Catching Up - CSSC Meet 'n' Greet, October 2009

Once again I have been the laziest blogger ever, and Leo and Kyrie are sick of me not putting up all of my photos of them and their friends! So in a grand attempt to catch up I'll be posting a metric ton of photos of "what we did between June '09 and March '10" here on Leo's blog. Don't worry--Kyrie and Thorn's blogs will get updates, too!!


In October of '09 we arranged to have a local Shiloh Shepherd Specialty Show at the Oklahoma City IABCA show. The evening before, we all met at the Riverwind kennels farm (Deb and Mel's place) for pup playtime, drinks and dinner, conversation, photos, and an auction to benefit our new local chapter of the Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club of America: the CSSC!

Once again we had a great turnout, with people coming from as far away as Arizona and California to visit! Most of my photos are of other peoples' dogs (well heck, I can photo my own any time I want, you know!). I'll give a running "who's who" commentary for those keeping score! For those who want to see photos of the show itself, please head on over to our Picasa Album: 2009 OKC Sooner Sieger and CSSC Specialty!

And now, on to the photos! One of the great things about this gather was that several puppies from the Katie/Big Jake litter got to see each other again--with their mom and dad!! Katie lives at the farm, of course, and here is a lovely photo of her being obligingly beautiful:

And another of her COMPLAINING! "Mom, what are all these people and dogs doing in MY YARD???"

And here is Katie with a bunch of her pups--now a lot bigger!

Big Jake showed up and glared at me every time I tried to take a photo of him. What can I say, the big guy knows he's good-looking, he doesn't need to mug for the camera!


Who on earth could have spawned all these gorgeous bi-color dogs? Could it have been...Katie and Big Jake? ;)

Some more specific photos of a couple of the Katie/Big Jake littermates! Here is the lovely Moriah, sitting:

And standing:

And flirting with Leo! Doesn't he look bashful?

And here are a couple of the handsome Batman!


Other Shilohs attending were Ender from Arizona, Kyrie's brother Chester from Texas, and Ken's Sako, who provided the puppy antics for the gather (SO CUTE!). Here are some photos of them. First, Chester:


Now, Ender:




Ender kept trying to drink from everything. Apparently living in Arizona makes you really thirsty!! The fountain:

And apparently he thought that dogs should be able to get a drink from this as well as humans!

And here are my photos of Sako, who was all legs and tongue and ears and was just about the cutest thing you'll ever see!





In the midst of all this, Mel grilled us all some tasty dinner! Thanks so much for being our hosts, Deb and Mel!

I tried to get a lot of photos of the long view on the back lawn, so you could see all the people talking and Shilohs running amuck! Deb and Mel's back lawn is fenced so we could let the dogs run loose. They loved it!






I hope you've enjoyed the update--stay tuned!! Next up: Homecoming photos!!

Catching Up - Hutto IABCA June 2009

Well I have been lax beyond belief with the blog entries but it's time to catch up! There is a lot of ground to cover, so I'll just jump right in with the pictures (I know that's why you guys read these dog blogs anyhow!). ;)

We had a great turnout for Hutto--especially considering that the first time we went we were the only Shilohs!! Deb and Mel from Riverwind kennel brought their girl, BJ, from the Katie/Big Jake litter. She was just a little pup in these photos but she tore up the ring with all her wins!! Between winning multiple best Bred-by-Exhibitor awards AND winning in the standard shows, she ended up taking Best Smooth Bitch Puppy of the Year, awarded at the 2009 Shiloh Shepherd National Specialty!!

BJ looking up at her human mom, Deb: "Do I really have to go run around the ring again?"


BJ enjoying a Frosty Paws treat. It was so hot inside the building that Zak brought all the pups Frosty Paws!


BJ stacked pretty! I tried to get stacked photos of all of the dogs, though I missed a few. One of these days I will learn that it is impossible to find the time later in the show, so I need to get my photos early!!


And finally, we decided that BJ can sleep anywhere!! She spent most of the two days of the show snoozing in her crate, even with all the barking and hubbub and noise!


Kyrie's "little" brother, Chester, also attended the show! I neglected to get a stacked shot but I did get a couple of good head shots. You can see how much he and Kyrie look alike, with the eye markings and the white "bib" on the front of the neck!




Carla brought Ender all the way from Arizona for the show to get some more points toward his Puppy Championship!! Ender is from New Zion's Angie/Acer breeding.

Here is Ender getting a drink from a squirty bottle:

Ender in a nice show stack:

And Ender relaxing in his PUP tent between shows!!


