Randy and Allen's Famous Angora Goats

Randy and Allen are well known in the wonderful world of rabbits. They have excellent rabbits; Randy is a top judge who judges all over the country and Allen is the top Registrar in the country.

We are very fortunate to have the chance to have photos of the property that they have purchased last year, their animals and some of their activities. We thank Judge Eric S. of PA for the photos.

Randy and Allen are the top breeders of Angora goats, they are as well known in the Angora goat show circuit as in the rabbit show circuit. They win top honors on a regular basis.

The top picture is their sheep dog Roman in charge of the colored goats.

The second picture is "Warlock", the male black Angora goat, and his harem of girls.

The next photo is a herd of colored girls; the fourth photo is Randy and Allen's goat barn.

The fifth and sixth pictures show the registered white Angora goat herd.

Joanie's Beautiful Puppies

Puppy God has granted happiness and honor to Doug.

While Connie has just won the Best Puppy In Show and reached Champion status last weekend, Champion Joanie's puppies are growing like weed. Joanie gave birth to a litter of four puppies. We got the chance to see Joanie nursing them last month.

Two puppies are now one month old, healthy and active. Doug reports, "They are cute as all get out!! Starting to rough house with each other!!"

The top four pictures show the two little cuties.

The last picture is Joanie's official winning photo with Doug as the owner-handler and the judge.

Kathy's Litter Box

In the current issue of the NCAG newsletter Matts and Fluff, our wonderful editor Kathy wrote about her experience of her dog and house rabbits sharing the litter box. The house rabbits use the litter box as the litter box while the dog uses it as a good place to snooze.

Here is a picture showing such a scene.

Connie Wins Best In Show

Spectacular news from our handsome judge Doug.

He and his French Bulldog Connie went to the largest dog show in the West Coast last weekend. It was held in Palm Springs and lasted 4 days. There were more than 4,000 dogs in the show.

Connie won the Best In Show in the Puppy Division. This is the first Best In Show in a dog show for Doug and his dogs though winning rabbit Best In Show has been a common occurrence for Doug's famous Mini Rex.

Connie not only won the Best Puppy In Show, she also won enough major points to become a champion. Now it is Champ Connie!

The two photos here were taken in early October 2006. Doug has just received Connie at that time, was trying to train her to be a show dog. Connie did not have too much human interaction when she was a baby, as a result, she was very shy then.

It is obvious that Doug has worked wonders in making a shy little girl into a confident top show dog. Huge congratulations! By the way, Doug was also the owner-handler in the show ring.

Doug promised to send current photos of Connie soon. We will post new photos as soon as they are available.

An Impressive French Coat

While in the Fort Worth convention, Casey and Betty had stopped quite a few times at the youth Angora cooping area. The major attraction was a broken chestnut agouti French Angora. The rabbit had a very impressive coat. The wool was long, dense looking, bright colored and well cared for.

Later we found out that this impressive looking French Angora won the Best of Breed in the youth competition. The owner was Brianna of Colorado and the rabbit was a junior doe. A very impressive junior doe indeed. The three pictures here do not do the rabbit justice.

We were very curious as why this beautiful rabbit did not go any further in the Best In Show competition. At the Heinold booth Brianna happened to be there with that rabbit to have pictures taken. We got a chance to feel the rabbit. Unfortunately the body was not a match for that gorgeous coat.

The next day Brianna with her father came to the open cooping area asking Betty to let her touch a rabbit to get an idea about what to look for. Though English Angora and French Angora are not the same type, it is the same principle that a good rabbit should have a deep body, a smooth butt and a broad shoulder. Betty let Brianna and her dad feel her rabbits' bodies and drew pictures to show what to look for. They were happy to learn and promised to come back with a better body structure next year.

Visually there wasn't any other French Angora, open or youth, that was up to par with that rabbit. If Brianna could put a smooth and deep body under that impressive coat, her French Angora would be very hard to beat.

Allen and His Sister Stephanie

Allen has a treat recently. His kid sister Stephanie came to CA with him after his visit to his home in CT during Christmas and New Year.

Allen reports:

"Stephanie is just over 20 years old, and we have a very special bond. At present, Stephanie is involved with AmeriCorps in Western Massachusetts where she works at a school for less fortunate children in the rural mountains. As well, she finds herself in work projects throughout the northeast, volunteering to rebuild and make lives better for others who are less fortunate. She is a student at UCONN, but has taken this year off to pursue her dream of aiding those in need. Each June, Stephanie joins a group of Connecticut residents in Kentucky as part of Habitat of Humanities; she and her group build and repair homes for people living in the Appalachian Mountains. She has a very genuine heart, and I admire her compassion for others greatly.

In her spare time, Stephanie works on her car, an MG from the 1960's. (MG photo at the top) She has completely restored the car to mint, original condition. During most of her summer, she works on the small island of Nantucket off of the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her sporty little convertible is quite perfect on the island, and attracts much attention. She is very proud of her car. One of these days maybe she and I will drive it across country, with the top down of course!

Though Stephanie has visited California several times, this was her first visit to Randy and my new home. She was in love with the place as much as I am once she arrived. She could not believe the views of the mountains, of the valley, and simply the land. I was very excited to share with her my home. Dedicated lovers of nature and of the environment, Stephanie and I took the opportunity to explore and hike our mountain as well. We even spent some time admiring and analyzing an abandoned community from the 1920s behind our property.

During her stay, we drove to the Giant Sequoia park at Kings Canyon. Stephanie has never seen trees so big, and it was awesome in the snow (especially since there weren't any tour buses!). A trip to Hollywood the next day occupied our time, and we even got a chance to share a strawberry crepe in a French cafe on Santa Monica Boulevard. Both Stephanie and I speak French, and adore moments we can indulge in French culture and language. On our trip back to Tollhouse, we drove a longer route along Highway 101, and saw the beautiful California coast to Paso Robles.

Being the sister of a rabbit addict, Stephanie couldn't escape her brother's favorite hobby on this trip either. On Thursday, we drove to the Santa Cruz and San Jose area to register rabbits at several breeders' homes. One such stop was the home of famous English Lop breeder, Trina Carlson. We registered over 35 gorgeous English Lops, and got the chance to see Trina's awesome home, over looking the brilliant city lights of San Jose. Stephanie handled each rabbit, assisting me through the big job.

From our day of rabbits, we drove all the way to Lake Tahoe for snowboarding, my sister and my favorite sport! A snowstorm dumped nearly a foot of fresh snow on Tahoe Thursday, making stellar conditions for our Friday run. We spent the night in a small motel, and woke up early for our adventure. Heavenly Ski Resort in Tahoe is our choice when it comes to snowboarding, with trails stretching over the California and Nevada border at over 10,000 feet! The sky was brilliant blue, the lake was a breathtaking emerald, and the clear, frigid air bit at our faces. Awesome and amazing barely describe our time in Tahoe. We skipped lunch just to maximize our snowboard time! Temperatures on the top of the mountain were below zero, and it was not recommended we snowboard by the locals... but we ignored the warnings; we are thankful we did!

Stephanie flew back to Connecticut the next day, Saturday. We parted very sadly, but anxious that soon again we would get to jump into other ventures together. Biking across France... peut-etre?"

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies

It's still winter, but bunnies are ready for spring.

Four white bunnies from Chu's Mercedes are out for a photo session. Lining up is hard to do for the curious little ones.