"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

After over 2 straight weeks of rain and clouds, today I actually saw the sun! Shocking! Dolphin had agility class in the morning, and then in the afternoon I headed out with Noodle and Dolphin to do some field training. Dolphin was fairly steady on the birds, but he again had no concept of honoring. It has completely left his brain. He still points way too close to the birds, which is frustrating. I guess I need to break out the launchers again...but I know that he can smell the launchers and knows what they are and respects them. Dog are too dang smart!

Noodle was realy good. She had three incredible honors and that makes me cheer! Her bird work was really solid, but on her honors she is getting a little "hoppy" when the bird goes up. I have to watch that fine line she is walking - she can turn to mark the bird as it flies, but she should not hop forward in excitement. Of course, in Noodle's life EVERYTHING is exciting! I love that about her. I don't want to squash that, but she needs to learn to keep her feet planted.

Although I didn't post about it yesterday, I had the best agility classes with Noodle and Pizza yesterday. Both girls were on fire! Pizza never left me a single time, she was wholly focused on me. Making progress, one day at a time!

Nope, no training today. Nothing structured, just some fun time outside. It's cold, the ground is saturated and muddy, but Dolphin and Pizza didn't care. I had to check my good camera out as it is giving me problems, so I took some random shots outside today. I think my camera is working pretty good after all. Of course, I have the BEST subjects!

We did something different today - a rally trial! I rarely do these, but I am working on Noodle's RAE title and I need 10 double Q's in Excellent and Advanced rally. Going in to this weekend we had 3, now we have 5! It was an up and down kind of day. Our first go was in Excellent Rally in trial 1 - and Noodle was spot on for a perfect score of 100 and 4th place in time. Unfortunately sincde I was right in the middle of the go order, I wasn't able to walk the second course more than once because I was in the other ring during the walk. A little weird and pretty unfair, but that's how these double trials end up, I guess. Our second excellent run was good, but I hesitated on one of the signs because I forgot what I was doing and it caused Noodle to make a mistake, and then at the end I clearly swung my arm as I left her in the sit stay and she read that as a signal to come and broke her stay. We qualifyied, but ended up with the lowest score I have ever gotten in rally - a 79. Yikes!

Advanced went better as I was actually able to do both walk-throoughs. The timing worked out perfectly for me, not so much for the cometitors after me. Trial 1 was a nice run with a score of 98, and trial 2 was a perfect score of 100! 2 more QQ's towards our title!

It was a long day, and the venue was super crowded. It was a bit stressful for Noodle, and she acted out a bit because of it. Her ring performances were really good, all things considered. Not too bad considering our last rally trial was at AKC Nationals back in June.

After 2+ weeks of nothing but freezing cold rain, the sun came out and it was 50 degrees! I actually did some field training today wearing just a hoodie and no coat. It was glorious.

I took all 3 dogs to field training. It was a stupendous day. Noodle was first on the roster and she did not disappoint. We had a nice honor (and one in which I did have to get after her to stand still while the other dog worked the bird...she is so jumpy!) and a couple nice points, one of which was from a really nice distance. She was solid, and that made me happy as I feel like she is back to getting her brain under control again. Maybe an entire day of rally yesterday helped?

Next on the agenda was Dolphin. He was nice and steady for the birds. However, I had to really whoa him to get him to stop on first scent and not follow in to the bird. He likes to do that...he stays steady but he ends up way too close to the bird. On one of the points, the wind was blowing the wrong way (into the woods) and he was so smart about figuring out how to bust into the brush and get downwind of the bird to get a full scent picture. His honoring? Well, once again we will call it a work in progress. IN other words, he seemed a bit clueless again today. He had been doing so well with this in the fall, but I think he's had a bit too much time off with the bad weather. I keep reminding myself to be patient, as this isn't a race and there certainly is no prize for trying to train a dog extra fast.