Ender's littermate Neiko was also at the show! What a handsome gray sable boy. This was his first show and he behaved like a pro! Here he is with his human dad:

And here is a great stacked photo of Neiko:


BJ's brother Kaiser was also at the show. Here he is being stacked (well, mostly) by his adoring human mom, Sheryl!


Christina Tanon and her dad brought their boy, Bruno! Bruno is out of the New Zion Stacie/Warba litter. Here he is in a lovely stack:

And looking at the camera, wondering what I'm doing:

And a great close-up profile of his head (I think that Bruno is very handsome, just in case you couldn't tell!):

And finally Bruno lying down, relaxing between shows.


At the end of it all tons of fun were had and plans were laid for Homecoming in New York for some of us, and a gather in October for the OKC IABCA show for others! More on that in the next entries--but for now, I leave you with a photo of pooped post-show pups!

Leo's Graduation!!

Hey everybody!! Leo has some great news for his fans. :) Last night he graduated from his Obedience class...but he ALSO graduated from his Therapy Dog class!! Leo is now certified as a Therapy Dog and will be making his first visit later this month!!

Below you can see his awards for graduation: our club president hand-embroidered his name on his bandana, he got a patch for his Therapy Dog vest, and he got a certificate. We are so proud of Leo!!!

Dog Days of Denton - May 29-30, 2009!

Heya everybody!! We are so pleased to announce that Leo and Kyrie (you can see her blog at http://hobogirlkyrie.blogspot.com) will be at Dog Days of Denton, coming up at the end of this month! Even better, we have purchased a brand-new, super spiffy BANNER for our MEET THE BREED booth!! Most of the pictures are of Leo because that is what we had--we are a very small Chapter and only a couple of other people sent pictures. But we think the banner is great anyway and we hope that when we make our next one our Chapter will have grown!!

It has been a lot of work to put this booth together and we hope that tons of people stop by to see Leo, Kyrie, and the other Shilohs who will be showing up! This event typically draws about 9,000 people so it should be a great opportunity to promote our beloved breed. :) You can see the banner up above--we can't wait!! Hope to see you there!!

Leo's Excellent Adventure, Day Four!

Day Four dawned bright and clear and Leo finally seemed to have his mind on his game! We went into the ring for Show Three and he ran well, stacked nicely, and flirted with the judge! In fact, she looked at me and noted, "Well, he's full of himself, isn't he?" and laughed! I apologized but she said, "Oh, no, I would MUCH rather have one like this!" Well, we were certainly off to a good start there!


But doom was lurking...doom in the form of a twelve-week-old puppy! Leo and Ender went into the ring for Best of Breed. Leo and I went in first...then Carla and Ender followed. But apparently Ender had decided that he was going to sabotage us! He bounced in and BARK BARKed at Leo--and when Leo looked at him he did a HUGE PLAY BOW! Well, needless to say, Leo was a wreck for the rest of the round. All he wanted to do from then on was PLAY! We saw a lot of evidence of those "secret kangaroo genes" that our breeder's trying to hide! Below you can see how it went--Leo trying to turn around, and Ender back there on the right edge of the photo, acting like an innocent little angel!!


But Ender's tricks thankfully came to naught. The judge noted that she was glad she'd seen Leo run well before the puppy came into the ring, and that she was giving Best of Breed to Leo on the basis of maturity. Which just goes to show you--in the future, WATCH OUT FOR THAT PUPPY!! He's smart, sneaky, and gorgeous, and if he fulfills that potential he is going to be a juggernaut at the shows!!

Our luck was changing, though, and without a pup in the ring trying to get him to play, Leo did end up getting a First in Herding Group! We went on to Best In Show competition--first for Rare Breed BIS, which we did not get anything in, and then in overall BIS--where we pulled a Reserve Best In Show ribbon!! YAY, Leo!!! You can see a picture of us in the ring for all-breeds Best In Show below!


Below are some more pictures from Day Four. We have Leo relaxing in his crate--he seemed to want to be close to my jacket!


Sunny and her friend Cupcake trying to figure out the weird noises the lady with the camera is making:


Liz and her Sunny sitting pretty!


Leo smiling for the camera, putting on his "movie star" face:


Leo and Ender were really tired by the end of the day!



When the day finally wound down, Ender had won three Group placement medals, Leo had his blue and white Reserve Best in Show ribbon, and everyone had had a wonderful time visiting with old friends, making new ones, and spending a beautiful Arizona weekend together! As we got up at 4 a.m. to leave for Texas the next morning, it was raining in the desert. I got a pic of rainclouds coming down over hills, and a farewell shot of the last set of mountains before we left them behind.



I hope that you've enjoyed our chronicle of the Arizona road trip. We enjoyed it so much, we are already wondering if we can do it again next year! :)