Today I had one last training session in the field before the hunt test this weekend. I was pretty happy with both girls. Noodle was steady, and was great on backing. Pizza stayed under control (yay!) and had some nice points. Now it is just a matter of keeping them both under control in the excitement of the hunt test and getting them to remember their training. At this point, I have trained as hard as I can, I have not cut any corners. I have done my absolute best to train them correctly. Now it is up to them, and up to me to keep my head together. I am especially nervous about Noodle's very first Senior Hunter test, which is the first one I have ever done. So many rules, and so many ways to screw up!

My friend who owns Marshall (a dog from the Pretzel x Mouse litter) came up from Georgia to spend the weekend and enter the hunt test with me. It was wonderful to see Marshall again - if you remember, he was the black collar puppy from Pretzel's first litter that lived with me back in December 2017 to February 2018. He looks fantastic now! We headed over to a friend's place to work on some quail. I brought Pizza with me, and I worked on her holding her point through the flush. It went pretty well, for the most part. I had a heart-stopping moment when Pizza surprised a pair of deer laying in the field and she took off after them. It felt like hours, but she did finally come back after a few minutes. Scary...so scary. I really hope she stays under control at the hunt test tomorrow. I am afraid I could lose her if she takes off. She is so dang fast!

For November, we had an unusually warm day. The temperatures neared 80 degrees with ZERO breeze, making the scenting conditions extremely tough. Luckily, Noodle's senior test was early in the morning. I was a basket of nerves (a nice way of saying that I was a basket case!). Noodle, however, was a true champion. She ran in the backfield but did not go too far, hunted hard, and we managed to make it through the backfield without a screw up.

Then we entered the bird field. Noodle started really hunting. In no time at all she went on a solid point. As usual, I could NOT find the dang bird. I kicked around, and it flushed. The gunners shot and missed. Noodle held through the flush and the shot beautifully! I heeled her away about 5 feet, then set her loose to continue hunting.

Noodle's bracemate went on point next, and she whoa-ed into a nice honor. The bird was flushed and lost in the woods, so we both continued hunting.

Wouldn't you know it, Noodle and her bracemate went on point at the exact same time at opposite ends of the field. The judges decided to work her bracemate first, so I had to collar her and hold her there while they worked the bird. She actually stood on point the entire time they worked the bird, shot it, and spent a long time trying to find the bird for the retrieve. When they were done, it was our turn. Noodle stayed steady the entire time, and I flushed the bird. The gunner shot, Noodle held, and I sent her for the retrieve. The cover was pretty thick, and it took her a long time to find the dead bird. It felt like forever! But she did find it, and retrieved it right to me. Time was up, and this meant we passed!!! Our very first attempt at senior hunter was a success! I couldn't be more thrilled with Noodle's performance. All that training paid off.

Next, it was Pizza's turn. She had a long wait as she was in the 9th brace of junior hunter. I was getting a bit worried, because several braces went birdless. The heat of the day and the lack of breeze made it nearly impossible for the inexperienced dogs to find birds. Not my Pizza! She went out there and bam -bam - bam found three birds! The last one, she held beautifully through the flush and shot, just like an advanced dog! I was so proud. She hunted wonderfully, and didn't go too far away from me (which has been a problem for us). What an incredible successful day, both girls had success and I am feeling really proud!

Day #2 of the hunt test was even sunnier and warmer than yesterday. Again Noodle started off the morning with her senior hunt test. Right off the back she and her bracemate hit a wild flush in the back field, and we both whoa-ed our dogs. They both came to a halt, the birds flew away, and we went on

When we hit the bird field, it was time to work! Noodle's bracemate found a bird first. I brought Noodle in for the back, and she stopped on her own with a pretty point, honoring her bracemate. That was so cool! Her bracemate did the retrieve successful, so now it was up to Noodle to find a bird.

