We are making quick work of our 2014 goal list! We are so happy to announce that our “old man” in now our GRAND old man! Indy finished his Grand Championship this weekend by taking his fourth major win, and it was a super fun-filled weekend, so we will fill you in on all the details!
There are zero local shows between our two 5 day clusters in Colorado. So from the November show (where Halo finished her Grand!) to the enormous Rocky Mountain Cluster in two weeks, there have been no opportunities for practice…and our kids were getting rusty! Or “golden-rusty” if you prefer 😉
We needed a roadtrip…and what’s best on roadtrips? Friends! Indy needed just two singles to finish his Grand Champion title, so we needed to make sure there were at least 2 class dogs each day. We asked a few people if they would go, but our friends in New Mexico had already made other plans for that weekend, and our friends in Colorado only wanted to travel that far for a shot at a major. What’s that you say? A project to create a major? Jenny is on it! A little bit of brain racking and emails to friends and we had a major built in boys for the weekend! Now we knew Indy had a shot at finishing his first goal of 2014 and Halo could get in some great practice. The only thing missing was a few more friends…
Jenny’s college bestie, Jeff, has recently starting showing his Basset Hound, Sebastian…they took a Group 4 and Best in Open Show (90 entries!) their first dog show weekend! After such a great debut, it was relatively easy to convince Jeff to make the two hour trip over to Hobbs, New Mexico. And also down in that neck of the woods is Jenny’s family, and it was super easy to convince her Mom to bring up Mungo for the weekend too. Finally, making the trip with us was Halo’s handler, Sarah Wintrone, and her V-boy, William. Recipe for fun!
Yesterday everything went even better than expected, thanks to judge Ann Hearn. Our friend Ginger went Winners Dog for the major with Eiger. Eiger’s parents were nice enough to send him on the road with Ginger this weekend to round out our major, so imagine how excited they were that he picked up his first major his first time out in the show ring! Next up was Kili, Ginger’s puppy who she breeder/owner/handled to WB. During breed, Jenny was first in the ring with Indy, then the other male special, then Halo. When Indy did his down and back and go round, Halo realized Mommy was in the ring — that was fun for Sarah! But Sarah got her out of it quickly and got the nod for Breed! Following Halo’s breed win, our friend Larainne’s Charlie took Best of Opposite, Indy/Jenny picked up Select, and Baby Kili went Best of Winners to cross over for the major! YEAH!
Mungo also took breed so we stuck around for groups. The Sporting Group was crazy competitive and the judge didn’t do a cut, but Baby Halo looked great and all our friends came back to the show site to cheer her on. A few groups later, Sarah handled Mungo to a Group 4 placement! Woo-hoo! Seriously, Saturday was a really great day 🙂
To follow up our great day, we had reservations at Cattle Baron and the entire crew met up to have dinner together. It was so fun. Lots of laughs and just an overall great night out.
Today, the weather was pretty bad, 2 inches of snow/slush/ice on the ground and you can imagine how well that is handled in that part of the country — they just aren’t equipped to deal with it. And it was even worse East of us so the show was missing a lot of exhibitors today. One of the dogs entered was coming back and forth from Midland and didn’t make it in, so the major broke today. His owner felt so terrible, but we reassured him that no one expected him to risk life and limb for a dog show!
When all was said and done…Charlie went Breed today, Halo went Best of Opposite, and our friend Charli’s Popeye took BOW for 2 points. Rounding it out, Indy went Select again, but this time handled by his Grandma Carol! She asked if she could show him today since he had already finished — so cute!
Overall, a great weekend with a really fun bunch! And a title and goal off the list! Here is our updated goal list:
Agility Goals:
-Gunner’s AX title
-Gunner’s MX & MXJ titles
-Gunner & Karma’s OF titles
-Gunner’s T2B title
-Karma’s MACH
-Get Karma qualified for AKC Agility Nationals
-Get Karma ranked in the Top 20 (agility)
Conformation Goals:
-Grand Championship on Indy — DONE!
-Group Placement on Halo
-Specialty Award on Halo (BISS, BOSS, SBS, JAM)
-Get Halo ranked in the Top 20 (show)
Obedience/Rally Goals:
-Rally Excellent on Karma — DONE!
-Rally Advanced Excellent on Gunner
-Rally Novice on Halo
-Canine Good Citizens on Gunner & Halo
-Companion Dog on Gunner
-Companion Dog Excellent on Indy
Field Goals: (some may be 2 year goals)
-Junior Hunter on Halo
-Senior Hunter on Gunner & Karma
-Tracking Dog on Indy, Karma, and Halo
-Coursing Ability on Halo
**Need an explanation on titles? Check out our “Games” tab for write-ups on most of these events**