I ordered a whole bunch of stuff for Karma just before we left on vacation so that the shipment would arrive while we were gone. We got her lots of toys, a big crate – which is set up next to my side of the bed for now – and a fluffy bed. Funny thing though, with all her new toys, she went right to Luna’s old, chewed-up Nylabone!
We were also lucky that Nichelle, our awesome dogsitter, was able to run to Costco to get a small bag of the puppy food Karma had been eating before she came to us. Thanks, Nichelle, you ROCK! Thanks to our super-duper dogsitter, Nichelle, Mouse & Luna never seem to miss us! Below are a couple of photos of them that she sent us today! Thanks, Nichelle!
While staying with Mary Majchrowski of Bravo Dog Training, Orso has had a couple of play dates with Brin, a cute little pit bull that belongs to Mary’s veterinarian. Mary has been sweet enough to take photos of their play dates and send them to us while we have been on vacation. Below are some of our favorite shots out of the many that Mary sent us of Orso and Brin playing. Enjoy!
These photos of Orso’s working vacation are courtesy of Mary Majchrowski of Bravo Dog Training, where Orso is staying while we are in Tahiti: Meanwhile, Luna & Mouse are keeping the sofa warm for us! Photo courtesy of our dogsitter extraordinaire, Nichelle:
Saturday, June 25th’s Best of Winners 3-point major win with handler Daniel Sanchez under Judge Dr. Wanda Spediacci: Sunday, June 26th’s Best of Winners 3-point major win with handler Daniel Sanchez under Judge Mrs. Patricia Trotter that made Orso a new AKC Champion:
I am proud to welcome Lionheart Buona Karma di Costa Bel to the Costa Bel Cane Corso family! Karma, as our newest little girl will be called at home, was born on May 13, 2011 and is a black female with the cutest little white patch on her chest. She was bred by Brian Martin of Lionheart Cane Corso in California and is daughter to Champion Mar e Sol’s Capone and Grand Champion Gator Country’s Valentina.
I will be meeting Brian at the Los Angeles airport on July 14th, 2011, on my return flight from our Tahitian vacation to pick up Karma and bring her home to Miami. She will be 9 weeks old. Many thanks go to Brian for allowing us to bring home his first pick female puppy out of this very special litter! Brian and Jordan, Brian’s bride-to-be, have been a dream to work with! Below are photos of Karma from a couple days old through 7 weeks of age, courtesy of Brian and Jordan. Karma is the pup with the purple ribbon collar. Also, you can watch Karma going through the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test at 49 days of age by clicking here. Enjoy! It seems like no one is missing us much! Luna & Mouse are home with Nichelle, Orso is with his trainer Mary Majchrowski of Bravo Dog Training getting prepared for his Rally debut in West Palm Beach, Cleo is staying with Kathi Wisdom in Colorado and placing orders for Kuranda beds and fancy RVs. I am not missed at all! Boohoo! Not really, no place for boohoo here, we are blessed that all our furkids are in such great hands that they could care less that we disappeared to French Polynesia for a well-deserved 3 week vacation with no dogs! Below are photos of Orso, courtesy of Mary: Below are photos of Luna & Mouse, courtesy of Nichelle: Below are photos I took underwater while diving in Bora Bora:
4 days of shows + 4 nights of hanging out + a couple of OFA health tests = the recipe to an awesome trip to Orlando, Florida with Orso! Orso and I left Miami on Thursday morning, bright and early, in our rented Town & Country minivan – always a family favorite – and after a brief organization session at the hotel, headed off to the show grounds for 4 days of shows. Show 1 of 4 – Central Florida Working Group Association – Thursday June 23, 2011 – Judge Mrs. Beverly A. Vics Handled by Daniel Sanchez, Orso did quite well on Thursday, taking Reserve Winners Dog out of the Open Class. Best of Winners went to our dear friends’ dog, Blue Ridge Rocco, handled by Cindy Stroupe and owned by Steel and JoAnne Campbell for a 3-point major. Yay, Rocco, congrats on your win! Definitely a dog we were proud to lose to! Below is our favorite photo of the day of Danny giving Orso some Corso love in the show ring, plus close-ups of the same photo just below: Show 2 of 4 – Brevard Kennel Club – Friday June 24, 2011 – Judge Mr. Warren D. Hudson Orso took 3rd place at Friday’s show but had a great performance in the ring nonetheless! He is working nicely with his handler, Daniel Sanchez, and we are happy to see how their relationship is flourishing. The real highlight of Friday was hanging out with Orso at Brickhouse Tavern & Tap, where Orso had the chance to serve as a Cane Corso breed ambassador for about 5 hours. He met at least 40 new people – all of whom were all over him – including a bunch of children. Lots of thanks go to the folks over at Brickhouse Tavern & Tap for being so cool and welcoming to our Buckethead! Below are a few photos from the day, including some of him hanging out at Brickhouse, and a short video of Orso going at it with some apple wedges at the hotel!, enjoy! Gotta take care of momma! Apples are fun! Show 3 of 4 – Central Florida Kennel Club, Inc. – Saturday June 25, 2011 – Judge Dr. Wanda V. Spediacci Saturday was a great day for Orso and for us! Handled beautifully by Daniel Sanchez, Orso took Winners Dog out of the Open Class for his 2nd 3-point major of his AKC show career! He then took Best of Winners in the breed class! This win put Orso just 1 point away from finishing his AKC Championship! We are so proud of our little dinosaur! Danny and Vanessa, thank you so much! Judge Spediacci, we appreciate that you liked our boy enough to give him this win among all the nice