It took a bit of time, but she locked on point for me. I had to wait for my bracemate and the gunners to get into position, and when I stepped closer to Noodle, I felt a crunch. I had stepped on the dang bird! I told the judges, and they told me I could pick up the bird and toss it. When I reached down, it came back to life and flew. The gunners shot it pretty far away, and I sent Noodle in for the retrieve. Noodle searched and searched and searched to the point of almost overheating, but could not find the bird. Time was up, so i walked forward and helped her get into the right area to search. The bird had not died right away and had burrowed into the heavy brush, making it almost impossible to find.

This was so disappointing, because Noodle did so well on everything else, but no retrieve means no pass. Amazingly, the bird came back to life third time in my game pouch. That bird just didn't want to die today, I guess.

Pizza's turn came in the heat of the day. She was amazing, and found a bird almost immediately, went on a solid point, and actually held through the flush and shot! Because of the extreme heat, the judges were having everyone pick their dogs up once they worked a bird successfully, so we leashed up and headed out of the field to celebrate...with a score of four straight 9's! That makes two legs towards her Junior Hunter title, only 2 more to go!

Today was a jam-packed day, with three agility classes in a row.

Dolphin was first, and he did pretty well, considering it's been several weeks since we have had a foundations class. I'd like to see him be more drive-y and fast, but he seems to be thinking a bit too hard about things. Hopefully that will change has he gets more confident.

Noodle did a drop-in class as we will have to miss our regular class on Thursday. She was a flipping rock star, I have nothing much to say other than it was pure joy to run her today.

Pizza was a bit out of control and made a lot of mistakes. She is definitely NOT an over-thinker! I'd like to trade a little between her and Dolphin. Definitely still a work in progress.

I took Noodle and Pizza out to a friend's place, and did some training. I planted 3 dead quail for Noodle and had a friend bring his shotgun. Noodle pointed the quail, and I would throw each one as he shot over her, then sent her in for the retrieve. All 3 I threw into heavy cover, and she successfully retrieved all 3. Fingers crossed for this weekend, as we have another pair of tests coming up.

I planted two dead quail for Pizza, and worked on steadying her point. At first she was a little confused because she didn't know if she should point a dead bird, but soon figured it out and did very well. I am afraid to go into this weekend with too much confidence, as that always seems to bite me in the butt. I guess we shall see...

Today was the first day of the Wilmington show. I had Dolphin and Pizza entered, but only entered today and tomorrow. Dolphin has only two shots to try to pick up that last single point he needs for his championship.

Dolphin started off the morning, he showed pretty good (considering he hasn't seen a show in over a month!). Unfortunately, he got Reserve Winners Dog, no points. Ugh, we will try again tomorrow!

Pizza redeemed the morning by showing really well. I think the month break from shows did a lot of good for her. There was a nice sized bitch special entry, and she earned Select Bitch and Owner-Handled Best of Breed. This meant that we had to drive the hour and 15 minutes back home, and then drive back up later in the afternoon for owner-handled groups.

We headed back up later in the day, spent several hours waiting. She showed great in the group, but got no love. It's OK with me, the best reward is that she showed well. I feel like I have lost a lot of my ambition for conformation. I want to do well, but it isn't an all-consuming passion anymore. I guess I found other things that feel more important to me right now.

We headed back to the show in the morning. Dolphin showed wonderful and won Winners Dog to finish his championship! From puppy to champion in only a month! I cannot believe it, never in a million years would I have guessed he would have such big success so early in his career. Finishing as a barely 7 month old puppy, by an owner/handler, all on my own...HUGE. Showing a son of my precious Pretzel, that is MY puppy...even HUGER.

Perhaps a bit of luck was brought by my very special pretzel pin, I wore in honor of his daddy. It's only fitting I wear it in tribute to the dog that started me on this journey and took me to places I never imagined.

