Life at the Portie House....Now with Pictures

You can hardly blame him for hiding them though. Paolo is a bit of an ass when it comes to hogging bones. He never wants one unless Archie is chewing on it.

I think Archie is the brains of the pair.

We survived snowmaggedon at the Jersey Shore. Paolo was entered in a series of dog shows at Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwoods, NJ. I have posted elsewhere about the snow adventure. Here, I want to brag about his accomplishments Paolo has been out a total of 4 weekends showing to get points towards his championship. The reason this matters is the breed guidlines state that you must breed a champion to a champion. The breeder wants to use Paolo to breed so here we are.
Paolo has taken a ribbon in every show he has been in and until this weekend it was always first or reserve. I know it isn't supposed to be like that. This weekend he took his first of two majors and has a total of 9/15 points needed for his championship. I also had some humble pie this weekend. He received his first fourth place finish. All in all a great weekend. Can't wait to do it again next year....though I hope it is without the blizzard.

Time for a Portie update. Paolo has been strutting his stuff out there in the show rings. He is one 3 point show win from his championship. I've been having a blast camping out in the RV at shows with a friend. I should mention that we were at the Wildwoods show in February during the blizzard. It was great fun. The folks who had hotel rooms were laughing at us saying they had hot showers and cable. After the power went out we were laughing saying we had generators and lights. The show went on as everyone was there. We watched the snow pile up with waves breaking in the background..when you could see that far. The Fox news guys from Philadelphia were stuck out in there van for a few days. I think they had it he roughest.

It amazed me that the judges expect the dogs to be pristine even in wet muddy weather. As a result I have bought boots and a jacket for my working dog. Something I swore was silly and I would never do.

Today was Paolo's day at the show. He won Winner's Dog and is now a Champion.

Congrats! Also, does this mean that the next time I visit, I'll not only get annihilated at Mario Kart but also chewed on by a champion?

Yes it does. Though he prefers nibbling ears and licking your face.

Congrats on all the hard work paying off Kiri!
Hugs/butt-pats to the boys: Paolo, Archie, Robear & Rocub!

We had a mini S&T at the dog shows in Macungie, PA. Paolo was in his first best of breed competition. He won the breed and advanced to the Working Group ring where he was up against several of the number one dogs in the country. He made the judges cut at took second place. A very exciting day!

Crappy cell phone pic of Paolo winning best in breed, until Kiri gets the better ones up.

IMAGE(http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9389/paopaoq.jpg)

That's a good shot, SH, thanks!

Today, Paolo took Best of Breed again. Nothing in the Group Ring though.

He still did a damn good showing though. Since I don't really understand how dog shows work, was he up against tougher dogs the second time around or why didn't he do as well the second time?

A lot of it is the judges, SH. I don't think this judge particularly cared for Porties. No big deal, though, he did great.

For the past 6 months, Ro and I have been considering purchasing a Dog Brick and I bought the boys a one today. It is supposed to challenge them mentally, and works like the sliding grid toys with each square having a depression where you can hide a treat. I am figuring that this toy will keep my boys challenged for 10 minutes or more if I am lucky. 30 seconds and Paolo had all the treats out.
30 frigging seconds. I spent 60 bucks for a toy that didn't really challenge them.

Kiri wrote:

For the past 6 months, Ro and I have been considering purchasing a Dog Brick and I bought the boys a one today. It is supposed to challenge them mentally, and works like the sliding grid toys with each square having a depression where you can hide a treat. I am figuring that this toy will keep my boys challenged for 10 minutes or more if I am lucky. 30 seconds and Paolo had all the treats out.
30 frigging seconds. I spent 60 bucks for a toy that didn't really challenge them.

Funny, I have something similar arriving in the mail tomorrow. My basset gets bored with her toys at an alarming rate and I need to find something that will repeatedly occupy her.

I got this one because after seeing a video the sliding brick puzzles seemed really simple. With the one I chose at least you can put multiple blocks in one slider to make it a bit more complicated. Hopefully it takes her more than 30 seconds to figure out.

