Last Friday, while Julie Poole was shooting the Whippet National in Atlanta, we drove 5 1/2 hrs from Orlando to Perry, GA to see our handler, Kimm, and her daughter, Michelle, who were showing at a 4-show cluster there. Because we had to turn around and drive back to Orlando on Saturday, this was truly a whirlwind trip but we took Sundance along with us so he could have some "only dog" time with us.

Kimm has been our primary handler ever since we started showing 12 years ago despite the fact that she lives in Michigan. When we first met her, Michelle was 2.5 years old and was usually with her mother at shows and, accordingly, Michelle has been like a granddaughter to us. In fact, when Michelle was 9 years old, we asked her to show Rowdy in Best Of Breed competition at the National Specialty in Kings Island, Ohio in 2004. Here's a picture of the two of them from that show.



We all received a lot of criticism for putting Rowdy in the ring with a 9-year-old but ultimately, everyone left it up to the judge and she kept them there up until the final cut. The judge's comment was "the dog knows what he's doing and the handler knows what she's doing. If there is a problem in the ring, I have no doubt that dog will protect his handler."

Well, Michelle is now 14 years old and is the #1-ranked Junior Handler in the Working Group. She is currently showing a young Rottie girl named Zena and here are photos of them both in the ring and outside in a beauty shot.





Oh, did I mention that Michelle is now just about 6 feet tall? Not only do I feel old, I feel short .

On Saturday, before we left, we took some shots of various dogs for advertising and/or general principles. Here's a shot of 3 of our Cassidy's kids that were at the show. Sundance is on the right as you view the image, his littermate sister, Juneau, is in the middle and his half-brother, Jag is on the left.



I really like that statue although I felt placing Sundance alone next to the jackass . . . er, Mule, would be totally appropriate.

I also shot Kimm with her Special, Caesar, currently ranked #4 in the country.



And Ann White with her Dobe Special, Alex, currently ranked #3.



Oh, and when we weren't photographing dogs in and out of the ring, we had some fun with Sundance. He passed his CERF eye clearance and Cardio clearance. He earned his CGC (Canine Good Citizenship). And he also earned his Herding Certificate. Here are a few shots of him during the Herding test. First, there's Sundance and I entering the ring. Sundance hasn't seen the sheep yet.



Next shot, he's spotted them. Fortunately, they've also spotted him and have moved as far away as possible!



And here's Sundance moving to contain the herd. Note that I'm hanging on for dear life and the evaluator has staff in hand ready to smack Mr. S on the head if need be. Fortunately, Sundance wanted to bring the sheep home rather than eat them.



We got home at 10 pm on Saturday and were set up in downtown Orlando for a Pet Fair at 7:30 am on Sunday. Lots of driving but lots of fun as well. Not to mention a very nice set of accomplishments for our boy, Sundance.

Jim