Congrats to Meg!

Meg (Prime x Darbi 2008) won the puppy stake at the Mountain Valley field trial in Ontario this past week-end!

Congrats to her and owner Jill.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of the many blues Meg will get in her lifetime.

On another note...it's a hump fest around here. That is usually a sign that one of the girls is coming into season. I expect Miikka in any minute now and had the Shaq semen shipped up from Oregon today.

Happy Belated Darbi!!

I'm a bad, bad doggy owner.

I forgot Darbi's birthday.

Darbi turned 7 a few days ago. SEVEN!!

I don't feel so bad though, I usually forget my own birthday until my mom calls me singing sometime in the day.

I won't sing to Darbi though...I love her too much.

Not dog related

Not dog related at all...sorry.

While WORKING today (hee hee) I was pulled out of duty to ride in the Millarville Ride For STARS. STARS is the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (air ambulance) that we use quite often in the EMS service I work for.

Every year they have a big ride as a fundraiser and I have ridden almost every year.

The ride is held on John Scott's property close to where I live and within the district our ambulance service serves. I think over 250 horses and riders were there.

It was great weather and fun was had by all. John Scott donates the horses for the day to the EMS riders like myself.

I'm sad to say, I didn't even know my horse's name, but he was fun...other than when he tried to dump me (3 times)...unsuccessfully.

All photos taken on the greatness that is my iphone.

Huntin' Harper

Amazing how fast they grow up. Seems like just yesterday Harper was little "pink collar".

Now she's a big girl and had a great time on her first hunt at 11 months old.

Harper is from the Prime x Darbi litter of 2008.

Not much to say

Not much to blog about these days.

Trials are done.

Too hot to hunt yet.

I'm expecting Miikka in season ANY second now.

You can bet once that ball gets rolling, I will be blogging a ton.

So Sad

Maiya and I.

I have introduced you to my friend's dog Maiya several times. She is owned by a colleague of mine.

I got to know Maiya very well on my many walks with my friend.

Maiya was put down today due to inoperable Lymphoma.

She was only 18 months old.

I am heartbroken.

I am so sorry Mike and Ray.

Getting old

Man, those kids of mine wear me out. I ain't as young as I used to be.

Picture taking drama

Dottie's owner and I tried to get a nice side by side shot of mother and daughter.

As you can see, Miikka was annoyed with the process. Oh, to be young again, eh Peanut?

Miikka sure knows when to turn on the cuteness...as does Dottie (with human assistance in the "stay" department).

Then Mom showed daughter "how it's done" in the fun bumper retrieving area. Over and over.

It was nice to see that "stick killing" is indeed genetic. Dottie shows off her good genes.

Family Affair

A good week-end for Elmingo!

Shaq x Miikka puppies finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Junior Stake in Red Deer this week-end, and Adey (Tiger x Darbi) WON the Qualifying in Montana.

What was the most fun is that FOUR Miikka pups were in Red Deer and I hadn't seen most of them since they were 8 weeks old. Maggie (2nd place), Matti (3rd place) and Eider (4th place) all competed in the field trial and Dottie came out to watch her siblings run.

Here is a pic of Eider in the holding blind before running a test.

And here is Maggie...

And Dottie.

The four siblings together. From left to right. Dottie, Eider, Matti and Maggie.

We tried, albeit briefly, to get a picture of the pups without any humans, but that experiment proved fruitless.

I got to run Matti to her third place finish. Thanks to her owner Tim for allowing me to run her!! She was a hoot and reminded me of Miikka at her age.

Did something crazy

So I did something crazy yesterday.

I bought a horse....or PART of a horse.

I own a share of "Cactus Cut" now.

He is a gray thoroughbred yearling who will hopefully make it to the races next year.

Horses are my first love and I was heavily involved in them until about 10 years ago. Before I went to paramedic school, I even got an Animal Science diploma with a major in Equine Science in Wyoming.

I rode/trained/showed mostly Quarter Horses, but was also deep into the racehorse world via my family who owned a large breeding and racing stable.

I'll post pics of him and updates from time to time. He left the sale to be turned out for a while and will be broken to ride later this fall.