mid-May and then went to his first Keeshond Nationals in Wisconsin where he got 4th place out of 22 dogs in the Open Dog class during the regional specialty and then won the Open Dog class during the national specialty 2 days later. He’s not just a pretty face though. He made his agility trial debut on New Years Day 2010 and earned 9 titles this year.


Sefina also went to the Keeshond Nationals where she earned her Rally Advanced title. She also earned 4 agility titles. Her nickname is Piranha-Goat so she has the distinction of destroying a crate mat, a dozen leashes, several pairs of gloves, a folding camp chair, and nylon carrying straps on pretty much everything this year.


Rockin’ Robin continued to make a big splash on the agility scene with his rip roarin’ running style. He earned 8 agility titles this year and also proved that he can keep his mouth shut in the ring by competing in Rally Obedience. He earned his AKC Rally Novice title in October with limited training.


Voodoo, who has been our team mascot for so long, finally got tired of sitting on the sidelines and decided to listen to mom in the agility ring. He earned 2 CPE agility titles this year!

We ended our year just as it began with all 5 of us at a CPE agility trial in Ohio. Voodoo continued to shine by earning his Level 1 Standard title and he Q'd in Level 1 Snookers. Kiwi, the 'Q Machine' had 10 qualifying runs out of 12. Calvin earned his Level 3 Fun Games Title an had 4 Q's out of 9 runs. Robin - well he argued with mom quite a bit and blew most of his contacts (an ongoing issue) so he only qualified in 2 out of 9 runs. Sefina, still unsure of herself, had one qualifying run in Snookers out of 4 runs.

We haven't quite made out our schedule for this year. Calvin plays conformation tomorrow in Tallmadge, OH but that is all we have planned so far. May the New Year bring you lots of fun times and liver treats!

The Last 6 Months Continued...

Hi everyone! This is Calvin. I get to finish telling you about our adventures starting with September. I was supposed to go to Michigan Labor Day weekend but there were no other Keeshonden entered so mom said it wasn’t worth the drive and we stayed home. But the good news is that she took Yoda somewhere and didn’t bring him back!!!! Yea!!! She said a nice man adopted him. But then a couple days later she and Kiwi had to go visit them because Yoda was barking a lot at everyone and everything during their walks and the man didn’t know what to do. But mom walked him around and he was fine. She told the man what to look for and do and that it was just going to take some time and patience. Yoda never got outside much to interact with other people or dogs and did not have any training like us. We have to go to school every week! Mom says that she stays in touch with the man and that Yoda finished his first obedience class and is doing much better now and that they are both happy.


Kiwi, Robin, and I played AKC agility. I got sick so I didn’t feel like playing. But Robin got his first Open Jumpers Q! Kiwi Q’d in standard but did not get the Jumpers Q that she needs for her Master Jumpers title. The next day, Sefina and Robin played Rally Obedience. Sefina was still traumatized from the stairwell incident so didn’t even get past the 2nd station. It was Robin’s first Rally trial. Mom hadn’t worked with him much. She mainly wanted him to learn to be quiet in the ring so that he could play conformation like me someday. So mom trained him and wore him out in the parking lot while they were waiting for their turn. Well, Robin went in and did the course really fast and got 2nd place with a score of 98! And he was QUIET. Not a peep!

At the end of the month I played conformation again at a show that Mom thought I would do really well at but it was my worst show weekend ever - 4th place on Saturday and 3rd on Sunday.


Then in October, Mom decided it was time to take me to some different shows, shows that we had to drive to and stay the night at a hotel. I like hotels. My favorite part is unmaking the beds as soon as we get into the room. We went to the Finger Lakes in New York, the first weekend in October. It was really cold but pretty with the leaves changing colors. The New York people were very friendly and we had a really good time. On Saturday, I got Winners Reserve. Then we walked around a lot and mom got my fancy show lead fixed and an artist photographed me a lot. She says that I am going to be her new Keeshond model. Then mom went wine tasting. I thought that was pretty boring but I was tired so didn’t mind staying in the car and sleep. On Sunday I got Winners dog and got my last single point! So now I just need a 3-point major to finish my champion title.


The next weekend we went on the road again and we took Robin with us this time. We went to a Keeshond Specialty in Warrenville, outside of Chicago. I got to see Charlie again – I was sooo happy. I really like Charlie because he carries liver in his pocket! But he was handling dogs at another show so I didn’t get to scam on much liver. Mom played rally with Robin and he got 1st place with a score of 96! The judge said really nice things about him and his daddy’s mom was there and could tell that Robin had to be his son. Then I played conformation with mom on both Saturday and Sunday. I was the only Open dog and I didn’t get Winners dog like mom hoped. My sister Mia, who got her champion title a long time ago (cause she gets to play with Charlie and gets liver!) got best of opposite sex both days and my half brother Radar, beat me on Sunday and got Winners Reserve.

