Happy 11th Birthday - Rocky, Amber & Copper

Jan 31st, 2000 marked the birth of a litter of 6 pups, out of our Shelamo's Party Pack ROMC. The litter was the 1st sired by Am/Cdn/Jap Ch Laureate Explorer ROMC.

Rocky in the middle @ 6wks of age

This litter would be the start of something very special for us here at Shelamo. Rocky was the 'show' dog of the litter, and thus started in the show ring when he was just over 6 mths @ the Belleville show in Aug, garnering points there, more points @ the SD&G show, along with Best Puppy in groups; on to the (old) CanSave show in Carp where his picture & a bit about our kennel was featured in the local newspaper, and then ... it was at the Ottawa Kennel Club show that the roof came crashing down. The OKC show in November, also hosts the prestigious Show of Shows (any dog winning a Best In Show the previous yr) on the Saturday nite and in order to compete they must be entered in the regular show. Well, during the regular show .. I'll make it short & sweet ... Rocky took Winners Dog from the Senior Puppy Class, then beat out 3 BIS Specials (1 Am/Ch) for Best of Breed, took a Group 4th and then a Best Puppy In Show! This win finished his Canadian Championship, with a bang. And yes, we thought with all his ring side supporters the roof of the Aberdean Pavilion would come down.Mike and I flew out to Winnipeg in December for the Northwinds Dog show, and Rocky was a hot contender one of the days against a Pom for BPIS. We did garnered Group 4th & a couple of BPIG while there.
As we moved into 2001, we had entered Rocky in the Purina Champions Campaign, and didn't he win out of some 500 entries one of the 20 selected to represent them. We went to Toronto for a big photo shoot weekend which was a blast; was the April boy for their 2002 calendar and was featured for many years on the walls of Purina's main show booth that travels across the country to major dog shows.
In 2002 our good friend Dr Sherry Lee offered to take him to Florida with her and work at obtaining his American Championship. At his 1st show in Aug he garnered his 1st major. Sherry finished him in only 13 shows in the competitive East & Florida shows.

Am/Cdn Ch "Rocky" in his prime

Rocky has had his fair share of Group placements, with his most recent one being last Feb @ the CC&SSA Specialty where he was Best of Opposite.

He's always been my best bud - lying near me, on me or around me, never letting me out of his sight. I can remember when he was a puppy and I'd be kneeling while lighting the fire, he'd lie over the backs of my legs. He loves to travel, be it by car or air, and stay in hotel rooms where he quickly learns which is HIS hotel door. You can dress him up at Xmas with his fuzzy collar with bells and call him "Jingle Bell Rock" and he'll just prance around even more. He's always been a confident dog, a great ambassador for the breed.

His 2 sisters have also done us proud.
His 1st sister to finish her Championship was Shelamo's Sure Fire, and at the age of 9 with her new owner Judy Flanigan, they obtained their Companion Dog obedience title. She's since added her Rally Novice.
The 2nd in the litter was to be known as Ch Shelamo's Show Case. She's retired and lives with a family near Oshawa.

Thanks Rocky, Amber, Copper for such a great ride, to date.

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Helping Out - Missing In Richmond, Ontario

The more people know, the more help & eyes out there, to bring Molly home.

Molly now has her own facebook page called Missing/Lost Bernese Mountain Dog - MOLLY. So please search and join to keep abreast of what's happening.

By what the owner has written, she was dognapped from their backyard. She's gone missing from the Richmond Rd/Eagleson area of Richmond, Ontario. This town is in the City of Ottawa, near Kanata, Stittsville, Manotick, North Gower, even Carleton Place to the north west. Reports of sightings have been in the Bruce Pit area where she has been walked before and also the Hwy 7 & Upper Dwyer Hill Rd area.
True or not, there is suspect that a man in a white mini van has been dognapping in the area, so please use caution and don't leave your dog's unattended.

