Category Archives: Brags

Our first-ever home-bred CHAMPION!

KeelMtn Bless Your Heart, CGC, PHC

So, so proud and happy!

Hope you can see the details in this photo. It’s an effect called “focus” from a friend’s iPad. Junie B and me on the green carpet. I love how we’re in focus while the judge and crowd are blurred, which is pretty much how I feel when we show – all that matters is us working together as a team – the rest is a blur. What a wonderful photo of a wonderful memory!

Dori and Tony both took home some points recently from the Golden Triangle Kennel Club shows. Here are their photos:

Here’s Dori winning her first major out of the Bred By class under Dr. Robert Smith a few weeks ago at Olive Branch, MS. At 2 and 1/2, she’s finally growing up!

We are back from a 5-day trip to Missouri for the UKC Gateway Nationals Classic. Here’s our weekend wrap-up:

June was Best of Breed all 6 shows, nothing in the group. I just don’t think the judges know what to do with Cardigan Welsh Corgis.

Dori managed to beat the #1 Pembroke Welsh Corgi for Best of Breed once and went on to a Herding Group 4, from huge entries of Australian Shepherds, German Shepherds, Berger Picards, and Pyrean Shepherds among the rest of the herding breeds in a very large and deep in quality Herding Group. She did this under Richard Beauchamp, a judge whose opinion I really respect.

The star of the weekend was Phoebe, who won Altered Best in Show at both Friday shows and then hung in until that evening for the Herding Group Specialty Show where she won Altered Best in Specialty Show. Not too shabby for a girl who will be 11 years old in January. Phoebe won the Herding Group both shows on Saturday and once on Sunday, but clearly was getting worn out as the weekend progressed. She came home with two giant BIS rosettes, 2 silver bowls, and lots of other loot.

The two little kids, Tony and Charity, came along for the ride and were phenomenal travelers, were loved on by a gazillion of their adoring public, and made friends with a ginormous Caucasian Ovcharka dog who was easily 250 pounds to their 20 pounds.

The Purina Farms venue is outstanding. I was just disappointed as my time didn’t allow me to see anywhere near everything they had to offer. Our days went from about 8am to 8pm; we need a vacation from the vacation!

Beuatiful autumn weather this weekend, so enjoyed traveling to down Pelham on Saturday for the Birmingham Kennel Club’s B match. Got to spend a lovely day with friends Janet and Dee Dee. Icing on the cake was coming home with the Best Puppy in Match rosette! Tony did it again!

On Sunday, headed northeast to Murfreesboro where June was BOS for another grand champion point then heard from the left coast that brother Nash was WD from BBE for a 5 point major to finish his championship. This makes four of their litter to finish with more on their way. Yippee!

Bob RARELY comes to dog shows, probably because he gets worked like a dog (pun intended) when he does. The poor man took leave of his senses and for Labor Day weekend we packed up 9 dogs, 4 puppies, a travel trailer, and 2 humans and drove 6 hours down to Perry, GA for the Middle Georgia Kennel Club shows. 4 days, 7 shows. I thought it was worth it!

We were the only corgis entered so Ava and Dori spent the weekend trading BOBs, but they did also get group placements at almost every show.

Ten year old Phoebe (ABIMBS, RABIMBS, Multi Ch. Tri-umph Tender Promise, CD, RE, CGC, TDIA, TT) was the star of the weekend in the Altered rings winning 3 Bests in Show and 3 Reserve Bests in Show. Here’s a link to a brief glimpse of us in the ring from a local TV station. ?

 The 7th Altered BOB went to 20 month old Jasper (KeelMtn I Do Declare) and his 8 year old handler, both of whom had never been in the ring before!

The little kids got in on the action too at their puppy match. While Bob handled Charity and I took in Cyd, we handed off Tony to a complete stranger who took him to Reserve Best Puppy in Match! What fun!

Tony, Cyd, and Charity have been getting their feet wet at the local puppy matches.

Thanks Judge Shirle Rogers!

???Tony won the Herding group at the North Alabama KC match in August and got a Group Two at the Chattanooga match in September.

Charity got a Group one at Chattanooga’s August match.

