Category Archives: Maui
The expected and the unexpected…
Maui
Ch/BIS Al-UCh Kingscroft As Good As It Gets
10/1/2002 – 3/4/2014
Our first Pointer. The best Pointer. The Queen of Grandiose.
Forever loved, forever missed.
The paths life takes us on….
It’s been a long year. And it’s not over yet.
Earlier this summer, we were informed that our final move had to be completed within one year of Brian’s retirement date (January). After lots and lots of discussion and debates and trying to figure out what was right and best….we decided to move back home to Alaska.
Driving to AK can be quite the feat to start with, but doing it in the winter is not my idea of fun, so we planned the trip for late fall. That gave us enough time to finish the remodel on our house in Colorado and put it on the market (and, thankfully, it sold after only 20 days on the MLS!) and get things in order.
So in late September, the house was packed up and our life shipped off, and we loaded up the dogs and headed north. We stopped for a few days for the Cardigan Specialty and shows in WA, and from there drove up to Alaska. 3600+ miles, and we are now back home in AK.
Our plan is to build a new home here, in the Spring. In the mean time, we are staying at Brians family cabin, by a lake, with plenty of room for silly Pointers and goofball Cardigans to run and be ridiculous. (And yes, we have electricity, Internet, and indoor bathroom facilities! Lol)
Maui at APC Nationals, 2013
Our beautiful Maui (Ch Kingscroft As Good As It Gets) showing at the American Pointer Club 75th Anniversary National Specialty in PA last month…
Maui will turn 11 years old this year, and still absolutely loves being able to get out in the show ring and strut her stuff!! I couldnt love this bitch any more than I already do!
And On The Subject of Beauty…
I love nothing more than a dog that ages gracefully. And Maui fits that definition to a “T”…most people would never dream that she is a veteran by looking at her, much less that she is just a few months shy of 10!! (say it aint so!!)
Its hard to watch the dogs get old….its harder when they dont really *look* old and you have to remind yourself that they are slowing down and getting older…
A Good Day…
Good days at the dog show are subjective – sometimes a good day is just having fun with friends or not falling on your face going around the ring. Some days its finishing a dog, winning a major, or placing in the group. And some days, its walking away with the whole kit n kaboodle.
We went to the UKC show on Friday with Puzzle and Maui (I wish I could have gone for the whole weekend, but had other obligations…)
Maui turned in her usual “absolutely love to show more than anything else in the world” performance, and managed to charm the judges into giving her both Best Veteran in Show as well as AL Best in Show, making her a 5 time BIS winner in UKC. Love my old girl, and love that she has aged like a very fine wine as well and is still able to hold her own with the much younger dogs even at 9 years old +…
Little baby Puzzle had a blast at the show (the world revolves around her, after all) and decided that the show dog thing was not so hard after all, and walked away with Best Novice Puppy in Show…the Judge handed her the ribbon, and she carried it out the ring and all the way to Brian who was sitting ringside with Maui. Such a cute little baby she is 🙂
Friday was, for sure, a good day at the dog show…
Denver Wrap-Up…
We survived another year at the Denver shows….And we had a pretty good time doing it!
We took 3 Corgis, plus I had a Special to show all 4 days as well.
Rango was our 6-9 puppy boy, and out of the 4 days, he walked away with 2 Reserve Winners Dog awards, and 1 Winners Dog award (for his first point) Rango is an adorable little guy, and we hope he continues to have a bright future ahead of him!
Domino was our 9-12 puppy boy, and only showed 3 of the 4 days. We pulled his entry on Sunday as I had no one to help me get the boys in the ring, and its easier to pull my own entry than someone elses 😉 Of the 3 days Domino showed, he went Winners Dog twice (for a point each time) and Reserve Winners Dog to Rango on the only day Domi didnt go WD.
Nola was our only girl this weekend, and she tried her best to pull off some points, but the judges just werent having it. We won her class 3 of the 4 days, and went Reserve once.
We got to show Nash as our Special on Friday, but walked out of a very nice ring full of Specials with no ribbons 😦 We took Lizzie (Nash’s Mom) in as our Special over the next 3 days, and went Select Bitch twice with her. Was a very nice ring to be in, and BOB all 4 days was Libbie, the #1 Cardigan in the Country.
On the Pointer front….I didnt enter anyone. We entered Maui in the Veterans competition that they held on Monday, and she had a blast being in the show ring again and walked away with a Sporting Veteran Group Third in a large Veteran Sporting Group!! Always proud of our pretty old lady 🙂
We helped out some other people, met a lot of people in person that we have only gotten to meet online in the past, and had a great weekend!!
Great Days at the shows….
So, I decided Friday morning when I woke up that I wanted to go to the UKC show at least for the Friday show…so I quickly bathed Maui, grabbed her registration info, loaded up the stuff we needed for the day in the van, and headed off.
We got there, and registered, and talked with friends, and helped a friend show her Dobes, and did our breed judging, and then went in for the altered Gun Dog Group. She was only competing against one other dog, but the judge was blown away that not only was Maui 9 years old, but the condition she was in and how well she could  move for her age. So Maui won the altered Gun Dog Group. She then turned around and went in for the Veteran group. Again, only competing against one other dog in the group, but she still won that group as well. Same results for the afternoon show. They ran all the BIS classes at the same time, did show ones BIS classes first, and then completed show twos BIS classes. Maui went in for altered BIS for show one first, and the judge awarded her with the altered Best in Show! We were so thrilled! She then went back in the ring for the Veteran Best In Show for show one, and the judge was again blown away by her movement and condition for her age and awarded her with the Veteran Best in Show as well! Had a few minutes break while they judged the regular BIS for the second show, and then Maui followed up her performance by winning both the altered and the veteran BIS awards for the second show. So proud of our gorgeous old girl 🙂
Decided to go back on Saturday to try to finish her altered UKC Championship. No veterans class offered on Saturday, so she was just entered in altered. She repeated her performance, wowing the judges and walking away with 2 more altered Best in Show wins. Again, so over the moon proud of our gorgeous old girl 🙂 She completed her UKC altered Championship, and went 6 for 6 in the Best in Show rings!
We had a ton to do at home on Sunday, so skipped the show today. We had a great day showing our girl for the past two days, Maui has always been a really fun dog to show, since she greatly enjoys being in the show ring. I’m so glad she is aging well and still going strong into her veteran years…
Sunshine Makes Me Happy….
One thing I have started to really enjoy, especially with Brian home again, is to just sit in the chair in the living room in the mornings with a cup of coffee, and watch the dogs play or whatever it is they decide to do, and enjoy the SILENCE. (Well, silence for the most part, I have some loud players sometimes!!)
One of the things I’ve noticed that most dogs enjoy, but the Pointer girls seem to REALLY enjoy and seek out, is laying in the beams of sunlight that come in the windows or patio doors. Our Maui will even go behind the curtains if we have them closed just to lay in the sun. I know it feels good to just lay in the sun, so I make a point to make sure at least one of the curtains is open for them in the mornings.
Today, all four of the Pointer girls decided that the sunbeam was THE place to be….
From closest to the door to furthest from the door its Maui, Stella, Juno, and Lorne. I found it somewhat funny that they lined themselves up like this…normally its one here, one stretched out there, one curled up over here. They tend to snuggle together a lot, but I have never seen them all lined up.
