retrieverluvr

LaCrosse here we come!

2010-02-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

January 31st

Since I want to finish off Bells NATCH this year, I need to show......there aren't many local shows anymore so I decided last minute to go to LaCrosse for the day. I hadn't been there before, and didn't know how long it would take, or how the show would run. I was PLEASANTLY surprised!!!

The show started at 8:00 so I had to leave FLIPPIN early! 4:30. NOT my cup of tea. WWCDTC had its banquet Saturday night, so I packed all my stuff before I went to the banquet, and went strait to bed after I got back. The drive really wasn't bad at all. Kinda a strait shot! I got there a little before 8 with a McDonalds stop for coffee and a potty break. The show ran really well and was well organized.

Bell Q'd in 1 round of Elite Standard. She dropped a bar in round 2. She also got a Chances leg and a Jumpers leg. She finally finished off her Elite Touch and GO title. I thought we were done, but according to NADAC records we were not. I also ran her in tunnelers for fun and she had a blast and took an extra tunnel. So she got 3 more Q's towards her NATCH. I think we only need like 14 more. 6 Chances and the rest in jumpers and just a few in Standard. Gettin there!!!

Qwik went for fun and I entered her in Novice Jumpers and Novice Tunnlers for fun. She did really well in Jumpers, Q'd. She also Q'd in Tunnlers and had a blast. She likes tunnels alot.

Their Tunnlers runs are below.

I am trying to show Bell the turns are tight and she ignores me. I shoulda tried rear crosses to show her the turn...but whatever, that prolly wouldn't have worked anyways.

UKC Agility

2010-02-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

Sunday January 24th

WWCDTC or as UKC know it, Bark River Dog Training Club, hosted a UKC Agility Trial. I had Bell entered in AG1 and AG2 Both rounds and she is going for UACH points. She has 10 points out of the 100 needed. Qwik was entered in AG2 both rounds. This was her first time entered in AG2 and needs 3 legs for the title. I also was running DeeDee the golden and she needed 1 more AG2 leg for her title then she would be going for points like Bell.

AG2 was first! DeeDee and Qwik Qualified and Qwik got first place! DeeDee had a few points off but did REALLY well and SMOKED the weave poles and teeter! She ran BEAUTIFUL and earned that last leg towards her UAG2 title!! Bell Droped a bar but ran really, really nice.

AG2 Round 2 was next Bell and Qwik Qualified with PERFECT scores. 1st and 2nd Place! Bell earned 10 more ACH points. DeeDee was missin weave poles so she just went for some fun!

AG1 was next. Bell was the only one in Round 1. She Q'd with a perfect 200, FIRST place and 10 ACH points!

AG1 round 2 was last and Bell and DeeDee both Q'd with PERFECT scores and they each got 10 more points towardes their UACH's! YAY

I was about to take our picture and then they announced the HIGH in Trial dogs and High Combined dogs. Bell got HIGH in Trial an HIGH combined for Trial 2!!! YAY

A good UKC weekend

QWIK HIGH IN TRIAL!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

1-9-10 - 1-10-10
The dog club I belong to, www.seespotsit.com was hosted an this obedience show.
Bell was entered in Open B and Utility B both days and we were on the lookout for OTCh points and UDX legs! Qwik was in Novice B Both days too. I have a goal with her to get a High in trial. She can only show in Novice untill she gets a High in Trial. Then we can't show in Novice but once she is trained she will be shown in Open.

Saturday went well. Qwik was in the ring first and did a GREAT job! She won the class with a 198.5 I was THRILLED! I was just crossin my fingers and toes that the score would hold and she would get High in trial.

Bell was in Open first and Qualifyed. She did some silly things that put her out of the placements. She self released on one finish before the judge said "exercize finsished" and then she never sat at heel when I sent her. Werid.....She never does that stuff in training. She Q'd though and had a good attitude. Unfortunatly when they handed out ribbons the dog that took first place also got a 198.5. It was an OTCh dog and a VERY experienced trainer, she does seminars all over the country. I thought right away..there is NO WAY we can beat her in a runoff!!

Then Bell showed in Utility. She did a nice job and sat on all her finishes and didn't do the silly stuff like she did in Open. I was happy about that! She ended up with 2nd place for 3 OTCh points! She is now at 51 points and has all the wins needed. YAY.

At the end of the day came the Runoff for High in Trial..Qwik was HIGH AS A KITE! She was up and ready to go. I was soooooo excited! She pranced through the heeling pattern and was all there and miss perky pants. I was THRILLED! She did such a nice job. She didn't win it....but I could NOT have been more pleased with her! YAY!!!

Sunday.....
After a late start and after spilling my ENTIRE coffee under the seat of my car, gurrrrrrrrrr. Qwik was first in Novice again. She was all pumped and ready to go. She did a nice job too! Before I went in I handed my video camera to a friend to tape us. I am always leerly of taping Obedience. It can go to crap in a second and I hate looking back on tape at that painfull experience. But I was sure happy with this run!!! Sorry to Bore you with Obedience though...

She earned a 199 and First place! A Flippin 199! YEEE HAW! How awesome is that!
I was sooooooo hoping that score would hold! YIPPIE SKIPPIE!

Bell was up next in Open and Qualified. She did a really nice job and behaved. She got 3rd place and was just out of the OTCh points. No biggie.....BUT the first place dog ended up with a 199......another Tie for High in Trial with the Qwiksta!!! It was with another Border Collie who was up with the top dogs in the country last year.

Bell finished with Utility and was very happy and excited to be showing. She was so happy she anticipated the Drop for Signals. So she failed. She did well otherwise though!!!

Then came the Runoff for HIGH IN TRIAL with miss Qwik.

YAHOOO!!!!!! SHE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about exciting! This made my year! And it's only January!!!!!!!!

2009 in review...

2009-12-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

Here is what we all accomplished in 2009

January 18th
Qwik earned her UAG1

February 22nd
Qwik finished her NOVICE TUNNELERS title, and Bell finished her ELITE TUNNELERS title

February 15th
Bell earned her UAG1 title. That also earned her her UAG2 beacuse she needed the 1 title first.

March 1st
Bell earns her AKC UDX2

April 12th
Qwik earns her first AKC Novice Rally leg.

April 21st-25th
CCRCA National
Qwik earns her Rally Novice title, her first NA and NAJ legs also.
Diesel earns his WCX, and got 2nd in Super Singles, and also WON the Hunting Retriever Dog Class!

May 17th
Bell earns a HIGH IN TRIAL
Qwik earned her first RA leg

May 31st
Bell earns a HIGH COMBINED
Qwik earns her RA

June 20th
Qwik earns her first CD leg

June 28th
Qwik earns her RE

July 5th
Bell earns her OA
Qwik earns her NA

July 12th
Qwik earns her CD

August 9th
Bell and Qwik earn their WCX

August 15th
Qwik earns her First JH leg

August 23rd
Qwik earns her UKC SHR title

September 20th
Bell earns her first UKC HR leg

September 29th
Bell earns her first AKC SH leg

Oct 25th
Bell earns her MXJ and AX and NF

Dec 3rd
Qwik earns her NAJ

Quite a year!

Qwik is now
UAG1 SHR CH Sun Devil Seas Blazin' for Shore CD RE NA NAJ WCX UWC CGC

Bell is
UAG2 SHR Light it up Blazin' Bell UDX2 OM1 RAE JH MXJ AX NJP NAP WCX EJC ECC EAC TN-E TG-0 WV-E

I thought I would see how we did on our goals that I set back in January.

Here they were:

for Bell:
Be ready to enter an AKC Senior Hunter test (YES! and 1 Senior PASS!!)
Enter a UKC Seasoned test (YES!! and 1 Seasoned Pass!!)
Finish her NADAC NATCH (no..We made some headway and are 17 Q's away)
Get closer to finishing her AKC OTCH (yeah sorta.... Shes at 48 points out of the 100 needed...I would have liked to have seen MORE Points...but...)
Finish her AKC MXJ (YES! And she finished her AX!)
Earn her GRCA WCX (YES and with flying colors!!)

for Qwik:
Earn her CD and CDX (Just her CD. still work on training for the CDX)
Earn her AKC Junior Hunter title and be ready to enter a Senior Hunter Test (NOPE BIG fail here. She needs one more JH leg and isn't even close to touching a SH test!)
Finish all AKC and NADAC Novice Agility titles (YES for AKC. I decided NOT to show her in NADAC...maybe just for fun and a few titles...But I think I am going to do USDAA instead.)
Finish her UKC Started Hunter title and enter a Seasoned test (Yes for the SHR. But BIG NO on the Seasoned test)
Earn her CCRCA WCX (Yup YUP! She passed the Golden WCX which is harder than that Curlies!)
Break 20 feet for Dock jumping! (No. I didn't even attempt training it.)

So not too shabby. I like the whole Goal setting thing though!!! It gives me a challenge and some ambition!

Here are my Title goals for 2010:

For BELL!
Earn her AKC SH
Earn her UKC HR
Earn her UKC UACH
Earn her NADAC NATCH
Be up to 75 points towards her AKC OTCh
Earn her AKC MX and possibly some QQ's??

For QWIK!
Finish her JH and earn at least 2 SH passes
Earn her UKC HR
Earn her AKC CDX and UD
Earn her AKC OA, OAJ, AX, AXJ

I think they are all acheiveable as long as me and the girls stay healthy!

Updates....

2009-12-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

So I have been a little LAZY in updating this.....oops. My NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!!!!

Anyways.....I have some Obedience results to post. Qwik and Bell were entered in 3 shows in November and December.....

November 22nd WWCDTC, Ixonia
Qwik was in Novice B. She got a 197++. She was in a 3 way tie for first place!!! All 3 of us ran off, and then she had just two of us run off again. Qwik had done that heeling pattern 4 times by then and was like....ummm....I think I got it now! Her last runoff was the best out of the 4 patterns. dorkus. But I was happy with her and that was a nice score!!!

Bell was in OpenB and UtilityB She got a 196 in Open. I was VERY pleased with her performance there. She was really trying on her fronts...finishes....not so much. In Utility she got 4th place for 1 OTCh point with a 196. We like showing at home!!!

November 29th at Badger Kennel Club, Madison

Qwik got second in Novice with a 197.5. The judge ran us into a wall...I was NOT pleased with that and Qwik wasn't all that hot. She was being kinda distracted. But she did well..

Bell got 4th in Open...I don't think she got any points though. LOTSA people failed so I think that's why she placed. She had a 197. She Failed Utility She brought back a wrong article, and then missed the come signal. She was WILD. I don't know WHOS dog I had in that ring. She was whining for directed jumping and almost barked. She was leapin up and bein a crazy girl and all. I would rather have that attitude than a slow slug. So hopefully we will find the happy medium!!!

December 3rd at Hounds for the Holidays Agility trial
I wanted to enter Sunday also but it had already filled. Qwik was in Novice Jumpers only and Q'd with a nice run! That earned her her NAJ title!

Bell Q'd in Jumpers with an AWESOME run! I was sooo super happy with her

She NQ'd in Standard for taking an off course tire jump. Her teeter and weaves were good. I didn't tell her to "touch" on the A-Frame so that was my fault.

December 13th at Oshkosh Kennel Club.
Bell failed Utility because she took a wrong jump during directed jumping. She was being wild and crazy and she would NOT look at me. She was staring at the jump. I should have waited till she looked at me....but she wouldn't, and was starting to whine cause she was being impatient. She had other small things that would have taken her out of the placings thought. But I DO like her attitude being all crazy and up. In Open she did well and I thought she would have placed. But alot of the other dogs did really well. She was trying so hard on her fronts and most of her finishes were GREAT!

Qwik got Third in Novice. She did the crappiest she had done in a while. I was kinda ticked at her. She was heeling wide and being distracted by spots on the floor. I just wanted to reach down poke her lill curly butt and tell her to do what she knows! But regardless she has a 196.5 average for Novice in 2009. WHOO HOOO!!!

Agility at WWCDTC

2009-10-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

So we had our fall Agility trial at the club this past weekend. It was a 3 day trial with Friday being the Excellent JWW and Std classes and ALL levels of Fast. Saturday and Sunday was everything including fast. I was in charge of Ribbons and Prizes again. My favorite job! But I did fill in where needed outside if I wasn't running around with my head cut off.

