Jam 2nd place Novice JWW

 Jam showed she wasn't just another pretty face, she earned her second Novice Jumpers with Weaves (JWW) leg going 2nd place in her class with a clean run at the Skyline Agility Club's Trial in Yorktown Heights, NY.  This is her second JWW leg, receiving a 1st place at the BCDC trial for her first leg and now she only needs one more qualifying leg to earn her title.  Although she didn't qualify in her Novice Standard run, she was super fast running the course 20 seconds under course time.  Glad I invested in those North Face trail runners!

Jam with her 2nd place ribbon

From the Garden State Weimaraner Club Independent Specialty show on October 10th, here is the "official" professional picture of our beautiful girl, Jam, Grayhart's Purple Haze.  Jam won a large Open bitch class and then was awarded Reserve Winner's Bitch to the major.  Steve Lane of Hibourne Weimaraners and owner/breeder of her sire, Parker, CH Hibourne's It's All About Me, did a terrific job of handling her. Steve also showed Parker and was chosen as the Judges Select and given an Award of Merit.

So far, so good...

Jam had an excellent day training, she did everything required to pass Senior Hunter and did it well.  She had two terrific backs from a great distance, held steady to shot and retrieved the bird.

 I forgot my regular camera but managed to take a few quick shots with my phone.  They don't capture her intensity and it didn't help that my timing was off.

Ahead of Jam about 15 feet, is the Chukkar, with it's head up looking at her and Jam had to wait for the other handler to bring her dog around for a back.  I hope the consistency and improvement in her performance bodes well for her at this weekend's Shooting dog WCA Ratings test and then at the AKC hunt test the following weekend.

Obedient girls

Savi and Jam at obedience class last week at Kathy Santo's Dog Training...practicing go to place, basically a send to the bed from a distance, and stays...my girls decided to share a bed, even if it was one of the smallest in the room.

Jam's 1st Novice Obedience Leg

Jam with her qualifying rosette

With all the excitement last weekend, I didn't get a chance to update Jam's blog with her latest accomplishment.  It was a super Saturday from coast to coast:  In New York, with Jam, Grayhart's Purple Haze,JH,NSD, (Parker x Trixie) earning her first Novice Obedience leg with a very respectable score of 189 out of 200!  In California, her half brother, Bravo, (Clay x Trixie), went Winner's Dog, Best of Winner's and Best of Opposite from the 6-9 month class, over a special to earn his first two points.

Over the next month or so, we will be busy showing in agility and hunt tests, then conformation shows, before we have time to get back into the obedience ring to try and finish Jam's Companion Dog (CD) title.  So much to do, never enough time!

"A Legal Mind" & our Weims!

Gina Torres, Victor Garber, Jam & Trixie, on location

Trixie and daughter, Jam, put their acting hats on as they were hired to be in the pilot for a new show for USA Network called A Legal Mind.   They played the dogs owned by wealthy attorneys and got to frolick in the backyard for two of the scenes that featured two well known actors, both of whom I adored on Alias, Victor Garber and Gina Torres.

Victor Garber

Gina Torres

 Waiting between takes

 The breakfast scene, where Trixie decided to improvise and grab a cameo appearance by trying to steal a taste of the delectable food placed on the service cart. 

 Running ahead of their TV owners...it was important that the dogs ran from point A to point B at a specific time for the camera to frame the shot.

 Some down time between takes, the girls were terrific and hit their marks on cue!  The cast and crew loved them and we hope that the series will be picked up and the girls have a shot at a recurring role on the show.

At first glance, you may think that not much was involved for the girls to do this...that's how it should look, easy.  There is a lot training involved and the girls must stay off lead in a specific area with only hand signals as you cannot use voice commands during filming.  We needed to keep the girls moving and with lots of attitude with many distractions, including crew, equipment, squirrels and food.  Also, it is a long day, and important to make sure the dogs do not get stressed, overly excited and keep them safe.  We waited hours for the first scene and then had a two minute call to set.  All in a days work for my talented girls!

Reserve Winner's Bitch @ GSWC Specialty

 Jam showed like a pro today at the GSWC Independent Specialty Show winning the Open class and going Reserve Winner's Bitch to the major.  Steve did a great job showing her...now to find more shows in the hunt for those elusive major wins.

Stunning stack

Hello, like where's my treat???

Rockin Retrieve

 Jam hit it out of the park today, pointing and staying steady on walking birds, holding steady to shot and then performed two terrific retrieves including her first blind retrieve.  We were patient and let her figure it out and she did, going into the thick sorghum patch, finding the bird and then making her way out and delivering the bird to me.  She's definitely ready to start competing in Senior Hunter with these kind of performances.

 This is where she came out of the sorghum on the dirt road...50 yards away!

Here she comes at a nice brisk pace.

1st place Novice Standard!!!

Good girl Jam...it was very windy.

At today's BCDC Agility trial, Jam had a perfect Novice Standard run qualifying with a score of 100 and earning 1st place for her first Novice Standard agility leg.  She was the only 24 inch dog to qualify.  The course time was 73 seconds and Jam flew over the jumps and across the contacts in 56.95 seconds, 16 seconds under course time!

Jam patiently posing for her win pictures!

Her Novice Jumpers run was terrific, even staying through a two jump lead out, except she had one wrong course, which isn't allowed in jumpers so no qualifying score there.

Trixie had two very respectable runs but no Q's.  She dropped a bar in her Open Standard run, which was otherwise flawless and 20 seconds under time.  We were haunted again by the weave poles in her Open JWW run, and she needed an extra try to complete them, giving her two refusals where you are only allowed one.  All in all, we had a great weekend, with the girls showing everyone what awesome agility dogs Weimaraners can be and what great ambassadors Jam, Trixie and Savi, who came along for the ride, are for our breed.

The weekend had more exciting news when we found out that Jam's sire, Parker, CH Hibourne's It's All About Me, received a Sporting Group 3, at the show on Long Island, with owner/handler/breeder, Steve Lane showing him.  Congratulations to Steve and Bonnie Lane of Hibourne!