Yasashiikuma

So another Nationals has come and gone and once again I have had a typical “Shelley’s Road Trip Adventure”.    I’ve developed a new mathematical equation – “The ease of the road trip to Nationals (R) is inversely proportional to the success in results (S)” or S=1/R     As the simplicity of the road trip decreases, the success of the results increases.    Yes, that is making light of the difficulties encountered, but that is the attitude I am choosing to take.

So Monday morning, we headed out bright and early for Ohio.  Well, maybe early (9 am) it wasn’t so bright.  It was kind of cloudy up here, and as we got closer to the border, it started to rain, so that when we got to Niagara Falls, it was not going to be a pleasant day for Joan and Jens who were visiting to see the Falls.  We decided that we would continue right through to Ohio, and they would come back to visit on another day before flying home.   We did decide to stop on the American side so they could take some pictures.

Fate stepped in, by me choosing the wrong road to turn down to get to the State Park in Niagara Falls, NY.  I instead turned down a driveway for a government building, and had difficulty backing out with the trailer in tow (I took my motorcycle along this year).   While we were trying to get out I heard a “bang” but the engine seemed to be running normally.  A security truck from the building helped me to get turned around further down the driveway, but by that point, my power steering wasn’t working, and my alternator light was on.  As I got back on the road I noticed the temperature climbing and pulled over immediately.    Looking under the hood, the “bang” was the serpentine belt breaking – leaving me with no fan, charging system or power steering.   After some finagling with CAA and AAA the car and trailer were towed to a nearby Chev dealer who replaced the belt quickly and reasonably while we had dinner.    So we were a little later arriving into Huron than we had hoped but the repairs didn’t put too big a dent in my pocket.

The results at Nationals were quite good.  I was a little disappointed that Dragoon didn’t go as far as I would have hoped.  He made the preliminary cut in the Megan and since his number was called twice, was obviously a selection of both first round judges.  However, he went nowhere in the second round.  In the specials for some reason he didn’t even make the first cut.  More important, to me though, was the comments from several of the exhibitors who felt that he was going to be their main competition for the breed.

Naomi made the cut in her class, but neither she nor Shadow placed in their respective classes.  Dash and Norton both came third in their classes, and Dolly received an Award of Merit – even out of coat.  That is four years running she has been in major awards.   As for the babies in other homes, Justin and Bling both looked fantastic but there were not enough ribbons to go around, and Darren came first in the regular class and second in Sweeps. Maple placed third in the 9-12 puppy bitch class.  All in all, a very good showing for my kids and grandkids, and a lot more than many others came home with.

The sad part was taking Hunter in for the Parade of Titleholders.   As we went around, it hit me that this was probably the last time he and I would enter a ring together.  Even if he is still with us next year, it is unlikely that I will make the trip to Tucson, and if I did, I wouldn’t take him on a 5 day road trip.  I wish we had been able to get a photo of Hunter and his descendants at Nationals, but everything ran far too late, and everyone was far too tired.

Norton was supposed to go  live with his new co-owners…more about that in another post.   However, there were issues getting paperwork done in the U.S., so he had to come home to Canada to have the paperwork done.

So on Sunday morning, all was packed up to head back home, and I stopped at Tim and Tracie’s to pick up the rest of the dogs.  So far all was good, but about 20 minutes down the road on I-90, in my side mirror, I noticed blue smoke coming out from under the van.   Never a good sign!!   I immediately pulled over, and shut down the van and then looked underneath to see if I could see the source – and saw transmission fluid (I know my colours!!) pouring out from the front of the truck.

I called CAA/AAA again and got a truck to come out.  Tim and Tracie came and rescued all the dogs from the truck and took them home, while I waited for the drivers to come and get the van and trailer, again.   Tim gave me the address of his mechanic, and we towed the van there and left it.  The tow truck driver was especially nice and took me back to their house, instead of leaving me to arrange my own transport, which was all he was really required to do.

Since I had to get Norton back to Canada, and I also had a very important meeting about a job to attend Tim then took me all the way to Cleveland airport to get a rental car.  They also fed me and sent me on the road.  I made it as far as Niagara Falls, before I finally had to pull over and get some sleep.    Monday morning, I set out very early on the road again, and made Norton’s early morning vet appointment.  Unfortunately, the Agriculture Canada vet was on a bit of a power trip, and was difficult (same guy that messed up my flights for Crufts) requiring another trip back to the vet again, but all worked out in the end.    Late in the day I heard from the mechanic that it was only a transmission line that let go (when they put in the transmission cooler they used cheap hose), and thankfully I pulled over soon enough that I did no damage to the transmission.

