Goals

It's that time of year... Time to reflect on the year just finished and plan for the new one just begun.

My 2012 dog goals were:

Joker - 10 years old

Having accomplished my Lifetime goals for him in 2011, he is now the resident retired dog in the family.
- Joker loves to cuddle and still enjoys playing with the big black dogs.

Gryffin - 8 years old

Keep exercising him with the hope of running several Master tests in 2012.
- Did series 1 & 2 in one in May, but he pulled something stepping in a hole, so I scratched him from the last series.
Had an aMAZing National, getting 1st runner-up in the Steady Singles field competition out of a field of 70+ dog. making the final cut in the Veterans 9-11 Sweepstake class, and winning the Veterans Novice class with a 198.5. Each thing we did brought me so much joy that week...
Then about 3 weeks later he was gone very suddenly to cancer... Still miss him every day... But what a ride we had!

Ty - 7 years old

• Finish her OM1.
• Earn her OTCh. There, I said it! We'll see how it goes.
• Earn her UDX. I actually think this will be the toughest one of the 3.
• Earn her OM2. Haven't had one before.
• Qualify in a regliar class at the FCRSA National. Haven't managed that with her since her HIT Novice B debut.
• Qualify for and attended the AKC NOI (National Obedience Invitational) next December in Orlando.
• Field goals are vague. My pursuit of Master with her will depend on Gryff's soundness. I like having 2 dogs to train in field, but 3 is unwieldy.

Ty had a good year - finished both the OM1, OM2, and her UDX. Showed a lot in the spring, just two weekends in the fall. Once we reached the goals in October, I essentially stopped training her. I gave up on an OTCh quite early in the year. Having earned just 2 more OTCh points in 2012, it was a wise decision. I don't like training Ty anywhere near enough to want to spend the necessary time.
We Qed in Open B with a 3rd place at the National - I realized this fall I hadn't passed Open at the National since Treasure's days, and she's been gone since 2006 :-). Gryff never managed it.
We did not qualify for the NOI, which was just as well, because I didn't really want to be training obedience at the end of 2012.
Retired her from field. She did a bit in the summer, but mostly, she is now retired, period, other than demoing in class

Sonic - 4.5 months

She is such a dream to train! I haven't started a puppy so young for field, since I knew next to nothing about it when I started Gryff, so I have no sense of how good she's likely to be in the field. She shows great promise for obedience.

• Show her in conformation.
• Have her ready to match in Novice by the end of the year.
• Lay foundation for scent discrimination done so she understands how to use her nose before completing her field basics.
• Get her through field basics.
• WC
• JH
• RN

Sonic is a dream come true. I simply adore this dog. Having her already woven into my heart made Gryff's sudden death much more bearable.
I showed her in conformation just a few times. Since she's mostly looked like a field lab, I figure I ought to wait until she has grown up. We are entered one day at the big January shows, since she has been growing hair and I'm finally getting a bit of meat on her skinny bones. It is my excuse to get out to a dog show :-).
We did a few matches in Beginner Novice and sort of Novice. My obedience training definitely took a back seat to field most of the year, but one of my long-time students has been teaching a class at my place so that I can take it, and though we don't do a ton of obedience work in between Tuesday mornings, Sonic has continued making progress. I think she is going to be a lovely heeling dog, if I ever really commit to making it a priority.
I did something in the spring I've never done before: I did Around the Clock Scent Discrimination every day for 30-some days straight, and by the end of that, she was working a random pile. We did it a few more times, then I didn't try it again until fall. She seemed to remember it just fine. Very cool to get through it that efficiently - though I think it was on day 2 of the first week that I wrote some friends that I might have to shoot myself from boredom :-).
Field basics... we are building up to Double T, have been much of the fall. Now with 6" of snow on the ground and 10 degree temps, I'm not quite as motivated to get out there. She is a complete blast to work in the field and if I stay patient and don't let her start driving the bus as often as she would like to, I think she is going to be very, very good at it. She sure does love it and we love doing it together.
She earned 2 JH legs in mid-September after completely failing one in July (almost totally out of control getting to the line, never retrieved the 1st duck, so was out right away - I'm still mystified by that lack of finding a bird that day), earned her WC the next weekend.
Earned her RN in October at 2 local trials. That experience made me appreciate how well trained Ty is :-). I used every bit of my handling skill to get Sonic through the courses, and she had fine scores (97, 100, 99), but I also knew we were far from ready for Advanced. I am aiming to do Advanced with her at an upcoming trial in early February, since I'll have some students showing in rally for the 1st time.