Mark took Dolphin in best of breed while I showed Pizza. Pizza was, well, let's just say the puppy rose to the top yet again on her. She would not stack, would not stand still, it was a mess. Needless to say she didn't get a placement. She is a very slow work in progress. We have a month to get our act together and get ready for Orlando - the Owner-Handled finals and the Puppy Sweepstakes! Oddly enough, I am excited, but not overly so...I am telling you, my conformation ambition has really waned. So many other important things to focus on, this feels so trivial at times. I am more focused right now on mentally preparing for our hunt test tomorrow than anything else.

None of the vendors had any dog toys, which spoiled the fun of letting Dolphin pick out his official "finishing toy". Later tonight at Wal-Mart I came across this GIANT plush shark. Perfect for Dolphin, I must say! I think he loved it!

It was a cold, cold morning for the hunt test today. We started off around 25 degrees...brr! Noodle was in the first brace of Senior Hunter. She was jumping out of her skin while we waited to start. In hindsight I probably got her out of the van way too early - she started working herself up and was way higher than she was last weekend. We were at a new place we had never been before, so that didn't help either. She broke well from the line, but the backfield was super short...she was out of sight in no time. Thankfully she didn't cause any trouble while she was gone from me. She came back, and we entered the bird field and she hunted HARD.

She went on point first. They were using chukkar at this hunt test. These birds were HUGE! I swear the one was bigger than her head! She had the most beautiful solid point, it was gorgeous. I went to go flush the bird and it rolled like a football, then it flew. Noodle broke on the flush because she was so tightly wired, so I was told to pick her up. We were done. Extremely disappointing, to say the least. Noodle hasn't broke on the flush in MONTHS. Today was not a good day to do that...ugh.

Pizza was in the first brace of junior hunter. The bird field was COVERED with birds. I mean they were seriously popping out of the field like popcorn! I think I shot my blank gun 4 or 5 times. Pizza would barely go on point and the bird would fly, I never had a chance to flush any of them. At one point she stopped to point and TWO birds flew up. It was crazy! Probably the craziest junior hunter run I have ever done. Pizza passed with a score of straight 8's, so that was a relief!

I took a dead chukkar home with me to train with. Later in the afternoon, I hid the dead bird in some weeds by the dirt pile out back. I got Pizza out first, and let her find the bird and stand on point a few times. She was a little confused by the scent - we have never worked with chukkar before. I got Noodle out next, and worked on her staying steady for the shot and the throw of the bird, and then I had her retrieve a couple times. It was funny - the first time she went to retrieve, she had a hard time getting a hold of the bird, it was so big. She had to put it down and readjust several times. Our second retrieve was much better.

Well, I have done all I can today. Tomorrow we try once more, our last attempt until spring. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be solid rain, and HIGH winds - the worst hunting conditions possible. Oh boy...

I woke up to rain today, and it rained intermittently all morning. Noodle was in the 4th brace of senior hunter. Today I tried not to get her out of the van until the last possible minute. I did some heeling exercises and some rally with her and her focus seemed pretty good.

She broke off the line well, and although she was pretty high and had a lot of speed, she didn't disappear from me this time. We got into the bird field and she was hunting HARD in the rain. I knew a little rain wouldn't stop her, she is gritty and tough.

Her bracemate went on point first, so she backed him, and I was able to hold her collar while the bracemate worked the bird. This was a huge benefit to us, because I was able to pet her and calm her down. By the time I was ready to set her loose, she was very focused. I let go of her collar, helled her about 5 feet away from where her bracemate was, and set her loose.

It wasn't long until she found her own bird. It was a huge chukkar, and it was sitting right there in front of her about two feet away. She had to hold her point and wait for her bracemate to honor, and the gunners to get into position. She was solid! I managed to get the bird to fly, and she held, the gunners shot the bird with a clean shot and she went to retrieve, and retrieved right to me! The brace was done and we passed!!! Noodle's SECOND senior hunter leg! I was on a big high, when things go right it is the BEST feeling! Noodle scored straight 8's for this test.

