Too busy to post?

That will be my excuse for not posting something in 6 or so weeks.  Wow, it's been that long?  Geez.  Time for a little catching up.

The Weimaraner Nationals are coming up (FMI visit http://wca2013nationalspecialty.com/) and the crew and I have been getting ready.  This year we will be traveling to Perry, GA with our good friend Sallie and her "wild woman" Gracie.  It will be a busy 5 days with our guys participating in obedience, tracking, agility and conformation.  Our pups are Futurity eligible this year so Swing will show at the Futurity but she will also be going for her Tracking Dog (TD) title!  That is what I am most excited about for her.  Allow me to elaborate...

Two weekends ago I asked my friend Sandy R., an AKC tracking judge, if she could certify Swing in order for me to enter her in the tracking test at the National.  As luck would have it, she was giving a workshop at one of the local dog training clubs and it was the perfect opportunity for them to watch a dog on a track.  So we headed to the grounds and met Sandy and the club members for the certification.  I had not aged any of Swing's tracks for more than 15 or so minutes and a certification track is basically a standard AKC track that is aged at least 30 minutes (which is the minimum for a test). In order to enter your first tracking test you must be certified and every dog has to certify at least once (your certification is good for a year, if you do not make it in to a test in that year then you must re-certify).   Anyway, the girl did great (her handler needs to practice seeing her signals) and she passed much to the excitement of the workshop attendees.  I knew her nose was pretty good so the extra age did not seem to bother her.  Unfortunately my video camera ran out of room so I do not have a full video of the track, but one of the club members took some pictures and posted them on the clubs Facebook page (Williamsport Dog Training Club for anyone that wants to see them).  So check that off of the list of things to get done before the trip.

Tracking will be held on Saturday but before then both she and Dodge will see the ring in one venue or another.  Friday will be a day of conformation with Swing and obedience with Dodge.  On Saturday Swing will start the day off with tracking (and silly me, I'm assuming she will make it in to the tracking test...) and Dodge and I will finish the day with some agility.  Agility will again be on the schedule for Sunday with Swing taking a day off from competition to rest up for her Futurity which will be held on Monday.  Once we've shown in that we'll hit the road and head home.  Sallie will be doing obedience and Rally with Gracie and if history repeats itself they will do quite well (especially in Rally).

Phil was a bit off when it comes to the forecast but I haven't really minded the extended winter.  Dodge prefers tracking in the cooler weather and I'm not one to shy away from getting the dogs out in inclement weather.  Of course the agility group I train with would like to see it somewhat warmer and less windy.  That is another story.

We really like the extra daylight in the evenings.  I don't feel like coming home and collapsing on the recliner anymore, something that I find quite easy when it is dark out.  And I can tell that Spring is pretty close, the robins are appearing in the area (along with their noisy/obnoxious cackling) and I noticed that the lawn we do agility on is looking thick and somewhat green!

I noticed that the Daffodils were up on campus and starting to bud, and I saw a Forsythia bush in bloom, yet another indication that the season is finally changing.  So with those thoughts I'll get this blog posting finished so that  can work on the next one.  Until then...