"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."
Sometimes the easiest path delivers you to the smallest successes. The big successes, the big goals, those are usually at the end of a long, twisty, bumpy, hilly, badly-paved road. You have to be willing to drive the long, uncomfortable drive. I have to remind myself often that the journey is long and hard, but the rewards can be AWESOME! Welcome the bumps, because those are what makes you smarter and stronger. Bring 'em on, I've got great shocks!
Saturday, December 2, 2023
Field Trial (Paris, KY) day #1
Technically this was day #2 of the field trial, but yesterday was a Gordon Setter only trial. I had a great time judging the Derby and Puppy Stakes, even though it poured rain all day long. I was completely soaked from judging off of horseback, and it was pretty cold also...but still a total blast!
I had gotten in late the night before, but opted to leave Pizza and Noodle at home so they wouldn't be stuck in the van all day long while I judged. Mark was awesome and drove them halfway down to Cincinnati for me to meet up and get them last night. It was a long and terrible night. Noodle woke me up whimpering and pacing around 3am. I could hear her stomach making the loudest, most awful gurgling sounds. I took her outside and she did poop some runny poop, but her stomach was still pretty bad. I stayed up with her the rest of the night, and ended up giving her a healthy dose of Gas-X to try to calm her stomach down. This damn PLE disease is horrible when it rears it's ugly head, and this was the worst I have ever seen her. I was almost ready to head to the emergency vet around 6:30am when she finally settled down and the gurgling stopped.
I headed to the field trial, Pizza was in the second brace of Open Gun Dog. I decided that if Noodle still wasn't right after Pizza's brace would would be heading to the vet. Noodle definitely perked up and was almost back to her normal self by the time we arrived.
Since there had been a field trial yesterday, the grounds were FULL of birds. How full, might you ask? Well let me tell you! Pizza broke away really well and was running really nice, found her first bird early in the brace and then she slowed to a crawl as there was SO much scent. She found bird after bird, so many birds, I lost count! She was absolutely stunning on point, she got more and more dramatic with every bird, and was solid and steady as a rock...until about the 9th bird. She was deep in the woods at this point (she quickly figured out that all the birds left from the trial yesterday had taken cover in the woods) and went on point. As I was getting to her, the bird fliushed...2 birds! One went nicely away from her, the second one flew right at her and she jumped and grabbed it. I should also mention that was at approximately the 29 minute mark of a 30 minute brace. Heartbreak! We were done. Damn!
Noodle's turn came later in the afternoon, in Amateur Limited Gun Dog. I would say she was feeling better, about 90%. It started to rain right near the start of our stakes, but of course Noodle didn't care. She broke away big as usual, and ran pretty big thoughout the brace. She had 3 points and they were solid and steady (but maybe a touch less dramatic than she usually points?). The best part was coming through the cover and she slammed on a beautiful honor on her bracemate...it was the best moment of the day because once again, I feel like all that hard work in training this summer has paid off once again! I was thrilled with that. She finished just as strong as she started, which was great to see. When they announced the placements, she was awarded 4th place in the stakes! Pretty cool!
Pizza was first this morning in the Open Limited Gun Dog stakes. She was really great - broke and ran nicely, handled several birds perfectly, and held herself together when her bracemate blew up. I was thrilled with how she ran, but unfortunately we didn't get a placement out of it.
Noodle ended up in the last brace of the day in Amateur Gun Dog. She ran HUGE - way out and to the far lines. What I especially loved is that she handled about as perfectly as I have ever seen her - she was running way in the distance and I was able to call her and signal a direction, and she would turn and keep running. Perfect! Unfortunately, a huge wind storm picked up - probably 30-40mph winds, which made scenting conditions about impossible. Both she and her bracemate went birdless, which was a shocker to me because Noodle never goes birdless! Sometimes Mother Nature plays a huge role in placing at a field trial, and there isn't anything you can do about it other than accept that it's just a turn of bad luck. She ran so hard, and was still running hard at the end...LOVE it. She was back to feeling 100%, and that is the BEST and MOST IMPORTANT thing!
I got home late last night, so what do I do today? I load Dolphin and Pizza up to go train with some friends! Yep, me crazy!
