Texangals

 Ahhhh, COVID time. The spring and summer that basically never was. We didn't completely rest on our laurels, though: we had a litter of puppies, grabbed a couple of trick dog titles, and just this past weekend, we attended our first show since March and brought home a couple of landmarks. First, let's talk about the puppies: Cooper, Aston, and Robin were born on April Fool's Day to our foundation bitch, Bonnie, and the number one OH TMT in the country, Bentley. There are a couple of other posts about this, so I won't dwell on it too long: suffice to say, Robin (now called Kyro Jett on Instagram) has gone up to his outdoorsy family in Minnesota where he spends a lot of time in a lifejacket on a boat!; Aston (now called Rudy) is the apple of his owners' eyes in the Oklahoma City area; and Cooper (unofficially nicknamed Dennis the Menace) has gone to live with his grandsire's breeder in Kentucky where he helpfully inspects fences to let Barbie know where there are...

While we've all been staying home and sheltering because of Covid-19, we have taken advantage of the AKC's offer to video our dogs doing tricks, submitting them to evaluators online, and qualifying for Trick Dog titles. Today, we got official notice that Bonnie and Trish have both received their TKN titles, meaning Trick Dog Novice. Bonnie, being a champion already, had to do only five tricks, but Trish as a 7-mos old puppy and not yet a champion, had to perform 10 tricks. Their entry videos that their owner/handler junior, Joey, edited and submitted are on our Texangals youtube channel: I'll link to them at the bottom. So without further ado, I now give you: CH Bluebonnet Dreaming Spires at Texangals TKN Texangals Trish Spicy Lady TKN Bonnie's video:  https://youtu.be/H6IWvGwPKSU Trish's video:  https://youtu.be/gzDy05GBfK8

Oh my gosh! You couldn't make this up! I return to Texas from a business trip to the UK to find that my foundation bitch (and new champion), Bonnie, is not only coming into season, but IS IN SEASON NOW!!!! Fortunately, I had lined up a stud dog in north Texas many months ago, and they were around to accept a flying visit right after the vet said, "Yup. She wants breeding today!" I didn't even have a chance to gather up her favorite food or pack her crate or anything, because it was a long drive ahead of me JUST TO GET THERE, much less come back that night. We left her up there for a few days and had a lot of good "action", so all being well, we should have puppies around the middle of August. We are already taking puppy applications for them, so if you want to get high up on the list, you'd better fill one out sooner rather than later! For your benefit, I've included the pedigrees of the dam and sire so you can feast your eyes on some lo...

It was so good to get out this weekend with the dogs and not be hundreds of miles away at a show. March in Texas means bluebonnets, so obviously, I had to get our foundation mama, Bonnie, out there for her annual photo: her official name is "Bluebonnet Dreaming Spires", after all! Then she started running through the butterweed. Zoot and Ted had a terrific time when chasing each other at the local lake, prompting people to come over to us and ask if they were Italian greyhounds!

It felt like the treadmill was on high speed, but the ultimate reward was worth it! Chilling after a crazy month The month of March saw my son and me traveling from dog show to dog show, all of which were more than 2 1/2 hours from our home so we stayed in Air BnBs rather than waking at 4 am and trying to get the girls to the ring in some kind of decent frame of mind. The long and the short of it was that all three of our girls - Bonnie, Zoot, and Ted - were picked as top bitches at some point during the month, gaining points and majors, and ultimately, we FINISHED the championship for Bonnie at Navasota! Bonnie, the new champion Ted gets her first points while still a puppy Zoot gets a major We're so excited that Bonnie can now retire and focus on having babies while her daughters, Zoot and Ted, can continue their campaigns for champion status. If you want one of Bonnie's future babies, be sure to fill in a puppy application and get into o...

The past six months or so has seen a resurgence of interest in the breed in the great state of Texas. Whereas I spent most of the early part of 2017 on my own in the show ring, we've seen as many as nine at a single show, and more puppies are coming of age every month. I really should make an effort at the next one to photograph us all together. The top moment so far has been my foundation bitch's second "major" at the recent Austin area show. This means that she has jumped a big hurdle on her way to a championship. As of writing this, she needs five more points, and hopefully, with Navasota, Crosby, Kerrville, Rosenberg, and possibly a one-day appearance at Ft Worth, I think the likelihood of her success is pretty high. Bonnie and Zoot celebrate Winner and Runner-Up at Austin One of the best parts of having more people at the shows is the community we're building up: everyone is friendly and supportive, and we're making the effort to populate th...