I didn’t get to go the the National this year, but thanks to the multitude of methods of communication we sad stay-at-homes got almost instantaneous results. Baby daddy Isaboo (Ch. Pembury House Be Still My Heart) got an Award of Merit! His co-owner Paul kindly sent me this gorgeous photo. Congratulations to all!

Just wanted to share a couple of neat photos from our recent weekend in Tennessee. At the Great Smoky Mountains Dog Club shows, our ten-year-old Phoebe won Best In Show Altered and two Reserve Best in Show Altered. My friend Samantha also borrowed Phoebe for her Juniors class and they took home a blue ribbon. Their photo, shown here, was published in the Daily Post Athenian. Congratulations Samantha and Phoebe! Dori also came home with a Herding Group 1 and Group 2. All in all a fun weekend!

Dori and I send our CONGRATULATIONS to her sire! There is a new champion at Tri-umph today! Chris is now Ch. Tri-umph ‘Taint No Saint. Chris is sired by and linebred on Ch. Tallyrand Archangel Michael and finished this morning at the Salina KC by going Best of Breed. Except for a few points Marian put on Chris in BBE when he was 13 months old, his championship was attained in about 2 1/2 months–he came back out at the very end of January. I know there’s a few margaritas blending in Texas today!

Showing ‘au natural’!

Although I’m usually an AKC girl, I occasionally play in UKC for experience and fun. I am proud to share though, that with extremely limited showing (like about five weekends), our two year old “Ava” is #7 Pembroke Welsh Corgi for 2010. Ava is GrCH BPIMBS Lin-Kel Nanteos Cariad from Am. Ch. Lin-Kel Nanteos Geraint x Am. Ch. Lin-Kel Nanteos Rhiannon, bred by Linda Muglach, Dr. Gareth Morgan-Jones, and Richard Albee. By placing in the Top Ten, she is invited to compete in the UKC’s Top Ten competition at Premier in June (UKC’s version of Eukanuba). Most of her breed points were won at last year’s Premier when she went BoB out of the Champion class over a large class of the US and Canada’s top ranked Grand Champions. The most fun in UKC is that professional handlers are not allowed, nor is grooming besides water and a comb, so this photo shows Ava in her birthday suit!

Yes, I know it’s not yet the end of the calendar year, but it is the end of the show year for us. Boy, did we have fun!

Tah-dah! I am beyond thrilled to announce that June finished her AKC championship on Friday in Priceville despite still wearing her summer clothes! Too much excitement! Pending AKC verification (as they say), she is now Ch. Allegro Celestial Charm! Her breeder and my friend, Jeri Lamy, was on hand, along with June’s litter brother, Nash, who picked up a few points as well. I bumped her up for Saturday and Sunday and Junie gave me her first Select Bitch points as well. Now we’ll stay home for a while, growing a proper winter coat and maybe starting to play in rally and obedience.

Dori finished her UKC grand championship in style at only 10 months under a breeder-judge! (I was much more excited than I look in the photo.) I believe she MAY make it into the Top Ten for the year, waiting to see how the points add up. Dori was also Best Puppy and Puppy Group 2 in Priceville, winning her class every day and going Reserve Winner Bitch on Sunday. I think she might have gotten the points had she not decided I needed herding and so did the “down and back” with my pants leg in her mouth much to the entertainment of the judge, fellow exhibitors, and the ringside audience! This winter ought to give her an opportunity to grow up a bit.

GrCh KeelMtn Bless Your Heart

We logged a lot of miles this year and I am so looking forward to a couple of months at home with DH.

Dori at 8 months

SO busy around here; I’m terribly behind in posting our news.

First of all – tah dah! Dori’s first AKC point! At the Memphis KC shows Dori was Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite Sex under judge Debra Long Gshwender. The day before she was Reserve WB, Best Puppy, and then Herding Puppy Group 2.

Then lots of UKC fun as well:

Dori and June both finished their UKC Championships at Lexington, KY. Dori also got a Herding Group 1, two Group 2s, and a Group 4 that weekend while June finished hers with a Group 2 and three Group 3s ably handled by junior handler Rachel Propst – thanks sweetie!

At Perry, GA, (4 days, 8 shows) Ava became a Grand Champion along with a Group 4 and two Group 3s. Dori earned 4 of 5 legs towards her Grand Championship and a Group 3. Both got a bunch of Top Ten points as well. Cheery also played and got one BOB.

