ON Tuesday, it was a glorious warm day near 80 degrees! I took Dolphin and Bacon to the bird dog club just to run around and explore. We had a grand time! The creek was really high due to the excessive rainfall we've had lately, and it was deep enough for Dolphin to actually swim! Bacon followed him in the water, but she didn't venture deep enough to actually swim. I didn't push it, we will hopefully have lots of time for that if we get to Florida this summer (God willing). I noticed Bacon is extra brave whenever she is with Dolphin. She kind of feeds off his lack of fear and she follows him everywhere. He is a good big brother!

On Wednesday, Noodle had agility class and she was pretty goodBacon had her obedience class in the evening and she was amazing! I love her focus and REALLY love her enthusiasm! She is excited to work. I am really surprised at how focused she is working with me in a crowd of other dogs and handlers. I never would have expected that, she has so much less focus when it's just a couple of us working. I never thought I would enjoy obedience class so much, but I do. I think I will keep going, if for no other reason than in is a great bonding exercise for the two of us.

This morning Pizza and Dolphin had agility classes. Pizza was spectacular! Man that girl has talent! Dolphin was pretty slow today. I got out his ball to entice him and he was excited for about half a run and then he wasn't even interested in his ball. I was SO frustrated at him, he wasn't even trying! I know he could tell I was frustrated and I really tried hard to hide it but I couldn't help it.

After I got home, Dolphin got more and more lethargic, and then he threw up. He was definitely not feeling well at all. I felt SO guilty getting mad at him when he was sick the whole time! This eats me up inside. I should have known something was wrong. I just thought he was being lazy like he usually is in class. I am so mad at myself!

Dolphin did not eat his dinner and that was a sure sign he definitely wasn't feeling well. I gave him some probiotics and we watched him carefully for the rest of the night. By bedtime he seemed a little imptoved, and by the next morning he ate breakfast and was a lot more like his normal self. Thank goodness!

I did an agility seminar with Pizza this morning. She was amazing. Almost too amazing, because she made so few mistakes we had far less ring time than everyone else. She was feeling pretty spicy today, which is a little unusual for her.

Later in the afternoon I did some training with Bacon. It was a pretty mediocre training session. She seemed slightly reluctant to work this afternoon. I know this can happen as she is not a robot, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed after I left.

We stayed home this Easter Sunday, mainly to keep Mark away from crowds of people eating. The chemo has lowered his white blood count so he doesn't have great immunity right now.

I took Dolphin and Bacon to our training place for some training. Mainly I wanted Dolphin to have fun there after we had such a miserable time in class when he didn't feel well. He did awesome, and he definitely had fun! He also served the purpose of getting Bacon fired up about tunnels. She was still really reluctant to go in them, but once I turned Dolphin loose, she ran after him in and out of the tunnels with confidence.

I took Bacon to my friends for some field training. It was warm out - about 65 degrees. I didn't think it was too hot, but about halfway through the session Bacon was wheezing and roaring when she was panting. I am sure this is because of her heart defect and it KILLS me. This is the first real sign that she isn't normal, and can't handle really hard exercise. She definitely will struggle in the heat this summer, I am going to have to be very careful. It makes me cry inside. It's so unfair.

On a good note, she never put a paw wrong in the field with every single bird - went on point, held her point for the flush and the blank shot without moving a foot! So much talent! Breaks my heart even more.

Yay Noodle! I got the e-mail today that she qualified for the Championship class at the AKC Rally National Championships. We are not going as it is a miserable experiece (we went in 2023 and 2024) but it's cool to qualify for the top class this year.

Today I took Pizza to a local agility trial just to hang out and absorb the atmosphere. She hasn't been to a trial in several years. This probably wasn't a great one to take her to as it was jam-packed and crowded, but it was on our 'home turf' so that added a level of comfort. She was pretty nervous for the first part, but the relaxed and I was able to get her out and work her on the practice jump and she was focused and relaxed, and happy. This is just another step in getting her ready to trial. I will never give up on this girl!

