Bend or bust…

My first trip to Bend after Jordana moved over there and the snow was gone from the roads was in April to take a couch and some stuff over.

The dogs thought having a couch in the back of the van was a great idea. I got over to Bend as Jordana was getting off work and

Oakley also thought the couch in the back of the van was okay. I stayed the night coming home in the morning after Jordana left for work.

What a great day and great views of the mountains.

Stephen stayed at the house with the dogs but I am not sure where he is going to sleep.

Trip number two was in May to take some more of Jordana’s stuff and to move some of Stephen’s stuff.

This time Stephen also came over with one of his parents cars loaded.

It was an over and back trip

so I took a pair of great co-pilots.

We had snow along the sides of the road so of course we had to stop and let the dogs play.

This was Odin's first snow.

And Echo just wanted to eat it.

We unloaded the van with some help

and had a little play session before heading back.

Of course I stopped at Godfrey’s Nursery since it is on the way and the back of the van was completely empty so there was plenty of room for all those hanging baskets and flowers.

The final trip was in June to move the rest of Stephen’s stuff that was moved from his apartment to my spare room. And this trip was done early in the morning, arriving in Bend in time to have breakfast and then head back home.

I am glad I enjoy that drive to Bend!

Versatility-NATCH 2 Kant and a NADAC Judge

I got home May 16th and am finally able to breathe after a crazy busy 2 weeks!! Why is it that it takes so much work to get ready to go on vacation!?! I was off work for 6 days and had to make sure everything was covered. I was leaving for Gillette Wyoming for 9 days and only taking two dogs and leaving 2 along with 3 cats with a house sitter.

I am so excited to announce Kant earned NATCH – 2 and Versatility NATCH – 2 on Saturday, May 7th, at the CAT outdoor Canby trial.

I did not think she would get it outside on the wet grass but she ran perfectly

and only gave me a little scare right at the finish when she started to go left and she was supposed to go right but it was a beautiful run!!

I never thought we would get 1 NATCH and I am so proud of Kant and cannot believe we are celebrating our 2nd NATCH!!

I hung the beautiful ribbon from my rear view mirror for the trip to Gillette and smiled every time I looked at it!! Thank you to all that were there to celebrate with us!!

Thank you Joe Camp for the agility and NATCH pictures.

Sunday morning I took off for Gillette Wyoming to attend a Judge’s Clinic.

The weather getting to

and in Gillette was crazy

but we arrived without any trouble and survived camping very nicely.

From my campsite looking west

and looking east.

There were 29 great judges at this clinic and I had a good time meeting judges for the first time and visiting with ones I knew! I went to this clinic as a judge under supervision and I was hoping to leave a judge! Well I did something right and I am now a NADAC Judge!! I do love being a judge and have enjoyed all the judges I worked with and learned from under supervision but I am excited to be a “real” judge!! Thank you Arlene for believing in me, mentoring me, and helping me get here, I could not have done it without you!!!

The world's greatest co-pilot.

WAG April Games Trial

May was super busy and June turned out to be busier then I expected but life is slowing into a nice manageable pace.  And I am finally able to get caught up on a bunch of blogging!!

April 23rd and 24th was the WAG Willamette Cup Games Trial. Arlene Courtney was delivered in great style and brought fun courses. Kant got 11 out of 12 Q’s and got 2nd place in the largest Willamette Cup Class, Elite Medium Dogs.

We ran very well together. Kant earned her TNE -600,

points for NATCH-6 in Touch’N’Go,

and points for NATCH-8 in Weavers.

Echo also had a great weekend getting 9 out of 12 Q’s and beat Kant in all 4 Weavers.

Echo finished her Open Superior Tunnelers and then got a couple of extra point runs

and she was running in Elite Weavers for the first time and got her Elite title.

Slick even add a few more points to his lifetime points with a Q in Tunnelers, Hoopers,

and Touch’N’Go.

This was Artemis’s debut trial and he got a beautiful Q in Touch’N’Go!

He did awesome for his first trial and was a bit distracted by the crowd. He and Stephen only ran on Saturday.

Thank you WAG for putting on a GREAT Games Trial and thank you to the Willamette Cup scorers for doing all that extra work. Thank you Joe Camp for the pictures! We had the BEST time!!!

An Agility Birthday

I entered the CRAC, Columbia River Agility Club, agility trial in Albany on my birthday weekend.  This was Echo’s second AKC agility trial.  She is still having bizarre teeter behavior so I entered her in Jumpers with Weaves and FAST on Saturday and Jumpers with Weaves and Standard on Sunday.  We were able to avoid the teeter and qualify in FAST and on Sunday she had a pretty nice teeter because I was able to be right there to remind her we do not attack the teeter for moving.  Echo qualified in all 4 classes, earning her Novice Jumpers with Weaves title!!!  I have been thinking about taking a break from agility with Echo but am now wondering if we should just do more AKC for a while.  Kant was not so nice to me on my birthday weekend and only qualified in Jumpers with Weaves on Saturday.   I think she is telling me she is done with AKC agility; not to worry Kant I am listening!!

I had a very quiet birthday; my favorite kind!!  With lots of wonderful birthday wishes from friends and family!!

I usually spend my birthday weekend at the RCA trial in Central Point but this year it was the weekend after my birthday.

The location for the RCA NADAC trial is great!!  It has lots of great crating room that is above the arena.  Besides having to go down stairs every time you go to the ring the view is great.  Jill works so hard to keep this trial going and I am happy to come down and do the scoring.  It feels like a WAG trial because of all the Waggers that travel down to that trial!

On Friday night Kant and I tried another bonus line and it was flawless and breathtaking earning our first 15 point bonus!!  A bonus line is a line at the front of the course that you cannot cross while directing your dog through all the obstacles and the dog has to stay on the path without any redirects; at the furthest point Kant was about 66 feet from me.  It was addicting!!  Going in to this trial we only needed 1 jumpers for NATCH-2 but we had an off course in Round 1 and a knocked bar in Round 2; bummer, maybe next time.  Kant did have some awesome runs and I really felt like a team with her this weekend; she got all 4 Regulars, a Chances, two Tunnelers, and of course that beautiful bonus Weavers run.

Echo also had a great weekend only have a complete meltdown, disconnect in one run. But she finished her Open Superior Weavers title, got her first Open Touch’N’Go Q, and got her Open Outstanding Regular title.

Slick even managed to add 10 more points to his lifetime points with a very nice 1^st place Open Jumpers run.  He also had a marathon pee in Tunnelers!  In the 10 years I have been doing agility this is the first dog I have had potty in the ring and that pee made up for everyone else!!

Thank you Dwayne for some great judging and courses!!  Thank you Jill and RCA for continuing to put on the trial!!  Thank you to all the WAGgers that traveled down to Medford for some fun with your dogs!!

Cherry Blossoms

I was not sure Heidi and I would get our cherry blossom pictures this year with Amelia and the pups, the weather was just not cooperating.  The blossoms were perfect but the weather was not.

We decided to go for it and just as we started taking pictures there was a patch of blue sky and that patch just got bigger and bigger and it turned out to be a perfect day.

Kant

Echo

Amelia

Amelia was perfect this year and she knew right where she wanted the dogs to be!!

 Echo is Amelia’s favorite!

 Thank you Amelia for helping us continue this tradition!!

 We love you!!