My Letter to UKC

Dear UKC.
I have been reading and thinking about the decision made by UKC to no longer allow event staff to participate in UKC events which they are working. I am very saddened by this decision for many reasons. First and foremost I see this as the death of UKC events here in Minnesota. You may or may not be aware of how active a dog event area Minnesota is. There are very few weekends each year that there is not some dog event available, and in many cases more than one. This weekend alone, January 21-22, 2012 there are 4 that I am aware of, the UKC obedience and rally trial I am chairing, a ASCA event including conformation obedience and rally, an AKC agility vent and a USDAA agility event, all within the metro area.

There is a very small group of competitors in MN who do UKC. Those of us that do though, are the same group willing to work and hold these shows. We hold the shows, we chair them, secretary them and work them so that we HAVE the opportunity to play with our dogs. If UKC takes that opportunity away what incentive do we have to hold the events? Everyone in these clubs work and show. I know I would not have willingly given up hours and hours of time to hold a show and not be able to participate in one of the few weekends we have.

I love UKC, I had a wonderful time at Gateway in 2010, at Premier in 2011. But the basis for my ability and desire to do these bigger shows is based on my opportunities to show here at home. One of my dogs again is in the top 10 for conformation another managed to make the all star rally list. The one who is on the rally all star list did so by showing at our local shows. However, had I not been able to compete in a whole weekend’s worth of events he never would have had a chance as our opportunities are so limited. Had he not made the list, we would not be planning a trip to Premier this year. I know I am not the only person here who feels this way as the UKC participants have had many discussions over the last few days. Since our biggest conformation club locally has already stated they cannot go forward with these rules in place, our local performance club may not be able to either as we do share many event locations and costs. I am sure we will be discussion this at the event this weekend.

I see this as a death spiral for UKC, at least in here in Minnesota.

Dawn Fisher
Daybreake Cardigans

UCD & URO2 Gracie

Gracie and I managed to eek out her UCD last weekend at teh MMBC trial.  It wasn't pretty, but its done! Much prettier was her URO2 run, where she beat Magic and earned a 97 to his 96,  Earning her UCD did qualify her for the unofficial Super Dog designation that UKC has. This is for earning your championship and titles in agility, rally weight pull and obedience.  Now I need to find a nice picture of the princess to send in.

I am rather proud of the red dogs, Magic earned the Ultra Dog and Grace the Super Dog. Go corgis!

28th Anniversary and Group 2

Yesterday was our 28th Anniversary, Earlier in the week it was the 30th anniversary of the day we met.  Hard to believe.  I certainly don't feel 30 years older, 15 maybe but not 30!  Although we both had to work, we had a nice dinner at home after Darryl got home, including some cake.

Today I took the girls to the local UKC show. There was a judge here who I had been reading on line, and I really wanted to see how he worked his rings.  So even though they are both pretty nekkid, I entered them in just one show so we could go out and have some fun. And we did!  I honestly have to say I agreed with everything he said, both good and bad about my girls.  He loved Peaces movement, told me she looks like she could herd cattle all day.  And he gave her a Group 2. Now it wasnt a big show, but there were more placements than that so I was very pleased.  Then I helped show a klee kai and a toy fox terrier.  Had a  really nice day, enjoyed spending time with many people. I took a chair along but the only one who sat in it was Peaceful.

Frustration/Concerns

Entries opened for the UKC Premier on Monday.  Since performance events are limited in number I entered pretty early in the day.  The website for entries states that confirmations will be sent within 5 days.  OK I can wait. But then today I read that some people got the confirmation the same day. So now I worry- did they get it and its being processed, did it not go through- what if there are errors.  WIth all I am reading about entry confusions for the CWCCA National I am just anxious about my entry. My plan was to enter Peace in Conformation the 4 days and weight pull on Friday. WP opened a while ago and I mailed that one. No conformation there either.  I entered Grace in agility all 3 days, rally 1 on Friday and conformation on Saturday.
I just hate the not knowing.

On the plus side, Graces heeling tonight was pretty good.

Great Weekend, Monday Blues

Well its Monday again and that means back to work. I hate my job, but as the only person in my family with a full time job, I am terrifically happy that I have it, so I won't complain and just motor on.

This weekend was the UGSDA clubs last UKC show for the year.  Sadly due to the weather there were not nearly as many people at the show, but it was fun none the less.  The UGSDA club is the one that is looking at bringing UKC agility back to Minnesota, so I think its important to support the club.  I entered both Grace and Peace, and asked a couple of my non conformation friends to come give me a hand showing.  Saturday Crystal  (Reactive Champion) came and handled Grace.  Crystal had never done the conformation thing, so this was entirely new for her. And she did a great job, she and Grace beat Peace and I and they took a Group 3. (Which was better than Peace did in any of the other shows.)  I was so happy to see them do so well and to be able to watch my dog from the outside of the ring.  I made Crystal take the ribbons home. I think she had a good time, I know I did!

