Posing Pups with Pansies

OK - so the flowers aren't pansies... but it made for a cute title!

The Kids - Left to Right -

Jesse, Cash, Sophie

My girlie-girl, Sophie, LOOKS so pretty with the flowers even though she is the toughest thing in my house.

My uncooperative girl, Jesse, says "I will not look at your face with that thing in front of it." She hates the camera some days...

ALL boy - Mr. Cash says NO WAY to posing with flowers! He much prefers the shrubs!

Very handsome boy - as he alerts to the chainsaw noise in the distance...

Then, off to Allentown, to see the C.W. Corgi Princess - Miss Summer!

I am so glad I got this shot - I wanted a 'sniffing' shot all day with my kids and they wouldn't cooperate!And peaking - how cute is that puppy???
HEY! Those might be PANSIES!

one day late...

Better late than never...

Happy 4th of July!

And Mr. Cash says ...

I'll take any extra picnic food that is left over - I'm ready with my bib!

Lenape Specialty & Trenton Kennel Club News

The Lenape Golden Retriever Club Specialty is held in Mercer County Park - about 15 minutes from home. I try to enter this show yearly because it is a Golden Specialty and because its CLOSE! This year, I entered Jesse in Rally Novice B in hopes of getting her second leg. And, on a total whim, I entered Cash in Rally Novice B - in hopes of him not totally embarrassing me and to support the club! If Cash's entry comes as a surprise to you, GOOD! I didn't tell anyone about Mr. Cash being entered in a show for the first time because I really didn't know what would happen!

So - its a lovely Friday in May, drizzle, cool, grey and blah. Not a fun day to be out and about with the dogs. I got to the show site and prepped the kids for the ring. They both seamed uninterested in the entire thing...JOY!

Cash was first to go. He was so happy and bright it was ODD. I'm not used to a dog that 'up' in obedience settings. It was very cool. He was not perfect and did a few silly things, but all in all, he held it together and we made it through. The judge even complemented us on our heeling - and I promptly informed her that he was just 1 year and 1 week old! She was impressed :)

A very few dogs later, Jesse got her shot. She also did very nicely and cooperated fully - even on the dreaded DOWN. She was as bright and happy as the J-dog can be.

At ribbon time, Jesse was awarded 3rd place with a score of 93. Cash scored a 90 - which was 5th place. I was very impressed with Jesse's score - I do not train this dog at all anymore and her idea of fun is the couch. Cash pulled off a nice score as well for a very young dog who has never been in a ring with Rally signs or done half the stuff you have to do in Rally! Add that to the fact that he is really just learning to heel and WOW - 90 is a great score for a baby-dog!

Jesse's picture from the show...

Mr. Cash's picture from the show...

Photographs by Asheby Photography of Gilbert, PA

On Sunday, Jesse and I returned to Mercer County Park in the torrential rain to compete in Rally once again. We entered the Trenton Kennel Club Show in hopes of completing the RN title in 3 shows. Jesse is a bit of a princess, like her Momma, and did not think much of the wet grass and disgusting weather. Despite Mother Nature's attempts to foil our plan, Jesse managed to qualify in Rally Novice B again, completing her RN! I am not too proud to admit that this was a miserable, slightly mortifying experience, as Jesse refused to do the majority of the exercises and earned a score of 70 (which is the minimum score you must obtain to qualify). Oh well, it's Jesse, the dog I don't train, the dog who doesn't like to 'work' and the dog who was never expected to compete in anything again - let alone earn a single ribbon - after the doctors at Penn sealed her fate with their reports on ALL her joints. She did more for me in earning those 3 Rally legs than I ever hoped for. Thank you Jesse for being my partner for those three entries! You don't have to ever leave the couch again!

Thank you Momma - I like the couch much better than I like competing :)

updates - long time coming!

Sorry for the lack of posts - been a little distracted and busy during the month of March. After the snow at the start of the month, I enjoyed a week with the stomach flu. Then, my Momma fell ill, with what turned out to be a ruptured appendix! Then, my Papa came down with shingles. Not much time for photography and puppy stories with a month of illness! The good news is that Momma is on the mend, Papa's shingles are almost totally cleared up and life is getting back to normal for everyone!

So - what's happened since our last post?

On March 18th Jesse turned 6! I can't believe she's been in my life for 6 years... She is such a peaceful creature.

