Tag!

I've been tagged!! It's a getting-to-know-you-better sort of tag. I answer these 10 questions and then I'll find 6 pals to do the same. Here goes:

1. What color is your collar? Pink with silver bones

2. What kind of food do you eat? I eat Nutro Lamb and Rice kibbles with mom's home-made food ( made of chicken, beef liver, brown rice, pumpkin, green beans, apple sauce)

3. What are your favorite treats? raw bones

4. Do you have a Valentine or significant other? I love everyone

5. Do you get table scraps? Once in a while

6. What is your favorite toy? Cuz and Jolly flyer

7. When is your birthday? 17 Nov 07

8. How many times a day do you eat? twice

9. Do you have a favorite color? Mom says I look good in red

10. Do you hope all your pals put this in their diary? Yes!!!

I am tagging my friends:

Squ'mey
Ralf
Sam
Moth
Lady Bird
Pirate

The Story of PFC Moore

13th Annual American White Shepherd Association (AWSA) National Speciality Show is coming up in less than a month away, and the AWSA staff was asking donations to spensor award trophies. So mom decided to make a small donation in honor of PFC Stuart W. Moore. Well, I will let mom tell you the story....... Snowy

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I work for the US Army as a civilian. When I was working in Giessen, Germany 3 years ago, one of my "additional duty as assigned" was a "Commander's hotline administrator" . It is basically a complaint hot line, and my job was to look into the problems and resolving the issues, or do what I can to help. Most of e-mails that I received were mundane gripes, something like: people aren’t picking up after their dogs in the housing area, or vegetables in the commissary weren’t fresh enough - you got the picture.


However I was so moved by an e-mail I received from Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Moore of Livingston, TX.


A simple e-mail stated:

“Dear Commander, Our son was killed in Iraq last year. The Captain who helped us with the funeral said one of his medals was missing. I contacted the unit but most of people who knew Stuart were gone. Can you help us get his medal? As time pass no one will remember. Dennis & Pam Moore”


As a parent myself, I couldn't imagine the pain they suffered. On top of their great loss, how frustrating for them to resort to a commander's hot line for something like this, that should have been corrected immediately. All they wanted was to obtain a small piece of their son’s memento, and they probably felt like the world around them had forgotten their son's ultimate sacrifice.


Fortunately, I was able to assist them by finding and contacting Stuart's unit Sergeant Major, and Mr. & Mrs. Moore were presented with Stuart's missing medal in an honorable manner.


Yet, their painful reference about Stuart would "soon be forgotten" (“As time pass no one will remember.”) saddened me, because his sacrifice should never be forgotten. So I was compelled to write to Mr. & Mrs. Moore and promised that I would never forget their son’s sacrifice.


And I kept my promise. Of course, Mr. & Mrs. Moore would never know about Stuart being honored in a dog show trophy, or in a little brick memorial in a park, far away in Michigan. But when I have a chance to tell his tale, I know he is being remembered and honored by those who read it.

Missy (Snowy's Mom)


“PFC Stuart W. Moore was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, stationed in Giessen Germany. He was killed December 22, 2003 by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad. He was only 21 years old.”

Me and my peewee handler!

My little human brother (3 years old) and sister (5 years old) were watching mom and I practice showing one day. After we were finished my little sis tried to put me on a stack and said "good stand!" just like mom says to me. Mom saw it and thought that was so precious - so she decided to bring them to the show and let them enter in the peewee class junior handler.

So the little brother handled me and little sister handled one of mom's friend's dog, CH Royal's Lord Zeus. He is huge but he is very laid back and gentle - perfect for a junior handling.

The judge was so kind and patient with them. She talked to each kid, explaining to them how shepherds were used as working dogs and that was why they had to be big and strong.  Then they each took their turn going around the ring. I let my little boy lead me around the ring just like I do with mom. Mom said I did a fantastic job! Zeus, on the other hand, could move a little slower, but he couldn't help it - he was just too big and strong.

At the end, rather than selecting one winner, the nice judge demanded "I need two trophies" so the show secretary had to go find an extra trophy. The judge awarded my little sister the "Best Girl Handler" and my little brother the "Best Boy Handler"! How cool was that?

I could tell mom was so happy to see the babies looking so proud of themselves. But she was also so proud of me for being so gentle with my inexperienced handler!

Our Lunch Date

Monday was mom and dad’s day off – they had no errands to run for a change and the babies were at the day care... so they decided to have a little lunch date - with us pups! LOL

There was only one dog-friendly restaurant listed on "dog-friendly.com" in our area. Just to be sure mom called to see if we could come along. The man said "sure as long as dogs are well-behaved". Fair enough.

The restaurant had a very nice water front seating area on the patio and we had a fantastic view of the river. The cordial owner brought out 2 bowls of water for us and some cold drinks for mom and dad. Dad ordered a soup/sandwich of the day, and mom ordered a chicken & walnut salad.

We sniffed around the area for a minute but once we were satisfied, we settled down under the table. We could hear other restaurant patrons and food servers telling mom and dad how "well-behaved" and "beautiful" we were.

For rewarding our good behavior, mom gave us some chicken off her salad and her appetizer, which happened to be duck tenders. Ummm Yum! :)

As we were leaving, the same cordial owner commented how "well-behaved" we were and told mom and dad that we were “welcome any time”. It made mom and dad very proud of us!

We can’t wait to go back there again!!!

