Westminster Reminder

Your yearly reminder to watch the Westminster Dog Show tonight.  In Canada it is being broadcast on Animal Planet Feb 13th & 14th at 8-11pm.  I am not much into dog shows lately, but, it is still fun to watch this annual event in the comfort of my home, PJ's on, big bowl of popcorn, see ya there.

Working Dogs

Photos from the Park Spark Project in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Dog owners scoop dog poop into biodegradable bags placing them into the 'digester' to produce and USE methane gas.  Turning these city pets into 'working dogs'  Neat idea!  Read below about the Park Spark Project.  
Hey wasn't this the context of the Movie Thunder Dome, fueling with Pig manure? :-)


THE PARK SPARK PROJECT
Dog owners everywhere are collecting pet waste in plastic bags and then sending it to landfills. The waste contained in these plastic bags release small amounts of methane that over time is a substantial quantity. The Park Spark Project is based on substituting the common trashcan and plastic bag with a public methane digester and biodegradable bag, so that the dog waste collected is converted into a usable form of energy (methane).


This methane will burn constantly in the form of an 'eternal flame' monument until someone proposes an idea for the use of the flame. Here the Methane produced by the Digester is being burned in the form of a lamppost for light.

The Last Great Race

The 2010 Iditarod started Sunday March 7th 2010. Check out the links below for great coverage of this amazing human/dog partnership. Photo courtesy of akphotograph.com visit to see some stunning photos. Alaska News Iditarod.com Eye on the Trail ADN.com Iditarod Insider North Wapiti Blog - Karen Ramstead, Canadian women that races with her team of Siberian Huskies.

Busy at the shows

I haven't done a lot of dog showing this year...actually this weekend is the first show I made it too in 2009. Thursday I packed up the van and headed up Ottawa way with Daisy and Fiddle to the Ottawa Kennel Club show. Along with their regular three days of dog showing fun they host the Purina Show of Shows each year. A gala evening event it is open only to Best In Show winners from the prior year. Owners of Lia, Ch.Dinsdale Champagne Celebration, Line & Michel Champagne made a special trip with their Best in Show girl Lia. Lots of fun the winner of the night was a Kerry Blue Terrier. Photos from today are not the best quality as they were snapped with my cell phone. Daisy snoozing Saturday after a busy day. Daisy took Best of Winners Friday & Saturday completing her Canadian Championship!! Sunday we showed Daisy as a Special and our Little Miss Fiddle took Best of Winners. Fiddle HATES to show, no that is understated Fiddle DESPISES showing and grooming time, suffice it to say if I ever attempt to show Fiddle again I expect she will pack her bags and be looking for a new, sane owner. Here she is back at the hotel dreaming of being anywhere but AT A SHOW!!

Waiting for a road trip

Flute caught waiting for the van to be loaded and to head out on a new adventure. Flute is traveling down to the US for some shows and maybe some future pups. Don't look so sad Flute, sounds exciting to me.

Dog Show Weekend

This weekend we headed off to a local dog show, Saturday was terribly hot. I had Fiddle entered and we didn't do much of anything...second from the end if the truth be told :-( Oh well some dog days are like that. Sunday our ring time was much earlier and the weather much more pleasant for showing dogs. Fiddle wasn't entered today... instead I took puppy Daisy. It was her very first show and I was a little apprehensive about how she would do, I wanted her to have a positive experience. Well the little monkey had a wonderful time, she didn't waver during the judges examination and strutted her little puppy butt around the ring winning Best of Breed and her first two points, I was thrilled. After Breed she had to compete in both the Adult and the Puppy Groups. She was a little trooper and did me proud, barely batting an eye at the assortment of unusual breeds of dogs she was in the ring with. The photo above of Daisy was taken while waiting for our ring time. Below are photos of Fergie and Hilde also waiting for the show to get going.