dogs he was up against! Orso, you ROCK, baby boy! Today’s major win, although an awesome accomplishment, didn’t overshadow the health testing we did with Orso at the show. Winning a 3-point major is something we were hoping for but we truly were looking forward to participating in health clinics being offered at the show. We took Orso to get his patellas and heart tested for the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals and were thrilled when both tests came back normal! Orso was OFA Patella tested by Dr. Nicole Salas and OFA Heart tested by Dr. Alan Spier and is now OFA certified normal for both! To celebrate such an excellent day, Orso got a new grooming table and spent the rest of day hanging out with us. We decided to go back to Brickhouse Tavern & Tap for a little while, since the people there are so cool, and then ended up at Chicago Pizzeria Uno for dinner, where Orso was a hit with everyone and once again got to teach people how the Cane Corso is a gentle giant! Below are some of our favorite photos of the day, enjoy! Show 4 of 4 – Space Coast Kennel Club Of Palm Bay – Sunday June 26, 2011 – Judge Mrs. Patricia Trotter
Sunday was surreal for me, absolutely unexpected and amazing! Orso took Winners Dog out of the Open Class for his 3rd 3-point major of his AKC show career, then took Best of Winners in the breed class, with his super-duper, awesome handler, Daniel Sanchez, finishing his AKC Championship in just over 18 weeks of showing! Thank you, Judge Trotter, for showing our boy some ring love! For a 12 month old puppy, finishing his AKC championship with 3 major wins is a great accomplishment! We are not blind to Orso’s conformation weaknesses therefore are truly gracious to all the amazing judges who saw our little Corso-pony as the diamond in the rough that he truly is! We also want to wholeheartedly thank Orso’s handlers, Daniel Sanchez and Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez for all they did for us, for all the valuable advice they offered us and for finishing Orso! We are blessed to have met you both and for the privilege of working with you! Much love is in order for our dear friend Sheila Lieberman of Loving Obedience Dog Training in Miami for all the great lessons and guidance she selflessly offered us and for introducing us to Danny and Vanessa! Many thanks also go to all the judges who awarded Orso AKC points over his 18-week show career and contributed to him finishing his championship. Orso will not stepping paw into a conformation ring for a very time; instead, watch out for our boy in the Rally ring, starting in July! Below are our favorite photos from today, enjoy! Professional show photos will be posted as soon as we receive them! After last weekend’s shows in Palmetto, Florida, I had a revelation: there are rarely, if ever, any Cane Corso class majors at the South Florida shows, especially with females! Cleo is supposed to be arriving at our home in mid-July to start her career in the show ring in mid-August, but there are hardly any opportunities for females to accumulate any major points down here. Knowing the financial investment, not to mention the time put in, with showing dogs, we realized that Cleo needs to be where the majors are at and it’s not South Florida! Therefore, we are very pleased to announce that Cleo will be staying with Kathi Wisdom in Colorado to start her show career out there! We are very excited for Kathi to introduce our girl to the conformation ring, especially since she has raised Cleo since birth. Along with this decision, comes the realization that we will not be meeting Cleo in person for a long while, which is no easy pill to swallow. We are anxious to meet her and bring her home to join the family, but for now, Cleo’s going to be our Colorado girl! Best of luck to Kathi and thank you for agreeing to work with our beautiful girl, Cleo!
Orso, Luna, Mouse & Cleo want to wish their Grandpa Frank a beautiful Father’s Day! They all love you very much! And while we are at it, I love you very much too! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Cleo sends her love from Colorado, photo courtesy of Kathi Wisdom: Orso with Grandpa Frank at 8 weeks old: Grandpa Frank with me:
ST. PETERSBURG DOG FANCIERS ASSOCIATION, INC., JUDGE MRS. PATTI WIDDICK NEALE – 06.18.20116/18/2011 Today was a very nice day for us! Orso won the open class and took winners dog with handler Daniel Sanchez. He then went back in the ring for the breed class with handler Vanessa Lanz-Sanchez and took Best of Winners! We are very excited about Orso’s 2 new points! Many thanks to Daniel, Vanessa, Judge Mrs. Patti Widdick Neale & of course to Orso the Cane Corso! Below is the video footage of Orso in the breed class with Vanessa (yellow jacket) from today but with no sound; it’s almost 7 minutes long, enjoy! Also, here are some photos from yesterday from the road trip up to Palmetto, FL, Orso’s birthday dinner last night at Beachhouse Restaurant in Bradenton Beach and down time at the hotel, enjoy! Ready for a road trip! Birthday dinner! Winding down for bed time: After an “oh-sooooo-tiring” morning at the dog show today:
Today is a very special day for us because exactly one year ago our Buckethead was born! Ever since he came home to us, he has shown us nothing but love, loyalty and all the great things this wonderful breed is known for. On this day, we are gracious for having Orso with us and we hope for many, many more birthdays with him! He brings us big smiles everyday with his crazy Corso antics and his “Orso-style” of doing things! In honor of his birthday, below is a cute postcard about Cane Corso property laws that says stuff that any Corso owner can humorously attest to:
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