A Eukanuba Christmas holiday!

Sadly, I’ve left the ever-exciting home of Jan Ruggles but she left me in the care of Mary Grill and Mary Ann Leonard who were travelling down to Florida to take part in the Eukanuba Invitational with a teddy bear.  At least that’s the way they explained it to me although I’d been under the impression that the show was for dogs and their owners.  Maybe they make an exception at Christmas?  Anyways, off we went and I quickly realized it was an ideal spot when I noticed that there were open bags of kibble (lots of it) right near the entrance.

After a quickie snack, I hopped up to give the ‘man-in-charge’ an equally quick smooch on the cheek.  See how happy he looked about that!

I was a bit reluctant to leave the snackin’ booth but was able to talk this very nice man into providing me with transportation throughout the building.  A much quicker way to get around than some of the dogs were using even if I do think they need to learn to spell…. shouldn’t that be segue?

which is what I’m about to do…….(segue, that is)…. I really wasn’t sure about the plan to be spending some of the lead up to Christmas holidays in a warm place like Florida but it turns out they know how to deck the halls really well.  Or, at least deck the palm trees which works just as well.

I even found some really interesting peeps to hang with.  No sand or sunshine but you can’t have everything and at least I didn’t have to worry about a sun burn.

After all my confusion about us taking a teddy bear to the show, it really turned interesting when I heard he won.  Mary Ann and Mary were all bubbly and teary and I was just scratching my head wondering what was going on (not that that is an unusual thing for me). Soon it was time to leave and I was thinking I’d be heading back to Jan’s.  After all, they’d picked up a travelling case for me that bore a strange resemblance to a beer cooler so I was anticipating another NODROG celebration.

But that wasn’t the case and, on looking around to see the planned mode of transportation, I was filled with some trepidation. No wonder, even the shuttle had a frowny face.

Wherever am I going next?  Apparently, I’ll be heading off with Donna Grant.  But where……..?

 

Party-time in Michigan

My time in Michigan with Jan was so much fun (I’ve heard it said that I was a party-animal so we were a great matchup).  A few weeks ago, Jan said we were going sledding with the folks from NODROG.  I was thinking that she’d started partying long before she hatched that plan since she obviously was reading Gordon backwards and there was no snow so I was filled with a bit of apprehension.  And, trust me, you don’t want to eat your kibble topped with apprehension.  Turns out she wasn’t quite as far gone as I’d thought and we were soon headed off to the NODROG Gordon Setter Club’s Christmas party.  And, fortunately for my lack of fortitude, the sledding adventure wasn’t too perilous after all.

I even found my own very cool sleigh on the snack table, fully stocked with goodies to help me challenge the slopes for weeks if necessary.

The club members there are so nice and welcomed me with open shoulders.  One for the right…

One for the left….

And one straight down the middle with me making a stunning appearance as this season’s most desired head gear.

My final cuddle for the night was shared with the sweetest Gordon Setter ever.  Her name is Rosie and she’s too young to know that, if she tries very, very hard, she’ll be able to grow up as a really stunning Gordon and be able to have adventures like mine.

Thanks NODROG peeps… you guys were great!

 

Tailgatin’ in Michigan

Been having quite a blast here in Michigan and got introduced to two new sports last weekend – football and tailgating.  When Jan Ruggles (my lastest chaperone) first mentioned going to a tailgate party, I was really worried.  I thought she meant that doggy game of tailgaiting which can be really hard on the profile (thus the reason there are pugs in the world …. did you know their faces didn’t always look like that?).  Since I’m not the fastest guy reflex-wise, I was worried I’d be bashing into bumpers and end up look like a Cavalier.  That could sure curtail my travels with Gordon Setter people, couldn’t it?

Turns out, tailgaiting has a whole ‘nother meaning here.  Here’s a picture of me getting my first introduction to the game:

Apparently, ‘spirits’ get you in the ‘spirit of the game’.  All warmed up inside, I headed off with Jan into the stands.  Fearing the possibility of getting trampled along the way, I found a Star-sized path that kept me out of the way of the feet of all those fans.

Those people out on the field sure can line up pretty, can’t they?  Reminds me of the Long Sit in Obedience I learned a couple of weeks ago.  Or maybe these guys are in Utility because that’s where you do the Long Stand for Exam.

Jan obviously likes me. She got me a seat with lots and lots of elbow room and I got to watch the Michigan State/Minnesota game without some exuberant fan getting me in the ribs.

After the game, it was back to tailgating.  I think I learned something…. I really think the game is the excuse, the tailgate parties are the reason.  What do you think?  There was food, cool people, and beer.  What a great game this is!  I think there may also be athletes and a ball but, really, who cares.

I was even able to move my beer back to the tv and catch up on a bunch of other college games being shown on tv.  Looks like people all over the US have games as an excuse to tailgate.

