Welcome Home Tiki!

June 6, 2010.  Well it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Who is Tiki you may ask? Tiki is Ashbrooke Quantrels Enchanted Tiki Rm. He is Sawyer's littermate brother. I unfortunately got the very bad news that Tiki's former owner surrendered him to a shelter in South Carolina. Needless to say I was devastated. Luckily the shelter contacted the local Weimaraner rescue and there was enough information to find me. The Greater Charleston Weimaraner Club Rescue arranged for his release and a wonderful man named Chris fostered Tiki until we could arrange to get him back up north. I reached out to the Weimaraner Rescue Railroad for assistance and two terrific and persistent ladies, Andrea and Anita, found volunteers to donate their time to help drive Tiki up to Virginia. My friend Karin picked Tiki up in Virginia, kept him overnight and met me in Maryland this morning.
Bless all these wonderful people for their generosity!!! I am very grateful to all of them. This could have been a very tragic situation. I’m still very angry and quite baffled as to how someone could dump this precious boy in a shelter when there was always the option (and contractual obligation) to return him to me, but my priority is Tiki and his wellness. He is a very sweet boy, has a great temperament and seems to be in good spirits. He is extremely thin so we’ll work on getting weight back on him as we look for a new forever home. I know he’ll make a fabulous addition to someone’s family.

In the mean time while we were planning Tiki’s return, Scott became ill and had to go to the emergency room on Friday evening. He was diagnosed with gallstones and is still waiting in the hospital to have his gallbladder removed. We’re all wishing him an uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery! Thank you to all the friends and family who visited him today and kept him company while I drove to MD to pick up Tiki! XOXO

Tiki made himself right at home up on the couch.  Notice Brooke stretched out on her back in the background, obviously Tiki's return did not stress her out.

Tiki loves to give kisses.

Since Scott was not at home, I had to try to take our photo myself.  It's not the best photo but it will have to do for now.

He wouldn't be a Dude son if we didn't have the tounge picture.

Tiki had fun in the yard playing tug-o-war with brother, Sawyer.

Even mom, Sharon, tried to get in on the fun.  It was a regular family affair.

I think Tiki looks like Sharon.  What a sweet boy with a sweet face!

Mamma Sharon

Here's a picture of Tiki (purple collar) with brother Sawyer (green collar) and sister Coco (pink collar) at 11 weeks old.

Bon Jovi

May 26, 2010.  Opening the brand new Meadowlands Stadium...BON JOVI!!  What an awesome show!!  So glad my friend Darcey was able to come up from Florida to go with me.  It was 4 years ago that we saw Bon Jovi at the old Giant Stadium before Darcey moved to Florida so it was wonderful that she was able to join me at the new stadium to see Bon Jovi again.

The old Giant Stadium, half removed.  How sad.  I saw a lot of good concerts and games there.

What timing, the announcement just came out that the new stadium would be home to the 2014 Super Bowl!!  Jon said he was hoping for a Jets / Giants Super Bowl that year.  I still think I'd prefer to sit in my warm home in Feb to watch the game since the new stadium doesn't have a roof.

Darcey and I at our floor seats before the rest of the crowd got there.

First up, Train.

Hey, Soul Sister...

The main event, Bon Jovi!!

Let the show begin!

Jon has such a great smile.

These 80's songs still ROCK!  You Give Love a Bad Name.

Not one of their most famous but one of my favorites...We Got It Goin' On!

Jon and Ritchie

And up close.

All the boys...

Ruby

May 23, 2010.  Here are the latest pictures I received from Karey of puppy Ruby.  These are really great and could be calendar photos!

Ruby on top of the mountain.  What a shot this is!

Ruby showing us that she looks good from every angle...even the rear.

And she's more than just looks, this girl is smart as she's learned to shake.

Love the ears on this one.

Ruby enjoying some time on the couch...

...or perhaps getting ready to pounce.

