This past weekend we had Chinfest! This is when a few Japanese Chin owners and their dogs get together and have fun times playing (for the dogs) and talking (for the humans)! Lots of pictures are below.
We headed over to the hotel on Friday afternoon, and Widget was the only Chin there at the time. This was a great introduction to Chinfest, as Widget and Hestia had a really fun time playing! They were perfectly matched in play styles! Alice got to join in a little, but she liked to stay in my lap for quite a bit of it.
Eventually other Chin arrived, and we had 9 Chin all in the same room! The Chinnies that were there are as follows (all Chin are black and white unless otherwise specified):
Hestia: Larger clownface, meaning she has one eye covered with black, and the other eye covered with white. She also has a dark stain underneath her white eye.
Alice: Tiny sable and white clownface.
Finn: Tiny sable and white. Finn is Alice’s half sister and they were raised together—he is 1 week older than she is!
Widget: Classically marked boy with a lot of black on his face.
Giuseppe: Chin with short cut ears.
Emelia: Tri-color Chin (white, black, and brown).
Xiao-Xiao: Smaller clownface with a white belly band on.
Cindy Lou Who: Freckled Chin (salt and pepper with an overall speckled gray appearance).
Gypsy: Shaved Chin with a tongue that sticks out.
It was a bit wild with all 9 in the room, and I couldn’t keep watch on everything so I left my girls on leash for most of that afternoon. Plus, a couple of the Chin didn’t like Hestia getting in their faces, so I wanted to ensure she didn’t bother anyone (she is overly friendly).
We ended up getting takeout from Olive Garden for dinner, and Finn and Gypsy plus their humans left for their rooms and left early the next day so we didn’t get to see them again. They were on part of a long trip.
We hung out for a while longer, until Brad and Scarlet were about to drop! Then headed home.
The next morning, Brad and Scarlet were too tired to come with, so I took Alice and Hestia by myself over to the hotel for breakfast. Heather (Giuseppe and Emelia’s mom) held Alice while Hestia and I got food. Caroline (Xiao-Xiao and Cindy Lou Who’s mom) got food with us and was SO impressed by Miss Hestia’s working manners 🙂
With only seven dogs, I felt more comfortable letting Alice off leash first, and eventually Hestia! Everyone was off leash together for most of the day. Hestia learned not to bother the two Chin who didn’t want to be bothered, which was great 🙂
Caroline brought a puzzle toy, and only Hestia and Alice were really into it. They spent about 10 minutes figuring it out, and had a ton of fun!
We also spent about an hour FaceTiming with the breeder several of us use. She was a wealth of knowledge about Chin in general, and also told us all how our dogs were related. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot! She and her husband got COVID so weren’t able to be there like they planned.
At lunch time, I drove home to pick up Brad, feed the dogs, and grab a sandwich. Then we headed back over to the hotel.
We spent the afternoon playing in the room while a huge storm raged outside! There was lots of thunder and lightning and wind and rain.
Brad managed to get great photos and video of the second afternoon!
Caroline brought some freeze dried beef liver treats, and the dogs went wild for them! All seven pups were around Caroline waiting their turn (mostly!) for treats. Hestia was trying to do every trick she knew to get treats, and she kept trying to steal Alice’s treats, though! Naughty Hestia!
After all the other dogs were pooped, Hestia and Emelia still had energy so people were throwing balls for them. Hestia and Emelia did a great job of chasing their respective balls and not stealing each others, though a couple of times they did decide to swap who was chasing which one. They were very respectful of each others’ space while running and chasing balls!
When it was dinner time, I dropped Brad and Alice off at home and we were able to see the damage from the storm! A huge construction fence was blown over into the road on our way home, and the power was out at our house. The others took a different route to the Roasting Company, and they saw a tree down!
We sat on the patio of the Roasting Company while rain poured down around us. It was actually really nice there! The dogs made friends at surrounding tables, and we had fun talking and eating.
When I did finally get home, I was soooooo exhausted!
I hope you enjoy all the pictures! Videos to come soon!
