UCDX Magic

Magic earned his UCDX this weekend at the MMBC trial. Although its been a long time coming, and this was not the first attempts, this weekend Magic went 3 for 3 attempts earning his UCDX. And although the scores were not great, he also placed first twice and second the other time.  He also ran 4 rally courses and qualified all of them as well, with scores ranging from 93 to a 99. Love my boy.

Grace on the other hand was 1 for 2 in rally and 0 for 2 in novice.  Saturday was the better day, with the q and a really close to qualifying run in Novice.  I did have to give a second command to get her over the jump in the recall, so that was our NQ but everything else while not perfect by any stretch, were acceptable.  Sunday though she kind of had a meltdown. In Rally she was just plain goofy, rooing and barking nonstop and dancing around everywhere but in heel position. In Novice she just stopped and sniffed and general ignored me. So we have some work to do, but I was not at all disapointed with her. I knew going in that this was a practice run and really, I got better than I expected. Her stays were perfect. That alone had me grinning, as stays are really hard for my girl.  Good Girl Grace.

Off to MO

Tonight we are leaving for MO for the UKC show.  I am really excited, yet somewhat dissapointed.  I had hoped for some cardigan competition, but we will go and have fun anyways.  Magic my little do everything guy will be my main partner.  We are going to play at just about everything.  Its there, so why not, right?
He is already entered for 2 weight pulls, 4 agility runs, 3 lure coursing runs and I am thinking about throwing in some rally.  They also have dock diving, but I am not sure if he will do that after our one rather sad attempt when he sort of sank.  I wonder if he could try it with a life jacket? He is such a great dog and although things with his breeder are strained at best, I will always be greatful for Magic. For a first cardigan, he is the best.

Peace and I will play in the conformation ring, but she is also pulling on Friday.  I really need to get her trained for other events, but I am thinking maybe I will let her watch lure coursing, and if she seems interested at all, maybe she can give it a try as well. 

I wish all of you going to Sioux Falls a wonderful and successful time.  I really hope all of you win, but since I know that cant happen, I will hope you all have a really good time.  Although I was really torn about whether to do MO or SF, I am really glad we are going to go play. I like conformation, but performance stuff is where my heart really is.

Busy Weekend

Its going to be a very busy weekend.  Tomorrow morning I leave for Fargo.  Peace and I are entered and are going to play Friday and Saturday, no chance of winning, but I sort of feel like when you are a member of a club, you go play at that clubs events. So since this is a supported entry we are going to go support!  Then Sunday I am going the opposite direction.  We have all 4 cardis entered in the weight pull down in Le Seuer.  The girls are not as ready as I would like, but I am not asking them to do more than enough to earn that first Q toward the title. For both Siren and Peace that is the large empty cart, which they have done in practice.  David is going to work with Siren, so I am hoping she will listen to him and will pull for him.   I am going to see if I can get Grace to pull more than once, but she will also start at with the empty big cart which is enough for her to qualify.  Magic, well not sure what Magic will do. Time will tell on that one.  Then Grace and Peace are also going to be entered in conformation, trying for that silly little Total Dog ribbon.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Good day at the dog show

What a fun day today.   Music was BW and BOS to Dianas Jenna with BOB Safari was WB. No Select points awarded though.  Grace loved being at the dog show again. Even though is not at her best looks wise, she had a great time and her tail neer stopped all day.  In Pre-Novice we were 3rd out of 3, but she scored a 186.5 and I am thrilled with that.  That is a good score for a dog that still will not sit in the ring.  When she is inside those white show gates, her sitter goes out, but she will stack herself like the show girl she wants to be.

My friends Wire Fox Terrier tookWD- he now only needs 1.  And another good friend finished his dog, but I will let him post for himself later. Even though he already did on facebook. 

Really he is messing with me.

So tonight the broad jump is painted white, and lo and behold, we leap happily over it.  And decide we cant go over the jump while carrying the dumbbell.  Last week he leapt over the jump carrying both the dumbbell and the tug at the same time, but tonight nope. If course that was his choice, not at my asking.