Little

Little, who I trained in field from June-early October of 2011, came back for more field training in June 2012 and pretty much stayed until just a few days ago, other than a stretch in July/August. She got as far as doing Pattern Blinds and Blind drills on land, well beyond finishing Double T as I'd hoped. We didn't get as far in water as I'd hoped (wanted to have Swim-by done, apparently the Holy Grail of field work for me and my dogs), due to cold weather. She and Sonic have a lot of fun together - I've never had two FCRs in the house so close in age who play so much together. Ty and Gryff were just 18 months apart, but Ty does not engage in something as demeaning as bitey-face :-).

Myself

I didn't actually write down any goals for myself at the end of 2012, but I did a lot of field training education efforts throughout the year. I audited Mike Lardy's Basics and Transition workshop in Georgia in March, something of a Bucket List (which I don't really have) goal; I audited Carol Cassity's workshop in June; I had a working spot in Mitch White's 4-day workshop in July; and went to Tennessee to Clint and Sherie Catledge's marvelous property for a heavenly vacation week in November.

Adele's 2013 Goals

I am feeling surprisingly lost about goals to set for the coming year, much more so than I can remember feeling for a lot of years. Maybe it is having only one dog of my own for whom to set goals? Maybe it is that I haven't done field with enough dogs to feel confident about how long it will take me to advance?
Joker – 11 years and going strong
Goal is to keep him that way.
Ty – 8 years old.
I've accomplished what I hoped to with her – Ch UDX OM2 SH WCX, and applied for the FCRSA HOF. She needs a job, but I don't know what it ought to be.
Little – 2 years old
I've just sent her back to Helen's for a while, since I'm finding training both her and Sonic in the snow tiresome. I'd like to have her ready for the WCX at the National and for Senior by fall. Helen may do Novice with her at the National if she has Little enough to train her regularly, and maybe rally.
Sonic – 16 months old

• Get to do water in the Derby at the April National, which means doing land well enough to move on to water. In my dreams, we place. But being realistic, getting to water would be a grand achievement. I just have to hope that there are enough entries to hold it - the Derby was canceled in 2012 due to entries being too low.
• Finish her JH.
• Get her running cold blinds, land and water.
• Earn her WCX
• Run Senior with her in the fall. While I'd love to earn her SH, that is a pretty tall order - I think.
• Earn her RA and RE.
• I've been completely focused on field work with her lately, and plan to continue that as much as possible this winter, so I don't know if I'll devote the time to obedience titles or not. If I do, we might do Novice in the fall. Or BN. Or GN. Or none.

Myself

• Update the NDT website! It has been on my list for at least a year, and other things keep getting in the way.
• Continue with my field training education – to that end, I'm already signed up for two seminars with Mitch White and plan to sign up for the Carol Cassity one that Marshbanks will be sponsoring in Jliy, and maybe one with Bill Hillman in June.
• Keep honing my Getting Things Done chops.
• Blog more regularly again.
• Get back to some form of aerobic exercise. Aim for 100 workouts.
• Work on some multimedia product. I have some half-baked ideas. Website first, though.

What are your goals?

This Fall's Competitions

I've had a very productive fall of various competitions - field, obedience, and rally. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Ty finishing her UDX, and Sonic earning her WC, a couple of Junior Hunter passes and her 1st rally novice leg.

This past weekend were the annual Marshbanks Golden Retriever Club's obedience and rally trials held in my training building. Assuming all my arithmetic is correct, Ty finished her OM2 title, earning 12 points for her 2 Utility B Qs. Earning a UDX and OM2 were my top level title goals for her, so anything else she does in the future will be a bonus. Her heeling is simply not up to snuff enough to pursue an OTCh., especially in my very competitive area.

Sonic earned legs 2 & 3 on her RN (rally novice), making this her 1st AKC title. Her performance on Saturday was the best of the three legs.