Next it was Pizza's turn. Unlike Noodle, Pizza does better when she has time to hang out in the atmosphere and get used to the activity. I got her out of the van nice and early, and we had about 30-40 minutes to wait before our brace. Wouldn't you know it, it started pouring rain when it was her turn to go. I mean a SOLID cold rain. Pizza didn't care a bit! She went out and hunted hard, stayed under control and followed my direction. She pointed a bird and was super solid on the point. This bird was a quail, and it was soaking wet and running circles. I am shocked she held her point. I had to reach down and throw the bird and she held, and I shot my blank gun and Pizza took off for the bird. The bird landed about 20 feet away like a big wet clump, and Pizza picked it up and retrieved it STRAIGHT to me! Yeah, not what we are supposed to do in Junior, but it was wonderful to see such a good retrieve (dare I say it was even a little better than Noodle's retrieve?). Amazingly, the bird was completely unharmed! I love her soft mouth. This was a nice pass for Pizza's 4th junior hunter leg, and this earned her the Junior Hunter title! Woot!

Back to our regularly scheduled classes today. Dolphin had his agility foundations class. He was wonderfully behaved...almost too much. I'd like to see more drive and speed out of him, but he seems tentative at times. Hopefully as he gets more confident, he will get more energized. He is certainly over-energized at home!

Pizza was really good in her agility class - super fast as always, but fairly accurate and stayed focused for the most part. We were doing a few tricky sequences and I was pretty happy with how she did. She had puppy-brain moments, but only a few. We have an agility trial coming up on Friday and Sunday, and it will be her first time trialing away from her "home turf".

It's official - Pizza's Grand Championship certificate came in the mail today! From champion to grand champion in 2 1/2 months, at age 14 months. Pretty darn amazing!

I haven't spoken about the pandemic in the past few months. To be quite honest, I have worked hard to put it out of my mind so I could have an enjoyable summer. Things have opened up again, and although we are mandated to wear masks in public, it's been rather nice to get back to something resembling normalcy. Unfortunately, that may be coming to a screeching halt soon. Cases of COVID are rising dramatically in the past few weeks, and rumors of a lockdown are floating around. Honestly, I don't know if I can mentally survive another lockdown. To finally gain most of my life back only to lose it all again will crush me. I am now worrying more than ever about the virus, worrying about my family and myself. I am taking every precaution, but I fear it is only a matter of time. Sometimes I think about things and can't believe this is where the world has ended up. I am trying hard to not dwell on it, because if I worry about the impending lockdown I may lose my sanity. So I will keep on keepin' on, and wait and see.

What an unexpectedly amazing day! Pizza had her very first agility trial away from home, and it was in a huge fieldhouse. I figured if she could handle this crazy atmosphere, then we can trial onward with confidence. By golly, she did handle it and handle it well!

Our first class was Novice FAST. I had a specific plan, and we stuck to it perfectly without a single mistake. Boom! Q!!! Next was Jumpers. I executed two rear crosses, one of which was very successful and the other was a little late on my part (oops!). Pizza caught sight of her reflection in the glass and ran over to check herself out, causing a refusal and -5 points. But still a Q, so we will take it!

Last was Novice Standard. She was on fire, nailing all of her contacts with perfect 2 on-2 off stops. She had a beautiful down on the table. Our one mistake was on my rear cross late in the run...not sure if it was late or if I cued her badly, but she turned the wrong way and jumped on the table again to incur a wrong course and a refusal. Still a Q, though! That makes today a triple Q day!

Needless to say I am over-the-moon thrilled with her focus in a new place. I received so many compliments on her runs, really made me feel good. We have worked really hard. After how hard I had to train Noodle, and how many years of failures I had in training, it felt good to have a dog that stayed focused right off the bat.

We are taking a day off, and then trialing again on Sunday. When I got home, I did a little foundation work with Dolphin and he did awesome - great 2 on 2 offs on the travel board, nice distance in our barrel "around", and great verbals. I see progress in my not-so-little guy!

Jumpers

Standard

After a day off yesterday, we headed back to the agility trial in Zanesville this morning. I had hoped to let Pizza run around all day yesterday to burn off some energy, but it rained and was miserable all day. Of course, this means she was full of energy today!