After Pizza and I got home, Mark and I went to Lowes and I took Bacon to do some obedience training in the aisles while he shopped. She did great - pretty focused, very relaxed, and extremely confident. Today I made my entries for the Weim National Specialty (hoping and praying we can go!). I was bold, and I entered Bacon in not only Novice Rally, but Beginner Novice Obedience! Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Hey, why not?

I had entered Dolphin in an agility trial at our local training club over a month ago, just in case he didn't finish his MACH at the trials I attended in March. I only entered one day, and I rarely go to these trials because Dolphin hates running here. He knocked a bar in Time 2 Beat, but surprisingly ran halfway decent in his other classes (started slow but finished strong in all of them) for a nice Triple QQQ! This makes Triple QQQ #9 towards his TQX title, only one more to go! This is also Double QQ #1 towards MACH 2. We start again on a new journey! Dolphin had such a good attitude all day today. I know he doesn't love this place, but he loves me and you can see it all over him.

Bacon and I went to a conformation show in Columbus today. It was her first "big girl" show where she showed for points. Mark came along, and it was just like old times. There was one other 6-9 month puppy bitch, and a 12-18 bitch, so 3 all together. Bacon won her 6-9 class and then took Winners Bitch for her first point! She was so confident and happy in the ring, and she actually stood somewhat still for the judge's exam. It was rather unexpected, as we haven't done anything since her beginner puppy show back in January. She's in a weird growth spurt where her hip is really high, but her gaiting was beautiful and I think that's what won it for her. That, plus she exudes sheer joy as she goes around.

Today was a big prep day, as Mark goes in to the hospital tomorrow for his Alpha Dart clinical trial. We are hoping and praying this procedure works and kills his primary tumor in the pancreas.

On a good note, I checked Dolphin's AKC record and his MACH is officially showing up before his name! WOOT!!! It's so good to see it "officially" listed.

Dolphin and I went to an agility trial in Zanesville, one of my favorite places to trial! We had a pretty good 3 days.

On Friday we had a nice FAST Q that finished Dolphin's Master FAST Gold title! He knocked a bar in Standard, but had a super nice Jumpers run on a twisty course, having to call him off of several off courses. He then nailed a nice Time 2 Beat run...just one bar short of a quadruple QQQQ day.

Saturday was our best day - nailed a nice FAST run, then locked down a nice Q in both Standard and Jumpers. This triple QQQ finished Dolphin's TQX title! This was also Double QQ #2 towards MACH 2. Unfortunately he knocked the very last bar in Time 2 Beat, but it was still a great day.

Sunday started off rough with a weird NQ in FAST where he got distracted and missed the tunnel in the send. Then he knocked a bar in standard out of sheer laziness. He pulled it together for a really nice Jumpers Q and then followed it with a great Time 2 Beat Q! Overall it was a great weekend - finishing two very tough titles.

My best friend/training partner and I have been training our boys Dolphin and Tigger together since they were baby puppies. We call ourselves Team Tigphin. We have been keeping track of any time one of us gets a standard Q and the other gets a jumpers Q (or vice versa) on the same day. Last weekend we finally finished our "Tigphin MACH" so we borrowed a MACH pole and ribbon and took a photo. We have SO much fun training and trialing together!

Today was a great day! I headed out to do some field training with a friend. I ran Pizza eith his puppy (she was stellar as usual!). Then I ran Bacon with his puppy, and Bacon was wonderful! Such beautiful steady points, it makes my heart happy. She is getting a tiny bit overconfident as she started moving a little after I flushed the bird. I am not going to worry about that yet because her intensity is growing and I love that!

After a good hour of field training, I did some agility training with Bacon and our training partner this evening. Bacon did surprisingly well! She did leave me to run over to visit her pal, but I was able to call her and get her to come back to me (eventually) without having to go get her - that's a first for me. She had good speed and drive through the tunnel, and her wing wrapping was excellent. I am really happy with her focus today.

Enjoy some beautiful photos of Bacon on point today:

Mark and I decided to take a quick overnight "test trip" with the motorhome to see how he does traveling. I brought Noodle, Dolphin, and Bacon with me and entered a double rally trial. Noodle did really well, earning a 98 and a 97 in choice, and two 98's in Master. This leaves her with only needing 6 more points in master to finish her RACH! Hopefully we can get that done this weekend.

