Merry Christmas to All!

Karma turned six months old on December 9, 2010. Her six month evaluation took place on December 10, 2010. The verdict is in, and Karma sentenced to a life of a show dog. She has very nice head planes, a tight lip line, has all front teeth (top and bottom), a BEAUTIFUL outline to die for with gorgeous angulation. I am still working on those ears to tip, so if you see tape wrapped around the ears themselves, it's to hold the glue in place.

We have received news that we will try our darnedest to get Shaine and Ellie into agility at the nationals. I'm not sure if Ellie will have enough training to do anything with it. If I can get both of them eligible, we should try and work on herding. If that works out, you may see both Ellie and Shaine competing in best all around sheltie. If not, well... It just wasn't meant to be. We'll sure try though. :) I'm so excited!

I have many more friends with many different breeds (showing) all over the world thanks to the emphamous FaceBook. Those breeds include Pharaoh, Ibizans, Gordon Setters, and even MORE shelties. I have such a wonderful array of friends, and many have such great advice when I need it. Thank goodness for FaceBook. :) To all of my friends and everyone else, have a wonderful, merry Christmas and we'll see you next year!

Karma's 6 Month Eval

So Karma doesn't turn 6 months until Friday, but I went ahead and took some photos today. She is turning out very nicely, and I am very pleased with her all around attitude and structure. She has a beautiful outline. This weekend, before her real six month evaluation is completed, I will have her groomed up. After the evaluation, I will take her somewhere where there is nice scenery and take pictures. I'm not sure where that will be yet, but I'll find somewhere. :) Until then, I am holding a few outline pictures to tide the fans over. ;)

Just for cuteness

Show side outline

Off side outline

Off side teeth

Show side teeth

New Song!

I finally got a new song on Karma's page. I'm confident she is going to turn out show quality so I'm thinking about moving her to the permanent girls page rather than just a hopeful. Then again, I will probably wait until she is 6 months old. Her training is coming along well (for what I can do with what little time I have). Sits are becoming automatic, and I have been thinking about taking her, Ellie, and Shaine to Tyler to get some agility training. I doubt I will be able to do much "training" on Karma, but she can get used to the environment. I just need to drop Terra off at Luke's babysitter's one day of the week and travel. I need to get new tires on my car first, though. At any rate, Karma has been registered and is permanently known as Lacewood Bi Fate. YAY! :) Anyway, about the song. Her theme song is "Karma Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club. I sing it to her all the time, and she just comes bouncing up to say "hey." Yup, she knows it's about her. Anywho, also enjoy the new pictures that are up.

Karma @ 20 Weeks Old

This evening, I decided to take some pictures of Karma. I'm sorry they are so dark, but my house wasn't built with great lighting....

Hot Springs Show Results

We left Saturday morning to get to the show. We got there about a quarter til 10 and we showed a little after 11. We got set-up and I got dressed for show. My nerves were starting to kick in because I just knew we weren't going to do great. Ellie really pulled us together, took a 94 and 4th place. We got done showing (I'm ecstatic!), and I bought more ear tape and speed sew from a vendor at the show. Let's say since the speed sew, the score stands at Karma's ears 4: me 1! :) We checked in at the Econo Lodge, and it is NOT some where I recommend going to. FIRST, the door wouldn't shut. It would lock, but not actually close. You could push it open without touching the nob. Yeah... Bad...

Once that was fixed, we went to eat at Colton's Steakhouse and Grill. This was truly the best experienced I have ever had at a steakhouse. Tracie (the friend I borrowed for the weekend) ordered some kind of pasta. It looked good, but I was too interested in steak for celebrating Ellie's achievement, so I ordered the 12 oz sirloin (with a salad and steamed veggies). The ranch dressing tastes house made. If it's not, I will really be surprised. The rolls were so nice and hot when they were brought to the table with the best honey butter. YUM!

Went to the hotel and slept. No... I didn't sleep well. The bed was too hard, there was a cigarette burn in my blanket, and the A/C didn't work well. Let's put it this way... I had the unit on all night (started the afternoon before) full blast on it's coldest setting. I had to go out about 5:00 in the morning to potty Ellie and Karma. It was at MOST 55 degrees F. It was nice and WARM in the room. The A/C was still on... It was on because during the day, it was pretty warm. Probably in the 80s.

