Having some FUN with Antlers

The weekend of June 2-3 was our annual Chesapeake Fun Weekend. On Saturday we had a lot of activities for the dogs but one in particular was not only interesting but fun to try.

We had a Shed Hunt presentation and demonstration. Our presenter, Alberta Hoikke, was knowledgeable, and she and her dog, Sniper, have been doing very well in this sport.  She explained things thoroughly, and answered all our questions.

Alberta says…

Shed hunting is a fun sport for you and your dog. It adds another season for the hunting dog you already own and is a great way to keep your dog tuned up and in shape. You can easily train your dog for competition (UKC Elite Shed Dog or North American Shed Hunting Dog Association) and/or every day shed hunting. The competitions are family friendly and the training helps make your retriever a multipurpose dog and very versatile working dog companion. No special equipment is needed, just some old antlers you probably have lying around.

After the presentation she and Sniper gave us a live demonstration. The sheds are placed throughout the field (the dog does not know where) and the dog has to find them and return each one to their handler. .

After the live demonstration we were able to give it a try. Titan enjoyed himself and caught on quickly to what he was supposed to do.

So if you’re looking for something fun to try with your pooch, check this out!

Tina & the Brown Dogs

Surprise Surprise!

We received a very nice surprise in the mail the other day.

A few weeks ago I had finally got around to sending in Titan’s paperwork to get his Trick Dog title, you know you have to make it all official, you can read about Titan’s Trick Dog here. Well when it arrived in the mail a second envelope also came. Much to my surprise Titan also received the Achiever Dog Certificate.

The Achiever Dog program is a way to recognize and encourage dog owners to participate in several venues with their dog. To be eligible for this program your dog must be AKC registered, or listed with AKC Partners program or, AKC Purebred Alternative Listing or, recorded as Foundation Stock Service

Your dog does not have to be a purebred to register with AKC, you can register them through the AKC Partners program. This program is for mixed breeds and other dogs that aren’t eligible for AKC registration.

If you have a purebred dog but they aren’t registered with AKC because perhaps the litter was not registered or the parents were not registered, or maybe your dog is a rescue and you don’t have registration papers;  you can enroll your unregistered registrable breed in the AKC Purebred Alternative Listing (PAL) program. This allows you to compete with your dog in many Performance or Companion Events.

If you have a rare breed you can enroll in the Foundation Stock Service (FSS) program. This is for purebred dogs that are not currently eligible to be registered with AKC.

So if you like to do things with your dog and would like to expand into performance events, earn titles and recognition you can see which events are eligible for the Achiever Dog program here.

Tina & the Brown Dogs

 

Little Steps

Back in January my friend Robin who has one of the pups, Banner, entered him in the Livonia Kennel Club show in Novi, MI. He was six months old and his very first show. He did pretty good for his first time out and received a Reserve Winners ribbon. You can learn more about Conformation Shows here.

Last Saturday she entered him in the Ann Arbor Kennel Clubs Sanctioned B-Match. These are great educational and informal settings for novice dogs and people who are just getting started in showing, getting a puppy socialized, meeting other people who have a similar interest in dog shows, but most of all they are fun. There are no Championship points or titles awarded at these events, they are simply for one to gain experience for the licensed shows. You can learn more about these events here.

I was very excited when Robin texted me to say that Banner had received a Group 2. Dogs make it to group when they are chosen Best of Breed in their specific breeds. There are seven groups, Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are in the Sporting Group. The dogs in the Sporting Group were bred to hunt game birds both on land and in the water. The breeds in this group include Pointers, Retrievers, Setters and Spaniels.

She said he needed the practice as he was a bit nervous about standing for inspection, but all in all I say he did pretty good.

  

Looking forward to watching this boy mature and see what he accomplishes.

Tina & the Brown Dogs

The First Show

I entered the Little Bittles in their first show In January. My niece and I practiced a lot with them on moving, stacking and showing their bite. We thought we had them pretty good for 6 month old pups.

So we went to the show early to let them walk around and check things out since this was their first time. They did amazingly well, calm and relaxed and not bothered by the other dogs. We practiced just a bit more. We met up with their brother, Banner, and his mom. Hailee’s family came to watch her show Zelena, so we had a a lot of people to hang out with.

Then it was our turn to go in the ring. All went well with the initial stack and go around, then it was time to stack up the dogs so the judge could go over each dog individually. Thalia was the second dog in line and I was showing her. The judge asked me to show the bite…BOOM…she would not let me show her bite. She was fighting tooth (no pun intended) and nail against me.

Our judge, Dr. Eric Liebes, was amazing! He pulled us over to the other side of the ring and let me work her through it, at one point he said to her “this is one battle you are not going to win little girl”. Finally he caught a glimpse of teeth. I was mortified at her behavior and thought for sure he would excuse us from the ring. I am so thankful he was understanding of a 6 month old puppy in the ring for the first time and allowed us the time to work through it, at least somewhat. Hailee and Zelena did fantastic! This is the first puppy Hailee has ever shown.

After all her shenanigans we were awarded second place, Zelena was third place.

I have no idea why she reacted the way she did. I play with their mouths from the time they are very young and she had been very good about it prior to ring time.

So since then we have been checking bites all the time and she seems okay about it, but time will tell.

This is Banner

Second handler is Hailee and Zelena

Me and Thalia

Tina & the Brown Dogs

Do You Have A Trick Dog??

Last year at our annual fun weekend we had a new event, AKC Trick Dog. This is a new event from AKC. There are four levels, Novice Trick Dog (TKN), Intermediate Trick Dog (TKI), Advanced Trick Dog (TKA), and Trick Dog Performer (TKP). Of course each level gets a bit harder and more involved.

Dave is an AKC CGC, CGCA and Trick Dog evaluator. If you pass these tests you can send in your paperwork along with your fee and get a title on your dog.

If your dog doesn’t have a CGC the dog must complete ten tricks from a list supplied by the evaluator. If your dog does have a CGC they only need to complete five more tricks.

Titan already has his CGC, so we only needed to do five tricks to complete our TKN  title. You can find more information here.

                                                     Tricks checklist we had to follow.

This really was a lot of fun and laughs! At this level it is all relatively easy stuff to do. Titan did, kennel up, sit on a platform, fetch it & give, hold and  go through a tunnel. We did one extra because I wanted to see if I could get him to jump over a jump, and he did.

There were several of us whose dogs completed their TKN  that weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few photos of dogs doing their tricks…

The test allows for two handler’s choice tricks. These next two photos were handlers choice.

We all had such a great time, a lot of encouragement and camaraderie. I encourage everyone to give this a try, it is a great way to bond with your dog while having some fun!

Tina & the Brown Dogs