I gave her 2 runs before showing her, 1 first thing in the morning and another about an hour before we showed. I'd run her through rally and beginner novice on Friday at the match that Northfield Dog Training sponsored. She had a lot of trouble concentrating for any length of time outside the ring, but once we entered to run the course, she was quite good. This gave me some confidence on Saturday before I showed her.

She earned a perfect 100 and 2nd place. I never did look at the times of my run and the 1st place exhibitor, but since we moved through the course pretty quickly, I have to assume I paused longer on the walk around exercises.

On Sunday, she had a lot more trouble concentrating, plus the course was quite jammed in together, so almost as soon as you'd finish one sign, you'd be at the next one. I kept her with me mainly because I talked to her almost non-stop and was very proactive about giving her extra help when she needed it.

We earned a 99 and 1st place to complete her RN, her 1st AKC title.

Little is still staying with my family, since I'm still having good weather and time enough to train her. Plus, she's hit a really fun and exciting stage of training called 'Transition', where it seems like she makes progress every day. She learned a set of pattern blinds last week easy as pie. Essentially, you teach the dog 3 new blinds over several days, adding a new blind when they've mastered the previous one(s). If you hold 3 fingers up and spread them wide, that is kind of the directions of the blinds. I don't remember having so little problems when I did pattern blinds with Gryffin and Ty, but maybe it's a case of amnesia. Whatever the case, she did them so well, I asked Helen to help me get started with Blind Drills, where you add a gunner and marks to the pattern blind field. The 1st day we did them (last Friday), I had Helen positioned to the right of the right blind, throwing to the right. It went so smoothly that on the 2nd day, I positioned her between the middle and right blinds, throwing an angle back mark to the left. This produced several chances to work on casting Little away from distractions, as she really wanted to veer to where the mark was thrown. Since this is exactly what the drill is intended to teach, I felt it was a successful venture. I'm not sure when I'll be able to have someone throw again, but hopefully soon.

I'm working on whistle sits with Sonic, using a PVC baby gate parallel to and to the right of the line she's running, because she has been tending to loop at least 6-8 feet to her right AND come creeping in before she sits. Neither of these is what I want, so borrowing from my obedience fixes for go-out sits, I'm using a barrier. I had tried using my 4 foot PVC broad jump boards a month or so ago, but they weren't big enough to work well. She seems to only need the gate to the right, so that's all I'm using. I saw some nice results with it yesterday. I'd really love to have her either started on Double T or ready to start it when we get to the Catledges in Tennessee, because I've heard wonderful things about their Double T field. We are also working on baseball casting where I put her on the (imaginary) pitcher's mound and 'cast' her (give hand signals and voice commands) to send her to 1st, 2nd or 3rd base to retrieve a bumper.

I've also been shaking the bushes looking for some local hay fields in which to work on marking, and I've got a few lined up. Now I just need time!

What is next? My next two weekends will be spent flying to Minnesota and Lakeland, FL to present seminars. The following weekend, Marshbanks is hosting a CCA (Certificate of Conformation Assessment), an event for Golden Retrievers at my building, and I'm co-chairing the eye clinic that same day. The next afternoon, I'm driving to Tennessee with Sonic and Little to train field. For a whole week!!! When I made the final arrangements, I felt like a kid on Christmas, I was so excited. I hope, hope, hope that it is still warm enough for water work, because that is the biggest reason I'm going. I am leaving T3 behind since the place I'm going has a trailer I can stay in. It also means I can travel a lot faster.

I'll probably enter Ty in the Toledo KC trials Thanksgiving weekend. She really likes showing there, and therefore, so do I.

Why Do I Volunteer?

Dog clubs and the related dog sports are overflowing with opportunities to volunteer. Without a large corp of volunteers, dog events would simply cease to happen.

I have done a lot of volunteering over my years in dog sports, from becoming newsletter editor for the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club soon after I joined in the mid-1980's, to serving on various boards, to chairing numerous obedience trials, to working on hunt tests and other field-related activities. I'm co-chairing an eye clinic for one of my clubs that is happening next month, something new for me.

Why do I volunteer? Sometimes, volunteering can seem like a thankless job. People who rarely or never volunteer most likely have no concept of the amount of work that goes on to host an obedience trial. I can only imagine what chairing a large all-breed conformation show combined with obedience and/or agility must be like! The logistics boggle my mind. Same with chairing a National Specialty. I've had committee positions for several Nationals, but never attempted to chair one.