Christi (Maggie the weight pulling Border Collies mom) was also there this weekend.  She was helping another friend with her Weims, and she also took Grace in for one of the shows yesterday.  I've watched Christi showing several times now, and she just keeps getting better and better.  i am thinking it wont be long before she has a conformation dog too. 

In the second show yesterday, Christi was in the ring with the weims so I asked Suri, one of the young juniors if she would like to take Grace in.  She couldnt lift her, but we asked the judge if the steward would be allowed to help with the lifting to the table which she was fine with.  I was so happy to see how well Suri handled Grace, and equally how really nicely Grace showed for her.  Suri is really getting to be a good handler, both in the conformation ring and with her weight pulling sammy.  Its so fun to watch these kids grow and learn.

Yesterday I alos handled DJ a little Papillon for Carol.  I adore DJ he is just such a fun little guy, but compared tothe cardis it is like having a fly on a string!  We didnt win, but then we weren't supposed to so I guess thats OK. Carols little black and white pap took breed 3 out of the 4 shows at only 8 months old. She is a stunner, very flashy and hasa terrific attitude. 

Plus I won a bunch of stuff in the raffle to support a local GSD and Corgi rescue. All in all an enjoyable weekend.

UKC in IL

Friday and Saturday we took a little trip to IL to play at some UKC conformation.  In order to earn a UKC Grand Champion, you need to win the Champions class 5 times with at least 3 champions in the class.  We so rarely have any cardis other than mine entered here in MN so when I found out that there was going to be other Cardis entered in IL we decided at the last minute to make the trip.  Since Teresa was only going to be there Saturday, we only entered that day as well.  Peace was reserve in the first show and BOB in the second earning her first win toward her Gr. Hopefully, Teresa and I will be able to work together and get to some shows so we can both continue toward that.
I am trying to convince Teresa to come over here next summer and give weight pulling a try too. I think she just might, she already has a harness, might as well use it! 

Sadly, the pre-entry numbers are out for Gateway and Peace is the only Cardi.  I was so hoping that we would get to play with others there that weekend.  I really like showing, but its so much more fun when you get to play WITH others. Win or lose, its just more fun. Come on Cardi people, come play UKC. We play nice, promise!!

UKC Top Ten

OK, this really is not a huge brag or anything. I just thought it was kind of funny how so many dogs were tied for 9th place! The funny part is the numbers behind the owner name are the number of breed points!  As you can see there are not many cardis in UKC!  However, Peace is the only one with a performance title.

Cardigan Welsh Corgi


01. GRCH Corwynt Tayken Timberline Jett Sylvia Brownlee 43

02. GRCH'PR'Benever's No Turning Back Carol Kasabian 11

03. CH Benever's Herring Cove William Maxim 10

04. CH'PR'Benevers What Was I Thinkin Carol Kasabian 9

05. CH'PR'Benever I Wanna Talk About Me Carol Kasabian 6

05. CH Ula Mauna Hot Lickity Lips Kathryn Tanguay 6

07. CH'PR'Benever's Our Song Carol Kasabian 5

07. CH Suncliffe Truro @ Winddancer Mary Detoma 5

09. CH Corwynt Tayken Black Diamond Sylvia Brownlee or Michael Mac Leod 3

09. CH Tartanwyn's Princess Fiona Teresa K Kannard 3

09. UWP CH Daybreake's Peaceful Dreams Dawn Fisher 3

09. CH Laughing Dawg's Silver Nutmeg Teresa K Kannard 3

09. CH Laughing Dawg's Saigon Cinnamon Teresa K Kannard or Andrea M Riley 3

Note- I had entered Grace and Peace in conformation at the events with weight pulls as we were trying for them both to receive a total dog award. but Grace has yet to beat Peace, so only Peace earned a total dog award. . And now they are both primarily done with weight pulling so other than if we go to a show where there may be other cardigans working toward a grand they are both done in conformation.  If anyone is going to Gateway please let me know. We would love to try for her Grand.

Heres some video

of our agility attempts this last weekend. Magic, Kiki and Pixie do UKC!

AG1 & AG2!

Magic did great this weekend and I was really proud of him. 7 Q's out of 8 runs, and 2 new titles- AG1 and AG2.  Yeah.   Denise's Klee Kai's, Pixie and Kiki also earned AG1 titles. Klee Kais are very different than cardigans, but they were fun to trial and travel with. I thought the cardigans made interesting noises, Kiki and Pixie have a whole different set of vocal skills.

