what a face — apparently not happy being bathed. too funny but isn’t he cute.

so strange without my Annie. even with multiple dogs, I miss any one of them when not here. I held her before she ever breathed, I held her when she opened her eyes for the first time and I watched as she decided she was above the shenanigans of her hooligan littermates. she would sit and watch them carry on and then come to me to pick her up as if to “really, why must I be subjected to that”. each of my dogs are a presence in the household and I love each one for their own traits. I peeled an orange this morning and almost couldn’t finish — oranges& strawberries were her favorite thing in the world. she would come running whenever she smelled one and knew when we brought them in from grocery shopping. she especially loved the little clementines. my friend sent me some pictures of Dino and Nala from Chicago to cheer me up. It worked some. Here they are. My beautiful Dino is a Tiara son and sired by the same dog as Velvet. He is quite beautiful and finished his championship as a puppy now five years ago. sigh… and Nala looking quite gorgeous here is a littermate to my PJ, so is a Peri/Marco son. I tried to breed her to Mondo but no go — I tried AI’s with Dino’s semen flown in when she was here, two different times, then Mondo for a natural breeding two different times. So, I gave up with her but you can see from this picture why I tried in the first place — beauty and she is a sweet girl too. oh well, stuff happens. this breeding stuff is not easy. sometimes it goes smoothly and often not. plus I then have more dogs to worry over and cry over -not just the ones I keep but all the ones out there that I produced with my boys and my girls — but I keep going. just some days are harder than others – like yesterday and today. but again, these pictures did cheer me and so are the antics of Vivi who is right now doing everything in her power to cheer me up — maybe that’s not her intent but it is the result — she is flinging herself onto the couch and rolling around, then jumping up and running to me as if to say, “are you watching me”. funny creature. well, here is Dino (black) and Nala (cream)…

Annie died at home early this morning. She knew it was time too and chose to go while sleeping by my side.

Annie was at the vet most of today again after once again being sick for a couple of days. Finally, although sadly, we now know why she keeps getting sick. They found a mass in her intestine. After listening to my vets prognosis for her I decided it is her time to go. I brought her home for the night mainly because she’d been at the vet’s all day and I just didn’t want that to be her last experience. So tonight she’s been in my lap more than not, sleeping and tomorrow I must let her go. Here are some pictures from her babyhood til now. I want to celebrate her life as she was the most dear girl. Annie is my second home-bred champion and although she did not have a lot of puppies, she produced beautiful puppies and I finished one champion son – Marco. But she has multiple grand and great grand children champions to include Trudee, Velvet, Mondo, Questo, Vivi and Pearl. Most importantly however is that she is the sweetest thing. A true pure soul.

here are the other two from the litter that’s left… you can see Livvy & Buck in posts below. Beautiful litter, darling puppies. I wish I could have kept one but I really wanted a sillverbeige female. Alas, there were none, so all went off to new homes…

one of the Velvet/Bill puppies who left yesterday for his new home. Quite a beauty.. him and his new momma!!!

I’ve posted this on facebook just now too but of course had to post onto my own blog… Pearl is listed at #4 Standard Poodle in the all breed dog magazine Chronicle’s AKC rankings. She was #4 bitch. Now #4 overall/both sexes!!!!!!!!!! woohoooooo…… this is quite a feat for my kennel. Campaigning a dog in a “special’s career” is costly and most breeders/owners put a ton more money than I have and promote them a great deal — lots of ads in the magazines. I’ve done two ads, one of which just was printed. I must do another though to brag about her Orlando BISS. And if she stays within the top five, she will be in Westminster for sure — won’t have to first qualify and then enter and hope her entries are picked in the drawing. But, if she doesn’t, I will always be able to say she made it to here!!!

Livy just left yesterday for her new home in Washington – had to let her go early so she would fit in the carrier and she was the small one!!! Isn’t she a beauty? .

here she is getting ready for the ring.

think I spelled it right..nope I didn’t — so correction above. anyway what a cute picture of this boy with his two-legged siblings. He is a Lil Lulu son and so sweet…he is in the middle if you can even see him.. just a really cute picture.