Sleeping dogs lie

Miikka is not the only one that Libby spoons with.

Her new favorite sleeping spot...

Libby's sisters

Fanny (pink) is doing wonderful and seems to have the stick killing down to a science.

And Teah (yellow) is already showing her talents in the field.

Airing in Kansas

One the way home from the Jayhawk trial I stopped at a great place for the dogs to get out and play.

Libby was at her finest due to being kennelled so much over the week-end.

Miikka was kind enough to teach her daughter in the ways of stick killing.

It seems the lessons were working.

What a clown.  All legs and attitude.

The part of the day I look forward to...her spooning with her momma.

Totally bummed

I'm back in Colorado and totally bummed.

You see, I dropped my new Macbook Pro a couple weeks ago and broke the screen.  No big deal.  I took it to the Apple store in Houston and had it shipped off to the Apple hospital.  I arrived in Colorado to find it waiting for me.  Well, it seems the folks at the Apple hospital decided to re-load the Operating System!!
I have lost everything from when I got my new computer to now.  ALL the pictures of Miikka's litter, etc. etc.
I still have my old Macbook, that has pictures and data on it from before this year, but I'm still really bummed.
Thank goodness for this blog, as I post a lot of my favorite pictures on here.

On a dog note...congrats to Turq, who finished his FIRST Derby with a JAM this week-end in Kansas.  What was so fun about it was that Turq's new owner ran him, and they only met one another for the first time a few days prior to the trial.

Jayhawk Trial

I'm in Kansas and am running the Jayhawk trial.  Beautiful grounds and great people.

I ran Darbi and Miikka in the Open and am proud of them both.

Darbi did a very well on the first test, a triple with two retired guns.  38 dogs (of 70+ starters) were called back to the second series.  

The second series was a double land blind.  Darbs did the first blind in 3 whistles and had great momentum and she was trying hard.  She had a GREAT initial line on the second blind, and was again trying hard.  I blew a whistle to get her through some cover when it probably wasn't necessary as she was right on line.  I then had to blow another whistle and it turned out I was too late with that one, and I lost her around the cover.  She re-appeared, but was off line 10-15 yards.  I used one more whistle to put her on the bird.  I thought it may play, but alas, it was not enough.

Miikka had great marks on the flyer and the short retired and hunted on the long retired.  Long hunts didn't play this week-end and she was dropped.

A little photo story of Miikka in the first series.

Sitting very nicely watching the long retired get thrown.

And NOT sitting at all by the time the flyer was thrown.  She never moves her feet, but she crouches like a track star.  It made me laugh.

Peanut loves her flyers.

Fingers crossed for Turq right now.  He's in the last series of his FIRST Derby tomorrow and has run a pretty nice trial so far.

Libby loves ducks

Libby loves her birds.

Last Week

It's our last week in Texas.  We are heading back to Colorado and running a trial in Kansas this week-end on the way.

Barb running Prime in training today.

And Matti running the same test.  Matti is Libby's older sister (Shaq x Miikka 2007).

Miss Libby herself.  Seems she found some dirt to snout around in.

And finally FC AFC Catalina's Pardon Me, "Pard", coming home with a bird.

Fun Day Training

Sorry I've been away from my blog.  I went on a get-away to Las Vegas this past week and had a GREAT time.  Saw some shows...lost some money...you know how it goes.

The Bluebonnets are in full bloom!  This is the view from the kennel at Vinwood Retrievers, where the dogs stay while in Texas.

And this is one of our set-ups today.  Long flier go-bird and come back and pick up the short retired.  I'm not standing exactly on line for this pic, and had to zoom in so the two guns could be seen in the picture.

I'm getting to be a pretty decent flier shooter myself and will go out and shoot birds alone most times now.  I never thought I could get good at it...but practice makes perfect.

FC AFC Tangata Manu watches us train dogs for awhile.  He is retired now, but was sure a great dog in his day...and still is.

Libby decided she needed to sit under my chair and play peek-a-boo.

And then make faces at me...

She is sure doing well.  She lives to retrieve and hits the water hard on her baby water marks.  She is even getting marks on land across channels of water and re-enters the water right away after she picks up the bumper!
When she gets walking singles, she will run back to me, spit the bumper out and whip around to look for the next one. It is very cute, just like her.

Table top

Fanny (right, Shaq x Miikka 2009) hanging with her big sisters.

Meg in Alabama

Meg's owner sent me a couple new pictures today.  I'm blown away by how much she looks like her mother.  Meg is a littermate to Turq (see a couple posts below) and is from the 2008 Prime x Darbi litter.

Meg is training in Alabama and getting ready to run Derbies.

Fanny get your gun.

Not to be outdone by her brother Zink, Fanny is shown enjoying her birds too.

Flowers are bloomin'

Miss Libby is now swimming!  I believe in letting the pup decide when they want to swim and yesterday Libby decided that it was time.  The fact that it is HOT here (28 C) probably was a contributing factor.  She even went in on her own and paddled around for a little while.

She doesn't splash and swims like an otter.  She is too cute.  

I got a neat family picture today.

From Left to Right:  Turq, Darbi and Prime.

Turq is a son of Prime and Darbi.

A Horsetooth Team member WON the Amateur at the Lone Star trial this past week-end.  This is Ollie.  He is a very cool dog.  Congrats to him and his owner/handler Grady.

As you can see, the flowers are sprouting in Texas.  They are everywhere and they are beautiful.