It was love at first sight. I saw her at the Cat Fanciers' Association’s World show fourteen months ago. She was beautiful. And sweet. Well groomed. Humble. She wore a pink print dress nestled in her breeder’s arms . At only four months old, Buttons was a stunner. A lovely natural mink tortoiseshell and white (

When I lost Tiger, my first Labrador, I needed serious grieving time. I was devastated. A friend kept encouraging me to get a new puppy. I had seen a very nice Labrador in my practice, and inquired about the breeder, Hemlock Ridge Labradors. I took a ride out to see their Labradors and talk to

Last weekend was the Cat Fanciers’ Association World show. Luckily for me, it was held this year at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. After looking forward to it for months, I packed up two of my RagaMuffins and drove to Philly on Friday afternoon. The plan was to check in to the hotel, get the

I remember the first time I saw him. It was at a Labrador show in Charlotte, North Carolina. I watched this magnificent black dog trot across the ring with his breeder. He moved effortlessly and took my breath away. I turned to my friend sitting next to me and said “now that’s MY kind of

I had a stellar event last weekend. I went to New Jersey for my first United Kennel Club dog show. I’ve been competing with dogs for close to twenty years now. I’ve always gone to American Kennel Club events. I’ve been hearing quite a bit about the UKC recently. UKC dog shows level the playing

Dogs never fail to amaze me. Especially my own. I blogged a short time ago about Jubilee’s success in the field despite not having been trained to do the task at hand. Now I have more on that topic. Last weekend I entered a three day show in Rally obedience. Jubilee had previously earned a

I just came back from a field training session with two of my Labradors. Both are fairly novice dogs in this discipline. I went out with a friend and her dogs. We take turns throwing and using the duck call for each other. Orchid and Jubilee turned in stellar performances. I love seeing them do

Nougat on set with talent agent and prop guy.   What is it with cats and Roombas? Nougat had a scheduled photo shoot last spring to sit on a Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner. This week he was hired to shoot a commercial for the device. The animal talent agent had a call

Orchid, my youngest Labrador, started her show career with a winning streak about eighteen months ago. She was winning puppy best of breeds along with puppy groups. That’s a big deal in dog show terms. Then, the wins went away. As she out grew puppy class, we struggled. Sometimes we’d lose to a more mature,

Remember Crinkle? He’s my worn out red tabby cat with the battered ear that was rescued almost two years ago. He’s been the subject of several blogs before. This blog is not just about Crinkle, a.k.a., big fat red cat. It’s about a new friend he has as well. First, catch up to what’s going

I blogged several weeks ago about planning a party that includes dogs. I do this every year. Yesterday was the big day this year. My dogs were present along with my youngest dog’s BFF and the neighbor dogs. A couple of newcomers to the party scene were present. Both are young adorable mixed breed dogs

I traveled to Stamford, CT for the regional Cat Fancier’s Association banquet last weekend. I didn’t enter the show as my cats are on vacation this summer, but I wanted to go to see what it was all about. The hotel was very nice; had a white bathrobe in the closet for me. Let’s just

I am looking at the calendar for a good date for a party. I have to plan around dog and cat shows as well as family reunions, etc. I look forward to seeing my friends. They look forward, I hope, to coming. I have what might be considered unusual parties. They are generally outside…..not that

  Nougat Ganache It was a busy six months for me at the cat shows. I missed the first half of the season, but then took out my Grand Champion, Nougat as a premier. Premier is the category at cat shows that is made up of the spayed females and neutered

I recently blogged about taking Nougat and Ganache to a photo shoot for advertising. Just a few days later, I drove to New York City for a Target job. Yes, Nougat got hired for bill board ads for the big chain store. I summed up my courage and loaded up Nougat for the trip to

Ganache and Nougat on set     I’ve been trying to break into show business with my pets for some time now. I had some success a few years ago when my dog Dazzle was in a commercial. Everything on set went well. It was an interesting experience. And, then, I waited for

Emperor of the cat yard   I have had cats all my life. All colors, short hair, long hair, both sexes, barn cats, house cats and in between cats. In 2009, I got my first purebred cat, a RagaMuffin from Kaerik Rags. He was a gorgeous sable with white kitten, full of cuteness

`                                                        Ganache and Nougat show off their ribbons. I recently decided to take a weekend trip to Florida. Most people go to Disney World. Not me, I went

  I got great news on Sunday. While at a cat show in Baltimore, I got a phone call from a friend at a dog show. No big deal, except that she told me professional handler Kitty Burke had news for me. At that point, I started crying. You see, handlers only call during the

  Sometime in 1998, the shelter called my hospital to tell me they had a long haired calico kitten available. Knowing my love for calico cats, someone at the shelter thought of me. So, to make a predictable story short….they delivered the kitten. I was not there at the time, so took a ride in