What a diverse year 2011 has been!  We have had so many things going on this year…deciding to move back to Denver, the stress and insanity around selling our house in Alabama, buying one in Denver (sight unseen on my part!), figuring out new schools for both kids, moving (including tracking down our “lost” truck of stuff) and getting settled..that was quite enough for one year.  Somehow, in between all of that I managed to fit in a few dog things.  I attended Nationals in the spring, took a big show trip to WA in the fall, and managed to find enough points to finish Nash’s AKC championship.  I’m still settling back into the dog show life out here in the West, but it’s good to see old friends again. Â

I’m quite proud of all of the Charm kids.  A short summary of the year for the show puppies:

Vegas (Ch Allegro Gambler’s Charm) – finished his AKC championship with several majors.  This very happy, sweet, pretty boy will be neutered in the future and keep enjoying life on the farm with Joyce.

Lucy (Ch Allegro Turn on the Charm) – finished her AKC championship easily once she hit maturity and is now working towards her Grand Championship.  She piled on a bunch of points at the end of the year to give her 11 point and 2 majors towards her GCh, along with an exciting Best of Breed win over several nice specials for 5 points!

June (Ch Allegro Celestial Charm) – after being the first in the litter to finish last year, June has been out selectively working on her Grand Championship.  She has 14 points and a major towards it so far!  June also has had her health tests done and is OFA Good, OFA Elbows normal, CERF clear, PRA clear, DM clear, and does not carry fluff.

Nash (Ch Allegro Southern Charm) – finished his championship with a nice Best of Winners award on a Specialty weekend!  Has been out just a couple times since then and snagged a few minor points towards his GCh…next year we will work on that some more and I am signing him up for agility training as well!

Harmony is still happily living with her wonderful family in Mobile AL and working as a service dog for her owner Patti.  Maddie has found a new home with good friends of Dixie and will be hitting the agility circuit!  She never really grew large enough to make it in the breed ring, and I’m tickled that her new home seems to be a great fit for her.  Piper also never really grew big enough and found a wonderful, adoring pet home with Stacey in CA.  I haven’t gotten any updates from Wall-E’s owners, but I wish them well and hope he’s doing great!  I’m so thankful for the owners of these puppies…I keep calling them puppies, but let’s face it, they’re pretty much grown up now!  I know that despite things not always working out the way we plan them, these loving people always have the best interests of the dogs at heart, and I’m so grateful for that!

Here’s to a great 2012!

Well, to go with our downsized house (and garage), I traded in the big monster Saturn (Outlook) today on this little mom-hicle (Subaru Outback):

OK, so it isn’t sexy, but it drives really well, gets moderately good gas mileage, and has (hopefully) just enough space for the kids and dogs.  There just won’t be much extra. 

Provided by Vegas:

and a tired Charlie (also with Vegas, who’s a mush), who I think would stay planted right. there. if I didn’t pry her out with a crowbar every once in a while.

Small update on Pickles, she gained 1.5 ounces yesterday so no big deal!  Apparenty, she was just the normal one…all the rest are piggies. 

after giving birth. And, umm, I wasn’t carrying nine.  A little thinner in the waist, but not skinny at all really from feeling her ribs etc.

I am so proud of Lizard. She’s being a GREAT mama dog!

Just trying to get everything switched over.  Wordpress here we come!

Traum’s momma, Molly, as a puppy…maybe 6-8 months? I’m not entirely sure. Hard to believe that she grows into a moose.

and at about 4 months, when she first arrived:

ETA: Yes, Molly is a red-headed tri. VERY red-headed, obviously…you can see between the bottom pictures and the top ones how much her red “crept” backwards on her head until it enveloped the whole thing. The undercoat on her monk’s cap as a baby was always red. And yes, fuzzy ears. Her coat was a bit feathery…not TOO bad, but her ears were really soft.

Also for funsies, here is Zach at probably around 8 months? You can see he had the long pastern problem as well:

His front stayed pretty much the same, though, even after we started agility and competed.

