Obedience Training...

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...

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!

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!!!!!

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!