So, what makes me volunteer? I find I get a great deal of personal satisfaction in helping to organize and run efficient events. I like seeing what works and what doesn't, making note of both categories to try to tweak it for the next time to make it better.

I enjoy working with other like-minded club members. It is a simple joy to work as a well-oiled machine with a group of people. I recently stewarded in Utility at the AADTC trial, something I have only rarely done in my long years of exhibiting. I almost always either have a dog to show or there is a reason I am staying home.

There are a lot of little details that go into helping a judge run their ring efficiently. I enjoyed the simple challenge of being where I was supposed to be when I was supposed to be. I've judged far more than I've stewarded, and I've mostly had the pleasure of working with excellent stewards. They really do make or break the day for everyone involved.

At Marshbanks hunt test this summer, I was working a gun station during the final series, and when teams finished, they had to walk back to the vehicles past our gun station. One pro in particular thanked us several times (he ran a bunch of dogs), and it was interesting how a simple and sincere thank you made it all seem worthwhile.

Volunteering to steward at an obedience trial can be a great way to get familiar with the ring routine of different classes before ever showing your own dog. I've had students who, after stewarding, tell me, "My dog can do that!" You get to know judges, and find out they aren't quite as scary as you thought.

If you can, volunteer to help in some way, however small. And if you can't help, please offer some sincere thanks to workers at all levels. It really does feel great to be appreciated and to know people are enjoying the event on which you've worked so hard.

Catching Up

Every week, my reminder software pops up with "blog post". And every week for months, I've deleted it. I don't completely understand why I've been unable to write until now, but I think a big part of it was losing Gryffin so suddenly in July. Here's my write-up from what I posted on Facebook on July 6, 2012 when it happened:

Gryffin 

Ch. OTCh. Grousemoor Gryffindor UDX OM1 MH RE WCX; RL3

June 6, 2003-July 6, 2012

photo by Karen Taylor

Tuesday (July 3), Gryffin didn't quite finish his dinner. Wednesday, as I prepared to leave town to attend a seminar in Ohio, he didn't seem quite right, and didn't finish his morning meal. I told my husband and son that I was worried about Gryff and to please keep a close eye on him. Thursday morning, Fritz took Gry

ff to the vet because his breathing was labored, and a chest x-ray showed several tumors in his lungs. By the time I consulted with the vet & Fritz last night, I stayed on in Ohio until this morning. Fritz said Gryff seemed worse this morning, so I came home, getting home about 1 PM. Gryff greeted me with enthusiasm, acting close to his normal waggy self. But watching him laboring to breathe throughout the afternoon, I knew it was time. I didn't want to wait until his wag was gone. Fritz, Ryan, and I made that last difficult trip with him and were with him at the end.

We had an amazing journey together, amassing a lovely collection of titles before and after his name, always owner handled and trained. But it is those memories of the little things of living with a goof ball Flat-Coat boy that will make me smile for now and always - "woo wooing" at me when he was really in a good mood; his happy huff huff huff when he was working confidently; his sticking his nose between my knees for an ear fluff; going all the way through my legs for his happy dance butt scritch; ending up upside down on the floor or ground in front of me, squirming back and forth, giving his back a good scratch; barking at me when I'd catch him being naughty; his love of swimming; his sometimes overwhelming desire to Go Do Something; picking up the food dishes so I could fill them at the next meal; his never flagging optimism and happy attitude. I've often said it's hard to be sad with a boy Flat-Coat around.

Gryff was my first dog to train seriously for field events. His love of the game - still evident at last month's National, where he did some brilliant work in the Steady Singles competition - showed me, who used to really dislike guns and dead birds, what a joy it was to learn this game with a dog with such heart and desire. He was such a lovely combination of steady when he needed to be and explosive as he'd leave the line to retrieve.

We attended the National together every year of his life, from California in 2004 when he was 11 months old, running his first field events and placing in the puppy sweeps class, until this year in Wisconsin, where he was 1st runner-up in the Steady Singles. He made it to the final cut in the 9-11 year old Veteran's Sweeps class. And he earned a 198.5 in our final Veteran's Novice class. It made me smile stepping to the line, gaiting him around the ring, and heeling with him. I am so very, very grateful we had that last chance to step out together and shine.

