Closing in on 6 months!

Within a week our M&M litter will be 6 months old!  So far for me it's been a fun journey which began with the road trip to Knoxville to pick up the crew.  And look how far everyone has come since that time.  All pups are doing some form of obedience work, a few have started foundation training in agility, tracking and conformation.  Of course they've all become wonderful companions and family members, right?

Turning 6 months old means that our guys are eligible to show in a couple of disciplines and Swing will be taking her first step in to the breed ring on Dec. 15th at the Timacuan Weim Club Specialty in Orlando FL (Dodge will be showing in obedience and at the Eukanuba show that weekend).  I'm rather excited and a little apprehensive about her debut, I want it to go well for her so that she has a good time.  We'll definitely report on it afterwards.

Swing got to meet up with her brother Milo at the Turkey Cluster dog show on Sunday.  These two had not seen each other since they were 9 weeks old and the reunion was filled with lots of horseplay.  I had to put Swing away during breed judging because they were rolling in to the ring gating and I didn't want to bother the dogs that were showing.  And poor Milo was finding it hard to lay quietly with his sister nearby so during breed judging she sat in the van with the boys.  Afterwards we took both of them out for Michael to work with.  Milo has not had the convenience of going to a breed handling class so Michael had to work extra hard getting him to stack and stand still.  And when it came to gaiting, oy vey!  He was able to put in one or two strides and then it was off to the races!  I really liked the expression on his face in this shot...

 Seriously dad?  This is kind of boring!

You "gait", I'll RUN!

Milo hand stacked, good boy!

For someone who hasn't been worked with Milo did fairly well and didn't embarrass Art that much.  Amy sent them home with a list of things to work on and after talking to Art I know he'll dive in to it with determination and purpose!  Art did inform us that he and Milo are taking TWO obedience classes a week, way to go boys!

Swing has had a show handling class, and after explaining the one or two things on how to stack her, she did quite well for Michael.  Hopefully she'll be ready for her debut next month!

 A little free stacking

 Moving

Yes, she can be goofy too when the cameraman is the owner!

Swing's best stack of the afternoon

When we were done at the show site we headed up to the Anderson's to visit and let Swing and Dodge play with Rosey.  The girls enjoyed tumbling with one another as well as schmoozing for treats from Michael...

One for me, one for you!  Swing (L) and Rosey (R)

 We'll come at him from both sides!  Teamwork!  Rosey (L) and Swing (R)

C'mon, give it to me Michael!  You can't resist the Swingster!

Of course I had to take a picture of Dodge's mom (and Swing's niece, figure that one out)  Yankee.  Is that the sweetest face or what?

Yankee (another dog with cute feet!)

It was a beautiful day, mostly sunny and comfortable (not too warm and definitely not chilly).  We were able to spend time outside with the dogs allowing everyone to stretch their legs.  And the mud was kept at a minimum (albeit short lived since it is suppose to rain this week).  A visit to GraytSky is always a treat for the dogs and I and the bonus was seeing Art and Milo again.  Perhaps we will see the boys over the winter and take Art up on his offer to stop by for a hike along the Potomac.  As always, I'd love to hear from the rest of the gang since this blog is all about them.  We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Little girls are made of...

Some of you know that I love my male dogs.  Girls were nice, but too many times I've seen traits that really didn't fit my personality or style of training.  My mom always said that females were more loyal, loving and overall better dogs to be around.  Our dachshunds were mostly females, except for the one that grew up with me.  "So High" was the only dog we owned with papers, and even though he had a tendency to wander if the gate was left open (yes, he was intact until the day he went to the rainbow bridge), he had that demeanor that upon looking back, just fit my personality.  Sure, our girls were fun and loving and loyal, but they were GIRLS!  Fast forward to my first dog when I left home, a GSP bitch.  I listened to mom and got a bitch versus the gorgeous male the little girl was holding when I walked through the door of the breeders house.  MISTAKE!  I spoiled her a little (ok, maybe a lot) and while she loved to hunt and go for rides, she was stubborn, vindictive in a way, and truthfully, she really didn't care if she pleased me or not (yep, it was all about her).  The day I placed her she just walked away and never looked back.  Wow, talk about a slap in the face.  I said I'd never own another female.  And then I discovered the world of dog showing...