Does he really understand how this messes with my head???? I think so!

On the other hand, since I am looking at a total collapse on Saturday, I think I will enter Grace too.  Anyone looking for a good time and no Q's please come play at the UKC show with me. My goals for this day are really to try to get a good feel of where we really are, in a real competition setting,  I think they have day of show entries....

More Vegas

These were taken with the film camera, and my Son forgot to put the other lens on the camera.

UKC Altered

UKC now has an altered program where altered dogs can be shown, and earn a championship.  Its a separate bunch of classes from the intact dogs, so it is not taking anything away, just adding to the fun.  On Saturday I watched Megan and Buzz and boy, it sure seemed that Buzz was having a great time. Booker the IG had his first conformation expeience too, and he looked pretty pleased with himself as well.   There wasnt a lot of altered dogs competing, but it was fun to see anyways.

I did take Miss Talie to the show as well.  She was still quite a bit concerned over the idea of the judge actually touching her, so I had a chat with her folks and I think we are going to spay her in a couple of months.  If she really doesnt enjoy showing, I dont want to take her out.  I have her entered in the Eau Claire show in a couple of weeks, but I may decide not to take her.  Yes, with time she might learn to tolerate it, but its really not necessary to stress her out when she would have been the only girl anyway.

Since the herding group was last on Saturday, it was first on Sunday.  I don't know if anyone knows this about me, but I LOVE going out and doing stuff with my dogs, and it just about kills me when there are local events and I can't go for some reason. (usually money related, but thats a separate issue).  So Saturday night I just could not get the fact that Sunday the herding group would be first and really, I would have time to run over, show and still get to Moms in time for dinner! I mean we weren't eating until 1, so it would be OK to go show earlier right?  I could enter Peace in the Champions class, or I could just enter the curly girl, since getting out and doing something would be good for her. OR, I could enter Magic in the altered class. 

I know, a fluff, I should be shot. Cant show a fluff, blah blah blah. My brain was going over all the crap I have been fed about how horrible it would be.  But it also was going through the thoughts of who would I be hurting.  Really no one. It was a win for the club, another entry. It wasn't going to take anything away from any other entry either.  I was not expecting him to win anything, I just wanted to play with my dogs. We could have fun and go do what I had actually purchased Magic for-showing.  So what the heck, I threw Magic in the tub, made sure he was nice and clean and off we went Sunday morning.

It was so much fun!  Taking Magic anywhere is so easy. All I had to take was the boy, a show lead, a little bait for a reward and a chair. Didn't need a crate, he doesn't need one.  Didnt have to take any grooming stuff, because hey what for?  Magic got to play with Safari, they both got to play with the crested's.  Magic got loved on by several people, which he will never refuse.  In the ring, he was a bit confused about what the heck are we doing here, but he seemed to enjoy himself a bit.  The judge commented on how really cute he is, and  we now have a best of breed and a group 3 ribbon for his scrapbook.(He was the only altered cardi, and there were only 3 in the herding group, so this is not a brag or anything, just a really wonderful memory I will always have of my special boy)  The only thing I don't have is pictures, because I didnt think to take  a camera, since it was just Magic and I and no one to take any.

Will we do it again, no, probably not. I know he is a fluff and really not the best conformation anyways. But I will always treasure the times and experiences he and I have together.  He is a special boy. He is my boy.

Helping a friend

Last night I spent the evening helping out a friend of mine.  She has a wire fox terrier who needs 3 little points to be finished. This boy is very nice structurally.  A couple of years ago when I first met this boy he was a happy, super, confident boy complete with a terrier attitude.  She sent him off for 6 months with a handler.  In that time he was rarely shown, (as documented by the entry results showing absent time and time again).  He came home with one or two points, as a quivering shaking mess of a dog.  Oh, he is fine outside of a show/training environment, but bring him into a training situation or a show and he stresses out, big time.  Now during the last year and a half, he has made some improvement, and has been being handled by a different local handler, and had some successes, earning both his majors and just needing a few points to finish. 

