Well it was a good and bad day at the hunt test...even though I only had one pass out of 4 it was actually more good than bad. If you are not a field dog person you might want to scroll on by as this will get a little detailed ;-)

Noodle started off the morning in Master Hunter. She hit a GORGEOUS honor from about 100 feet away...and then another one from another good distance. WOOT! The bad part about her bracemate finding the first two birds was it got her a bit hyped up, so when she went on point and the bird flushed on it's own, she leaped for it. oops...fail. That was the ONLY misbehavior from either of my dogs the entire day, so that's a training WIN (Thanks Jean Webb!)

Pizza went out for her first Senior Hunter test and was STELLAR! Can't believe this time last year she hadn't even started her junior hunter yet, but here she was, more broke than most of the master dogs! She honored beautifully, and and a rock solid point and held through the flush and shot...waited for my tap on her head and she did a direct perfect retrieve to hand. WHOA...never expected that from her! The best part is I stayed pretty much silent the entire run, she did it all on her own without commands.

Noodle's second master run was really really good. This time she pointed and held beautifully through the flush and shot. Unfortunately, the birdfield had 6 foot tall cover. You read that right and no I am not exaggerating, the entire field was taller than me. They had paths mowed into it, but the dogs were getting lost constantly. Noodle went on point in the deep stuff and worked it perfectly, but obviously she couldn't mark where the bird fell when they shot it since she was in cover waaaay over her head. Figures this was a LONG retrieve also. She worked and worked and worked to find the bird, to the point she almost dropped from heat exhaustion. I picked her up at that point, because I was afraid she would collapse! She has such heart, and I was much happier with her performance this afternoon...but another fail.

Pizza came out in the dead heat of the afternoon for her second senior test. It was so awesome, we came around the corner after losing sight of both dogs, and there was her bracemate on point with Pizza about 30 feet away facing perpendicular to him, honoring. The judge commented on how nice that was (and she did score a 9 in honoring...yay!). Sadly, she hit a similar fate as Noodle. She went on point in 6 foot cover, I flushed the bird, which was shot and fell into the woods, and she could not find it. After searching for a LONG time, she came around me and BAM went on point on another bird. This bird flushed wild, and she held nicely, but the judge had me pick her up since she didn't complete the first retrieve. I couldn't be more thrilled with how she did on her first day doing senior! The thing about broke dog field tests is that crazy stuff happens, you can't train for every possible scenario, so a lot of it is a crapshoot and luck (along with a LOT of training).

It was a LONG hot day and I put something like 28,000 steps on my FitBit (mostly up and down hills), but it was very educational for me and I know what to work on for next weekend's test! Damn, it was fun running those girls. Nothing on earth like running a beautiful Weim in the field and having people comment and how great they look. I can't wait til next weekend - the girls will run again, and it will also be Dolphin's Junior Hunter debut!

Oh, and I completely forgot to get Pizza's qualifying ribbon! I am so bummed :-(

I split an agility private lesson today with Dolphin and Pizza, concentrating on running longer sequences in preparation for Weimaraner Nationals in a few weeks. Pizza did great, I need to stop saying "Yes!" when she gets her weave entry, because we think it is causing her to pop out at pole 2/3. Dolphin did pretty good, although after about 15 minutes his little puppy pea brain was fried from thinking so hard. I need to work on sending him to a jump while moving laterally...he wants to pull off the jump when I move. His jump commitment is very lacking, I have to keep that in mind when I walk my courses.

It was an....interesting....day at the hunt test/ratings test today. When things go wrong in the field they go seriously wrong LOL!

Noodle should wear her agility crime scene collar tomorrow because her master hunter run and her shooting dog excellent were both big fails as she broke on the flush (which is SO unlike her, but her adrenaline got the best of her). I also lost her in master hunter for pretty much the entire backfield. She is telling me she REALLY wants to be a field trial dog, as she ran to the moon and back before I ever found her again LOL!

Pizza was brilliant in her senior hunter, but for some odd reason (maybe the high cover? Who knows!) she blew by her honor on her bracemate...weird since she got 9's in her honoring last weekend because she was so awesome. She redeemed herself by putting up a beautiful shooting dog ratings test where she held rock solid through the flush and shot, and had a nice retrieve, to earn her SD title.

