Obedience Success!

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.....

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!!!

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!!!!

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

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...

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!

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!