We took a break from the beach for a couple days to do a conformation show in Davie, Florida. Davie is near Ft. Lauderdale, straight across Florida from Goodland (where we are at).

Noodle was on fire this weekend. She not only won best of breed owner-handled over competition, but went on to win an owner-handled Sporting Group One! This is her very first group win! She showed like a rockstar. The best part was the large number of people that came up to me afterwards (and the next day) to tell me how great she showed. Made me so proud! Very proud, because it felt nice to show all the naysayers that she IN a beautiful, talented girl!

The next day our competition didn't show up, so we got OHBOB again and went on to an owner-handled Sporting Group Three. OK, NOW I am getting pretty excited about her. We still have a long way to go, but I see great promise in our future.

Today was our last day in Florida. We spent the morning running the beach, then came back to pack up. I took a couple shots of Noodle stacked near the water, just for fun. You just can't find that kind of backdrop at home! My ugly duckling has turned into a swan for sure.

Now we head home to the snow and freezing temps and plan the next few months. Doing a little agility, a little conformation, and a little hunting. Kind of cool that I am doing it all with the same dogs. Versatility is what it's all about!

I was chatting with a friend about Noodle, and how far she has come in her training. I tell you, this dog has made me into a much better trainer. I learned so much about behavior training and focus. She has definitely humbled me. I thought I was a pretty awesome trainer with Pretzel, but boy did I have a LOT to learn!

More exciting news: a very very special breeding that will be happening on Wednesday. This hopefully will result in my next puppy...a Pretzel puppy! I am sitting hard and squashing my excitement right now, until everything is confirmed. Stay tuned...

Well, it's done. Now we wait 3 weeks to see if the breeding took, and if a puppy is in my future. I am terrified, excited, worried, all wrapped up into one neurotic ball.

Today was a day of ups and downs. I started off the morning with a vet appointment. Noodle is great (she lost 5 lbs since her visit a month ago, thanks to not eating), Pretzel, not so much. We are seeing a specialist tomorrow. I fear his earlier t-bone accident last fall with puppy Maizey has left some permanent damage. Say a prayer, and stay tuned.

Today I sent Tango off to Wisconsin to live with his new family. It was time. It was really hard for me to let go of my last link to Taylor, but he really needed a job. Now he has a little girl that loves him and a wonderful family that will do great things with him. Can't ask for more, right? I haven't sold a horse since 2002, which is really crazy, I guess. I forgot how hard it is!

On a good note, I finally was able to go see Cadence today...haven't' seen her since before I left for Florida. She looked wonderful. She was a bit wild on the longe line, which was to be expected. She settled down, and then someone came into the arena to ride and that blew her mind. I see I have a lot of work to do in the desensitizing department, as she could hardly concentrate because the person riding on that horse's back just freaked her out. We had a lot of farting and bucking. I was able to take some time to walk her over some heavy ground poles. She was really resistant at first, but once I got her over them she walked over all of them multiple times without any problem. I like that she is very clean over the poles - almost never touched or nicked them with her feet. that's a good sign - love a clean, careful mover!

Oh yes, I measured Cadence today. She grew! She is now an even 15' at the withers and 15'1 1/2" at the hip.

I also squeezed in a couple agility run-throughs with Noodle. I would grade her a B to a B+ on her runs. one quick "visit" to the judge, and one weird moment when she dared behind me and missed a jump, and went off sniffing (shades of Pretzel). Other than that, I was pretty happy with her focus. Not too shabby seeing as she has run wild on the beach the past week.

I got Cadence out to longe today while someone was finishing up their ride. She was wild. The bucking was insane. Seriously crazy. After the rider left, I turned her loose and made her run around the arena a little bit. Then I put her back on the line and she longed perfectly. I must get her over this craziness whenever someone is riding in the arena! It is getting worse, not better.

But, things got better today. It was finally sunny and above freezing, so i walked her over to the trailer and figured i would entice her to put her front feet on the ramp and stick her head in the trailer to eat a little sweet feed. lo and behold, she just tromped right up into the trailer! I stood inside with her and fed her a bit, then backed her slowly out. Once is by chance, twice is by training, so i asked her to walk back in again, and she did! She ate a little more, then i backed her out and called it a day...a good day!

I have the back divider still out of the trailer from when I hauled Corky and Cadence to the vet for Corky's feet. I think this is helping as it is nice and open for her to walk inside. I might leave it out for a while and get her more comfortable with loading.

Oh yeah, I also had a rally lesson today with Noodle. I think it went pretty well. I have several things I need to work on, mainly getting her to heel straight and sit straight in heel position. I can't fault her enthusiasm...it is so fun to work with her! But in the back of my mind, I am stressing deeply about Pretzel. I cannot even put it into words right now.