We started off with Novice FAST. The send bonus was teeter to tunnel, easy-peasey. She nailed that, and we went on to gather points. She did come off the A-Frame and stopped on the ground rather than 2 on 2 off, but she hit the yellow so it was OK. I stopped to let her know she had made a mistake, and then we went on. She over-jumped the second to last jump, so went around the last jump and took it from the backside, but since this was FAST, it all counted. She Q'ed and won her height with a score of 65 accumulated points.

Next was Novice jumpers, and the course started with 3 straight line jumps into a tunnel...she took off like a bullet. Out of the tunnel she had to do the weaves, and she came out WAY too fast to accurately enter the weaves. I called her back, and she dropped her head to the ground and sniffed and sniffed right in front of me, ignoring me. This was probably a stress reaction to doing the weaves wrong. I finally got her going, and our third attempt went perfectly. She picked up way too much speed again, and went way off to the right when I executed a rear cross, and did a drive-by visit of the ring crew. I got her back, and she was FLYING through the tunnel, attempted to do two jumps in a bounce, and knocked a bar. This was an out-of-control non-qualifying run for sure!

Last for the day was Novice Standard. There was something hinkey about the dogwalk as many dogs were coming off of it or avoiding it. She took the first jump, and bypassed the dogwalk, ran to the corner, ran through a runnel, and then came back. I got her on the dogwalk and she was very cautious. We went on and did the rest of the course perfectly (including nailing the weaves on the first try!), and ended up Q-ing with a score of 90. This makes our third Novice Standard Q, and our NA title! The NA title gives her enough points to earn the Versatility Rating with the WCA. So Pizza's new official name is: GCH CH Luxe N Camelot About Time U Got A PIzza My Heart JH NA CGC TKI V!!!

The dogs were all out of sorts when I got home this afternoon. It was pouring rain, no one wanted to go outside, and we had a couple accidents in the house (Dolphin, and can you believe - Pretzel??!!??). This is so unusual...not sure what is going on here. Did I mention that Dolphin started lifting his leg to pee? He is growing up...waaah! He is only 7 months old, but he almost looks full-grown now. So sad...we need to pause time for a while.

Today was an interesting day. Some ups and downs. The downs - Cadence is sore right now, and who knows why? I was due for some bad horse luck, and this just may be it. Not going to think about it any more today, so let's move on.

Dolphin had his puppy class and he was wonderful! I thought he would be out of control wild since he was cooped up all weekend because of bad weather. It is interesting - he is such a cautious puppy, that he tends to be extra focused on me away from home. Not sure if that is a good thing or not? I mean, I love the focus, but I also want him to be confident and have tons of drive. He is middle-of-the-road with his drive right now, but that is kind of how Pizza was at first also. He did great on his cone circling, recalls, impulse control, and 2 on 2 off, and we introduced rear crosses on the flat and he was doing pretty well at it.

Pizza was pretty wild in her class today. She has tons of drive, but sometimes that can do her in. Here is the interesting thing - we were doing a sequence of a 3-jump serpentine with a tricky 180 degree turn into the weaves. She missed her weave entry and immediately ran, stuck her nose to the ground, and would NOT lift it up for anything - EXACTLY what she did at the trial the one time she missed her weave entry! This is definitely a stress reaction, and kind of surprising for her as she seems to rarely stress about anything having to do with training. I am going to practice a lot of weird weave entries with her at home, and let her make mistakes and be corrected so she can realize it's no big deal to be wrong.

Back to field training today! Noodle got the bulk of the training time today. She was fantastic. THREE different times she encountered her bracemate on point and stopped and honored without any command from me. In fact one of the times they were completely out of sight - I came out of the woods and her bracemate was on point, and Noodle was standing about 20-30 feet away on point in an honor. It was so cool! She held her own point through the flush and shot, and we heeled away well. Good session!

