This weekend Jenny was scheduled to be in Minnesota for something totally unrelated to dog stuff — bet you never thought that happened! 😉 Also coinciding on this weekend was a local double-double hunt test where Marc was asked to be a gunner. Since Marc would be out there any way, we figured we might as well see if we could get a leg or two on Karma and Halo.
There was also a dog show in Wichita this weekend, so we let Sarah (Halo’s handler) know we would not be entering that show because the girls would be doing the hunt test. Well that got Sarah going — maybe her boy William could train and get his JH too! For anyone who doesn’t know — Sarah caught a scary fibrosarcoma on William’s jaw last year. He had part of his jaw removed and is now a cancer survivor living life to the fullest!
As you probably gleaned from our newsfeed, we’ve been busy. But with Sarah’s decently flexible schedule, and Marc’s Thursdays off, we were able to hit the field 3 or 4 times before this weekend. Marc even took William out with Karma once when Sarah, Jenny, and Halo were off at a show — teamwork! A decent sized hurdle (or maybe anticipated hurdle) was breaking Halo & William to the starter pistol. Doesn’t seem like a big thing, but we’ve known enough people that have made their dogs gun shy so it is a step we don’t like to rush. Luckily it was no big deal, and since Halo was immediately holding points (versus pouncing or bumping birds), we thought she might have a decent shot on the JH thing. Same for Sarah’s William…and gotta say, it’s pretty awesome to watch William in the field after he kicked cancer’s booty last fall! Confident that our juniors had a decent opportunity, we entered Will and Halo in all four tests hosted by the Mile High Weimaraner Club and the Vizsla Club of Colorado.
Then there is Karma. Our spunky girl who likes to win. She wants to be the one to point the bird and retrieve the bird. This causes a few training problems. While she has had a natural honor since she was very young, she still thinks she should be the one to retrieve it and will sometimes look up at you like, “seriously, I let him HAVE that point, now I have to watch, and stand here the WHOLE time? Why can’t I move on and find another bird?” Valid argument. It also means she has trouble when you miss the bird. She feels that she has to go find that bird again, because, “dangit! I went to all that work and stood so still and you goofed! Never fear…I will go find it again!” A very undesired trait at her level in a hunt test or field trial…NO delayed chase. This also means that we really needed her to NOT find a bird in the back course where you don’t have gunners and only use a pop gun…she would definitely try to go find that bird. So considering we needed runs with zero drama, we decided to only enter her one day. Even though it was the day Marc was gunning we opted for Saturday because on Sunday, Karma’s other owner, Tad (who owns her Daddy Tok) was judging and you can’t judge dogs you own.
Saturday and Sunday Jenny was in meetings all day, but was so thankful for the text messages that came through to keep her in the loop — I’m sure everyone doesn’t want to read the play by play, but here is the recap 🙂
Saturday morning William was in the first brace of the day. The was Sarah’s first time ever handling in the field and unfortunately the only bird Will came across flushed in front of him before he caught the scent. Will worked the whole time and had a blast but didn’t find another bird. Marc wasn’t as liberal with the details but just sent a text that Halo passed. Men are so funny sometimes.
What Jenny did get, was details on was Karma, apparently, she was a ROCKSTAR. Master level performance. Since Marc was gunning today, Karma was run by Tad which probably helped a bit — funny how when it’s not coming from Marc or Jenny she actually respects the word wait 😉 Even held through the shot (where she usually thinks that is her cue to retrieve.) Retrieve straight to hand. Solid honor through her bracemate’s retrieve. What a gal! Where we couldn’t even dream that she would pass, our girlie proved us wrong and picked up SH leg #1.
Karma ran again in Senior before Halo & Will did juniors, and this time, the bird would not flush. Kept running around and around until Marc instinctively tried to flush the bird — oopsie, not in the job description of the gunner, and a little much excitement for Karms. With the infractions at hand, Tad opted to pick Karma up, but hey! 50% for the weekend when we were expecting 0% — we will take it! Go Karma! Marc was also pretty darn proud that he was 100% for the day, not missing a single bird in the Master/Senior braces he gunned for (had to give him a little brag too!)
The day wrapped up with Halo and Will in Juniors who BOTH found two birds, and who BOTH passed! Sarah was ecstatic and Jenny went to bed trying not to jinx anything for Sunday.
This morning seemed to take forever to go by…Halo and Will were both running later in the day and Jenny was on Central time, so that made it even worse. Eventually the texts came through that Will and Halo both had 3 finds each in the morning and picked up another leg each! No pressure! Sarah sent another text saying that Will passed again for JH leg #3! 3 outta 4 for the weekend! Sarah was leaving because Halo was the last run of the day.
Jenny was almost scared to check her phone…then she did check her phone and found it was a text from United Airlines saying her flight was delayed. Don’t laugh — but she was kinda happy, the flight delay meant she would still have access to her phone when Marc and Halo came off the field. And the text came in while she was standing in line for security, “Junior Hunter.” Squeeeeee! Baby Halo!! At 19 months she is now, GCH CH KIzmar 7 Deadly Sins at 5280 JH — beauty and brains!! 🙂
And naturally, (and Jenny’s favorite part!) 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!
-Specialty Award on Halo (BISS, BOSS, SBS, JAM) — DONE!
-Get Halo ranked in the Top 20 (show) — DONE!
-Group Placement on Halo
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
Field Goals: (some may be 2 year goals)
-Junior Hunter on Halo — DONE!
-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**
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