We had some gunners there to shoot for us, Pizza was stellar as usual and did two really nice retrieves (first retrieve was pretty straight, second one needed a little correction to bring it the last 2 feet but she did!). I am thinking I might enter her in the hunt test this weekend to see how her retrieve does in a competition setting. This wil be a test of our training this fall.
Dolphin did great on his first bird - I flushed it and blanked it and he was steady. For the second bird I had one of the gunners just shoot in the air, and he BROKE on the gunshot to chase the bird (thankfully didn't catch it!). That gives me a lot of information - he is steady to the blank shot but not necessarily the big gun. Dolphin had a couple nice honors and a couple "managed" honors. Yep, still a work in progress!
Noodle was amazing in agility class today! Literally perfect - 100% clean runs, and she was fast! I am so excited, I think that moving her to preferred is making a huge difference, and definitely making me excited to try trialing her next month.
Pizza was blazing fast, but a little scatterbrained (a couple of people-visits, knocked bar, wrong course). She was in a weird-ish mood today, but her speed was definitely there.
The Best.News.Ever. happened today! I got Noodle's blood test results back from yesterday, and her albumin and protein levels are right smack in the middle of NORMAL! I literally cheered like a crazy person. The only thing off in her blood panel was that her cholesterol was sky high. It has been in the 150's the last 5-6 blood tests (normal is between 131-345), but this time it was 415, which is WAY up. Of course I started to panic a little, but then did a little research (Dr. Google to the rescue) and found that her immunosuppressant that she is on (Mycophenolate) can cause high cholesterol as a side effect. Good to know!
After a pretty successful agility class in the morning, I took Dolphin to do some field training. We did something different - there were 4 of us and we worked 4 dogs in the field together. One dog would go on point, and the other dogs would either back the pointing dog, or back one of the backing dogs. Dolphin actually did pretty good! He was really solid on his birds, of course this was with just a blank gun so I figured he would be.
After we were done training, I let Noodle run with my friend's two young dogs. I didn't plan on doing any training, just wanted her to burn off some energy. She did have a nice point on a freshly dead bird (not sure where that came from!). It was a nice day, sunny and low 50's. Glorious weather for December!
Last hunt test of 2023, and it was chilly and breezy. Noodle was in the first brace in the morning and she took off from the breakaway like she was back at a field trial. I let her run and range out, and when we turned the corner she was standing solid on point. I flushed the bird and blanked it, and she held steady, but her bracemate broke and chased so he was picked up.
We got into the bird field and she was on point quickly. I flushed the bird and it was shot, I had to caution her a bit but then tapped her to release for the retrieve and she did a really nice retrieve to hand. She was on point again quickly, this time the bird was shot in the trees and I stupidly sent her for the retrieve, which was going to be impossible. She was unable to get to the bird with the heavy brush, trees, and the fence, so we were allowed to move on. My brace mate was set up on point, and I released her to do her honor. I decided to stay back and just let her go and see if she would do a nice honor all by herself the way she has been doing, and she did! I was so excited! I will never take these things for granted. They flushed and shot the bird, and I did have to strongly caution her as she hopped forward about 6 inches, but she held fast and we were done, with great scores! 9's in Hunting, Bird Finding, Trainability, Retrieving, and Honoring, and a 10 in Pointing!
I had decided at the last minute this week to enter Pizza in the hunt test. I am really glad I did! She broke away strong, and made it to the bird field quickly without detouring. She went on point right away, and it was a beautiful point. She was rock solid on the flush, the bird flew over the gallery so no shot. I blanked it and we heeled off and went on hunting. Pizza went on point again at the far end of the field. I went to flush, and two birds popped out, flying in either direction. Unfortunately the gunners missed both birds, but she held perfectly steady even with two birds (sure wish she would have done that last weekend at the field trial!). She went on point on bird #3 in no time at all (her nose was working fantastically today). This bird was shot at a long distance. I was a little worried about the retrieve as it was so darn long, but I released her and she went stright to the bird. The bird was still alive and flapping around, at one point she put the bird down and was gagging on feathers, but she picked it back up and got it to me with just one more time of putting it down and spitting out feathers. Success!