Swing, Oct. 2011

I started showing in obedience with my male GSP (the son of the one I placed). He was a wonderful Novice A dog, very forgiving but also a little slow to mature and pick up what I was trying to teach him. He always tried for me and that is what I like about males. He never tried to defy me in any way and he was loyal and loving. His only fault was he loved to chase cats, and if he got out of the back yard then he was off and running through the neighborhood. He got his CDX and was starting to show in Utility when he got cancer. By then I had gotten my first Weim and since I had been exposed to the breed ring (showing Welsh Springer Spaniels) I wanted a dog I could show in breed as well as obedience. Five finished his Championship when he was just over four years old, all owner handled and on average we showed about 17 times a year in breed.  Yeah, it took a while but I was a green handler and he was a Canadian bred dog that didn't have the same style that a lot of the dogs here in the east have (he was from a breeder north of Vancouver).   My next dog came from a breeder here in PA and when I met her I told her I wanted a male that I could owner handle to his CH, show in obedience, tracking, etc.  I wanted an all around dog that I could do it all with.  I got Dodge and so far he's panned out to be exactly what I had hoped for and more in many ways.  Our journey is far from over.

Which brings me to Swing.  I realized that there was only going to be one way I would ever get a male puppy from Dodge so I told Amy that if she could produce something like her old bitch Indi-Anna (http://www.graytsky.com/Indy-Anna.html), whose style/type I like, I would consider getting a bitch.  Indi-Anna, like most of the GraytSky bitches, is very sweet and pretty as far as I'm concerned.  She's Dodge's great grandmother and has the pedigree that contains dogs that I find pleasing.  When Amy told me that she was going to be involved in a breeding that went back to Indi-Anna's sire I figured it was a sign, here was my chance to get a bitch with the pedigree I like that I could breed to Dodge for that future male puppy!  I was in (and I didn't arrive at that lightly)!  And the M&M litter was born.

What do I think of owning a female?  Nancy my obedience trainer asked me last night what I thought of Swing and without hesitation I said "she's a blast!".  Mom is right, she is very loving, loyal (so far) and sweet.  Maybe I'm a bit wiser and I've learned some things about raising and starting a puppy.  Life is all about her but on my terms.  She has the drive and work ethic I like in a dog and she always tries to do things that please me.  Yes, she has a couple of small quirks that I chalk up to being female characteristics, but she's NOTHING like the GSP bitch I had 25 years ago.  She may be my one in a million, time will tell but I certainly hope that she isn't.  She still has a lot of growing and maturing to do (she's only 5 and a half months old) but I am optimistic that she'll be a fabulous competition/show partner, along with being the wonderful pet that she is right now.  So while I never thought I would own another bitch I am finding that this new adventure is more exciting than I could have imagined.  Yeah, I'll keep her...

To finish the title, Little Girls are made of "the old, mixed with some new, add in some tried and true rearing, and a Grayt team of breeders", you just can't go wrong.

I taught her that?