Buster likes me, at least he used to, until I made the mistake of taking him to the drop in conformation class last night to practice and see if we could work together.  See, I am going to show him in a few weeks, since his regular handler isn't available for a while. Lets just say that after the class (which we ended early to not stress him as much) he wouldnt come and see me at all. We plan on visiting and practicing a little more over the next couple of weeks.  Poor guy, he gets so nervous about being in the ring, he shuts down.  I really like the little stinker, so I hope he will forgive me.

Speaking of forgiveness, my 4 at home sure were not happy about those other dog smells!  MOM how could you!

Long Holiday Weekend

Wishing everyone a safe, fun and happy long holiday weekend. Music, Peace and I are traveling down to Des Moines for the dog show. Maybe David too, but he doesnt yet know about the Sunday work schedule so who knows. I am taking some knitting along, since we show firs thing in the morning. Although last time I took some with I never touched it. We'll see.

Have a good weekend everyone.

NSHGC Specialty

Today was our clubs specialty. Nice turnout and lots of fun. Potluck was really good and quite a success.

Peace did OK today. She had a few moments of abject terror, but mostly she held it together. She was goofy in the ring, sometimes frightened othertimes seemly OK. We were outside a ring when a shepherd ran by, and that freaked her out, but she did recover. So we will see how tomorrow goes.

Now for the wonderful news, Music, (for those of you who remember the pups, he was Nine) won his first points, a nice 4 point major! Joyce was shocked and thrilled and so was I.

Another blogger friend has good news from the day too, but I will let them share it.

Lets see what tomorrow brings.

Sorry for the bad pictures, I really need a new camera, and probably a better operator.

Tornado yesterday

We had a tornado yesterday up here in Minneapolis. Fortunately it was a small one, as tornados go. But it was large enough to do some damage in Minneapolis. We were very lucky, the path was about 4 blocks away from us, but mainly blowing the damage to the west, not to the east where we are, so other than some small branches down, we were OK. Talies family too was OK, other than losing power. The path of the tornado was between their home and ours, but we were both spared, thanks be.

So I did not go to agility last night with Magic. I am coming down with a cold and felt really bad last night, so did not want to go and run in the rain and damp. Instead I went to the grocery store and made a salad for the potluck at work today. I also precooked the chicken for the salad for the potluck at the dogshow tomorrow. Tonight is the club meeting at he show site, and I hope to get set up for tomorrows show as well. Then when I get home tonight I can make the salad for tomorrow, get the dog ready and the car packed and hopefully get to bed before midnight.

Please cross your fingers for Peace tomorrow. she has been really nervous around other dogs since whe was hurt. I hope she does OK now at the show, and doesn't get too upset. She is such a funny girl, I hate to see her spirit broken.

Busy weekend coming

Well, the busy weekend is coming. Tomorrow we show at 8am so tonight we start to get ready. After the show, I may head in to work, I havent decided yet. I could use the time off, but I am so swamped at work I will have to see how guilty I feel. Friday is Davids college graduation. WOOHOO. So we have that most of the day, with a portfolio show early then graduation in the afternoon and a reception after. Saturday will be crazy busy too. We have the dog show at 8am, then my nephews birthday party at 11, Darryls 40th class reunion at 5 pm. (note, the dog show is an hour+ north of my house, I will have to go home with the dog, then go about and hour northwest of my house for the party in a park outside, then back home to change for the reunion which again is about an hour northwest-unless I figure out some clothes appropriate for both partys or someplacve to change!) Somewhere in there I will also have to get Siren and Peace ready for the dog show Sunday at 8am. So I will wish everyone a wonderful weekend, just a bit earlier than normal.