We were running out of time, so Pizza just did a little whoa training on the blocks. When she was done, I got Dolphin out just to run around and scent some birds on our own. I took some video, and he did go on a really pretty point and held it for a few seconds. He was all business when he was out there hunting. It was really cool to watch.

So today started off with a bang, or rather, a crash. The dogs got all excited when i was putting my boots on to take them outside. Dolphin chased Pizza up the stairs (where they are not allowed), he came racing back down and couldn't stop himself in time, and crashed through the window next to the front door. amazingly, there wasn't a mark on him! How can that be?

He was a busy boy overnight, apparently. He managed to get up to the top of his kennel run outside and chew up a very expensive camera. And somehow he got his mouth through the tiny spaces in between the wires and chewed off a piece of his kennel sign. Needless to say, I am NOT happy!

Today I took Pizza and Dolphin field training. Noodle stayed home since she got to train on Tuesday. Pizza was kind of bad, managed to break free and chase a bird right from the start. She got a little better as we worked through it, but she needs a LOT of work before she is ready for senior hunter.

Dolphin was about as out of control in the field as he was at home today. Even running while dragging a check cord, he managed to get away and dive on a bird or two. On the plus side, we did a little retrieving with a dead bird and he did wonderfully. I guess one tiny positive in my day is better than nothing!

I so badly wanted to ride Cadence this week, but she still had some swelling in that leg. I am hoping things clear up over the weekend and I can ride next week. Overall, today was a very frustrating day. That's putting it mildly.

Today I had an agility seminar with Noodle for 3 1/2 hours. It was really good. Better than that - it was fantastic! Noodle was a rock star. We are so incredibly in sync with each other right now, I hope this never ends. We worked on a lot of complicated handling sequences, and she stayed motivated and focused for the entire 3+ hours. I really feel like we have a strong partnership right now. Of course, this is dangerous thinking, since I have her entered in a trial next weekend. I hope we stay on track.

In a little over a week, we leave for Florida. I am not sure what to think about it. I really am looking forward to traveling and heading to some warmer weather. I am a little worried about the pandemic, and keeping safe. We are stopping first at the AKC National Championship show in Orlando. Pizza will be competing in the Owner-Handed Finals, and both Pizza and Dolphin will compete in the Puppy Sweepstakes. I don't hold out much hope for either of those events - I know the competition will be deep and both of these pups aren't really ready for that kind of competition. But they qualified, so we shall go. They deserve their time in the ring, and it will be Dolphin's last conformation show for a long while as he needs time to grow up, and also time to focus on his performance training (and working on HIS focus). I am suffering from a major lack of ambition when it comes to conformation showing. Not sure if it is burnout, or a growing appreciation for events that show a dog's true trainability and athleticism. Not sure, but it is what it is.

Today turned out to be a tougher day than I anticipated. First of all - the temps dropped and we started getting snow, lots of it. Of course the ground is still a little warm, so the snow is making everything a major muddy mess. Fun.

Dolphin had his puppy class today. I just can't figure him out. He is apparently going through some sort of major fear period. It's odd, because none of my other dogs ever went through this. It started a few weeks ago - he is afraid of his own shadow. Afraid to put his paws on the teeter, last night he was even afraid of the tunnel. Last week he cowered at my sister's house, and he is very reticent pretty much everywhere other than at home. This is NOT a good time for this as we are heading to Orlando next week where he will compete in the Puppy Sweepstakes. I am going to work through this somehow...first on the agenda is a visit to Home Depot tomorrow for some socialization and work in the spooky environment

Pizza was WILD in her class today. Like...off the charts wild! Barking at other dogs, racing like she is on fire, she had trouble focusing for long periods of time. By the end of the class she had gotten a lot of this out of her system and was doing much better. We have an agility trial this weekend, so I need to remember that she needs a lot of time in the environment before running so she can relax.

I guess today wasn't a complete failure. We will have these setbacks, it is normal. I just like to keep seeing forward progress, so sometimes I get frustrated with these steps backward. Patience, my dear!