Heidi and I are in Atlanta at a show, mostly for fun and socializing. ) There’s an entry of 24 here including 8 specials. Today, Rush was pulled out for comparison with the eventual BOS, so not bad for a youngster! Grats to Heidi. We also took some photos of his front for posting later, but I don’t have my camera cord with me so it will have to wait until we get home.

As far as fronts go…I absolutely think that shorter pasterns are a key to a nice front. Lizzie’s are moderately short, but I think could be a bit shorter. She does have nice round bone and good feet. My biggest want for her front is a better chest shape, because she’s somewhat barrel chested. And shoulder layback, but that’s a different discussion. )

Maybe Heidi can pipe in (and, ahem, start blogging again) with Rush’s front, because his is gorgeous.

Talk about turnout etc by Kate & Joanna got me wondering what Lizzie’s front TRULY looks like these days. I mean, I know it was really nice when she was a puppy. And I know that day-to-day it looks nice. But photographs are always interesting.

And here she is today, at 2.5 years old and just getting blown dry in the garage for our show weekend. Please ignore the expression, as she was most disappointed that I didn’t have cheese. Here it is stacked:

and unstacked:

You can see that she turns out a bit more on her right foot than on her left (and I actually think the way she’s leaning and turning in this photo makes it look a little more so than it really is). That definitely wasn’t there, even in casual everyday life, when she was a puppy. I suspect that most Cardis don’t have exactly even fronts?

I meant to do this earlier, but was reminded by Kristine today. )

BRADY
If I had to describe Brady in one word, it would be “intense”. We always joke that Brady will not get old gracefully and then pass away in his sleep sometime…an aneurysm in the middle of the yard running after a squirrel would be more his speed. At age 10.5 he IS finally slowing down a little bit, but not really all that much. He’s my Cardi who has been through the most obedience classes (4), yet is the one least apt to listen to me. Can you say hard headed? That said, he did teach us a lot. He’s also endearing in a lot of ways, but has always been Dave’s dog. His stubbornness and drive frustrates the living heck out of me. Through his life we’ve tried flyball, agility, and herding. All of which he is fantasically driven to do, but woefully falls short in physical ability. Brady is perfectly built for stamina (and is a fantastic hiking dog)…balanced, not extreme, and light on his feet. But his extreme drive when coupled with a strange inability to judge distance (I swear there is something odd with his eyesight, and not just as an old dog) equals a dog that is constantly injuring himself. A very memorable moment was during our first flyball demo at a local park…he was so worked up that when his turn came, he tried to run and jump so fast that he simply landed on TOP of the jump, completely taking the whole thing and himself down to the ground. Undaunted, he popped up and finished the rest of the run. We repeated the experience in agility training, even though I took him to several classes and trainers just for jumping. So despite a fantasic amount of drive, Brady has always been a house dog. He’s our official greeter and has always been the undisputed alpha of our house. Not a nasty bone in his body, he nonetheless will tell other dogs plainly what they should and should NOT be doing. He adores all humans, small or large, as long as they pet him.

LIZZIE:
One phrase to describe Lizzie would be “Suck Up”. Lizzie is a lover, not a fighter, and 100% a people dog. She loves people and will do her best to get them to either pet her, or give her food. She believes that she belongs in someone’s lap, and when we have friends over will spend the better part of the visit trying to work her way into one. You simply have to look at her at any point in the day and she’ll roll onto her back, asking “want to rub my belly?” She loves dogs that are in her pack (or extended pack), and tolerates other dogs for the most part as long as they don’t try to play with her too much, at which point she tells them in doggie terms to “buzz off”. Remember, she’s a people dog, not a dog’s dog. ) She’s also a chow hound extraordinaire and has been known to swipe food off the table if, say, you have to get up for a moment to keep the toddler from killing himself. Not that I speak from experience or anything. We joke that she’s our cat because she’s such a quiet dog…not just that she rarely barks, but she moves quietly too. This trait helps her with the aforementioned food stealing, otherwise known as “sneaky”. She has so far turned out to be surprisingly good at agility, despite her couch potato tendencies. Mostly she loves to please me, but her excitement about the sport exceeds simply wanting to do what is asked, and I’m thrilled!