Wowza!

It seems that in the past month, Jazz has really come into her own. It started with the Splash 'n Dash USDAA agility trial in late September. Jazz qualified in six of her seven runs that weekend! We were especially proud of her, because we feel USDAA is the toughest competition venue in agility. Tess had an unusually rough weekend, but she still managed a couple qualifying runs in very tough Performance III competition.

The first weekend of October, both girls showed with me at the Westmoreland County Obedience Training Club's Rally and Obedience trial. On Friday, Jazz earned her sixth Rally Advanced Excellent (RAE) leg. She needs 10 qualifiers to earn her RAE title. Tess completed her very first Rally Excellent leg with a very nice second place finish. The girls then went on to earn first place in Rally Advanced Pairs, where both dogs do the Rally course together. We always do well in Pairs, and I think Tess and Jazz like being out there together.

On Saturday, Tess and I stepped into the obedience ring for the very first time together, and she got her first Beginner Novice leg with a third place finish. Tess went on to be High Scoring Dalmatian in the trial, as well as High Scoring Non-Sporting Dog. Not a bad start! Jazz completed the third leg of Novice obedience competition, thus earning her Companion Dog title. She had the best run ever with some very nice off-leash heeling, and it ended up being a first place finish to top off her title. Way to go, Jazz!

On Sunday, Tess got her second Beginner Novice leg and a fourth place finish. She was once again High Scoring Dalmatian in the trial. Although Tess performed very well over the weekend, she lets it be known that this is charity work for me and she'd really rather be on an agility course! Jazz, on the other hand, loves to do whatever it is I want to do and had another great run in Novice obedience. Even though it was an extra leg not needed for a title, she put in a very nice second place performance. Jazz has mastered all the exercises needed to go on to Graduate Novice and Open obedience competition. She loves to retrieve and I'm looking forward to training and competing in the next levels with her. Below is Jazz's official Companion Dog title photo:

This past weekend, we were once again at USDAA agility, this time at K9 Four Seasons Athlete Center in OH. Jazz had another great weekend, qualifying and placing in five out of eight runs and earning her Performance I Jumpers and Performance I Gamblers titles. Tess had a better weekend, earning four qualifying scores in Performance III competition. Way to go, girls!

You may wonder why we compete for so many titles. While it's nice to get all the pretty ribbons, it's really not about the titles at all. It's about the joy of being in the ring with our dogs and reaping the rewards of the training we do with them. A title merely lets the world in on what we already know: We love our dogs and they are awesome! I cannot begin to describe the special bond and relationship we have with our dogs through training and competition. The teamwork between us is one of the most rewarding things I have ever experienced. It is such a pleasure and so relaxing to train, travel, and compete with these two Dals. We've made lots of friends in every venue and almost always stop for dinner with a group of folks after the competition, so there's a social element as well. Our dogs are content and well behaved because we spend time with them and give them something to do. I think they enjoy it every bit as much as we do. Just the level of communication alone is worth the effort. I know many of you who follow our blog train and compete with your dogs, too, so you know what I'm talking about. If you want a happy, well-behaved dog, I'd encourage you to develop a bond and mutual respect through training. Your dog will love you for it!

Corey

Well, this introduction has been a long time coming! Meet Corey, my 13-year-old Tennessee Walker gelding. I got Corey back in May, but I never get any good pictures of him since I'm usually riding him! I keep telling myself that I need to get some photos, but it's much more fun to ride than to take pictures!!

Back when I started training Jazz for the Road Trial, I was telling everyone that all I wanted to do was get out of this without owning a horse. Well, that obviously didn't happen! I have enjoyed being around horses so much and found the perfect place in Victory Stables. They have made it very easy for me to have Corey. Because I work full time, train my dogs, and try to have a life left over in between, I don't always get to the barn as often as I'd like. While I'm not there, Corey is well cared for and is used for riding lessons and public trail rides. He was a trail horse in a mountain range before he came to Victory Stables. He's sweet, fun, and reliable...and he's wonderful with the dogs.

Here's Jazz hocking with Corey. These pictures were taken at our Dalmatian Fun Day, which we held at Victory Stables to give everyone a chance to try coaching with their Dals. Corey was many of these dogs' first introduction to a horse. He was wonderfully patient with the dogs and the folks who rode him a bit. He was a great ambassador for Dals and horses that day!!


This is Tess and Jazz coaching with Oscar. Oscar was rescued by Victory Stables, and although they're still putting weight on him and conditioning him, he enjoys getting out and pulling the cart. Oscar was also great with the dogs and seemed to enjoy himself.

I'll try to get some more pictures of my handsome new boy. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying having Corey. We're learning all about natural horsemanship and we enjoy trail rides with the wonderful folks at Victory. I am looking forward to taking Corey to a Road Trial with Jazz in the near future!

Agility Update

I haven't done a lot of blogging lately, so I thought I'd do a quick agility update on Tess and Jazz.