I ran Qwik, Bell, Casey(Yvonnes girl) and DeeDee who is a golden in my classes at the club. Her owner is older and has a hard time keeping up to the dog and she runs well for me.

Friday started out WET, RAINY and WINDY! YUCK! We had Jumpers set up in a river....so we ended up moving the entire ring forward. Talk about a Pain in the Butt!! Bell was in ExB Jumpers and ExA Std and Novice Fast. She Q'd 3 fer 3. Earned her MXJ, and Novice Fast title! The Excellent Std leg she earned was her first AX leg and also first time EVER in Excellent Standard! YAY for the red dog!!!

Casey, Qwik and DeeDee were in Novice fast and they all were naughty/silly/unfocused. So we just had some fun out there! ohhh well.........

Saturday started off windy and cloudy and ended up sunny! It was a werid day. The ground dried off overnight thank goodness......

Bell was in ExB JWW and ExA Std and I moved her up to Open FAST. She Q'd in JWW and STD, earning her SECOND leg towards her AX. She took the wrong side of the tunnel in Fast like a silly dog...gurrrr But she ran really nice!

Qwik was in Novice JWW & Fast and Open Standard. She is not near ready to me moved up in ANY level but I thought it would give ME some more breathing room running the 4 dogs. She ended up Q'ing in Open Standard! She just had one refusal at the weaves, and did the 12 set BEAUTIFULLY!!!! I have only been working 6's with her lately! She had more focus than she has had in the past. She NAILED a 6 set of weaves way out ahead of me though! PROGRESS!!!

Casey tried real hard and almost had a Q in JWW and STD. She went off course in JWW and had a PERFECT run in Std but knocked the last bar which was a double. She had some VERY nice stuff going on though

DeeDee was kinda naughty for me. She bailed on the teeter right above the yellow...ALMOST! She isn't real confident on it yet. Especially outside. She ran OK in the other classes and ALMOST passed Fast. Her time in JWW was over cause she kept going around jumps. But we had some good bonding time!!!

Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day! It was picture perfect. Sunny but cool. LOVE IT!!!!!

Bell Q'd in JWW and STD and earned her AX title! She went 3 fer 3!!! I had that thought in the back of my head and I was like...hmmm....tha'd be cool!!! She's such a good girl. She Q'd in Open fast too with a nice run.

I am giving trying for a MACH a thought. She is 8. She is very consistant and just needs a little maintence on weaves and contacts. Turning tight and not pulling off jumps are her main issue I think....I think it is doable....but I dono if I wanna do it. I will get her NADAC NATCH. She is like 10 Q's away from that. I would LOVE to get a OTCh...but thats a WHOLE HECK of alot of work......And this summer I am gonna push for her Senior Hunter and HRC/UKC field titles. decisions decisons............

Qwik ran nice for me. Her Jumpers run was the best I thought. I haven't been really using handling skills on the Novice girls......I just kinda throw them into open space and slopily change sides. I worked on rear crosses with Qwik...but I know she is just starting to understand them. But I thought what the heck I'll give it a shot cause it ain't like she is going for a title or anything. I did 2 of them and she read them nicely and drove ahead of me and turned the correct direction!!! I was sooo excited!!! She ended up with a Q in JWW. She got called on her a-frame contacts in fast...I gotta train that dog....in Std she was a bit unfocused...but did some good stuff.

Casey earned her NA and NAJ!!!! She was such a good girl. She is so fast and focused when she isn't all nervous about everything. She gave me a scare in Fast. She always has a very flashy a frame. She leaps the apex and does a nice running bottom. Well she lept over the top of the a frame and landed on the ground next to it! I was like ummm......lets try that again girlie. She did it perfect the second time. Silly girl! Alissa from Pet-Personalities.com was there and got a few awesome shots of the guys. She got this one of Casey on Friday and I ordered the rest. They should be here soon.

DeeDee ran MUCH better for me and got a Fast leg. In Std she ran PERFECT except for putting all 4 feet on the teeter and bailing....ALMOST! But everything else was great. She also ran great in Jumpers and Q'd there too!!! YAY for her!

I was totally exhausted running 4 dogs but it was a fun weekend. 5 titles aint bad!!!

OHIO!!!! Qwik's JH????????

2009-10-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

9-26 & 9-27
SO! I was in search of Qwik last 2 legs needed for her Junior Hunter Title. A friend through curlies had mentioned that there was a Double Junior Test, the end of September, in Ohio, and that I could stay at her house if needed. I gave it a thought then checked my schedule at work, and I didn't have many dogs booked! I promplty rescheduled them and made plans to drive to Eastern Ohio to hopefully get those last 2 legs. I also entered Bell in Senior for another shot at that.

We trained Thursday night at Kyle's place with the 2 ducks I was keeping in a crate. MAN O MAN are ducks gross!!! Anyways, I had my dad come out, and we got some pictures of the dogs retriveing the fully feather ducks...unlike our usuall training ducks who many lack a few feathers.

Isn't she so cute!!!

Could it be!!! Bell has her ears up for PICTURES!!!!

Bell Loves birds,

This is Toby. Hes the lab we train with. Hes a good boy and got his JH in 4 strait tries!!! Unlike the lill curly!

So after that training session the dogs were pumped. We left Friday morning after I groomed a few dogs. I made it there in a little over 9 hours. CHICAGO SUCKED!!!! Once I got past there it was smooth sailing.

Once I got there, I unpacked my crap, settled the dogs and we went out to dinner at Smokey Bones. YUMO!!! GREAT choice I must say. Dawn, joined us later...The "us" was Sief, Dawns boyfriend, and Monna from Finland, who was picking up her curly puppy and flying back to Finland with him!

Saturday Morning we got to the test and it was sunny......then it got dark and rained. urgggggggg. Land was first for Miss Qwik, and she did PERFECT! Out and back, and super fast. She did excellent. I was sooo super proud of her. The marks weren't all that easy either. Lots of dogs were failing. Water was next and the rain continued....urggggg. Bell got to be test dog and she throughly enjoyed that. She also got to pick up a few birds that the dogs didn't get. She was SOO happy to be of Service. Qwik ran later in the running order and it was still cool and rainy. When it was her turn she was all pumped. The duck call quacked, and the shot rang out, and the duck splashed into the water...I released her and she didn't jump in.........she fartzed around on the waters edge. Then she tried to run out to it, but you really couldn't get out their easily by foot. Then she just stoped and started eating grass.....I was TICKED!

I quietly took her back to the car and told her how naughty that was once we got there. Then we went to the pond that was next to where we were parked. I sent her into the water and she no-go'd...AHHH HA! I laied into her that we do NOT do that! I set her up and sent her again. She BLASTED into the water. I tossed a bumper out in front of her. I had her on a Flexi leash and she coudn't reach the bumper. So I reeled her back in and told her again how naughty she was for not getting the bumper. Then I uncliped her and sent her in. She hit the water like a ton of bricks. I HOPE that proved a point to her. I was VERY disapointed in the girl. We had done lots of water work at training before we left. But her reasons were....it was cool and rainy, the bird thrower was hand tossing the birds and we are used to wingers tossing those birds way up and making a nice big splash in training. So I can sorta see her point. "But, when I ask you to get into the water, and get a bird, like I KNOW you KNOW how to do, I expect you do it! DARLING!!!!!!"

After we came home and dried off, Seif made the most AMAZING meal. It was Curry Chicken, Beans and Rice, and some Roasted veggies. YUMMMM AWESOME! We hung out and chatted then headed off to bed.

Sunday I was all pumped for. Bell was up first in Senior on Land. It was a Walkup Double that was the same marks we ran in Junior just as a double instead of singles. Do-able. Then a Blind into a field cut full of Strips(it kinda scared me). Then an Honor. Bell did GREAT on her marks. I was worried about her blind but she ALMOST Lined it!!! She ran a GREAT line out there, and then started drifting to the left of it. I sat her and casted her back to it. She was right on top of it but couldn't pin point it. She started to hunt bigger and bigger, so I had to handle her again back to it and she kinda blew me off, but came up with it. As I left the blind line and went to Honor, the Guy Judge said "I'm Sorry." I thought to myself "REALLY!!! Was it that bad!" I got her leash, and my coat, and settled down as they rebirded before the next dog ran. Once they were ready, the female judge came over to me, and said to get ready for the honor. I just told Bell to stay. Then she said..."Take your leash off." I promply did!!! If you honor on leash it means you failed. So I was SOOOO confused. The guy judge must have said "I'm Sorry" cause they had to rebird...but his timing wasn't the greatest!!! I was flip floppin all over! EEK!!! But she was called back to water. :-)

Qwiks land series was next. She did FLIPPIN PHENOMONAL!!! The best she has ever done. Running out and back and PINNIN her marks. GOOD GIRL! I rewarded her with a quick swim in the pond behind the parking area. Little did she know I also was refreshing her to GETTING IN THE WATER!!! YAY

Lunch Break Pictures. The lill liver curly is Olive. Qwiks 3/4ths sister's puppy. Dawn would NOT let me take her home...she's so mean!!!

Bell ran Water next. It took FOREVER to set up the test. The double was do-able and shorter than some of the marks we have run. The Memory bird was along all these stumps but still in open swimming water. The Go bird was across the pond and up on Shore on this hill. Kinda tough. A few dogs gave up and switched to the Memory bird. Bell did awesome. The blind was an angle across, and past 2 points of land. One area was swampy grass and the other was a little island. I sent her back, and she took a great line. Then she started drifting to the left a little bit. I sat her and casted her back to the right and she took a PERFECT line all the way back to it, and picked it up, and brought it in. I was about to start doing cartwheels!!!!!!!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY I got some great compliments from the judges and they even said to each other as I left "Did we make this too easy???" As I walked away I said to myself..."No me and my dog are just THAT GOOD!!! We made it look that easy!" LMAO!!!

Onto Water with Qwik......The marks were short and in open swimming water. PERFECT for the lill girl! It's when they land on land, that we have issues. She did GREAT! Pinned both marks and dove in on the first command and brought them right to my side and was good. YAY for the Beans. One of the judges even gave her perfect 10's all the way around! YOWZA!!! I was ticked that one day can go so good, and the other so bad.....Ohhhhh Well!

9 Hours later and we were back in Wisconsin.....1:30pm. Not to bad!

I would go back in a heartbeat!!! I had a GREAT time!

A GREAT weekend!

2009-10-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

9-20-09

Roz from work got married on Saturday at The Kalahari in The Dells. We all went from work. It was a blast! Everything was beautiful. Very unique indead!!! She had Zebra striped bridesmaid dresses and a really neat flower theme. I LOVED the cake! I had some really awesome pictures on my own camera....I transfered them to a cd and it didnt work. I had already deleted the pictures on the camera disk....urggggggg But here are a few from facebook.

I had planned on staying overnight at the wedding. But there was a UKC/HRC event down at Bong. I just HAD to go! I drove home at night half asleap...then drove down to Bong Half asleap.....yuck

I had Bell entered in Seasoned and Qwik in Started.

Qwik was up first in Started on Land....the BIG TEST!!! She has her started title but wanted to see if my training was doing what I wanted it to. I wanted to make sure she still had the drive and enthusiasm for the game. I have been being harder on her that I was in the past and I wanted to make sure it didn't ruin her drive. I also wanted to see if she would dink around like she did in the past. If she dinked I would know that my training WASN'T doing what I wanted it too. She was perfect. She did everything she needed to and got a nice applause! HURRAY for the confirmation on my training!

Bell was up next in Seasoned on Water...My stumac was ROLLING! I had to pee like 8 times before I ran! CRAZY nervous! It started with a walkup with the bird landing in water about 5 feet in front of you. Bell did PERFECT! Then game the Water blind. This is what she failed on the previous HRC test. It was a simple blind and the dogs could stand in the water. A BIG plus for Bell cause she is uncomfortable treading water. She did GREAT! She even followed the little frog that jumped by the bird on her way out there!!! MY LUCKY DAY!!! Next was a simple double. She did great. SO very proud of the girl. I also did PERFECT on handling the gun! YAY!

Qwik was up next on Water. She did alright. It was real simple. She did screw around a little bit on the first mark. But the second was great. So I knew I had some holes to fill in, in that department.