All that was left was to set up an honor (since she was a bye and didn't have an official brace mate). In usual Pizza fashion she did a super dramatic intense honor, which was cool to watch. Interestingly, she was so excited watching the other dog retrieve that she hopped an inch or two when the bird was shot - this was unusual for her (but I kind of like it, it shows enthusiasm for the retrieve!). She finished up with a nice set of scores - straight 9's! This was acrually a Master Advanced pass, so we took the paperwork to the secretary and filled out the info. Who knows, maybe after she has her litter this spring we will get back at it and she can finish her MHA title. I am loving how she is training right now.
No test for them tomorrow as I am judging. Our next field event is a field trial the weekend after Christmas. This one is going to be a tough one. The girls will need their A+ game!
Training happens even when you just wanna have fun...
Since my dogs were cooped up all day yesterday as I was gone for the day judging, I decided to take Pizza and Dolphin out to the local bird dog club just to run in the fields and woods and burn off energy, and have some fun. I kind of forgot that they had held a chukkar challenge there over the weekend and they released several hundred birds. What was going to be just a fun run turned into a 45 minute training session! I never like training two dogs at once, it's really difficult to focus on both dogs, and often my dogs just want to play with each other. Today as soon as the two were released in the field, they were all business! Dolphin had several points with Pizza backing beautifully. The two of them had a dual point in the woods, a stop to flush in the woods, and another stop to flush in the far back field. What was fun was the last bird that Dolphin locked on point, Pizza honored from pretty far away. I went to Dolphin and attempted to flush the bird, but it was way too deep in the thords, so I heeled him off. Pizza stayed rock solid on her intense honor. Dolphin turned away from the bird and started to run, saw Pizza honoring him, and he stopped to honor her! It was a really fun moment and a pretty nice one (yay for training!). All in all it was a wonderful day in the field!
Dolphin on a nice intense pointPizza on point, derpy lip and all!Dolphin on point, Pizza way in the distance on a nice honorAfter I released Dolphin, he turned and ran, then stopped and honored Pizza who was honoring him!
Yesterday I took Noodle over to the local bird dog club. The loose chukkar were all gathered near the flight pens, so that made an interesting training experience for Noodle when we got out of the car. I ran her in the fields for close to an hour. She did come up fast on a chukkar sunning itself right on the path. Noodle was going with the wind so didn't scent it until the last minute. I liked how she stopped in her u-turn shape, and held that point forever with that bird right out in the open and so close to her. I flushed it and she stayed steady. We encountered a deer crashing through the woods but I saw it long before she did and I distracted her by giving her some water from my water bottle. I am not sure if she would chase it or not, but I didn't feel like finding out!
Today was a boring, nothing day. Or it was...until Noodle snuck into the kitchen while I was in the bathroom, stood up on the counter, and ate 1/3 of a pan of brownies that Mark had just made for me. This was a considerable amount, and that along with her intestinal issues, I decided to call my vet for advice. Yep, you guessed it, hydrogen peroxide and vomiting for the win! It took her a little over 15 minutes for the HP to take effect, and she threw up big chunks of brownies (apparently she didn't even chew them, just swallowed whole!). Oh Noodle, always something. She bounced right back and was her usual chipper self afterwards. I am extra mad because I only got to eat one brownie before she killed the rest. Dang!
I feel like all I have done lately is post photos and training diary entries from field training days. Well, it is true. Tis the season! It's been such great weather for field training lately, and I have had such great opportunities to train, how could I say no?
Today was no different. I had the opportunity to train with a friend of mine outside of Dayton, so I jumped at it. Today's victims were Dolphin and Pizza. Pizza was rock steady. Honestly, I will never ever take that for granted. It is a beautiful sight to see when she goes on point, and when she honors.
Dolphin did a great job today. He found more birds than we planted, which is always a great thing! He was completely steady to the flush and the blank shot, and he also did a couple nice honors. He had one stop to flush which he handled well, but my problem is that when I am pretty far from him he wants to turn and come to me after he stops. At least he isn't chasing, which is great, but it's hard to reinforce the idea that he should stay put until I come to him and release him...hard to train when it happens while you are a good distance away. I am hoping that like his honoring, repetition and consistency will help teach him what he should do. I know there are shortcuts to this process, but I am trying to train him with almost all positive reinforcement, because that is what works best for him.
