Oh Yeah, You Blend

Ruth and Orbit worked very hard in 2022 to qualify for the National Owner Handled Series Finals, and Orbit took Best of Opposite in the Finals! Annie and Diane won BOB.

Orbit is GCHB CH Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT RI

BUT! Since we were down there, I also entered him in the AKC National Championship and! He WON BEST OF BREED! Which meant he got to go to group and be on TV on New Year’s Day! What a thrill that was! And the judge gave him a really good look for the final cut too! I got to be the “assistant” and crouch down at ringside with his treats and brush and other goodies.

Orbit finished 2022 as the #2 Swedish Vallhund all systems, and he has been invited to the 2023 Westminster Kennel Club show!

Here’s my “from the secret hidey hole” behind the scenes footage (you can see the judge really giving Orbit a good consideration for the cut!):

Here’s Orbit on TV January 1, 2023:

A lot of people will tell you never to co own, that it’s a recipe for disaster for both breeder and co-owner. They say that if you want to keep a dog in your breeding program you should just keep it yourself. I only have so much room and time, and the dogs themselves are often much better off in a home where they can be someone’s whole world instead of just a part of mine. I feel very fortunate that I have such awesome co-owners for several Alkemi dogs. Thus far it has been a wonderful arrangement (I hope for all sides). I am very fortunate that Ruth set such high goals for Orbit, and that she wanted to do all the things she needed to do to get there. To say I am proud of what they have achieved so far would be an enormous understatement!

It’s been a dream of mine for several years now to take a dog to the National Dog Show in Philadelphia. This show is recorded (it takes place on the Saturday before Thanksgiving), and broadcast on Thanksgiving Day.

I’m going to the AKC Agility Invitational this year with Zhora, so I didn’t think I had it in the budget to go to the National Dog Show with Alice too. But then Ruth said she’d always wanted to go, so there you go. She took Orbit (just as well I didn’t enter, since that was the weekend of the big storm), they got up at 3 am and drove to Philly last Saturday. Orbit won best of breed, and that meant he’d make it to group, which is what gets televised.

While he didn’t get featured in the group, they do upload all the judging, so here it is

Conewango Valley Kennel Club AKC show in Dunkirk. In 2019 Orbit and Alice won their first majors, and won BOB and BOS every day to take the majors every day for three days. Then it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 for obvious reasons.

This year it was back, smaller and only 2 days, but back. And what an incredible weekend it was!

I am so thankful to have such amazing puppy buyers and co-owners to share my dogs with.

Mel (and Rick) and Enzo (Alkemi Desperado LT RATN TKN): he went Reserve on Sunday and shows better and better each time, Mel is working really hard and it’s paying off, the boys take a long time to mature.

Nichole (and Chris) and Jovie (Alkemi Daydream LT): she went Reserve to the major on Saturday and took Winners Bitch on Sunday for her third major. She is looking gorgeous.

Ruth (and Jim) with Orbit (GCH CH Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT RI): what can I say? This was a dream weekend. BOB both days for 5 point majors each time. Saturday OH group 4 and regular GROUP THREE. And SUNDAY?!?! OH group 1, regular GROUP 1!! And then?!?! OWNER HANDLER BEST IN FREAKING SHOW!!!

Kat (and Tim) and Ellie (Alkemi Elise At Kleinhaus LT) made her AKC show debut and showed wonderfully in BPUP.

Alice (CH Alkemi Clear Air Turbulence LT OA OAJ NAP NJP XF XFP) won BOS both days for 5 point majors each day towards her GCH.

And Evie (Alkemi Evija LT) realized that showing is a job, and remembered she is a working dog, and rose to the challenge. She showed AMAZINGLY well, and won Beginner Puppy BEST IN SHOW on Saturday.

Orbit Herding Group 1:

Orbit OHBIS Judging:

Orbit OH Best in Show!!:

Evie Best Beginner Puppy in Show (and AKC show debut):

What an awesome weekend! We don’t do much UKC but we do try to attend this show when it’s held twice a year. Alice is in hopefully-pregnant bubblewrap lockdown so I didn’t show a single dog all weekend and STILL had an awesome time!

Enzo (Alkemi Desperado LT TKN RATN) and Melanie made their show debut and did AMAZING! Enzo took Best of Winners at all four shows, and got Best of Breed in Show 2 on Saturday and went on to take a Group 3! Not bad for a gangly adolescent who just turned 1. I am thrilled with how he is growing up so far, and it’s so awesome that Melanie is showing him!

Ruth and Orbit (U-CH CH Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT RN) had two group placements (a second and a first), and as always Ruth showed him perfectly.

Saturday Show 1: Orbit BOB, Group 2, Enzo BOW. Judge Stanely Matsumoto

Saturday Show 2: Enzo BOB, Group 3. Judge Matthew K. Proctor (who told Melanie that Enzo was the “nicest Vallhund he’d ever seen”)

PLUS, in Canada, Enzo’s sister Daisy (Alkemi Daisy Bell LT), who is owned by Lynda Morgan in Prince Edward Island, took Best of Breed over a class bitch and a DOG SPECIAL (a dog who’s the only Vallhund ever to win a Best in Show for that matter!) under Judge Jeremy Browne and THEN went on to take a GROUP 3!!!

Sunday Show 1: Orbit BOB, Group 1, Enzo BOW

Sunday Show 2: Orbit BOB, Enzo BOW

As always, the most important thing is that my puppies have great homes with owners who love them. But I’m so grateful to have people who are willing to co-own with me, so I don’t lose these dogs to my breeding program. And who also go above and beyond to help prove how awesome their dogs are!

What an amazing weekend!

Friday Orbit took the point, bringing him to 14 points with one point to go for his AKC championship!

Saturday was Alice’s turn, not only did she get the point under judge Krista Hansen (bringing her to 14 with just one to go for her championship), Ms. Hansen also gave her an Owner-Handled GROUP 1!!! And then Dr. David Hansen gave her a Bred By Exhibitor Group 3! What an amazing day this was! Standing in the OH Best In Show ring was incredible. We had to do three groups in quick succession, we got the OH group win, then I handed her ribbon to Ruth and ran over to the Bred-By Exhibitor group ring, showed there, then ran to the regular group ring, entered late, and showed there. The show superintendent kept stopping by the various rings and telling me what was going on, that she’d alerted the ring steward and that they’d let me in when I got there. It was SO COOL!

Sunday Orbit took best of breed to become my very first home-bred champion. I couldn’t be more thrilled, and Ruth has done such an awesome job training him and handling him. He has a great home AND he stays part of my breeding program. It’s just amazing!

And then they went on to be awarded his SECOND Owner-Handled Group 2!

What a weekend! My first home-bred champion, Alice within a single point of becoming my SECOND home-bred champion. Orbit two best of breeds and two Owner-Handled Group 2’s. Alice one best of breed, an Owner-Handled Group 1 (someone asked me today what it was like being in the OH Best in Show ring….the answer? IT WAS FREAKING THRILLING) AND a Bred-By Exhibitor Group 3. The Zhoraberts are proving to be as awesome as I hoped.

Orbit (Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT) won best puppy at the Kandasaga AKC match today! Awesome work again Ruth and Jim!