Bell was up almost last on Land. It was a LONG wait! After the 20th trip to the little girls room.....It wasn't as simple as I had hoped! K now hang with me while I explain it all. First you had a double. The birds were WIDE OPEN! about 180 degrees. So It was kinda confusing for what side you wanted the dog on. You had to sit on a bucket. If you had your dog on your left side...when you would swing to the right you may be blocking your dogs sight or they might not follow you. If they were on your Right you would have to swing INTO them and some dogs will release themselves if you do that to them. Luckily they had the gunners quack to get the dogs attention. Bell was her usuall steady and got the go bird like a champ. The memory bird was a bit tougher. There wasnt much wind. She got almost all the way out when she started to smell the Bird that was planted for the Blind! I was supposed to shoot the gun at a diversion bird when she brought the memory bird back. So i was kinda focusing on the gun and forgot about the Blind bird smell. Bell started to hunt wider and wider and came real close to the blind. I sat her and gave her a BIG over and she took my cast and basically steped on the bird. She came ROARING in and I shot the diversion bird and she brought her bird in and then got the diversion! WHEW!!!! CRAZY!!!!!!

The blind was last and she did great. 3 wistles and she smacked her head on the blind stake. I was laughin at her, the dork. She was like OH there it is! LOL! I was SOOOO proud of the girl. YAY!

So it was a great weekend.

Dock Doggin

2009-09-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

9-13-09

We haven't been able to make it to any dock jumping events this year, mainly because of conflicts with other events. It seemed there were a few local events in spring but I was already entered in Obedience or Agility! I had planned on going to a Hunt test in Michigan this weekend. But I missed the closing date. And I didn't know if I wanted to travel that far 2 weekends in the same month. My field trainer Kyle mentioned he was going to have a booth at Racine Fairgrounds and that they had Dock Dogs there! He had free tickets so I entered the girls. Both girls were EXTREMELY excited about it.

I had been playing around at home with them and they LOVE to just run fast and jump.
Bell has been jumping HUGE at home. Everything is over 20 feet and usually her first one is about 25-26 feet. But that's at home. Her own dock and lake. A pool set up is just not the same for her. She jumped well in practice, but her best all weekend was 17.02. She made it into the Amateur Finals and got a pretty ribbon. She was SOOO slow on the dock! She would chase her toy up. But was slow running to me. She had fun anyways!

BOING!!!!

Bell Lookin at her Toy

Miss Qwik was SUPER excited. She knows the game now. Waiting in line she is constantly diving at me like "LETS GO NOW!!!" She hates waiting her turn. She does like to watch the dogs go ahead of her. She stands and stares at them when they are waiting. As soon as they go, she goes crazy!!! She was a good little jumper though. She kept leaving early so her distances weren't the greatest. Her best all weekend was a 16.09. She got 2 senior legs towards her title. I think it may have been her title if I remember correctly. We will have to wait and see if DockDogs mails us a Title Certificate.

This Racine Sportsman's Fair was supposed to kinda replace the Great Outdoor Festival that was always held in Oshkosh at the EAA grounds. It was small but fun. The local hunt test training club was there and put on a few demos. They had a Speed Retrieve lane and you could run the dogs in it. Both Qwik and Bell did FABULOUS at it and ran it in about 10 seconds. The top time of the weekend was 9 seconds. They also had a bumper scurry. There was 12 bumpers placed among logs and tree branches. You had to stay in this little square and send the dog to get the bumpers. Bell got 11 and the timer ran out when she picked up the 12th one. ALMOST! Qwik got 7 before she lost interest.

I also got to hang out with some cool people!!! Mary S with Nike and Burligh were there. I haven't seen them ALL year! We talked forever and caught up. My friends Andy and Cassie with their Black lab Toby ran him in dock dogs and the speed retrieve. He did really well too! I think next year he will be rockin in Dock jumping. He's still such a silly pup. All the other Dock Doggers that I hadn't seen all year were there. It was a good time! BEAUTIFUL weather to boot!!!

Qwiks Ribbon Picture and more training...

2009-09-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

So we had field training tonight. I have been on Qwiks case since the test. I am not giving an inch anymore! I am nit-picking everything. No SLACKIN! On my end of the leash or hers. All the little things she does in training translates into HUGE MAJOR issues at tests.

I am trying to be on top of Qwik and get across to her...."This is MY TIME!!!! You have 23 1/2 hours a day to be a dog...these are MY few minutes"

I hope it works.....It ain't gonna be a fun few weeks of training. But if she gets the point, it will be. I have 3 ducks in a crate waiting till a few days before we leave for Ohio to go to a Double Junior test. She needs BOTH those legs to get her JH this year. Live shot flyers really perk her up......what I do for my dogs......MAN Do ducks smell!!!!!!!!!!!

Training today went well though. I am doing some Pile work. And also some work with the E-collar. She is snappy with stuff but just not as fast with me putting the pressure on her. If she does well I make a HUGE deal and throw freebies and praise her up and just have a good time. I also am making sure she know she is released from "MY TIME" As soon as I give her a command she is on my time and when I release her she can do what she pleases!!!

So I am happy about that and will hopefully sleep better knowing I am making steps in the correct direction!!!!

I got Kyle to pose with Qwik for a picture. He was so nice to her and took good care of the curly girl during her short stay. I couldn't ask for a better person to turn to for field training. www.chesapeakewatersllc.com

Madison AKC Hunt test.

2009-09-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

SO! Miss Qwik had 1 leg towards her JH and I really really really...I mean REALLY want that title this year. I was doing a bit too much Obedience during field season and she wasn't ready to run untill a few months ago....and now I am running out of tests!!!! It sucks! I wish field would go year round....except the water gets a lill cold.

ANYWAYS! I asked Kyle, the field trainer I see, if he would consider handling Qwik at a test for me since I am all booked up with grooming dogs on Saturdays I can't get off any more. He said yeah. So I have been working her and training her hard and she was SMOKIN at training class! I droped her off at Kyles on Tuesday so he could work with her all week and run her Saturday at the test. It was hard not having the naughty lill curly girl here causing trouble. But I got through it and so did she!

I was SOOOO nervous on Saturday and had a friend call me when she ran. She was there watching her son (Toby the black lab) run in Juniors with his dad. (Toby passed and titled too BTW!) Anyways....she gave me the play by play, and she never makes things easy and cut and dry..dork. Land was first and started with the live shot flyer...which she found and then rolled on. She brought it back fine and then the dead bird was next...she found that one and then took a poop! After she was finished she brought it back and passed land. On water the live shot flyer landed on land so she had to roll on it. The other bird she found good and brought back nice. So she earned another leg to her JH. HALFWAY THERE!!!!!!!!!! I told Kyle he has to shave to get his picture taken with Qwik so I will get them up next week. :)

Sunday I ran Bell in Senior and Qwik in Junior.

Bell was up first in senior and FRIGGIN SMOKED her Double. I mean she ran the BEST marks of ALL the dogs I saw run. She ran strait out to them and did a U turn and brought them back. PERFECT! The land blind was next and was LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. About a 100+ yarder. It would be tough! Bell had a hard time lookin out to it cause it was next to the flyer station. But she eventually did and then took a nice line out there. I casted her a few times and she took my casts and scalloped a little bit...but then I gave her a nice strait back cast and she took it BEAUTIFUL! It carried her strait out to the blind and then she curved a little to the left of it. I sat her and then told her to go strait out to right and she turned left and put her ear plugs in.....she ran around and hunted and fartsed around and just was naughty. SHE WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO close!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I was happy with what she did. I know we need more work on that. So what she did was great for the training she has had. It was too bad cause her Marks were FLIPPIN ALWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then onto Qwik.
I was nervous cause the land series was almost identical to a test we ran there last year that Qwik failed..... But the dead bird was first. She ran out and brought it back nicely. Then the flyer....She ran out through all the decoys and then stuck her nose to the ground and sniffed for a bit...then she peed....then she sniffed some more.....Then she remembered she was out there for a reason and she got her bird and brought it back.

Can't it just be easy!!!!

Water was next. Dead bird first, the dogs had to go through some marshy grass and then into the water, the bird landed in some marshy grass. I sent Qwik out for it and she went to the edge of the grass before the swimming water started and proceded to make a fool of herself by playing around in the grass, she sniffed some stuff, blew some bubbles, tried to roll, chased a frog, then she remembered there was a bird....and she swam out and got it. I was kinda ticked at her for being so naughty! But I didn't want to yell at her or tell her to do stuff cause she prolly wouldn't. The Flyer was last and was a LONG swim. She went out halfway and then kinda swam back and forth in the water till she stumbled upon it. The judges didn't really say anything when we left.

I waited around for ribbons figuring she would pass cause she did get 4 birds and her land was nice and her second water mark was OK. When they passed her number up I was shocked. I have NEVER, I mean NEVER EVER seen them fail a dog who picked up 4 birds at a junior test before. The dog would have not found the bird or not delivered to hand or chewed up the bird to fail. There was another person in the same boat as me and I was ticked. Her average had to be over a 7 and she got 6.2 and 6.6. So friggin close. It really sucked.

I am driving to Eastern Ohio for a back to back Junior test and Senior with Bell the end of September. I am gonna work the curlys butt off so she passes there. It would be SOOOOO nice to be done with Junior so we could work on some more challenging stuff. Singles are too easy for her and she makes up her own stuff! She does great with challenges as she has to focus!

ohhhhhh well..........

HRC/UKC Hunt test fun!

2009-09-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

This is a few weeks late...But I'll still post about it I guess!

On August 23rd, Bell and Qwiksta were entered at Bong at a UKC hunt test. Qwik was entered in Started and needed 1 leg to finish her title. Bell was in Seasoned for the first time and I was WAY nervous about it and all the gun handling I had to do.

Qwik ran first on water. The Marks were short and she had to run all the way out to them cause the pond was low on water. There were plenty decoys and all that fun UKC stuff. Unfortunately Qwik broke a nail the week before and her nail was bothering her. She limped out to the bird...and limped back. If it was raw and bleeding I prolly would have pulled her. But it was just red and sore. I told her to suck it up and quit being such a sissy. She got her water birds fine. Had a bit of a hunt for her land birds but did good and passed. It wasn't pretty but it passed!!! So she earned her SHR. In UKC/HRC they douse you in cold water after you title. A few friends squirted me with water. I was fine with that...then these guys had coolers of well water that was ICE cold..BURRRR!!!!! But it was worth it. Every title I earn on the curly beast is a challenge and I work hard for every one! The legs don't come easy!

Here Qwik and I are with Jaci and Woodie. They both earned their SHR titles.

So onto Miss Bell. It started with a water series and she did great on everything but the water blind. I did awesome with the gun and didn't screw any of that up. She got lost on the water blind and quit listening to me and chased some frogs. dork. But her double was perfect and so was her walk up. In UKC you can still go onto the next series even if you fail the first one. Its awesome cause you paid the $$! She would have passed land if she hadn't have already failed on water. Her land work was great. Her land blind was kinda crappy. But passable. Shes such a good girl. We will have another shot at a leg in a few weeks.

It was a fun day and Bell really stepped up to the plate. I hope to make a bunch more HRC tests next year cause they test the handler as well as the dog. Cooooooooooool!

Qwiks first JH leg and Bells first attempt at Senior!!!

2009-08-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

So I was entered at Bong at the Winnebago Labrador Retriever club trial last Saturday the 15th.

I had a wedding Friday night. My cousin Ross got married up in Neenah. Nice wedding n all. But I had to leave before all the fun started. I got home at 12:30am and was curling up in bed with the girls, when I peeked over at Qwik, who is all sprawled out on her back, legs spread wide open....her belly is completly covered in puss filled sores. She had a rash I had kept up on, and bathed in medicated shampoo the previous week. But this was FLAMIN red and all icky lookin. So, I haul out of bed and haul the curly dog into the tub and scrub her entire belly and armpits with medicated shampoo. gurrrr.

So ya know how dogs are after their baths...zoomin all over and compelty insane...yeah. At 1:30 at night, I am completly exhausted, I have this brown curly dog tearin up the house. She finally settles down and we wake up bright and early at 5:45 to head off to the hunt test by 6:15. sigh....what I do for my dogs.....