Tuesday morning, I set off into Toronto for my meeting.  From there, I once again hit the road for Ohio to drop off the rental car, and pick up the truck, and trailer, and the rest of the dogs.    As I got out of the car and was taking out the crate and blanket we had put in for Norton, unfortunately my Iphone slipped out of my hand, and hit the concrete, resulting in a spiderweb of shattered glass on the front.  The screen protector though, held it all together.   I just made it before the rental location closed for the day, so I was able to turn it in and only pay 2 days rental instead of the 3.   Tim came out and got me, and I picked up my truck.  We then hitched up the trailer, loaded the dogs, and we all went out for dinner before I headed home.

I made it as far as I could before booking a motel in Hamburg, NY.  I stopped at the rest stop in Angola, and walked all the dogs so they wouldn’t disturb everyone at the hotel, and then checked in at midnight.

Wednesday morning, I was beginning to question the sanity of long distance truckers who do this for a living!  I don’t know how they are able to concentrate on the road, when one day just blurs into another.   By this morning, I was blaring my music as loud as I could stand, and singing along (couldn’t have been too bad as none of the dogs were howling!)     just to keep my sanity.    So I arrived home just after 12:30 and started to unload.  Larry came over and helped get the bike off, and some of the heavier stuff in.  My living room looks like a warehouse, but I’m pretty sure many others who went to the nationals are in the same state.    And then the final leg of the journey began.    I had to return the trailer to Georgetown, and Carrie to Toronto.   And then on the return trip, pick up Jade who has finally come into season.

So the whole trip was fraught with perils, and yet for some reason it hasn’t really upset me.  Maybe its because I’ve decided to change my atttitude about how I am looking at it, and taken a page from the 12 steps to “Let go and let God”.   No, I’m not an alcoholic (of the five  bottles of wine I took to Nationals, shared one, gave away two, and brought two home), but I’ve attended their meetings with people I have been close to who are.

This story, another one that has made the internet rounds, came to mind during all of this.   Even though I consider myself a spiritual, but not religious person, I couldn’t help but think of how it all pertained to this trip.

Me (in a tizzy) : God, can I ask you something?

GOD: Sure.

Me: Promise you won’t get mad?

GOD: I promise.

Me (frustrated): Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?

GOD: What do you mean?

Me: Well I woke up late,

GOD: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start,

GOD: Okay….

Me (growling): At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait

GOD: Hmmmm..

Me: On the way home, my phone went dead, just as I picked up a call

GOD: All right

Me (loudly): And to top it all off, when I got home, I just wanted to soak my feet in my foot massager and relax, but it wouldn’t work. Nothing went right today! Why did you do that?

GOD: Well let me see….. the death angel was at your bed this morning and I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that.

Me (humbled): Oh…

GOD: I didn’t let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that might have hit you if you were on the road

Me (ashamed): Uhhh …………

GOD: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I didn’t want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn’t afford to miss work

Me (embarrassed): Oh…..

GOD: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give a false witness about what you said on that call, I didn’t even let you talk to them so you would be covered

Me (softly): I see, God

GOD: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn’t think you wanted to be in the dark.

Me: I’m sorry, God.

GOD: Don’t be sorry, just learn to trust me ……… in all things, the good and the bad

Me: I WILL trust you, God ~!

GOD: And don’t doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your plan

Me: I won’t God. And let me just tell you God, thank you for everything today.

GOD: You’re welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I love looking after my children.

If Joan and Jens, hadn’t wanted to stop to see the Falls from the American side, I wouldn’t have turned down that driveway in error.  If I hadn’t made that turn, I would have been on I-190 when the belt let go – and there would have been no one around to help with the dogs.  As well, the dealership was courteous, helpful, and fixed it quickly, and all at a reasonable cost!

When the transmission line let go, I was driving in daylight.  I could have been driving at night, and not seen the smoke, and would probably have cooked the transmission.  As it was, it was again a minor repair.   All totalled, both incidents came to less than $300 to fix.

When I broke down I was on I-90 and the vehicle, and by being in it the dogs were in peril if someone struck it.  I am thankful for good friends like Tim and Tracie who rushed out and got the dogs to safety, and then looked after getting me settled!

