Summer Fun

I am going back a couple years for this post.

In June of 2014 we participated/attended a fun weekend sponsored by the American Chesapeake Club (ACC). Some of these can be a lot of work but well worth it. It is a great way to socialize dogs, practice disciplines you may be interested in and socialize with other people in your breed as well as  other breeds.

It was a beautiful sunny weekend! We had an agility obstacle course set up, rally, we would have obedience and conformation time, field time and we would be offering the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test.

The attendance was fantastic. Jennifer Marenich was our instructor, she did a great job. We ended up having 20 dogs pass their CGC test; Maia and Titan were two of those. I worked with them the day before with several other people and overall they seemed ready but was I?!? You know when you get nervous the dogs feel that so I was trying not to be anxious,  just relax and have fun. That paid off! They passed and earned their CGC title.

Titan takes it literally about having fun!

The sit/stay. The dog is required to stay where you place them, then the owner walks to the end of a 20 f00t line turns and walks back. As you can see Titan did very well with this.

Your dog must walk on a leash without pulling, Maia did great with this.

Here the dog has to sit with someone while the owner goes out of sight for 3 minutes. To pass they have to be calm, they can look for you but they can’t act out. Titan waited for me patiently.

The whole group that passed their CGC

This is a great way to proof your dog socially. With that being said it doesn’t mean you stop socializing once you gain your title in particular with Chesapeake’s. But I will save that for another post.

Most everyone practiced on the agility equipment. This was so much fun, I had always wanted to try some stuff out with the dogs.

Maia and I tried the jumps, she actually liked doing it. This was the low jump.

This jump was quite a bit higher but she cleared it.

Uhh I’m not too sure about this…

Titan really enjoyed doing this, we did it several times and even did it off leash once.

Wait…you want me to what…

Several people checked out the rally, conformation and obedience. Quite a few dogs practiced in the field. We were able to get some water work in also.

A little land work.

And some water work.

I know there were some tired dogs at the end of the day. So what do you do for fun with your dogs?

Titan’s First Week at Training

Okay I was going to use this photo for my Wordless Wednesday post but I just can’t wait to share.

This is Dave our good friend and trainer from Dusty Rose K-9 Trainer’s He is starting off with obedience work with Titan because that is the foundation to any sport you wish to pursue with your dog even if it is to be a couch potato I received a report from Michelle (that’s my good friend and wife of Dave, also a trainer) that Titan did very well especially with his sits. She laughed when she told me about his downs, said they are more of a plop and roll to the side so they will work on that; oh yes this is hereditary, he gets it from dad LOL. He must do a good down because my plans for him are to get his CD in obedience as well as at least a JH in hunting tests. I hope to be able to go farther but we will see after Dave does an evaluation on Titan and his training progresses. I am looking forward to working with this boy he has a strong will to please and catches on quickly, I may even be able to enter him in an upcoming Working Dog Stake in August…but I won’t get my hopes up just yet he has a way to go for that.

AKC Definitions:

CD

Companion Dog:
The letters CD may be added after a dog’s name when it has been certified by 2 different judges to have received qualifying scores in Novice classes at 3 licensed or member obedience trials. You can read more on AKC obedience here

JH

Junior Hunter:
For a title, dog must receive qualifying scores at 4 licensed or member tests. Below is an excerpt from the Regulations and Guidelines for AKC Hunting Tests for Retrievers that explains in detail junior hunting requirements:

8. CHAPTER 5, SECTION 5.  Junior Hunting Tests.
Dogs shall be tested on a minimum of four single marks,
two on land and two on water. No more than two marks
may be thrown in a series. 
Judges in keeping with simulation of realistic and natural
hunting conditions must remember the use of numerous
decoys, islands, points of land, rolling terrain, cover,
ditch lines, wind direction, etc. are important factors
to consider when designing test scenarios to evaluate
Junior dogs as capable hunting companions.
    (1)  …
    (2)  Dogs shall be steady but may be brought to the
line on leash with a flat buckle collar. The dog is under
judgment when it leaves the holding blind. A Junior
dog that is not under control when brought to the line
(jumping, strongly tugging, etc) even though it is on a
leash shall risk receiving a lower score in trainability
including zero in extreme cases. Dogs may be restrained
gently with a slipcord looped through the flat buckle collar,
or held gently by the flat buckle collar until sent to
retrieve.Notable changes/clarifications made to the description of
the Junior Hunting Test include:  (1) Judges may, at their
discretion, require more than four marks.  (2) No more than
two marks may be thrown in a series. (3) While a Junior
dog is being brought to the line on leash, it is expected that it
be reasonably under control.  If it is not, the dog risks being
scored lower in trainability in accordance to the degree of
its misbehavior.  

So keep watching for updates as the training continues

One Flies the Nest…

if only for a short while! This Sunday Titan is going to the trainer’s, our good friends the Keehn’s over at Dusty Rose K-9 Trainer’s Dave & Michelle worked with me and Cheyenne a couple of years ago when I decided to start doing some field work with her and they really helped me get Cheyenne out of her shell and become the dog I knew she had in her.

Titan will be very different because I am starting him much younger and he has a very out going personality. Dave said he thinks he will catch on very quickly so I am anxious to see how he does but……I am going to miss him terribly so he has been getting lots of extra smooches this week. He has become my “Boy” he’s loving and affectionate, pretty obedient and a big goof ball! I think Maia will miss him too but enjoy the break

I will get to see him every week when I go out to work with Cheyenne and socialize with Maia, it will still be hard to leave him, but I know he will be all the better for it and so will Maia. They have not been separated since birth and Maia has grown dependent on Titan, so while he is away I will be working on  conformation and obedience with her so I can help build her confidence. We are going to have a busy and exciting summer around here!