Bell was up first in Senior. I was VERY pleased with the test that was set up. Fairly straitforward. Simple double in a field with taller trees and bushes as a boundary. The go bird was the shot flyer right in your face, a breaking bird. We had to hold the wooden gun for it all too. The blind was the other way, towards a wide open field with 1 big bush....The blind was directly in front of the bush. I was perdy excited for it! I knew if Bell kept her thinking cap on, she could do it and with some style!

She was HIGH as a FRIGGIN KITE waiting in the blind....I ran and trained her Friday before the wedding...but she sat from 11am till 1am! Quite some time to build up for the crazy red dog. I got her to the line semi undercontrol. She marked the memory bird good and stared at it till they started quackin for the go bird. She sat like a champ, chomping at the bit for the word....."BELL!" and off she went frantincally trying to find the bird. She brought it back and lined up for the memory bird. She gave the bird up and glanced back to the flyer station then looked at the memory bird again.......I waited a second and said "Sit" and "Mark" again....."BELL!" and she ran around like a lunatic.............nowhere near where the bird fell.....then she proceded to go back to the flyer station....I sat her on the wistle and tried to handle her to the memory bird and she completly blew me off and ran around like crazy red dogs do. I asked the judge if I could call her in and he said "Yes, Please." not good.

I was bummed...She SOOOOO coulda done it!!! I really Really REALLY wanted to run that blind. Just to kinda see where my training was! Ohhh well. I learned alot by watching the other dogs run. Bell is SOOOO better than some of those dogs. She was steady as a rock with that flyer RIGHT in her face!!! It was sooooooo close to the line! And after I was leaving the line I rememberd what Kyle my field trainer had said when sending Miss Crazy red dog to the memory bird. "DEMAND she get it, don't ask, Use your tough trainer voice." And in training I do, so I don't get yelled at....And I was nervous at the test and just nicely released her. She needs that control or else she just looses her mind. Live and LEARN!!!

K so Miss Qwik was in Juniors. The Flyer was first up a small hill. She got that with a few seconds delay after finding it. The Dead bird was down a row of trees. Very simple. She circled it about 2 times and hung out by it and dawdled.....I was gonna KILL her! But she eventually got it and brought it back. HUGE releif! Land is her issue. The nasty birds the weekend before sure didn't help things at ALL!

Then onto water. It was friggin hot...I was exhausted....I just wanted to take a nap. I ran Bell as test dog for junior and she made me look super slick by chasing frogs instead of retrieving the first mark. dork. I coulda killed her. Anyways the first mark was across the runway pond, and it was supposed to land on shore on the grass. The winger was moving a lill bit and tossing them in the water...I woulda prefered that since someones dog is naughty on land........ But her bird landed on the land...She found it right away...LEFT IT THERE!!!!! and then went off sniffing and fartzin around. I was calling her and telling her to "get it" and stuff. Eventually she did and got the second bird like a champ. It landed in the open water. Even the judge said she was naughty! But she passed!!! YAY There was a photographer there and she took some cool shots! Ill post them when I get them from her. cool cool!!!

1 down 3 to go!

Field Success!

2009-08-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

Qwik and Bell both earned their WCX at the Badger Golden Retriever Club test on 8-9-09! 13 were entered and 6 passed. 3 goldens, 1 curly, 1 toller and 1 flattie

The Golden Retriever WCX is a pass/fail test and you only need 1 leg. It consists of a Triple Retrieve on land with upland game. The dog cannot be restrained and you cannot say anything to them after you signal for the birds. It's mainly to test memory. You cannot handle the dog if they forget a bird. There is also a Double Retrieve in the water with ducks and it has an honor where the dog has to watch another dog retrieve after it has done the double. Again, the dog cannot be restrained and you cannot say anything to them after you have signaled for the birds...even for the Honor!!!

Bell passed with a slight bobble on land...she ALMOST switched back to an old fall after a decent hunt for the last bird....but she came through and went back to where she thought it was. There wasn't much wind to help her out. Very proud of the red dog. She was steady and listened to me and didn't whine or wimper at all! Even for her first official "test like" honor!! YAY!!!

The Curly Coated Retriever Club has a slightly easier WCX test. The curlies are supposed to run a double on land and a double on water and the dog has to be steady also. Qwik failed earlier in the year at the Curly Coat National in St. Louis by not getting wet on the water retrieves. Anyways, when Qwik passed the Golden test...since it was harder than the Curly test she earned the title through the curly club!! Send in a form and it's official!

Even though the Curly beast was NAUGHTY she passed. She rolled on the two dead birds on the Land triple. I heard they used the ducks from the previous day and I doubt they were refrigerated or properly stored to prevent them from rotting. I was ticked!!! She hasn't done that since she was first introduced to ducks the beginning of last year! lill snot....I did NOT need that happening. She was steady even though the "go" bird on the water double startled her. They don't use duck calls before they toss the birds. They shoot the gun then toss the bird. She stood up cause she was focused on the memory bird but didn't break. She waited till I released her. Very proud of the girl.

I also had her entered in the WC for more practice. She already has that title. But she did great on it also...only rolled on one of the birds on land....she so NAUGHTY!!!

Ahhhh HA!

2009-07-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

So after todays dissapointment I got on that train! I have not been working on advancing Qwik in the field as far as pile work, and baseball and all that basic handling stuff. I touched it earlier this year...it went ok...nothing real great. But I got out my bumpers and had a session of Force to pile, Remote sends, and a little bit of baseball/handling stuff. She did GREAT!!!! I had the e-collar on her and only gave her a few nicks for the FTP and she did awesome with it!!! Maybe she won't think dead birds are soo bad when I put pressure on bumpers!!!! Birds are a PEICE O CAKE DEARIE!!!!! I hope to continue working advancing her and maybe I will have 2 dogs to title in Senior next year! hehe.

Hopefully this works....Making training kinda tough and blah with plain bumpers...then in the field, retrieving nice feathered birds without the pressure should be a heck of alot more fun and easy!!! I am debating starting her on Doubles or not.....I don't wanna put too much on the girl. She is marking great in training and did great marks today. So maybe it is time to step her up!

Miss Bell did great tonight too! I am trying to teach her some more advance handling things. I should be able to send her 180 degrees either direction on "GO!" and the hand that is up should turn her that direction. Then also a 90 degree "OUT" to the side I motion. I thought this would be enough and then Kyle said to teach her Angle backs which is between those two "GO" and "OUT" casts she already knows! It has been a struggle!!! I have been working on it almost every night for the past 2 weeks and I think finally she is getting it!!!!! I set her up in a new field and showed her where all the piles of bumpers were and she took perdy much every cast! Good Girl! I have a bunch more things I gotta teach her yet....but I am happy with the direction we are goin!

YAY

1st Hunt test of the season

2009-07-26T15:17:00.001-07:00

Miss Qwik was entered in Junior today. It was a close test, just in Horicon about 15 mintues away. Land was first. She ran a PERFECT 1st mark. She had good manners going from the blind to the line, she listend to me for lining up and was all amped looking towards the first bird station! The flyer landed nice and when the judges released me to send her she was straining at her collar...a GREAT sign! If she is just sitting there, ho hum, I don't know what I will get! But she RACED out to the bird and immediatly picked it up and flew back to me with it. It honestly was her best retrieve she has given me in a long time. The bird was still semi alive and she didn't play with it or kill it. She did PHENOMONAL!!!!

I lined her up for the second bird and she again was straining at her collar to go and drove out there awesome. She found the bird after sniffin around for a few seconds and then left it lay there.....................

I WAS SHOCKED!!! HELLO DOG! you just did a PERFECT mark then you just leave this one lay! I coulda KILLED HER! I had the gunner help her out and toss the bird in the air and then she brought it to me. But we failed when I had someone help. What we all thought was the flyer was SOOOO super exciting and this bird was dead, dead. It wasn't nasty at all. Some of the birds at tests can be gross like sitting around all weekend and in and out of the water and have maggots. This one was just like the flyer, fresh and soft and fully feathered. I was SOOOO Super bummed. I have been looking forward to this for a while. We have been training hard too!

I have 2 weekends off till her next test and then we will be testing every weekend. I really really really REALLY want her JH this year. Like I SOOOOO want it bad. There are only 5 more tests I can make it to, that are close(4 hours). I might have her work a lill bit with my trainer to see if he could take her to a test, if I can't. But I don't know if she will run for anyone else. But what can it hurt? The more chances she has to title the better. We will see and I will keep you posted!

Miss Bell stayed at home and chilled. I have been working hard at handling drills with her. She is getting better and understanding what I want...I think......I hope to enter her in her first Senior test on the 15th. I don't know if she will be 100% ready. But she is close!

A GREAT obedience show

2009-07-26T14:57:00.001-07:00

July 12th I had the girls entered in their last Obedience show for a little while. Bell had a great show and earned a UDX leg. She had some major screw ups in Utility that cost her alot of points. She has never made these mistakes so we will work on those before we train again. But she Q'd and had a GREAT attitude. I was very pleased with that. In Open she earned a Second place and I think 2 OTCh points. Good girlie!

Miss Qwik was a superstar and earned her CD title with a FIRST place and lost a runoff for HIGH IN TRIAL!!!!!!! I was SOOOO excited about that, not the loosing the runoff, but that she was tied for it! She did a great job in the ring and I think we are starting to work more as a team. She had great focus and did her prancy prance heeling. She had a 198 her best Qualifying score yet! There were some really nice other Novice dogs too. I have 60 days to show her nonstop, then after the 60 days are up, she can show untill she earns a High in Trial. One of my goals is to get a HIT with her in Novice. For the Runoff she lost for HIT she had to sneeze while heeling and it was during the slow....she kinda forged ahead and let out a big sneeze then continued on like nothing happened. We had gone first in the runoff and the golden that went after us had a little bobble on one of the halts. So we didn't know till the Judge said. I thought Qwik should have won....... :-)

Once I am done with field for the year I will start Obedience and Agility back up.

WWCDTC Agility Trial!

2009-07-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

So 4th of July weekend was the dog club I belong to's Agility Trial! I am in charge of awards. So I have to order Ribbons, Toys and other odds and ends stuff. I always have fun sitting behind the ribbon table and hanging out in the A/C. I would NOT want to work outside all those days. Way to friggin hot!.

Me and the girls + 1(Casey) Had a fairly good weekend!!!

Miss Bell being the little perfect girl she is had a PERFECT weekend!
She earned:
2 Open Std Legs and her OA title, 2, 1st places
3 MXJ Legs....1 more to go!!! 3, 4th places
2 Novice Fast legs, 2, 1st places

She did 4 teeters total and did well on them! Not crazy super syco fly offish like she does in training. But they were confident and non spooky! YAY for her! I don't know if I will trial her to get her MX......Cause each teeter is SOOOO different and I need to do LOTS of generalizing before I even attempt it. But we will see.

Qwik did alright. She had a few moments that showed the true debth of her training....it's fairly shallow......But she did manage to Q a few times.
She earned
2 Novice Fast Legs
2 Novice Standard Legs & her NA
1 Novice Jumpers Leg

I had some troubles with focus and drive. She sometimes was super excited and crazy...then others she was flat and sniffy. I definatly need to do some more training with the girl to get her agility education goin. Obedience and Field are a priority now.

Miss Casey did well also. She had her typical stress issues. But by the end of Sunday she was feeling good! She ran really nice and was happy.

She earned
1 Novice Fast Leg
2 Novice Std Legs
1 Novice JWW leg

I hopefully will be able to steal her again soon to finish off her NA and NAJ. She needs one more leg for each.

UPDATES!

2009-07-06T20:27:00.001-07:00

HEY! So yeah... I haven't updated in a while. too busy.
But here is the lowdown!

We redid the dock on the 14th of June and it is super schnazzy! It was a royal pain in the butt to rip off all the old boards and rusty screws. But it is great now!!! Hopefully we will be able to make it to a dock dog event or two in the future! Bell is jumping great and Qwik is getting the hang of jumping up and has tried some EV too!! If we don't do well at a dock jumping event it isn't from lack of training or lack of a great place to train!