I cannot begin to describe my frustration, and complete depression. I have worked so hard with my agility training for Noodle. I swear, no one on the planet has worked harder or tried more things. Today we headed to Dayton to a CPE agility trial. I was feeling kind of confident - Noodle's run-throughs have been going pretty well and she has been absolutely stellar in class and training for the past year. This trial was perfect for her - very low key with almost zero distractions around the ring (the ring was fully enclosed without even any waiting dogs in the same building!). It didn't matter. She had moments of over-the-top losses of focus, and this made her run over to the judge and jump on her, and even grab at her sweater! She was just beyond over the top with her excitement level and it was as if she couldn't even handle her own brain. I tried and tried, but could not get her through this. The things that she did do (agility-wise) were spectacular. However, I cannot tolerate her jumping on the judge because there will be a judge some day that will get offended by this and oust her (thankfully this judge was wonderfully patient). I am at such a loss as to what to do. I have trained and trained, brought in strangers to my training, tried everything I could think of, but in the end I am failing as a trainer.

I got home and pulled Noodle from all further trials I had entered this spring. I don't know what to do. I feel like I am drowning with bad news. What is next?

I'll tell you what is next - I have the freaking stomach flu now. That tops off my already horrible week. Thanks, man. Pile it on, I can take it!

I seemed to have solved the nausea issue for Pretzel - by pulling him completely off of the Trazodone (sedative) and giving his other medications after he has eaten his full meal, he has been able to keep things down. I started coming back to the living today after the stomach flu. We both are quite the pair! Surprisingly, Pretzel is really handling his crate rest well. Does he understand that this could determine the face of his entire future? I don't know. He is a smart, in-tune dog and I think he knows this is very important to me so he is doing whatever it takes to make me happy. that's my boy.

Thankfully I felt well enough to take off on Thursday with Noodle to head to Jackson, Tennessee for a conformation show. Mark stayed home with Pretzel and his dog Sieben, who just had hernia surgery on Monday. I am so lucky to have a partner to run the Weimaraner Hospital for me so I could head to the show.

I will say I had a really enjoyable three days with Noodle. I felt like this one on one time really bonded us even more. She was fantastic for me traveling, and in the hotel. We had a blast finding various new places to go hiking after the shows were over each day.

We showed 3 days. Friday wasn't our greatest show - Noodle didn't show well. She was overly interested in something about the judge, and kept turning around to smell her while the judge was going over her. Saturday and Sunday went pretty good, and I felt like she showed really well for me. We are still a work in progress, and we keep improving. Bummer that we really didn't have much success in the rings this weekend. You know how dogs shows go - one day you're in and the next day you're out! I couldn't buy a win this weekend. I should probably be more bummed about that, but I had SO much fun with her that I don't regret the long drive at all. It renewed my spirit and made me ready to face this next week's challenges, including Pretzel's progress check, and one other major important bit if possible news that could change my life this year...details coming soon!

Noodle was a turd today in agility class. She proved to me that although I thought I was making progress with her, in reality she was just snowing me. I am seriously the worst dog trainer on earth, because I cannot for the life of me figure her out in agility. So is so freaking talented, and she loves it so much. That is the ONLY thing that is keeping me from outright quitting. That, and my determination to prove everyone wrong. Being stubborn has its benefits, but it also is a hard hard road to travel.

Cadence was stellar today. Stellar in her own special way, of course. She had a few moments of bucking and farting, but since we were the only ones there it was minimal (she only really acts yup when she has an audience, of course!).

Everything is right on track with her longe line training. She has a wonderful whoa and reverse now. the biggest issue I am having is getting her to consistently take the right lead. left lead? Easy-peasy. Right lead - very inconsistent. I would say at this point she is taking the wrong lead about 75% of the time. Hopefully that will gradually improve.

She walked on the trailer several times. Mark was with me, so I had him close the trailer door for the first time while we were inside. She was a little nervous with the door closed, but relaxed after a few minutes and continued eating her sweet feed. I unloaded and re-loaded her after that, and although she was a tiny bit hesitant, she walked right in again. Progress, baby!

Introducing the newest member of our family = "Apollo" - a 2019 Ford F-350 truck. Cadence is going to ride in style to the shows. Well, technically, I am the one that is going to be riding in style, since she will be in the horse trailer. But the ride will definitely be more stable, and a heck of a lot more reliable!

I bit the bullet, bankrupted myself, and mailed in my entries to the Tom Powers Futurity today. The costs for that show are ridiculous (I mean, WHO charges a $50 office fee???). But, Cadence is only a yearling once, and I have struggled so much to get to this point...and I feel she is talented enough to deserve the chance. So now it's time to get serious! Yeah, as if I wasn't already serious!

Pretzel is tolerating his crate rest, I am tolerating keeping Pretzel on crate rest. Noodle is going crazy with inactivity. It's a mess at my house!

I worked Cadence today. Her right lead was still very sticky - 25%. I measured her today, she didn't grow much at all this month - 15' at the withers and 15'1 1/2" at the hip. She is shedding buckets of hair, it is spring!