FVKC Dog Show

At the end of May I was inducted into the Five Valley Kennel Club, the local AKC club dedicated to promoting the pure bred dog and all the sports involved with them. As soon as the first meeting was over I was approached by a gentleman about becoming a part of the committee that puts on the dog show here in Missoula every year. Of course I said yes (all the while trying not to scream like a little girl and hug the man saying thank you, thank you, thank you over & over again). Soon after the chaos all began...

The FVKC Dog Show is a 3 day show, each day is a show in itself. I however, was assistant grounds crew as well & spent the 4 days previous to the show working on setting everything up w/ the rest of the crew. It was hard work, but completely worth it just to have a dog show here in Missoula.

I spent the entire first day of the show learning how to become a ring stewardess & trying not to have a meltdown in the process. A good steward helps keep the judge on time, keeping the ring running smoothly, and averting the many glitches that dog shows are prone to. If you've never shown a dog before, it can be quite a challenge at first to understand how everything is working. I finally caught on by the end of the day and thoroughly enjoyed my next 2 days of stewarding. I even stewarded Groups and Best in Show on both my 2nd and 3rd days!!

Some of the judges I was working with I had already recognised from watching them on tv at dogs shows like Westminster! They were a pleasure to work w/ and I can only hope to be in their shoes some day.

All in all I had an amazing and wonderful time. I already am sad that it is over & look forward to helping with the whole process from start to finish this time around.

I didn't get to take many photos due to the fact that I was stewarding, but I had the time of my life anyways.

Some of the people at the show were intrigued in the fact that I had a beauceron, since they're quite rare. I'm pretty sure a dog show is one of the few places I can say the word beauceron & people don't think I'm speaking a foreign language. Anyways, if you're a dog person, you'll know why I was so excited to get this photo of Bosco (my beauceron) and this Briard together. :-)

[406]

     I am officially a member of the 406. The entire state of Montana only has one area code, and I officially became a member of it this past week. Thanks to an early birthday present from my parents I once again have a phone that is funtional. So, if you're looking to get ahold of me, just give my old number a call. My new number is posted on my voicemail.

A picture taken w/ my new phone. :-)

Rich Ranch

While my friend Kayla was in town we also went horseback riding up at the Rich Ranch just outside of Seeley. The rain held off just long enough for us to do a 2 hour trail ride through the mountains. I haven't been horseback riding in years & was super excited to find out that everyone in our group was also excited to hit the trail on horseback. We saddled up our horses, let out a few yee-haws and took off down the trail.

Alberton Gorge - Videos

Alberton Gorge

One of my girlfriends from high school came to Missoula for a little visit. She brought a few friends with her that she had went to college with as well. I wanted to show them as much as Montana as I could on my 3 days off, and despite the rain, I think everyone made the best of the weather & had a great time. We went horseback riding (pictures to come), Jerry Johnson Hot Springs (in a snowstorm. It snowed on Lolo), white water rafting, among other things. My neighbor across the street is working on becoming a guide for the University & only needs to take out a few more trips before he becomes an official guide. He was awesome enough to take us out on the river for the day, thanks again [Captain] Jack! The river was high, but a LOT of fun.

Skyler Turns 3

My "little" collie dog turned 3 today, officially making the dogs 1, 2, and 3 respectively. We had a little birthday party for Skyler this evening, cake included.
I am convinced that in Skyler's mind she believes she is a warrior princess so Rob, down at Go Fetch! made her a special beef carrot warrior princess cake.

See "Bosco" at the Movies!

 Need someting to do w/ the kids tonight? Go see Bosco's uncle Axel play the role of BOSCO! in Marmaduke the movie. See the resemblance? Axel also played the role of Henry in Hotel for Dogs, another fun kids movie.

See you at the movies!

Ridin' Dirty

Welcome to Seattle! Oh wait, no, I still live in Missoula! It's been doing nothing but rain, at least once a day, here in Missoula since May 16th. On the plus side, we're getting a lot of water we missed b/c of the crappy snowfall this year & the grasses in the mountains are greener than I've ever seen them.
      Sick of the rain, Missoula did what it always does, make the best of any weather, cold or hot, rain or shine. So Chris & I decided to take on mountain biking this week. I've done a few off road trails on my own before, & Chris has been doing some biking in training for his adventure racing so we took off down the Rattlesnake Wilderness one day to get muddy. Even Bosco the adventure dog came along. I've been training him to ride alongside a bike since he was about 6 months old. Today was his true test of obedience with a bike and he certainly passed with flying colors!