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— Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun —
April
10, 2006 – This
week's DaDane features six-year-old Maud, CH Chroma Maid to Order,
CGC, who first appeared five+ years ago on DaDane of DaWeek in Pajama Party and
Unjustly Accused;
she
later appeared in Operation
Hoover. I first met Maud at the 2000 Nationals in JP Yousha's
hotel room where she was jumping wildly from
bed to bed. (It was Maudie jumping, not JP.) To characterize Maud as "lively" would
have been an understatement. Her exuberant energy practically lit up
the room.
A couple of years ago Maud left
her beloved breeder, JP, and retired to San Luis Obispo, CA,
to reside quite happily with co-owners Mary and Greg Lugo. It was
a good move and she continues to lead a charmed
life, as you'll soon see. I photographed Maud as she performed in the
parades at the 2005 National. Afterwards, I created the photomontage
for Mary (shown above) to commemorate the wonderful time they shared
together in the ring.
Maud has
many surprising talents, not the least of which is her ability to write
modestly and intelligently. Here
we have a few excerpts from her diary, which was recently discovered
by Mary; It was tucked under the one of the couch cushions:
— DIARY OF A "BARBIE DANE" —
BISS CH Chroma Maid to Order,
TDI, CGC
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Who
says you can’t be beautiful
and smart!
My name is Chroma Maid to Order, or “Maud” to those of
you who know me personally. I’m a six and a half year old Champion
Harlequin Great Dane, and I am very beautiful. I was bred and trained
by JP Yousha
and I now live with Greg and Mary Lugo. Many of my relatives in the
Chromadane line have multiple
performance and conformation titles. Chromadane is
well known for combining brains and beauty.
 It has not
always been easy for me to hide my innate intelligence and play the
dumb beauty queen.
My mother,
Tia, is a now a Venerable Dane.
My half brother Pirate is another BISS Champion. He has enough letters
after his name to start his own alphabet. I haven’t even mentioned
Picabo and Fanny. My brother Guidon is about to finish his third UD
leg... and these are just the “older generation.” You
wouldn’t
believe all the things the “pups” are doing!
Under Cover
I have had
to work hard to stay under the radar and maintain my "Barbie Dane"
image. I didn’t get the nickname 'Naughty Maudie' without
a lot of hard work and imagination. We all have to be good at something
– and being stunningly beautiful is enough for me.
When I was four years
old I moved from Texas to the central coast of California to become
a Beach Bunny. Life is good here. I am appreciated for my
beauty, and I have a young male Harlequin to worship me. But sometimes
I get irked at all this fuss about Dual
Titled Danes so I thought I
would share with you some of my other accomplishments.
My VST's (Very
Special Titles)
You may not
have heard about these titles before (although I’m sure many
of your dogs are already quite adept ) so I will briefly explain them:
PP - Pillow Princess
This title is obtained by consistently being able to artfully arrange
6 pillows on a king size bed, then lying on all 6 pillows without
leaving room for an other dog (or person) to lie down.
CCF - Countess
of Cat Food
This title is obtained by carefully, and in a controlled manner, jumping
up on the table and eating all of the cat food from a teacup sized
bowl. This action must be performed with all four paws on the top of
the table and without pushing the bowl onto the floor.
DD - Duchess
of Dirt
This title is obtained by changing the color of the muzzle from pink
and white to dark brown within one day of being groomed. The remainder
of the body may also be involved in the color change, but no extra
points are awarded.
GG - Goddess of the Guard
This title is obtained by being able to warn the household of all intruders
and calling other household pets to their posts without ever leaving
her position on 6 artfully arranged pillows on a king-sized bed.
QMC
- Queen Mother of Cats
This title is obtained by being so determined not to loose her position
on the bed that she will allow a cat to curl up against her stomach
and sleep (one of the most difficult titles).
SS - Saint of Silly
This title is obtained in many different ways, some of which include
throwing your toys into the air and jumping up to catch them, entering
a room with such a flourish that everyone will notice and applaud,
and making everyone around you smile.
All of these titles can be obtained
at a Companion, Excellent, and Utility level. |
MY "OFFICIAL" TITLES...
AKC Champion
I finished my championship with a BISS and BOB's from the classes, taking most
of my points at Specialty Shows. I defeated 6 Specials (including 3 Top 20 Danes)
to take a BISS from Open Harl, was BOW twice at Specialties and then finished
with two four-point majors (defeating 26 bitches to finish).
TDI Therapy Dog
I think it’s important to contribute to the community. Volunteer work is
a very necessary job.
Canine Good Citizen
Well, what can I say, good citizenship is everyone’s responsibility.
Iron Dog’s Camp -
Best Canine Freestyle Dog
What did you expect? I didn’t go to camp to play with a frisbee or chase
tennis balls.
AKC Veteran
This year I took a ribbon in Veteran’s Bitch at the 2005 GDCA National
Specialty.
West Coast Musical Dog Sports
I am a founding member of the canine freestyle dance team. We do public demos
to introduce people to yet another fun activity they can enjoy with their dogs.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES
Rally-O
I have started practicing Rally-O to maintain my lovely figure. Mary is beginning
to catch on that I’m as smart as I am beautiful. Oh well, beauty can be
fleeting, but smart lasts forever...
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I
think Maud inherited her talkativeness from her breeder, JP, who (as
is often the case)
has a few comments of her own to add:
As
you've seen, Maud has many talents, but having puppies didn't turn
out to be one of them,
unfortunately. Mary
and Greg Lugo patiently waited for a Maudie pup through three attempts
to see her
bred. So after the third failure, when I had to disappoint them yet
again and ask them to wait
for the
next litter, well, I was hating to make that phone call.
 When
I called to break the news, Mary suggested I think about letting them
have
Maud instead. At first I rejected the idea. I had no plans
to
place Maud and, spayed or not, I was very attached to her. But I knew
the Lugos had recently lost an older girl and their
young male was at sea without her, so getting an adult instead of a
puppy suddenly
made
a lot of sense.
The Lugos knew
a lot about my dogs and they were already very fond of Maud. It was
clear they
would make her the centerpiece of their world and provide a really
super
home.
They
promised to continue the therapy work she loved and maybe even "dabble" in
other activities. Plus, they lived on the beach (Maud's
favorite place) while I lived in a near-desert, her
least favorite kind of environment. So, once
I got used to the idea, it seemed an ideal match.
But
"Momma-Bear"
that I am, I told them they could have her without cost, but
ONLY if they came to my home, spent the weekend and let me observe
them with her. They needed to understand there were no promises
to be made about actually taking her home with them. Nice people that
they are, they didn't think me crazy for asking them to drive
halfway across
the USA just to look at a dog.
 When the Lugos
arrived, not only did all my dogs love them, but Mary walked in with
a fuzzy Barbie
purse. Maud grabbed the handle and ran wildly around the house with
her present, only to come to rest in Mary's lap on the couch. It was
obvious from
the start that Maud was voting to go wherever Mary went – it
was just one of those love matches. And that's how it happened that
Maud moved to California.
Fast-forwarding
– I loved showing Maud at the 2005 National. I was so grateful
Mary gave me the
chance
not only to show Maud, but just to see her and hug on her again! Maud
was a joy to handle – totally "push button," even
though she hadn't been shown for four years. But my favorite
moment
at the National was watching Maud and Mary in Parades. Unprompted,
Maud took a "victory
lap" around
the ring all by herself, at a perfect trot, as if she had an invisible
handler on her, while Mary watched in astonishment. She then returned
to Mary and looked up at
her as if to say, "Don't worry Dear. I know
you're new at this, so I covered for you." — jpY
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