Woke up the next morning at 7:30 with back pains, I even mentioned my issues to some one in the lobby of how low the standards are for such a community that survives on tourism in front of the receptionist. They allowed an obviously low standard man walk in the lobby BAREFOOT with swimming trunks and horrible hygene. The man actually had the audacity to stare at me when I mentioned the word "bitch" to some one who was also a member of the dog show world speaking of the point scale system. REALLY? ::shivers::

We had the same judge as we did yesterday, and she put up a little bit harder of a course for us. Ellie surprised me again with a score of 93 and 4th place. I'm so proud of her! :) On our way home we stopped at Lake De Gray to get a few scenic pictures with the blues. It was hard work, but we took a few I'm proud of. :) Thanks, Tracie, for your help. I couldn't have had such a smooth weekend without you! <3

Hot Springs

So our next show is going to be Hot Springs. I will only have Ellie entered in Rally Novice. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to get the first two legs of Ellie's RN. I wish I thought about it before and had been working to get Shaine ready to get his first two legs of his RA. Live and learn. Hopefully, next time I update, we'll have a brag or two.

Karma's Page Updates

I put up the training video on Karma's page, and I semi-fixed Karma's logo on the girls' page. I want to build some puppy training equipment to start Karma on in agility. This equipment isn't to teach her the obstacles. The goal is to teach her patience, to listen, and give her an idea of what "contacts" are. I may just lay bars on the ground and let her hop over them when she wants so she doesn't have to be taught too much when she starts actual "hard-core" training.

It's too hot to actually train in agility, but I do need to get out once in a while for about 10 minutes with each Ellie and Shaine to get them started back. I would really like to enter Shaine in the Shreveport trial the first weekend of December. I would also like to enter Ellie at the nationals in April. That's a good goal, though I'm not sure how far we'll get with it considering she's supposed to have a litter of puppies in March.

Karma's Training Progress and such

Karma has really come into her own since she has been here at Anu. She is so smart, willing, and eager that it is just a sinch to teach her anything. Of course, her love for Pup-Peroni is a plus as well. :)



She is really going to be outstanding in agility and obedience. I wish herding was easier to get to than what it is. Then I would be hoping to do that too, but it's going to be almost overwhelming to get her ring ready for Obed, Agility, & Conformation at once. Given, there's about a year's difference between her starting conformation and starting any performance...

I am not able to get PhotoShop back on the computer, thanks to a scratched CD. When we buy a new computer, we're either going to buy the program or make sure the computer already has it and video editing software attached. Maybe even wireless Internet access so I can upload at the nationals? We'll see. Where was I going with this? Basically, that's why the font size doesn't match on the girls' page. There's no way to compare and measure... And I'm pretty much just giving up on that for now. It looks great the way it is.

Have a great night every one! :)

Karma has arrived!

Turned out we didn't go to Little Rock for the show. Instead, we brought home a beautiful bi blue girl with beautiful blue eyes. Karma (Lacewood Bi Fate) has come to Texas from Tricia Harris of Lacewood Shelties. She is out of Ch Lacewood The Star Maker and Akadia Poetry Bi Moonlight. She turned 9 weeks old two days ago, and is the most beautiful little girl. She has a beautiful head and a gorgeous structure. She is learning the ropes of the pack, though she seems to have fit in very easily. It seems the one she is most fond of is Ellie. Maybe because they have similar color patterns, or that Ellie is the Alpha. Her attitude is what I expected, and she isn't even phased by my 2 year old son running around the house.

Entries & Possible Additions

The litter I hope to get a puppy from will be four weeks old tomorrow. She will either be a bi-black or bi-blue. I hope for the bi-blue, but I'm not holding my breath. More information later.

Our next show will be Little Rock. The Black and Tan people are building majors so I, of course, will be there. :) Luckily it only takes 4 to make a major for them.

Thanks for reading,
Jenn

Just Stuff

Ellie came into heat yesterday. She's actually a month early, but this will put her in heat again in early January. I am planning on having the rest of her genetic testing done (i.e. hips OFA, vWD, MDR1, and thyroid) by the beginning of December. This well allow me to get the results in before being bred. She is expected to be bred to Antone (MUSICAL ETERNITY OA OAJ) who is OFA excellent, CERF normal, and thyroid normal. Blues and tris are expected. If you would like to get more information about the litter or the breeders (Darlene Music of Musical Shelties and I), give me a shout.

We also hope to be adding two new members to our family. A sheltie puppy (not yet determined) and a baby girl who's due date is November 13Th.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4Th of July.