When we were done training, we took all 3 dogs to the back fields where some hunters had just left, and we turned them loose to hunt as a 3 dog team. They did find a few birds, which was fun. The best moment was when my friend's dog went on point, Pizza stopped to honor him, and then Dolphin saw Pizza stopped and he stopped to honor her! It made for a really cool photo.
Moments like these are what makes this activity so incredible. I swear, if you have never worked your dogs in the field you don't know what you are missing! I drove 2 hours home with the happiest, most exhausted Weims in the world. Seeing them run with joy and intensity in the field fills my heart. Yeah, I am waxing poetic a bit but can't help it. Some day these beautiful dogs will be long gone, and I will be in no physical shape to do this, but I will live with these memories in my head and I will smile.
My friend and I headed to an agility trial in Latrobe, PA...last agility trial of 2023 for me! It's always a risk to plan on traveling anywhere in the north during the winter months, but we lucked out this weekend and it was in the high 40's and dry (until we hit a major rain storm driving home). My big goal was on the line - to finish Dolphin's Master Jumpers title. He has been sitting on 9 jumpers Q's for 6+ months, and he needs 10. One more to go!
Saturday was a mixed bag. We started the morning with FAST, and the send was A-Frame, tunnel, and back in to the tunnel. Dolphin came off the A-frame and headed towards me. I got him turned and sent to the tunnel, but the judge called a refusal. I opted not to bother sending him to the tunnel a second time since we had already faulted, so we did a few obstacles on our way out (and he could tell I was scrambled so he jumped all over me, typical!).
I really had high hopes for jumpers, I had walked several plans and was ready. Dolphin made a weird mistake in that he pulled off a jump when I did a rear cross, so we got a refusal called. Then we hit our nemesis (one of MANY!) - weaves after a curved tunnel...he missed the weave entrance. I decided to do a fix-n-go and practice that, so I sent him in to the tunnel again and this time he got the weave entrance, but then pulled out mid-way through the weaves. What a mess.
Standard was our redemption. He started off pretty slow and careful, but picked up speed as we went and ended up with a nice solid Q and a decent number of MACH points (17).
ON Sunday, I was mentally ready to get it done! IN the morning, my friend let me run her dog in FAST, and I mapped out a fun plan to get as many points as possible. We nailed the send - it was A-frame, to a jump, wrapped back to the far end of a tunnel under the A-frame. I was as shocked as everyone else that we got this, very few people were able to get it. The plan executed perfectly and we had a nice Q and win for the 20" class.
Dolphin's FAST didn't go as well, he ended up sending to the wrong end of the tunnel, so no Q. I was SO ready for Jumpers, this was our last shot at finishing his title this year. It started off a little rocky as Dolphin ran hard into my leg after a front cross on the serpentine, but he didn't let it completely stop him and he managed to get over the jump. The rest went well, until the weaves - he got the entrance but I was really far ahead of him and he pulled right out. I should have known - he approached the weaves at a very collected pace and that usually spels trouble for us. I need to stay with or behind him when he enters the weaves, but I was ahead and this pulled him out. So frustrating. We got them nailed on the second try and the rest of the course was amazingly fast (although he also missed the second to last jump, but at this point I wasn't going to bother correcting him). No Q, no title, bye bye goal, see ya next year. Sigh. Standard was a trifecta of mistakes. He ran behind me when I did a front cross (this is a skill that obviously hasn't been practiced enough!), ran past a jump I cued and I had to call him back, then knocked the panel jump on his way to charging into the final tunnel.
I usually moan and groan about it always being "Just one little thing" in every run. This weekend, it was a multitude of things. I want to sit here and pour out my frustrations, my disappointment, my complete discouragement. Instead, I am going to walk away and just make it all exit from my brain. Next agility trial is in 3 weeks, but I have a lot of big stuff going on in between including a major field trial with the girls. I have to gather myself and refocus.