I am thankful for another special friend, Carrie, who offered to stay an additional couple of days to look after the rest of the pack so that I could make the trip back to Ohio to pick up the truck and dogs.

I’m grateful to the tow truck driver who said he would not leave me sitting alone in a parking lot off the highway.

And I have to thank God, or whatever spirit was looking out for me on the highway, and timed these breakdowns in a way, that we were all safe, and had friends we could rely on nearby.

Instead of bemoaning the extra expenses, today I have chosen to change my attitude- and be thankful for these things instead.

And, oh yeah, Applecare has decided they would replace my Iphone too!!

My original intention was to write this and publish a section each day, however, a lack of internet connection (except when I was too exhausted to do anything but sleep) prevented that, so I am going to write about the entire trip and show at once, and my apologies for those who try to plow through it.

Losing Chris at just 44 has really made me realize just how short life is, and when you put off doing things on your “bucket list” that you may never get to do them. One of the things on my list was to show at Crufts – not to win Crufts, I don’t dare dream that big – but just to have the experience and to say I’ve done it. So when I lost my job last Friday, I had to make some serious decisions about whether to put this trip off AGAIN, or to go ahead with it, since most of it was already paid for. I chose to bite the bullet, give myself a break, and cross this final item off the list. At least if I meet the proverbial Mack truck tomorrow, people will be able to say I accomplished my dreams.

I have never had a trip go off without a hitch, and this one was true to form, in fact there were a great number of challenges….nothing disasterous in retrospect, but the trip was not an easy one for a single person with two dogs.

I’ve been on planes stuck in Atlanta due to an inch of snow on the runway, ships that got detoured because of an airplane tire being jammed in the thruster, canoe trips that had more twists and turns than a game of snakes and ladders, and Lord only knows, no trip to the Nationals has been without its share of incidents, be it forgetting show clothes, a truck that doesn’t want to start, or running out of gas on a dark highway.

So I planned ths trip in great detail. I have a detailed itinerary written out about what time everything has to be done, what connections need to be made, where to pick up and do what. Just to be sure that I leave plenty of time. I purchased an unlocked cell phone for my last trip to the UK, and I purchased GPS UK maps for the Garmin. Every possible problem should have been taken care of.

HAH!!!

A Rocky Start – Tuesday, March 6

So the trip started out fine. I even managed to get on the road a little early and stop one was to get the paperwork done for the dogs to enter Europe and the UK. The night before I left I filled out everything on the documents – the same ones I used to go to the UK in September. I have all the dogs information with me – rabies certificates, titre tests (even though they are no longer required), registrations, etc. I even have my own scanner, just in case theirs won’t pick up the ISO microchips.

My vet appointment was for noon – and I was there at 11:45. So far, so good, and although it takes a while because Dolly has somehow nicked her gum and is bleeding, for the most part we are still on schedule. Next step is to take the documents to Canadian Food Inspection Agency to have an Agriculture Canada vet sign off on them, and then I will have time to eat. And here is where a typical “Shelley trip” begins…..

Did anyone know that the forms changed on February 29th? That as of March 1st the old form is no longer acceptable? Apparently no one told the veterinarians of Ontario! The AC vet refused to sign the papers. I had to check in at the airport in 90 minutes and he would not sign papers. He gave me the new form and told me to find a local vet. First four clinics – the vets are out of the office until 4. I finally find a clinic with a vet and after wasting almost an hour there, he wouldn’t sign them because he doesn’t know the dogs. I ran to the airport, went to Air Canada’s ticket counter and explain the issue. Thankfully they were co-operative (not something they are especially known for – see link) and booked me on a later flight to Frankfurt, however they could not get a connection to Amsterdam. So Amsterdam is out. I am now flying in and out of Frankfurt. I called CAA and had them change my car booking. Now sometime over the next few days I have to find somewhere to stay on Sunday night near Frankfurt. Oh joy.

I got my vet to download the new papers, and fill them out, drove all the way back up to Hillsburgh, back down to CFIA where I now had to pay an “after hours call in fee” to have the SAME VET look at the papers again. This time he said the dogs’ microchip numbers are not on their rabies certificates. However, since it is on their titre papers, he signed off, but he said he can’t guarantee that they will be accepted. Somewhere in Europe I will try to find matching pens and put them on! Then it was park the truck, get into the airport, check in and try and get to my flight. I hadn’t eaten or drank all day, it was hot, I was rushing, and about 90% of the way to the gate I went white, started shaking and sweating, and my legs collapsed. Thankfully, a very nice woman in a stewardess uniform took charge and got some fluids into me, and orange juice and I recovered. I don’t know what it was other than dehydration and stress possibly – but so far so good.

