The sharp-eyed among you will note that the t-shirts have been removed from the Finals store. Not to worry if you procrastinated and want one after all; we’ll have more available on site at the Finals. And if this heat wave keeps up, we might have a run on them!

The framed original oil painting of Peggy Wilkinson’s beautiful Finals poster will be for sale and can be seen at the Fundraiser tent at the Finals. The price is $2200.00, with 10% going back to the Finals.

I’m kind of in love with this great Google Maps app that I used to create a page to help guide people to the Finals. These are not your father’s set of directions!

This just in--a list of the vendors that we can expect at the 2010 Finals. Stop drooling and limber up those wallets!

We have two new wonderful promotional videos. The first one was done entirely by Denise Wall--she took the shots, edited hours and hours of footage, wrote the narration, and even convinced her husband to do the voiceover. The results are pretty spectacular:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZSpDvcIMM


The second one was done using Denise's footage, but the producers of the streaming video produced it for us. It's a very different look-and-feel from the the first one, but I think it's terrific as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH0Y34d6ngA

Please feel free to forward these URLs to anyone you think might be interested. The first one is featured on the site’s home page, as well as on the page discussing the working sheepdog. The second is embedded in the web cast page.

The eye clinic at Belle Grove will take place on Sunday, September 19 and Friday, September 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a break for lunch. The examining ophthalmologist will be Dr. Nancy Bromberg, DACVO, since Dr. Acland is unable to attend this year. Competing dogs and other ABC-registered dogs will be examined without charge, courtesy of the ABCA. Other dogs will be charged a fee of $30.00. Competing dogs receive priority; other dogs will be examined as time permits, so please don't everybody plan on coming the second day -- the more balanced the number of dogs are between the two days, the more dogs overall can be examined. There may be a limit on the number of dogs one individual owner can have examined.

Please bring your registration papers with you. You will need to know your dog's registration number and date of birth. The registration number of competing dogs will be in the finals program, but the date of birth will not.

Thanks, and if you have any questions please feel free to contact Eileen Stein.

Check out our bios of Dennis Birchell, Jennifer Clark-Ewers, Haley Howard, and Allistair Lyttle, our intrepid and illustrious judges!

Laurie Anderson will deliver raw food to the Finals for those handlers whose dogs are on a raw diet and who might not be able to travel with all that they need. To order, fill out this form and send it to Laurie. For more information, contact Laurie by email or call her at 540-336-4707.

The nice, healthy flock is gearing up for the Finals!

The running orders for the Open and Nursery finals are up!