Pizza was extra incredible today. She was staying so solid on her points. Of course, she was trying to be an honoring machine again today. I am seeing now how this is starting to bite us in the butt. She was training with a young dog today and he would go on point and she would slam to an honor, and then he would move and reposition. She started second-guessing her honor and didn't want to stand when the other dog finally stood still on point. I think she is doing this so instinctively that the movement confuses her. I am not going to over-think it. Maybe this will teach her to not commit to an honor until the dog is solidly on point. That would help get rid of all the times she honors the dog stopping to poop, stopping to scratch himself, stopping to get a drink, etc.

The girls had agility class this morning, and both did really well. Noodle was a little slow, she looked like she was not feeling well. I figured she was due for a bad day, and she definitey was. Pizza was really good - we made it through the whole class without a visit to anyone in the ring (granted, there was only one person in the ring with me but still!)

I took Dolphin field training today. He was really solid on 4 birds, although bird #3 he did jump forward a little when the bird walked around. Bird #5 was the killer. I should have quit on #4 because that one was downright perfect. We had a bird left in the woods and didn't want to leave it for the critters to get, so I sent Dolphin in to find it. He scrambled around and around trying to pinpoint the scent, and it took him a while to find the bird buried in the leaves. Unfortunately all that frantic searching got him a bit riled up and he grabbed the bird. Ugh. Perfect time to tell him "NO!", put the leash on and do the walk of shame back to the car. Convenient since we were done anyways, but hopefully this was a lesson that will stick.

Today I took some time by myself and Pizza and I did about a half hour of field training at our local bird dog club (they have pigeons, yay!). It was a gorgeous afternoon, a rare sunny-and-60-degree day in February. I just put out three birds for Pizza to work, and she was as solid as could be on all three of them, even the walking one that did a walk-by near her. We have a field trial next weekend, and this will probably be Pizza's last one since hopefully she will get bred next month. Exciting!

Today I had an agility trial in Zanesville. It's only 45 minutes away, and nice to be able to come home and relax instead of traveling all evening. Today's day was all about Noodle and Dolphin.

Dolphin missed the send in FAST, so our morning started off a bit rocky. However, he pulled off a be-yoo-tiful Master Standard Q and 3rd place! That was the highlight of my day with him, because the wheels done fell off in Jumpers and they stayed off in Time 2 Beat. He had a refusal when I moved laterally and he didn't commit to the jump, totally blew his weaves - went in and then walked right out of them at pole #2...GRRRR. Then he knocked a bar. I ended up doing a fix N go on the weaves, so we got a litle training done in the ring. Time 2 Beat was a hot mess - missed his weaves again (so frustrating since we worked on them this week and he was nailing them perfectly!), went in the wrong end of the tunnel, missed a jump, took an off-course A-Frame...is there anything he didn't do? What a mess!

Noodle, however, was on FIRE! She missed her send in FAST (took the wrong end of the tunnel), so I just did an extra jump and exited the ring. No sense in taking her energy to finish an NQ course. It was a good move, she came out in standard and laid down a fantastic run to Q and win the 20" preferred master standard class! After a little break, we ran Jumpers and even though she stopped for a split second right between two jumps to check out something on the ground, she ran that course nice and string for another Q and a 3rd place, and her very first Preferred Double QQ! Too bad we had to start all over with our MACH Q's and points, so she has 19 left to go, plus something like 700+ points to go. I was so happy with how she ran today!

I will never cease to be surprised by this dog. Dolphin and I hit the second day of the agility trial, Noodle had the day off. Yesterday Dolphin was scatterbrained all day, today he was on point! We started off the morning with a nice solid FAST Q (send was fairly easy - tunnel to jump back to tunnel). My score was incorrect on FAST, they left off the points from the 9 point jump. Luckily we had plenty to cover it. We should have been in 3rd place with that run, but I figured I would not bother getting a correction as placements really don't count in FAST, and that would require several people having to give their ribbons back. Not wirth it.

We then rolled right in to Standard and had a beautiful smooth fast run for a nice Q! It went like clockwork, and we got a good amount of MACH points. I went in to Jumpers with pretty low expectations. Our double Q rate is really low and this course was very difficult with a lot of twists and side changes. I will say the whole course was basically by the seat of my pants, but he got it! Not only a Double QQ but a Triple QQQ!