The weekend of the 20th n 21st. Qwik made her Novice Obedience Debut. She was a good girl the first day and earned a CD leg and a first place! She had an OK score and was good...not the lill perfect girl I get in training, but good enough. The next day she blew a 198 by laying down on the long sit at like 59 seconds. She was a VERY good girl heeling and paying super good attention. I was very proud of her even though she NQ'd. Bell got a few OTCh points at the show but nothing too big to brag about. Her attitude is kinda lackluster lately....I think she is sick of Obedience. She can work nice when she wants too. But as soon as I unclip her leash in a "real" ring she is a poop turd...:) Qwik earned two RE legs this weekend too! This was a Poodle Specialty and everyone thought Qwik needs to grow a topknot and a pom on her tail!

The weekend of the 27th n 28th we did Obedience at the Washington County Fairpark. Qwik earned 2 RE legs and finished her title on Saturday. Sunday she Q'd but with some retrieverismmmmsss. On the Off-set Figure 8 there was 2 toys in food bowls on the floor, and she picked one of them up even though I was telling her to heel and trying to keep her attention up. silly retrievers....But she Q'd anyways being the cute girl she is. She also earned another CD leg on Saturday with a crappy score. She wasn't focused....she was bumping me alot and lagging then bumping and forging. I just have to figure her out! But Sunday she impressed me in Novice by heeling like a super girl! She had a 199 going into the Recall and she didn't come the first time I called her...NQ. But all that showed was that the sit stay training we did the preveious week worked! YAY! So I know the girl has the potential. Bell got a placement but no points. Even though I had Icecream she was being a poop. gurrrrrr But I think the Icecream made a lill dent in her crap attitude. Hopefully she will remember it for future shows!!!

I have one more Obedience show before I break for field the rest of the summer. I will keep training for Obedience but not as hard core as before. Bell earned enough OTCH points to keep me hopefull...but I wish she was farther along. I don't know if I will continue to push her...She has come a long way and we have had a buncha fun working towards it. But if it dosen't happen, it's not a big deal. Miss Qwik needs to get to some more Novice Obedience shows. I want her to get consistant and I want to figure out the girl as far as warming up goes. She sometimes is focused strait outa the crate...where other times she needs lotsa refreshers outside the ring. I just want her to get the game, a lill more, before I really train for Open. And I do want to get her average score up to try for the Top Obedience Curly of the year!!! :)

Moving Forward!

2009-06-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

So today I was entered in an Obedience show held at the dog club we train at. I was looking forward to it cause Bell has been working really really nicely lately and seems to be getting what I want as far as Obedience goes. Miss Qwik was entered in Rally and would earn her title if she Q'd.

So Bell ended up with a Second in Open earning her 2 points. Then she got 3rd in Utility for another point!!! And she also earned HIGH COMBINED!!!! I was SOOOO Thrilled! 3 more points is awesome!!!! She now is up to 42 points. She needs 100 total. YAY for Bell!

Miss Qwik earned a 96 out of 100 to finish off her Rally Advanced Title! She did well and I kinda screwed her up. On one of the signs she was supposed to sit then pivot 90 degrees and then sit again. Well I didn't let her sit all the way down on the second one and we got knocked for it. So my fault. But I was happy with how she worked!

I have not next weekend off but the following 2 weekends I have off Saturday and Sunday and am entered in Obedience both weekends. One of them is held at the club I train at so cross your fingers! Qwik is entered in the higher up level of Rally and Regular NOVICE obedience! EEK!!! PRAY FOR US!!!

As far as other training goes....Both girls are doing good in field! I am having issues with both of them cheating water or Qwik sometimes decides not to go in. I don't get it. They LOVE water! I mean seriously. They would prefer to swim than eat I think! I just think they see it as slowing them down or that there is a faster way. I dono how to get through to them that they need to get their girlie butts wet!!!
Bell is rockin in her Blind work. Kyle my trainer just moved us up again to work on some harder stuff. EEK!!! I am nervous I am gonna do something wrong. But Bell is cruzin right on through!!! Qwik is coming along and is really getting the hang of it all. Sometimes she does some weird stuff like blinking birds or just being totally stressy and sniffing or eating grass. Shes a tough nut to crack! I just need to figure her out. But hopefully we will be able to get to some tests before fall!

Agility is kinda on hold....I just don't have enough time to work Obedience, Field and Agility. I have some equipment set up down by the pond and I train the girls on Thursdays at the club on the equipment. But I just don't have the time!!! I have them entered at our clubs trial in July. We will see. Once Field season winds down and if Bell continues to do well in Obedience she might be done with that...And I dono if I am going to continue to show Qwik in Novice to get some experience or if I am gonna move to Open work to make it more fun. Decisions Decisions!!

Obedience Success!

2009-05-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had off Friday - Sunday. Friday was a Golden Retriever Specialty with Obedience, Rally, Regular Breed and Puppy and Veterans Sweepstakes. Saturday and Sunday was an all breed Conformation and Obedience and rally show. It was held at the same place which was nice. Usually the Golden Specialty is held in Neenah.

Friday I had Bell entered in Utiliy and Open Obedience and she Q'd in Both. Her Utility run wasn't pretty...Her heeling was kinda crap and she didn't sit on a go out and she futzed around on her glove finish. But her 22nd UDX leg and she did well in Open! Better than she has done in the past.

I was all excited for Saturday cause Bell has been showing progress in her training! I also had Qwik entered in Rally. She is in the middle level now and has to be off leash and focused! Bell NQ'd in Utility cause she took the wrong jump. She was very off and kept looking at the ring steward who was holding her leash. I wanted to beat her lill red butt for being so distracted! She knows better! But she redemmed her self by winning the Open class! I was totally excited. She needed that win for her OTCh. You need 3 wins in addition to 100 points to earn the OTCh title. She also earned 4 more points for winning. I was WAY excited.

Qwik did well in rally too! She would have had a perfect score but she was so focused on me she ran into the jump she was supposed to jump. She lost 10 points for that. I was very pleased with her. It was a distracting building and she kept her focus! YAY for her.

To top off Saturday. Bell ended up taking HIGH IN TRIAL! She had the highest score of any of the other dogs there that day! Talk about cool! The golden Retriever club sponsored a highest scoring golden ribbon too. It was HUGE and cool too.

So I was happy on Saturday.

Sunday I was just hoping Bell could do well and behave...Qwik too!
Bell NQ'd in Utility but did a very nice job on everything. She missed the Sit signal. There was this distracting door behind me and I think somone might have come through the door when I was giving the signal. I dono. But everything else was nice! I was pleased with it! Then in Open she did a VERY nice job and ended up in a runoff. I HATE RUNOFFS!!!! I wish I could just forfit them. But sometime the other dog might like sneeze or not sit on a halt or somthing stupid so I just go and try my hardest! I went first for the runoff and Bell did a nice job but had a very wide about turn. Then when the judge called the second dogs # and I saw it was Sandy Ladwig I just kissed it goodbye. Her heeling is flawless. So we eneded up with second place and 1 MORE OTCh point! YAY. I was excited for that. I was just excited to be in a runoff against Sandy! Seriously!

Qwik did really good in Rally also and earned 99 points out of 100! She was a bit more distracted than the first day. But did good. I am hoping to get some more teamwork with her. We just are 100% connected yet. But her score of 99 earned her First place and her second leg. Good girl!

Dog Trainin.....

2009-05-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

After the Curly Nationals I don't have anything super special planned as far as shows go. I have a few weekends off and a few local shows planned. But nothing as special as the week long National. I guess it's for the better since my checking account is drained and my credit card bill is not going down fast enough...

But I do have some special goals planned for this year...and it's almost HALFWAY OVER!!!!!!!! YIKES!!

Anyways me and the girls have been busy training. I am trying not to sit still at night when I come home from work. No TV allowed! The sun sets later each night and the weather is PERFECT right now. Still cool enough to run them hard without having to worry about overheating. The pond is finally warm enough to play around in it too(a favorite with the hairy beasts). The field across the road isn't too tall yet either!

The Turkey(Bell) is working hard on everything. For Field she is getting ready to run in Senior. It's a bit step for her from juniors. She has to be steady to a double retrieve. She has to focus alot on doubles cause she can sometimes go crazy on marks. She needs to run a bit before she runs marks or else she is zoomin around like a nutjob hunting for the birds. I Like to put sound effects to her like a NASCAR race. ZOOoooooommmmmMMMMMMZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZOooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm She races around crazy and dosen't mark well. But being steady and doing doubles is goin well! She also is working on her "handling" for Blind retrieves which is birds she did NOT see fall. I have to direct her with hand signals and the whistle. She is starting to get the jist of it. I have to do lots of drills to get her to understand the hand signals and stuff. She likes to use her nose and she kinda blows me off when she smells birds. She thinks she knows better...so we are working hard at convincing her otherwise.

For agility she is working on contacts...I guess I failed to remember how I stopped training them since we don't compete much with contacts...well in NADAC we do, and now that she decided the teeter ISN'T such a bad thing, we will start running a few AKC shows. So I need to refresh her memory that stopping on the bottom is worthwhile and a good thing. It's going well. She is doing the teeter at home with GREAT Gusto. I want to haul it down to the pond and jackpot her with a bumper in the water..her FAVORITE(next to liver sausage). Her weaves also need work. She slows down so much at shows and I need to trust her more with exits. Her entrances rock, she can hit it from anywhere. LOVE THAT!!! But she can pop out at the end, so at shows I slow down to save the Q and she slows down too. So I gotta trust her and push for more speed.

And finally for Obedience I am working her hard. Going for an OTCH is NO small task. She has to win. So to be fair to her I have to keep her sharp. She can pass without much training......but to WIN she needs LOTS of work. Her heeling has been VERY nice lately. I think she is understanding to hug my leg and to keep her head up on about turns and I am trying to move fast enough that she doesn't pace. And I have been touching up all the other Obedience exercises. She has a 3 day show this weekend that I am excited for. I am very happy with where she is at in her training. She typically does OK at this place. It's very distracting and lots of other dogs don't do well. But we will see. It's just another dog show.

For the Qwiksta I could go on and on......she needs so much work.

For field we are working on marking...she tends to look away from the birds before she is sent for them...I dono what started all this...maybe the obedience???? But it's going well. I am working on having her look at cheese chunks I throw on the floor and adding the cue "MARK!" to it. I think she is getting it. I am also working hard at building her drive to retrieve up. She likes it...but then she doesn't. I dono what her deal is sometimes. She likes birds but is pokey picking them up. Shes great with bumpers. And she really really really likes birds! So that is a task in itself. And water....she has been refusing water....AND SHE LOVES WATER!!!!!!!! We did lots today on her "issues" and I was happy with her attitude and drive and willingness to work. Hopefully she remembers for our Field lesson with Kyle Thursday.

For Agility I am working on building value for jumps....she can tend to go around them. If she is by a jump now she will take it cause she likes it! Not for the cookies and stuff. YAY. And also handling. She is doing well figuring out rear crosses. Weaves we are working on speed and her footwork...going really well. And all the other equipment she needs work on. But she retains all the stuff I teach her well. So I just keep building her understanding up for it! Cool Cool

For Obedience I have her entered in a few Rally shows. This weekend she is entered Saturday and Sunday in Advanced Rally. Off leash and lots more exercises, it will be interesting. I cannot say enough bout this girl for obedience. She rocks! I LOVE her understanding of heeling. She is so darn cute! I am working on the NOVICE regular obedience exercises. She is doing well. I don't want her to make a fool of me or herself in the regular Obedience ring. Rally is one thing...Obedience is another.

SO that's that. I had 2 weekends off from showing..man was it nice to sleep in on a Sunday for once!!! LOVE IT! I am slowing down on showing and trying to stick to local stuff and ones that I like and typically do well at. Its so darn expensive! But I will keep this blog posted! I just sent in my order for pictures from nationals. I will post them here when I get them! And also some video. My computer wont let me load any video. So I dono what the heck to do!

CCRCA National Results!!!

2009-04-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

We left Monday morning.

We arrived Monday late afternoon.

The dogs liked the view from the hotel room.

So on Tuesday we started off with the All breed Agility Trial held at Purina Farms. It was soooo windy the panel jump never had all the panels on it. Half of the bars were falling off the cups and the chute had to be moved so the wind blew through it! Bell was up first in Open Std. She Q'd and got first with one wrong course and a GREAT teeter performance! The teeter was the second obstacle and I had a whole thing of Liver sausage I was bribing her with before our run. The teeter was all aluminum and kinda noisy. I was extremely surprised by her enthusiasm! YAY! Then Qwik was up in Novice Std. She did GREAT! She Q'd and placed First. She had one table fault cause she was racing so fast she didn't stick her landing. She got her weaves on the third try, but did great for her first AKC run. Then was JWW, Bell was up first in Excellent B and had a refusal. She ran nicely though. Qwik Q'd in Novice and placed first with one refusal. She got her weaves on the first try and ran super nice!

