what's in a name?

Ecko's name started as an anagram of her Mom and Dad's names (Stoker and Kilo). You can make some pretty neat combinations with those two names, but the one we stuck on was "Eko". I was concerned it wouldn't get pronounced correctly, but wanted something a little different from "Echo" so we decided on "Ecko". Little did I know when we named her that there is a clothing line named Ecko Unlimited. They have some cool logos featured on some of their tee-shirts and other items and I stopped by our local outlet center last spring to buy some "Ecko" tee-shirts for Jan and I. The logo below is an example of one of the many on their website.

It got me thinking about making a logo for our very own little parti-girl and here is what I came up with.

I had fun with the project, but I wonder: do you suppose the other dogs will be jealous because they don't have their own logos?

fun with words

I found a cool new website today that will make "word clouds" out of words you submit. You can change colors, fonts etc and tweak the layout until it is pleasing to you. Here is a "wordle" I made for Ecko. If you click on it, it will take you to the wordle website and display it full-sized.

another day, another dog show

There was a two day show in Albany this weekend and Cooper, Ecko and Reef were all entered. We entered Reef and Cooper to help build a major in males, and also because this is a small show and a good place to give the boys some experience in showing. Judges Edd Bivin and Karen McFarland were both extremely nice and patient with all the pups that were entered.

The only big win for our crew was Winners Dog and Best of Winners for Jessie's boy Rebel on Saturday. This is Rebel's second major and he only needs 2 more points to finish his championship now. Way to go Jess and Rebel!

Reef and Cooper went head to head in the 12 to 18 puppy class with Reef getting the nod on Saturday and Cooper on Sunday. It was great to have three Kilo pups (Reef, Cooper and Luke) and one Kilo grand-pup (Rebel) showing in the dog classes both days.

The Dog Burglar...

Jessie and Julie met at my house (sort of a half-way point for both of them from their houses) to groom Julie's dog today. Jan and I were gone at work, and the pack 'o four was extremely happy to have people arrive to entertain them. While there, in addition to grooming Cooper, Jess practiced weave poles with all four dogs and dremeled all the dog's nails. I wish Jess would stop by my house more often while I am at work. What a concept.... Sort of a caped crusader for dog owners and their bored pups.

I got Chili's RA title in the mail today. 2009 has started off with a bang with two titles earned already so far (Chili's RA and Decker's OAJ). It got me thinking, just how many titles could a somewhat motivated dog owner with four eager dogs and a bit of an undersized budget earn in a year? I'll keep you posted as the year progresses...

Excellent Decker

Decker was a very naughty boy on his excellent standard run at the agility trial we went to yesterday, running behind my back to take the off-course dog walk for his second obstacle. Bad Decker! Luckily he redeemed himself later in the day by qualifying in Open Jumpers with a fourth place finish to earn his OAJ title. With some more weave pole practice and work on our rear crosses, I think Decker and I will really be rolling in agility... What fun!