Sleep Deprivation – Wednesday, March 7

I had hoped to sleep on the journey over because I was arriving during the day and had a long drive ahead of me, but there was a very cute little boy on the plane who inssited on coming and waking me up if I fell asleep. I think it was finally about a half hour before we landed that his mother FNALLY told him to leave me alone because I wanted to sleep.

Dolly investigating the Eurotunnel

So with virtually no sleep for 22 hours I picked up the car in Frankfurt, and began a long drive to Calais France to catch the train for the Euro Tunnel. Thankfully in Europe they drive on the right, like us, so I had plenty of time to re-learn how to drive a stick shift, before having to also master the left side of the road. The Garmin behaved reasonably well and I arrived at the pet clearing area and got the dogs cleared. Out of curiosity I asked them about the forms. There was NO PROBLEM WITH THE OLD FORMS. He said they had all of the required information on them and they would have accepted them. Agriculture Canada will be getting a very nasty letter from me this week.

My luck continued with boarding the train for the crossing. They had all of us loaded and the doors shut, when they made an announcement that there was a safety issue and we would all need to unload and take another train. At this point my journey was still going to take another 3-1/2 hours minimum between the crossing and drive to the hotel, so this delay was going to make it even later. We all drove off the train, down the platform and loaded onto the next one. This train managed to depart without issue, and I managed to actually get a half hours’ sleep to keep me going for the remainder of the journey.

I called the hotel to tell them that rather than arriving at 11 pm as I expected, I would be AT LEAST midnight. However, construction pushed that to 1 a.m. I am extremely grateful to young James, who works at the hotel for waiting up for me and helping me get the dogs and luggage upstairs, to where I literally passed out for 8 hours.

A lot of running for nought – Thursday, March 8

This was to be my “free” day. I had two things I “must do” and one thing I wanted to do. I needed to pick up meat and bones for the dogs, which I had arranged for in advance with Brockleby’s. I also needed to get a SIM card for my unlocked phone. And then I wanted to go to see James Herriott’s clinic up in Yorkshire. I also needed to get more Orijen. The problem was that I had no internet connection at the hotel on my computer and couldn’t look up where I needed to go.

First, the owner of the shop, did not tell the butcher what I wanted and when I would be arriving, so when I got there, it wasn’t ready, and I had to come back at the end of the day. Second, I could not find a T-Mobile location to buy a SIM card, but I did eventually find a place in Nottingham, where we got the phone working sporadically. It seems the SIM card holder isn’t as tight as it should be, so the card slips, causing the phone to give an “Insert SIM Card” message in the middle of calls.

Yorkshire Church near Herriott's clinic

And then when I drove all the way up to Yorkshire, I arrived at the clinic at 3:10, only to be told that the last tour was at 3:00 So I had a nice drive into the north country and basically, once again, saw nothing. I raced back to the butcher, arriving after they closed, but Darren had my meat and bones for me, and when I got back to Melton, I tried, unsuccessfully to find some Orijen to supplement my quickly dwindling supply.

I did have a nice dinner in the hotel, and met some very nice people (Hi Liz & Brian!!) who I chatted with well into the night. After taking the dogs out for a last walk, I got into another discussion with another two very nice patron of the hotel, who’s names I unfortunately didn’t catch, due to a common interest in the Canadian Air Force..

Bath Day! – Friday March 9

The day started out with James trying to get my computer operational, with some success. We managed to find a store that carried Orijen and he co-piloted for me to get me there through the maze of one way streets.

I then drove back out to Brockleby’s to pick up some Pork pies for lunch at the show, and yogurt and cheese, since Cruft’s rules are arrival early in the morning, and not being able to leave until 4. This unknowingly provided me with an advantage, I will explain later.

And then it was on to bath time. I had previously arranged with Julie at Doggy and Gabonna in Melton to bath the dogs at her shop, since it was a two minute walk from the hotel. Julie and her assistants were absolutely wonderful and Dolly and Dragoon had a “spa day” at the shop. I had done the nails at home, but brought their shampoos and washed them and started drying. Julie finished the drying, and even managed to tame Dolly’s cow-lick on her butt. I am extremely grateful for all of her help and recommend them highly to anyone in the area.