The ups and downs of a typical non-typical Tuesday
I did a little bit of everything today. It was cold, but the dogs were stir-crazy so I took Dolphin and Noodle to the local bird dog club to run, and run they did! Then Dolphin and I did an hour's worth of agility training with our training pals (he was fantastic, I will say!). After that I headed to scent work class with Dolphin. While I was in class I got a frantic phone call from Mark - Pretzel had thrown up blood, and had literally pools of bloody diarrhea all over his bed and kennel. I rushed home and saw the bloodbath. I will spare you photos but it was scary. We headed straight over to the emergency vet, where Pretzel managed to spew blood all over the car and then on the floor of the vet office. Needless to say he was spending the night while they worked on him. My heart is in my throat wonderfing what is going on, so afraid of what I might learn.
I called the vet in the morning, she said Pretzel had quite a few accidents (diarrhea) overnight but seemed to be slightly improving. We decided to keep him there until evening and re-assess.
After my morning agility classes I took Dolphin and PIzza to Dayton to do some field training with my friend. Pizza was pretty darn good, although for some reason her nose was off and she was having trouble scenting the birds. She had one so-so retrieve and one really good retrieve (with vibration), plus lots of gorgeous honors.
Dolphin did OK - he broke on the shot on his first bird and on his second bird I had to grab his collar and make him stay put. Man that boy is impatient! We did have a decent honor and a so-so honor. It was an OK training session - not great and not especially memorable, but OK.
While Pizza was being worked, Dolphin rooted his nose so much the entire bridge of his nose was raw and bloody. While Dolphin was being worked, Pizza DESTROYED her crate pad. I'll be finding pieces of foam for the next 100 years in my Jeep. Annoying, but everyone will live.
When I got home there was an update from the vet. Pretzel hadn't had any diarrhea for several hours and ate dinner. We decided to leave him overnight to be watched, and hopefully bring him home in the morning.
The vet called early in the morning and said Pretzel could come home! He wasn't having any diarrhea or vomiting since yesterday, and his fluids and bloodwork all look good! I headed over to the vet first thing and brought him home...that boy was SUPER happy to be home (and that's putting it mildly!). My happy, contented little shadow is back home!
After Dolphin's agility class, I loaded Noodle up in the Jeep and we headed north to Lake Hill Private Hunting Club. I finally got to do something on my Noodle bucket list - take her pheasant hunting!
It was such a fun day! Noodle got to point several pheasants, and retrieve a couple. These birds were huge, it was so much fun seeing her struffle to pick up these giant birds with her petite mouth. She was absolutely in heaven. We hunted for almost three solid hours and she was still going strong. I don't believe I have ever seen her so happy. The cover was really high which made it challenging when I couldn't see her (now I understand the reason for those beeper collars!). Here are some photos and videos of our day, what a great experience!
If you can't laugh at yourself, you are missing out on the best comedy show! My biggest handicap has always been being able to find the birds that my dogs point. I am actually quite a bit notorious for that. This video snippet is pretty funny...can't seem to find that pheasant that Noodle is pointing. I find "a feather", go to pick it up and discover it is attached to the entire bird, which I then accidentally fling right into my dog's mouth (to her credit she didn't chase as it got away). Turn your sound on for full enjoyment of my stupidity!
Last night, Pretzel had a couple rounds of diarrhea in his kennel. He was eating and drinking and acting normal, so I decided to wait and see how he did overnight. Well, overnight he had a ton of diarrhea all over the place, and as soon as we cleaned it up it happened again. I took him straight back to the emergency vet. We waited 3 hours to get seen (even though we were the only patient when we pulled in the parking lot). Pretzel made a little mess in the little room as we waited, finally they came to check him out and we decided he should stay for 12 hours to see if they can get the diarrhea under control. Thankfully it is just diarrhea - no blood, and no vomiting. Poor guy is a mess and is very upset, and I can tell he really doesn't feel well.
By evening, he still was having some leakage, so we opted to keep him there overnight for observation and more treatment if necessary.