Todays Show

Well it was a bit warmer today, although not terribly much. It was a bit dryer, just some mist versus yesterdays rain. But unfortunatly today the judge did not award Peace best of winners so no point today. But thats OK, we have other shows coming and we had a nice time anyhow. Peace made friends with a lady who made the statement that she was the sweetest corgi she had ever met. She was really loving on Peace and actually asked if I was breeding any more like her. Which I think is a darn nice compliment. Good Job Peace.

Minnesota weather and the dog show

Most of Minnesota and the surrounding states have been very dry the last couple of years, and really dry lately. Many lakes are showing significantly low water lines. We NEED rain. But why, why is it that we get the wonderful full day constant rain along with really cold air. Its overcast, and really really wet today. Its cold, under 50 degrees, with frost warnings in the top 1/2 of the state. Oh, and did I mention, its a dog show weekend- an outdoor dog show weekend? Well, on the positive side, there wasnt a whole lot of point spending too much time grooming. And the areas under the tent cleared out really fast when classes were done, because no one wanted to stay outside any longer than they had too. And it was fun watching handlers trying to convince these wonderful pampered show dogs that leaving the tent to trot around the ring in the rain was a good thing. (There was one cocker ahead of us who simply put on the brakes and would not move out past the tent edge. The handler had to pick him up, carry him into the rain, to get him to move at all, then the little guy rushed back for cover-even the judge laughed) . Unfortunately we hardly had any cardigan entry today, 2 dogs, Peace and one special. Fortunately the judge did award Peace BW/BOS so we picked up one little point. And she commented on what a nice girl she was, and how she was amazed that she had been able to stay so clean in the water, red mud mess!

Saturday In Rochester

Well, I have to say that Saturday was a hoot. Marla, Grace's breeder was up here visiting and showing with her was a riot. We learned alot and laughed all day and well into the evening. In the breed ring, as I expected Grace didn't do anything, but really she is still missing quite a bit of hair. And in all honesty I only took her for fun.
The best part of the day was that Diana's boy, Dandy finished his championship. He picked up a nice 4 point major with his BOW win, which means he finished with 3 majors and a few smaller wins. (hey, I actually put one point on him this spring.) Garrett's girl Zoe got the girl points. her breeder was there as well and was very happy, I think the whole building heard her scream of excitement!
Then came Brace obedience. I have been practicing with them together, and they did a pretty good job, with a few problems, but nothing horrible. If it were a regular class we wouldnt have passed, but it was good experience and that is what I wanted there.
Then we had Magic in Graduate Novice. He earned a 182.5 if I remember correctly. I knew he would have issues with heeling and he did. I worried he woudl have issues with mouthing and dropping the dumbell but he didnt so that was good. All recalls were good, although overall he really shows that he doesnt care for obedience.
In the Rally Advanced ring, though Grace certainly showed Marla just what a character she can be! Let's just say it was not a steller performance, but heck I am not complaining. Grace hasn't been out since before she was bred and she was super happy to be out. She refused the jump both tries, and I realized that she hadn't ever seen a panel jump so that was my fault totally. At home we practice with bars, and when she was at agility training last winter, we didnt have panels there either as it was the winter site. Then after that she was squirrelly, jumping up to bump me and being a goof. But she did all the other excercises and once she calmed herself down finished nicely. We managed a mercy Q, and actually got 4th place beating the other 71 point finisher for 4th place. (she and I laughed and laughed together afterward too). Kind of wish I had pictures of this one as she was being goofy because you sure could see that she was enjoying herself immensely.
After the show, a bunch of us got together and laughed and ate and had a really good time. Its so much fun when you have a group of really great people together.

A new Champion! And a new Baby coming!

Siren went along to the dog show today and got to watch her daddy win another 2 points to finish his American Championship. Yeah Webster! This also puts Grandpa Romeo pretty close to his ROM.

Then on the way home we stopped to visit our son, and found out we have a new grandchild coming in February. WOOHOO!

Webster

Today at the dog show Webster, the pups father picked up another 2 points. Yeah Webster!