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Maggie's First Point Toward a Championship Designation! |
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Take it from us, there are any number of dog shows one can enter. In any state of the union on any given weekend, I hazard to say you could spend hours upon hours traveling to 'n fro, checking out dogs, their handlers and the variety of vendors amid the plethora of canine activities one can behold at said dog shows.
But, there's only one show in one state in one town named Erwinna, pronounced like "Uhr-winner." As the definition of the word winner connotes, a winner is one who has achieved first place in an endeavor or competition. On Saturday, 5/3/08, our li'l Maggie took first place in her class and Best of Opposite for females! Where? At the Bucks County Kennel Club's Erwinna dog show, of course.
Here's Maggie, our little winner, after she was awarded Best of Opposite:  Maggie-Best of Opposite
We'll be getting our official picture from the AKC photographer in a couple of weeks. Are we happy?
Nah!
Not! |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 May 2008 )
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Since you're here and perusing our Presto Dog web site, I might be so bold as to assume that you are intersted in dogs. So, it'll come as no surprise to you that I'm about to blog on (and on) that same subject.
On Saturday, 4/26/08, we took Maggie, our li'l show dog, to the Wilmington DE Dog Show. Here's a picture of the placard denoting the ring where she strutted her stuff:
 Ring 7
Before she ventured into said ring, she spent a few minutes playing with a couple of her Sheltie friends. From top to bottom, you can check out Maggie, DJ and Cameron:  Maggie, DJ & Cameron
Eventually, Maggie made her way into Ring #7. The Judge took the time to check her out, determining if she was true to the standards of her breed:  Maggie with Judge
I'm happy to say that she was awarded a ribbon for being the best of her class.
Also present was Miss Kay, who, as you can see, patiently waited for her loving owner to groom her for a trip into the ring:  Miss Kay in Her Pen
Keira eyeing a delicious treat while the judge performs his inspection of her:  Keira Waits
The fruits of Keira's labors are most happily realized: she's awarded the "Best of Opposite" designation:  Keira: Winner! Cameron, Maggie's sister, is a study in attention as she stands on the judge's table:  Cameron the Attentive
DJ, a member of Cameron's pack, was awarded the "Best of Winners" designation:  DJ: Winner!
Wanna see a cute Sheltie puppy? Take a look at Mimsy, a three-month old beauty as she tries to coerce a tasty snack out of a bag & into her mouth:  Mimsy Helping Herself On Sunday, 4/27/08, we went to the Penn Treaty Kennel Club Dog Show in Ludwig's Corner, PA. We were awarded with BOTH "Best of Class" and Reserve winner, meaning she took second place in the female division. Here's Maggie (a.k.a.the Little Magpie) looking up at the Presto Dog bride while waiting to enter the ring:  Maggie at Penn
Maggie willingly undergoes the infamous inspection of the mouth:  Maggie with Teeth
And now we close ( but only for today) with a picture of DC, a beautiful Shetland Sheepdog well on his way to a championship:  DC at Penn
If memory serves me correctly, we'll be heading to the Trenton, NJ dog show next weekend, 5/4/08 (directions to the show are HERE). This one is tremendous in size, where umpteen dogs will be struttin' their stuff. I'll be taking a bunch of pictures and keeping my fingers crossed in the hopes that Maggie will hold her own against some pretty stiff competition. Come on back to see how her adventure pans out!
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 April 2008 )
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(Still More) Dog Pictures |
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Went out back with the pack this afternoon/evening after I got home from work & had a bite to eat. Since it's been a few days since I caught any of the world-famous Presto Dogs in action, I grabbed my camera and snapped, snapped, snapped away!
Here are the fruits of my endeavors...
Dougie loping along, placing one foot ahead of the other:
 Lopin' Dougie
Maggie standing by her favorite ball, waiting expectantly for me to kick or throw it so she could run, fetch it & get me to do it again:  Maggie-with Ball Sweet Lily walking back toward me after running down the hill:
 Lily Walking
Lyric rests up by the gate into the Presto Dog adventure land, eyes closed and just dreaming of the next meal she's going to eat:  Dreamy Lyric
A study in concentration, if ever I saw one:  Eye Contact
Hope you liked our pictures!
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 April 2008 )
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How I Relax...with Our Dogs |
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I've developed this real relaxing way to relax...with our dogs. After grabbing a bite to eat (which, of course, the pack help me devour!), we head out to the Presto Dog pasture land. This is actually our back yard, but the darn place is so darn large that we simply had to coin another name for the area. Anyway, we all make ourway out back, but not before I grab a pair of binoculars that we bought about a year ago. These aren't a high-priced, top of the line pair replete with special features, but rather a set that lets me look all around the countryside.
