January 22, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Kennel Club.

This year we had fewer people at Kennel Club. I was delighted to have 30 agents on the list to qualify for Kennel Club. But the spirit was the same. Lia's was the restaurant of choice, in Friendship Heights. The meal was magnificent and was perhaps the most elegant dinner ever , with a different wine for each of the six courses. The gold dog was a terrier. All the agents in attendance loved the evening, and now are keen to make the list next year. Receiving an invitation to Kennel Club is very difficult. An agent must have three transactions for ten months of the year, or have 36 transactions in the year. Each month we have a Top Dog Lunch, for all the agents who had the three transactions that month. It all is very silly, but it is a lot of fun. I give each Agent a different gold dog at Kennel Club, so by now an agent who made Kennel Club each year would have 18 gold dogs. As the price of gold continues to go up, the size of our dog goes down, so perhaps we will end up with a toy poodle. It is all great sport and the agents love the event.

For my 65Th birthday, the agents gave me a gold charm bracelet. Each charm was one of the gold Kennel Club dogs. Each year I add the latest dog to my bracelet. By now I wear on my wrist a lot of gold. This year at Kennel Club, Rhonda was wearing a new bracelet, given to her for Christmas by her husband , containing all her gold dogs as charms on her bracelet. She was not aware that he had removed her seven dogs from her drawer, but when she opened her Christmas gift, there was her charm bracelet of all her dogs. Now she moved from California eight years ago and joined our office seven years ago, so made Kennel Club every year. She was thrilled with her gift and has been wearing it every day since Christmas. Gary was the only agent last evening who had been present at every one of our dinners, so last evening he wore every dog on his tie. It looked very impressive indeed, although a tad ridiculous. It is all in good sport. It certainly is one of the most enjoyable events of the year.