TJ is a star!

TJ at the groomers (click here)

After doing my 2013 custom Darwyn Calendar, I sent out an email to every Darwyn pet owner, since my first litter was born in early 2001 - about 100!  A tedious exercise as I did individual emails, but very worthwhile.  In response, I have received some truly wonderful stories and updates from these awesome pet owners.  I will try to post a few of them here.
To start, this boy TJ (a Parker & Paisa son) lives in Burnaby and has just finished an advanced obedience class.  His claim to fame is that he is featured on the front page of his groomers website! (click here)

The photo to the right is when he first went to his new home.  The groomer is right - TJ is a beautiful welshie!  And, by the sounds of it, a smart one too in a great home.

Darwyn Welsh Terriers - Montgomery 2012: Best of Breed!

American Grand Champion Darwyn Esmeralda in Sanherpinc was BEST OF BREED 2 out of the 4 days for the weekend of Montgomery County Kennel Club - both days were Welsh Terrier Club of America specialties!  Specifically, Hatboro I and Hatboro II (2012).

These picture were taken by myself (Larisa Hotchin) on the Friday show of Hatboro.  I was thrilled to be there, to watch and to be able to take pictures of this beautiful girl, presented flawlessly.
We are so proud of this wonderful accomplishment. There were many really beautiful Welsh Terriers in the ring those days, both in the classes, and other specials.  I am honoured to be Emme's breeder, along with Mr. Bruce Schwartz. 

Much appreciation to judges Mr. Geir Flyckt-Pedersen and Mr. Vesa Lehtonen of Finland, both are considered to be very accomplished terrier judges. 

We are very honoured and proud.  Thank you.  To read a bit more about Emme, click here.

Monty has his own web page now! GCh Am/Can Darwyn Bruhil's Flying Circus

After watching Monty's littermate, Emme, win BOB 2x over Montgomery County Kennel Club weekend (click here for one of the days at Hatboro), I got motivated to do Monty's page on my website.  Monty is a WTCA National Specialty winner himself, from MCKC 2011.  I decided to do a page for Emme as well.

Click here for Monty's page.
(RBIS Am GCh & Can Ch Darwyn Bruhil's Flying Circus)

Click here for Emme's page.
(RBIS/BISS Am GCh Darwyn Esmeralda in Sanherpinc)

I am forever grateful to Bruce Schwartz for his vision and co-breeding these lovely welsh with me, Santiago for selling Bruce and I their lovely mother Paisa, and to Bob of the New Husken Welsh Terriers in the Netherlands for helping me make this breeding to his beautiful dog, Bill, happen.
Thank you.

Happy 1st birthday to Joe and Paisa's kids!

Griffin
1 year old today and enjoying a wonderful life with his family!

I do not ship puppies very often -- unless it is to extra special people -- Griffin (above & right) is with one of those families. 
Griffin and his siblings turn 1 year old today and it makes me so happy to see how integral he is with his family.
He has 2 littermates that are in process of getting ready to make an appearance in the show ring, and when they do, I am positive that they will make their sire (Joe) and their dam (Paisa) very proud.  They aren't in top show coat yet, but the nice (unsolicited) comments are already coming!

Happy Birthday Griffin & Jason & Trooper & Tina!

11 week old puppies having fun - video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grr_UoFuLEY 

The picture above is when Paisa and Joe's puppies were 6 weeks old - but the link above is when 2 (of the 5 puppies) are 11 weeks old, and it was taken tonight (the boy is Trooper).

Paisa, the mom, has recently gone to her new home in Los Angeles and is doing very well.  Joe, the sire, got his 9th Best in Show, his 7th Reserve Best in Show and his 51st Group 1st win this year.

Lot's going on - and in a few days I leave for Montgomery County Kennel Club!  Monty is there as a special (Am/Can Ch. Darwyn Bruhil's Flying Circus).  Dora is there as an open bitch (she's a K-See daughter), and Jessie, a 6 month old Monty x Dora daughter is there with her co-owner, Jane Erdman (who has done all of the trimming work!).  I can't wait!

Hope you enjoyed the video.  :-)

AKC ACE Award Nominee!

Charley has just been nominated for an AKC ACE award (read about it here) - WOW!