See, our place is sort of the highest elevation in the area. As such, we look out over the pastoral, serene countryside, a relaxing environment in & of itself. My evening m.o. is to sit in a lawn chair, take those ol' binoculars, and simply take in all the scenery that God in His wisdom presents to us. The stress & anxiety of the day just seems to drift away, and the dogs make sure I get in the proper state of mind by happily yapping and running all around.
Well, I can go on and on, but I think you get the message...my relaxation therapy is just sitting around outside, watching the hills & playing with the dogs.
What a life. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 April 2008 )
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We went food shopping this afternoon at a local supermarket. In preparation for the week, we bought about a half-pound of Boar's Head lemon pepper chicken. As you can guess, the Boar's Hear brand of cold cuts are pretty high priced (comparatively speaking), but we enjoy the taste & quality of their products.
Trudging home, we parked our van in the driveway & the Presto Dog bride proceeded to unpack the multitudinous foodstuffs we purchased while I went into the house to uncrate our pack. This consisted of:
Lyric, our senior Shetland Sheepdog at 9 years of age Lily, the sweet Sheltie Declan, yet another Sheltie & the alpha dog of the pack Maggie, our Sheltie show dog and Dougie, the tri-color Collie
The dogs bark happily 'cause they're free to roam about the house. Dougie's job is to inspect all the bags we bring in, looking for the box of dog biscuits we invariably buy each week. He quickly uncovered his treasure & I dutifully opened and disbursed the prizes to each pack member.
We continued to go about unpacking the remainder of the grocery bags, placing the various items in their new respective homes. Dougie continued to peruse the bags, stopping at one in particular, deeply engrossed in its contents. We thought nothing as his head remained buried in the bag, that is until it came time to address the contents of his area of interest.
Finally getting his head out of the bag, we reached in and took out the aforementioned bag of Boars Head lemon pepper chicken, which we saw he had somehow opened! The meat was all chewed up, and looking over at Dougie, I could swear he was smiling at the mischief he had caused.
Looks like the pack's gonna have some real specials treats this week. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 20 April 2008 )
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Presenting for your viewing pleasure that happy, care-free, talkative group of canine companions called the Presto Dog pack! They have taken time out of their very busy day to pose for a few pictures!
Below is Lily smiling for the camera, with Lyric in the background:
 Lily Smiles Away The day wouldn't be complete without a shot of our little Sheltie showdog, Maggie, a.k.a. Magpie. She was caught as she was jumping off our "walk-it," a long board used to train dogs for an agility competition:
 Maggie Jump Dougie, our three-year old tri-color Collie, can sometimes be found deep in thought. Here's a picture of him as he was trying to solve a difficult algebraic tri-nomial equation:
 Dougie Thinks
As I'm composing this blog, the entire Presto dog contingent is sleeping around the room, very tired from all the strenuous activities they engaged in outdoors earlier today. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 20 April 2008 )
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Maggie, our show-dog Sheltie, likes to run around our large fenced-in pasture land like a wild dog. I happened to capture a picture of her just after she halted one of her sprints:
 Maggie Exhausted Here's a close up of Maggie, still exhausted after her run-time:  Still Tired! Finally, while Maggie was runnin' around like crazy, our senior Shetland Sheepdog named Lyric took in all her activities:  Lyric the Wise Old Sage She acknowledged in her canine wisdom that Maggie's just a silly young dog.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 April 2008 )
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Here it is, April 15, 2008, a.k.a. TAX DAY here in the USA! So, what did the Presto Dog owners decide to do? Why, go out to our pasture land, play with the pack and snap some really good pictures, of course!
Maggie licks here nose while she waits for me to play with her:
 Maggie the Licker Declan running full tilt, with an attitude, as usual:
 Speedy Boy Standing at the top left is Lily, then Lyric looking directly at the camera. On the ground if Dougie, lying down on the ground & enjoying a drink of water. Next to him is Declan, also drinking away:
 Trough Time In order, here are Lily, Dougie (prone on the ground), Lyric & Declan:  Four Friends Finally, here's Lily with the ballie du jour, watching a member of her pack running around like crazy:
 Lily & Ballie
Enjoy our site!
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 April 2008 )
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Our tri-color Collie, Dougie, loves to drink water. It's always tap water, none of that gourmet stuff for him. But, he loves it all the same. Problem is, his snout is so long that it's difficult for the water to traverse the length of that elongated nose to his throat where his incessant thirst will be quenched. Here's a picture of Dougie thoroughly enjoying hinself as he wets his whistle:  Dougie Drinking Away He looks relaxed because he's actually lying down on the ground! Looking on is Lyric, our senior Sheltie:  Lyric the Sentinel She had settled down by the entrance gate to the Presto Dog pasture land. As Dougie slurped away at the water, Lyric's attention was piqued and she couldn't resist taking a peak at all the noise he was making!