Herding Instinct Certification (HIC) with ducks

Over the weekend, mom and I traveled to Ontario, Canada. I was tested for a Herding Instinct Certification with ducks and I passed with flying colors! What a blast! It was so much fun herding them quackies! BOL

Now I have a new title of HIC after my name.

Snowy

Never a dull moment.....

Well, I've already told you about the last weekend's show, but I must tell you WHAT ELSE happened in the show.

My fur-brother Ramsey won the best male and earned enough points to move up to the Champion class. So his mom ended up having 2 dogs in the champion class - Ramsey and Kyla.

So she asked my mom if she could show Kyla. Of course, she said "sure" I mean, how hard could it be?
We have seen Kyla in the show ring. She is very elegant… a seasoned veteran show dog. Mom thought it would be a piece of cake……

Well, everything was fine until they got in the ring. Then Kyla realized her "mom" was showing Ramsey, not her. When they were all running she ran full speed, trying to catch up to her mom, almost to the point of dragging my mom. Once they stopped for the judge's examination, she started whining and barking at her mom like "hey, what's up with that? Why aren't you showing ME?" She squirmed so much that her collar came off somehow. My mom was trying to stack the squirming dog, and suddenly she found herself staring at the leash hook dangling in front of her eyes..without a dog on the end of it! She looked up... and to her surprise, She saw Kyla running around in circles around her mom and Ramsey. We could hear audience going nuts, laughing and clapping. Fueled by all this commotion, Kyla was barking like a mad dog and Ramsey decided to join in the fun and started barking too!

By the time they got her settled down and leashed again, even the judge was laughing. Luckily for us, the Madame Judge had a sense of humor!

...Needless to say neither Ramsey nor Kyla won the champion class.....

-- I never thought a dog show could be this much fun!!! --

Snowy

Another Great Show Weekend

Mom and I had another great weekend together, just two of us.

I won the best female and had to compete against a Grand Champion male for Best of Breed.

Of course he was in his prime - I am just a skinny teenager still. However, I could tell the judge really liked my gait. She was staring at me the entire time I was running.

At the end, the judge gave the BOB to the grand champion. She said "He gets it today...but in 2-3 years this girl will KICK A**!" (This is the judge's exact word. I couldn't type it because Dogster is a family-friendly website!) What a compliment! I knew I still had a lot of growing up to do, but it's nice to hear it from the judge.

Now I am only a couple of wins away from the champion title!!

Snow White

Purina Diet

Mom saw this on an AWSA(American White Shepherd Association) Newsletter and thought it was hilarious! SO she wanted to share a laugh with you. Here goes:


I have 2 large dogs, and was buying a large bag of Purina at Wal-
Mart and was in line to check out.
The woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
Duh!
On impulse, I told her no, I was starting The Purina Diet again.
Although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital
the last time.
But I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care
ward with tubes everywhere and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and the way it
works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat
one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally
complete so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now
enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy who was standing
behind her.
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the
dog food poisoned me .
I told her no, I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt and a
car hit me.
I thought the guy standing behind her was going to need help as
he staggered to the door laughing.

Oh and what a great start it was!

Mom load me up in the truck very early in the morning. She said we were going to my first Dog Show! It was just me and mom. It was about 3 hour drive, but I laid across the back and mom turned up the AC so I slept the entire way.

Once we got there, mom put me on the table and put a noose around my neck (Yikes!) so she could give me a last minute touch up. After she primped me up, we sat in the tent and waited for our turn. OMG I have never seen so many White Shepherds in one place before.

It was finally our turn. Me and a bunch of girl pups walked in the ring with their moms. We ran around the ring in different patterns. That was the fun part. After the run, Mom told me to stand and pose behind another pup. The judge was a nice lady and gently patted my head and back. Mom was awfully generous and she was feeding me turkey strips like crazy, so I didn't mind the judge grabbing my legs and belly at all. I stood still and ate the surprise treat. I even cooperated when mom said "teeth" (that means mom was getting ready to grab my mouth and ply it open). When the judge finished examining me, she said I was a good girl and I would be a beautiful dog when I grew up. We all had to run the ring one more time then the judge pointed to us. Mom let out a happy scream saying "You did it, Snowy!" and gave me a big hug on my neck.

It also meant we had to go back in the ring for the Best Female. We went back this time against older girls that had won their classes. This time the judge pointed us second. We won the Reserve Best Female.

We got a beautiful ribbon and trophy and got a picture taken with the judge. Mom said I was awesome. Not bad for a rookie show dog, huh?

Snowy

P.S. Mom said she would post some pictures when she got them.

Another Tag!

Hi guys!!! I got tagged by My friend Dot

Name Four Jobs You Have

1. Clean human kids' faces and ears
2. Making mommy feel happy with my hugs
3. Clean under the kitchen table and making sure it's free of crumbs
4. Learning all the bad habits from Sasha and Faith

Name Four Places You Have Lived

1. My breeder's house in Livonia, MI
2. My house in Saint Clair, MI
3. ..that's it..hey I am only 5 months old! BOL
4.

Name Four Places You Have Been

1. Herding Clinic in Nova, OH
2. Partridge Creek Mall (Dog-friendly mall! I love it!!)
3. Dairy Queen
4. Whisteledown Kennel (for obedience trainng)

Name Four Places You Would Rather BE

1. Three Dog Bakery at Partridge Creek Mall
2. Dairy Queen
3. On a couch next to mommy
4. My yard with lots of toys

Four freinds I am tagging

1. Misdemenor 472552
2. Daisy 616215 (My fellow "Michigander")
3. Regalwise Sakina 543455 (my cuz!)
4. Duke 696425