17th Annual Winter Garden Party

This past Sunday was a beautiful day for the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Winter Garden Party held at the community centre where I teach dog obedience. It was sunny, we'd had a light dusting of fluffy snow the day before and it was just below freezing.

This event takes place the weekend after our annual Winterlude concludes, so it makes for a great community outing with the kids. They have all kinds of things for the kids to do ... a scavenger hunt, face painting, marshmallow roasting by the fire, a small foot stomping band, door prizes, maple taffy this year, along with many of us that teach classes have a table where people can see what goes on. There were various demos, one that was all about these fancy remote vehicle/helicopters, along with our doggie demo with several of my obedience students attending where we taught the kids proper greeting & petting and showed the audience what they had learned to this point.

the sleigh rides out in the park area - that is our Ottawa River in the background

our Breeze with one of the mascots

one gentleman came with his therapy cat
my dog obedience display area with sisters Breeze & Pumpkin

maple taffy being prepared for Marylou & I

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New Champion Here @ Shelamo

Last weekend I went off to the Ontario Breeders Dog Show in Markham, Ontario, with breeder friend Penny, taking our Jelly Bean & newest hopeful Breeze with me.

It was a terrible windy (67+km winds), and thus very cold outside, but heck didn't we have a good weekend inside. That includes inside buildings and inside 'us' too! I got introduced to sushi, seaweed salad and edamame (soya beans) with a good bottle of wine; warmed the body in a hot tub; a great dinner & bottle of wine @ Baton Rouge, and rekindle doggie friendships that I'm only likely to encounter when in that area.

In the show ring we couldn't have been prouder of our 2 dogs. Jelly Bean, our young male, now 10 months old finished his Championship in the 1st 2 days. So he's now known as MBPIB Ch Shelamo Jumping Jelly Bean. This makes Ch #4 for his dam Ch Shelamo Sugar Shack.

Jelly Bean winning under respected judge Donna Cole.

Ch Shelamo Jumping Jelly Bean
(photo by Penny Woodruff)

Then on Monday, at her 1st show didn't our fun loving Breeze show her heart out going Best of Winners and onto Best Puppy In Group. Thank-you to breeder/judge Judith Bryne for rewarding her in such a lovely line-up.

She's pictured the day before, practising in the ring.

Shelamo Flash Forward

She's just 6 months & 2 wks old! I'll post her show pic when I get it.

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Our Little Pumpkin

I've been asked, 'Where are pics of your two new hopefuls?' So here's one of them. We call her Pumpkin. She is sired by our Ch Shelamo Sugar Rush, her dam is our MBPIG Ch Shelamo's Riding the Wind. The other sibling, Breeze, I don't have any recent pics as she's been off having fun at our friend Mary-lou's place. We've also had a lot of cloud days, and if the sun has come out then it's - 20 C, and then some with a wind chill and I'm just not up to doing pics in that kind of weather!

They just turned 6 months yesterday. Their temperament, well look out! No one isn't their friend, nor is anything to be feared or not challenged. These pic were taken of her 'o'naturel' while outside with the gang.

What? mom I got things to do.

I just love this little girl ... she's 13" now, but lives in a way bigger package.

A group on a tear in the fresh 5 cm of snow ... Pumpkin is in the middle, 3rd from the right, biting some one's butt!

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More On The Dangers of Xylitol

I've written about this dangerous 'human' sweetener that 1st appeared in various gums, however it is now becoming used in many other forms we wouldn't expect, like minds, desserts and now even drugs!

From Dr. Patty Khuly's blog - link below she writes ...

"yes, xylitol is still killing dogs … more dogs than ever before. This, despite my efforts and those of like-minded big mouths who seek to inform all U.S. consumers that xylitol is a menace to dogdom.

How menacing? A few sugar-free breath fresheners, a pack of gum, a spilled tin of mints, a sugar-free dessert cup. It takes only a little of this toxin to send a dog into hypoglycemia-induced seizures, and just a little bit more to bring on liver failure.

And what's worse is not so much its extreme toxicity … but its insidiousness."

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2011/feb/xylitol_now_in_drugs

Sneaky devil ... caught in the act!

Read up on it, PLEASE, as it has been reported by one breeder to have shown up in a liquid form of Omega 3 supplement she uses on her senior dog, from Costco.

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Dogs & Snow Fun

Dogs and snow just seem to go together. Yeah, there are the smaller breeds that aren't made for our cold winters ... they don't know what they are missing.
When we get a large snow fall I keep the back pen closed, and when it's done, well it's all fresh for them to play in. Here's a bunch of them just starting to get through it.

Last night we got a few more cm ... it's mostly the younger group getting into it here. The smaller one off to the left is one of our hopefuls, Pumpkin. Ruby seems to be getting the brunt of it all, but then she's one of the play instigators. The visiting dogs have no problem getting into the mix either.

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Enjoying Our Winter Birds

Our tiny bird, with their black hood, white throat and grey body is called a Chickadee, and their call is just like that chick-a-dee-dee-dee. They are getting more and more trusting of me that I can move in closer. I've also set the picture 'beep' to off as that seems to scare them.

Last Wednesday I captured this one during a fluffy snow storm. I have a suet ball hanging and then the blown glass holder than mom gave me as an Xmas present.

They come in one by one, take a mouth full and then fly off to the surrounding trees.

Here you can see 3 chickadees sitting on the clothes line waiting their turn. Yeah, sometimes we'll see one on each side of the suet ball, but that is rare.

This little one gets to feast all by himself.
I find it amazing that as soon as the sun starts to go down, they all disappear.

A red headed woodpecker showed up yesterday, but when I went to open the patio doors to snap a picture, it was gone into the bushes in a flash.

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Send a Valentine to a Furry Friend

Here's a cute site Purina set up, called Pure Love For Pets.com. You can make your own dog (cat) Valentine's card with one of your own pictures, put a note on it and send it off. Both sender and recipient can get $1.oo off coupons towards Purina dog treats.

Something fun to do!

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