LOVE

If there was ever any doubt about how I feel about this dog, I think this picture says it all.

This shot was taken by a woman that I had never met. Gage & I were at a show, sitting in the grass, just enjoying each others company.

AKC/UKC Ch. Kingdom's Twist of Fate CGC, TDI

Wassup!

Little Miss Bailey wants to know what's up with all of her littermates. I hear from her owner that Bailey is more than she had hoped for. She has loads of energy and is a bit of a handful. Tracey says she is just so loving you can't help not correcting her sometimes. Tracey always believed Bailey looked like her mother Gia but has just seen a picture of daddy Tolliver and now thinks she is daddy's girl.

Tired Dog

After another fun weekend at the UKC shows, Gage is worn out. He came home with three Reserve Champion wins, one Champion of Champions win, a Best of Breed and a Group one. That gave him his first UKC champion class win toward his Grand Champion title. Only four more to go. Good boy Gage!

AKC/UKC Ch. Kingdom's Twist of Fate CGC/TDI

New Title

This past weekend Joey and his owner/handler Kathy worked together as a team and earned his final leg for his first agility title. Not only did he earn his title but he did it with a first place win and a clean run. Way to go guys. We are so proud of this team. Joey will now be known as

Kingdom's My Pal Joey, RA,NA

Three New UKC Champions

Once again some of my Dal friends and I headed to some UKC shows for the weekend. We are pleased to announce that Gage, his cousin Bizzi and nephew Ryder all achieved their UKC championships. Ryder is a Gambit son and is shown here on the left. Gage & Bizzi (center) are both now duel champions, as they also have their AKC championships. Ryder is not far behind even though he is not even a year old. What fun and what great dogs!

Gage will now be known as AKC/UKC Ch Kingdom's Twist of Fate CGC, TDI

Circus Performers

Yesterday the Greater Pittsburgh Dalmatian Club had their Fun Day In The Park. The theme for the day was "A Day At The Circus". What fun for all. After Jazz and her housemate Tess performed their very cute circus act for everyone, we all had a chance to get some pictures. Here is a very special shot of mother and daughter. Gia on the left wearing her circus tutu and pearls with Jazz on the right in her lion mane. Such sweet girls.

Bicycle Buddies

It was great hearing from Tomasz and hearing how great Pedro is doing. These two young guys keep in shape by biking together. It looks like Pedro worked harder than Tomasz. He tells me that Pedro is an awesome dog and a lover.
Tomasz tells me that Pedro is such a lover that he can't ever get close enough to you….he would sit on your head if you let him.

Pedro says "who me"?

Top Dog

I learned this weekend that Gage is the number five Dalmatian in the country with the UKC so far for this year. He also ended up in the top 50 Dalmatians with the AKC for last year. He is ALWAYS top dog in my heart.

CH Kingdoms Twist Of Fate, CGC, TDI

Jazz Performs CPE Agility

In only Jazz's second CPE trial, she qualified and placed in five out of six runs, earning her Standard Level 1, Handler Games Level 1, and Fun Games Level 1 titles! What a great agility team. Lisa and Jazz are doing so well and having so much fun along the way, as Jazz continues to gain confidence. Great job girls!

Joey Does It Again

Joey just received his first leg in Rally Excellent. He also recently competed in AKC agility and took a first place in both his Standard and Jumpers courses. A big congratulations to his owner and trainer Kathy for a job well done. Joey is from the Zoe/Sawyer litter and will be turning nine years old in Feb. Go Joey!

Gabby Girl

I was so pleased yesterday to make contact with Gabby's owners once again. My computer crashed this past Dec. and I had lost all of my contacts. I was so happy to have found this family on Facebook and see this great picture of little Gabby. She is an amazing likeness of her mother Gia. Gabby was from the Gia/Tolliver litter and will be two years old in Dec.

Agility Dog

Among Jazz' other talents, she is becoming quite the agility dog. This picture was taken at a recent trial where she showed the crowd how it is done. Lisa is doing a wonderful job with this lovely little brown dog. They have earned a rally obedience title, as well as her Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog titles and are well on their way to an agility title in Canine Performance Events. Jazz is a Gia/Tolliver daughter. She is not yet two years old. Great job girls!

Train Ride

I set up Dalton's Thomas the Train in the yard today. Gage decided it was a great place for a rest. Choo Choo!

Happy Birthday Zoe

Our Zoe turned 14 today. Though she isn't crazy about having her picture taken, she is still the picture of health. Her hearing is not the best but all other functions are still working well. She was so proud to be back in the show ring last month and earned a second place ribbon in the veteran class. Zoe was our first champion and the mother of two lovely litters in her younger days. She is still the guardian of all things outside of our fence.

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Fun At UKC

Gage and I, along with several of my Dal Pals decided to give the UKC shows a try this past weekend. What a great time we all had. Gage came away from the weekend with 90 points and two competition wins. He needs 10 more points and one more competition win to become a UKC champion. He was Best of Winners twice, Best of Breed once and a Group 2 winner once. We are very proud of this sweet, lovable dog.

Ch. Kingdom's Twist of Fate CGC, TDI

New Title

Received word that Jazz completed the requirements for her Rally Novice title today. To make that even more special, she did it with a first place win. Way to go Jazz and Lisa. Jazz is just a year and a half old and has already earned several designations. She is now known as "Kingdom's All That Jazz, RN, CGC, TDI". I am sure there will be many more titles to come as she continues to compete in rally obedience and agility. Jazz is loved, trained and expertly (well most of the time) handled by Lisa Bauer. What a great team!

