This weekend was all agility! Saturday started off with Noodle in Masters Standard and Masters Jumpers. She was ultra focused, and honestly didn't put a paw wrong! We earned our second double Q today!

Pizza decided to try something new today. She did the exact same thing in both Open Jumpers and Open Standard - she went (in flow) to the corner and obsessively sniffed the bar setter sitting there. I had a LOT of trouble getting her to reconnect with me and go on. Interestingly - she ran both courses perfectly clean and fast, but NQ'ed because she was over time from doing her extended visit. It's like she timed her visit to last just seconds over time. I have no idea why this started, this one is a new mistake.

Sunday started off well with Noodle, earning another Masters Jumpers Q. In Standard, I tried a blind cross before the A-frame and for some weird reason she passed the A-frame. I rarely do blind crosses with her, and maybe that surprised her? I don't know, but that was her only mistake, resulting in an NQ. However, she redeemed herself by pulling off an incredibly difficult Excellent FAST Q, with a tough send bonus!

Pizza repeated her mistakes from yesterday in open standard and jumpers - going to the corner and wasting time visiting. She managed to come back and finish extra fast in standard to earn a Q, but it was an extra Q as we don't really need it. She was a mess in Open FAST and blew the send bonus, then ran around sniffing. I can see I have my work cut out for me - we have some training issues to conquer!

Photos of Noodle!

Noodle - Masters Standard (Saturday)

Pizza and I headed just for one day to a show in Smithfield, OH. She picked up Select Bitch and an Owner-Handled best of breed. I need to work a bit on her gait as she is starting to lean and pull on the corners again. Other than that, she showed really well and was a great companion all day. We traveled with my friend and her Doberman (who I got to show - FUN!!!), so it was a nice day. I do think I am getting a little burned out with the show stuff. Just doesn't seem that important to me in the grand scheme of things. I guess I am putting more importance on the events that require a lot of training and working with your dog. All I could think about is how I wanted to get back to the agility ring and the field. I am probably going to do just one more show before our national specialty at the end of October, and then I will re-evaluate after that.

I have been using Dolphin's crazy toy/retrieve drive to work on his jumping skills. I set a singe jump out in the back property, and randomly send him over it. When he clears it without knocking, I throw his favorite rope ball and he runs to retrieve. He is wild about this game! After a few repetitions, he started to figure out that when he knocks the jump, I don't throw his toy. It is amazing how much better he has gotten with his jumping. After about 3-4 days, I added a second jump and am moving them around so he has to jump two jumps cleanly to get his toy. It is working like a charm, because in his classes this week he has shown a TON of improvement!

Today was a jam-packed day and it was filled with two of my most favorite activities! We started off the morning doing field training. All three dogs were stellar! Noodle and Pizza were rock solid on their points, and BOTH dogs backed without a whoa multiple times. Holy moley! That is the best thing ever...gives me such a thrill to watch! Dolphin did a lot better today - we are still steadying him with a check cord, but he is starting to use a little self-control and holding his point. No birds were killed today,,,yay!

After field training, we went home and chilled for a while, and then Pizza and Dolphin (and I) headed to some agility run-throughs.

This was Dolphin's first time doing run-throughs, and his first time doing more than -7 obstacles at a time. He did fantastic! Oh, we had some bobbles and mistakes (because he just can't read a rear cross very well yet!), but only one knocked bar in each run (and one was due to him slipping, and the other was due to him almost bypassing it, then jumping at the last second). I am thrilled with how he did!

I had people sit around inside of the ring to act as bar setters for Pizza. In both of her runs, she went over to visit/sniff the bar setter. In the first run I had a LOT of trouble getting her back to me, so in the second one I wasted no time and went and grabbed her and started over. I may have to start doing a walk of shame with her and walk her off the course if she continues this. So frustrating, because other than that, she ran beautifully. Oh well, we will conquer this one. One training issue at a time!

I had a really good ride on Cadence today. I am feeling more confident in my ability to ride her right now. She is working so well with my leg and seat pressure, and now we are stepping it up a bit and using a bit more pressure on the bit to teach her to reach forward to the bit, rather than curl under. It's hard to keep my ambitions in check, but I have to remind myself daily that Cadence's three year old year is NOT my end goal. My end goal is a long-term show partner that I can show for many years in the future...so doing things slow and correct this year is a big step in making sure the future does happen. But man, it's so hard sometimes! Each day, each ride is one tiny step forward.

I worked on Dolphin's weave independence today. This has been an ongoing training process, and I do about 5- minutes at a time, several times a day. The persistence and patience is paying off, as today he is starting to show true weave commitment. Although he can do 12 weaves well, I am training him on only 6 weaves to save the wear and tear of having to do so many tight turns with his big ol' body. I am getting kind of excited for his novice agility debut in 2 weeks!

Speaking of excited, I mailed in my very first hunt test entries for the season - Pizza in Senior and Noodle in Master, first weekend in October. Gotta see exactly where we are in our training so I know how to proceed forward!

It's my birthday weekend, and what better way to spend it than at a dog show down south? We headed to Columbia, South Carolina for 4 Weimaraner specialties. Today was just Sweepstakes, which meant it was Dolphin's day since PIzza has now aged out of sweepstakes (sweeps are generally reserved for under 2 years of age)

He showed really well in the first sweepstakes and made the cut, and in the second sweepstakes he won Best in Sweeps! He showed like a rock star. It was a wonderful facility to show in - a covered dirt horse arena with a large ring - perfect size and footing for big-moving Weimaraners.

Of course, we celebrated later with dinner at Carrabbas (one of my favorite places!).

Today was the first day of the regular breed classes, and there were two specialties in one day. I had Dolphin entered in the first specialty and Pizza in the second. Share the love! Dolphin went in and showed great again (he is such a happy boy in the ring!), and earned a Select dog (out of 4 dog specials) for a 5 point grand champion major! Woot! Even more exciting than that - his half brother Marshall (the black collar puppy from Pretzel's first litter that lived here) won Best of Opposite! Brothers sweep the dog awards!!!!

In the second specialty, Pizza took an award of Merit out of 6 bitch specials. Today's dinner celebration was Mark's pizza with some very good friends.

Nothing better than a birthday down south in the warm sunshine. Two more specialties today, and although I had entered BOTH Dolphin and Pizza, I decided to show Dolphin at both to see if I could get two more Grand Champion majors on him. Since they were 5 pointers, if he took a ribbon at both he would finish his Grand Championship.

Dolphin did not disappoint - he really turned it on today (his gaiting is so strong and beautiful!), he took Best of Opposite at BOTH specialties! Two more point majors, and BOOM - a new Grand Champion!!! Proud cannot describe how I am feeling. Not only for his wins, but the way Dolphin acted the entire weekend - he was a happy, social boy with confidence. That's a HUGE win in my book.

The rest of my birthday was spent driving the long 9 hours home. 9 hours for a dog show? SO worth it this time!

Today was all about last-minute prep work for the weekend. Agility classes all morning, and we did some longer course work in Dolphin's class to prepare for his novice agility debut tomorrow! After class I took all 3 dogs to field training as a last-minute preparation for Noodle's Master Hunter debut and Pizza's Senior Hunter debut. So exciting!!! Field training went well. I did a few small corrections on Noodle when she jumped forward while honoring the other dog's retrieve, Pizza was steady as a rock, and even Dolphin was holding his point nicely. His Junior Hunter debut will be next weekend.