Paolo is competing this week. So far, he took Select Dog (2nd place in the Breed ring) on Wednesday, which is a point towards his Grand Championship. Today, he won Best of Breed, which means he's competing in his Group ring, well... RIGHT NOW!

I'll post results later. Cross your paws, this is a big one for us.

Edit - No luck in the Group ring, but still a red letter day!

The boys have been having fun and causing havoc by rampaging through the house playing tag. They are hilarious! At the moment we are trying to keep Archie from injuring Paolo. Paolo has grown into quite a show dog. He is very popular with the female dog owners as a stud dog. We do have to finish his genetics. We have to tell them he is not available ...yet

This past weekend at the Cherry Blossom Cluster in TImonium, MD, he won Best of Opposite Sex in the breed ring on Saturday. On Monday, he won Best of Breed. That is the one that lands him in the Working Group Ring which is the level of competition that you see televised when the show is televised. ( This one isn't)

At home, he is still his rambunctious self. So far, it hasn't gone to his head

A current picture.
http://dogshowphoto.com/photocart/in...

That's awesome, congrats on helping your dog take over the world.

You'll have a place in the kennel when the revolution comes, Ken.

Life has been pretty quiet here. Paolo has been slowly working his way up to a Grand Championship. Today he won Best of Opposite Sex for a 5 point major. He is 7 points shy of his Grand Championship. Basically he took best male in the ring. The best female in the ring took Best of Breed. She then moves on the competition you would see televised.

So life at the Portie House has been pretty status quo. We get up, take care of the dogs, go to work, rinse and repeat. Paolo hasn't shown much the past month or two. We decided to have him out all of November. And silly me, got busy at work and missed the close date for the National Dog Show. That is the one televised on Thanksgiving. No worries, a break won't kill him.
Paolo is showing down in Virginia Beach this weekend. He has had and awesome weekend! Out of four shows, he took Select Dog which gives him points towards his Grand Championship in two. It actually was enough to finish him this weekend. Paolo is now a Grand Champion and not yet 3 years old. Not bad for a pet who happens to be a pretty awesome show dog.

Robear has proven that old saying that music soothes the savage beast. I kid you not. He plays classical music and the Porties are as calm as can be. It is the funniest thing to watch.

Kiri wrote:

Robear has proven that old saying that music soothes the savage beast. I kid you not. He plays classical music and the Porties are as calm as can be. It is the funniest thing to watch.

What happens when you play different kinds of music? Have you tried Latin contemporary? Christian? Country?

Sounds like a veterinary doctoral dissertation grant.

Have you tried Latin contemporary? Christian? Country?

Veeerrry funny...

It has been awhile since we had a new and interesting adventure to post. Paolo has been showing and 2 months ago he discovered girls. Last night the puppies he sired were born. No pics yet. Will post as soon as I get a copy.

The litter was 6
3 boys
2 wavy coated and 1 curly coated

3 girls
1 wavy coated and 2 curly coated

All are black and one has white chest and front legs. To explain the coats, Bo Obama has a curly coat. The wavy coats are what our dogs have.

Paolo has been invited to the Eukanuba National Show in December. That is the one they televise on Animal Planet. We are excited to be going. I have no expectations because at this level of competition it gets a bit political. I plan to go and enjoy the experience. Lots of folks will get to see him.

Awesome, good luck Kiri!

This week will see Paolo and I off to Orlando, Florida for the Eukanuba National Championship. Looking forward to the road trip and some fun! There are 32 Porties competing and it will be televised on Feb 3, 2013 on ABC. Not sure if I can take any pics/video to share. ABC has a pretty tight lid on things.

I keep reading 'Paolo' as 'Paleo' and I get all confused. Good luck at the championship!

Rallick wrote:

I keep reading 'Paolo' as 'Paleo' and I get all confused. Good luck at the championship!

I am over at their house all the time. I can't where shorts there because Paolo likes to lick my knees and chew my leg hair off while I am watching TV.