Dolphin was the real rock star today. Poor guy was so overheated in his junior hunter test that he was panting too hard to scent the birds, but he did have a pretty pretty whoa to flush (which we had worked on just last week...yay!). After a long rest in my van a/c, he came out for novice shooting dog and laid down the most gorgeous run - finding two birds within the first 3 minutes in the bird field, and HOLDING solid through the flush and the blank shot, and then actually heeling away. Whoa...never would have expected that, but just goes to show when you have a LOT of patience and put a good foundation on a young pup, it really starts to come together fast. I admit I got a little teary-eyed watching his points, they were super-duper dramatic and tight, JUST like daddy Pretzel. Made my heart so happy. This NSD title completes Dolphin's requirements for his Versatile rating! Those of you who know me know how FREAKING important a versatile rating is to me! Showing Weimaraners that are not only conformationally correct, but trainable and with natural instinct is my top priority ;-)

We try again tomorrow with the second day of the hunt test. I expect Noodle will be just as bad again, so I am trying to map out a training plan for her in the next few weeks to figure out how to get her adrenaline going in training so I can teach her to work through it. Sure wish they had field run-throughs like they do in agility!

Oh, and since the two youngsters got their shooting ratings titles, their new official names are: GCH CH Luxe N Camelot About Time U Got A Pizza My Heart JH OA NAJ NF CGC TKA SD NRD VX and GCH CH Image's N About Time's Making A Splash CGC TKI NSD NRD V

Better day at the hunt test today, another "educational" day (that's what we call it, right?).

Noodle was in much better frame of mind for her master hunter this morning, didn't run off like a FT dog, but went on point 30 seconds into the bird field and broke on the shot. We are going to do some serious training the next few weeks!

Pizza was...amazeballs in her senior hunter. Right off the bat she did a whoa to flush in the backfield, then in the birdfield a covey of 3 popped up and she whoa-ed...twice since the birds flew at separate times. Then she went on point, and was super solid at the flush and the shot, I sent her to the retrieve and she retrieved beautifully to hand. The judges sent us away to set up my bracemate on point so we could back, and wouldn't you know it on the other end of the field WHAM she goes on point again! I had to wait for the judge and gunners to head over to me, she was rock steady during the wait. I flushed the bird and out popped TWO! The gunners shot them both, she held, I sent her for the retrieve. She went to pick one of the birds up and it flew off. She started to chase but I called her back. The judge said that since she was on a retrieve, that this wouldn't count against her and to send her to retrieve the other bird. I sent her back out, and she (gingerly) picked up what was left of the second bird (the shot blew the entire back half off the bird and man was it bloody and gross!) and brought it to me. All that was left was the honor, which she did nicely, and we were done with a nice solid Senior pass (and scored 9 in retrieving...which is HUGE for us because this was the hardest thing for her!).

Dolphin decided to out-rockstar her in his junior hunt test, and he hunted in beautiful big sweeping quarters in the high cover, went on a big solid dramatic point, and held through the flush and the blank shot, a nice solid junior pass for my puppy boy. I have to laugh that my junior hunter at his first hunt test was more broke than my master. OK, maybe I can't really laugh at that yet because it STINGS ;-)

Man, this field stuff was a blast today. Now it's time to change gears and get serious about Cadence and Congress this week...so much happening my head is exploding!

'Tis the season...it's Congress time! Now my October (or as I call it..."Crazetober") seriously gets busy. Today I headed over to Congress at 8am to get in a ride on Cadence before the crowds start coming. She was wonderful! Everything felt great, she had zero issues with the other horses (there were only about 6 or 7 others riding, but still!). I left the place with a bit of confidence in my head, we can DO this!

I got to Congress at 8am to ride again, only to find out that my trainer had been taken to the hospital the night before with pneumonia. Ugh...what a terrible time to get sick, for her and for all of us! Thankfully she is back and OK, but cannot coach me anymore at Congress, so her husband/co-trainer is stepping in.

Today I rode in the English saddle to get better prepared. Yeah, and I was a mess today. Our transitions went all to heck, and I struggled to get a canter transition to the right. I don't think it had anything to do with riding in a different saddle, I think it was mostly due to me and Cadence just not 'gelling" together. It was a mess, and my confidence was lowered a bit. But that is Congress...you have to keep at it every day and make it work!

I headed over to Congress in the evening to ride. We tried to get some work done in the covered pen, but half of it was full of trail obstacles so it was tough to get anything accomplished. Luckily, the show ended early (like 9pm) so we were able to head to the Celeste and ride in there. I was pumped beyond belief because Cadence rode into the Celeste like she OWNED it. It was crowded, and she had zero issue with any of the traffic. Talk about a confidence booster! I feel much more ready to show tomorrow!

