And The Winner Is!!

Mango Minster is over for another year and it was sooo exciting.

We at the Portuguese Water Blog wanted to do something special for all the winners, so here is the big parade we threw. As you can see a lot of famous dogs and cats wanted to  honor our winners. Snoopy leads the parade.

Now for those of you who may have missed the official announcements, here are the winners in the great Mango Minster 2011.

Honorable Mentions:
    Charlie and Emma - Good Old Boys
    El'bow  - Good Old Boys
    Brutus   - Bad Sports

The People's Choice voted on by the readers:
        Carmen - Diva Dog
        Rusty   - Good Old Boys
        Fudge  - Bad Sports
        Milk   - Kittehs
        Bibi-Chan -  Kittehs
        Gretchen  - Insane Cracker Dogs
        Rudy  - BIS

Third Place Winners:
      Avalon  -Diva Dogs
      Guinness   - Good Old Boys
      Pepsi   - Bad Sports
      Praline   -Kittehs
      Charlie   - Insane Cracker Dogs
      Moose  - BIS

Second Place Winners:
       Tucker  - Diva Dogs
       Sarge   - Good Old Boys
       Ambrose   - Bad Sports
       Menace   - Kittehs
       Lacie   - Insane Cracker Dogs
       Milk   - BIS

First Place Winners:
        Sissy  - Diva Dogs
        Rudy  - Good Old Boys
        Moose  - Bad Sports
        Milk   - Kittehs
        Mischka  - Insane Cracker Dogs

And now the Best In Show Winner of Mango Minster 2011 :
          
            Our Favorite Shameless Diva Dog - Sissy

Congratulations to all the contestants. You're all winners. A big thanks to the judges, you did a great job. Thanks to all who supplied prizes and to everyone who took time to vote and a huge thank you to Mango, Dexter and their Mama. It took a lot of time and effort and you did  a great job. We all look forward to next year.

And don't forget - Bandana Day is June 10 here at the Portuguese Water Blog. Our color this year is GREEN. We'll be dropping reminders from time to time.

Best In Show

Can you feel the excitement building? This is it, the Mango Minster 2011 Best In Show competition. First let me give you a little rundown of those who will be strutting their stuff tonight on the  green carpet.

The winner of the Diva Dog Group is our good buddy Sissy.

The winner of the Good Old Boy Group is Rudy.

The winner of the Bad Sport Group is Moose.

The winner of the Kitteh Group is Milk.

The winner of the Insane Cracker Dog Group is Mischka.

There they are, the select group of five from whom the next Mango Minster BIS will be chosen. We have just 24 hours to vote, so don't delay. The winner will be our internets representative for the rest of the year. Tomorrow we will congratulate all the winners as we celebrate their victories.

New Development

Later today we'll continue our Mango Minster coverage with the info on Best In Show, but this morning we have something more serious to report.

For the last few days I've noticed some troubling things going on with Samba. There was nothing major I could point to, but a feeling that something wasn't right. First I noticed that it was taking her longer to eat than normal. Usually she's the first one finished, but lately she's been one of the last.

Her right eye didn't seem to be blinking the way it should. It seemed slow to respond. The thing that bothered me most was a certain movement she made with her lower jaw. It almost looked like her teeth were chattering. At first when I noticed it, I thought it was excitement, but it's been happening more and more.

None of these things seem terribly important by themselves, but given the disease we've been dealing with, I had a nagging little voice in my head saying "Check it out". I put it off for a few days, but then decided that I'd rather have Dr B laugh at me and tell me I was seeing things, then to miss an early sign of trouble and regret it later.

This morning we paid a visit to Dr B. I felt a little silly describing the signs that were bothering me. First he looked at Samba's eyes. The left one looks pretty normal now, but the right one was doing something strange. The lower lid blinks normally, but the upper lid doesn't blink at all. The eye is moist, but we're going to start using the ointment again to keep it moist. He thinks it will come around in time.

Then Dr B examined Samba's jaw and mouth. The top jaw is doing really well, no pain and it works almost normally. The lower jaw is a different story. It's painful and the chattering is a sign of pain and weakness.

First he took blood for a CBC. We're hoping that we might be dealing with an infection and a course of antibiotics could take care of it. If her blood count is normal, then we know she's having a flare up of the MMM. For the time being we're increasing her Prednisone to get it under  control. It's not a full blown relapse because the upper jaw is still fine, but we'll have to adjust her medications and begin the decrease again. We're also looking into changing her diet, radically increasing her Omega 3s in the hopes of helping her body fight off the disease.

We knew this was a chronic disease and there might be setbacks, but so far she's responded so well that we were hoping it would continue. Aside from the paralysis, this is our first major setback and I have to admit, I 'm pretty bummed about it. I'm very glad I decided to share my concerns with Dr B. He told me to trust my instincts, that what I saw was real, and we're still ahead of the disease.

We need the Power of the Paw today. Keep Samba in your thoughts this weekend as we fight to get this awful disease under control again.

Those Unpredictable Dogs

I won! Everybody likes me! See, I'm not such a bad guy! Mom loves me even if I do make things up as I go along. Thank you to Mango and all my fellow contestants and especially everybody that voted for me.

 There's only one more regular category left in Mango Minster. Today we vote for the Insane Cracker Dogs.

Don't worry, these aren't really insane dangerous dogs, these are those wonderful, unpredictable, silly, try anything dogs.

There's another great line up to choose from, so exercise that clicker finger one more time and pick a winner.

After the top Cracker Dog is chosen by the judge, the winner of each group will go on to Best in Show. Wow!!! That will choose the Mango Minster 2011 dog to represent us for the rest of the year. That's pretty important stuff.

 And thanks again everybody. I'm a popular guy. I wish you could all see me doing my happy dance. Where's that stupid camera when you need it? I won!

Attention All Kitties

Can you believe we're already half way thru Mango Minster 2011? It's been really exciting so far, but today is a very special day. It's the judging of the Cats and Kittens.

I'm Tsar and I'm the reigning Mango Minster Cat of the Year 2010.

Now I can hear those grumbles out there. You're saying "He's not a cat!"  Well folks, I'm a cat born in the body of a big dog. I think like a cat, act like a cat, and have Mom and Dad convinced that I'm a cat. I guess I'm trans-species. 

Anyway, enough about Moi. This year's line up of Kitteh contestants is stunning. There are some lovely kitties in the ring. The judges will be having a tough time choosing a winner.

Go to Mango Minster, here, and cast your vote for the fancy feline of your choice. the winners will be announced tomorrow.

Don't you wonder what they're looking at?

Cheers

  Fudgie Wudgie, he's our guy!

 We love those bad boys! Think Fudge!

 Vote for Fudge, the original bad sport!

 We love Fudge!!

 Go, Fudge, go!

 Fudge for Bad Sport!

 Gotta love those Bad Boys! Yea Fudge!

This is the day!! The one we've all been waiting for! We get to vote for Fudge!

Go vote now!! Vote for Fudge, the best bad boy of all!

Make this the face of Mango Minster 2011 Bad Sport of the Year!!!!  Don't forget, everybody with an internet connections can vote. So, vote for Fudge.

I'm Fudge and I approved this message, especially all the hot doggy cheerleaders.

Good Old Boys

Fudge here.

Just a quick reminder to go over to Mango Minster and vote for the one of the Good Old Boys who are in the ring today. 

Later today the judges will announce the winner of yesterday's Diva Dog entry. The excitement is building. Can't you feel it?

And tomorrow, Wednesday, is the most important day of all, because that's the day that I, Sir Fudge The Magnificent, will be strutting my stuff in the big ring. Get those clicker fingers loosened up.