Dolphin did OK in Intermediate. He hasn't done rally since last June, so he's a bit rusty. His first Intermediate run was pretty rough, he really didn't want to do all the sits that were asked of him. His second run was much better and he heeled pretty well. He ended up with scores of 97 on both of his runs.

The big surprise was Bacon in her Rally Novice debut. Her first run was a little out of countrol, lunging after things on the ground and being pretty scattered. She got a 95 on that run. Her second run was SO much better, with really good focus! What hurt us was sign #31 - sit-down-walk around. I have never really trained a down from a sit with her, so she was really confused (she normally downs by pushing back, but can't do that from a sit position). We had to re-try the sign and it was still really iffy, but we didn't get dinged too much other than the retry, and ended up with a 96! I just love her enthusiasm for work, she is so darn happy! Video below:

Today I took Noodle and Dolphin to a rally trial at a local training club. Noodle just needed 6 master points to finish her Rally Championship. In the morning trial, she get exactly 6 points! RACH Noodle!!! I am so proud of her! This was not easy for us to accomplish, having no access to any real training classes and having to learn all of this by trial and error. Just 2 years ago I decided to try Rally Master, never intending to push on all the way to her championship. I should have known better, because once I get something in my head, it becomes something I bust my butt to work towards. I was really happy with how she worked for me this morning. We stayed for the afternoon trial, but she botched a couple signs and we had a score out of the points. Hopefully AKC's addition matches mine and her championship goes through!

Dolphin did fairly well, better than he did on Thursday. He had a nice qualifying score to finish his Rally Intermediate title. Now, the next step is to work off leash...that's always something I face with a bit of trepidation. You never know what might happen with a fairly new-ish dog to rally and no leash! I guess we will find out in a few weeks, as Dolphin is entered in Rally Advanced at the Weim National Specialty. I am hopeful...

Yesterday and today I did quite a bit of agility foundation training with Bacon. We did the lowered dog walk several times (and she ran forward ahead of me and took the full height dog walk without me...gave me a heart attack LOL!). We are working on jumping - mostly handling at this point because she is only jumping 10 inches since she is so young. Of course, we worked more tunnels, which she really doesn't liike. This maes 3 out of my 4 dogs that dislike the tunnel. Pizza is the only one that loves the tunnel. Of course, no one hates it as much as Noodle!

This morning I had agility classes with Pizza and Dolphin. They were both fantastic! Lots of drive and great focus with both dogs. Afterwards, I took Pizza, Noodle, and Bacon for some field training. Yeah, and that had some pretty downer moments.

I worked Noodle first with my friend and his dog, and he gunned for me. Noodle uncharacteristaclly did not want to give up the bird to me, which is odd for her. I had to get after her as she leaped forward about FOUR steps on the first shot...unacceptable! She got better with each bird, but her honoring was either spectacular or blinky.

Pizza was much steadier, rock solid on her birds. However, she definitely did NOT want to give me the bird. She brought it straight to me but then wanted to tug of war with it. She's always been a little tough to get the bird from, but NEVER this bad. I need to figure out how to train through this in the next few months. Of course, that's not going to help her hunt test this weekend.

Bacon worked several pigeons, and a couple of quail. I should mention that we worked a little on quail this past Tuesday, and she did good, other than a slight jumping in on one of the birds. Today, she dove in on one of the quail and grabbed it, but did not hold it and I was able to flush it. We worked another quail, and I got a little more into training mode and reminded her to 'whoa' while I was in front of her flushing the bird. She was perfect on this one, so we ended on a good note.

She has been SO steady to the flush and blank shot ever since she started pointing. However, this is a normal part of the training progression. She is starting to grow up, and she has some experience now and will try to start thinking for herself and testing the waters. This is where my patience will come into play. It's a totally normal phase, and my goal is just to remind her that she is supposed to stay still, and highly reward her when she does. She has a fantastic nose and is able to scent the bird from a good distance, so my goal this summer is to teach her to stop on first scent so she never learns to get in too close. Goals!

I should mention that she got in a couple of really nice honors all on her own. I think she has pretty good honoring instinct and is starting to figure it out. This makes me excited, because having a dog that wants to naturally honor is SO much less work for me!