Living with Poodles: September 2009

San Francisco Sept 19th - 25th 2009

9/27/2009 4:10:03 PM

We flew down to San Francisco with Mum & Dad on Sat 19th having deposited the cats with Julia at Kitty City and the dogs with Rachel, Georgia et al at A Canine College.

Flight down was uneventful and we were soon checking into our boutique hotel, The Chancellor Hotel on Union Square. After a restful afternoon looking around the square, we ate dinner next door to the hotel at Sears Fine Food.

The next morning, ater a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we were off on the Ultimate City Tour, Stephen had never been further than the airport before so we thought it a good idea to go on the tour to get our bearings. In the afternoon we went over to Alcatraz and found the self-guided tour absolutely facinating. That evening we ate at Scala's Bistro.

Monday we all took the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf and then went our separate ways (Mum & Dad and me & Stephen) to explore. We met up back at the hotel later in the afternoon and decided to head back down to the Wharf for dinner at Castagnola's taking the cable car there and back ... to get our money's worth!

Tuesday we had a latish brunch at the hotel and partook in some retail therapy (Union Square and Westfield Center) before going on the Muir Woods and Sausalito. At the end of the tour, Stephen and I decided to stay in Sausalito for dinner (ate at Scoma's), we then took the ferry back to San Francisco (to the ferry terminal) and walked for what felt like miles to get the cable car back to the hotel. The ferry journey was very interesting as we went through some very thick fog and the captain had to have a crew member on deck looking out for other craft as the visibility was so poor.

Wednesday was the day Mum and Dad joined their ship for the cruise back to NZ and ultimately Australia (they flew back to NZ from Sydney). We said goodbye to them soon after breakfast then Stephen and I spent the day in the Golden Gate Park, mainly in the California Academy of Sciences. Afterwards, we made our way to Fisherman's Warf and ate Fish & Chips at McCormick & Kuleto's seafood restaurant as we watched the Sea Princess cruise out of San Francisco bay. It was a real coincidence that we happened to catch the ship leaving the bay ... we waved but I don't think that they saw us ;-)

We arrived home on Friday afternoon having spent Thursday in the Napa Valley on a wineary tour ... beautiful scenary, we especially liked Sonoma, and some wonderful wine!! Stephen joined the wine club at Madonna Estate so next time you're out here you'll be able to sample the wine yourselves!!

(Click on the Photos link on the menu bar to see the San Francisco album)

Western Washington Hound Association show - Marymoor

9/27/2009 3:39:14 PM

Sat August 22 & Sun August 23

Stephen & Kohl competed at the Western Washington Hound Association show at Marymoor Park on the weekend of Aug 22/23. Mum, Dad and I went to watch on Saturday but they were on their own on Sunday.

Saturday was the more successful of the two days, they were placed 2nd in Standard Novice Preferred with a score of 95 (5 time penalties) and 1st in Jumpers with Weaves Preferred with a score of 100. This meant that they could move up to Open on Sunday. They did well in Standard Open, obtaining max score of 100 and 1st place but in Jumpers with Weaves, they missed their entry into the weaves which cost valuable seconds (5 points for a refusal and 30 time penalties) and meant that they didn't qualify.

Click here to see Kohl's runs on Sunday.

Next show scheduled for first weekend in October where they will be competing in Open preferred.

Dog Show at Evergreen Classic Horse Show

9/27/2009 3:22:08 PM

Sat August 9th 2009

While attending the Evergreen Classic Horse Show last month, we were persuaded to enter the fun dog show on Saturday evening. We decided to enter Sky for the experience, we took him home from the show, bathed and groomed him ready for the evening. We watched the final horse class of the day before the dog show started, there were so many entries for the dog show that the non-sporting breeds (all two or was it three of us) didn't get into the ring until it was dark. They had golf carts illuminating the ring but even so it was all a bit scary for Sky who backed away from the judge as she approached him and wriggled all the time she was examining him :-( He did a really nice show under the golf cart headlights but I don't think anyone was able to see him as he's black! On final examination, Sky shied away from the judge again and as a result we were awarded the red ribbon (2nd place).

Now we're working on Sky's socialization skills so that this doesn't happen in the obedience ring.