The highlight of the day, though, was an impromptu performance I got to do with a piper.  Turns out that he was actually taking advantage of my rich Scottish heritage to enhance his earnings.  I think that little pot in front of him was for tips and I can’t help but think they would have doubled once I added in my little highland fling for him.

It was a great weekend and all the green people seemed pretty happy (and Jan was all worn out from screaming so much).

Finally getting in on some NODROG fun!

Ya, I know…. I missed the specialty but I’m back in the game, meeting new people and enjoying some NODROG hospitality – this time at their Hunt Test.  Of course, I knew Jan would take me hunting as word of my expertise has obviously preceded me and she knew I would make her look good in front of all her huntin’ buddies.  If you check back in my blogs, you’ll see I’ve aced that bird-finding thing in the past.  Off we headed and, when we arrived, I got to meet some very nice people.  Here’s Pam Sommers with her new puppy.  Even though he’s not a Gordon, I figured he could use a little advice so I gave him my best hunting directions: find bird, point it, hope your owner notices, watch your owner take all the credit.  It’s not that hard.

Next I was able to get a really good view of the bird field from the top of this sign.  Everything looked great until I realized everyone else was heading out and there I was on this post. Notice the sign beneath me… it definitely shows the dog (that would be me) in front of the horses.  There was certainly a difference between the sign and was I was seeing in reality.

I put up a fuss with the most pitiful yodel ever.  Finally, they noticed and later, still feeling that I hadn’t experienced the best of NODROG hospitality, they gave me full range of the food table.  That sooooo made up for the earlier slight.  You are all forgiven, NODROG peeps.

However, look at that guy at the back who is eyeing me.  He appears to be just a little worried that I’m going to take off with his favourite vittles (see, I’ve also learned a little down-home country hunter talk).  Hope everything is well with everyone…I’ll check in again soon.

Watch out for Olivia!!!!

Just a few days after arriving at Jan Ruggles’ place, she was packing up my stuff along with Chalmers and Olivia ( some Gordons that I thought were going to be my new fast friends) and we headed off to Port Sanilac. I didn’t quite understand this part.  Jan said we had to go there while her floors were being “done”.  What on earth does that mean?  I know for certain that she had floors.  And, for that matter I “did” something on them so who did we leave behind that was going to be “doing” their thing on the floor?  Quite strange.  Anyways, Lake Huron was quite beautiful and, even though I prefer to sleep in, I wandered out to get this pretty view of the sun coming up on the lake.

As the day broke, all three of us (Chalmers, Olivia, and me) made the most of our time.  They were romping and checking out the water.  I was searching the shore for shells figuring, if I could get some, I might be able to trade them for my own car or something.  (I remember someone telling me that shell trading was quite common at some point in North America.)

And here’s where my warning about Olivia comes in.  (Do not fall for a pretty face and a winsome smile is all I can say.)  I was all engrossed in my shell search when I looked up and there she is…looming over me.  Well I know all about doggy-talk so I quickly rolled over on my back.

Next thing I know, she’s hightailing it down the beach with me in her mouth and Jan in hot pursuit.  Jan won out finally and managed to wipe all the Olivia slime off my jacket but look at all the lovely shells I left behind!  Anyways, at least you know that Jan is looking after me really well.  She was obviously concerned about me hitting those waves without my handy snorkle gear.  Wheew.  Of course, now that I know my evil roommate’s intentions, I’m just a little concerned.

oh, oh….I got a little sidetracked….:-(

Much planning finally landed me at the famous Nodrog Gordon Setter specialty.  I’d got myself all spitted and polished and was planning on walking away with another well-deserved BOB.  Just as I was headed over to the rings, a bunch of hootin’ and hollerin’ from outside caught my attention so I went over to check it out.  I overheard someone say it was barrel racing.  What’s up with that?  Can’t even imagine barrels caring enough to race.  And they sure aren’t going to be all that fast unless there’s a hill around.  But while I was waiting for the barrels to get in gear, it was pretty interesting watching the horses and their riders taunt them by galloping around the would-be racing barrels.

I obviously was having a bit too much fun because, when I finally went trotting back to the show (in perfectly balanced and extended gait of course), there wasn’t a Gordon to be found… just a bunch of very hard-working club members cleaning up.  I had to bark extra loud to be heard over the sound of the cleanup blower (wheeew… if he hadn’t heard me, who knows where I’d be right now).

As always at the end of a show, there’s too much work and too few people so I figured I’d help out a little.  Well, it didn’t take long to figure out why they weren’t getting too far… just look at these guys staring aimlessly around at the tent poles and then compare that to my nicely lined up pile of poles. I think I may be able to help out clubs – a few words of advice from me on how to get things done and they’d be all set.