UKC agility is very novice handler friendly and I really would recommend it to most everyone. There were several new to agility competors and they all seemed to have a great time, and who also earned a first agility title. The club down in IA held a really great trial-friendly, fun 1st place awards, new title medallions and just overall a really fun atmosphere. I am tired but very happy and relaxed.  I needed a great weekend like this one.

UKC Agility

Magic and I are having a great time at the agility trial in Fort Dodge, IA.  There are 2 trials each day and we were able to run in both Agility 1 and Agility 2.  2 was up first. The unique obstacles in 2 were the pause box, the crawl tunnel, the sway bridge the plank bridge and a couple of different jumps, a picket fence, log pile and  and a flower box jump.  I was worried that Magic would be confused by these, but they are set up between standards so they did look like jumps and really were not an issue.  The crawl tunnel was a bit confusing, having to duck and go under, but we did practice this at home a bit last week and it carried over fine.  The pause box was not a problem either. So he got q's and first places in both of those runs, but to be fair, being in the A class there was only a couple of dogs.
Then we had Agility 1, where the only odd obstacle was the hoop tunnel. Well he has run through hoops for NADAC, so this was just like several hoops together, and no problem at all. We did not Q our first run though, coming down the A frame Magic kind of stumbled and went down on his nose right at the base of the frame, which kind of flustered me, and I missed the next obstacle which was the table. He did have a bit of slipping issues today. It has been a while since he has run on wood, all the local clubs in Mpls now seem to have rubber surfaces, so that was a bit of a change for him.  The next level 1 run was great though, no slipping and we Q'd again with a first.
Its been really fun to watch the new dogs, several were seeing this equipment for the first time, but all of them pretty much adapted well. The crawl tunnel is I think so far the hardestfor them. Looking forward to tomorrow to see what else new and fun we can do.

UKC Agility

So, with a UKC agility trial in just a couple of days, David and I decided to try to create some version of a few of the more unusual obstacles.  Of course money being tight right now, we cobbled together some cheap, but rather effective obstacles.  For the hoop tunnel, a few hula hoops tied together, for the table jump table a couple of old folding tables laying on the ground. and for the crawl tunnel, a pvc frame covered by a blanket.  So far, the hoop tunnel is no problem, of course this is much shorter than a real one, but he seemed to go all the way through.  The table jumps, well, he would rather just go jump than to have to sit, but we might have a chance if he decides to actually listen to me tell him to sit when in a real trial situation. The crawl tunnel well, at 8 inches is not easy for Magic, but hs is starting to understand the idea of going under the tunnel. Tonight we are going to the local park to play on the sway bridge.  Maybe, just maybe we can pull out 1 Q.....

Another NEW experience on the horizon

This next weekend Magic and I are going to try UKC agility.  UKC agility is rather different than the others from what I have been reading in the rule books.  Like obedience you start out with points and every error reduces your points.  The obstaclkes are very different as well as the performances.  For example, they have a pause table and a pause box. You choose whether your dog sits or downs.  They have a variety of different jumps, log jump, water jump, window jump. One jump set up is 2 tables with a jump in between and the dog must sit on the first table, jump the bar then sit again. There is a sway bridge, a plank bridge and a crawl tunnel. All very interesting I think.

Magic hasn't seen a pause box, so we created a faux box last night and played with it. We also set up a small table jump table thing too. That may be a challenge for us, he is so eager to GO JUMP,  he wants to just run up and jump.  Contacts are pointed off unless your dog goes straight up and down no going off at an angle. You also can retry though like in rally and just get points off, but I do expect to get fly offs as contacts have always been an issue for us.  Additionally, you can trial in both level 1 and 2 simultaneously, although if you earn level 2 first, you do not get the award until after you earn level 1.

I am truly not expecting to come home with amazing runs, its been over a year since Magic has really done much agility.  But I think it will be a hoot to try these new obstacles.  And if we do actually Q its just a bonus! If we dont, heck that is OK too, we can look at it as a primer for when the UGSDA club holds thier first UKC trial here in MN. (Hopefully next winter?)

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy UKC?

UKC has now announced that they will have all breed lure coursing!  The few times Magic has been able to play at lure coursing have been so much fun.  I sure hope we get some lure coursing close enough to MN to go do that.

I really appreciate how UKC realizes that some really odd people like myself, love doing stuff with our dogs that may not be the norm for the breed.  We have been having so much fun doing weight pulling, even though cardis are not generally thought of as a pulling breed. 

Heck, at the last couple of pulls, local small dogs have been incredible. We had a 7 pound pap pull 63 times his body weight, and just last weekend Toby the Strong, a chinese crested pulled 117 times his body weight at the pull in Michigan.  Simply amazing.

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.