Barns, BBQ & Bales of Cotton

While we were down in Charleston last weekend, I also had an opportunity to meet with Mr. Kirby Player, who is the editor of a great new book called "Barns, Barbecue & Bales of Cotton." This is a pictorial book showing old barns all across the state of South Carolina, giving the history of barbecue in South Carolina and an overview of all of the top agricultural commodities in South Carolina. If you or someone you know loves old barns, barbecue or agricultural history in South Carolina, you will LOVE this book!! It is on sale right now for $39.95 plus shipping and handling. Go to: http://www.clemson.edu/cafls/ All proceeds from the sale of this book go towards supporting agricultural youth education programs, including S.C. Commissioner's School for Agriculture, which is a program that Ms. Beth works with every summer, promoting career opportunities for young people in the Agriculture, Forestry & Natural Resource industries. For more information about SC Commissioner's School for Agriculture, please visit: http://www.clemson.edu/cafls/sccsa/

Southeastern Wildlife Exposition 2010

I spent this past weekend with Ms. Beth in Charleston at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. The S.C. Department of Agriculture was a corporate sponsor at this wonderful event and they had a tent outside of the Gaillard Auditorium featuring wonderful chefs cooking with SC products, as well as many small businesses across the state that create wonderful food products using SC Grown items. I was there to see how the crowd would interact with me and to see how stressed I would get. Ms. Beth wants me to promote eating Certified SC Grown produce. Because I represent the Boykin Spaniel breed, which is the state dog of SC, my message is going to be promoting the increased consumption of fresh, tasty SC Grown produce, especially to young children. It's important to eat a variety of fresh, nutritious SC produce to help young people grow up to be strong, healthy adults! Overall, I had a great time at this event. I loved meeting new people and Ms. Beth talked non-stop about Boykin Spaniels, training me and the importance of eating Certified SC Grown!!

Snow in SC!!!!

We had a record amount of snow and ice in South Carolina this past weekend! I was especially fascinated by the icicles that formed on the railings!! Check out some of the pictures Ms. Beth took. I had fun running around in the snow. Ms. Madison especially liked the cooler weather and Ms. Beth took a funny video of her playing in the snow. Now, if only Ms. Beth can figure out how to upload videos onto the blog site..... stay tuned!!!

Rally & Obedience Training.

Currently, I am booked up on Wednesday nights!!! I am taking a Rally Novice class with the Greater Columbia Obedience Club. I like the hour I get to spend with Ms. Beth, learning new exercises and practicing my basic obedience skills. I'm getting lots better at quickly responding to the "down" command, and Ms. Beth is thrilled about that. But stay is really taking me a long time.... I just don't understand why she would ever want to walk away from me and not have me right beside her? What a silly command!!! But, I am trying to do better at it because it makes her so HAPPY when I do spend a few minutes laying or sitting in the place where she issued the "stay" command.

Over the weekend of January 16-17, Ms. Beth took me to the Greater Columbia Obedience Trial at the SC State Fairgrounds. I had the opportunity to watch my Uncle Jackson perform at the Rally Excellent and Rally Advanced levels. (see attached pictures). It looks like he was having so much fun!!! I really hope that I can be as enthusiastic and as accurate as him!! He received 3rd and 4th place ribbons on Saturday! Yay Uncle Jackson!!!

I'll have to keep you posted on my progress ;) Until next time, Happy Training!!