Orso earned his AKC Rally Novice title back in December, but his certificate just came in today’s mail. Orso earned each of his 3 required qualifying “legs” on the first try, with all high scores – 1st leg 93%, 2nd leg 86% & 3rd leg 97% – and an overall 3rd place finish on his 3rd leg. Yay, Orso!
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This morning, Cleo took Winners Bitch in Brooksville under Judge Paula Nykiel with handlers, Daniel Sanchez & Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez, for another 2 points toward her AKC Championship! This makes 9 points for Cleo out of the required 15! Thanks, Danny, Vanessa, Judge Way & Cleo! Pictures coming soon!
I am so proud of my girls, Cleo & Karma! They, along with our amazing handling team – Daniel Sanchez, Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez & their assistants – represented Costa Bel Cane Corso with elegance & spectacular sportsmanship this past week, as they always do! The competition in Brooksville is always tough and this year is no different. My girls have shared the ring over the last 5 days of shows with worthy dogs and bitches, making our wins all the more special to us. We are very fortunate to have wrapped up this first week with so many success stories! We are incredibly appreciative to Danny & Vanessa for our wins and to the judges who felt our girls deserved them! In summary, here is how our girls did the last five days:
Thursday, January 12th, 2012 – Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes then Cleo went on to take Winners Bitch for her first 3-point major win under Judge Patricia Trotter. Friday, January 13th, 2012 – Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes then Karma went on to take Winners Bitch, Best of Opposite and Best of Breed Puppy for her first 5-point major win under Judge Kay Radcliffe. Saturday, January 14th, 2012 – Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes then Cleo went on to take Reserve Winners Bitch under Judge Lew Olson. Sunday, January 15th, 2012 – Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes the Cleo went on to take Winners Bitch for 2 more points under Judge Sharol Candace Way. Monday, January 16th, 2012 – Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes the Cleo went on to take Winners Bitch for 2 more points under Judge Paula Nykiel. Our dear friend, JoAnne Campbell of Blue Ridge Cane Corsos, has been there every day taking photos, so we will hopefully be posting our favorite shots soon! In the meantime, below is a photo of Cleo & Karma’s scorecard of points that is up on our bulletin board to keep track of our girls’ points! This morning, Cleo took Winners Bitch in Brooksville under Judge Sharol Candace Way with handlers, Daniel Sanchez & Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez, for 2 more points toward her AKC Championship! Thanks, Danny, Vanessa, Judge Way & Cleo! Pictures coming soon!
Line-up of class bitches in Brooksville on January 14, 2012. From left to right, Castleguard Stardust, Blue Ridge Sexy, Impero Russo Cleo di Costa Bel & Lionheart Buona Karma di Costa Bel.
This morning, Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes in Brooksville, Florida. Karma then went on to take Winners Bitch, Best of Opposite and Best of Breed Puppy for her first major win! This prestigious 5-point major, which is the highest number of points the AKC allows in one win, was awarded to her by Judge Kay Radcliffe with her handlers, Daniel Sanchez & Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez. This win is very special because Karma won over 2 very impressive AKC Champions, one of which is a Grand Champion and a leading Cane Corso female in the country right now. AND Karma is only 8 months old TODAY! All the dogs and bitches entered were impressive! Many thanks to Judge Radcliffe, Danny & Vanessa, Brian & Jordan Martin of Lionheart Cane Corso and, of course, Karma! Below are our favorite photos from today, courtesy of our dear friend, JoAnne Campbell, enjoy! Karma happily accepting examination by Judge Radcliffe: Cleo, with Vanessa, and Karma, with Danny, in for Winners Bitch, where Karma beat 3 females: Cleo & Karma: Part of the line-up in the Best of Breed class with Karma at the end with Vanessa, where she beat 2 more females, for her 5 point major! One of the females she beat in the Best of Breed class is an AKC Champion and the other is a highly-ranked AKC Grand Champion; they are the 2 females at the front of the line-up, respectively.