Tess and Jim had a Perfect Weekend at CPE agility in Washingtonville, OH, this past weekend. The photo above is of the crew who got Perfect Weekends, 8 qualifying runs!! All of Tess' runs were in the Championship class, the highest level of competition, so we're very proud of her accomplishments at this trial.

Jazz has also been running well. She finished her Level 3 Standard at our club's CPE trial two weekends ago and is now running in Level 4 and even a couple classes in Level 5, which means she's offically working on her C-ATCH! She's got some catching up to do (no pun intended), but she's really come a long way and is starting to run more consistently with Jim. With the weather getting a little bit cooler now, we'll get back to our Road Trial conditioning program. We're hoping to do another Road Trial at the end of October.

With the warm summer weather, the girls haven't been doing a whole lot! The Dalmatian Club Fun Day is coming up next weekend and we have a USDAA agility trial in September and then obedience and rally trials in October, so we're going to start gearing up again. In the meantime, Tess and Jazz will continue to be the poster dogs for the "lazy days of summer"!

National Ice Cream Day...A Week Late!

I can't believe I missed the most important holiday of the year!! As I was tearing off the page of the weekly calendar that hangs on our refrigerator, I saw that National Ice Cream Day was last week.

Now, here's a holiday that Tess can really sink her teeth into...literally! This is a photo of Tess smooshing her face into an ice cream cup to get the last tasty licks of ice cream at Happy Belly Ice Cream (yep, that's really the name of the place) in the Outer Banks.

If you, too, missed National Ice Cream Day last week, feel free to raise a cone in celebration the next time you're at your neighborhood ice cream store. I think this is one holiday that should last all year long!!

Road Trial Pics

When my good friend Jim mentioned to me at dinner tonight that it had been a while since I had posted to the blog, I knew I'd better get something up there! Let's just say that time flies when you're having fun and it seems like just yesterday that Jazz and I competed in the Road Trial at Dal Nationals.

Anyway, here are some of the photos from the official photographer at the Road Trial:

Jazz's formal win photo.

Jazz and Winchester on the speed exercise. This was technically supposed to be a hand gallop, but because of the wet, muddy conditions in the field where we did the testing, the judge allowed a quick trot.

Out on the trail. While it looks like a nice green field, it was actually a field of standing water!

Jazz hocking with Winchester during our obedience exercises.

This last picture isn't from the official photographer. It was sent to me by Peggy Strupp, and that's her Dal Rad. I just wanted everyone to see the kind of conditions we were dealing with. This was the typical condition of most of the 12.5 miles that we traveled that day!! We had to pass through this section of trail FOUR times, and you can see that Rad is trying to carefully pick his way through the less muddy portion.

The day before the trial, we took a course familiarization ride without the dogs. Our course was convoluted and difficult to remember because they had to make changes from their original plan because of the conditions. I was making notes as I rode along in the hopes of keeping it all straight the next day. By the morning of the trial, they had to change the course yet again because a portion of it that we had ridden the evening before was now under water!!

Now, neither Jazz nor I are big fans of being cold, wet, and dirty, so I still can't believe that we did this...and had a great time!! I've been married to Jim for 26 years, and he said he had never seen me so dirty...and I was the one on the horse, not running through the mud like Jazz did! What a hoot! Can't wait to do it again.

As soon as I get some decent pictures, I have a very special introduction to make to all my blog friends. Stay tuned!!!

DCA Winnings

Just snapped this photo of Tess and Jazz with all their winnings from the Dalmatian Club of America's National Specialty Show. I'm still waiting for some pictures from the official photographer, but the girls are shown above with Jazz's second place qualifier in the Road Trial, Tess and Jazz's second place in Brace Obedience, Jazz's third place qualifier in Novice FAST Agility (also her NF title), Tess' first place qualifier in Rally Advanced A, Tess' second place qualifier in Excellent B Standard and fourth place in Excellent B JWW Agility, giving Tess a Double Q and her Master Excellent Jumper title. Whew! All that in three days.

The girls continued their winning ways this past weekend at CPE agility. Tess had 6 qualifying runs out of 8 total, and Jazz had qualifiers in Jackpot, Snooker, and Wildcard and finished her Level 3 Strategy Games title. Since Tess earned her CPE C-ATCH at the end of last year, she and Jim have been working on their CPE Agility Team Extraordinaire title (C-ATE). It requires 20 qualifying runs in each of the seven Championship classes, plus an additional 2000 points from any classes of the handler's choosing (qualifiers earn between 15 and 25 points, depending on the class), so it's a big undertaking. Tess has probably completed half of the requirements to date, so although she isn't recording many titles these days, she's working hard towards the highest title in CPE agility...and having fun all the time!

Beach Arithmetic

Here's a simple Outer Banks math equation for you:

Good friends

+

Ocean breezes

+

Playing in the surf

+

Digging in the sand

=

2 VERY tired Dalmatians!!!