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

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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!!! :)