I just had a revelation this evening and it came after a 15 minute training session.  Tonight I told myself I had to stay home and do a little cleaning (and as I type this I can tell you that all I've done is pull some paper towels off of the roll to do some dusting, which I have yet to do) and because of that I would only be able to do some doodle type of training.  I'm not blessed with a hallway or garage where I can do anything that requires lots of movement or distance work, so when I train at home I doodle or work on set ups, fronts, finishes, mark, etc.  My room of choice is the kitchen because most of my treats are kept in or on top of the refrigerator.  I do venture in to the living room on occasion but the kitchen is where most of the action takes place.  So I did some things that we covered in the seminar this past weekend.  About ten minutes after I ended the training session I found Swing hanging out in the kitchen and I figured she needed to go out.  So I played doorman and out she went with Dodge right behind her.  After I let them in I was looking at email and realized that she wasn't at my feet or chewing on the the string of my wind breaker that is draped over my chair, so I went looking for her.  There she was, hanging out in the kitchen.  Suddenly it hit me, holy cow I've taught her that the the kitchen means training which in turn means treats!  No wonder she constantly disappears to that room of the house!  So guess where I'll be doing some of our training from now on?  In other rooms in the house of course.  Kind of like taking the show on the road (but never leaving home).  Wow, who would have thought.

Swing, Sept. 2011

Dog shows, training, seminars, oh my!

I started to write this entry last weekend but I just couldn't pull my thoughts together enough to warrant an interesting post.  So here it is a week later and I think I can talk about some things and provide a story or two that will make it worth reading.  First of all, Ann sent an update on Ella...

The day after Jill wrote that she found Swing's 1st tooth I found one from Ella.

She's enjoying her puppy agility class where she added the tire to straight tunnels as equipment she's  familiar with. She's doing a good job of being quiet in her crate during class but when she shared a private with big brother Stanford we learned she has a long way to go to be quiet during his turns. I'm thankful for the Manners Minder my trainer let me borrow. I found it to be so helpful I bought one for myself.

I'll close with a few photos of the dogs enjoying the sun that we occasionally see up here in Northern NY.

It looked like a glorious day Ann, thanks for the note!

Last weekend the grey guys and I took a trip to Bloomsburg for the Back Mt Kennel Club all breed show and obedience trials.  I had Dodge entered in Open A and while we did not qualify I did learn a few things about what I thought we had mastered and what the reality of what we had, or rather had NOT, mastered.  I was feeling pretty good about us picking up our first leg in Open and then things just fell apart.  He worked each exercise, but not to the level that I know he is capable of and certainly not with the understanding that I would have liked to have seen.  The "been there, done that, know what you need to do" fairies must have sensed my disappointment at our Sunday performance because just before I left the show I received word that a working spot had opened in a weekend seminar just down the road and I knew I had to take it.  But before I get to that, I took Swing along to the show and set up her crate in the obedience area so that she could get use to the environment and get the chance to meet some new people and experience some new things.  Lucky for us, a number of the obedience competitors had pups/young dogs there doing the same thing I was doing.  She behaved herself quite well in the soft crate while I warmed Dodge up and eventually took him in the ring.  I had some friends keep an eye on her and only once did someone have to remind her to be quiet.  All in all she was perfectly behaved and she got to do a little training as well as a quick jaunt through the one building where most of the grooming was being done (I have a friend who owns Aussies so I took Swing back to her set up and let her take in the sights, sounds and smells of a grooming area).  It is important in my eyes that our puppies get this type of exposure before stepping in to any ring, be it conformation, obedience or agility.

I made mention of the "been there, done that, know what you need to do fairies" and the seminar that came about was called Fun with Fundamentals with Betsy and Linda from Top Dog Obedience School (located in Flanders, NJ).  I've attended weekend workshops with Betsy and Linda as well as a Sylvia Bishop seminar hosted by Top Dog.  Top Dog students are seen just about every weekend at shows here in the East and they use mostly positive methods with some corrections and negative reinforcement when necessary.  And my trainer has worked with the Top Dog trainers so a lot of the information was very familiar to the dogs and I.  What was great about this seminar was that they focused on the fundamentals of obedience, stressing that in order to have any success you need to have dog attention!  So all of the exercises and games they had us working on this weekend were geared towards building that connection and I came away with more notes but also a clearer sense of the direction I need to take in order to make our ring performances more successful.  You can't be lazy in your training, regardless of the discipline, because if you are then you will train undesirable skills that will frustrate both your dog and you.

More on the seminar in the next post.