I was aiming for a perfect day, but the wheels came off in Time 2 Beat. The course had three jumps straight forward and then a 180 degree wrap to the weaves, and for some reason this killed Dolphin's motivation and it took 3 tries to get the weaves. He got his act together and we were going pretty strong, but he knocked a bar in a tight turn. We had spent so much time fixing the weaves we were over time anyways. But hey - a triple QQQ - what a great day!

Well, after a great couple of days at the agility trial, things bottomed out today. Today's victims were Dolphin and Noodle. Dolphin started off the morning with a pretty nice FAST Q, but that would be the height of my success today. For some weird reason, Noodle (who did get the send bonus of tunnel-jump-back to tunnel) went halfway up the teeter and then hopped off to check out something on the ground. By the time we re-grouped, we had run out of time.

Dolphin had a pretty good Standard run. He did miss his A-Frame contact, and when I turned my head to see if the judge called it (she didn't), I ended up giving a late cue and he knocked the bar. While I was NOT happy he missed the contact, I was also not happy with myself for turning to see if the judge called it...I mean, why the heck did I do that in the middle of the course? It's not like that made a difference in the heat of the moment. Ugh.

Noodle had a fantastic Standard run, it was fast and accurate, and I sent her in the tunnel (which was the 3rd to last obstacle) and for some weird reason she turned around in the tunnel and came out the entrance. Say what??? Of course, she finished the course strong, and that would have been a marvelous Q. I have NO idea why she did that, but you know Noodle - she dances to her own tune sometimes.

Last was Jumpers. Dolphin knocked a bar fairly early, but that was probably a good thing as I completely walked the course wrong and left off a pinwheel...I would have kicked myself if he had run clean and I missed a section of the course. As it goes, I did miss it, but he had already NQ'ed so that lessened the sting. Noodle was not feeling it in jumpers, she knocked 2 bars and was distracted and a bit out of it, so I went ahead and stopped about halfway through and walked her off. She has good days and bad days with her stomach issues, and her day can change in an instant. I think she felt pretty good when we ran standard, but jumpers was a couple hours later and sometimes that is all it takes to change how she feels. When this happens, we just call it a day and try again another time. I love her to pieces and when she isn't feeling good, I don't want to push it.

I am digging this February weather - mid to high 40's and sunny! Yesterday I took my best friend and her 9 year old Weim out to the bird dog club and put her on some pigeons for the first time. It was the BEST seeing this older dog go naturally on point, and the light come on in her eyes when her instincts kicked in. It was doubly awesome seeing my friend love every minute in the field. That's what it's all about! I worked Noodle on a couple of pigeons just to brush her up before the field trial this weekend. She of course was perfect, but unenthusiastic about pigeons in tip-up cages. Noodle has always been one that knows the training setups and finds them boring.

Today I worked Dolphin in the field. His honoring was...um...pretty bad to say the least. Man, we need to get that together! However, he was steady as a rock on two birds, and the second bird flew literally inches from his head and he never moved a muscle...it was awesome! If I could just get his honoring done without having to talk him through it, we would almost be ready for Master Hunter. Well, possibly, anyways. Next week we may try shooting a bird over him and see if his steadiness remains once he hears the big gun and sees the bird fall. That will tell me whether he is really progressing or not.

So far there is no sign of Pizza coming in season. That's a good thing, since right now would be too early. If she really wants to cooperate, I'd like her to come in season around March 1st. I wonder if she can do that for me? I am overly excited about the potential litter I have planned...scared to death and excited all at the same time. It's going to be a wild spring for me!

What a weekend to be at a field trial! The night before the trial, we ended up getting 2-3 inches of snow. Not only was it snowy, but it was COLD!

We started off the morning on Saturday with Open Limited Gun Dog. Noodle was bright and early in the second brace. What can I say other than she had the run of her life! She ran HUGE, and at several times was out of sight, only to be found standing staunchly on point. She was completel across a large field from me when a bird wild flushed. She slammed on her brakes and stayed completely still until I walked all the way across the field to her and released her. It was a stellar moment! She ended up with 5 pointed birds, every one done to perfection.

