A Dog's Dog and the Hollywood Blond

Yesterday was the Chambersburg Kennel Club dog show over in Harrisburg Pa.....Brother and sister, "Richard" and "Luna" were entered to be shown...both are puppies from my December 2007 litter and have been training very well to get ready for the show ring these past weeks....But things did not go as planned......both Richard and Luna unfortunately did not do very well in the ring yesterday.....a completely different story for another day :) Along on this journey out to Harrisburg was "Norma Jean" a gorgeous 13 month old blond as blond can be Afghan hound.........owned by my friend Loretta who also came along with us.........us being my sister, my niece, Maroo, and myself.......All of use packed into the new van very comfortably. I always keep a dog bed between the two front captain seats for Maroo to lay in when we are going somewhere. He just loves that bed and will stay there and fall asleep on the drive to where we are going....Norma Jean was crated for the ride out there and Richard and Luna were securely kept inside the van in the second row of seats....Maroo has never met Loretta or my niece Marie before so it would be a new experience for him.....He took to both of them without any problem. Licking Marie's hand and giving great eye contact to Loretta the entire ride out to Harrisburg once at the show I kept him crated under my grooming table while I prepared both Richard and Luna for the show ring....he sat there quietly playing with a toy and then fell fast asleep.....no stress at all since this was the third trip to a dog show that he has gone to with me.........he seems to really enjoy all the sights and sounds of the other dogs........He really is a Dog's Dog kinda Dog :) After the days activities had been over we loaded up the van and headed home........this time since Loretta left her gear at the show site because she was returning the next day for Norma Jean to be shown again....I made a dog bed on the back bench seat for Norma to rest on while driving home.....Maroo kept looking at Norma......and so was Richard :) I think they both were in love with her by the look in their little dark brown eyes....Several times during the trip home Maroo would venture back to Norma's area and give her a kiss or two........Richard on the other hand jumped up onto the bench and layed down beside her like they were a couple of newlyweds :)..... I do not think Maroo was jealous because he and Richard are best buds.....he politely continued to return to the bench to check things out with both of them.......paying no attention to Loretta and Marie seated in the back row as he passed by......weeks ago Maroo would have never even gone back to that area if he had to pass a person he was not familiar with! He would have stayed close to me and would not make any eye contact with strangers at all.....With this Hollywood Blond seated in the back row of the van there was nothing that would stop Maroo's gentle heart from stealing a kiss or two from his new heart throb! He has always taken to new dog friends very well from day one.......and slowly he has begun to warm up to the human friends he is seeing on a regular basis right now.....Trust is a very big thing with Maroo......it does not come easy.....being raised as a puppy with little to no social skills or experience he has a very difficult time trusting people he just meets.........but he is getting much better.....hardly any turning of the head and "zoning out" as he did in the first few days after coming into my life........Norma Jean is such a gentle dog and is gigantic in size compared to Maroo......the picture of the two of them being affectionate to each other is still fresh in my mind........The only thing I regret about this new adventure is that no one took a picture of Norma, Richard, or Maroo being dogs at their best on the ride home.....Today Maroo still seems a bit tired from the long day yesterday.......he is sleeping right now next to me as I write this entry into his blog......based on the cute little noises he is making every once in awhile I have a funny feeling he is dreaming.......dreaming of himself and the Hollywood Blond riding into the sunset.......with the wind blowing through is hair.