February Field Training

Savi

 We enjoyed President's Day doing one of our favorite activities, field training with Jam and Savi.  Kellyann was also off from work and took these great shots of our girls. We could not have been more pleased with how well Savi worked, as she has not been in the field since December.  If she continues as this pace, she will be ready for Senior Hunter this Spring or by fall.

 Savi on point.  The weather was perfect with good wind and Savi pointed the birds from quite a distance. She held until released for the retrieve!

 Awesome retrieve from Savi!

 Savi standing pretty!

Jam, who is still recovering from her procedure last week, was so happy that we let her out to retrieve a Chukkar!

New WCA Ratings Titles for Jam and Savi!!!

Jam & Savi with their qualifying ribbons

We had a great time today at the Delaware Valley Weimaraner Club (DVWC) WCA Ratings tests visiting with friends and seeing many talented Weimaraners.  The DVWC and Garden State Weimaraner Club's put on a double ratings test at Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, with morning and afternoon tests with a delicious potluck lunch in between.  

We are proud to announce that both Jam and Savi qualified and have new titles!  Jam ran in the Shooting Dog (SD) rating, which is similar to the AKC Senior Hunter test but not as stringent, and had a terrific run that would have been a pass in a regular AKC Hunt test.  She was braced with her half brother, a Parker son, who already has his Senior Hunter title, and they ran very well together.  Jam had a nice honor in the backcourse.  In the birdfield, Jam used the wind and pointed the Chukkar on scent from at least ten feet away.  She held her point while I located the bird and was steady to shot and then retrieved the bird to me.  

Jam is now CH Grayhart's Purple Haze,CD,JH,OA,OAJ,SD,VX!

Savi was entered in the Novice Retrieving Dog (NRD) rating test.  This test includes both a land and water retrieve.  Savi had awesome retrieves to hand on and and in the water.  Friends commented that she has a Master Hunter retrieve!  

Savi is now Grayhart's Shear Genius,JH,NSD,NRD,CGC!

Summer fun continues

Savi is our resident retriever, loves to retrieve whether on land or in the water.  We let her play with the Armadillo brand Quail toy that Jam won as a trophy for qualifying at the Tarheel Weimaraner Club Agility trial back in July.. Whar is amazing is that this salt marsh is right outside our house and at high tide becomes a  fabulous place for the dogs to swim.  At other times, the perfect place for a romp.

Savi and her quail toy

 Life is good when you have a view like this!

 Savi waiting for the throw...she's always ready for fun and games!

 Jam, practicing her whoa and sister, Savi, did an automatic back, very cool.

There must be critters in these holes...

Summer fun on the Cape!

 On the road again...this time for our annual summer holiday on Cape Cod.  We call it our little slice of heaven and you can see why from these photos.

 The dogs love running in the salt marsh and we have amazing views from our rental house.

 Running along the beach at Pamet Harbor and viewing the boats.

 Trixie and Savi cooling off.  We've had spectacular weather - perfect beach day and cool evenings.

 Savi doing what she loves best, swimming and retrieving...until she find birds!

 Savi found the big prize...a dead seagull! Yuck but she retrieved it and dropped it on command.  Good girl!

Fisher Beach, just beautiful!

and a fabulous way to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary!

The Grayhart Girls Great Southern Adventure - Part 3 - Wilmington fun!

 After the Tarheel Weimaraner Club Agility trial in Sanford, NC, blogged about in a previous post, we followed Jessica and Mia-belle, Grayhart's Special Request, CD,RA,NSD, home for a couple of days of fun in Wilmington, NC.  I've never been to Wilmington and enjoyed touring the downtown with Jess and going in all the little shops.  The main part of trip was to do dog stuff - no surprise there.  Jess is fortunate to train with Diane Gallagher of Dogtrain, who runs one of the premier dog training schools in Wilmington and also specializes in retriever training.  We spent our first morning watching Diane work many talented retrievers, from beginner to master hunter levels dogs, retrieve bumpers from launchers and do blind duck retrieves.  Then it was Savi's turn to work on her duck retrieves as this is one area she needed some help in. 

 Savi has had limited exposure to ducks and when she first met one at the retrieving ratings test last fall, that was a surprise and she did not want to retrieve it during the test.  Once introduced, she was happy to retrieve the duck and as you can see, although the duck is quite large for her, she does what it takes to bring it to me!

 Savi had no problem retrieving the duck from different distances and was happy to finally get her turn in the water.

Jam's training was focused on getting her to swim with confidence.  Unlike her sister Savi, who is a fish in the water, Jam would rather watch from the sidelines.  To help instill confidence, we put a long line on Jam and used a technique called a restrained recall to get her to swim across the water to me.

 The trainer held Jam while I walked to the other side of the pond.  I then called Jam to me and she had no choice but to swim across the water to me.  She was not pulled across but the long line helped guarantee a water entry.  Jam did well swimming across the pond and we practiced this several times and then did it again the next day.

 Jam was happy to be near the water and seemed more comfortable.  Hopefully, we can practice this more over the summer and get her to enter the water independently and work towards water retrieves.

We were quite impressed watching Mia-belle during her water and land retrieves and know that not only will she be ready for her NRD (Novice Retrieving Dog) this fall , but on her way to getting her RD (Retrieving Dog) title as well.

The next day was obedience Tuesday, with Trixie being our main focus.  Since she was entered in obedience in Greenville, I wanted to do open obedience exercises and run throughs in a new environment and have Diane, who is an accomplished obedience competitor, watch and give us feedback.  We had a great lesson and Trixie did well.  I was then able to work Savi and Jam in Diane's group classes, which Jess assists, and enjoyed Diane's philosophy and teaching style.  What a treat to see where Mia-belle trains and meet Jess' mentor and friend, Diane.

Our whirlwind trip to Wilmington was over and on Wednesday the 27th, we packed up and drove across the beautiful state of North Carolina to Debbie and Sky's house.  More on that later...

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.