Mom said she was tired of driving for a while but she did take me, Robin, and Kiwi to Medina to play a day of CPE. I only got 1 Q but Kiwi got 3 and Robin got 2.



Then the Friday before Halloween, mom took Robin to Youngstown to play Rally again. There was a woman there that knows what Robin is like in the agility ring and asked mom if he was going to bark and go crazy. Mom laughed and said that he is quiet when he plays rally. After they did the course, the woman said ‘That’s not the dog I judge in agility’. Mom laughed. Robin got a score of 95 and earned his Rally Novice title.

The first weekend of November we got to go back to our favorite place in Washingtonville to play CPE agility. All 5 of us got to play, even Voodoo who ran really fast and Q’d in level 1 Colors and Wildcard, which earned him his 2nd agility title (CL1-H). He even got 1st place out of 4 dogs in Wildcard. Sefina ran really well in Colors and Q’d on Saturday so mom thought that she as finally over the stairwell trauma but she went back to needing a ton of encouragement to get over jumps on Sunday so not quite. Mom has been taking Sefina to Splash ‘n Dash when she teaches on Monday nights and she is improving and even started doing the teeter again. Kiwi had on off weekend and only got 5 out of 8 Q’s but she is suffering from really bad allergies. Robin also got 5 Q’s. I got 7 out of 8 Q’s and would have had my 1st perfect weekend but mom got too far ahead of me before I got all the way up on the dog walk and I thought that maybe I wasn’t supposed to be doing it so I jumped off. Mom apologized. She’s still kicking herself. I told her it was OK. That I don’t need those big fancy ribbons like Kiwi has. Besides, I have a gi-normous diamond:)

We played AKC agility in Morgantown the weekend before Thanksgiving. Mom took us 2 days in a row which we don’t normally do for AKC trials but she said that Kiwi runs really fast there and she was hoping she’d finish her MXJ and AXF titles. But she didn’t. She only Q’d in standard on Sunday. Kiwi still has bad skin allergies but I think she was being stubborn. Robin was really crazy. I mean really, really, really crazy. On Saturday, he ran around like a maniac in jumpers and blew contacts in standard. He did finally Q in novice FAST. I Q’d in novice FAST, too. Robin got 3rd place and I got 4th. I was bouncing around a lot in jumpers and didn’t want to do the teeter in standard so I didn’t Q in those that weekend. On Sunday, Robin ran much better in jumpers but still didn’t Q. But he finally hit all of his contacts in standard! Mom was trilled and thought he was finally going to get his first standard Q but he was so riled up that weekend that he literally barked himself out of the weave poles 3 TIMES!!! And he only had to complete 6! I told you he was really, really, really crazy. Then we played FAST and the distance challenge had an A-frame. Well, you know Robin leaped off of that since mom couldn’t be next to him but I did it right and got another FAST Q and 1st place!

On Thanksgiving, mom cooked us a big turkey. But she said we had to share it because she invited Imogene over. Imogene is Morgan and Maisie’s mom, our sheltie pals. She brought us treats and fed us from the dinner table so we didn’t mind sharing our turkey with her. We’re still eating the leftovers. Then that weekend I played conformation in Tallmadge, OH. Mom says it was just for fun since there were not enough dogs entered for a major. But on Saturday our friend Meredith came with us to show her Pharaoh Hound puppy, Gilda. Everyone gushes over Gilda because she is so beautiful, but I don’t care for her much. She is SUCH a PUPPY! I’m too mature for those kinds of antics now. Mom says I’m putting on airs because she thinks I’m still pretty silly but I think she doesn’t want to admit I’m all grown up. Anyway, Gilda was the only Pharaoh Hound so she took Best of Breed. Then mom decided to let Meredith show me, thinking that I would act happier about it. Well, I was. I really like Meredith and could not take my eyes off of her. She also had the liver treats mom baked for me so I was keeping a really close eye on those. I got Winners Reserve which was still pretty good since there were 5 of us entered. The next day, Meredith had to show much earlier than us so we went by ourselves. Mom showed me and I got Winners Reserve again.

So that finally catches us up on all of our adventures. I told you we were really busy. We have the next couple of weeks off. Mom is taking Robin to a special class on Saturday but otherwise we have to supervise mom and make sure she does all of her homework. She always waits until the last minute.