Dog and Pony prep, part six

After more than two decades of almost continuous, multiple dog life, we are now a single dog household.

Or perhaps I should say, we are a single, full scale dog household.

Small scale is a different story.

I have so many model dogs.

You've seen them.

It's clear I have a problem.

I also have an enabler.

More than a few of my dogs are Alexey's thrift shop finds.

Take that big dog in the red shirt for example. Here's how she found her way to my house.

She's been standing on my shelf for almost a year, quietly minding her own business. This state of affairs might have continued indefinitely, but than I decided I need a big dog for one of my Dog and Pony Show performance entries.

Specifically, I needed Big Dog.

I picked her up, dusted her off and realized that Big Dog was a little worse for the wear.

She had a lot of missing paint, plus some fake snow affixed to her ear and coat.

Clearly, she needed a makeover.

Here's how she looks now.

I touched up her paintwork, painted her toenails and added some black to her tail.

Ready for the showring!

Don't worry. The sweater will be back, as will some of the many other tack items Big Dog now owns.

For the first time ever, my main performance model is a dog. A Big Dog.

Dog and Pony prep, part three

At this time two years ago, I was prepping for a model horse show with a cat themed performance class.

I rounded up all my cats, snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook.

The photo got a lot of positive reactions, but one person told me I had enough cats. I laughed and said, "You should see the dogs."

Now I'm prepping for a show with not one but two dog themed performance classes, plus a whole dog "halter" division.

Time for another group photo!

I knew I had a lot of dogs.

But knowing and seeing are two different things.

This is so many dogs.

Thank goodness someone - not me - remembered to bring the poop bags!

Clearly, I will not be bringing all the dogs to Karin's show. That would be too much even for me.

However, seeing them all together like this has sparked some ideas.

Last week, the most important class was Donkey Hotee, but this week, it's definitely Puppy Performance!

Minatures show loot

After we left the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys' Fall Show, Alexey and I headed to Señor Rics for snacks and drinks. Much to our server's delight, we spread our loot across the table and admired it as we ate.

This is my pile.

And Alexey's.

No one guessed - boo! - but this is his equine purchase.

Here's a better look at my pile.

You can never have too many baskets, dog crates and pumpkins.

Ditto, books.

The ABC of Horses was handmade by an artist. Riders & Ropers/A Horse Lovers Journal is a mass produced item. Both have actual pages, but only ABC has words and pictures on those pages.

 M is for Mustang, obviously.

Alexey bought the 3D printed bunnies. Then he decided he didn't like them and slid them into my pile. I think they're cute, but 1:12 is not my scale. They'll probably be part of the next blog giveaway.

This is another "blame Alexey" piece.

I can't imagine why he thought I needed a tiny 3D printed bird skull...?

The cutting board under the skull came from an artist who specialized in hand sculpted food and flowers. Hers was probably my favorite booth and where I spent most of my money.

The vegetables aren't just outwardly realistic. The onion has rings and pea pods have peas. It's all amazing!

Of course, I bought one of her planters, too.

And even though nobody guessed - still boo! - here's my equine purchase with his long-necked friend.

This was a fun day, and I will definitely go back to this show next year, hopefully with a little more money in my pocket!

Mini Mini's

We go through a lot of dog biscuits in this house. 

Too many, really.

I have tried and failed to get Seth to cut back. Eventually, I just started buying the smallest, lowest calorie treats I could find.

Cue the Milk-Bone Mini's.

Piper is small and not terribly food motivated, but there was a time when we had two bigger, hungrier dogs. To satisfy their - and his own - needs, Seth set up a Chewy auto-ship for the Milk-Bone Mini's jugs.

Around the same time, he decided the jugs made perfect storage containers for all his various RC plane parts and pieces.

I am not exaggerating when I say my house is filled with Milk-Bone Minis

This is why - as soon as I became aware of their existence - I needed the MiniVerse Milk-Bone Mini's.

Needed.

Fortunately, Alexey was there to help me with that. 

I have my mini Mini's, and they are delightful.

Look at them!

Of course, I had to show them to Piper.

She was deeply unimpressed.

"Please don't make me pose with that."

"Okay, I guess."

"I'm a good girl."

Best non-food motivated dog ever.

Because I could, I also took a picture of the Milk-Bone Mini's with a slightly more in scale white dog.

Thank you again, Alexey and Tori, for including me in the Balls of Joy and Miniatures Odyssey. I really, really needed these Milk-Bone Mini's!