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 13 April 2008 )
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Wanna see more pictures of the Presto Dog canines at play? Well, to be quite honest, since you're reading this post, of course you want to see them!
But seriously, folks, here we go. First, here's a shot of Maggie barking her ever-loving head off at Declan who'se over to the right, out of the camera's range (F/Y/I, that's Lily in the background):
 Maggie Barks Lyric decided to catch a few rays, enjoying the Presto Dog pasture land:
 Lyric Sunning Three friends, Dougie, Lily & Maggie, are running after a bird or some other form of wildlife in their very own backyard:
 Presto Dogs Maggie running around excitedly, but Lily is non-plussed by her actions:  Maggie & Lily Declan resting in the shade at the back of our house after a very strenuous run with his fellow pack members:  Declan Rests Hope you enjoyed the pictures...and please stop back again real soon!
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 13 April 2008 )
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Dog Show for Maggie? Read On... |
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This is not exactly an unprecedented event, aligning itself with the likes of the toppling of the Collosus of Rhodes, Big Ben failing to chime or the dismantling of the Pyramids in Egypt. It is, I admit, just a wee bit more mundane, perhaps not even worthy of a 15 second spot on the evening news in the most rural of all TV or cable stations in this Great Country in which we reside.
Putting things in perspective, I certainly recognize that this blog can be seen anywhere on the planet earth. After all, it is being published on what's known as the world wide web. But, come on, can you envision some guy in Scotland sitting down with a cup 'o tea and biscuits at his dinner table & checking out Prestodog.com? Or, a little kid in Venezuela coming home from school, throwing his bookbag in the corner of the living room & racing toward his P/C just so he could see the latest meanderings of our pack of canines? I mean really! Really!
But, back to the subject at hand. As I reflect on it, a mere seven words quite adequately categorize our topic.They portray our feelings, the very epitome of the direction our lives are taking at this critical juncture. We are slowly learning, vaguely akin to the speed at which the minute hand on a clock seems to move to a child waiting for the dismissal bell to ring on the last day of school, how to handle our predicament. Seven words, strung together in a sentence that denotes a particular singularity of purpose, seven words whose connotation explains our actions, seven words that align the very fibers of our existence into a solitary focus, thereby directing our subsequent actions as we contemplate the resultant reality.
Those seven words, you may ask? Simple, in and of themselves, not necessarily bearing any significant meaning when jumbled or perhaps used in another context. But in the order in which they are presented herein, denote and dictate the way we will spend our very lives, at least for the next couple of days.
I ask you to therefore brace yourself, ever mindful of the aggregate etymological ramifications of what I present to you here on the humble pages of Prestodog. Seven small words, of perhaps little consequence to those who have no relationship with the dog world. But to us, these words deliver an impact far-reaching, one that asks us to contemplate our lives....
And here they are, totaling a mere 29 letters. Written in a simple, sans serif script, the seven words convey an underlying meaning that impacts our experiential relationship with the world we live in:
NO DOG SHOW FOR MAGGIE THIS WEEKEND
Seven words, no more, no less, harmless in and of themselves but when strung together mean that we have to find something else to do with the free time we have to ourselves for the entire weekend!
(By the way, you did count to make sure there were seven words totaling 29 letters, didn't you?) |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 April 2008 )
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No fancy talkin' or verbiage, no ostentacious soliloquies, no outrageous presentations. Just pictures of the Presto Dog pack as all of us played outside in the 70+ degree afternoon temperatures.
Check out Maggie as she sits waiting for some activity to catch her attention. In partucular, see how her ears are so nicely tipped:
 Maggie Sits
Next, Maggie's running toward the camera with her favorite ballie in her mouth. Especially note that her ears look like two barn doors blown open by a strong wind:  Maggie with Ball A magnificent shot of Dougie, our tri-color Collie, standing profile:  Doug Profile Facial of Maggie; this is not a duplicate of the shot in the post immediately below this one:  Maggie Front Declan projecting his thoughts, concentrating on making the ball rise, rise, RISE:  Declan the Magician Lily watches her pack mates while holding a deflated (but tasty) blue ballie in her mouth:  Lily Wrapping up the shots is one of Lily, Declan & Maggie, semi-tired after running around like, well, a pack of dogs:  Semi-Tired Shelties
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 April 2008 )
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