On March 21st and 22nd Sophie and I trialed at Dream Park again - SOJAC trial. This was a special trial for us for many reasons. First, our judge for the weekend was family! Clyde Closson - owner of Cash-man's grandma "Rosie" was the judge. This was Clyde's first official judging assignment and he designed some beautiful courses! Sophie Q'd in his Open Standard course on Saturday (Q#2 for OA). Then she Q'd in Novice Fast to finish her NF title - taking Second Place! On Sunday, Sophie took Third Place in Open Standard to finish her OA title! (Her time was actually the fastest in her class, but she lost points with a wrong course and refusal, so she came in third) Our Jumper's runs were not bad, but not worth talking about either...

On March 27th and 28th Sophie and I trialed in Freehold - Afghan Hound Cluster trials. Our Friday Open Jumpers run was AWESOME! We took first place and had a beautiful run. She was fast and connected to me. The run felt 'right' - a great feeling! We also ran in Excellent Standard - but fell off the table and couldn't manage the tricky weave pole entry. Saturday was also a great day, but no Q's. Excellent Standard was another amazing run, but a handler error sent Sophie into the wrong end of a tunnel - NQ :( Open Jumpers was at the very end of a long day and we were both shot - not our best effort and another NQ. Either way, showing on Saturday was a great way to spend my birthday.

Cash started a 'super star' puppy class on the 16th with one of the area's premiere obedience instructors. What a great class this is! He and I are learning so much - and its so nice to be starting off on the right foot!

This coming weekend is a big one - Lorie Jolly Field Training seminar at my house hosted by New Jersey Pine Barrens Golden Retriever Club. This should be a really cool experience and to make it even better, Cash-man's family is coming to visit again :)

Sophie's rear cross froze over hell...

And now we have almost a foot of snow! Thus, more snow pictures...

Thanks Sophie - Mamma needed a day off after getting up so early all weekend for the trials!

This might be one of my favorite pictures of Miss Sophie Dog... She is such a pretty red girl!

Under all that snow is the Jesse Dog. She likes to roll in snow, nuzzle her face in snow, run in snow, eat snow, etc...

Snow makes the Jesse Dog a very happy red girl!

Then there's that blonde thing...

The dialogue for this portion of the pictures sounds something like this:

the Mamma: "Mr. Cash - look! Cash-man, wanna cookie? Mamma has cookies!" big sigh...Cash wanders off...
the Mamma: "Mr. Cash - COME! Mr. Cash - COME NOW! You little %#*$-er, get your @$$ over here NOW! Cash-man, COME COOKIES NOW!"

the Cash-man: "Mamma, calm down. I'm here now. Pictures are stupid in the snow, but I'll sit for a minute. You better hurry up though..."

the Cash-man: "then I gotta go... It's far more fun to run and play in the snow than sit still for stupid pictures! Ready girls... Let's GO!"

Chaos begins, as the Mamma shuffles into the house to warm up and get more cookies... muttering aloud,

"Stupid %#*$-ing dogs... Please let spring come soon!"

If you too are having a snow day, we all hope you enjoyed it!

more snow!

"Before this gets started, let me just say, that I think its NONSENSE. These two run around like idiots. Don't they know there's work to be done? Skills to practice? All this running, chasing and (ugh) playing...its disgusting...

I mean, the poles are still in the yard guys! We can still train! Stop the sillyness!!!"

"No way Sophie! The boy isn't as agile today - I can actually CATCH him when the white stuff is on the ground!"

(insert sound effects... 'BANG, CRASH, BOOM!' ...think Batman cartoons)

"WHOA Lady! Its called 'playing'! Fun, remember???"

That's right Cash-man, shake it off. The girls are very serious sometimes.

Respect your elders and you will live to see your first birthday.

Family Pictures ... The Reincarnation of an August Shot

It was requested that I re-do the family portrait taken in August. The 'baby' is huge now in comparison to the girls, so it was time for a re-shoot.

In our first image, we have the kids cooperating.

Though Miss Jesse Dog refuses to smile...

Left to right - Cash, Jesse, Sophie

In our next image, we have Miss Jesse Dog showing her true emotions toward her canine house mates...

"I can't stand these two beside me... One day, I will get them..."

And in our final image, we have Mr. Cash attempting to show Miss Jesse Dog his love.

If she strained her neck much farther away from his kisses, I think her head might fall off!

a little more snow...

It appears that our part of Jersey will remain snow-free this year. Each time the weather-man calls for snow, we get a dusting at most. Not very exciting for me, as all I think of when I hear the word snow is ... SNOW DAY!!! However, the dusting made the kids happy and inspired me to go outside, freeze my right hand off and take a few pictures of the kids. Enjoy...

