Ember's Major Win!!!!

 We had an amazing win at the Mid-Hudson Kennel Club show in New Paltz, NY last weekend.  Ember, Grayhart's Light My Fire, CGC, from our Rockstar litter (Summit x Jam) went Winner's Bitch from the Bred-by-Exhibitor class and then on to go Best of Opposite in the Best of Breed class to earn a 3-point major win!  Ember defeated three bitch specials, including her mother, Jam, which gave her the additional bitch number needed to turn the 2-pt win into a 3-pt major!  This was unexpected and we were thrilled that Judge Pat Mowbray recognized our lovely Ember who moves with big sidegait.  She also commented how happy she was and we have to agree, Ember is a pistol and her tail never stops.

 This was only Ember's 4th time in the show ring and she was solid and showed like a pro thanks to the wonderful training of her co-owners, Aimee and Josh.  They are training Ember for agility and obedience and plan to debut in those venues this fall.  

Ember goes kayaking!

 Ember, Grayhart's Light My Fire, had a lot of firsts this past week.  She made her show debut and won her first point and yesterday, was her maiden voyage aboard a kayak.  Aimee took these stunning photos of Ember with Josh.  I had to share all of them due to their beauty and great poses and expressions by Ember

 Ember looks pretty relaxed and comfortable.

 Josh seems to be doing all the work while Ember navigates...

Ember wins her 1st point!

Ember, Grayhart's Light My Fire, (Summit x Jam) made her show debut at the Westbury Kennel Club show and we were pleased to have her go Winner's Bitch from the Bred-by_Exhibitor (BBE) class under judge Sam Houson McDonald! It was well worth the 4 hour drive to make it in time to show CeCe in the 4-6 puppy and Ember to her first win. What a successful weekend from the farms of PA to visit Fala to the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island! And sharing it with our good friends makes it even more special! The unofficial win photo, taken with a cellphone looks good so we hope the official win photo turns out nice.

Ember has big reach and drive!

Party all night long

 The Rockstars partied like it was 1999, each celebrating their first birthday in their own way.  Above, Ember, Grayhart's Light My Fire, had a party that would make any pup envious.

Chloe, Grayhart's Walk this Way, our resident city girl, was a fashionista in her Princess attire, and yes, she wears that crown daily!

 Roxy, Grayhart's Silver Rocket, showing off one of the fabulous birthday presents, handmade tugs made by Rigby's mom, Nina, that she thoughtfully sent to all the littermates in colors that matched their original collars!

 Roxy enjoyed her frosty paws ice cream and then had even more fun destroying her party hat!

 Rigby, Grayhart's Rider on the Storm, had a birthday week which included a party at a lake, that's our beautiful girl on the dock and playing with her friends. She also got to go tracking with her mom and her tracking group.

Ella, Grayhart's How High the Moon, who was the first in the litter to get a title, her AKC STAR Puppy, had a great weekend home with her family.

Chase, Grayhart's Freeway Jam, got all kinds of fun presents and played with his BFF Mia.

Gabi, Grayhart's Something to Talk About, had a zen-like birthday doing yoga poses...

 and there is always one who parties a little too hard...sleep well Ember!

Happy 1st Birthday to our Rockstar litter!!!!

Where has the year gone?  This incredible litter was brought up during Hurricane Sandy and we lost power for 17 days!  We also learned about losing a life, little Miss Pink, no matter how much you do, it is the way of Mother Nature and tube feeding and nursing a baby boy round the clock, who was an amazing fighter and we never gave up on him.  They are truly Rockstars and make music wherever they go.  These talented pups have been busy training for show, tracking, agility, obedience and therapy dog work.

Happy Birthday to our Rockstars - Chase, Chloe, Ella, Ember, Gabi, Rigby and Roxy!!!

The Rockstar litter is sired by BIF BISS CH Pike's Peak Silversmith Summit, SH, SDX, NRD, V, BROM and  out of Jam, CH Grayhart's Purple Haze, CD, JH, AX, AXJ, SD, VX.

Ready to party

Ember, Grayhart's Light My Fire, CGC (Summit x Jam), 11 months old, all dressed up and ready to party!

Ember at Agility class

Ember, Grayhart's Light My Fire, Summit x Jam, only 10 months old and already running short agility courses!  Kudos to her handler, Josh, for doing such a terrific job training her. She is already showing nice speed over the jumps and two on, two off contacts. 

This Rockstar is on her way to the top of the charts!

Rockstar Update: Rigby & Roxie...pirated post from Rigby's blog!

Thank you Nina for Rigby's (Summit x Jam) fabulous blog posts...now for your reading pleasure...