Rest well, Gryffy Man. You were a magnificent part of my life. You leave a gigantic hole in our family and in my heart. I hope there are plenty of ducks and swimming holes for you, wherever you are now.

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are" (Author unknown)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

And so, what I thought was going to be "How do I retire this dog who doesn't want to be retired?" became "How do I go on without him?" In answer to that question, it helps to have been down this path of loss 5 times before with previous dogs. Many, many people say, "It never gets easier." Personally, I disagree. While it is never easy to lose a dog, there are things that made losing Gryffin less difficult. All three of my girls have had long, lingering illnesses, which in retrospect, are incredibly stressful. I despise that weight of "Is it going to have to be today?" that hangs over you. All three of my boys have gone very quickly, in a matter of days or even hours. While it is like ripping off a huge bandage, and hurts terribly, I find peace in knowing the suffering for the dog was much shorter. Gryff's last day with me was during that awful high-90's/low 100's heat wave and with his breathing already compromised, I couldn't make him wait another day. As I said before, I didn't want to wait until his wag was gone. While I do not in any way like having to euthanize my animals, I am very grateful that we have that choice.

Because of who he was, most of my memories of Gryffin simply make me smile. He was such a goof ball. When he was younger, my boys called him 'Disney Boy', because he always had that Disney character look on his face - happy and optimistic. At some future date, I might start writing down some of those memories to share in one place.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In the 3 months since then, I have mostly been concentrating on field work with Sonic and Little, who came home from the National with me to continue her field work. Little is pretty much through her field basics. We have another week or so to work on 'Swim-by', which can't be done locally anymore because it's gotten too cold. She has quite a bit of the skills needed for it, now we just need a good pond in which to do it, time to do it, and warm enough weather to do it. She is pretty much done with Double T. I am planning to get her started on Pattern Blinds, one of the early steps in the Transition stage of training. I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep her this year - it depends on how much longer I can make myself go outside and train!

Just last weekend at the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club's fall trials, Ty came off her 3+ month vacation and finished her UDX on Friday. 

To show it wasn't a fluke, she QQed again on Sunday. All 4 performances were fun and without any big errors. She is just 7 points from her OM2, which I hope to get done at next weekend's Marshbanks trials. She just needs ONE solid Q to do that. After that, we'll coast. I do not have getting an OTCh on her as a goal anymore, but if we can have that much fun in the ring with relatively minimal training, I'll keep showing her.

Three weeks ago, at 13 months old, Sonic earned her 1st 2 Junior Hunter legs with very solid performances. Her duck handling left a bit to be desired, but it improved from day 1 to day 2. The next weekend, she earned her WC (Working Certificate) at the Marshbanks test. She is now the youngest dog to title for me. I moved her up to the WCX the next day, not with any real expectation that she'd be able to do the whole thing (a triple on land, double in the water, honor on the water, all off leash), but to see how she would be going to the line off leash and no collar. While she wasn't rock-solid steady while the guns and birds flew, she DID wait until I sent her, a very big accomplishment. She couldn't find the flier go-bird and eventually 'switched' - a big no-no - and went and got the middle bird. If she was more experienced, I wouldn't have let her continue, but as it was the last test of the season and she's so inexperienced, I let her get that one, then the left one, then resent her to the flier on the right. She still needed help from the gunner, but did get it.

Last weekend, Sonic earned her 1st Rally Novice leg with a generous 97 and 3rd place. Showing her made me appreciate how well trained Ty is :-). Sonic is a keg of dynamite. She has so much energy, she really needs a hard run every day. I gave her a hard run before we left home, but she was still over the top. To her credit, the middle half of the course was very nicely done, with nice attention. She really did as well as I could expect. Here's a link to a video of her performance:

This has gotten long enough. I hope to be back again much sooner than 3 months!

The Rest of the FCRSA National, 2012

This is long. It may be that no one but me will ever read the whole thing. I thought I would keep writing during the National, but obviously, I didn't. Once we got home from the National, life continued on its crazy path, and I couldn't settle down to do this write up until now.

When I last wrote, it was after the first day of the FCRSA National, when Little 'jammed' in the Unsteady Singles, and Gryff was one of 4 dogs invited back for a runoff Saturday evening for the Steady Singles Championship.

