My Trip to Eukanuba

Wow, California was lots of fun. I got to see my "other" mom Bonnie, and some of my Vallhund friends. My brother Chaser was there, and we have not seen each other since we were just little puppies.

I humored my mom and acted like a show dog on Sunday. I really wanted to look around at all the dogs and people, but since mom had yummy treats, I thought I could pay attention to her for a bit, and then later I could do what I wanted to do!

It worked out for us, and mom was really happy. The judge pointed to us for the first Award of Excellence, and it was really exciting. Mom said I was a good boy, and I didn't have to walk home all the way back to Kansas City. There were lots of Vallhunds there (17 if mom counted right), and our judge came ALL the way from Finland just to judge us Vallhunds and the other breed new to AKC, the Beauceron.


Of course mom brought her camera everywhere we went, and she made me stand in front of the Queen Mary (big deal, it's a boat...), and then she took pictures and video of all of us Vallhund friends playing at a really cool dog beach.

Why did she wait until the last day to take me to the beach? We could have gone here every day and just skip that silly show part of the trip. My friends Bo, Paige, Kepler, Nikita, and Annie the German Pinscher were all there too! We had lots of fun running and playing with all the other dogs.

I did really good on the airplane. Midwest took good care of me, and my new wheels for my crate helped me speed along in the airport like a VIP! My friend Bo came from Florida to ride on the plane with me, and his mom Cheryl was there too! I remembered Cheryl from when I spent some time in Florida this spring. It was fun to have friends there, even if Bo did collect all the toys on HIS bed, and keep them from me. I got to see my other mom Bonnie, too. I'm always excited to see her, she brings good dog cookies wherever she goes, and usually I only hafta look at her with my innocent, sweet expression and she'll feed me whatever I want. hee hee

We got back to Kansas City, and it was kinda fun to play on the beach in the sand one day, and then just a few days later, I was dashing around in the snow! I loved California, but when we got home, I took a really long nap. My momma said I was snoring, but I think she's making that up!

Hawk Qualifies!

Hawk has qualified to go to the Eukaneuba championship show Dec 2 in Long Beach, CA. We are very excited, and hope to be able to make the trip.

Another Trip to Texas

I'm humoring my mom and letting her post about our trip to Texas, cuz I'm still tired from the trip:

Whew! We just completed yet another trip to the great state of Texas. Somehow, though, Texas always greets me with a solid wall of torrential rain to drive through! Pix of some scenery on our trip is at http://www.hurrikanecardigans.shutterfly.com/ . I'm fascinated with the giant wind turbines in western Oklahoma, so there are several photos of those. And, because I'm multi-talented (or just plain a danger to myself and others), all the photos except the cotton plants in Texas were taken while screeching down the interstate at 70+ MPH. Hey, I did put the phone down while taking the photos at least!

Hawk went to show in Lubbock. He's at that age where he thinks he's pretty hunky, and that all the ladies are impressed with him. I wanted to keep showing him just to see if we could work through that and get him back to his usual, attentive self. Good luck with that!

The trip to Texas was uneventful in and of itself. Saturday morning, though, on the trip from the hotel to the show site, my van went CLUNK and I pulled immediately to the shoulder of I-27. I knew it was something not good, and of course I went through the motions of lifting the hood and looking at the engine. Uh, I'm not sure WHY I would even bother, since I haven't a clue what I would even be looking for!

So, a call to tow service, and thank goodness Bonnie was following. We loaded up the show gear, the show clothes, oh, and all the dogs (Big Nick, Breezy, Hawk) into Bonnie's van with her show gear, show clothes and her dogs! Off to the show, and I ran to the Firestone in Bonnie's van to give them the key to my van.

Hawk won BOB on Saturday, although he showed like a bee on a string. No attention, no patience, and no interest at all in showing like a rock star! When we went to group that afternoon, he did much better, so I think we just have to keep at it.

Almost 12 hours after my van conked out, we had a diagnosis of a broken timing belt, and the van was fixed with no other damage to the engine. Everyone was exhausted, and we slept well on Saturday night!

Sunday Hawk was BOS to Paige, and he showed much better than he did on Saturday. Paige finished her Championship! We did not show until after 1pm, and it was 2pm when we were loaded up, and on the road back to Kansas City. What a lonnnnggggg drive after the events of the weekend. The Blue Bus arrived at home just before 2am, and everyone crashed. I flipped on the bathroom light to discover the toilet tank had overfilled and was leaking all over the bathroom floor. :-( I fixed the problem and tossed towels all over the floor. Flipped off the light and headed to bed, not in any mood to deal with it then.

Monday morning came far too early but momma's gotta work to feed the dogs and pay for shows, so we got up and fell back into our weekday routine.

Thank goodness we have a weekend off, I know we can all use some quiet time at home!

Hawk The Swedish Vallhund

My name is Hawk, and I am a 2 1/2 year old Swedish Vallhund. I live in the Kansas City, Missouri area with my mom and my Cardigan Corgi brothers and sisters (http://www.hurrikanecardigans.com/). It sure was a busy summer, and things are going to get even more wild very soon!

You see, I have been showing in AKC dog shows, and I earned my Championship and Rally titles, and I am SO very close to having enough points to get invited to the big Eukaneuba Championship show in December! I am hoping that I can earn a few more points to get an invitation.