This morning, Cleo & Karma both won first place in their classes in Brooksville, Florida. Cleo then went on to take Winners Bitch for her first major win! This 3-point major was awarded to her by Judge Patricia Trotter with her handler, Daniel Sanchez. This is an exceptional way to open the Brooksville 10-day show circuit for Costa Bel Cane Corso. Dogs from all over the country come to these shows annually, so Cleo was up against some tough competition. Many thanks to Judge Trotter, Danny & Vanessa, Yulia Washington of Impero Russo Cane Corso and, of course, Cleo! Other exciting news is that Cleo’s dad, Stanley Pat Nif-Nif aka Ace, also had a major win today of 4 points, making him a new AKC Champion! Lots of congratulations go out to our very dear friends, Steel & JoAnne Campbell, Yulia Washington & Kathi Wisdom for this exceptional accomplishment! Below are our favorite photos from today, courtesy of JoAnne Campbell, enjoy! Ace, Cleo’s dad, with his handler Kathi Wisdom:
Today, Luna modeled for some photos that will be featured on the website of South Kendall Animal Clinic. Our dogsitter extraordinaire, Nichelle, asked if she could borrow Luna for a photo shoot for Dr. Robert Pane’s revamped website. He is our super-duper veterinarian, so of course we said yes! Below is a photo of Luna modeling for Dr. Pane & South Kendall Animal Clinic!
CLEO & KARMA ARE GETTING BACK INTO THE SHOW SWING OF THINGS IN DELAND – 01.07 to 01.08.20121/8/2012 After taking a few weeks off from dog shows, Cleo and Karma were back in the ring in DeLand, Florida, brushing up on their showmanship. These two shows were a great refresher for the 10 days of shows coming up in Brooksville, Florida this week and next week. On both days, Cleo and Karma took first place in their age groups. Cleo took Reserve Winners Bitch on Saturday and Karma took Reserve Winners Bitch on Sunday. Many thanks to their awesome show handlers, Danny & Vanessa Sanchez!
At the tail end of our road trip, Orso and I stopped at the home of our dear friends and show handlers, Daniel & Vanessa Sanchez. Cleo and Karma have been living with them while on the show circuit, so we wanted to stop in and let Orso meet Cleo for the first time and be reunited with Karma for some playtime. This playtime among the three went so well! We were so proud to see our three Cane Corsos all playing together! Thanks to Danny & Vanessa for allowing us to come over with Orso and invade your back yard, it was truly one of the highlights of our entire holiday vacation! Below is a photo slide show of Orso, Cleo and Karma playing together. It’s long, approximately six and a half minutes in total but very cute! We also included our absolute favorite shots below, enjoy! Photo slide show with almost 200 photos AND it’s set to two cool songs, enjoy! You can also watch this video on You Tube by clicking here or going to http://youtu.be/BYqPZ1m4ydg. On the way out of St. Augustine, we took A1A to follow Florida’s eastern coastline home. It is a very impressive drive. There are so many gorgeous waterfront home with large lots all along the highway! We stopped in Ormond Beach on the way home to eat at a place called the Lobster Pit. It was unbelievable! So good, so fresh! I loved it! After lunch, we crossed highway A1A to play with Orso on the beach and took lots of great photos with Orso. Below are all our favorite shots of our visit to Ormond Beach, enjoy! The Lobster Pit: Where? Is? My? LOBSTER!!!???? Wow, yummmmm! Check out the CHUNKS of lobster! Orso’s beach fun captured! BEST PHOTO OF THE ENTIRE ROAD TRIP:
Go figure that the coldest town on our road trip would be St. Augustine! It was freezing while we were there! It turns out that the couple of days we were there were the coldest they had seen in a long time. Funny how that works out! St. Augustine was a cool place to visit. Our hotel was right in the middle of it all, so we were able to walk all over town, including a great dinner at Harry's Seafood. There was a lot of history and the architecture was very interesting. Orso went everywhere with us and made a ton of new friends everywhere we went. It was a great couple of nights! Cold, but great nonetheless! Below are our favorite photos from our few days in St. Augustine, enjoy! Our hotel: Our room: Orso getting settled in on his own hotel bed while we unpack: Visit to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument: I KNOW there is food in here somewhere! Orso recharging his doggie batteries: The most AMAZING nachos I have EVER had. Hands down. No doubt. These are the steps where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested. Our hotel is built around them. Pretty cool… Orso working on his “horses are my friends” skills:
Charleston is AWESOME! I would totally live there! Orso and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit! Our hotel was in an excellent location, probably the best in all of downtown Charleston, so we parked our car and didn’t move it until it was time to move on with our road trip 4 days later. We met cool people, had excellent meals, enjoyed the city’s history and architecture, rang in the New Year and best of all, Orso was with me the whole time. Charleston is very pet-friendly! Below are our favorite photos from Charleston, enjoy! The carriage company was right across the street from our hotel, allowing Orso to get to know horses for the first time ever: Charleston Waterfront Park: Awesome local beer! Orso getting some rest after a day of sightseeing. He has his own bed since our room had a pull-out sofa bed! Wow, it’s a one-man-party! Sunset on the last evening of 2011 at The Library’s rooftop lounge. Notice the change in colors in the sky. 6:55pm: 7:00pm: 7:19pm: Orso watching the ball drop in New York on TV! It’s midnight and Orso doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about!!! 1st dinner of 2012 in an awesome sushi restaurant, Tsunami, in downtown Charleston:
We left Savannah on the 26th fairly early in the morning in search of snow in North Carolina. We reserved a cottage in Mars Hill, one of North Carolina’s ski areas located about 30 minutes from downtown Asheville. This was a great plan but we were missing one crucial component – SNOW! There was no snow, so we were out of luck with our plans to go skiing and snow tubing. The cottage was really cute and decorated nicely, but it was so far from everything. There was also a neighborhood dog named Russell who lived on our porch the whole time we were there. He would not leave. Orso was not very happy about this. He was incredibly sweet and so cute; he looked like Luna but with long hair. He even had similar eyes as Luna’s! We felt terrible for this poor dog. It was raining and freezing outside and he was always out there on the porch. It broke our heart. We wanted to take him home with us but Orso would be really pissed if he had to share the minivan with a strange dog, so we left Russell in Mars Hill. The last pitfall was that there was absolutely no cell phone signal or internet, which made planning activities a challenge. It was incredibly inconvenient. On one of the days, we drove all the way to the Biltmore Estate just to be told that their tickets were sold out for the day. We would have known this with phone or internet connection since we always plan our travel days ahead of time using the internet. We also managed to bury our minivan in the front yard because there was no driveway and the ground was very moist – AAA had to help us out of this mess! There was also something living in the basement of the cottage that would make awful noises at night. It was pretty freaky. It felt like these 4 nights were pretty disastrous from a logistics standpoint! I did spend almost 12 hours working on a 1000-piece puzzle to stay busy. I couldn’t believe that we drove all the way to North Carolina and paid to stay at a cottage and the only productive thing I did was put together a puzzle, therefore making it the most expensive puzzle on this planet, LOL! Regardless, the area is absolutely beautiful and we stayed busy by driving into Asheville every day, but the distances were tough on us. Asheville is a great town – very cool place with a hippie feel to it and very good dining, specifically a restaurant called Fig. It’s also extremely pet-friendly. Had it snowed, our experience in Mars Hill would undoubtedly have been different. Orso did have fun playing in the yard and getting all muddy and we took tons of photos of him outside – there wasn’t much else to do – so this blog entry will have a bunch of action photos! Below are our absolute favorite shots, enjoy! Our cottage: Russell, the neighborhood dog that was living on our porch: Orso settled in nicely: Buried our minivan into the ground on our first night: AAA to the rescue! Primetime TV entertainment! Really???!!! Orso playing dress-up: Orso thinks he is sleeping in our bed… The most expensive 1000-piece puzzle on the planet. Actually, 992-piece since 8 pieces were missing: More lounging: Orso’s first encounter with livestock! This was what I would see every time I looked out the screen door into the yard! Some more lounging: We got a whole 1/2 inch of snow: More playtime!
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YVONNE
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