Catching Up a Bit

I haven't posted for a while about Rigby and her exploits, so in order to bring the blog up to date this posting will be a mix of subjects, stories and photos.

As Rigby continues to grow and mature into a lovely young dog she is going through some mischievous times and her curiosity leads her to many new adventures.

BURIED TREASURE

The couch in our living room is a sectional that curves along a corner of the living room, creating a bit of an open space where we have a lamp placed.  Since Rigby's arrival, that space containing the lamp has also become a storage area for our throw pillows, keeping them safe from puppy teeth.

Recently Rigby has become more interested in the open space and she takes her toys to that area of the couch and holds them there while gazing into the void.  Now it seems that she thinks it's a hiding space for her treasures and, when we can't find one of her toys, that is the first place we look.

The other morning, as I was preparing to take Rigby for a walk, I could only find one of my tennis shoes sitting by the couch where I had left both of them.  I searched high and low, room to room looking for my other shoe, not understanding how one shoe would be where I expected, but the other one totally gone.  Then it hit me, Rigby must have taken my shoe.  Sure enough, when I looked behind the couch, there was my shoe in her special hiding place!

CRATE GAMES

Rigby's favorite crate game is not one you'll see on any video for training dogs to love their crate, it's one she has developed and perfected on her own.  She loves to take her Nylabones and stick them through the openings in her wire crate and drop them on the floor.  Now, as you might imagine, this takes a bit of skill to get the bone positioned in her mouth just right so that she will have the correct angle to line the bone up with the openings in the crate, then to push it far enough through until it falls out of the crate.  Sometimes she will even use her paws to get the bone into the desired position.  

She knows that when Rocky hears the bone drop he'll come to get it and go chew on it.  Then she protests loudly, crying and barking, until Dan or I fetch the bone from Rocky's mouth and return it to the crate.  Because she has several bones in her crate, at times there will be two bones laying on the floor near her crate that she has pushed through the bars. 

IN THE PINK

Rigby loves pens and so we try to keep all writing utensils out of her reach at all times.  The other night, though, I fell asleep on the couch with a red marking pen in my hand.  It must have fallen onto the couch where Rigby was chewing a toy beside me.  I woke up to the voice of my husband telling Rigby, No, and him trying to wrest the pen from Rigby as she was totally destroying it.  There was red ink on a couple of the throws we had on our couch as well as Rigby's legs and her chest.  She did a pretty good dye job on herself, but we're just pleased that no ink got on the couch.

Aww, don't tell everyone what I did!

You can see the pink on the white spot on her chest!

Rigby Red Legs -- she might start her own baseball team!

This shows the ink on her chest and her legs.

These stories show just a bit of Rigby's personality, the crazy puppy side.  For the most part Rigby is maturing into a well-behaved family dog, who listens pretty well.  She has been accompanying me to many different places and meeting people along the way.  Her manners are improving nicely and it's seldom that she attempts to jump on people.  Her mouthing has gotten to a minimum and usually only happens when unknowing people dangle their hands above her head as though they are toys to play with.  Her play time with Rocky has taught her to enjoy other dogs and she is always friendly and happy to meet new friends.

A PUPPY CELEBRATION!

One of Rigby's sisters, Roxy, (formerly known as Miss Yellow) had a big day with her family earlier this spring as she reached an important milestone in a puppy's life -- at least a Jewish puppy's life -- when she celebrated her Bark Mitzvah!  Here are some photos from the celebration, as well as some family photos.

Roxy at the synagogue.

Roxy and her family.

Aunt Danielle got in the photo, too!

The perfect pose -- Roxy is ready to follow in her
mom's footsteps for a modeling career!

Roxy on the day of her Bark Mitzvah!

Rockstar Reunion

l-r: Chloe, Jam & Ember - our favorite pic from the day!

Last weekend was a super busy one with us competing at the Staten Island Dog Training Club Agility trial and we combined it on Sunday with a mini-Rockstar Litter Reunion. We love our puppy people and they cheered Jam and I on while we ran in Masters Standard and Jumpers courses.  A few of the pups are training for agility and they thought it was cool to see Mama Jam do her thing.  We didn't qualify but Jam ran with drive and great attitude. 

Chloe, aptly names Grayhart's Walk this Way, with Michael.

Chase and Ember...he's tough stuff!

Three of our Summit x Jam Rockstar pups!

A delicious picnic lunch for all to enjoy!

Jam looking regal

Michael, Rosalie and Chloe

Josh, Aimee and Ember

Michele and Chase

 And a few shots of Jam on the agility course

A group shot with our wonderful friends and their pups!

Thanks to Kelly Ann Kwiatek for all the great photos!  She was our pupparazzi for the day!