So now I’m in the company of Jan Ruggles and she’s been busily scheming on what we should do next.  She’s thinking a BBB award is in order so here I am learning a little obedience.  The first exercise was the long sit and boy was it loooooooong.  My new roommate, Doogie (Jan’s kid) and PJ (Mary Ann’s baby), are on either side.  This might be a boring visit for sure as those two just sat, and sat, and sat….  here I am looking for some action but no… we just sat.

We finished up with all that “fun” and guess what we did next?  Ya, it didn’t really get more exciting as we then had to do a ‘down’.  Whooo hoo. Is this exciting or what?  And here, I’d heard that things were going to really rock at Jan’s house.  Maybe the rockin’ takes place next weekend.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

My Canuckiness gets expressed in Canada….

After Jani transported me so effortlessly across the Canada/US border, she introduced me to Doug and Marilyn Gould, Kilbride Gordons, who have volunteered to chaperone me for a little while back in my home country.  I got there just in time for the Gordon Setter Club of Canada National.  While I like to enter shows as the “special” I am, this time I thought I’d take the stage to capture Best Canadian Bred as a tribute to all the sewing and stuffing that took place up here to send me on my way.  As you can see, I won!  Sure, that’s the Gould’s Lyric hovering behind me as if she has the the right to be there but, look closely, you can see the judge is really beaming down on me (well, I think so anyways).

After the show, the Goulds kindly took me to their local farmers’ market.  Given that they had been led to believe that I had a bit of an inclination to sip a teensy bit of wine on occasion, they gave me this opportunity to check out some wine-babies.  Who knew that wine grew on trees?

Next, we hit the pepper-pails and I practiced “peter-picked-a-peck-of-pickled-peppers-perched-on-a-pepper-pile”.  Elocution lessons were definitely in order.

They said I could buy a sign if I could find one that suited me but there were no “I’m a Star” signs even though I looked really hard for one.

On to some more produce…I found myself in a pumpkin patch (shades of Charlie Brown).  Some of these things really make a ton of jokes instantly form in my head but I’ve decided to keep this post family-friendly. That means you’re on your own for any jokes that spring to mind.

I’ve been learning a lot while I was here.  And some of it I think I’d rather not know.  Did you know where milk comes from????  I’m leaning towards becoming lactose intolerant as that’s just…wrong.

This sugarbush ride looked like a fun thing to do although, when I asked for a chance to ride upfront,  I thought I’d be on the horses.  Hanging onto the window frame was actually scary and, no, I never saw any maple syrup after all that.

Hey, it looks like there’s a lot of stuffed mini-people around.  Well, yes, they look a bit like monkeys but if I was going to be adopted, these guys look like pretty nice would-be owners… they seem pretty laid-back anyways.

Next up was a little rock climbing.  This was totally nothing like I thought that sport would be.  Here I thought it meant scrambling up mountains and, instead, it turns out to be riding bareback on some rather artsy flamingos.  The Goulds obviously have a different assortment of sports available to them in Ontario than what’s found in the rest of the country.

Looks like I’ll be headed back down to the US so I’ll write again from there….

I may have international leanings, but I’m back to my Canadian roots.

Hi everyone!  At the end of August, I made the long trek to Long Sault, Canada from Rhode Island.  Not sure if that’s pronounced as “salt” (partner to pepper) or “sue” (as in legal wranglings).  Maybe I’ll find out while I’m up here in Canada.  I travelled with my host and chaperone, Jani Brooks, and her friend Sherrie Grober on their trip to the Canadian Gordon National.  After me making a fuss in the car, they agreed to stop at a NY state rest stop.  Nary a fire hydrant to be found (and I just need a teensy one) so the side view mirror had to suffice.

Then they put me into a carrier (actually, it’s pretty cool and has my name on it).  I think it was because they were worried about what I might inadvertently divulge to the customs people.  Or maybe the hotel doesn’t allow celebrities.  Not sure, but I rode in it the rest of the way to the hotel in Cornwall, Ontario.

Although Jani hadn’t brought along her chocolate martini fixin’s, I was able to enjoy a glass of Pinot Noir by the fireplace in our hotel room.  Nice digs!

On the Friday, I was formally introduced to my new chaperones (good luck keeping an eye on me, guys), Marilyn and Doug Gould of Kilbride Gordons.  See ya again, Jani, it was fun!

Reconnecting to my rural roots in Massatooshits. (oops, I’m sure that’s not how it’s spelled)

Lots of great pictures to share with you all this week.  I got the chance to reconnect with my “rural roots” when Jani drove me up to Massachusetts to visit Marcie and Jack at Serendipity Farm in North Dighton. Their horses have quite the kennel set up.