Pizza was in a later brace. I am so bad...I should really take notes after events like this because we had so many runs that the details of her run are a little foggy, other than I know she ran clean. At the end of the day, Noodle pulled off a beautiful 2nd place out of 14. Oh so close to those points, but not quite there...ugh!

The second stake was the Amateur Gun Dog. Noodle was running really well, and a nice find in the field, and then went on point in the trees. Her head was up so I was searching in the brush ahead of her, and could not find anything. I tapped her on the head to relocate, and she took one step forward, slowly lowered her head, and then started digging in the leaves and came up with a bird...UGH! I found out later that there was a bird in the trees that she was pointing, but when I relocated her, that one step forward caused her to finally scent the bird buried right under her nose, and she grabbed it. What a bummer. An even bigger bummer was when I walked her back to the van, I noticed blood all over her crate pad from earlier. I looked her over and found a small puncture wound in her left hind foot, and she had once again licked all of the hair off of that same toe she had issues with back in October. What a crappy coincidence! The puncture was right in the center of her paw between some pads. I cleaned it out, and decided I would pull her from tomorrow's trial. I am not taking any chances with that foot!

Pizza had a pretty good run in the Amateur Gun Dog, running clean again with several finds, but no placement.

Sunday morning was cold, but and I was a bit bummed to have to pull Noodle from her run in the Open Gun Dog, but it was kind of nice to be able to sleep in. Pizza was in the last brace. I could tell she was extremely tired. Her run was not very big at all, but she did have 2 gorgeous honors and 3 birds she pointed perfectly, but no placement today. I am pretty darn proud of both girls - Noodle's 2nd place was in the highly competitive Open Limited stakes, and Pizza ran clean in all 3 of her stakes this weekend. This will probably (hopefully) be her last field trial for a while, as we will hopefully be breeding her next month. I'd like to order up another one of her if I could, please!

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I made plans to go field training today with a few of my friends. Today was all about the Dolphinator. We had an interesting experience being braced with a dog that was not in the least bit broke. Twice the other dog came in and stole Dolphin's point, causing him to creep up on the bird to stay ahead of the other dog. I ran him alone for a few birds after that and he was much more solid. I then ran him with my friend's master hunter and he was amazing. He went on point two different times on a walking bird and held steady. Interestingly, when he saw the bird up and walking it caused him to stop on point much earlier than when the bird was dizzied and covered. I did work on whoa-ing him as soon as he got birdy, and he did a good job of stopping so that he was a better distance from the planted bird. His honoring, though...ugh. A couple times he did stop on his own, but every time he then turned and tried to come back to me instead of staying put. This is our biggest challenge right now.

I had a chance to train Dolphin in the field again today, and I decided to see how he was on a shot bird. I wanted to see whether he would stay put for the big gun and bird fall. We tried just a big gun shot in the air for the first bird, and let the bird fly off. He was steady as a rock. Second bird (quail) we actually shot. He broke big time on the bird fall...ugh! Then, his retrieve went to pieces. Mouthing the bird, not bringing it back, it was a hot mess. We got a chukkar and tried to do this again. This time I was prepared with a leash and I made sure I kept him from breaking - I slipped the leash on while he was on point and when he broke I pulled him back and scolded him. I removed the leash and made him stand steady, then tapped to release for the retrieve. His second retrieve was no better than the first - very mouthy, put the bird down a bunch, didn't bring it back. What the heck happened to his retrieve? It used to be so good! I haven't done any bird retrieving with him since he finished his senior hunter title as I was working on getting him more steady for master. Now his retrieve is broken. Believe me, this absolutely pulled my mood down to the basement.

My mood wasn't very high to begin with, I am pretty worried about Pretzel. He has a hard lump/swelling under his jaw, the vet thinks it is a lymph node and they went ahead and took a sample for a biopsy. Now I am just waiting to hear the results. Waiting....