We really have no idea what is causing this. It is basically doagnosed as Acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome, which is a generic term for sudden onset of explosive bloody diarrhea and vomiting. I worry that this is somehow linked to his cancer. Has the cancer spread? I don't know. Pretzel definitely isn't a dog that will eat things he isn't supposed to, and he has not been left unattended at all. I just don't know.
This morning I had an agility seminar. I decided to bring both Pizza and Dolphin and alternate between the two of them. Both dogs did fantastic! Pizza was a little distracted by all the new people, but once she got her head back she ran wonderfully. Dolphin ran great, with a lot of speed and power. We worked a lot on 180 serps, backsides, and using deceleration to cue. Lots of great stuff!
I got a call from the vet in the evening and they said Pretzel was doing great, no accidents, so I could bring him home if I wanted. I decided he was much better off at home, and I WANTED MY BOY HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! I think it was the right decision, because once I brought him home and took him out in the front yard he immediately went potty and left two large, nice, solid piles...victory! I know we aren't completely out of the woods yet, but I am very hopeful!
54 degrees on Christas Eve, what's a girl to do? Go field training, of course! I took Dolphin and Pizza, though Dolphin was the only one doing "official" training. We set out birds at random, and these were birds that weren't flying well. When he went on point on his first bird, he was steady, but did try to break when I tossed the bird, it landed on the ground, and I fired my blank shot. I got after him, and then on his second bird he held steady (though he did get in too close to the bird so I had to back him up off of it). We had a couple nice honors, though he doesn't like to stay put during the entire process. Can't blame him, it's boring being a spectator!
I brought Pizza just to run with my friend's dog, we didn't intend to do any training. However there were several leftover birds out and we ended up working them. She was stellar, nice and solid. It was a nice way to spend Christmas Eve outside with friends and dogs.
So far so good with Pretzel. He has not pooped since yesterday evening, but that is a good sign! He certainly is acting normal again, barking at me while I fixed their dinner like he always does. I love that!
This week was a quiet week - Pretzel is back to normal and everyone is good. I left yesterday and headed south to Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. I had entered Pizza and Noodle in a field trial down there several months ago, and I wavered a thousand times on whether to go or just pull them and stay home (like I ended up doing last year!). Such a long drive, going by myself, so many factors told me to stay home, but of course when one of my friends told me I should just pull my entries that was the incentive I needed to NOT pull my entries and go anyways. I am so obstinate sometimes.
The fields weren't at all what I expected, and definitely not what we are used to. All of the fields weren't actually fields, they were rows and rows of cut cornstalks. The only real cover was on either sides of the fields - heavy, dense brush on the tree line. The corn stalks made it really hard on the handlers walking, but especially hard on the dogs unless they ran a straight line through the rows. My dogs are used to hunting in fields, in more open cover. I knew this was going to be a chalenge and I was right.
Pizza was in an early brace of the Open Limited Gun Dog. She broke away well, and very close to the beginning her brace mate went on point. Pizza did something so uncharacteristic of her - she ran RIGHT past the dog on point without stopping to honor. I never see her do this, she is my honoring machine! We got picked up right away. On the plus side, we were fairly close to the start so it was a short walk back. So strange...she never does that!
Noodle was next, and she broke away big and ran HUGE! Unfortunately, she ran the brace pretty much out in the open cornfield, trying to hunt in the middle where there were no birds. She finished the brace still running strong, but found no birds. It was a disappointing day for sure. Try try again tomorrow, I guess.
I rented a really nice Air BnB for the dogs and I to stay in. It worked out perfectly for us. The place was squeaky clean, including the clear glass outside doors. Noodle ran smack into the door three different times not realizing there was a door there. Even Pizza ran into it once. I guess they are used to my house, which is NEVER this clean.
Another freezing cold and cloudy day in Tennessee, today's event was the Open Gun Dog. I thought the girls might be tired after yesterday (especially Noodle, who ran HARD the full 30 minutes) but they were not! Both dogs ran nice and big, but both hunted the centers and both went birdless. Noodle did veer off course and go on a beautiful solid point facing the heavy brush cover. Although I went as deep into the brush as I could, and even relocated her twice, I could not produce the bird. It was just in there so deep that there was no way I could get to it to make it fly. We had to take a non-productive, and that was the only bird we found the rest of the brace. Another big failure for both girls. I was seriously considering just packing up and heading home tonight. I could be home tomorrow for New Year's Eve. However, I just hate being a quitter and I hate giving up. I'm already paid up for the entries and the house, so I decided to stay and brave it one more day.