The horsey kennel

I think everyone was really surprised and impressed with my horse whispering skills.  They must have forgotten my Alberta upbringing  … of course, I know all things equine.  I got to show off my skills on two horses. Radio Flyer, the calm one, let me sit on her back which gave me a little bareback experience (even if the picture may look like I was doing some side saddle)

Giddalong lil doggy

but Bob, the paint horse, wasn’t as thrilled about having me on.  Too bad Bob.  We could have had an amazing circus career together if you hadn’t been so standoffish.

So where do ya paint this thing?

Jani is such a worrier that she sought out a calmer horse.  To be honest, this guy seemed to be quite bored with the whole experience although I thought his saddle was extremely elegant.  Made me think I should have donned some armour and held a spear.

Hellooooo...do you actually do something or just stand around looking pretty?

Then Jani said I’d get to visit “the girls”. Oh sure…way to lead a guy on.  They were chickens!!! There were Rhode Island Reds and the black ones with pink hairdos were very interested in me even though only one laid an egg while we visited. To be honest, their Lady Gaga outfits made me think that they would likely have got quite bored with this country boy in tartan.

yaya...you were born that way.....

We then hiked down to the pond and I got to float on a Spiderman boat among the pond flowers. It didn’t seem to have a motor so I guess it’s propelled by super powers.  Of course, Jani had left my snorkel at home so I was rather happy that they stapped me in, just in case.

It's a bird..it's a plane...it's super-STAR

There's always time to stop and smell the flowers

The beehive was kind of scary, but I was quite brave and decided I could manage to pose for one picture on their ‘house’.  Only one bee seemed to be interested in me but then he went back to work (must have a bitchy Queen bee in there that thought he was slacking off).

When the Queen's away, the bees will play

Afterwards I got to almost drive the cool orange Kubota tractor (couldn’t seem to reach the controls and steering wheel all at the same time).

I think my tractor's sexy...what will the chickens think?

By this time, I was totally exhausted from my farming adventure so relaxed a bit on the hammock until we headed back to Rhode Island.

Rock-a-bye-baby....

I heard rumours that our Canadian trip is just around the corner so I’m tuning up my vocals for a rousing version of “O Canada” as we cross the border.  That ought to make those border patrols sit up and take notice. OOOoooooooooo

New port isn’t like old port but it’s still pretty good.

So far, my visit with Jani has been a little confusing.  I’d been promised a chocolate martini and was quite looking forward to it especially when I heard there was chocolate syrup involved.  But she really just let me have a teensy bitty sip of hers which was rather disappointing.  Next she said I was getting some new port.  I actually had heard that port was better when it sits awhile so having some new stuff didn’t really sound like she was entertaining me in the best of style but, still, I was looking forward to it when the next I I knew, we were in the car.  Apparently, some place is actually called Newport.  You’d think if the place had any sense of good liquor, it’d be called Oldport but I guess they don’t think logically here.

Off we went to Newport and I was still thinking we might be finding a little bit of ‘spirits’ to warm us against the ocean chill.  In fact, I  started out with tea with the Vanderbilts at their Newport mansion, The Breakers.  You know these people think they are oh so smart but really…look at the sign.  “You are here?”  How silly is that?  If I wasn’t there, I couldn’t read it so, of course I knew I was there.  Sheesh.

I’d even worn my fancy German bell, hoping that “international” touch would appeal to their sense of hospitality but no…the gate remained solidly locked against me.

Kind of hoity toity, but the surroundings were pretty impressive! They invited me to play golf at the Newport Country Club, but there weren’t any clubs for me to rent, darn.  They had some kids’ sets but nothing my size.  I guess there must have been others who rented them before we got there and that’s one of the few things I didn’t have in my luggage.

I just had to enjoy the vegetation while the “rich” people golfed in the background.

So then my driver, Jani, and her friend took me to the ocean where we saw kite fliers and lots of noisy sea gulls. The ocean is wicked big!

We had a picnic along Ocean Drive at Brenton Point State Park, then wandered down to Newport Harbor

to see if we could grab a sail at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. But it was off limits to us (the Vanderbilts were still playing golf.) Funny thing happened when Jani was taking the picture at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club (a VERY exclusive place – the New York Yacht Club is based there – i.e. the America’s Cup).  A lady was taking her dog down to the clubhouse and she was obviously totally star-struck (as in STAR-struck) as she was using every excuse she could to find out more about me.

Thought I’d try my hand at a little sailing boat steering but I couldn’t get this wheel to turn no matter how hard I tried.

So we just hung out and enjoyed the scenery.

 

We’re back at home now with Ronan (who is wearing a pair of Calvin Kleins! and when I’ve asked about this, he’s told me a story that’s really quite scary and very unbelievable) and Lillie, who looks disdainfully at me every time I try and make friends.

I almost forgot! There’s also a picture of me sitting on a fence with the Dark Shadows mansion in the background!

Apparently, Gordons from around the world will all congregate here and the ’12 National.  They are in for quite a treat as this is a very beautiful place (even if they won’t let you golf).