I scratched Gryff from Saturday's Master test, wanting to save him for the runoff. He looked just a bit off before running the 4th series on Friday, and I didn't want to use him up before the runoff.

I ran Little in the Junior test on Saturday and she did a fine job, earning her 4th pass and her JH title. We were done with that by 1 PM or so, so we went back to the Expo center and T3 for the afternoon. I have to say, I will long remember that afternoon, savoring the anticipation of participating in the runoff that evening. Here's how Gryff prepared (having a nap in the crate in the trailer):

One of the wonderful things about the Steady Singles competition is there is so little pressure on the handler. Other than doing all you can to get the dog aimed in the right direction so they have the maximum chance to see the birds fall, once you release the dog, there is nothing else you can do. When compared to a Master test, where you have to be ready at any moment to blow your whistle if your dog gets in trouble, this was so relaxing. Yes, of course I was a bit nervous, but I would say overall, it was one of the most enjoyable field tests I have ever run in.

From my division, Joe Skorupa and his wonderful brown boy Zip! was the other dog chosen besides Gryff. From the other division, Karen Peterson and her very experienced girl, Polaire, and Bunny Milliken and her very inexperienced girl, Teal, were chosen for the runoff. Karen decided to scratch Polaire, because she was coming off several months of rehab for an injury.

The runoff consisted of two water marks across the Bunny Pond. The running order was Gryffin, Zip!, and Teal. 

We ran the right mark first. It required one re-entry. As Gryffin approached the point of re-entry, he responded in a too-familiar fashion, and ran around the ear of the bunny, snatched up the duck - he knew exactly where it was - and then, remembering lessons past, swam through the ear on his return. Naughty boy! As he did that big run around cheat, it made me mile and shake my head. He has always been a terrible cheater, so it wasn't surprising. On the 2nd mark (the longer one), he did the 1st re-entry, and then, by gum, ran around the other ear of the bunny at the last possible instant. And then he swam coming back. I figured at that point, we were out, but I frankly didn't really care. I was just so pleased to even be in the runoff.

Joe and Zip! stepped up, and much to my surprise, Zip! cheated nearly as badly as Gryffin on both marks. I thought his line through the 1st pond was better than Gryff's, but there was not a dramatic difference in their performances. 

Next, Bunny and Teal ran the marks, and Teal followed in the older dogs' bad foot steps, and followed that naughty path around the bunny ears. Teal also had more of a hunt on each mark.

The judges decided they needed to see more work, but having seen all 3 dogs cheat so badly, opted for a land mark. We moved to a different field, and as the daylight faded, we stepped up to run the last mark. It was about 180 yds out, 2 gunners throwing left to right. There wasn't much between the mound we ran from and the final cover patch into which the duck was thrown. Gryff took an excellent line almost all the way there, faded left, hunted in and around the gunners, and came up with the bird. Zip! hunted more to the right of the bird, and came up with it faster than Gryff did. Teal flew out and overran the fall and hunted in the next field for a bit. So the judges were presented with 3 very different performances on the final bird.

The comraderie was simply wonderful. Everyone was supportive and personally, I had a great time, as did Gryff. 

Left photo by Xan Latta (that's Bunny Milliken in the foreground) Right photo by Candy Ferner

The results were announced later that evening at the field banquet. As I suspected, Joe and Zip! were crowned Steady Singles Champion, and Gryffin and I were 1st runner up, and Bunny and Teal were 2nd runner up. Here's Gryff with his huge ribbon.

With this result, anything else we managed at the National would be icing on the cake. It was the thrill of a lifetime to get to run Gryff on those runoff marks, and results were a complete joy.

On Sunday, I helped marshall at the WC (working certificate) land and ran Little for her WC title. The test was very straightforward, and almost all of the dogs passed the land. Sonic did not get to run any of the field events because she had come in season 2+ weeks before, much to my huge disappointment.

The next evening, I showed Gryffin and Ty in the Veterans Sweepstake. Both made it to the final cut - Gryff was one of 7 at the end of the 9-11 year old Dogs and Ty was one of 6 at the end of 7-9 year old Bitches (out of over 30 girls). As I was gaiting Gryff around the ring, it just simply made me smile. They both really enjoyed their time in the ring, as I did. While neither got a placement ribbon, it was still a thrill to be in the ring at the end.