Today we actually saw the sun! Maybe that made the difference? Who knows, but today was definitely a better day. Noodle was in the 3rd brace of the Amateur Gun Dog (retrieving). 11 braces, 22 dogs, it was the biggest stake of the weekend. I thought for sure she would be tired today but not my Noodle! She ran big again. Maybe finally pointing the bird in the brush woke her up, because today she hunted both out in the cornfield and also the brush/tree lines. Her brace mate pointed early, and I thought she was going to run past but she did finally stop and we honored. Soon after that, both dogs came in and pointed a bird in the brush at the same time. The judges called it a divided find and told me to go in to flush. I was actually able to flush this bird, so both dogs stood and got credit for the find. Noodle then went on point again on her own, and was a really pretty point from a decent distance. Once again I was able to flush the bird (always a big win for me!) and she stayed beautiful and steady!
The best moment was when Noodle went to the other side of the tree line to hunt, and then went through the trees to the other field. The judge and I had to make our way through the brush, and when we got to the other field there was Noodle standing about 100 feet away from her brace mate on point, honoring. Honestly, this made my day! She stood perfectly for the honor and I was so excited to see it. I know I gush about her honors a lot, but I worked SO hard on them all summer and fall. I totally changed how I trained, making it a positive thing (lots of praising and rewards for honoring) rather than negative (commanding and forcing her to stop to honor). It's made a big difference in Noodle, that's for sure.
Right towards the end of our brace, my brace mate was picked up for jumping in on a bird. The judge turned to me and told me time was up...then the other judge said no, we still had three more minutes. I sent Noodle on and tried to keep her in the middle and out of trouble, but she scented a bird in the cover from a good distance and went in on point. I had to climb in to the heavy brush to flush it, and the bird went up and got caught in the brush and fluttered around like mad, causing Noodle to jump forward about a foot. CRAP. I had to pick her up, with only THIRTY SECONDS left in my brace. 30 seconds, are you kidding me? I was so incredibly disappointed, she ran so amazing and did so well, this was crushing.
Pizza was in brace #6. She broke away big, but when her bracemate got picked up early, it took the wind out of her sails a bit. Not having any competition to run against and not finding any birds took some of the run out of her. About 2/3 of the way in the brace, the judge said to me "You need to tell Pizza she needs to find a bird!". I turned to laugh at her and in that split second Pizza slammed on point way ahead of us. I went in to the cover and was able to flush the bird, and Pizza was steady! We finished the run clean with just that one find. I was happy to finish clean, but there were other dogs who were also clean that had many more birds and ran bigger, so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make the callback to retrieve.
I was actually packing up to leave when I ran into a friend I haven't seen for years, so we got to talking. I ended up spending so much time talking to her, I was right there when they announced the callbacks, and Pizza was in it! They were calling back 6 dogs - the top 4 and then 2 reserves. Pizza was #6 - the second reserve. I really didn't think that I would have to worry as several dogs would have to blow it in order for me to even be called to do the retrieve, so i didn't even put her hunting collars on.
The very first dog on the callback broke on the flush, so that meant that the 1st reserve dogs was going to go. When that dog took a small step on the flush, they called for Pizza! I relseased her and she went on point, and I flushed the bird. The gunners missed, but she had also taken a small step to mark, so they called back the first reserve to try again. This time, his dog broke and chased, so then they called Pizza again. So much drama and suspense for a callback! This time she was steady, but the gunners missed again! They gave me a dead bird and said I could either throw it, or have them plant another live bird and try again. I really wanted to retrieve a live bird as Pizza often does not want to pick up old dead birds, but I hated making them go through this all again, so I said I would throw the dead one. I threw it, and then relseased her to the retrieve. She ran out and picked it up, and I could tell she was thinkin about putting it donw so I called her name over and over to encourage her, and she ended up bringing it straight to my hand. Shocker! We ended up placing third place out of 20-ish in the Amateur Gun Dog! We were just out of the points, but we did earn one retrieving credit, so that is cool. Completely unexpected, as I had really thought this would be Noodle's weekend to shine. And to think I almost gave up and went home early...I need to remember this the next time I feel completely discouraged. Every now and then you get a little nugget of success to keep you going.
