Posts filed under ‘Cavalcade of Whimsy’
Special Guest Appearance.
Todays special guest star on the Phoenix blog is Tulip, our calico coloured British Shorthair foundling cat-of-uncertain-origin…
Purrrrrr.
Tulip wandered into our lives a good while back when, as a pregnant & starving teenage runaway, she was attempting to survive on bony frogs in our London back yard. In no time at all she had birthed her 3 kittens on the bed (at 2AM ) and decided that, since the food was considerably easier to come by indoors, this was the place to raise her urchin waif family.
Now, many years and some 200-odd miles further on, Tulip has a pretty serene existence where all her concerns revolve around sleeping/eating/getting tickles – all skills in which she displays considerable mastery – together with the slaughter of untold hundreds of short-tailed field voles. She has recently taken to elbowing Phoenix away from her dog food at any and every opportunity and clearly has some form of internal clock which allows her to be pre-stationed at the dog bowl for Phoenix’ every meal.
She and Phoenix have a remarkably amicable relationship and have even taken to curling up on the sofa near one another on occasion. As anyone who gives housespace to one of these beasties must surely be aware, cats are continually plotting to overthrow us all, and invariably “run things” in any household. Although Tulip is very much the understudy (to our other cat, Midge) we are still convinced that she will outlive us all and will one day be found feasting upon our remains…
Sister Act.
Just a few days shy of their 9 month birthday, Phoenix met up with Thirza, her litter sister, along with Thirza’s human companions Sue and Henry. This was the first time that the two pups had met since they were 7 1/2 weeks old, as Thirza and family were away when the litter reunion took place back in May. As might be expected from the getting together of two exuberant 9 month-old’s, the meeting was conducted with a calm, quiet and dignified formality….as the pictures below will hopefully illustrate.
Show number 3….
An amazing day was had today as we all headed off to the Liskeard & District Premier Open Show in deepest Cornwall. Thinking that we’d be on late in the show, and certainly after lunch, we arrived at 12:00 noon, only to find that our class was up in about 20 mins., which didn’t give too much time for “settling in”.
The show was held in an aircraft-hanger-like giant agricultural building, and the atmosphere (and volume level) was best described as cacophonous and claustrophobic, somewhat resembling a Moroccan bazaar minus the carpet-sellers (although they may have been tucked away in a corner for all we knew) with absolutely no space to move around. Despite this Phoenix was completely unphased and instead displayed her usual mixture of excitement and curiosity at all the sights, sounds and smells.
There were no classes for HWV’s at the show so we were up in AVNSC (Any Variety Not Seperately Classified: Gundog). When our class came she trotted beautifully into the ring and stood like a dream….which turned out to be the first and last time she would be performing this feat as trained…each subsequent “stand” was accompanied by a variety of dancing, backing-up and lurching sideways, leading the judge to ask her: “are you going to make life difficult for your Daddy today?” (the answer to which was a big fat yes!)
Despite this we managed to win Best AVNSC Puppy and received a fine rosette and a photo session with the marvellous Sam from Farlap Canine Photography.
Standing for Best AVNSC Puppy.
Then came a 3 hour-or-so wait for all the other Gundog breeds to finish judging, by which point the building was almost empty of people, dogs and hubbub, with only the best of breed winners remaining. Eventually all the winning gundog puppies were called back for the judging of the Gundog Puppy Group, and Phoenix (who was almost asleep by this time) & Tim entered the now much enlarged arena to line up amongst the Spaniels, Retrievers, Pointers, Setters etc.
Being judged for Best Gundog Puppy - that's Phoenix in the centre with the judge examining her.
We had thought that being roused from a state of unconsciousness might take the edge of excitability off our l’il gal, but instead she performed just as she had in the previous round, moving with huge enthusiasm and drive, head up and tail up with a big grin on her face – which was great – but then trying to buck and twist out of her stands – which was less than great…
The best Gundog Puppy in show was awarded to the Golden Retriever, but then, and to our complete delight and some astonishment, we were awarded second place (AKA: Gundog Puppy Group 2) accompanied by an even bigger rosette, at which point Phoenix’ and Tim’s excitement levels must have gone into overdrive since she (and probably he too) started bouncing about 4 feet in the air!!!
A lap of honour of the ring for the top 4 puppies followed, and then we were out to absorb what had just occurred. Several other exhibitors came up to congratulate us and say was a lovely dog they thought she was. One Irish Setter exhibitor said that she thought Phoenix was the best dog in the whole show…which was very nice.
So, a fantastic result, and the gaiting problems of the last show now seem to be a thing of the past, but instead we have her new unwillingness to stand to work on. The next “warm-up” show in is two weeks, and then, come August, we’re into her proper show campaign, so we’ve got a few more weeks to strike a balance between Phoenix’ joyous spirit (that judges happily seem to like!) and the element of control that we need….
First thing tomorrow morning it’s back to pup boot camp!
Gale Force Day at the Beach.
Ears-A-Flying.
Paddling.
It was so windy on the beach it felt like we were on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars; sand was blowing everywhere and formed small columns on the beach that scattered towards the sea. Phoenix seems to like crunching sand.
The (Half) Sisters.
Phoenix met up with her half-sister Henna (Ebeegeebees Razzie) together with her breeder and human companion Catherine today. Henna is almost a month to the day older than Phoenix but the two pups are more or less the same size and look incredibly similar to one another. After much bouncing ‘n’ boinging at one another on-lead – and much to their delight – we let them both off their leads where they proceeded to have a good old tear-around. One of the things that was really interesting to see is how the two “girls” completely tuned into one another and reacted to everything as one pup-unit, something that we’ve not observed Phoenix do with any other puppy. Somehow both pups knew that they were with another of their own kind….but can you spot which is which in the above pictures????
The Life Aquatic.
Bubble-licious.
Phoenix’s fascination with all things watery continues apace… Tim has recently been doing some work at the river in the garden and this has afforded Phoenix an unparalleled opportunity to indulge and expand her favourite aquatic pastimes. A recent development is shoving her entire face underwater and blowing bubbles through her nose, with satisfying gurgley results. She has also taken to “harvesting” flowers of Water Hawthorn. To reach these Phoenix often dives headlong into the pond (which is a good six feet deep and 150 feet long) grabs a stem with flower attached and swims back to shore where she can eat her prize with a satisfying crunch.
Back to School.
- In the Garden.
We’re back at Puppy Gurus to learn advanced obedience for the next six weeks. This is really about training the humans more than the canine… We’re going to be learning the “Instant Long Distance Down”, target training using a target stick, the agility weave plus a novelty trick or two just to keep us on our toes. There was also talk about re-enacting scenes from Hamlet but we think this was a joke…?
In other news, Phoenix has grown big enough to now sproing off, around and over the sofa, plus when our guard is down, to break into the bedroom and briefly go ape on the bed. We try not to think of hip scores and fragile puppy bones – denial is always the first course of action in this household. At the height of hysterical excitement it’s like her brain short-circuits and she tries to do everything at once; sit, stand, chew, wag, steal, shake hands, bark and dribble. It’s a sight to see.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 