Yours truly,
Jennifer Campbell

The Weekend

Yesterday and today went well. Last night, Luke stayed with Nana Dee, and Terry and I took Ellie, Shaine, and Loretta to Bringle Lake Park to work on some obedience. Ellie is perfecting her newly taught tricks and so we added in beg. We were also perfecting stay, heel, and recall. Terry really needed to work on Loretta to focus. Since she's a scent hound, she insisted her nose came attached to the ground. No... We fixed that before the end of the night. Terry was very impressed with my work. :)

Today we took Luke to see his PawPaw. PawPaw's girlfriend (MawMaw Linda) had recently added a new family member to her household. This little 7 week old wonder is named Pickles, and Pickles is an Aussie mix. She is a real cutie, and very sweet. She fell in love with Luke at first site (making me want an Aussie but we aren't getting into that right now).

After our visit with Linda, we had to pick up some dog food. TOTW is only found at Tractor Supply, so we had to get there before they closed. We bought all the dogs a bone. When we FINALLY got back home, we ended up relaxing, watching Big Fat Liar with Luke, and watching the dogs attack their bones. We hope Tuesday will be a good practice for conformation with Loretta. Erin (Shaine's newly-named handler) needs to practice with Shaine and Zen, so I hope we can make it out. Ellie needs to dust some of her skills off as we haven't worked with her since earlier this year.

Ellie's eyes will be CERF'd at our local show. YAY! That will be ONE less genetic test I will need to worry about. I hope to get the others before her next heat cycle. We may have puppies feet running around either the end of this year or beginning of next (depending on when she decides to come in heat). If I am lucky, I will be having another sheltie addition in the next couple of months. There are three potential litters to get a puppy from, so my fingers are crossed. ;)

Ellie Plays Dead

Earlier this evening, I decided to work with Ellie on some random pet tricks. Not knowing which tricks to start with, I just chose Beg and Stand on Two Legs. When we weren't really getting anywhere, I just decided to give up. While just playing around and scratching her chest, she brought her paw to hug my arm. *DING* Why not teach her to shake? So I worked on Shake and Play Dead. Shake she learned very quickly. I found the "button" I use to teach and remind her to pick up her paw. Play Dead was a little more tricky, and she is still reluctant to work on it. We were able to work on the tricks and put a name to the actions, so that's what we did! :)

Terry and Loretta took the opportunity to work on some obedience (and try out some tricks). After such a short time working and practicing together, this team is really starting to shine. Loretta now knows Sit and Down. She is even learning how to stay. Also, keep in mind, Terry has never attended an obedience class, so the method he is using is from simply watching others teach and natural ability. Of course, Loretta does help him out by being very smart. ;)

Toodles, folks! Have a great night.

Windbourne Hello Darlin'

She came in last night. Her call name is Loretta, and she was bred by Dick Myers, Brenda Myers, and Shelley Campbell. Her sire is Ch Windbourne Bently and Dam is CH Windbourne Champagne Girl. She was born November 14, 2009. Tomorrow, she will be 6 months old. Her aunt is Ch Silver Ridge Showtyme at Windbourne (Tess). Tess took BOB at Westminster earlier this year. Terry is SO excited, and I am also excited for him.

HAPPY B-DAY ELLIE!

Today was Ellie's 2ND Birthday. I cleaned up the house when I got home from work, then went straight to fixing an extensive dinner. We had two guests, my mom and Erin. Erin helped cook (mostly cooking ) and Terry bought a cake.


Above is a picture of Ellie's cake.

It was short notice, and it was basically that or iCarly. I did get one picture of Ellie with her piece of cake, but it came out blurry. I hope to get better pictures from Erin (she was kind enough to bring her camera). Don't worry, it was vanilla cake with a butter cream icing, and it was tasty.

On another note, Ellie has been doing very well in her obedience training. We are taking the next month off, but we will be starting back up in May. We have a couple of private lessons lined up in April that I need to save up for. Who knows, I may be showing Ellie AND Shaine in Agility AND Obedience next year at the 2011 American Shetland Sheepdog Association National

Good night all!

Jessica & Smudge, Jennifer & Ellie

WHEW! Training night was fun! But the drive was exhausting. Smudge had fun, though I was very surprised when the instructor put a prong collar on him. IMO, I wouldn't have put a collar like that on such a timid dog. I would have tried for a martingale style collar before a prong. If she would have put one on ANYONE, I would think it to be Ellie. SHE WAS NUTS! She couldn't keep still, and the instructor insisted it was Trip (I think that's what his name is) all over again. I don't know what Trip is, I never met him, and I didn't want to ask. I was afraid she would say he's a border collie. HAHA! I always said Ellie is the BC of the Shelties. We worked on healing, sits, 360 degree rights and lefts, as well as figure eights and stays.