The next day was obedience day. Frustratingly, after lovely heeling, Ty failed to respond to my sit signal for the umpteenth time in Utility, the only serious mistake she made. It meant my hope to finish her UDX were dashed. However, she did manage a Q in Open B, something I hadn't managed since showing Treasure years and years before - Gryff never Qed in Open B at a National, and Ty hadn't before this year. We lost a runoff for 2nd place, but we accomplished one of our goals for the year - to qualify in a regular class at the National.

Sonic was in puppy sweeps that afternoon and we got a 3rd place in her class. She was a lot of fun to show, and not too wiggly for the exam.

Wednesday was Versatility for Ty and Veterans Novice for Gryff. Ty was simply dreadful, making me very glad she was going to be on obedience vacation for several months. I hadn't done all that much obedience work with Gryffin, but he had a delightful performance and earned 1st place with a very fine 198.5. Here's the video of that, our final ring performance together:

On Thursday, Sonic was my only dog entered, in the regular 9-12 bitches puppy class. The judge checked Sonic's bite multiple times, made a negative comment about it (it has been level for the past several months, but looked to be a tiny bit undershot that day), but then made a nice comment about her lovely head. But we were excused with the 1st cut. 

This concluded our 2012 National experience, one to never be forgotten:

Gryff: 1st runner up in the Steady Singles; made final cut in Veterans 9-12 dog; 1st place in Veterans Novice.

Ty: made final cut in Veterans 7-9 bitches; 3rd place in Open B.

Little: JAM in the Unsteady Singles; finished JH title; earned her WC title. She also got 3rd place in American Bred, but that had nothing to do with me :-).

Sonic: 3rd place in her puppy sweeps class.

FCRSA 2012 Day 1

I had the most aMAZing day today! Gryffin and I ran the Steady Singles, a competitive club event where the dogs have to be steady (off leash, no collar, no going without being told by the handler) and all the marks are singles - bird is thrown, the dog retrieves it. The first series had two land singles. Gryff went right to the left one, and overran the 2nd (in high grass) by a small amount, but caught wind of it and circled back and snagged it. Both marks were > 100 yds, I was told, though with the flat terrain, they didn't look that long to me. The 2nd series - by invitation only - was a single loooong land mark (240 yds?), past a large mound of dirt on the right about 1/2 way out, with the mark thrown right to left, and the wind blowing left to right. The test dog went behind the gunners, the 1st dog didn't pick out the mark at that distance, then it was Gryff's turn. He took a very nice line to it, fading a bit into the gunners once past the mound, but staying on the correct side, went just a bit past, then came in and grabbed it. Since I was also running Little in the Unsteady Singles, I left right away, so didn't see any other dogs run it. In fact, I saw very few of the other dogs run any of Gryff's stake. We were called back for the 3rd series, which was a single water mark, with land/water/land/water/land - i.e., they had to cross a peninsula. The bird was thrown a short distance from the water's edge. As he crossed the peninsula, Gryff made a little cut to the left, as I'd seen the one other dog I'd seen run do. He swam across the 2nd bit of water, emerged on the far shore, and though I thought he was too far to the left, he found the bird immediately. Invited back to the fourth series! I think there were 12 dogs back. It was a much longer land/water/land/water/land mark, probably in the 150 yd range. He took a very nice line out to it, but had his biggest hunt of the day. Once again, I immediately left to go back to Little's stake, so didn't see any of the other dogs run. All I knew was he'd gotten five ducks he'd been sent for, with almost zero hunting.

In the meantime, Little was doing an excellent job with her ducks. She was in the Unsteady Singles, which means I could hold her collar to help keep her in place. The first series had two relatively short singles, which she got easily. The 2nd series was a longer mark, though still not all that long. The first water series had a mark with a peninsula to cross, with the duck near the far shore. The peninsula was quite a bit wider than any of the ones we've trained on, and on the way back, she put her duck down a couple of times, once to shake, and once to... who knows? Talk to the duck? She went right to the 2nd one, which got us into the last series. It was similar to the 1st water mark, with a short land/water/land/water/land, with the bird about 20 yds from the shore on land. The whole thing was quite a bit tougher than the previous one, but the eleven dogs called back would all get at least a JAM (Judges Award of Merit). I really had NO idea if Little knew how to hunt that far from the shore. She took a very nice line, ran across the peninsula, jumped in right away again, then faded to the right some. Turns out there was something in the water that must have looked like a duck to her. After she discovered it wasn't, she reoriented herself, got back on line, got out and went almost immediately to the duck. She recrossed the far water, but then was very naughty and ran ALL the way around the right end of the pond. She just really didn't seem to be able to find me. She went to the nice men on the ATV, and I finally hollered COME, and then she came in my direction. Fortunately, she never once dropped her duck, in spite of the very long run around.