Today is the big day! The Congress 3 year old Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle stakes. This is the class that Corky placed 9th in, a mere 14 years ago. The class was estimated to run around :45pm. I got there around 2:30pm and found out they were running several hours early, and I got there in just enough time to get her ready, get dressed, and get saddled. No time to sit around and stress, I guess that is a good thing!

We headed to the warm-up ring, but it was hard getting anything done with the crowds of horses going every which way. I am thrilled at how Cadence handled the traffic...HUGE improvement! We spent a lot of time in the warm-up ring waiting for our class to be called in. I could tell Cadence was getting a little irritated at being stuck in that crowd for so long, but when we entered the Celeste and trotted in the ring, she relaxed and stroked along!

Overall, the entire experience today was a good/bad one. We were in the first split, and she actually rode pretty darn good for me other than she broke at the canter to the right towards the end. I was able to get it fixed, but I figured my chances were shot. Not so...we actually got called back for the semi-finals!

So...we waited for the rest of the class to show, then we headed back in for the semis. Oh, did I mention it was 3 degrees and humid? So unlike what I am sued to at Congress! We headed into the semis, and it was rough rough rough. Once again, she broke at her canter to the right, even though I had my leg on her pretty strong. I think she was just exhausted from the work and the heat. Still, we made it into the limited finals, which were being held next. a THIRD time in the pen to show for the limited finals, and my #1 goal was to NOT break at our canter to the right. I kept my leg HARD on her the entire ride...it didn't make the prettiest picture, but it was effective enough to keep us clean for the finals.

Of course, being clean is not enough to really get a placement. We did place 13th and 9th (yea, cracked the top 10!) under two judges, but no placement overall. Unfortunately, we didn't make the open finals, so the hopes of Cadence equaling her mother's top 10 in that class were over.

I was a little disappointed, but really not with my placement, but at our ride. I feel like I am in an uphill battle trying to figure her out and figure out what works for her. I find myself falling into a lot of my old bad habits, which is NOT good. I hope we can get our act together in the next week, we have one more class to show next Thursday. Unfortunately, Cadence won't be shown in the 3yo futurity (those entry payments HURT a LOT when they end up going unused!) or the Green HUS since my trainer is out of commission. Somewhat disappointing Congress so far, but there are also a lot of positives to take away from this - Cadence went into the Celeste THREE times today and never spooked, never had an issue with traffic, and overall had very good behavior. I'll take that little victory, because for us it is a HUGE one.

Clips of Cadence

Today was my last show date at Congress. The L1 Amateur Select hunter Under Saddle. I seriously had high hopes for this class, but even though my ride was clean (no breaks, no bucks, no spooks, and we got out canter transitions!) we didn't make the finals. Disappointing? Yes. It's hard enough to be disappointed in yourself, but when everyone around you expresses disappointment in you, that's doubly hard to take. Believe me, with every failure I punish myself enough!

I am 1,000% stressed, dealing with this and trying to get organized for the Weimaraner National Specialty coming up in 2 days. I have a lot on my plate, but instead of excitement and anticipation, I only taste stress. One day at a time...

Today was the first day of the Weimaraner Club of America National Specialty in Gettysburg, PA...Agility day!. Agility was held at a training facility in Halethorpe, MD. I had high hopes for my crew (hereafter referred to as "Team About Time"!

Having three dogs, one at every level, is a first for me! Noodle is in Masters, Pizza in Open, and Dolphin in Novice. This would be Dolphin's first time doing agility away from home.

It was a mixed bag kind of day. Noodle started off really great with getting her send bonus in FAST and almost qualifying (a few points short!), and then qualifying in both standard runs. She fizzled in Jumpers where she knocked a bar in her first run, and then popped out of the weaves on her second run. Pizza, well, she was pretty much out of control. Wild...but she did manage to Q in open FAST, and then blew both standard runs and her first jumpers run in a big way by visiting/jumping on the ring crew, running wild, you name it. Amazingly, she pulled off her last jumpers run with a Q, and this finishes her Open jumpers title...finally! She is finally in excellent in both standard and jumpers.

Dolphin was a rockstar today. He qualified and won his Novice Preferred FAST class, Winning one of his NP Standard classes, and qualifying and getting 2nd in both his NP jumpers classes to finish his NJP title. He will move to regular (not preferred) novice at our next trial, so we start all over again. It was an exhausting day, I ran a total of FIFTEEN agility runs, the most I have ever run in one day. My knees were really sore from all the torqueing in front crosses, but it was SO worth it!

