Texangals

Well, apologies for posting after only a fair few months to say that Zoot's puppies have come and mostly gone (we kept one of them), and in the meantime, Katie has been in the show ring a few times and picked up some points which we're really happy about given that she's only just 7 months even now. To be honest, I'm way more current on the Instagram page that you see by clicking here: TexangalsTMTs In a couple of weeks' time, we'll be hitting the northbound highway for the Manchester Terrier national specialty in Kalamazoo. Katie will show in bred-by, whereas Zoot's keeper, Diego, will still be too young for anything but Beginner Puppy. I've decided to take along Granny Bonnie for a couple of fun classes like Brood Bitch and Brace, just because I'm not sure when there will next be two of Bonnie's puppy in the ring at the same show. This year, it will be Trish, co-owned with Jerri Gillean of Go West Performance Manchesters (Washington state), and...

With Christmas looming, what do I do? Drive 1100 miles from Texas to Florida of course! Come and read my debrief of the AKC National Dog Show in Orlando. Road Trip Puppy! Orlando sees the annual pilgrimage of doggy people for the AKC National Championship dog show. I went along to a) socialize Zoot for road trips, motels, and the dog show atmosphere, b) to meet a lot of the main players in the Manchester Terrier (both Toy and Standard, and agility!) scene, and c) volunteer on the Meet the Breeds stand. I was very heartened that Zoot was a good traveller. She slept a lot in the car, chewed on her bones, discovered the taste for a big chunk of natural low-salt beef jerky. At the show, she took it all in without being nervous. In the motel rooms, she had quite a good time in whizzing around the rooms with her toys, and best of all, didn't bark whenever there was a bump, a noise, or someone talking in the motel rooms. Meeting the breeders and show people was my high...