Pre-Easter Celebration

Betty's English Angora rabbits are in a festive mood. Easter is coming and they are hoping that the Great Easter Bunny will visit them. At the top, choc tort junior doe is next to the Easter Bunny and the Easter Bunny want-to-be.

From the second to the fourth photo, Melea, Fawntasia and Joey are all dressed up for Easter.

Satin Angora Bunnies Celebrate Easter

These beautiful Satin Angora bunnies are celebrating Easter with style.

Tracy is breeder and the photographer of these beauties.

Vicki's New Puppy

Vicki from MN sends in two pictures of her new puppy Stella, a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.

Vicki says, "I had to have my Maggie (always by my side) put to sleep in Oct. I swore I wasn't going to get another dog as it was so hard to put her to sleep. But I missed having a companion so Scott gave me a puppy for Christmas. I got her in Jan. and love her dearly. She is quite a handful compared to my old girl. You forget what puppies do! By the way, she is a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. By the one picture you can tell she loves the snow!"

Easter Kitty?

Betty is getting ready to take Easter theme photos, kitty Shia Hwa decides to join the fun.

Shia Hwa means Little Flower or Little Calico, though she is not that little anymore. She is 14 years old, originally born to a stray mother at the backyard of Betty's rental property. Betty took her and her brother in when they were about 6 weeks old. The third photo was taken when Shia Hwa and her brother were about 3 months old in 1993.

Brother had gone to the kitty heaven but Shia Hwa is still going strong. The top two photos were taken a few days ago, 14 years after the third photo. There does not seem to be too much sign of aging.

Good News from Yumiko

We received good news from Yumiko in Japan. Three time Best In Show winner Carera gave birth to her first litter: 8 bunnies and 7 are alive and well! Carera is a great mom, all bunnies receive proper nursing.

Both Carera and sire Bambino are REW, all the bunnies are REW.

Congratulations!!!

Joaquin, the Love Machine

In the post yesterday, Betty reported the fun day she had visiting Judge Julie and her dog family.

About four years ago, Julie purchased Joaquin as her companion pet. She named him Joaquin the Dog for "walking the dog" that she would do everyday. Joaquin then was a pure breed AKC Portuguese Water Dog puppy, but was considered as the "runt of the litter" thus a pet.

When Joaquin was about 8 months old Julie made an appointment to have him neutered.

Three days before the appointment, Julie and Joaquin went to the Beach in Cambria. Being a water dog, Joaquin loves the beach. Julie and Joaquin were having a good time as shown in photo 3, the lives of Julie and Joaquin were about to change.

A stranger approached Julie on the beach asking whether Joaquin was a show dog. Julie said, "No, just my pet." The person said, "You should show him, this is the total correct confirmation of the breed and he could be a special. I know, I am a dog judge."

Julie was puzzled, called the breeder to re-evaluate Joaquin and the breeder agreed that Joaquin, with Julie's loving care, had grown into such a handsome young man that he should go into the show ring. Julie also learned that the word "special" in the dog world means that the dog has potential of winning top honors.

The first show Joaquin was entered, he won the title of Best Puppy. In the second show, he won the Best of Winners out of 50 in the breed. A couple months later, he became a Champion.

Needless to say, the appointment to have Joaquin neutered was cancelled for good.

In three years, Joaquin went on to win Best of Breed 75 times, Best of Group 6 times, and Best In Show in both specialty and open shows. The top picture was taken when he won the Best In Show in the open show.

In 2005 Joaquin was placed #8 in the nation and in 2006 he was placed #5 in the nation.

Joaquin has now retired from the show ring and has become a "Love Machine" both to his mom Julie and to the pretty girls in the breed. On March 4, 2007 Joaquin was married to pretty Savana in a romantic wedding ceremony on the beach. The second group of photos recorded this happy event. Now they are expecting their first puppies in May.

There is a website devoted to Joaquin http://www.joaquinthedog.com/index.html.
His dad Bruce, a renowned statistician, is his Webmaster.

Judge Julie and Her Dog Family

Betty had a wonderful time visiting our Berkeley member Judge Julie.

Top photo is Julie and Joaquin the Portuguese Water Dog doing a kiss-kiss.

The second photo is Julie with Joaquin and Savana, the married dog couple.

The third photo is Betty holding Savana with Joaquin in the front and Joaquin's mom Bria at the back.

The fourth photo is Julie and Betty at the front of Julie's house. As one could see, Julie has a wonderful garden that is full of flowers.

Judge Julie is not a rabbit judge, not a dog judge, she is a "human" judge. She is the kindest and most wonderful friend one could ever have, but you do not want to be in front of her in her professional capacity. You are in big trouble if you'd have to!

Judge Julie had quite a few English Angora and French Lop. Now her passion is her Portuguese Water Dog. There is a Cinderella story involving Joaquin that will be told in a post to come.