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THIS is why we breed and nothing makes me happier than getting these kinds of photos! Wiley is from last year's Singer X Mickey litter. This is Rob's first gun dog...ever. He has been training hard with the Northern Colorado Springer group and this is his reward. Pure awesome at Border Creek Lodge! Today they are hunting sharpies and prairie chickens. PS: Bones is his older brother.
Toby started his quest for RAE and had a few tough runs as we adjusted to his deafness. He did get 3 Advanced/Excellent QQ's and two big score placements but I admit he's a challenge to wrangle and it will (does) take all my handling skills to keep him looking "obedient." This will be the last title he gets, and even though I was a little bummed to see him get such low scores (he had high scores just this spring, plus I'm used to winning!) he really enjoyed himself and was very excited to get up and go every day. That dog has the most amazing work ethic of any dog I've ever owned and even at age 12+ no matter what he is doing, he is always glad to be doing it with me. The RAE is tedious, Ice got very bored with it after awhile...If we stick to the plan, he should be finished by March 2014. Then it will be Maverick's turn to do Rally-O.
PS: The puppies are two weeks old. Eyes are open and they all quadrupedding around. They are so cute!
Just got back from Colorado and...wow. What a mess down there! had I gone down on Thursday like I usually do, things would have been even more exciting. The people I usually stay with were evac'd by the National Guard on Friday when the St Vrain river decided to jump its banks and forge a new path through their driveway. It cut a chasm 50 feet deep and 100 yards wide leaving them with no ingress or egress and they now have riverfront property through their backyard.
The weekend got off to a great start with horrible rains from Butte to Sheridan, Wyoming. Then I was caught in a flash flood in Cheyenne, which left me a little rattled as I've never been in a severe imminent weather threat before. If you have eve rbeen to Central Wyoming you know very well there is nothing there, nowhere to hide and certainly no "high ground" anywhere. I felt like I was caught between a rock and a hard place - which is not a fun feeling! I pulled into Loveland in heavy rain, super dark skies and awful traffic to get a bite to eat after getting through the flash flood and my phone alerts start screaming again - only this time it's about rapid river rise in and the imminent threat of more flooding. Thankfully I had a friend further south to stay with! I really had no idea where to go to get out of the flood zones. They seemed to be everywhere.
We ran the Sunday Hunt Test while 4 inches of rain poured down on us and even more highways and roads were closing around us. Cheetah got the only strongly flushed bird of the day and was rock solid, but the water blind was almost impossible and the mud alone made the entry treacherous. It was a brutal heart breaker as she handles beautifully and has never before met her match on the water work portions of any test. Even the hunt dead was taking out dogs because there is NO scenting when chukar are wet and the rain is pouring down over them. It was like finding a needle in the haystack. Both my dogs somehow survived it but ultimately only four dogs passed on Sunday. I've never been so wet and miserable in my life! It's a hunt test we will all be talking about for a very, very long time.
On Monday many succombed to the awful conditions and had gone home. Ice was one of TWO dogs that survived the day. Being the big, strong 55# male he is nothing phases him, and he rocked both days showing incredible bird finding ability under truly horrible conditions. It was the best he had ever run.
Maverick made his field debut and in 25 feet found 3 birds passed by other dogs - proving that Sussex noses are beyond a doubt awesome. He earned the nicknamed the Quicker Picker Upper and I was so proud of him, even though he went out on his second retrieve. He just got too excited, wanted to hunt and left his bird behind instead of retrieving it. Then he did a super hard water retrieve - sat on the line like a lab as the rain poured down on him, raced down a muddy slope, charged through the same cattails that took out Cheetah's water blind entry, swam out, got his bird and brought it back up the bank to hand. Seriously, Maverick rocked. I was thrilled. He is just a baby, has a few training issues that need to be fixed over winter, but next year will be so much fun to run. After it was over he went out and found six passed chukar and we brought those home as flight pen souvenirs. Now he has a fancy shmancy dog show this week. Love these field to show breeds!
Finally, last but not least, Toby earned his WDX so both he and Ice will get ESSFTA versatility medallions this year. Only one more title to go...his RAE. Hope we can finish it before he goes completely deaf!
Haley's puppies arrived this morning, perfect and strong. Momma was a zen master and lovely to whelp with.
Only one girl and the litter was larger than I expected. We also got two liver and white boy puppies! Those Toby genes are strong. :D
Everything is ready for the Haley (Toby X Navy) babies to make their appearance. I think they will arrive over the weekend.
On a sad note, we say goodbye to the lovely and talented baby Cate (Mia X Mickey) tomorrow morning as she heads back east to live and train with Pepper (Toby X Navy) and Jim.
Hooray for another Hellfire Master Hunter!
Zipp is from the first Zeeza X Ace litter. She is littermates with AFC Zuess and SH CDX RAE Iceman.
Congrats to Owner/Handler Jerry R from WA. Zipp also has several field trial placements. This is his first competition dog and he has done a great job with her.
Hopefully Ice will follow in his sister's paw prints next year.