After agility we drove to the Upland Field test. I had Diesel and Qwik entered. Qwik was up first and did alright. She was a bit distracted by the gunners and all the "stuff" they were carrying. She passed though. Diesel was up later and just spanked the test. He did so great. He was ALL BUSINESS and was focused and I think only peed once. Good boy. The tracking/trailing started really late. Qwik did a great job and only detoured once or twice. Diesel ran almost last and had some trouble cause there was so much scent out there he couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was. He found the duck at the end of the trail and passed also. We left that test at about 9:00pm...kinda a long day!!!

Wednesday was Obedience and Rally, a field training seminar and Super Singles. Qwik started off in Novice B Obedience. She did alright and was mostly focused. Being outside she was a bit distracted and kinda bumped me alot trying to keep herself attached to me cause she was having troubles focusing. She passed the on leash heeling n Figure 8, stand, off leash heeling and recall. Then for sits and downs she sat fine, but was getting hot having to sit in the sun and all. The long down was another story.....I typically have her roll on her hip, but she would not. I couldn't get her attention to do it. Then it all started.....she sniffed the grass and frogged out with her rear legs....then she rolled the side of her face on the cool grass and proceeded to flip over on her back and kick her legs up in the air with a look of sheer pleasure on her face.....dork. She NQ' and her sister Sunny took High in Trial. Ohhh well. I will never show outside again. Then we did rally and she had a great run. She Q'd with a perfect score of 100 and took first place. Good girl!

After Obedience awards we had a retriever training seminar Mitch White of Gamekeeper retrievers. It totally got me motivated to train. Cool Stuff. He has the "odd breeds" and had some nice things to share. I might be looking at getting a flatcoat from him in a few years.

After that we held the Super Singles competition. I had D and Q entered. Super singles is like a field trial. The dogs are competing against each other and graded based on style, intensity, marking ability, line manners and just how good the dog is. Qwik got her first mark well but on the second one she decided she needed a salad and started eating grass.....dork. She did NOT get a call back. Diesel did great the first series and only hunted a little bit for the second mark. He got a call back. He almost nailed the last mark but faded with the hill a little bit. There were lots of nice dogs competing including 2 Master Hunters.....Diesel took Second!!! I was SOOOO excited for him! Good boy!

Thursday was puppy and veterans Sweepstakes so I had a free day. I took the dogs to Purina Farms for a romp, and gave Bell a bath. Then my parents came down and we met for Lunch and then took a tour of St. Louis and went up in the arch! That was fun. We hung out and I was able to relax.

Friday was the BIG DEAL breed competition. I had D and Q entered in the Working Retriever dog and bitch class. My parents came to watch and were totally bored....sigh. I wish it was more exciting and went faster. D showed awesome and won his class of 3. He sooo deserved it too. He was a good boy for me. Qwik placed 3 outta 4. She seriously is THE smallest curly I have ever seen. Poor lill girl. But she's so cute. I was fine with it.

Saturday was the retrieving tests. D and Q were entered in the Middle level where they need to sit and stay for a double retrieve on land and water. D was up first and did excellent on land. I could NOT have been prouder of him. He was SOOO good. Qwik did alright but went to the wrong side of the gunner station for the memory bird..but she hunted for it and found it. Water was another story. D was up first again and cheated a bunch on the test.....I was NOT happy with the water test. I thought it was way to cheaty for a WC....A senior Hunt test maybe....but not a WC. Anyways, D did alright but I didn't know for sure if he would pass due to the cheating. Qwik had a brain fart and decided to go for the memory bird first instead of the GO bird. Whatever! She cheated 100% on the first bird and never got wet......then she cheated as much as possible for the second bird...so not swimming on a water retrieving test is a failure. I was soooo totally bummed. I am blaming the cheaty test and the lack of being able to train in water in Wisconsin in April! Next time.

It was nice looking back while driving home.

I had an absolute blast and got to hang with some really cool, fun people. It was an exciting and exhausting week that was over way too fast. Back to work tomorrow!

We leave tomorrow!!!!

2009-04-19T19:40:00.001-07:00

I am SUPER excited to leave...well acctually ARRIVE at Eureka MO tomorrow! I am about halfway through packing...irritating. I dono how it all is gonna fit into my car! I have a topper on the the Exterra with all the crates and heavy big stuff. All the dog stuff is ready...I just gotta get MY stuff together.

But the girls showed today in Fond Du Lac. Bell in Open B and Utility B and Qwik in Novice Rally. Bell Q'd in Open with a horrid score. I didnt hear the judge clearly when he called a halt...I did an about turn. Hes a dork and was like halfway across the ring. He was right on top of you for the retrieves to see if the dogs would anticipate his command. I will definatly mark that down NOT to show to him if I can help it.

Miss Qwik did a GREAT job in Rally and Q'd with a 97 out of 100. Her heeling was great and she was focused. She just kinda bumped me alot. I dont mind that!!! I was very happy with the beast.

Well OFF to pack some more. Leaving tomorrow at before noon hopefully.

The Curly National

2009-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Since I don't know if I will have time to post anything before I leave next Monday I thought I would do it now.

So next week Tuesday - Saturday is the Curly-Coated Retriever National Specialty held in Gray Summit, Missouri, by the Curly-Coated Retriever Club of America. It's about 30 minutes West of St. Louis. I am heading down Monday morning and heading back home on Saturday after the Field events.

http://www.ccrca.org/
http://www.ccrca.org/specialties/2009.htm

I will be taking Qwik, Bell and Deisel along with me for a week of fun!

Tuesday I have Qwik and Bell entered in Agility. I have Qwik entered in Novice Standard and Novice Jumpers with weaves for her BIG AKC AGILITY DEUBUT! Bell is also entered in Excellent B jumpers and Open Standard. It is an all breed agility trial to hopefully bring in more $$ for the club, since there aren't many Curlies running in agility it's tough to pay the judge for just a few dogs. Later in the afternoon the Upland hunting certificate takes place. I have both Qwik and Diesel entered in that. Both dogs have passed that test before but we had SUCH a good time doing it!

Wednesday is Obedience and Rally and I have Qwik entered in Novice B for Rally and Obedience. This will be her Novice Obedience Debut and I am SO very excited for how she will do! We have been training really really hard! If she Qualifies this weekend in Fond Du Lac and at the Specialty in Rally she will earn her RN title there! Hopefully that all works out! In the afternoon there is a field training seminar with a cool guy. I can't wait to see what he has to say!

Thursday I don't have anyone entered in anything! So my parents are coming down to visit and we are gonna do some touristy things. Like visit the Arch n stuff. Should be a good time. They are taking Bell home with them since she is only entered on Tuesday. They are spending the night and possibly another one depending.

Friday is the BIG FOO FOO perdy dog show. I have Q n D entered in the Hunting Retriever class. Since Qwik is Spayed she can't be entered in the regular class. Qwik is holding her coat very nice and hasn't shed much yet(knock wood!) But Diesel is kinda thin and shed a bit already. Hopefully they can go swimming in the cold Neosho Pond and stay in coat for a little while longer! Friday night is the Banquet.

Saturday the National ends up with the Retrieving tests. I have both Q n D entered in the Middle level and they have to sit and stay for a double retrieve on land and water. Hopefully they stay and remember where the second bird is when they retrieve the first one. We have been working hard on that. Diesel needs a tune up for not peein on everything. Hopefully he will be a good boy for his Auntie!

It will be a busy but very fun week! The National Specialty is only for the breed that it is held for. So there will be Curly Coats ALL OVER! There aren't many around and when we all get together it is a blast.

Qwik is going for this versatility award by being entered in everything possible. If she does well she could win it! There are 11 curlies total going for it. Should be fun! I might have internet access at the hotel to post how we do. Or else yull just have to wait till I come home!

After Easter...

2009-04-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

So Easter Sunday I had signed up for a show in Amherst Jct. About 2 hours North. I really didn't want to go.....I have the Curly National next week and had traveled 2 hours away ish the last 2 weekends and was kinda pooped out on dog shows. But I went anyways......

Bell was entered in Utility B and Open B. We started off showing in Open and I was VERY pleased with how she worked! Her heeling was great and I was able to relax cause she was acctually following me and taking my cues(she acctually got NO deductions in heeling!) I was VERY happy with her run! I thought maybe just maybe she would be in the placements. But ya never know. Being Easter I didn't think many people would be at the shows but there was some stiff competition! She ended up in a 4 way runoff for 3rd place! YEE HAW! So the four of us ran off and then he called me, and another person back and we ran off again! Yahoo!!! We ended up with 4th place just out of the OTCh points. But I was so excited she was at least up there with all of them! She has really been struggling!

She had a great run in Utility and was working very nicely also. Except she didn't sit on one of the directed jumping sits. Thats a -3 deduction and we had a 194. The first place dog had a 198 1/2 SO she was close too! I was very happy with that. But she earned her 21st UDX leg by qualifying in both classes.

Miss Qwik was entered in Novice Rally. Her FIRST time! I was running from ring to ring and when I got out of the Open ring for ribbons they were calling me for Rally. So I had to race to the car, drag her out and warm her up on the way to the ring. SO NOT, what I had wanted to do. She was a bit distracted by everything cause I wasn't able to get her focused like I need. But she got a 99 out of 100 and placed First! Hurrah for the Beans! I have her entered this weekend at Fond Du Lac and also at the Specialty. So she hopefully will earn her title at the Specialty.

They are such hams.

Then we drove the 2 hours BACK home and went to my Aunt Charlotte's in Neosho. I made it in time for a drink then Dinner then CAKE! We had a good time with GREAT food.

Haley Hannah and Jessica hunting for eggs

Tryistan checking out his eggs

Hmmmm....Cake with a Cheese cake layer!!! Charlotte turned 60 on Monday.

Charlotte and My mom cuttin the cake.

My only Grandparent. Rita my Moms Mom. She will be 90 in May!

One of the surviving baby bunnies. Drake(my cousin Bens Dog) got into a nest of bunnies. We said he killed the Easter Bunny!! Poor kids will be traumatized!

Today I took my car into Just the Details to get cleaned out! Ginger and Brandon got me a gift certificate for Christmas a few years ago and I am finally taking advantage of it! Now I gotta try to keep it clean. It was SOOOO gross. The dogs really sow things up in there.

Ohh and a quick pigeon update. So I had 10 eggs. Well now I am down to 5. The bird that had the 2 babies hatch had 2 other good eggs in with her. One pair cannot raise 4 babies. It's too hard and they will all die. So I took away the "lesbians" unfertile eggs and gave them the 2 good eggs. One was already hatching and it ended up dying in the process. But the other one is now hatching. Hopefully it will live!

The other couple has 2 eggs and I candled them and they look good and hopefully will hatch in a week or so. The 2 hatched babies have already doubled in size. Still not so cute though!

Bell says that's ALL for now!

Can we go swimming?

A great Tuesday!

2009-04-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

So today has and still is VERY busy! I started off at 8am with a Chiro appt for me. Man was I overdue!!! I feel so much better. Good dealieo!!! Then I was off to the vet for the girls. Dr Sue is awesome and listened to me and talked with me and explained things to me. LOVE IT! Bell had a buncha stuff I had her look at. One that worried me was a small lump behind her shoulder blade that she has had for a while but it is hard to find and I thought it had gone away. Well I finally found it and had her aspirate it and it was just a fatty lump. I sure will be keeping my eyes on it! I had her double-check Qwiks back legs as she was lame last year for a while. We thought it was a partical cruciat tear but shes fine and crazy now!!! $353.00 later I made a quick stop at the Coffee Trader....BEST MOCAH LATTES EVER!!!! LOVE it!

Then I was off the the club to train before Bells Chiro Appt in Watertown. I got some agility equipment out and set it up in the yard at the club. I ran Qwik through the weaves and did some jumping and making sure she is committed to the jump. She is one to peel off or go around if I am not like RIGHT THERE with her. She did good and I think we accomplished something! She was great doing agility outside too! SCORE! She will be at the National doing agility in 2 weeks!!! YIKES!