ACE recognizes extraordinary things demonstrating the strong human-canine bond.  Charley, and Jerry Nickell (of Oklahoma), definitely deserve this recognition!
I wrote about who she is on a blog post in June 2010 (click here).  Charley has been featured on radio, TV (click here for the TV link), newsapers and recognized with awards from a number of hospitals and libraries (click here for the organization H.A.L.O she is involved in).  She is officially - Am Ch. Sanherpinc Nora Charles, and is Paisa's litter sister (MBIS Am/Can Ch Sanherpinc Paisa).  Charley is also the dam of 5 wonderful puppies sired by my boy Parker - BISS/BIS Am/Can Ch Darwyn's Webslinger.  One boy was kept by the breeder, and he might try his hand at owner-handling at some point with him in the show ring (I wish I lived closer to help!), and one girl lives near me and is named Gracie. She will make her debut in the show ring, unfortunately, I am not sure if the 'top honours' will be awarded to her - you see, her tail was docked really short and it detracts from the over all look.

I co-own her with a really nice owner, and we'll see.  In a worst case scenario, she will continue to be the awesome pet that she has been so far!  The short tail isn't an issue for the owner, and hopefully some judges will be able to see past it and see the beautiful structure and very "welshie" look and temperament she has.

Jerry, Ann, Charley - I am SO proud of you!  Keep up the great work - you are awesome ambassadors for the Welsh Terrier breed, terriers and dogs in general!  Thank you!

Best in Show! Joe! WOW!

Joe - BISS/MBIS Darwyn's I'm Not Arguing That
Handled by: Milton Lopes; Tracy Tuff
Judge: Mr. Walter Pinsker
Show: Regina Kenn Club, May 20 2011 (Best in Show!) - click here for results

When I looked at my iPhone as Michael and I were out doing errands today, I was not expecting to see a text message, let alone a message telling us that JOE went BEST IN SHOW today!

A number of people who were at the show told me that Joe was looking really great (perhaps the best that he has looked since he has been with Milton and Tracy ... while that is hard to believe!). 
Tracy also told me last night that he was in excellent spirits, focused, eating well (as always) and happy!  He should be - he got the chance to breed a really beautiful Welsh Terrier bitch (MBIS bitch!) over the last 3 days!  ;-)

This weekends show was relatively small in numbers, but a LOT of the top dogs from across Canada are all there and very competitive!  As you'll see from the link below, in the Best in Show line-up, Joe competed with other Group Winners that are multi Best in Show dogs, the #1 dog all breeds, the #2 dog all breeds and another one that is in the top 10 dog all breeds.  Click here for the results.

I am very honoured that the judge, Mr. Walter Pinsker, chose Joe for his Best in Show!  Walter and his wife Monika have been in "dogs" for many decades, are known all over the world for not only judging, their very prestigious and well run dog shows, but their absolutely wonderful (and respected world-wide) Mephisto Boxers.  From what I have learned, they have been involved since 1968, bred well over 100 champions, 150 best in shows and produced the dog that was the #1 dog (all-breeds) in 1975.  They have also been terrier breeders.

I am so darn proud that Mr. Pinsker found the quality in my boy Joe to give him the top honours at this show, in such strong competition.  Thank you.

Wonderful week for Paisa's puppies!

Paisa and her 1 week old puppies - October 2009
Emme and Monty are in this happy pile!

This has been a very busy, but exhilarating and proud, week for me as a breeder.  This post is about Paisa's puppies that were born in Fall 2009 (MBIS Am/Can Ch Sanherpinc Paisa)
FIRST of all...
CONGRATULATIONS to the owners of Darwyn's Emerald in Sanherpinc!  Emme WON WINNERS BITCH and BEST OF WINNERS at the WELSH TERRIER CLUB OF AMERICA NATIONAL SPECIALTY in Louisville, KY (USA) today for a 5-POINT MAJOR!

Emme (Monty's litter sister - click here for details) was bred by myself and Bruce Schwartz (from Paisa's first litter in Sept/09) and is owned by Santiago Pinto, Judith Anspach, Mary Duafala and Pam Allen.  I am THRILLED!

Here is a link to the results:  Welsh Terrier Club of America (floating) National Specialty; Louisville, KY (March 20, 2011) - click here!