Here is my recap of my 2023 goals. Definitely not my most succesful year. I had a lot of disappointments, a lot of negativity, and ended the year feeling that no matter how hard you work, sometimes it's just not enough. This was the year I learned that just because you set a goal and work hard, that means nothing. I am feeling like so much of success seems really up to chance, with a little work and planning thrown in. It's a hard pill to swallow, because I have always believed if you work hard enough, you will achieve. 2023 proved me wrong on that in many ways.
2023 SHORT TERM GOALS 1. Compete at Rally National Championships with Noodle successfully
I did get this done, with all qualifying scores! No placements, but I didn't really expect that. Qialifying in all of my runs at nationals is a success in my book.
2. Earn Noodle's Rally Excellent title
Got it done, and pretty quickly!
3. Earn Pizza's Master Hunter Advanced title
This definitely didn't get done, although we did end the year with once really nice MA pass. In her defense, I only ran her three times in hunt tests, resulting in one advanced pass. It's still on the back burner, it will happen some day.
4. Earn Dolphin's Senior Hunter title
We did it! It actually went rather smoothly! 6 tests, 4 passes, BOOM, new title.
5. Earn Dolphin's MX and MXJ (agility) titles
This one should be red and green - Dolphin did earn his MX title but our MXJ title is still 1 Q short. I really thought we would have this done easily when he got jumpers Q #9 in early July, but we did not Q again in jumpers after that. Ugh.
6. Earn 6 more double Q's with Noodle to finish out her 20 double Q requirement
This goal is a little heartbreaking. We did end the year with 17 QQ's, but with her illness and everything going on, I made the tough decision to drop her to Preferred for 2024. This goal will have to be tossed out, as it is unreachable now.
7. Earn Pizza's AX and AXJ (agility) titles
Nope. In fact, with zero improvement in her obsession with visiting the ring crew, I just stopped trialing her for most of the year. I hope to continue her agility journey after she has a litter. We shall see...
8. Finish Dolphin's complete Advanced Scent Work titles
We did get this one done in the spring. I rarely do scent work trials, so any goals might end up being long term instead of short term, but this one got done!
9. Get a field trial (gun dog) placement with Noodle or Pizza
Holy cow did we get this one done! Hard to think that a year ago I had yet to get a broke dog placement on either of the girls. Now Noodle has 3 placements, and Pizza has 4, including two nice WINS back in April.
10. Earn Noodle's MJB (Master Jumpers Bronze) title
I am so glad we got this done, since she is moving to preferred in 2024. She got all three of her Bronze titles (standard, jumpers, and FAST).
11. Earn at least one double Q with Dolphin
We did it, we actually ended the year with FOUR! Not bad, although the second half of the eyar was a complete bust.
12. Earn Noodle's MH20 (Master Hunter 20th pass)
YES! Noodle earned 22 master hunter passes so far, and we aren't done yet.
13. Walk 250 dedicated dog walk miles this year with my dogs
Honestly, I had such plans, and then didn't do a single thing about it. I took walks, but really forgot about this goal and never notated the miles. Oops!
LONG TERM GOALS 1. Earn a MACH 2. Earn Pizza's Grand Champion Bronze 3. Earn Dolphin's Master Hunter 4. Earn Noodle's MXS or MJS titles (agility) 5. Breed Pizza and raise a healthy, awesome litter 6. Earn an MVW (Most Versatile Weimaraner) award at a national specialty 7. Earn a high score/high in trial at the national specialty 8. Qualify a dog for either AKC National Agility Championships or the AKC Agility Invitational
None of these goals happened, but I didn't really expect them to happen this year. Several of these goals will be changing for next year, as my dogs age and my priorities evlove. Stay tuned!