Since an early start was required for Saturday I decided to have dinner at the hotel again, and joined Liz and Brian again for some conversation before heading to bed. My worry, was sleeping in, and so of course I was awake at least once an hour, and at 5 my Iphone alarm went off. Brian also tried to call a few times to be sure I was up, but the phone wouldn’t accept a charge and had died   

The big day – Saturday March 10

So at 5 am I am up and showering for the show. By six I am sneaking out of the hotel, trying to not wake everyone up (old hotels squeak, slam and groan!)

And today was the day that the Garmin failed me. I knew my basic route from Melton was Leicester, Coventry, Birmingham. For the North American readers – take note – WE ARE SPOILED!! When we get our entries back, we have a judging schedule that gives us our approximate judging time, and a map to the location. Not so with Crufts!

After using my Iphone to ask what time I had to be there (someone had said we would be judged in the afternoon at one point), I was told we had to be there early. Early enough that gas stations aren’t open!

So I was relying on “Daniel” 100%, and he started taking me on a route I had never taken before. But the signs did eventually point to Leicester, so I wasn’t feeling too worried. Until Daniel popped up the message “Unable to calculate route from this point”

WTF??

No back up map, no clue where I really am, all I could do was continue in the same basic direction and hope for the best. I eventually happened upon a McDonald’s and thought someone there had to know how to get to Coventry. Sure enough a city works person was behind me and told me to turn around and go back one intersection and follow the highway from there.

Once back on the highway the Garmin was able to find its way to Birmingham, but since no street address was on the forms I couldn’t progam that in. It also didn’t recognize the NEC as a “point of interest” If anyone makes the trip in the future – your destination is the railroad station. Following signs for the NEC got me to a certain point, but then I was sitting at an intersection trying to figure where to go when a car pulled up beside me, rolled down their window and said “Follow us!” I guess the crate in the back was a dead giveaway as to my destination.

As I said, the knowledge I have now is to park at the railroad station, however, I wasn’t so well educated and ended up in the east parking lot, and had a fair hike to get everything over to the hall. A benched show is a different experience, and in some ways nicer, it forces you to be with other exhibitors, and to get to meet them.

There was a fair sized entry of Vallhunds before us, so we had quite a bit of time to prepare, but the dogs were basically ready from their grooming the day before. Unlike North American shows again, there is no power. No blow driers going, no clouds of powder filling the air.

There are many other differences from our North American events, some that really surprised me. Rings are not gated, unlike ours, and nothing like the ring defining baby gates we are used to. The ring is a carpet, and there are chairs outside of it. People’s feet, legs and belongings actually extend into the ring, and there is a row of chairs in the centre of the carpet that divides it into two rings.

Armbands are not picked up at the show secretary (like in Canada) or from the ring steward (in the U.S.) but are on your bench. While you CAN chose to wear it on your left arm – they are worn anywhere people choose to hang them.

Because the ring is not defined, and there is not an entry gate, the entries are not called into the ring in numerical order, and people enter the ring from all directions and try to get the best place in line. It makes it challenging to follow the catalogue when you don’t really know the players, and who is who so I thank Eileen Eby for marking my catalogue – I gave up after the first class!

Again there are 5 places chosen (not 4) and I believe the judge only critiques the first 3 (someone may correct me on that).

So, all this leads up to the results. No, we did not win Crufts, nor did I expect to. As I said the goal was to show there. However, we did do VERY respectably.

I personally have not handled Dragoon since he was a puppy, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from him – whether I was going to have the regal dog or the mental midget. He kept it together and was 3rd in the open dog class. The first and second place dogs were Best of Breed and Reserve CC Male, both very nice dogs.

In between showing dogs I decided to grab some cheese as a snack (mentioned earlier). I dropped a piece, and Dolly grabbed it. Brockleby’s cheese is magic bait!! Dolly was leaping into the air and self-stacking giving me 150% to get more. So I broke off a small piece and put it in my bait pouch. Whenever she started to let down, I hid it in my hand, and let her smell it. It worked like a charm. A number of people mentioned to me how animated she was, and how she was asking for the win. Truth is she was asking for the cheese! She was 2nd in the Open Bitch class and went on to take the Reserve CC. She came behind the lovely Ina – who is a Crufts winner and group placer. I don’t mind her being a “bridesmaid” again to a lovely bitch.

