Here come the "terrible two's"!

I don't know if our canine "kids" actually go through that phase, time will tell, but our M&M litter is just days away from turning TWO years old!  As the old saying goes, my how time flies.  Time for a quick recap (and I'm doing this from memory so forgive me if I miss something):

Red girl - Swing - my first female Weim.  I had a female GSP years ago and I realized that I did all of the wrong things (she was spoiled rotten for starters) with her.  I placed her when I decided to keep one of her sons and I never thought I'd own a bitch again.  But I knew the chance of producing a good son from Dodge was going to be a challenge unless I bred the litter myself so when this breeding came along I trusted Amy's judgement and guidance and agreed to take a girl.  I'm a lot smarter now and more experienced at training so the mistakes I made with the GSP were not repeated.  And other than one or two "minor" quirks I can report that I've enjoyed every minute of owning my little girl.

Pink girl - Ella - who would have thought that Ann and I would own siblings from two different litters!  I think that makes us "family" in more ways than one.  Ann's true love is agility and from what I've been hearing Ella is doing well in her training.  Like Swing she is testing the waters in the conformation ring while she hones her skills for agility.  Pictures that I receive show Ella and Stanford enjoying each others company much like Swing and Dodge do.  My favorite stories are the ones about how destructive Ella was as a youngster.   Even a kong was no match for that girl!

Dottie girl - Gracie Dot - whose owners had very little choice but to put "Dot" in her name.  The tiniest and liveliest of the bunch, she was always a favorite of anyone that met her.  She didn't take any guff off of her bigger siblings either!  We miss being able to see our sis but pictures reveal that she turned in to quite the beauty who is much loved by her family.

Black boy - Milo - probably our most traveled brother, he's a constant companion to Art who knows I-95 all too well from all of those trips to FL.  I know that Art's main focus is obedience and I'm sure they are continuing their training in that arena.  He did well at a match we all attended last spring, perhaps Art can send us an update.  I look forward to hearing about his journey towards his obedience titles.

Blue boy - Hank (ok it is really BEAU) - Swing and I get to see him fairly often and I'm still amazed that he ended up on the small side.  I believe he takes after his Aunt Yankee (who happens to be Dodge and Stanford's mom!) who is a petite gal herself.  His looks are Graytsky all the way, even the lighter coat (I think he has the lightest coat of the bunch).  Howard's passion is agility (I guess that is why he became an AKC judge) and Hank has been in one class or another since as far back as I can remember.  Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe he is starting to come in to his own and perhaps we will see them in the ring before next spring.

As you can see, our guys are very busy in one venue or another.  Agility, obedience, tracking, conformation, COMPANION, etc.  I see versatility in the future for all of them.  Keep up the good work everyone and I'll be sure to post something on the big day.  If you have anything you would like me to add to the future post please send it my way.  Remember, June 5 is the big day!

Off to a good start!

Ella had her show-ring debut last month and here is what Ann sent to us...

Little sister Ella made her conformation show debut several weeks ago in Syracuse, NY.  She wasn’t too sure about the whole thing but she was a good girl and did her job and ended up winning her first point toward her championship her first time in the show ring.  Here’s a picture of her with my friend Stacey showing her.  She’s still got some filling out and maturing to do, but she’s a sweetheart and has a wonderful working attitude.  She’s doing great in her agility classes and making good progress which I’m very happy about since that’s my favorite venue.  I love hearing about all her littermates and what they’re up to.

Swing sends her congratulations!  I looked at the win picture and compared it to the shot of Swing from her show in March and the girls are almost identical!  I guess that means we need to look for some of the same judges.

Good luck at the next show Ella.  I agree that both of our girls still have some growing up to do and Ann told me that Ella will take some time off to train and mature before she is shown again.  I think I may go the same route after the Memorial Day weekend show.  Ann is right, the performance stuff is more fun!

One month and counting!

In case you have forgotten, our M&M crew turns TWO next month!  Yes, that is two YEARS old.  Wow!  This summer I'll fondly remember the trip to Knoxville to meet Laura and Mary Ann, our litters co-breeders, and of course the pups for the first time.  Amy and I had great weather for the trip and the miles went by quickly with the help of the audio book Frankenstein (the first in the series) by Dean Koontz.  Matter of fact, we were left hanging at the end of the CD (this was a seven CD audio book if I remember correctly) and we joked that another road trip would be in order to hear the rest of it!

I looked back at last years post when the pups turned a year old and it wasn't until the second June post that I mentioned one thing I wanted to teach Swing, her STAY.  Well I'm happy to report that I have *failed* in accomplishing that feat.  However, she has a decent idea of the word *wait* and that is a big deal with a gal that likes to be in constant motion when she is awake.  Not to say that we've neglected training, we do something almost every day of the week.  But I focused on tracking during the late winter and now that the Nationals are over (and Swing is no longer in season) I plan to focus heavily on her obedience training with the goal of being ready to show in Beginner Novice later this fall.  Our biggest hurdle will be working on her focus and attention.  She's quite the social butterfly and she thinks a release means she is free to run over to visit whomever is in the area at the time.  It will be challenging but she's a smart cookie and as long as I do my job then I believe we can accomplish this goal.  Besides, we will not go on to agility without a more solid obedience foundation.  I know she will be super fast and without the focus and control I'll just have a dog that will potentially run amok and I'm not willing to take the risk of injury, or loss of confidence.

This weekend we pick up the show lead and head to a small show.  She is finally starting to look like a mature dog and perhaps this summer she will be more competitive.  She'll never finish as quickly as Dodge did, she doesn't have the lovely front that he has.  I just hope that she finishes as I like to see that CH in front of our dogs names (but of course the titles at the end of their names are more satisfying IMO).

New pictures coming soon.  I guess it is about time to update the blogs main photo and add some spring green to the look.  Sure would like to feature some of our siblings on the title bar so send me some shots!  And stories too.  I think we all enjoy reading about each others adventures.

Weimaraner Nationals and more

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.