I gave Noodle the day off from agility just to make sure her foot was healed. It looks realy good, hard to even find the spot where the puncture wound is. Pizza took Noodle's place in class, and Dolphin took Pizza's place. Both dogs did great in class! I came back with Pizza in the evening and did some agility run-throughs/mock trial. I did 4 runs with her, with people in the ring acting as judges and ring crew, and I am excited to report that she never visited a single person once! Never even looked at them! In fact, in the 4 runs the only mistake she made was a really tough weave entrance. She was amazing!!! If I wasn't getting ready to breed her, I think I would enter her in a trial. After her maternity leave we are going back to work, I think maybe we have turned a corner on this visiting problem. Fingers crossed!!!

Just what the doctor ordered! I headed southeast to Jackson Springs, North Carolina to judge a WCA shooting ratings test and also an AKC hunt test. This is one of my favorite places to go - the grounds are beautiful and the people are super nice. This weekend, Noodle was my traveling companion. Her foot is 100% healed (can't hardly even see where the puncture wound was), so I planned to work her a little bit in the fields after the tests on Friday and Saturday, and run her in Master Hunter on Sunday.

Judging was a blast, I just love being able to watch bird dogs all day. After the tests on Friday and Saturday I turned Noodle loose in a few of the fields to let her burn off some energy and to work the leftover birds...and there were a LOT of birds! She was fantastic. She had SO much fun, and likewise did I.

Sunday morning we were in the third brace oh MH. Noodle shot off from the line like a field trial, and she was running huge. It took a bit of management to keep her in the first field (where there were no birds) just to kill time. When her got in to the backfield, she took off forward and within seconds she was out of sight (the cover was high, and there were lots of trees). I made it halfway through the backfield and didn't see her. I mentioned to the judge that I thought she might have kept running straight instead of making a left turn into the woods to head to the birdfield. The judge radioed the gunners in the fird field, and they told him "the Weim" had beenstanding on point in the far corner of the field for a while. We headed to the field, but it took us a few minutes. I was pretty confident that Noodle would hold point, she and I have been in this position quite often. We headed out of the trees in to the field and there she was, solid on point. Amazingly, the bird was pretty out in the open, but she was still steady. When the gunners walked up, they accidentally flushed the bird, so I blanked it and we heeled off to find another bird.

Pretty soon our bracemate (a white GSP) went on point. The judges asked me if I wanted to get my honor done, and I figured why not? I called Noodle over, and she was running past me and saw the dog on point to her left, and actually stopped with her body bent in a curve. What a nice honor for her, I was pretty darn happy! Noodle stayed steady throughout the flush and retrieve, no hopping forward this time. We finished that and off we went to hunt again

At this point, Noodle was so desperate to find a bird that she started getting paranoid. She pointed a pile of feathers, and was getting very dramatic with every bit of scent. This is a problem with her - she wants to find a bird SO badly that she starts hoping for one with every scrap of scent. At one point she went on a solid point again. I kicked around but found nothing. While kicking around, I uncovered a small log and Noodle jumped forward as of to grab it. I grabbed her collar and scolded her, and put her back in place, then told the judges "thank you" and leashed her. The judge asked me why I pickef her up, which I found strange because when she stops on point and I say "whoa", she should not move - regardless if there was a bird there or not.

We had to set up a point and retrieve for the other dog to honor us. It was tough as she was UBER paranoid at this point, but we finally got a good point on a bird and the gunners were able to knock it down. I used this opportunity to train, making Noodle wait until my hand actually touched her head to retrieve (she has been getting hot off the trigger lately and wants to break when my hand raises up). Noodle did a perfect retrieve straight to hand, and we were done. No pass for us today, but a great experience (and the judge mentioned she was one of the nicest Weims he has ever seen...yay!). It was so much fun!

It was a wonderful trip, just what the doctor ordered! I felt refreshed and renewed. It was great having this one-on-one time with Noodle. She was on her best behavior all weekend, and I think she really enjoyed having me all to herself. I got home late Sunday night, and I am home to stay for a while as I wait for Pizza to come in season. Then I will be heading back to North Carolina, hopefully to do a breeding and create some amazing puppies!