For readers who come to this site hoping to learn the latest in the life of our show dog, Maggie, I'm sorry to say I have nothin' to say. That is, in the way of any dog show activities on her part. But, I just spoke to the Presto Dog bride and learned Maggie's entered in a show in a show put on by the Shetland Sheepdog Association of Greater Baltimore on Friday, 3/14/08. Sunday, 3/16/08 will find her in York, PA attending the Delaware County Kennel Club. And on Good Friday, she'll be in a show in Edison, NJ, sponsored by the venerable New Brunswick Kennel Club.

Maggie's no longer considered a puppy so she'll be going up against stiff competition from now on. We're confident that our li'l girl will fare just fine, thank you, agin her rivals. Now, I say that tongue-in-cheek, since the Shetland Sheepdog "family" is a tight group. Sure, there's a rivalry of sorts in that we each want to do well, but we take the time to help each other in preparing for each show. It's a real nice way of life and we love hangin' out with "dog people."

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We had some snow on Friday here at the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm. As best as I could discern, about three to four inches of the heavenly ash fell on our environs. The roads during the snowfall weren't as pretty a sight. As a matter of fact I needed to take off from work because the raods were icy, treacherous, and all but impassable.

I any event, the reason I'm expressing these thoughts is because our dogs love the snow! They run, play, cavort and just love the stuff. Since four of our five dogs are Shelties, they need a little help navigating around the grounds when we get either around four inches or snow or if it gets icy. Since both of these events occurred as a result of this recent snowfall, It was necessary for me to create what I refer to as "habit-trails" for our pack. This involves walking in a straight line, one foot directly in front of the other, thereby blazing a path so the smaller dogs can traverse when they go outside to do their business.

Just this morning, I took a picture of the thermometer outside our breakfast nook which overlooks the snowy landscape...here it is:

Do you notice the snow on the ground? See the path I shoveled the other day? How about the barn nex door with the snow-encrusted roof? And did you notice the temperature registers about 100 degrees? As the expression goes, what's wrong with this picture?

You might want to come back when it actually is 100 degrees outside this summer and wish that snow could be on the ground!

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Well, the shoutin's over, the dust has settled, and the results are in for the dog show that Maggie was entered into today.

Since she'll be one year old tomorrow (2/18/08) she won't be able to be entered into any more puppy-class competitions. But for today, she was in the 9-12 month old group and took...2nd Place!

Here's a picture of Maggie (on the left) and brother DJ on the right:

More pictures to come, folks!

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On Sunday, 2/17/08, we'll be taking Maggie to another dog show. Our little 364 day old Sheltie will turn one year old on 2/18/08 so we will no longer be able to enter her in any "puppy class" competitions after that date.

She'll be going to the Valley Forge Kennel Club show and in the ring @ 12:30 p.m. Will she come away with one of those cheap ribbons that signify she's a winner? Will she simply walk out of the ring with her handler, sad and dejected because another dog took an award she felt she was entitled to?

Come back tomorrow and read the details of her adventure, and check out the pictures of the show, too!

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Well, looks like the talkin' heads were right...this time. Precipitation in the form of snow has been falling for a few hours now, just as was predicted. It blanketed the environs in a white coating, pleasant to domesticated animals that can (temporarilly) have fun running and playing in it, knowing full well a nice, comfortable, warm den is waiting for them upon completion of their activities.

I took the five pack members outside and lo and behold, the dogs had a blast! Here's a picture of the five fast friend frolicking in the snow:

Here's Maggie & Lily deciding who's turn it is to play with the bally:

A few minutes later, Maggie, Lily and Declan all contemplatingas to who's gonna grab the bally:

All the dogs had fun on this snowy day.

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Carefully coiffured, teeth whitened and smiling like a demented manikin, the local talking head of the weather variety is predicting snow for later on today. Our pack of five dogs is non-plussed by the coming calamity, since they love playing in the white residue.

Yesterday, we went to a local (20 miles away, BTW!) Wal-Mart and purchased one of those plastic sleds that kids use to go sleigh riding. Sure, we're a wee bit older than "kids," but the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm has a genlty sloping rear pasture land that's gonna be just devine for sledding activities.

I'm charging up our digital camera so I can take some shots of us playing outside later on today. And, as I glance out the rear windows, I notice it's just starting to snow.

Wait'll later...

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I wasn't exactly precise in the post immediately below this one when I preducted that Dougie, our three year old tri-color Collie wold ask me to take him out in the middle of the night.

To be exact, I had to take four of our five dogs out last night, around 1:00 a.m. On a "good" day, it's no fun gettin' up in the middle of the night. But last night, in particular, was kinda bad. First, I had to crawl out of our warm, cozy bed that was adorned with a wonderful new electric blanket. Glancing over at the thermometer before I ventured outside, I saw it was about 2 degrees. The real fun started when we got outside, though. I think the wind was blowing arounf 15- 20 miles an hour. Without looking up the conversion, it miust have felt about 10 degrees below zero.

And, as I mentioned, I had to take not one, not two, but four of our pack of five dogs out. Each seemed to enjoy their respective late-night jaunt out into the frigid evening, but was apparently more at home in the house. I say this because some of 'em preceeded me back into the bedroom & I had to push two of 'em off my side of the bed as they had attempted to employ squatter's right against me in my absence.

Tomorrow, I heard there might be a weather event. Snow's predicted, and we've resignedly come to the realization that our particular area gets a lot of snow 'cause it's so elevated as compared with the surrounding territory. So, I'm preparing for the worst. But, our pack of four Shelties & a tri-color Collie just love the white stuff. So, if we get snowed in ...whatever!

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Well, here at the Phunny Pharm (where we reside with our five dogs), it looked like the end of the world today!

Around 11:00 a.m. or so, I looked out the back door and the sky looked real, real dark. A few minutes later, it started to snow furiously, and the sky got brighter. Just about a half hour or so after that, the sky started to clear and the sun came out. 

This crazy weather went on for the rest of the day, and right now, as I'm writing this post, the wind is howling furiously outside our comfy, warm home.

If the temperature dips to the teens tonight like the weather folks anticipate, I bet the wind chill is going to dip below zero tonight. I do't look forward to this since our tri-color Collie named Dougie has a propensity to request a late-night trip out during the night to take care of business. The usual time for this activity is between around 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., surely when it's gonna be coldest outside.

Brrrrrr.

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Readers who come here to Prestodog.com probably can tell the rest of you that we have a show dog named Maggie. She's done comparatively well in this endeavor, taking numerous ribbons in her class (puppies 9-12 months).

As you can probably guess by the title of this post, there are no dog shows we can enter li'l Maggie in this weekend. Next weekend's another story; we'll be traveling to Malvern, PA where she'll enter the very last "puppies 9-12 months class" she eligible for...Maggie'll turn one year old on February 19th. The event will be sponsored by the Valley Forge Kennel Club.

Here's Maggie when she was only a month or so old at the breeder's home, just before she became a member of our pack:

I plan on posting other articles here before next weekend, but all just wanted to let you know we're taking a brief respite from the dog show world. So, it'll be kicking balls outside, running around like crazy and taking numerous naps after heavy exercize for our five dogs for the next couple of days. But, I'm certain the pack'll find these "chores" quite appealing, thank you very much!

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Our li'l Maggie pie did real well yesterday, 2/3/08, at the Boardwalk Kennel Club dog show in Wildwood, NJ.

Here's a picture of our pup on the judge's table:

Now, here's a picture of Maggie's sister, Cameron, on the judge's table, just a few minutes after Maggie:

Think they look similar?