Merry Christmas

Showing a shepherd is HARD

Last weekend we went to our last UKC show for the year.   I had 3 dogs entered, Peace, Wash and Bentley. My plan was just to see how Bents did, how well we could work together, get a few lessons from others on showing a shepherd.  For the corgis, I was hoping Wash would beat Peace since we rarely have any cardigan competition.  Well, as usual my plans go awry, but not necessarily badly.

Wash only beat Peace in the last show, so he ended the weekend with one competition win one BOB and a group 4 (out of 4).  Peace ended with 3 BOB, 2 Group 4's and one group 3. Saturday in show 1 Bentley and I did pretty well, no win but a good experience.  In show 2 she had a bit of an issue, she would not let the judge touch her at all.  I debated bringing her back on Sunday, but she seemed OK otherwise, so we went back to try to get better.

Sunday show 1 was almost like a dream.  Bentley and I were in the champions class, which was the biggest class of shepherds. I was shocked when the judge, Richard Beauchamp, made his cut and we were selected. He then really made us work, he paired us up and had us go around, and around.  I think I almost fell over when he pulled us out and put us up front!  Wow, Bents and I earned her second champion class win. I was a bit surprised, I think there were a few tears too. I don't remember much of the Grand class, but next thing I knew it was time to go in for breed. To say I was surprised to win breed is a complete understatement. I know I was totally tickled.

Then I had to make a decision, I had 2 dogs to go into group!  I asked Tracie if she would like to take Bentley, I thought they would have a bit more of a chance to show well. But no, she thought I should take Bentley and she would take Peace. It really was kind of funny Bentley kept looking at her, and Peace kept looking at me.  The end result, Peace group 3 with Tracie and Bents group 1.  Show 2 nothing for Bentley, but her father Atlas went on to win his last Best in Show as this was his retirement weekend.

I knew it was going to be different, I just didn't realize how different!  And although I tried hard, in most of the pictures I look foolish, off balance and terrified. And I was, but it was worth it and really rather fun.

Welcome Home Bentley!

 Eclipse's Drive for Excellence


Welcome Home Bentley!

Bentley is a 20 month old German Shepherd Dog.  I am so excited to have added her to our family.  I am hoping that in time she will become my next performance dog.  She is a UKC Champion and has already earned her URO1 at about 7 months of age.  

We plan on trying to earn her Grand Championship and to start working on some obedience and agility training.  Next weekend she will be taking me into the GSD ring.  Might be pretty interesting!

So far she has expressed a strong desire to be Darryl's dog though, so maybe he will be learning agility after all!

Thank you so much to Tracie, Tim and Donna for letting her come to our house.  I have a feeling she will he a bit spoiled, but very well loved.

Wash's First Point

I was really nervous yesterday thinking about today's show, but Wash handled it pretty well.  BOW and BOS his first time out for one point.  Nice job little man.

8 for 8!

It's been quite a while since I have been able to make a report quite this nice.  Last weekend Magic and I did some UKC rally on Saturday and CPE agility on Sunday. In Rally, we were able to qualify in both classes in both trials. We scored 98's in rally 3 and perfect 100's in level 2.  Then on Sunday we went and played agility.  I do think that this was a first for us, as we qualified in all 4 runs with a first place in each of them, and picked up one of the level 2 titles, CL-2F.  Sunday was pretty nice, it felt like we had started to come together as a team. Loved that.

UKC Gateway

Well those 4 days just flew by. We had some ups and some downs, but overall it was quite a weekend. Magic and I worked pretty hard, and we managed to pick up the last 3 legs needed for his UACHX.   We ran 18 runs of agility, 6 rally runs and he played in the altered conformation ring for fun as well.  Peace was entered in 7 conformation shows where she took breed twice.

We also will be adding a new family member to the Daybreake crew. Bentley, an 18 month old GSD will be coming to live with us in the near future.  I'm pretty excited as I loved this girl when I saw her pictures in the whelping box.  I'm not sure what it was about her that drew me, but it wasn't to be. At the time I had 5 dogs and that is my city allowed permit limit.  Recently her breeder got her back, a very sad case of neglect, thin and wounded.  She has made a huge recovery already, and although I never would have traded Graces life for her, I feel this push inside that tells me that she would be pleased.

Hopefully she will be joining us and I will have pictures before too long!

Missing you, Grace

Grace passed away on 10.2.12  I had been dealing pretty well with her megaesophagus, for the last year.   Sadly though, we never were able to completely pinpoint what else was actually wrong with her.  The underlying condition that caused the mega.  We had been to an agility trial and conformation show the weekend before where she was her normal sassy funny self. She showed like the pro she was in conformation, smiling and wagging her tail the whole time. She ran agility and sassed and played and generally was wonderful, heck she even weaved that weekend.  But about a week later she crashed, where she ultimately went into organ failure so we helped her cross the bridge. To the end though, she was Grace, talkative and bossy, and she crossed the bridge while I held her and told her how much I loved her and asked her to come back to me someday.

Grace helped me become a better person and a better trainer, teaching me patience and persistence, she helped me learn how to live life with joy, she would take anyone and show them the ropes in conformation and helping them forget all about ring nerves with her bossy silliness.   She was a good mother to her children, as well as a good surrogate to all the guests we had. She was a special girl who's time was all too short.

Ch. Cardiridge State of Grace RA
UWP, AG1, URO1, UCD CH Cardiridge State of Grace - UKC's only Cardigan Super Dog
also titled in Teacup agility and APDT rally.

Dam to GCH CH Daybreake's Peaceful Dreams, CH Daybreake's Daydream Believer, Daybreakes Mariners Dream NW1, as well as Talie, Griffin, Timmy and Merlin beloved pets.


I miss you every day Pumpkin.