Bridget, Scarlett, Lilibeth, Tory, Marie Claire, and Jagger all joined me for a week at Winter Wonderland Cluster in Perry, Georgia. From rally obedience to conformation, to Beginner Puppy 4-6 months, we had a blast! I think Jagger's favorite part was seeing his first campfire and relaxing after winning Winners Dog and his first purple ribbon! (Purple is a good color for dog shows .... it means an important win, plus points toward a championship!)

Here is Tory, from the Coffeehouse Litter, (Pickwick's Worship the Ground I Walk On), showing off her ribbons after winning Best of Breed at 4 different BPUPS, plus 2 nice Toy Group wins.

Lilibeth had fun going on a walk in the beautiful weather and showing her Poldark litter puppies around the park. Bridget and Jagger also met goats for the first time and had fun barking at the ducks ;)

Not ALL pugs have to be bad at toenail trims (but, I'm not vouching for Sebastian, KK and a few others .... we call in the National Guard for them).

Congratulations to Miss Scarlett (Pickwick's Follow the Star) for her wins out of Bred by Puppy Class beating out specials (pugs who are already champions). She won 1st place in her class, Winners Bitch, and Best of Opposite Sex, plus Best of Breed Owner Handled each day. Meanwhile, Heather (Pickwick's Where the Bonnie Breezes Blow) won Best of Breed both days she entered her first BPUP (4-6 month old puppy) plus she went on to win a Group 3 (3rd place in the Toy Group)! Go Heather. Tory also came along for socialization one day and Bridget came to socialize however we didn't show her the day she was entered because she had a bobo on her paw and the show arena floor was packed dirt.....it was just too risky letting her walking around on that dirt and getting a bad infection. So, her first show will be indoors in Montgomery at the Jubilee Cluster after Thanksgiving! After Scarlett's wins on the first day we all took a short trip to Monte Sano Mountain State Park to kill time before the Toy Group. Here are some photos and a video . . . .

I'll update this blog post regularly throughout the week. Jeff left Sunday to head to Atlanta. He and his longtime friend, Howard, (Best man at our wedding in 1990!) are making the trek together to Spain to pickup our new, amazing show pug, Jagger "Diabolbric's Start Me Up". (Amy is staying home to oversee the grumble, do the final preparations for puppy baskets and graduations of the Coffeehouse Litter, and also watch over Lilibeth who is expecting any day now. Oh yes, and teach piano.)

They flew out of Atlanta airport Monday 10-10-22 and arrived in Madrid an hour ahead of schedule! For the first day, the challenge of course is trying to stay awake. Here are some photos from Madrid Jeff took ... a random street scene, Plaza Mayor, and the train station . . . .

This street artist from Plaza Mayor looks familiar from the last time we (Jeff and Amy) made the trip to Madrid years ago when preparing for Jeff's choir trip. (Jeff is the organist/choirmaster at a very traditional church in Birmingham and they tour different countries in Europe every few years.) 

On 10-12, Jeff and Howard had Tapas for 'brunch' before they went to a bullfight. Well, I probably would have chosen a museum, but....

Jeff actually video called me during the bullfight .... he wouldn't let me see the final part where the matador kills the bull, and I'm thankful for that.... but, quite honestly, I don't 'get' the mystique of all the bullfight stuff. On the other hand, witnessing an arena full of 25,000 people ALL hushed in silence .... THAT was actually quite fascinating to me.

After Madrid, they took a high speed train down to Seville. For his birthday present to himself, Jeff took a cooking class on how to make paella and he got some special spices at the market.

They went to some LOUD concert ….

Then they headed over to Malaga where they got to see the Pablo Picasso museum and, of course, some ocean views. The beach was more rocky with gravel versus sand…..

There was a sign at breakfast at their hotel … it was Jagger’s show name, “Start Me Up” so it (us getting Jagger) all must be ordained ;)

At 3 AM USA time Amy awakened to join Jeff in a video call to see Mireia bring Jagger! I could see his intelligence in his eyes even over the internet on my tiny cellphone screen. And his temperament! There are so many amazing things about this pug and we can’t wait to start a life together!

Mireia met Ieff at the Malaga train station and went inside to help Jeff buy his ticket (her Spanish is much better😉) Because of our work schedule and other timing things this was the soonest we could get him so I know it was so difficult for her to say goodbye to her 6 month old baby boy. I got to chat again with Ieff when he was on the high speed train back to Madrid. Why can’t America have such amazing trains? There was even a tv! Here are some shots of the terrain outside the window.

Once they got to Madrid, Jeff booked it over to the registration office to get Jagger’s pedigree. This will make all the paperwork much easier once back to the states. The flight is tomorrow/Tuesday 10-19-22. As I type this, Jeff will probably be waking up soon to get to the airport (Spain is 7 hours ahead.)

I’m so excited to see both boys … Jeff and Jagger … tomorrow night! The final part of the trek is the drive back from Atlanta airport to Birmingham. Sending prayers now for safe travel tomorrow. Here’s a sneak peak at Diabolbric’s Start Me Up.

Given that we don't have much time to show regularly, we don't generally show a dog beyond its championship, and given that our puppy Scarlett has only shown a few times, it was a nice surprise to see that we actually had 3 different pugs who ranked in the recent release of AKC Owner Handler Best of Breed competition .... Lilibeth, Parker, and Scarlett!

And here was Robert for 2021:

We CAN'T BELIEVE Robert just turned 3 years old. He is the most magnificent pug, and our Grand Champion GCH Hill Country's I'll Bee Your Shining Star. Every day he seems to get more beautiful and exceptional. He's sweet, kind, soft, solid, incredible conformation. We are forever grateful to his breeders for entrusting us with him. Here he is with his special birthday "Milk Pugs" toy stuffed with treats .... of course, Miss Dior had to 'help' him find the treats. When it comes to food, well, it's game on for pugs!

We've been making plans for a long time now to welcome this amazing pug puppy and Jeff has been finalizing plane, train and other reservations for his trip to Spain in October. Jagger's official name will be "Diabolbric's Start Me Up" and he is maturing to be such a magnificent pug. Truly, this boy is going to make such a contribution to our line and we can't wait to get started training, loving, showing, and winning with this boy. Many thanks to his breeders for entrusting us with him .... we are counting the days until he joins us in Alabama!