I'm not sure if she likes bath time or not.  It's hard to tell with that sweet face but I'm guess with the clenched paw it may not be her favorite thing.  I know her mom Sharon prefers to avoid bath time.

She's ready for her close up.

Nationals - Day 6, WCA Specialty

May 21, 2010.  It was the last day at Nationals and it was a hot one.  Sawyer competed in Breed and I was very proud to make the first cut out of a large entry of 38 dogs.  What a trouper he was in the heat and I'm very happy with his performance. 



It was a great week with wonderful dogs, a few new titles, beautiful showing, seeing old friends, and meeting new ones.  But it is nice to be back home.  I know Sharon was very glad to see us and has spent most of the evening playing with Sawyer.

Nationals - Day 5, Maturity

May 20, 2010.  Today was Sawyer's Maturity, Brooke's 2nd attempt at Novice Obedience and Sawyer's move up to Rally Advanced.

Unfortunately we had a conflict and missed Brooke's turn at obedience so didn't even get a chance to try today.  I was very disappointed.  We'll take the lessons we learned from Rose and hopefully apply them to another show soon.

Luckily there was a break in between the Futurity and Maturity so Sawyer and I were able to run down to the Rally ring and compete in Rally Advanced.  He earned a 96, losing 2 points for ticking the jump.  I found out later that we were 1st place in the class!  Nice Rally Advance debut for Sawyer and to place first at a National Specialty was wonderful!

Unfortunately we didn't do as well in the conformation ring.  I think Sawyer looked great and couldn't have asked for more from him. 

In line for our first review.

Waiting for the judge's exam.

Up and Back.

Free stack...Sawyer nailed it!

Going around the ring with the signature tounge out...he inherited this from Dude.

I still think he's a cutie and just love this dog.  He does it all and I'm happy that we added a few more titles to his name his weekend.  I know there are many more in his future.

CH Ashbrooke Quantrels Tom Sawyer Islnd, JH, NSD, RN, RLP, RL1, CD-H, CGC
(breeder owner handled)


And to top off our evening we won the dog coat in the raffle!  I've been looking for a coat for Sawyer and this is perfect for him. 

One more day and then we'll be on our way home.

Nationals - Day 4, WCDCA Specialty

May 19, 2010.  Today was the Weimaraner Club of Washington DC Area Specialty.  We competed in Breed, Obedience and Rally. 

We didn't do anything in the Breed ring but Dude took the first Award of Merit (AOM).  Way to go Dude!!  He is one good looking dog.

Sawyer on the move.

This was Brooke's debut in obedience.  While we did get some wonderful tips from Rose and Brooke significantly improved in just a few days, we did not qualify.  She got up during the long down, but before that she had a qualifying score so I was very proud of her.  I knew the stays would be challenging but we got lots of training ideas from Rose so hopefully we'll be ready for the next time.

Here's a video of her figure 8 and stand for exam.

We ended the day with Rally.  Sawyer had a great run with a score of 97.

He earned his Rally Novice (RN) tile and took 2nd place! 

I ended the day with a little puppy luvin'.  Awwwww!

Nationals - Day 3, Day off

May 18, 2010.  Today was our day off since we didn't have any events today.  I was able to work from the hotel room so I didn't have to waste a vacation day and the dogs rested.

Brooke enjoyed having the whole bed to herself.

Sawyer stretched out and enjoyed his woobie.

They even got some playing time together.

We were able to take advantage of some training time with Rose who is our obedience hero from Canada.  She has a wonderful Weim named Asia (bred by Barb) and has accomplished so much in obedience the stats are staggering.  I think she said she has 40 High in Trials!!  She gave us some wonderful tips and I'm feeling a little more confident about Brooke's debut in AKC obedience tomorrow.

After all that practicing, Sawyer needed a rest before dinner so curled up with my purse.

At dinner Frank discovered his glasses had broken so now he used his monocle to read the menu.  I always have fun with this gang and was glad to spend time with good friends.