Jessica and I both kept getting confused with our right and left. I did it first, then Jessica followed suit cause I was in front of her for the most part. I HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!!! I will definitely be going back. Well, duh... I did pay for the full four week class. I'll probably have to keep Ellie in for a couple more months before we can get "control" to set in. (X-D)

I hope to be able to start Ellie in Agility soon. I'm probably going to go up every other Sunday (starting probably in April) to Tyler and take private lessons with Terri. I need to get Shaine some training so we can hit some agility competitions in the fall. I really want to get the training started before it gets hot hot hot!

Anyway, Terry and I are looking around for a van or Suburban. The Suburban is the biggest SUV, but it has HORRIBLE gas mileage. I'd be happy with just a minivan. It's not like his B&T coonhounds will need much show equipment. Maybe just a table, and he'll probably be able to use the same stuff I have (of course not as much). However, we do need the room to get them up there in the first place.

Besides, my goal is to have Ellie's CD, RN, NA, and NAJ before her first litter next spring. I also need to get Ellie's testing done. I have the MDR1 test kit already, and I am in the midst of ordering a vWD test kit. Then my plans are to get her OFA done next month, then get her thyroid tested in May. By June, Texarkana's show has a CERF clinic. WOOT! It all falls into place. I think Darlene and I have already chosen a stud, but until everything is confirmed, I don't want to curse it by posting it. ;)

New update with training next week!

Litter of Shelties

So the plans are beginning to come together for my first litter. Ellie will be bred next year, giving me time to have her Hips OFA, eyes CERF, Vwd, MDr1, and thyroid tests finished. It isn't completely decided who the stud will be as of now, but stay tuned! If you are interested in getting a puppy out of Ellie, please e-mail me at jcampbell@anukennels.net.

THANKS!
Jenn and Team Anu
P.S. Have a great night.

Walk Down Memory Lane

I was working on my website, and I came across some older photos I thought I would share.

A younger me, and a much younger Rose:


Skipper in Obedience, Rally, and Agility:




OMG! Attack of the killer Shaine!:

Cont'd

I forgot to mention that when I was at the Dallas dog show last December, I had professional pictures taken of Ellie and Shaine. I have made arrangements to get these pictures big enough to hang in my living room. They are going to be EXCELLENT additions to my already pet-friendly home. I can't WAIT to get them in! X~D

I hope my next puppy is a Bi-Black or a Tri. I bet it's more likely I'll be getting a Tri out of Ellie. I guess we'll see when we get to that point, right? :)

Later Today?

I stayed up until 2:00 this morning cleaning up my living and dining areas. They really look great! Rearranging again does help keep me and my cleaning on it's toes. If I don't, I'll never get it done, but for some reason, I only get company when it's in a horrible mess.

Some one is brining her sheltie (Fluffy) over tomorrow so I can teach her how to tip Fluffy's ears. Fluffy is her newer puppy she got for Christmas (yes she knows why that's not good) from her sister. Her sister doesn't know what she went through when she bought Smudge, not knowing at the time he came from a puppymill. I would bet Fluffy came from a puppymill as well.

The point of that story is She and Fluffy is the main reason I was up cleaning. Terry decided to get a little tipsy before bed, so he went to bed early. The vacuum didn't even wake him. Thankfully, neither the shelties nor the collies started barking when the "sucker" started up. Ellie starts the riot by standing at the front-lines. Shaine and Skipper are the back-up, and Rose uses strategy to stay away, though barking at it never hurts.

Mom bought me two new wire 200 crates that I LOVE! They are lightweight, and I bought two crate mats to go in them, too. I recently bought two used 100 crates (soft and wire) for my future puppy, along with a used 200 wire. Just planning ahead is all. I bought all three for $60, and last month I bought three used 400 plastic crates for the collies. The price ($70) wasn't bad. They are very durable, and the collies aren't destructive at all. In fact, they use it as their "safe house" or "napping den."

I'm so excited to get started in Obedience work with Shaine and Ellie. It's going to be so much fun! Plus, Erin and I need to speak with the herding lady so we can get back to practices. I miss them.