The end results of the day: Little earned a JAM, and Gryffin... he was one of two dogs from our division to get chosen to be in a runoff tomorrow, late in the afternoon, against the top two dogs from the other division. The winner will be the Steady Singles Champion, something Gryff's dad Chat won a bunch of years ago. I am over the moon with excitement about this opportunity. He did such a fine job today and I'm just so darned proud of the big lug.

The Expo center/fairgrounds where I'm camping has stock car racing going on. I was told it should end by 10 PM. I sure hope so, as I'd really like to go to sleep soon! Although it is nearly 10, and it sounds like it is still going strong... Wish me luck!

Ty's 8th UDX leg & Sonic at 9.5 months

I am camping at the Toledo KC obedience trial this weekend with Ty and Sonic. Ty earned her 8th UDX leg this afternoon... slowly but surely, we are getting there. She NQed on a whole bunch of exercises in the 1st Utility class, some of it because she was so excited she wasn't thinking. We had a couple of firsts today: it was the first time Ty has Qed twice in Open on the same day, and the 1st UDX leg that wasn't the first (or only) trial of a weekend. We lost a 1/2 point off on the 2nd sit stay for shifting, which cost us a tie for 4th in Open B. But 1/2  point off sure beats 30! She is over halfway to her OM2. That and her UDX are my two goals for her. Someone asked what other goals I have for her once those are done, and I said, "None!"

I'm so happy with how well Sonic handles the obedience trial atmosphere. She's excellent in her crate, sleeping much of the time, quiet otherwise.

A couple of months ago, I was entertaining thoughts of entering her in Rally Novice at the National (which starts June 15). Then she was with me at a May 12 trial, and I attempted to do pretty simple concepts like sit and look at me, and heel for a few steps, with just a buckle collar (if we are around other dogs, I usually have a pinch collar on her because she is SO blasted strong and can move like a rocket and drag me somewhere fast. And I'm not a small person). I quickly forgot about Rally for this year's National :-). But today, I have to say, she was improved from that 3 weeks ago trial. We have been working very, very hard on walking on a loose leash, and when it is just the two of us and not too much else going on, she is greatly improved.

Yesterday evening after dinner, I took her out for session of my 20-treat exercise. I was pleased to see it took her just 2.5 minutes to look at me that many times. This is down from 3+ minutes the last time I did it. Today, I had her out in between Ty's classes in a big rec center building, playing tug some, and working some attention, fronts, and pivots. She was much more focused than at the May 12 trial.

I am running her in 3 field events at the Specialty: the Unsteady Singles (a judged competition whose rules are a bit on the vague side :-)), the Junior hunter test, and the WC (Working Certificate). She has to do a simple double for the WC, with marks at 40-60 yds. She did her first "cold double" last weekend. A "taught double" means you throw what becomes the memory bird first as a single, so the dog gets to retrieve it once, then you throw it again,  followed by the "go bird" to make it a double. A "cold double" means both marks are thrown right away, without teaching her the memory bird first. We did some more cold doubles on Wednesday. Each time, she did the 1st double without help. On the 2nd one, she needed some help, but so far, she always leaves my side, which is unusual for dogs at this stage, at least in my (limited) experience. I think it has helped a lot that I have taught her the mechanics of doubles using Pat Nolan's Marking and Memory drill. We've got a pretty well established set of cues that I use reasonably consistently.

Running the first cold double did make me realize that, while her marking is quite good, my control of her is poor even with a pinch collar and an e-collar. We have been working all week on pivots and self-control with bumpers on the ground nearby. When she pivots well, I send her to retrieve one of the bumpers.

While she is in no way guaranteed to pass the Specialty tests, I do think she will be better prepared at 10 months than Gryff was at 11 months, when he attended his 1st Specialty. It helps that I have learned a thing or two since 2004.