Then off to Bells Chiro Appt. She has been pacing alot in her heeling and jumping bad in agility. Miss Qwik likes to bounce off of her and Bell is hard on herself too. I have been trying to find a place to take her but everything is either too far away or the days don't work for me. So this all worked out great and she trotted out of the office!

Then us girls went BACK to the club to work on the agility stuff I set out. I worked on lead outs and double jumps with Qwik and I worked on heeling and go outs and the broad jump with Bell. I was impressed with Bells attidue and heeling! We have been struggling! I just hope the pacing isn't a habit. We will see this weekend! I am entered at Camp Bandy in Amherst Junction with Bell in Open and Utility and Qwik in her Novice Rally Debut! I am very excited. If Qwik Q's here and next weekend and then at the specialty she will earn her RN title! I can't wait!

When I put all the agility equipment away I set out some bumpers and dokkens and a pheasant and duck and worked Qwik on some basic retrieving stuff. She has been a lill shit retrieving birds at Kyles. She marks well and races out there awesome....but dawdles picking up the bird. It drives me NUTS! I need to do that some more before the specialty. Hopefully this will help.

Then we came home and checked on the birds. Qwik likes to go crazy in the sand...sigh....when will she grow up! Bell is barking at the birds in the background.

Qwik looking in at the pigeons. I tried to get a picture of Bell looking in when I was in the coup, but it didn't work out.

The Red Check Male sittin on the 4 eggs.

GET AWAY FROM MY EGGS!!!! She sure is feisty!

The Blue Bar girl sitting on her 4 eggs. I think this nest is owned by lesbians....cause both of the birds that sit on this nest look girlish......And I never really saw them flirting or whatever. And usually one bird only lays 2 eggs. Lesbian birds...hehe

I locked all but the 2 still sitting on eggs outside to get a picture of them.

The one on the far left side on top is the baby that lived. The blue bar baby didnt make it. I got some supplemts to put in their water and I think it cleared up any of the bugs the rest of the birds might have.

Then I took Qwik alone for a romp n swim. She had a blast! I need to do the whole separte thing more often. Then she was tired.

I will hopefully have some more video tomorrow. We will see!

Tuesday pigeon & weekend update.

2009-03-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

So I showed Saturday and Sunday at Greater Racine Kennel club. Bell did alright. Her heeling is really really really terrible lately. She paces and just really gives NO effort. She can do it though! My handling is really really really lacking also. I need to get back on the obedience horse and get working on both of us!!! She Q'd in Open on Saturday with a 197. Not to shabby. On Sunday she Q'd in Utility with a extra heel command so the score is not worthy of being shown here :) But one thing that is going well is her fronts and finishes! I am trying somthing new. I ask her to front and if she is strait the first time she gets a reward. If she is crooked I say an unemotional NO and encourage her to try again untill she gets it correct. Then I praise her and set her up the exact same way and only reward if she is correct the first time. Well she is a fronting fool! I am SOOO pleased with how she is understanding it! Usually I just had her try again and then rewarded her where I wanted her to be. But this way is working SOOO much better. Her finishes are great too. Sometimes she is a little behind me. But we are working on that. Everything else she is doing super at! But Heeling we are on two different planets. Yvonne helped me out a ton on Saturday and we met today again and worked too. I have LOTS to work on and am seeing some good success already. HOPEFULLY it keeps going in that direction. I am entered the second weekend in April at Fond Du Lac in Obedience so I have some time to work on it.

I have off this weekend for an Agility show in Libertyville Illinois. Qwik and Bell are entered. Qwik is entered in some "big girl" classes and it will be interesting to see how she does! I am sooo excited to begin showing that lill curly dog! I just booked my hotel and sent in my entries for the Curly-Coat National Specialty the end of April! I CANNOT WAIT!!!! She is doing so well in her training and I am polishing everything up! I just hope the weather coperates with me since everything is going to be outdoors we have to be able to train outside! Ohhh well.

My pigeon babies are doing OK. the Darker one is fine but the lighter is a lill sick today. I am gonna buy some antibiotics you put in their water. Hopefully that will help it out. The parents of the babies just laid 2 more eggs in the new side by side condo by dad put up. And the dark couple finally laid an egg too. I dono how good of parents they will be though.....we will see!! I would get some more pictures of them but its raining out and I dont wanna go outside again!!!

My Tuesday Pigeon update!

2009-03-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Well since I kinda have been updating my pigeon status on Tuesdays I thought I would continue for a little bit! My dad put a side by side nest box up and it's cool! Hopefully more birds will pair up. I only have the 2 pairs still. But the pair that already has the babies is already nesting in the new box. I bet they will lay some more eggs soon! Here are the updated pictures from today. They are growing so fast!

This is the "Blue Bar" Notice the bands on it's wings.

This one is the "Blue Check" The wings will have checks on them sorta.

I hadn't really noticed they are two different color patterns. I cleaned out the coup today and watched them for a bit. The dark blue checker pair really are flirting and guarding the top nest box. Hopefully they will lay some eggs soon!

Last night we hosted a Wild Tree Party with Ginger. She works for Wild Tree as a on-the-side-job and did a great job! Lots of good food and company! It was nice for my Moms birthday n all.

Today me n the girls started out with field training at 8am...yawn...too early for me! Both girls went wild when we pulled into the drive way. They were eyein up the pond when we went past it. Its almost totally thawed. Kyle won't do any water marks untill the water is warm. So it will be awhile for that. Both girls did GREAT! Qwik only had one little bobble. On her way back to me on her second retrieve she just HAD to check out the water!!

"It's thawed!!! We SOOOO could be doing water work!! Please mom!!!" she said!

But otherwise I was VERY happy with how Qwik did. She gets cocky when she brings the bumper back...she will bring it right to me and let go if I ask her too. But if I don't she shakes it and like stands there all proud like "Yeah! Whos the bitch!" She always makes me laugh. Nerd...

Bell did great and only had a little trouble with a really long mark. But otherwise she is steadying up nicely and I barely have to hold her anymore. She also got some honor work in and is starting to keep her mouth shut instead of whining. She has to get back into shape! She was huffin and puffin towards the end!

Here are some pictures from outside today after training. They LOVE to be outside.

Qwik being the cocky bitch she is....

Bells almost got it!

Qwik trying to steal from Bell.

HMMmmmmmm Could this be open thawed water?

IT IS! IT IS! YEAH!

I LOVE MUDD N WATER!!!!

Bell's looking at her out of the corner of her eye...your such a dork, look at your tongue.

The Turkey.

The Beans.

I got 2 days of obedience this weekend at Racine Kennel Club. Should be fun!!!

Obedience Disapointment.

2009-03-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Bell was entered in an Obedience show in Madison today. She did really great things and a bunca not-so-great stuff too.

Before Utility she was in a GREAT mood! I was so excited she seemed to want to do somthing and was all happy n all. To start it off she didn't sit when I told her to on a Go out (-3) points. It's not a failure. It's kinda a good thing for her cause she was excited about doing her jumping. So I didn't tell her to sit again which would have failed us. But she had some nice fronts and finishes on that excercize. Then came the Moving stand which she NAILED! She has to stop when I tell her to while heeling and then stay there untill I call her back to me. I tell her to jump up when she comes to encourage her to come fast. Usually she does great but this time she LEPT up with ALL FOUR FEET and came racing to heel. LOVE IT!! Next came Gloves and for the first time EVER she took the wrong glove. I must have pivioted too much and she took the middle one instead of the far right one. I haven't trained Gloves lately though. So that failed us. Then came Scent Articles. We have always had a hard time with them. She shops around by picking the right one up and then droping it...then looking around some more...then picking up the right one again and coming part way....then she will throw it at me then go back and seach the pile again to make sure. Then she will bring the right one back....all as I am sitting there stressin out! Well today she went out picked up the right one and came directly to me and gave me nice fronts and finishes to boot....ON BOTH LEATHER AND METAL!!! WHOOO HOO!!!! HUGE in our book! We have been training that ALOT lately! So our work paid off! Then came signals. You cant talk to your dog at all, you can only use hand signals. Bell started off great but then went back into her old anticipation/stressin out crap. She did awful for part of the excercize. I was ticked. We have been working so hard on it!!! I am at a loss for where to go from here. I have tried so many different things. It all comes down to that I didn't teach her correctly from the beginning. Poor dog was my first dog and had to put up with my crap. Qwik is SOOOO much farther along in the beginning stages of heeling cause I taught her correctly. Unlike Bell. I dono if I can ever get her to the point of being competitive again.....we will see!!!

Bell did sorta better in Open. But same exact thing with her heeling. She also was being a brat and kept trying to suck up to the stewards and leave the ring to go get some liversausage! I have LOTS to work on before this weekend. I have her entered on Saturday and Sunday in Racine. Its a busy show with LOTS of entries.

One other side note is I worked both girls at a park today, outside on a soccer field! It was very dry! Prolly the only NON soggy grass in the county!!! Well Miss Qwik is having her Novice Debut the end of April, at the Curly Coat National Specialty. The show is being held ouside though. I have a hard time walking a strait line on matts indoors...we will see how it goes outside! But Qwik did AWESOME! I was soo proud of her! I have to remember to keep working with her outside. Being the little scatterbrain, I gotta keep her focused. I am getting so excited to start her actual showing!!! :)

Could the baby pigeons have gotten uglier????

2009-03-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

YIKES! Glad human babies don't get uglier with age! YIKES!

It looks to me that they are doing well though! Wouldn't you say? I ordered some Bands from FOY's pigeon supplies. That way I can mark the pairs so I don't split up the happy couples. I also want to mark the babies. Hopefully I will be able to turn them loose and they will come back to the coup. Or if they escape while training they will return home. Me and my dad are hoping to do some remodeling of the coup soon. Giving them a bigger oustide area to chill and some more bigger next boxes that are easier to clean. Hopefully if I have more boxes the others will pair up. I ordered some paper mache nest bowls so I won't have to have straw in there to make more of a mess.

This past Sunday I had a private lesson for Agility with a friend of a friend. I worked both girls in the indoor horse arena. They both did good and I learned some new things and saw some spots that I need to work on! I had a really good time and got some GREAT ideas to train! Qwik did better than I thought she would in the new place. She was a bit distracted but still worked nice. Bell had a hard time with the barn cats....she likes to chase cats and it was a tough distraction for her. But did well otherwise.

We start field training today with Kyle from Chesapeake Waters. The girls are WAY excited. Its kinda cruddy out rain and fog.....but they like to get down and dirty.

I took the girls swimming at my old bosses new place in Oconomowoc. The girls just LOVE the pool. I have some video I want to make a montage of once I have a few hours to waste. I really should get a laptop for when I am sittin around at shows!!

Bell has an Obedience show on Sunday in Madison. I dono how we will do. She is just stressin! I use lots of food and toys and rewards. But she still kinda goes "over the edge" with stress! Hopefully once we get back into the swing of things in the ring we will get our rythem back. I have off next week Saturday for an Obedince show in Racine. We will see how she does!

Lotsa learning and a new obedience title!

2009-03-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

I attended a 3 day dog training seminar last week Thursday-Saturday. It was put on by my old boss Katie. She owns www.thinkpawsitivedog.com. She had Susan Garrett come down from Cadada and put on several seminars. I went to the Advances in Dog Training on Thursday and Friday. Friday night was a weave pole seminar and Saturday was a jumping drill day. Fun Fun Fun. I have LOTS to work on and I started tonight at work. I got lots to do before the Curly National Specialty the end of April!!! Qwik won't know what hit her!

On Sunday I entered Bell at an obedience show held at State Fair Park in Milwaukee. She did OK and Qualifyed in both Utility and Open. By Qualifying in both classes on the same day she earned her 20th UDX leg, giving her a new title!! UDX2 She did kinda crappy in Utility. Her heeling sucked like usual. She stresses in Utility and just goes in this autopilot mode....sucks. In Open she did really well. But everyone else did well too. No Placements but I'll take the Q's!!!

I am fighting cold...hopefully it wont last!

NADAC Games trial.