Tagged

I have been tagged by Lisa to tell how Gia, the mother of my last two litters, came into my life. In 2003, the first time I had heard about the litter that Gia came from was when my friend and fellow breeder Barb Allison and I were traveling to a dog show. Barb received a call on her cell phone from another fellow breeder that had just whelped a new litter from a very sweet Dal named Sweetie. Barb's Garrett was the daddy. That breeder was Jeff Gillespie and he was describing what he was seeing in the litter. The one little female he described as being a spitten image of her mother. I said, "that one's mine". Of course I knew I couldn't have one as I limit myself to three dogs and at that time I had three. Weeks went by and when those pups turned eight weeks, Barb and I headed to a parking lot that was half way between where we lived and where Jeff lived. Jeff was bringing a couple of puppies for Barb to choose from. Jeff got this funny looking little darkly marked puppy, that had a big sore on her head, out of his van (Gia, known to Jeff as Girl Friend). He also got out a lovely lightly marked female that had some missing eye trim. We let the puppies run around on the parking lot as we were trying to see who might have the best movement. I could not take my eyes off of Girl Friend as she flew around that lot. Barb was more inclined to take the prettier open marked puppy but she asked my opinion. I pointed to Girl Friend and said, "THAT ONE". Barb hesitated but finally gave in and we gathered up little Girl Friend and headed home. Barb soon renamed her funny little puppy Gia. In the coming weeks I ended up placing my youngest female Envy with my granddaughter, who had loved her from the day she was born. I then was down to two dogs. Weeks went by and Barb was heading to a show for the weekend. I was not going to that show so I offered to take care of four month old Gia while she was away. I brought Gia into my home for the first time and we all immediately fell in love with her. The weekend ended and I took Gia back to Barb's house. I was telling Barb how much we loved that sweet little puppy and she said, "do you want her?" I was stunned, but my answer was a resounding YES. I gathered up my sweet, funny looking little girl and headed home. Gia has been such a wonderful blessing in our home and has produced 22 lovely puppies for us, including our beloved Gage. I thank Barb for all that she has taught me about showing and breeding but most of all, for sharing this sweet girl with me. I now tag Barb to tell us about Gia's daddy Garrett and what he means to her.

Priceless Photo

For those that don't follow Jazz and Tess's blog, I thought you should see this most precious picture of the two girls. On the way home from an agility trial this past weekend the girls were worn out and Lisa caught this picture of them as they snoozed on the console of the truck. Gotta love these dogs.

Pager and Her Babies

I just received this beautiful picture of Pager and her puppies. What a good mother and what lovely pups. Pager is a daughter of Gia and Jigs and is owned and loved by Melissa Cimra. Congratulations Melissa on a great litter.

Grandma

Does this look like a grandma to you? Gia is now the grandmother of 23. Daughter Gambit gave birth to her second litter earlier this month. She had nine puppies--7 girls and 2 boys. We are excited to report that this litter is from the backcross project and three of the puppies from this litter have normal uric acid. Gambit is owned and loved by Barb Allison of Rim Rock Dalmatians. This litter can be followed by going to:

http://topper-gambit.blogspot.com/

Today another daughter, Pager, gave birth to eight puppies. There are 5 girls and 3 boys. Mother and babies are doing well. Pager is owned and loved by Melissa Cimra.

Melissa will be doing a blog of Pager's pups soon and I will post it at that time. Stay tuned.

And She Scores!

Little Jazz earned her first qualifying score in Rally Obedience yesterday! It was the first time in the rally ring for both Jazz and her owner Lisa. To make it even more special they took a second place ribbon. What a great team these two young ladies are. We are looking for many more ribbons from them in both rally and agility. Congratulations girls!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail

Oh no, it's not Peter, it's just Jazz and Tess. Lisa and Jim get the most amazing pictures of their girls.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

Beautiful Bailey

We received some pictures of little Bailey today. This one of her looking pensive was my favorite. She is a lovely girl with beautiful markings. Among the things Bailey's owner Tracy had to say about her was:

She is so affectionate and the best dog.

Good girl Bailey.

Joey Does It Again

We were so proud of Joey this weekend as he competed in Rally Obedience. He qualified both Saturday and Sunday in Rally Advanced and earned his second and third legs toward his Advanced title. Joey is trained, owned and loved by Kathy Wetzel. Congratulations to this great team. Joey is from the Zoe/Sawyer litter.

Joey will now be known as Kingdom's My Pal Joey, RA

Now and Then

Gage enjoys celebrating St. Patrick's day. Once again he marched in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick's day parade. He was cute at 13 weeks and is still cute at 3 years.

Bird Watching

One of Jazz's favorite past times is bird watching. No barking or chasing--just watching. I wonder what is going through her mind. Perhaps like me she would like to be able to fly.

Happy Valentine's Day

I received this very cute Valentine card of Jazz and big sister Tess. I still think Lisa needs to send some of her pictures to greeting card and calendar companies. Her pictures are often better than what I see on those things. Two sweethearts.

Sweet Valentines

I received this very cute Valentine card today from JoAnna and Geno. Joanna tells me that the photo studio asked her permission to put the Valentine picture up on a Steelers board and wanted to display another of him alone and another of her and Geno in their Penguin gear in the store as well. JoAnna also told me that there was a lady in the store that told her that Geno was the most beautiful Dalmatian that she had ever seen. These two are a very photogenic pair.

Pedro The Great

I recently received a disk of wonderful pictures of Pedro and his family. There were so many wonderful pictures that I could not decide what to put on here. Here are just a few of the ones that made me smile. Pedro is owned and very much loved by Tomasz and his lovely fiancee.

Pedro meets a cat.

Grandma what big teeth you have.

That was the funniest thing I have ever heard.

A very handsome dude.

Go Steelers!

Couldn't resist putting up this picture of Jazz and Tess cheering on the Steelers. It seems that it worked and our team got the job done. These girls are owned by Lisa and Jim Bauer.