I did not attend this weekend's show, but was kept 'in the loop' as to how Emme looked in her debut (YES - this was her first weekend out!).  I heard loud and clear that she had suberb ring presence, moved freely and easily (floated some even said!), 'to die for' coat and color, and a beautiful welshy head and expression!  Click this link for a picture of her (and others) at the Louisville show from yesterday, compliments of Eileen Lurker (Emme - Darwyn's Emerald in Sanherpinc is #48)

I am so proud of this girl - a beautiful Welsh Terrier for sure!  And, I am very thankful for her owners who have had the patience to show her when she was ready, and RC & Shari Carusi for the superb conditioning and presentation.  What a wonderful team - thank you all for presenting my baby so well!

Emme is the 12th Welsh Terrier that I have owned, or bred, that has won Winners Dog / Bitch (or higher) at a Welsh Terrier breed specialty in the US!

The SECOND exciting news here this week related to Paisa's first litter is that her son, Monty (Ch. Darwyn Bruhil's Flying Circus, a multiple Group Winner) sired his first litter -- 4 girls and 1 boy!  Everyone is doing very well.  I guess I need to do Monty's page on my website!  Monty started, and finished, his Canadian Championship at Canada's largest show (Lower Mainland Dog Fanciers) by winning the Terrier Group twice and was awarded Reserve Best in Show in October 2010!  I'll try to do that soon and then expand on this very exciting litter that was just born!

Stay tuned

I FIXED my Tofino Trip photo slide show!

Remember that cool trip we took earlier this year we did with Monty?  Well, I finally decided to use Picasa (first time - and it was pretty easy - yippee!) and I updated the page, so you can actually SEE the photos now!  :-)

Click here!

Now, I get to experiment with this and get some of my MANY show photos up in a way that it is easy to scroll through!  I might even put a few slide shows on various pages .... stay tuned!

Fun with Paisa and Grover in the park today!

It's summertime in BC (a nice 24C / 75F today), and Michael and I went out to a local park with Grover and Grover's family. Today we decided to bring along Grover's dam for the walk (Paisa - BIS Am/Can CH Sanherpinc Paisa). We had a GREAT time!

Michael and I didn't bring our camera, so no photos from the walk (maybe). Martin may have gotten some, and if he did, we might post one or two (stay tuned!). Melissa was telling me about a new video they recently posted on their website of Tyler (their 3 year old child) and Grover dancing - so of course I had to check it out when I got home! It is terrific! I have posted it here for you to also enjoy!


Tyler & Grover Being Princesses from Martin Blumenfeld on Vimeo.

Tyler makes everyone wish that they could spend time with a 3 year old, and Grover makes everyone wish they could have a Welsh Terrier (THIS Welsh Terrier!) -- together, this team is unbelievably cute and sweet! 
However, I have to say this...
... while Grover is a good natured boy, it is the parents terrific parenting skills (good guidelines, safe environment, easy going attitude, relaxed about the 'little things') that actually make this work ... I am 100% convinced of that!  If you ever saw them in action, well, you would know exactly what I mean.  Today was a perfect example - Tyler fell down in some gravel and started crying ... after being brushed off, she was almost immediately happy at the thought of getting a pretty bandage!  And, this is how they treat small issues that arise with Grover as well ... and both are turning out to be very well mannered kids :-)

See you soon for a BBQ!  Love ya!

Beaches, waterfalls, hiking, relaxing, family and BALL crazy dogs ...

... and lions and tigers and bears - OH MY!

No ... no lions or tigers or bears (well, there were sea lions!) :-) ... but oh so much to share about our fantastic trip to Tofino from last week!  Click here for pictures of our Tofino area experience or click here for pictures of our Little Qualicum Falls experience (BOTH are spectacular!).

Michael's mom & dad have been staying with us for a couple of weeks (from Nova Scotia - the other side of Canada!) and we thought that they really should experience the West Coast of Vancouver Island while they were here - specifically Tofino, Ucluelet, the Pacific Rim National Park (usually referred to as Long Beach!)and Little Qualicum Falls.  So, Michael and I booked us into the Long Beach Lodge for 4 days since they have cottages ideal for 2 couples and they are VERY dog friendly!

Our biggest decisions was when to go and who to take.  Well, we decided to go during the week (avoid the long ferry line-ups for mothers day weekend) and we decided to take Paisa and her 7 month old son Monty (and here is a picture of him with us).  Parker went to a dog show with Aaron (and did VERY well actually - a couple of Group 2nd's ... but, that's another blog story :-) and Cosmo, Dora and Donny went to play next door with the Bernese Mountain Dogs and Mini Dachi's (they were only allowed to look at Kelly's cats from their kennels at nightime :-)

We certainly lucked out with the weather (note - Long Beach Lodge has their own live weather cam).  The week prior to going, it rained and rained and rained (it is the Wet Coast, as they say!).  And, the day we left the wind was blowing so hard the ferry to Vancouver Island almost didn't go - and on the way over the waves crashing against the side sounded like we ran into things!  Yikes!  Good thing none of us get seasick ... it's been a VERY long time since I have been on the ferry when it wasn't calm.  Oh my ... what a week were we in for!

