"Monet" CH Rusticwood Spellbound CGC

Monet is now seven years old - it breaks our hearts to think of her as a veteran....how did that happen?  Her pups are 16 months old and she has been getting a little envious of us taking Faith and Bling to the dog shows.   So, we are going to bring her out now and then.  

On January 26, 2014 she won Best of Opposite Sex at the Orange Empire Kennel Club - a major win towards her grand championship.   She now has 16 GCH points with very little showing.  

She is such a great companion.   We couldn't have asked for a more special dog.   Thank you (again) to Carolyn Dison for entrusting the "pink" girl to us.   She is not only in our home but in our hearts.

Who will win?

My dog, Drew, has been very frisky after breakfast lately.    He kept passing me by taunting me with his toy.

Naturally, I feigned interest in his prize.

Drew Secord

Finally, I took hold of it - and he gave me the look.   So, who won?   Drew did of course.   Who could resist that face????

Merry Christmas from Jewel

This is our girl Jewel. She will be 13 years old next month. Jewel has been my model in so many paintings since she was a pup.

To say I love this dog is an understatement.

Drew and Monet help in the studio

I'm just starting the sketch on a 3' x 3' close up of a tabby cat in oil. Our dogs are always in the studio with me and I have a big brush that I use to dust the eraser off the canvas with.

I put the brush in Drew's mouth and posed him next to the canvas. He spit the brush out a few times and then figured it was kinda fun to hold the brush. He decided the brush was his new toy and "I" couldn't have it. Monet had to see what all the fun was about and decided to get off the sofa and peek around the canvas.

Better get back to work and stop playing with the dogs!

Baby Faith goes Best in Breed

Yesterday, Saturday 3/12/11, was Faith's second show and her first outside show. I totally expected her to be wild and playful since she is only 6 months old. To her, outside means playtime.

She was the only puppy at the show for the Irish Setter breed. There were three adult dogs and two adult females in addition to the Champion dog and Faith at the Irish Setter ring.

Faith was such a good girl. She stacked for the judge, didn't move a paw and resisted any temptation of running in the ring. She won her first point (our youngest dog to get a point to date!) and then went on to win over all the boys going Best of Winners and then to our surprise, Best of Breed. She is the youngest dog we've ever had to win Best of Breed, with competition, at such a young age.

We did take her in the group ring for two reasons. One, we felt it was respectful to the judge who gave her the win, and secondly, it was a great opportunity to practice in the ring for the pup. As a six month old pup we truly didn't expect her to win anything. She was as a real trooper in the group ring and didn't put one paw out of place (other than jumping on the other handlers if they only gave their dogs a treat! But she's six months old - what else could we expect with food involved!!)