Much Like Childbirth

Mindful of what happened last year when I went to the Whidbey Island show (i.e., stuck at a rest stop during a storm keeping warm with dog bed blankets) I was up and ready by 6 a.m. on Friday. My first stop was to pick up my "package" at a parking lot -- I was transporting this package from one unknown person to another unknown person who was driving down from Canada to retrieve the package.

Well, the package threw up as we entered Washington but that was the only mishap on the whole trip -- roads were clear and lovely, and I arrived at the show site by 1 p.m. to once again find that being so early is not a big advantage. I did get the good news from Kay and Sue (as I was driving) that Ruben Hudson Rock Star went Best of Winners at the Tucson show! Congratulations to him and Team Ruben :)

I was so ahead of schedule that I actually stopped to take pictures. This is the Columbia River -- YIKES! It is big!


I loved that at the scenic view area they helpfully had a sign with an important life lesson:


Excellent advice! And this is on the pass before Seattle...


Jennifer (Cooper Whitby's mom) and I set up our grooming space and waited for the Canadian to arrive to pick up the package -- she finally showed up and happily took possession of her new dog:


Obviously blessed with Good Karma for transporting a rescue dog, we did a conformation match on Friday evening at the show site -- Zoey went Best of Breed and placed third in the Working Group, and there was even a good amount of competition, including Cooper Whitby.

On Saturday Zoey and Zed Dawson were both Reserve, Zoey was Best Bred-by Exhibitor, Jennifer and I both lost our keys (I found mine pretty quickly but Jennifer only found hers after paying someone to open her truck -- sigh), and I had to stay at the show site ALL day to compete in the Bred-by Group -- the only thing we got in that was more experience, so that was good.

Today (Sunday) was a better day as nobody lost their keys and Zoey was Winner's Bitch -- unfortunately there were only nine girls so just short of a major (only two points) and Zoey got beat out for Best of Winners --- by Zed! Yes, Zed was Winner's Dog for a 4 point major and Zoey was Winner's Bitch -- how is that for consistency?! Here are some pictures of the winning littermates...




Jennifer and her girl, Britta, got a novice obedience leg (Yea!) and hopefully made it home safely -- because the adventure this year was driving home.

I ignored the sign that said traction tires were required, counting on all my accumulated good karma, and made it over the first pass with fingers cramped from clutching the steering wheel. The middle part of the drive is through flatlands and it was lovely -- and then outside of Spokane it started snowing again.

The strange thing was that I had just talked to Dear Husband and he had checked the weather for me -- apparently the weather does not check in with weather.com because it was NOT clear. In fact, it was nearly three more hours of white knuckle driving :(

But all is well that ends well -- and I will soon forget the trauma of the three passes and plan my next trip to the lovely Northwest...

So a very fun trip -- always fun to hang out with Jennifer and that Cooper Whitby is LOVELY! I am not sure how I managed to forget to take a picture of him???! Thanks to Lisa K. for letting the girls and me stay with her and her girls -- that was super fun :) Asia was not the best guest as she was constantly showing Lisa her circus trick on Lisa's kitchen chair!

Zoey is over her concerns about judges and shows -- she now tries to run into random show rings -- today she managed to get partway into the ring where they were showing labs -- oops. This is what happens when one works hard to make going in a show ring so fun and exciting :)

Zed and Zoey are now tied at ten points each -- but Zed is ahead because he has that stinking major... The rematch is January in Puyallup, Washington -- see -- I already forgot...