Day #2 was in York, Pennsylvania - The WCA Shooting Ratings test. Once again I had dogs entered in all 3 levels - Noodle was entered in Shooting Dog Excellent (SDX), Pizza in Shooting Dog (SD) and both Pizza and Dolphin in Novice Shooting Dog (NSD).

Noodle broke my heart again in SDX when she broke on the shot, making it an automatic fail. I can't say I was surprised, her field training has taken a very bad turn the past few weeks. Pizza hunted her heart out in the heat (did I mention it was HOT today?) in shooting dog but sadly went birdless. Another fail. Both Pizza and Dolphin went in Novice Shooting dog and hunted beautifully, and had nice bird work for a pass for both of them. The day wasn't a complete failure, but I had such high hopes for my upper level dogs. Oh well, them's the breaks!

Pizza had the day off today. Dolphin showed in Sweepstakes, showed like a wild dog - he had way too much fun! He galloped on the down and back, jumped in the air for his free stack, and entertained the crowds with his happy puppy self. I can't be mad at him for that...I'll take a loss any day with a dog that is so thoroughly enjoying his time with me!

Today was Noodle's day - she showed in the Field Trial Bitch class, first time in the conformation ring in 2 full years, and showed like a rockstar and won the class! Then she turned around and went in the rally ring, first time competing in rally in 2 full years and first time ever doing Rally Intermediate, and won 2nd! I was really proud of her...bad girl done good!

Today was somewhat of a light day. Noodle qualified for the specialty best of breed by winning her field trial bitch class yesterday, but unfortunately it was at the same time as the National Specialty rally, and rally was definitely my priority! It was a good decision, as Noodle pulled off a 3rd place in Rally Intermediate! This placement and qualifying score meant that she would earn her Tri-Athlete award after showing in conformation on Friday. GOAL!

What can I say? Today was just an all-around epic day. Absolutely incredible.

Pizza showed in her futurity today (Dolphin was ineligible since he won the futurity in Oklahoma this past summer). She showed OK...but she was not the judge's style of dog (she has a lot of body for some judges) so didn't place. But...in the end that was so irrelevant as Marshall, Pretzel's pup from his very first litter back in 2017, WON Best Dog in the 2020 Maturity! It was a phenomenal moment, not only for his wonderful owner-handler that has done all the work herself, but also for my old man Pretzel, who earned another Sire award for siring a futurity/maturity winner. So many people go an entire lifetime and never earn a pewter dog, and my boy just earned TWO this year. There is just no end to Pretzel's awesomeness, he keeps giving me incredible moments even while retired.

The day continued to get better as a Marshall puppy and Pretzel grandpuppy took BOS at the 4-6 month puppy competition out of 12 puppies entered. What a fun afternoon!

This evening was the Awards Banquet, and I was able to see a major goal of mine achieved - two of my dogs earned a Dual Futurity Award for placing in both the show and field futurities this year. I set that goal waaaaay back last year before I even knew what it would entail, and like usual I then figured out what I needed to do and got it done. Kind of backwards from most people LOL!

Another couple of goals were achieved tonight, and these were goals I had set in my head but never gave voice to them. I wanted all three of my competing dogs to earn a Tri-Athlete Award (for placing/qualifying in at least 3 events at the national specialty), and I really wanted Dolphin to earn the Junior Most Versatile Weimaraner Award (given to the top versatile dog under 2 years of age). It was a close race, but he squeaked it out! What a great night to pick up all of these awards, and see my goals realized. This has been a hard week, a hard month, and an incredibly hard year, so I am extra proud that I managed to do this after everything that has happened. I am so blessed and truly thankful.

All three dogs got shown in conformation today. Noodle took second in her Field Trial bitch class, and Dolphin and Pizza didn't get a look in Best of Breed, which is what I expected. We packed up, and headed back to Ohio in the pouring rain. It was a very wet end to a great week, I will probably never be able to top this national specialty in my lifetime!

No rest for the wicked, and especially no rest for bad bird dogs! The three crazies went field training today to try to fix some of our issues. Since Noodle was breaking with the shot, we decided to shoot over her multiple times this week and not always let her retrieve - she is anticipating the retrieve after every gunshot so it is time to teach her that not every shot equals a downed bird. It was a good lesson for all 3 dogs.