Athena's Gonna Show!

Shame on me! I haven't posted since December 7th. Tsk tsk. Things have been busy around the Phoenix Caayn household.

First off, Caayn graduated from his ALS class, with honors too. He got a spiffy trophy with an eagle on it. We got a babysitter for the grad night, and enjoyed the dinner they provided with Jimmy as Caayn's other guest. That was lots of fun!

Lochlan is growing like a weed! Still sleeps a lot, but he has good stretches of wakefulness. There's nothing better than watching him check out the world around him. And he now only wakes up once at night, usually around 2 or 3am, and then sleeps until 7 or 8. YEAH! Caayn's hoping we can move him into his crib soon, but he is so particular about sleeping that I'm not sure he'll be up for that yet. He usually sleeps propped on the boppy or snuggled up in the crook of an arm, and will protest if he has to sleep on something not snuggly.

Sully's doing good too. He's talking really well and can carry on interesting conversations. One of these days we're going to jump on the potty training wagon. I think he's getting closer to being ready. A couple of times recently he has asked to go pee on the toilet... and even though he hasn't, at least he is willing to go sit on the toilet!

Things are mostly the same for me too. I've been going to the gym, gasp, in hopes of helping the weight come off. I think it's helping! My tummy is down to only 4" bigger than pre-pregnancy and I've noticed other areas where body parts look slimmer. (My upper arm no longer has a tiny roll thing above the elbow, lol.) My itchy scratchy rash is STILL hanging around, mostly on my right ear... I probably should go back to the dr and ask for a few more days of steroids, but whatever. It'll go away. And I got my hair cut tonight, finally. It looks really good, I think. :)

Now, for the more exciting stuff.

After a good talk with Carol today (Whippet Woman), we agreed to do a show with Athena. Caayn, for my Christmas present, is paying for me to take Athena to obedience classes starting January 9th. They'll be once a week for 8 weeks. And then I hope to get her into the advanced obedience class, because when that one is over, they offer CGC testing! CGC is Canine Good Citizen, and it is a course created by the AKC. Basically there are 10 things the dog needs to do that will prove he can behave well, and then the dog gets the title of CGC. Exciting!

Now, since Athena can't be spayed if she's going to be shown, Carol doesn't want to sign over ownership. This is pretty common for breeders, especially with bitches, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. We'll co-own her. I'm actually glad because Carol is such an amazing woman with a really solid history in the breed. One thing that really surprised me is that she offered to let me use my own kennel name for Athena's registered name. Her kennel is Affinity. Caayn and I, in the future, plan on having a kennel called Straylight. Originally it was going to be a boarding type of kennel, but maybe one day we will do whippet breeding. So the thought that Athena could be the first Straylight whippet is crazy exciting!

Our first show is going to be February 2nd and 3rd. Her kennel club is holding a fun match that weekend, so it'll be a good opportunity to try my hand in the ring. I'll have to drive out to St. Paul, but it'll be worth it. From what I gather, lots of folks have to drive good distances to shows, so at least I'll be doing my time as well, hehe. I'm so so so excited that I can hardly breathe. All I can think about is dog shows (and trying to watch the handlers and discussing their outfits with Caayn, hehe) and training and the whippet standard and comparing Athena's lines to other whippets I see online. One of these days I am going to get some stacked photos of her. I told Caayn that I actually hope she doesn't win an awful lot, because if she does, I would lose my excuse for going to the dog shows! I have no idea if there is a point to showing once a dog becomes a champion. I'm assuming there is, after all most of the dogs you see in the big dog shows on tv are champions already.

Eeks! I am so excited! I'm still not sure how I managed to get so lucky in finding a good woman like Carol to get a dog from. She is so willing to share her knowledge with me that I can hardly believe it. It's not often you meet someone completely out of the blue who so quickly trusts you and wants to help. Dog people are awesome. I think it comes from spending all day with creatures who spend their time smiling, wagging their tails, and spreading love.