Here are a few of my favorite photos taken by Karen Moureaux.

More photos can be seen on Daneen's Blog

 
 

I LOVE this shot…. sort of the calm before the storm.

 

 

This is a cute shot too…. Being called to the podium.

 

 

Notice how Mashy's tail is wrapped around the weave pole a couple of times…….

 

 

Soleil is being a great mother and seems very comfortable with the pups.

Haddon ~ sable merle male

Cardiff ~ Sable female

Brigg ~ sable merle male

Bristol ~ sable female

Alton ~ sable male

Thanks Francine for helping with the puppy photos!

 

Soleil started having her pups at 3:45 this morning and had the 5th one by 6:30.

 
 

Mom and babies are doing great and resting…. well Soleil is resting and pups are eating 🙂

 

5 puppies

2 girls – 2 sables

3 boys – 2 sable merles & 1 sable

I know I have rough and smooth in there…. just not sure who and how many yet.

 

Soleil is taking her sweet time….. maybe she is trimming the coat off of some roughs and making them smooths!!!!

This is Edge, CH. Timeless River's Edge the sire of this litter.

Diana and I bought a smooth puppy boy to breed to a couple of our girls. I am on a mission to have smooths!! Well the puppy we bought is a great dog he just is not a dog we would like to breed. We saw his litter brother at the CCA this year and we were both smitten with his beauty. After living with the litter brother I knew the temperament was one that I loved.

So as fate would have it one of our lovely bitches was in season at the national 🙂 We inquired about using this boy in the future and we were told he was leaving the country in a short while. So in fine Julie & Diana fashion we said can we use him on our bitch Soleil?

Thankfully his breeders agreed and we had two very entertaining trysts that week.

We bred Soleil to Edge Ch. Timeless The Rivers Edge…. Who went WD at the National from the Bred-by class.

We had not one but two Ultrasounds done and 4ish puppies were seen. 

 

We went up an Sat. to pick Soleil up up and now I have been on that wonderful duty of puppy watch…After two days she is finally starting to seem a little restless and rooching around in her box.

 

I am hoping a litter of mostly smooth pups come between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00pm 🙂

….. I TRULY believe this. Now it's time to live it!

I have made the choice to ………

 
 

quit smoking……..

And join Weight Watchers!!!!

D-Day is June 1st……. I'll keep you posted 🙂

This was an incredibly amazing trip!!! EVERYTHING was green and the hospitality was very friendly. I have to say the 11 plus hour flight was not so much fun.

 

 
 

This is where the USA team stayed in Clevedon. The hotel was beautiful and old and creeky…. Not easy to sneak quietly to your room after a late night in the pub 🙂 The view from our room was stunning.

 
 

We toured the Abbey. It was beautiful in all it's detail….. Mushy was not that impressed.

 
 

 

This was a piece of stone that had a little doggie on it. Pretty cool!

 

We went to the Roman Baths. I was so floored by the fact that all this was done a gazillion years ago.

First day of the Competition and all suited up!!

One of the first things on the list was a vet check and measuring.

The 2010 IFCS USA World Agility Championship Team

Team USA during a pow wow. I was able to go into the kennel area and competitors areas with my grooms pass. It was the most wonderful experience! I was able to watch and listen to all these great trainers and handlers analyze the courses and talk amongst themselves about these crazy courses. It was also interesting to watch how each handler had their own routine and different ways of focusing and getting in the zone. I had a great time bonding and getting to know everyone . I also had fun bonding with all the other USA grooms.

See how lush everything is! This photo does not really show how NARROW most of the roads are in England. Daneen was the super brave one and did ALL the driving!!! I was very impressed!!! And by the 9th day there she was taking the roundabouts like a pro!!!

The UK countryside is stunning and yummy…… the UK food …. Not so much!!!!!!!!

WTF!!!!!!  I am a cheese-a-holic and after ordering cheese on my eggs the first day I never ate cheese the rest of the trip!!! I have never eaten so much bread and potatoes. Sodas don't come with refills!!!! What's up with THAT!!!!! And the sodas are more expensive than beer!!! Sp we drank LOTS of beer….. That's our story and we're sticking to it!!

Their scoops of ice cream are the size of a golf ball!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!! 🙂

They had faggots on the menu at a pub we went to. Anyone that knows me knows my juvenile sense of humor… So I asked the waitress " How are the faggots today?" She said "Their Lovely" We just giggled:)

This bread bakery was pretty cool.

We went to a pub called the Salthouse and it was the best decorated pub we went to.

 

We went to the caves outside of Cheddar called Wookey Hole. Very cool!

This village is a actual working village so all the stoves etc. work.

I almost peed my pants during this tour … in one of the buildings was this wolf skin. When Tirzah that Diana has that we bred was a younger dog she reminded me of a wolf skin because she was soooo extreme in her face. I had to take a photo with my camera and send it to Diana right from the medieval village!!!!! That was kinda weird too…. using my smart phone in the middle of a medieval village!!!

  

This medieval village was located in a government park and it was beautiful!!!

We have been calling the little Masher x Fancy pup a little badger. So the entire trip I kept saying I want to see a badger. 

 

This little cutie was in our room at the B & B. But I wanted to see a REAL badger! We saw PLENTY of badgers on the side of the roads so on the last night i started complaining …. I wanted to see a LIVE badger. Another lesson on NOT being specific!!! So the only time we drove at night I declared I want to see a LIVE badger!!!! And guess what!!! Not 5 minutes later a badger ran across the road in front of us. How is THAT for creating!!!???!!!

We made no reservations ahead of time and just looked at the map and picked a spot and drove. We found this very comfortable and beautiful B&B called Needlehole Forge in Cheltenham and stayed the night.

The room and bed was super comfy

This is a proper English breakfast…. fried eggs ( we asked for scrambled) on toast with tomatoes and mushrooms….. we also skipped the beans.

These cuties were in the pasture right outside the B&B. I tried to book a room at a working farm B&B that raised Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs but their B&B was closed due to remodeling. I was VERY bummed…. Daneen on the other hand was grateful….. She said she could just see us trying to get a piglet back to the States! But HOW cool would that have been???

The day before we left we arranged a private lesson with Dawn Weaver that was competing at WAC on the Great Britain team. She was kind enough to rearrange her schedule to fit us in. Masher has a great time playing agility as this is way more up his alley than sightseeing. We has a wonderful dinner at a local pub with Dawn and Sheila after the lesson.

Team USA did a wonderful job and I am very proud of Daneen and Masher who came home with a gold medal. I was also bayond moved and impressed with the Australian and New Zealand because they competed at the WAC with loaned dogs from Great Britain!! It was amazing to see these teams get thru these courses with dogs they had just met 3 days prior. I can't even imagine going to such a big event WITHOUT your own dog!!!

MORE PHOTOS ON DANEEN"S BLOG

 

She looks pretty cute and cuddley here in this photo….. Video of the little badger is up on Daneen's blog 🙂