The annual Weimaraner National Specialty was held in Perry, Georgia last month. Sallie and I rented a cargo van, loaded it with three grey dogs and all the gear we would need, and we headed south. It was a two day trip for us (both coming and going we started the drive in the afternoon, stopped for the night and then finished it the following day) with great weather and little incident while on the road, which is always a blessing when you are driving long distance (as Art and Milo can probably attest to). The van worked out great, drove beautifully and gave us room to bring back any goodies we felt the need to purchase or pick up, which was the case with the wine we brought back for our friend Linda in NJ.
Friday was a warm up day for Swing in breed as well as the WCA obedience trial. Swing showed well but did not make the cut. She also decided to come in season that day, something I feared may happen but was hoping it would not. Oh well. In the afternoon Sallie and I did obedience (Dodge bombed in Open A and as I posted on FB, once again told me that he really isn't keen on that sport) and then Sallie and Gracie picked up two more qualifying scores towards her RAE2 in Rally. Gracie is a very talented and accomplished Rally dog who does obedience just to appease Sallie. Sound familiar (see my statement above about Dodge)?
Saturday morning was the day I was most excited about, tracking with Swing! It was a nice morning, a little chilly but sunny and at the time of the draw the breeze was at a minimum. Since Swing, along with 2 of the other entries, had come in to season we had to draw for our track which was tracks 2-4. We chose track 3 and that meant a little later starting time than I had hoped for on a day like that day. By the time we started the sun had warmed things up and a decent wind had started to blow. I had tracked her is windy weather but we had not had the hot sun to deal with and that, combined with being in season, probably played a roll in her not being able to finish the track. She was pretty distracted from the get-go, stopping to play with the second flag and then struggling to commit to the second turn (her tendency is to go left when she loses the scent). After trying to get her back to where she may have found the correct direction of the turn, we were finally approached by the judge who suggested that it appeared that she was done. I had the option to finish the track but I chose not to since she seemed hot and too distracted to make it worthwhile. Sallie and I had other things to do that day, namely agility for Dodge and obedience for Gracie.
The arena where the agility was held had a dirt based surface that packed nicely and allowed the dogs to run with very little risk of slipping. I took notice that every evening the club had the footing turned over and watered (if necessary) so that it was nice and fluffy at the beginning of the day. On Saturday the schedule was small to tall (that means they start with the 4" jump height and go up from there) which is why I knew I would have time to track with Swing before agility. Dodge's first run happened right before lunch and the course was nice with a tricky entrance to the weaves. And speaking of weaves, they were striped like a peppermint stick which really caught me off guard and fooled me when he went in to them that first run. I literally stopped my forward movement because I couldn't tell if he had hit the entrance correctly and that caused him to stop and therefore get a refusal. The rest of the course ran nicely and I was pleased with his run. The second run happened late in the afternoon and again, the weave poles were the challenge. However, the rest of the course went well and we were clean where a number of dogs struggled. The day ended without a Q but an overall positive experience. Since that day was not the WCA trial day I was not disappointed about not qualifying.
Sunday it was all about Dodge. The WCA agility trial where Weims were placed separate from the other breeds (it ran concurrently with the all breed trial). This is the day that counted and if Dodge could pull out a Double Q I wanted it to happen on that day. Well the stars aligned and the courses were just right and he did it, Q'd in both Jumpers and Standard to finish a title and vie for the HIT (high in trial) rosette that was offered. One other Weim double q'd that day and his combined course times were faster than Dodge's so he earned the HIT rosette. It was a thrill to be in the running but when it was all said and done I was pleased with his performance. I think the best part about the day was that Michael, Dodge's co-breeder, was finally able to see him run and he, along with a couple of other WCA Board members, hung out to watch the grey dogs run.
Monday was departure day for Sallie and I, after Swing showed in her Futurity. She put in a respectable performance but was not selected in the cut. The competition was tough with many nice bitches in all classes. I am very much aware that she is not as "typey" as some of the stock out there and she does have her faults. But her attitude is fabulous and she is fun to show. Her co-breeders Mary Ann and Laura were able to get to know her and see her and I was able to get some history on Swing's lineage. Learning about the maternal side of her pedigree (from her dams mother on back) will help me when/if I decide to breed her at a later date.
We hit the road around 1pm and decided to get to southern Virginia before stopping for the night. I'm happy to report that we pulled in to the hotel at 11pm and it didn't take any of us that long to fall asleep. We were on the road just before 8am Tuesday morning and after a slight detour (more on that later) we were back in north central PA before 5pm. In 7 days we logged about 1800 miles through 7 states, talked about many things (believe it or not it wasn't all "dog talk"), and had the chance to meet a number of folks that you only read about or talk to through email. From the numbers in all of the events I would have to say that I think this was one of the biggest National Specialties in recent years (I think the last time the performance events had that many entries would have been in 2005 when the DC club hosted it in Gettysburg, which happens to be the event where Sallie and I started to get to know each other!).
To close I'd like to say to the rest of the M&M siblings that if you ever get the chance to attend one of the WCA events please do. The performance events are where I think the dogs shine and I am very grateful to the clubs that offer tracking, hunt/field, obedience and agility at the annual show. There are a number of parent clubs that do not, their National Specialties only offer classes for the conformation dogs. I do my best to thank the club and the NSC (National Show Committee) for offering these opportunities to us and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the hard working folks that volunteer to steward, tracklay, etc. at those events. It is because of their efforts that we have the opportunities.
Next post will not be as lengthy (well maybe it won't, we'll see) and it will not be a long time between posts. Send me your updates, I'd like some pictures to post as well.
Saturday afternoon, after showing Swing in breed in the morning, the crew and I hit the road for Mingo Creek Park outside of Washington, PA. While zipping along I-99 in Blair county I ran through a rain storm which produced some of the most brilliant rainbows I had seen in a long time. At one point there was a double rainbow, something I feel is very lucky to witness. The shot I took from inside the van isn't of the double one but hopefully you get the idea of how pretty it was (and how beautiful the sky that I was driving towards was). I wish I had actually pulled over earlier because the colors were so intense on a super dark sky. But I was on a mission, I had 150 miles to put behind me after I had already driven 180 miles round trip that morning.