2009-02-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

Me n the girls had an early morning. (YAWN!!!) We left at 6am for Madison, Mad City Dog Training Club. It was just a Games trial meaning they had all the fun stuff;

Tunnelers: A course made up of just tunnels. The dogs LOVE this game. They get to run really fast and it's fun to try to keep up and keep them on track!

Touch and Go: A course made up of an A-Frame, Dog Walk and tunnels. It's just like tunnelers but with the contacts in the way. The dogs have to be keen to your direction since they make it tough by putting the contacts right next to the tunnels. And tunnels are hard to resist!

Hoopers: This is a new class made up of hoops that the dog goes through. There is no height to it. You have to plan a strategy similar to Snooker in USDAA. Makes the handler think but the hoops are SOO simple for the dog to do.

To start we had Touch and Go. Qwik was up first being in Novice. Her first run she Qualified and had the fastest Novice time of ALL the heights! She did an awesome job taking direction from me. We need to work on rear crosses but she did good. She got first place and her first TnG Q! Yeah for her. Bell was up next and was a sassy pants for her contacts. We have been working on them in training and I need to be consistent across the board for her....So she didn't hold her front feet off and back feet on like I asked her to so we stopped and I had her repeat the A frame, and then she did what I asked. Then on the dogwalk she stopped with all 4 in the yellow....I waited and asked her to "touch" again and she did, and then we went on, and had to do the A-frame one more time....she went ALL the way to the bottom and put her front feet off and kept her back feet on . Hopefully I can continue to be consistent for both the girls sake in the future!

The Second round of Touch and Go I was a crappy handler for Qwik and she NQ'd...no fault of her own. Bell did AWESOME and finished her TN-E aka Elite Touch n GO. YEAH! The first "training" run paid off and she did what she should do on her contacts.

Next came Tunnelers. Both girls FAVORITE CLASS EVER!!!! They Q'd all 4 runs. Me and Qwik had some mis-directions...but we able to save the runs. Qwik finished her NOVICE TUNNELERS title, and Bell finished her ELITE TUNNELERS title. Fun Fun Fun Fun! I just love the enthusiasm for it. Both girls like to watch the dog ahead of them run and they bark or strain at the end of the leash.

Hoopers was next. We again Q'd all 4 runs. Qwik was a lill shit and could not stay focused. I think she needs something more to do....the hoops were small and not really attention getting so she had to be called back all the time.....not what I wanted but OK. Bell had an AWESOME second run with a time of 16 seconds......She placed first, the second place dog was at 30 seconds! She SMOKED it!!!

I will get our video'd runs up soon. My computer programs are acting up so I have to figure out something new. Soon soon.

Busy week coming up. Work Mon-Wed and Training Seminar Thurs-Sat. Sunday is the Wisconsin Kennel Club show at State fair park. Should be an EXHAUSTING week!

Another UKC Agility trial

2009-02-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

A club from Illinois rented the WWCDTC building and held a UKC agility show there today. I had Bell entered in trial one, level 1. She needed that leg to earn her UAG1 title, and also to advance to the next level. And she did it! She had a great run and did the teeter well.

I then had her entered in Trial 2 level 1 & 2 and she was going for points! She had to run fairly clean to get any points. She could not have ANY redo's. Well in level 2 she had 3 redo's so no points there. In level 1 she got a perfect score of 200 and 10 points! Yahoo! You need 100 points for the UACH title. So we are on our way there!

I also showed a friend of mine's golden DeeDee. She's a great dog. Her mom hurt her back so she can't run her. She runs for me and did awesome today! She earned her UAG1 title and 2 legs towards her UAG2 title! I was very proud of her too.

I was hoping to have Qwik ready for this show....but she would need to be weaving. She is doing OK in her training. I am not 100% sure why we aren't progressing. It's like sometimes she's great and others I feel we need to go back to square one. We will see. I have video'd ALL of her sessions so I will have a video up soon of what we are doing.

I really want spring now...I wanna train the dogs outside and am iching to get my a-frame up. Maybe we will get an early sping!

Pheasant Fest

2009-02-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

I took Qwik and Diesel to Pheasant Fest in Madison yesterday. http://www.pheasantfest.org/ It was a HUGE event! We sat in the Curly-Coated Retriever Club of America booth doing some breed education! D and Qwik were GREAT breed ambassadors. They were holding brocures and letting everyone pet and rub them. Diesel almost fell off the table a buncha times leaning against people.

We got lots of questions like. "Are these Labradoodles?", "Do they shed?" What kinda mix is this?" "Is this a curly lab?" "Did you curl their hair?" "Did you shave their faces?" "Do you have to trim their hair?" It was LOTS of fun! I got to talk to some curly people about the specialty and am getting excited for it.....its the end of April but I can't wait!

It was SOOO funny too I was sitting in the booth and Kyle my Field Trainer walked by. Him and his wife were sitting in the booth behind us and I didn't even know it! I was bugging him to start training soon! I gotta get the girls goin! Qwik has lots of stuff to get training on this year. Especially before the speciality in April!

All the snow is melting and its yucky out. Hopefully we will get the inch of snow on Thursday to cover up all this yuckyness!

Obedience Training...

2009-01-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

I took Bell and Qwik to K9 OTC tonight to get out and train some obedience! Bell did her usual happy stuff and had fun. I got to jackpot her heeling with some raw meat and she perked back up! She can get sloppy and disconnected while we do heeling. I need to train that more! I am gonna give this OTCH a try and work hard to get her sharp and precise.....its kinda boring training but we have fun. I learned ALOT from Bell about training things right the first time! But I have Bell entered in 5 trials. I will see how she does in them and if I can get her competitive or not in order to continue on the OTCH journey!

But what I was MOST pleased with was QWIK! I stuck her in novice just hoping to do some fun stuff with her in the ring and play around on sits and downs. She has a distraction problem in training and I have a hard time keeping her focused while heeling. Well she blew me away! She had some moments of disconnection from me but came right back and worked hard! She wasn't phased at ALL by the distraction of being in a new place she had NEVER been in before! She did GREAT on sits and downs and I got lots of compliments on her! Most had never seen a curly before so they thought she was cool anyways......she is :) One compliment I got that was way cool, was this nice lady I had never met before. She asked me how many dogs I had trained before. I said Qwik was my second and she didn't beleive me! She thought I was on #5 or #6 the way the curly dog behaved! I will SOOO take that compliment and stash it away for a rainy day!

So yeah I was happy with the girls! I have been semi lazy in training but I can't waste money on showing if my dogs aren't ready. It's just too darn expensive!!!

Till later!
-Aubrey

A non dog show weekend...

2009-01-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

I didn't have a dog show today so I was able to sleep in! HURRAH for sleep! Made myself some eggs for breakfast! I could eat breakfast food all day.

ANYWAYS!

Me and my mom went to the Washington County fairpark to the bridal show with my future sister in law, Ginger! I am excited for the wedding and all but not really like into the whole wedding n stuff. We saw some great ideas for flowers and cakes and stuff. I am excited now and can't wait to hear what she all has planned! I LOVED the idea of pheasant feathers on the cake and in the flowers! It will go with the whole outdoorsy theme n stuff. (They are having the wedding here http://www.pineridgeofwautoma.com/ ) I am taking Diesel and Qwik to the Pheasant Fest in Madison in 2 weeks to be representatives in the Curly Coated Retriever booth and will check out some places to get feathers! There were some cool photography booths and I LOVED this one place and Ginger did too. They were Pricey but really neat! They make like this book of your pictures and put them all together kinda like scrapbook style but way more elegant and fancy. Cool Cool!

After the Bridal show I bought myself a video camera! Well actually it is my Christmas and Birthday gift. But anyways, now I will be able to get more video! I was using my moms digital camera before and it couldn't zoom or work well in dim light. This new camera records to small DVD disks so I can keep them and wont have to erase a memory stick or card! Its nifty! I am excited!

One of my pigeons eggs was on the floor when I brought them some hot water to help keep them a little warmer. So only one egg. I got some pictures of them too.

Here is the Right side of the coup. The NON pairs

I think these two are a couple they are usually sitting in this top box.

These guys are together. The bottom one is my favorite. He almost looks pink! I say its a HE cause HE is usually on top of HER. She was the one always laying on the eggs before. She has white feathers on the outside of her tail. Almost all the birds have white on either their wings or tails. So I kinda can tell them apart.

I am gonna mark the pairs so that I don't use one of them for training, and split up a pair. They are kinda cool to keep around.

Had the banquet for Western Waukesha County Dog Training club on Saturday night. I brought that awesome grape salad. YUMMO! I need to make that more often. Bell and Qwik got certificates for all the titles they earned this year. Yeah for them! Had a good time and met some members of the club that I didn't know. Always a fun time.

Stay warm!

2009-01-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

SOOO! We had a GREAT weekend at WWCDTC's UKC agility trial. Qwik made her UKC debut and did EXCELLENT! I wasn't going to enter her since I didn't think she was ready. Well she really wasn't but qualified all 3 of her runs! Here is HER video!

So now she is known as UAG1 CH Sun Devil Seas Blazin' for Shore CGC WC UWC

Bell was entered also and earned her UAG2 title and 2 legs towards her UAG1 title. She did great! I haven't trained the teeter totter in a few years due to her fear. Lately I have been tiring out the girls by training them in the basement on stuff that moves......

And with all that training, Bell has grown more confident with "stuff that moves". I have been playing with her on the teeter and decided to go ahead and try her at the UKC show on the teeter. She did GREAT! She buried her face in liver sausage after each run. She would have earned 3 legs and a title in AG1 but dropped a bar. But she did get High Combined on Friday and HIGH IN TRIAL on Sunday for her AWESOME run! I was so proud of her! Maybe just MAYBE we might be able to do some more teeters soon. Cross your fingers. There are a few more UKC shows coming up. We will see what happens!

It has finally warmed up to the point of being able to go outside for more than a minute! My Pigeons decided NOW was a GREAT time to have some eggs. These are the first they have layed. We will see if they hatch!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

2009-01-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well we survived another year. HURRAH! It's been a great year with lots of excitement and success! Here is a quick recap of titles earned and acheivements!

1-6-08 Bell finishes her AKC UTILITY DOG EXCELLENT or UDX.

2-23-08 Bell earns her first AKC HIGH IN TRIAL and HIGH COMBINED!!!

3-23-08 Bell earns her NADAC ELITE WEAVERS title and OPEN TOUCH AND GO
Qwik made her NADAC debut here and earned her first TUNNLERS leg!

5-24-08 Bell earns her NADAC OPEN CHANCES title

6-21-08 Bell earns another AKC HIGH COMBINED!

6-28-08 Qwik finishes her AKC CHAMPIONSHIP!!! HURRAH HURRAH!!!!

7-20-08 Bell earns her NADAC ELITE CHANCES title

7-26-08 Bell earns her AKC JUNIOR HUNTER title

8-10-08 Bell earns her GRCA, Working Certificate or WC
Qwik runs with the poodle club and earns her Working Certificate with the CCRCA

9-21-08 Bell earns her UKC STARTED HUNTING RETRIEVER Title

9-28-08 Bell plays with the curlies and passes the UPLAND WORKING CERTIFICATE
Qwik also passes the Upland test with FLYING Colors and earns her UWC

Bell needs one more UDX leg for her UDX2 and Qwik needs one more leg for her UKC Started Title!

I was very happy with both girls. I also made some big strides with Qwik in training and Bell is learning the next level of Field work!

So here are my titleage goals for 2009!

for Bell:
Be ready to enter an AKC Senior Hunter test
Enter a UKC Seasoned test
Finish her NADAC NATCH
Get closer to finishing her AKC OTCH
Finish her AKC MXJ
Earn her GRCA WCX

for Qwik:
Earn her CD and CDX
Earn her AKC Junior Hunter title and be ready to enter a Senior Hunter Test
Finish all AKC and NADAC Novice Agility titles
Finish her UKC Started Hunter title and enter a Seasoned test
Earn her CCRCA WCX
Break 20 feet for Dock jumping!

I hope I can find the time for it all!

And for other goals for 2009...
Talk more walks at the park and at home with the dogs
STAY ORGINIZED
Keep in better contact with friends and family...hence this blog!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
-Aubrey n the girls!

Welcome to my blog!

2008-12-04T20:44:00.001-08:00

I had always wanted to post a blog here I go!