Mr. Cash is really not THAT much bigger than the girls. The sidewalk slopes, and Jesse is at the lowest point.

He is, however, growing up to be soooo handsome!

Sophie, hiding from the brother... She's not that fond of him when he is off leash and out doors. She will stay better than the other two though!

Santa came - even for Mr. Cash!

Santa did not disappoint the goldens! Despite the rowdy behavior of late, presents were delivered for the furry kids in my house.

Mr. Cash, Sophie and Jesse all received stuffed ducks with Santa hats on - that honk! If you were not already aware of this, please take note... HONKING toys are the very best toys on the planet!

Sophie promptly took the hat off her duck. She felt strongly that ducks should not be wearing hats.

Jesse thought that Sophie's plan was a good one and made quick work of her duck's hat as well...

Mr. Cash had is toy in private and has managed to keep the hat. He is a metro sexual puppy - he likes accessories!

See... accessories! Isn't he the cutest?!?

The kids also got giant hedge hog toys. They also honk so they also rock :)

Santa also delivered an A-Frame and a new tunnel. That would be Santa:AKA Grandma & Grandpa for the A-Frame and Mikey for the tunnel!

We had a wonderful holiday and hope that you all had a blast as well!

Happy Holidays!

Thought it was about time to share the 'good shots' from our holiday card shoot :)

Jesse - being the perfect pet as always... put the hat on and she turns into a statue instantly! What a good old gurly she is!

Sophie - though rather disgusted with the idea of WEARING the hat, she thought that holding the holiday toy was quite good and tried to smile with it in her mouth. If only we held the dumbbell that well in obedience...hmmmm...

Cash - Mr. Serious for the pictures...but the minute I put the camera down ~ look out! He's a holly terror the last few weeks. I guess that feeling better and gaining weight equals behaving badly! This is a very serious situation - Santa may not come for Mr. Cash if he continues down the naughty path!

Photo by my wonderful and patient Momma - Carol Durr

Cash, Lora, Jesse and Sophie in the front.

Hope this finds you all happy, healthy and done with your shopping!!!

the bed buddies

Jesse - doing what she does best...cuddling! Poor Mikey - he's working way too hard lately :(

At least Jesse had time to nap with him :)

SANTA!!!

My good friend Rocky stands in for Santa every year at our local feed store. All the locals bring their kids, dogs, cats and various other barn yard creatures to have a photo taken with Santa. We joined in the fun this year...

Left to Right: Sophie, Jesse, Santa Rock, Mr. Cash

Thanks to the crew at AGWAY in New Egypt for hosting this awesome photo opportunity :)

Looks like I should've asked Santa for a new pair of jeans!

First snow!!!

It wasn't much, but the first snow to fall and stick began last night about 7:30. It is so much fun to see how a puppy reacts to this monumental event in life. I still remember Jesse's reaction - she went out into the snow, threw herself onto the ground and began making her version of snow angels! Then there was Sophie - quite the girly-girl when it comes to weather! She took one look at the cold, white ground and wouldn't leave the porch! Both the girls now enjoy the snow - though it is in Jesse's GENES to be exuberant about it - after all, she hails from upstate NY, home of the killer winters!

So, the new guy...well, last night, Cash went out the door and threw on his brakes so fast I thought he was going to slide right off the porch! He then cautiously walked down the steps and into the grass - nose to the ground investigating the cold, white blanket that had appeared. Then he looked up at me and realized there was more 'white stuff' falling from the sky! Cash went ripping around the yard doing his 'chomp-chomp' thing, no doubt trying to catch the flakes as the fell! He was so cute! Too bad it was too dark to take pictures!


This morning we did manage to get a few pictures. They aren't great due to the light and the lightening speed at which Cash was ripping around in the snow.


He is SOOOO good at stopping his madness for a quick photo op! He always says the same thing...

"What happen? It wasn't me! I a GOOD boy!"

the shots that didn't make the cut...

I've been working on taking pictures for our holiday greeting card over the last few days. These shots did NOT make the cut, so I thought I would share the funnies...

Sophie says, "Momma - PLEEEEEEZE don't make me where the stupid hat!!! Can't you see you are killing me???"

Now - this is cute - but we've got better so this shot of Sophie and the candy cane didn't make the cut...

Cash says, "YESSS! New tug toy!!!"

Jesse says, "Momma, why don't you have the camera? I'm looking right at ya, take the picture already!"

And da momma says "I AM smiling! This is so much fun, just can't wait till next year!"