We arrived, pottied and fed the dogs, found some great food (Tofino is well known for it's fresh seafood - wild pacific salmon, halibut, ling cod, etc.) and settled into our cottage for the evening.  The next day (and every day we were away) was SPECTACULAR!  Sunny, warm and beautiful!  In some areas the wind came up a bit (so, I put a doggy coat onto Paisa, who I recently had stripped down), and it wasn't yet shorts weather - but it almost was!

We spent the days hiking, exploring secluded beaches, hiking rain forests, playing ball with Paisa and Monty (found out that Monty is completely ball CRAZY - check this out!), watching surfers (Tofino is noted as one of the best places to surf - while it is cold enough that you need full wet suits on), and exploring Galleries that could easily be in New York (except it was all local craft - and stunningly beautiful craft it was!). 

We spent an afternoon whale watching on an open zodiac boat (not one of the ones that carried 30 - 50 people - ours had only 6 guests, and our operator was very knowledgable - been doing it for about 20 years ... he came to Tofino years ago to surf and stayed!).  On our excursion, we saw at least a dozen Grey Whales, an outcrop of Sea Lions, another one only of Harbour Seals, Bald Eagles (and an Eagle's nest) and lot's of birds!  Of course we ate a lot of seafood - it was all very fresh (usually caught the same day or the day before) and VERY good.

The best thing about this week was that we were there enjoying this magical experience with our family (and yes, you'll see in the photos, the dogs are very much part of this family time!)  I've got two sets of pictures, one that helps to show our experience of the beauty of the Pacific Rim National Park and the West Coast of British Columbia (Tofino, Ucluelet, Long Beach), and another one where we spent an afternoon at another fantastic place - Little Qualicum Falls.

We had a GREAT time and great weather! Monty and Paisa had a BLAST and enjoyed every moment - both indoors and outdoors!  Neither of them are in show coat - one was just stripped recently and the other has lot's of coat on him - but these are NOT show pictures, they are FUN pictures ... enjoying life with our dogs and family.

This wasn't the first time that I have been over to this area and it certainly won't be the last!

Click here for pictures from Tofino and area AND click here for pictures for Little Qualicum Falls. (Note - BOTH have spectacular photos!).

Paisa's siblings reunite for a wonderful day in the park!

Today we had an amazing day at a local park ...
... good weather, great friends, 3 very happy (6 month old) puppies and a very happy little girl!
(click here for more photos)

Michael and I have had a guest stay with us for the last few days, up from Oklahoma City, with his welshie girl Charlie (Paisa's full sister).  As it turns out , Jerry is quite aware of Paisa's son, Grover, from my page for him on my website, and their owners pictures of Grover on their own website (owner is a talented website designer, database developer/programmer, and photographer).  I just love Grovers family (and Tyler, who isn't quite 3 years old yet, constantly amazes me!), and since they live fairly close, I thought that it would be fun to meet up with the siblings.  Well, we had a GREAT day out!  We met at the park, had a wonderful walk and just had a whole lot of fun.  Cosmo (the girl at the back of the picture) enjoyed herself and Monty (on the left) had a BLAST running around with his brother Grover (on the right).  All of the puppies went home after that late morning excursion "tired and shagged out after a long squak" -- as Michael would say, Tyler had fun playing with all of the puppies, the few mud holes and the sand box, I left knowing that I made an awesome decision months ago when I placed Grover with this family and it seemed like Jerry really enjoyed the puppies, the group and the experience to see relatives of his girl (Am. Ch. Sanherpinc Nora Charles - or as they refer to her in the therapy dog world - Charlie) :-)
I'm looking forward to meeting up again guys!

To see more photos - click here - and Martin (Grover's owner) put up a bunch of photos from today.

Happy Birthday Paisa!

Happy 4th birthday girl - you are our sweetie!

Your puppies turned 6 months old a couple of days ago and you are enjoying life on the couch and running in the yard with them (and us) :-)

Am / Can Ch Sanherpinc Paisa