After the judging we shared our lunch purchases with our friends, and enjoyed some company until it was time to pack up. Getting OUT was perhaps more difficult than getting in, as I couldn’t locate the right door, and eventually hired a cab to take us to the correct parking lot. Despite not being able to find his was TO Birmingham, Daniel successfully found his way FROM Birmingham back to Melton.

So another quiet dinner at the hotel, and off to bed to prepare for the trek back home.

Long day of driving – Sunday March 11

I learned from this experience, not to use Bookings.com to book hotels without reading the fine print. My hotel in Amsterdam was not cancellable. I checked distances, and driving there first instead of Frankfurt was only an extra 170 km – and I really wanted to see Holland. Unfortunately, Daniel failed multiple times on this leg of the journey and worse could not find the hotel (or the Amsterdam airport!!) I will have words with Garmn also. So what I had hoped would be a bit of a sightseeing journey ended up as a “getting lost in the dark” journey – when I couldn’t find the road to the hotel, and ended up on dead end streets in some residential area and nearly put the car in a hole.

I got into the hotel at midnight, caught up on email and once again, simply crashed.

Final leg home – Monday March 12th

So I am writing this on the airplane headed home from Frankfurt. Today’s driving was longer than I expected, but I did get to see the Netherlands in daylight and maybe will make a trip there again one day. It reminds me very much of central Ontario with the agriculture, and I loved some of the architecture I saw from the highway. The buildings are curves, none of the sharp angles so common in cities. The fields and their drainage canals make me realize how Holland Landing in Ontario got its name.

So all in all, a successful trip, unfortunately marred by technology failure and incompetent government employees….but then, in the end, the result was worth it.  

Chip’s finishing picture from Monroe has fnally arrived.   He is now Am/Cdn Ch. Yasashiikuma Diamond Solitaire.  Next plan is to see about some obedience work for this guy since he has a LOT of drive!

There hasn’t been a lot of show news up here – too busy with puppies!  This weekend is the Cornwall show and there was a supported entry yesterday.  I was very happy to hear that Megan Bowman finished her puppy, Yasashiikuma I Am the Captain, going BOW and Best Puppy and was cut down to the final 3 in Puppy Group.   Hopefully a picture of the win will come shortly. 

Dolly is showing literally in her underwear, and has taken the breed each day and a Group 4th yesterday.

In the meantime Captain’s sisters Naomi and Grace are both within 2 points of finishing, and its a race to see who gets them first.   The other litter brother, Skipper, has picked up one major in the U.S. and 8 points, so is chipping away at his title down there also.   Jessica is apparently finally getting some coat back in the Texas heat – and will make her ring debut soon.

I blame lack of sleep, and Dash arriving less than a minute after Dot. Dot is no longer – S/he is now Todd. And so there are not 4 boys and 4 girls in this litter – there are 5 boys and 3 girls!

Tim suggested that since I got the sex backwards, I change the name from Dot to Tod. That didn’t fit with the Double D theme for the litter – so I added a second “D” to the end, and it works.

Dash was in a big hurry to come out, and didn’t even give me a minute between births.  I guess these two were in oppositie horns, and will probably be competing for first place the rest of their lives.   They are both appear to be black and white at this time but will most likely end up the same shade of brindle as Dolly.

Then came the answer as to whether Dickens carries red    Draco (the dragon) was next  and will be a beautiful sable with a black mask.   He has the “angel’s kiss” on the top of his head.

 The next puppy answered the question whether or not Dolly carried pink.   She does   But the interesting thing about Dafydd is that he is already showing signs of a black mask.  My understanding is that true pinks have no black hairs.  It is going to be interesting to see how he develops.

Too impatient to wait till we got home – both Darren and Daisy arrived in the car on the way home from the vet.   If I keep her, Daisy’s registered name will be Driving Miss Daisy

The little peanut of the litter is Dixie or maybe she should be Pixie!  She did not thrive over the first three days, so I began to tube feed her on Day 3.   On day 5 as I was drawing her formula into a syringe she put her head in the cup and began to lap.  Snce then she laps up formula ever 4 hours.   Amazing to see ths tiny blind, deaf puppy lap from a bowl!!   Even better is to watch the scale finally climbing!

And last but not least is Dylan.   He is going to be quite the chunk also, along with his brother Dafydd.