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Two Plus Weeks At sPawDays - What A Change

During Xmas we had a full house of boarders, one being this Bichon Frise. He came in with a coat quite clumped up, and in need of a good grooming .. his owners were well aware and were frightened to take him to one of the local grooming places as last time they shaved him to the skin even tho the length they wanted had been discussed prior. With the Xmas rush and preparing to go away, plus the snow we've had (which yes mats the hair big time!), they hadn't had the time to keep him up. So ... I asked ... would you mind if I gave it a shot? I don't own clippers, so no shaving! and I'd like to do more of a 'show trim' on him. I got the go ahead.
Here's how he started out. What one has to remember is as you brush a coat (hair not fur) like this out it 'grows'! and I mean grows .... So bit, by bit hour by hour, day by day I worked on him.

As I brushed him out, I trimmed as he just had so much hair. Here he's pictured after about 6 hours of work.

Come'on enough pics already!

(swear I must have taken some 100 shots thru the whole process)

Now we're getting down to D-Day, the day before he's to leave. I've got him down to a more manageable length, most of the clumps out so it's time for the bath and a good conditioner to work out what's left.
Blow drying is a different story on this kind of hair. My high powered dryer doesn't do the same kind of job as it does on the shelties! This meant switching up, and using a regular hair dryer. (remember this is a totally new breed for me to do!) The more his hair dried, the LONGER it got! Sheesh! I thought I'd trimmed a lot to start with? As you can see he loved the pampering.
Finally ... after starting @ 10 am, breaks here and there, brushing, more trimming, more brushing, trimming, I finished him up later that evening and I think he looks pretty spiffy for his owners.
Here's a full view of him. If you go back and look at his original pic it doesn't look like too much length was taken off, but I'd say upwards of 2" has been trimmed. I didn't want to drastically change his overall look, but even at this length both his owners & I feel we could go shorter so his love for playing in the snow doesn't tangle his coat up any more than necessary.

Needless to say, his owners were ECSTATIC with how he looked.

Humm .... I think I'd give myself 2 Paws up too!

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What's Your Dog Doing This Winter?

It's more often cold here in Ottawa through the months of January-March and for many humans & their dogs, time outside gets limited. Why not get inside for an hour a week? get some mental stimulation for your dog, exercise, socialization and great bonding time. You're dog will become so excited when they learn about that last turn towards their dog obedience class! They'll learn when those 'special' clothes come out, the treats/bag, maybe that special training lead/collar.

There is never a time one shouldn't take the time to 'train' and keep your dog's mind active. Classes can teach you so much more each and every time as there is no end to both you and your canine learning, or reinforcing some of those things you've been lax on.

In the City of Ottawa there are many community centres that offer various levels of dog obedience classes. You can follow this link, put in dog obedience in the advanced search area & click on ALL to see where they are being held & what night. Level 1 courses are for dogs old enough to have received their rabies vaccination.

Classes start SOON - starting next week! So considering it and signing up quickly is necessary.

http://apps102.ottawa.ca/Activities/Activities.asp?SCheck=571367567&SDT=40548.5076388889

My Level 1 class @ Howl-o-ween at the Glen Cairn Community Centre in Kanata

Questions - send me an email!

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What You Find When Cleaning Up File Pics

As I try and get more organized for 2011, especially with all the pics I have on our computer, didn't I come across this one. It just wants me to smooch right thru the fence at these two.
On the left is my 'Rock Man', my soul boy (and I think his face looking back at me says that). He's our 1st Best Puppy In Show winner and our 1st American/Canadian Champion. The blue eyed beauty is "Casino", Ch Shelamo Burleigh Casino Rama CD, CGN ... Mike's heart throb girl.

Now tell me how old do you think these two are??? I'll post their ages later, I think you'll be surprised.

As I work thru my pics, (quite a few from client's too) I'll post some of my FAVS over the coming weeks (might end up being months).

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