So Nervous

I'm off to a field trial tomorrow.

It's not my first trial, it's not even my first trial alone...but it's my FIRST trial alone as a PRO.  Kenny is staying home and I'm taking 7 dogs to Lincoln, Nebraska. 

I'm pretty nervous.

One dog I'm taking, "Arson", was second in the Open and WON the Amateur last week-end, so no pressure...no pressure at all.

And a fun picture of our Derby warriors from the Kansas City trial.

First place was Riot, who's a riot, and second and third were my little Elmingo dogs Libby and Zink.

Sleuth

Tartan Mystery Man of Elmingo

Meet Sleuth!  He is another adorable puppy from the Prize x Darbi litter.  He was known to me as "Blue".

Prize had very well endowed ears, and so does Darbi (who both have the large-eared Lean Mac in their pedigree).  I don't think there's any question that these pups will have good sized ears.

A big congrats to Meg (Elmingo's Prime Suspect - Prime x Darbi), for getting a third place in the Qualifying at the Jayhawk trial!!

Missouri Pictures

Some random pictures of the past couple weeks.

A BIG congrats to Elmingo's Pacific Eider MH (Shaq x Miikka-2007) who became Qualified All-Age at a trial in BC last week-end!!  The Miikka/Shaq pups have had a great couple of weeks.

A picture of Stanley and me running puppy marks.  Stanley is also a Shaq pup and he is quite the character.  Notice our choice of retrieving items that particular day.

Miss Yellow from Darbi's recent litter is now "Asia" (Elmingo's Shanghai Surprise).  She is now in Ontario with her new owner and doing wonderful.

And while Asia was showing off her great retrieving skills, Ahti demonstrates what she does best.  That is sleeping on my dirty training shoes.

Libby is becoming all grown up!  She is running land and water blinds, multiple marks with retired guns and is still an all out clown.  She looks so much like mommy Miikka that it's eerie sometimes.  Libby is really starting to come on in training and it looks like she and I will have much fun at field trials in the years to come.

We've been training in Missouri this week and last.  Nice to get out of the Texas heat.  The property is gorgeous!  This is just one of the many ponds on the place we are training at.  This property is owned by Bill and Becky Eckett.

There are quite a few resident geese at Blackwater Retrievers.  This one stood out.

And introducing Otto (Horsetooth's Otto Know).  He is by FC AFC Dare To Dream and out of a QAA female.  He is one week older then Stanley and an absolutely wonderful puppy.

Now you know why it's called Marcy's Daycare at training sometimes.  These little guys are a full time job.

Good week-end!

A great week-end for Elmingo at the Kansas City Field Trial.

Turq (Prime x Darbi 2008) got a third in the Qualifying.  Yeah Turq!!

And Miss Libby got a SECOND in her first Derby.  Her brother Zink was third.  Nice thing was that Kenny won with Riot, so Horsetooth had 1, 2, 3 in the Derby.

Darbi ran very, very well in the Open.  The land blind especially, was her shining moment.  It was very difficult and lots of dogs picked up.  She did it in only 3 whistles and worked her butt off for me.  Unfortunately she was dropped after the water blind.  She has only been back in training a couple weeks, so we were very proud of her.

Pictures coming soon!!

Cowboy Up

I'm finally back on line!!

Yeah!!

We have arrived in Missouri and will spend the next week or so training and running a trial.

I got an update and some pictures from "Red's" new owners.  They say he is doing great!

He is now known as "Spur" and will be formally called Elmingo's Lone Ranger.

We sure miss him here, but it looks like he is having a ball!!

No blogging for a bit

WE (my significant other*hint*) broke the air card. No internet other then my iPhone until we get back to Colorado.

The puppies have all gone to their new homes other then the one staying with me, Miss Pink. Apparently I blogged mostly pictures of her, so no one was surprised she was the pup I decided to keep.

Her name is: Elmingo's Tick A Tee Boo and she is known as Ahti (I pronounce it Addy). Tick A Tee Boo is yet another racehorse once owned by my Grandparents.

Ahti is the Finnish god of water, so I thought the name was fitting for her.

Pics when I get Internet on my computer again. :-(

One down...

...four to go.

Mr. Orange left for his new home today.  His new owners drove down from Colorado to pick him up.  I hope they have a quiet drive home.

We've had a very busy week, so sorry for the lack of pictures.  Lots of clients in training and long days in the field.

Of course the puppies came with us every day.  They were always close to the action and were out of their pen between tests so they could explore and play.

The pups were also introduced to water this week.  Although it was muddy water, it had a firm bottom and was actually "running" water for the pups.  The temperature was a balmy 30C, so it was a perfect time to show them that water felt nice and cool.  I stood on the other side of the channel and we coaxed them back and forth.

They thought it was great fun!!  A few pups even went swimming in the deeper end of the channel.

And the unofficial "sixth" puppy, Miikka, enjoyed it as well.

Sigh.

We joked that the puppies were "little rich kids" as they had so many toys.

The tunnel is a big hit, as it is with all my litters.  They spend oodles of time running in and out of it.