Anne Hathaway's Academy Award's Dress

Anne Hathaway in Prada 

The woman is gorgeous, has more money than God, and any designer in the world would make a dress for her, yet she wore this hideous Prada 'gown.'

It looks like somebody took a pink satin apron and some extra fabric and tried to throw a gown together.  If I had made that dress in Junior High Home Ec, I would have flunked.  I am not only referring to the style, which I personally do not like, but the fabric choice and construction.  You can see the seam allowance, the needle holes from the machine stitching, and the darts in the bodice pretty much leave me speechless. 

Des Moines Show Site - The 'BIG' Building

The January Des Moines show was held in the 'regular' smaller looking building, where it usually is. It always feels a little cramped but I think that it is the lower ceilings.  There excitement in the air when 'everyone' was talking about the upcoming February Des Moines show that was to be held in the 'Big' building, right next door, at the fairgrounds.  It was very expensive, $70 for a 2 day show for reserved grooming with electric, so we hoped that it would be worth it.

IT WASN'T...

Des Moines Show Site - February - Yep, it sucked.  No cross-aisles in grooming area.  If you were assigned a spot in the middle of the row, you had to take your dogs at least 50 or 60 feet to the end then down that side aisle, then back another 30 feet or so to the entrance to the side of the building where the rings were located.  Free grooming around sides, exit doors blocked for the most part.  Where were the Fire Marshalls when you needed them?  Heck, where were the club members.  If there had been an emergency requiring an evacuation of the building, people and dogs would have been trampled at the doors.  We were supposed to have some sort of tag for our electric cord to prove that we paid for it.  We must have tried 5 or 6 times, and were never able to get one.  They made a boat load of money on reserved grooming, and yes, the building was more expensive than the other building, but NO MATS!  Polished concrete, people falling in the ring and out, what a dangerous mess.  Finally, by midday Saturday, they put down carpeted runners on the slick ramps exiting the grooming room to outside.  They never did anything for the ramps going down from the grooming room to the rings.  It seemed like they were just waiting for someone else to get hurt before doing anything.

From our arrival on Friday afternoon, the consensus among handlers seemed to be that they would much rather have been in the other building.  This 'BIG" building had very high ceilings, lots of natural light coming in up high, but it definitely seemed to have less grooming space.  If it had more, it definitely was not laid out, or as easy to maneuver, as the 'small' building.  The rings were a bit larger, but they either need to limit the entries if the show is held in that building again, or go back to the small building. 

NOTE TO OTHER DES MOINES CLUBS THINKING ABOUT MOVING TO THE BIG BUILDING AT THE FAIRGROUNDS>>>>PLEASE DON’T.

BeBe X Benson Puppies

The BeBe X Benson puppies took the rings by storm last weekend.  Holly, picking up a 3 point major, and Rocky, Reserve to a 4 point major!  Both owner-handled!  

Congratulations to these wonderful families, we are so proud of you all!

If anyone else is interested in getting in on this great litter, let us know, we still have a couple of pups available to great homes.

Cyclone Country Kennel Club, February 16, 2013

Congratulations to Jeanne Woods with both of her Havanese today:

Puppy 6 -9 months:  Rocky - That's The Eye of The Tiger - 1st/ Reserve Winners Dog to a 4 pt major!  A fabulous job for his first time in the ring. 

Rocky
That's The Eye of The Tiger

MBIS BISS CAN GCH Havntyme El Vengador X AM CAN CH That's Hot To Trot In Bedlem
Benson X BeBe

Open Bitch:  Serena - That's a Bewitched Cousin - 1st in the Open Class. 

Serena
That's A Bewitched Cousin
CH That's Havanney Truckin' Along X CH That's Just Desserts

Judge Vicki Abbott

Plum Creek Kennel Club of Colorado, Friday February 15, 2013

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO KATHY & JIM MIDYETT...

They have Holly, a BeBe X Benson puppy girl, that just turned six months old.  Her first time in the ring was at the Plum Creek shows in Denver on February 15.  Owner Handled to Winners Bitch, Best of Winners, and Best of Opposite for a 3 point major!!!

They have done such a fabulous job with their first Havanese from us, Luke, CH That's Luke of Summerhawk, we are expecting great things!!!

Photos of Holly from the beginning for February can be seen here:
http://s1120.beta.photobucket.com/user/weshowdogs/library/BeBe%20Benson%20Puppy%20Girl%20Holly

Holly
That's The Original Parti Girl Eh
MBIS BISS CAN GCH Havntyme El Vengador X AM CAN CH That's Hot To Trot In Bedlem
Benson X BeBe

HEYYYYYY ABBOTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

Cyclone Country Kennel Club, Saturday, February 16, 2013

It was a slow day at the dog show, Dave was recovering from knee surgery, so I did my best.  Sorry that it wasn't good enough for the judges this weekend.  Too bad their choices weren't always the most correct when compared to the standard. 

Because we only had two dogs to show, that does not mean that we didn't interact with many of the handlers on their way home from Westminster.  I will have comments about that later.  

For now my thoughts on Saturday:

HEYYYYYY ABBOTTTTTTT!!!!!!!  

(hopefully, some of you are old enough to remember that obnoxious call)

Well, I think I would rather have sat through a 24 hour marathon of “Abbott and Costello” than what we witnessed at the Des Moines Show on Saturday.  As usual with a large entry of dogs (any breed) there will be at least a couple of good ones to choose from.  Could Vicki Abbott find them in any breed that day?  Not from what we saw and heard.  Could she be nice to the exhibitors?  Again, not from what we saw and heard.   Ms. Abbot, did you really have to make someone cry?  You thought that her dog was good enough to place 1^st in a the open class, the largest class of entries.  All she wanted to know was why you didn’t like him well enough to even give him reserve.  You told her to never bring a dog in that horrible condition into your ring again.  If he was that horrible, why did you give him the open class?  Could you not have just advised the owner to work more on growing and conditioning the coat?  In my opinion, that dog had more hair on his head than some of these specials whose handlers have razored in their head coat so the handler doesn't have to deal with hair falling in the dog’s eyes and face.  The difference:  this amateur-owner-handler showed her dog natural, not curled back and sprayed in place so the hair doesn’t move.  This was just one breed that you judged on Saturday.  Ms. Abbott, if your intent was to be the talk of the show, you succeeded.  It has been a long time since that many handlers, and owner-handlers, complained about a judge with no obvious medical issues.  If you have health problems that are effecting your judging, then you need to resolve them before accepting any more assignments.  If you don’t have health problems, and are basically just being a B****, then I guess there isn’t much else that we can do about it, except to not enter under you again.
-------
I learned a long time ago to not waste time asking a judge what they didn’t like about my dog, but some people still do it.  It doesn’t matter what the judge says, chances are it is mostly BS.  I just wish that they realized what an impact their comments have on that exhibitor and in turn the entire sport. 

Raymore Snow & Stuff

OK, OK, OK. 
Yes, I have not blogged in a while. 
I have lots of stuff in the works and just don't know where to start. 

Below is a photo taken in our driveway of last week's snowfall.  Being on the south side of the city, we got quite a bit more than the reported amount at Kansas City airport 55 miles north of us. 

Raymore, MO Snowfall February 22, 2013

We are expecting more of the white stuff tomorrow.  Yay!