Ava, Dori, and I leave for the Pembroke Welsh Corgi National Specialty in Lancaster, PA on Tuesday. Thirteen hour drive – bleh! But I can’t wait for a week of nothing but corgis – what fun! And catching up with old and new friends in person instead on digits! Wish us luck!

Ava showed up on the current UKC standings as tied for #3! How neat is that?

Ava – CH Lin-Kel Nanteos Cariad – 18 months

Dori was Best Puppy in Match today under judge Nancy Self at the Huntsville Kennel Club’s B match. She was almost having too much fun to remember how show girls act, but kept it together somewhat.

KeelMtn Bless Your Heart – 7 months

And lest you think her life is all work and no play, here’s a typical moment in the day of Dori.

Surely there’s some food morsels left for me!

Let me tell you, Indiana is HOT in July!

Since I had a free weekend, I decided to enter the girls in UKC’s PREMIER (yes, always in caps). It’s their biggest show of the year and their version of Eukanuba. They have a Top Ten competition for the dogs ranked in the Top Ten from the past year, there is Junior Showmanship competition, agility, obedience, rally, dock-diving, weight-pull, many specialties, and probably lots of other stuff I forgot or didn’t know about as well as three days of all-breed shows. This is a big deal! I’m usually an AKC-type, using UKC occasionally for ring practice and puppy socialization. I’m not the only one; I see lots of folks I know from AKC shows and some judges as well. The atmosphere is much more laid back and slow-paced, there are no professional handlers, and most of all – no grooming products! No chalk and mousse, no hairspray, no poodle wigs, no kidding. You can’t take a comb or brush in the ring and it’s up to the judges whether or not they want to allow bait.

So anyway, we packed up the Excursion and north we went. It was worth the 8 hour trip! First of all, Tara KEELMTN ALL GUSSIED UP finally got to meet and go home with her new owner, Robin, who has the UKC #1 ranked Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Am. Ch., GRCH Desprado Louisville Slugger. I can’t wait to hear what fabulous things are in store for Tara in the Great Southwest!

So proud of my girls – here’s what we did at PREMIER:

DORI – Reserve Best Female and Best Female (at a week shy of 7 months from the Breeder/Handler class)

JUNE – Best Female all 3 days and one Best of Winners (at 12 months from the Jr. Female class)

AVA – Champion of Champions 2 days and then Best of Breed over 3 other champions and 7 grand champions, several who are Top Ten ranked and some AKC champions (at 18 months old)

Ava – Lin-Kel Nanteos Cariad

And PHOEBE at 9+ years – Altered Best of Breed all 3 days, Altered Herding Group Two twice, and then won the Altered Herding Group!

That 8 hour trip home didn’t take any time at all! 😉

Abbie’s – KeelMtn Tri-umph Twitterpated – first show was the Mayflower Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club’s specialty show where she placed 2nd in her class under breeder-judge Gayle Garvin! Congrats to owners Kathi and Jeff Powers, co-owner/co-breeder Marian Your, and thanks to handler/bad puppy wrangler <g> Melody Kist! So proud! 🙂

Tara, Dixie, and Dori have traveled with Ava and I to a few shows this spring that have also offered matches for puppies. I think they’ve been fairly successful!

At the Birmingham KC match:

#1 Tara
#2 Dori
#3 Dixie

At the Valdosta KC match:

#1 Tara
#2 Dori
#4 Dixie

At the Great Smoky Mountains Dog Club:

Of the 4 matches offered that weekend, Dori made the final cut twice, then Dori was Reserve Best Puppy in Show (handled by an 8 year old who had never been in the ring before that day – thanks so much Samantha!), and Dixie was Best Puppy in Show! What fun!

In addition, Ava was at the top of her game, bringing home a Group One, two Group Twos, and a Group Three! I really don’t remember the drive home that day! Not every weekend is like that. In fact, most weekends aren’t like that, but they sure are fun when they are!

And finally, this past Sunday, Dori was Best Herding Group Puppy at the Huntsville KC match! Did I mention we’re having fun?! 🙂

Dori moves!

Dori and her junior handler – happy girls!