Little boys growing up

We had a fun week-end at the Centennial Retriever Club trial.  It was a busy time as Kenny and I, along with some other wonderful people, put it on.  We're a little exhausted tonight to be sure.

Darbi finished the Open with a Reserve JAM.  She ran great, but got out of the water early and hunted a bit around the pond to the last bird.  I think she knew where the last bird was, but she was just too old and wise to make the giant swim to it.  9 1/2 year old dogs know their options and she certainly knew hers.

Only two dogs made the swim all the way to the bird and Miss LIBBY was one of them...as test dog.  She got dropped after the water blind after needing too many casts to get out on the point.  But she was amazing in the fourth and I was so proud of her.  It was spine tingling for me to watch.  Libby needs 1000 more marks and 1000 more blinds to be a consistent Open dog, but geez...she's not even 2 1/2 and she's made it to the water blind in 2 of her first 3.

Libby also got a 4th place in the Qualifying at this same trial.  Not sure what it will take to get her Qualified All-Age, but we're plugging away.  Quals are the most difficult stake to win for a variety of reasons...and I have to keep reminding myself that she's still little baby...or at least Kenny reminds me often when I get too ahead of myself.

I just received some updated pics of Goose and Stewie, two of the Arson x Miikka pups.  They are really growing up!!  Gordie has started Basics and is doing well here with us and I can only imagine that his two brothers are as bright and intense as he is.

Goose has his mother's face.

And his father's intensity.

And Stewie looks like his dad.

Stewie with his big "sister" Emma.

Emma is from the Tiger x Darbi litter of 2006

She looks like she has her mom's aversion to having her picture taken.

Proud of the gang

We had a great week-end.

Our truck of dogs is so young and we know we need a couple years to re-build an All-Age truck, but it's sure been fun watching them grow and develop.

I think out of our 22 dogs that we have in training (including my girls), 18 of them are 4 or under.

Well, the kids rocked it this week-end.

We got 1st AND 2nd in the Open!!  My boy Boomer WON and Darbi's young son Turq (Prime x Darbi 2008) got second.  Boomer is not actually mine, but I like to pretend he is.

Riot, who's a riot, got SECOND in the Amateur and he's only 2 1/2 years old!  And Pacer was fourth in the Amateur as well.  We just got Pacer back, and he spent a number of years with Kenny earlier in his career.  He's a cool dog.  (He's FC AFC Fat City Pacer for those who follow trials).

Miss Libby, as you know, got 4th in the Qualifying and we also got third and RJAM in the Derby with Roy and one of my little boys Stanley.  I now like to think of myself as Stanley's "other" mother.

Hard to believe we had FIFTEEN yard dogs in January.  It was a lot of work, let me tell you, getting all these guys up and running and we have a few more in the pipeline itching to make their debuts.

Ahti is coming along, as is her brother Razor, and we're holding them back a bit as they are a bit...um...shall we say...wild?  Not at all what I expected from a Darbi pup, but it is what it is and we're rolling with it.  We're hoping they'll be ready to break out in the Derby in July.  Plus poor Ahti had to sit out 6 weeks with her wrist injury at a critical time in her training.

Our dogs are fun to train and we're sure having a lot of fun training them.

It's hard work and it's a grind, but it's perfect.

Tired girl

Miss Libby ran 7 series yesterday.  She must be a tired gal.

She finished the Qualifying with a fourth place!  She ran great and I was very pleased with her.

AND she made it to the water blind in the Open.  While she got the bird, she was loose at the end and got dropped, deservedly so.  I was so proud of her efforts in some tough tests in the Open.

And Darbi is back!  She didn't do the first series of the Open, but not for lack of effort.  She was bouncing on line and totally into her job.  So nice to have her back after her surgery.

But it was kind of bittersweet for me to see a subtle changing of the tides.  My 9 1/2 year old didn't do the first series of the Open, and my not yet 2 1/2 year old did it real nice.  I have a bright future in Libby, but I hate that Darbi is getting old.

My Boys

My two little boys are all grown up.  

I bought Stanley and Otto as 8 week old puppies and raised them.  I sold them to clients at about 6 months old.

Stanley and Otto were only born a week apart, so let me tell you it was a full time job raising two puppies at once.  I couldn't let them be together all the time, or even some of the time, so that they bonded to people and not each other.  They were on two different schedules and even had two different x-pens at training every day.

It was hard work, but well worth it.

Stanley (Horsetooth's Center Ice: FC AFC Shaq x FC AFC Ruby) WON the derby this past week-end at West Nebraska and has finished both derbies he has run.  Otto (Horsetooth's Otto Know: FC AFC Cosmo x Lucy QAA) has also finished both derbies he has run and got FOURTH this past week-end as well.

I'm proud of my little guys and I think they're going to have a fun summer with their owners.

A pic of Stanley today.  Such a big boy now.

Another third

Way to go Wibbs!

She got a third place at the West Nebraska field trial this week-end.  She was great from start to finish.

Darbi had to sit this one out due to her recent surgery, but she should be good to go for next week-end.

And Libby ran her FIRST Open there this week-end as well.  She didn't make it through the first series, but it's all great experience for her and she's ready.

She has a bright future we think.

GREAT DAY!!!

BENIGN!!!

ALL FOUR LUMPS!!!

NO Cancer.  Not a trace.

She's in the clear and life goes on.

I cried when they called me with the news.

Now...to keep her mostly still until the stitches are out next week.  She's driving me a little crazy.  I can't believe how fast she has recovered.  She wants to get back to work, but Dr's order are no work until next week and then life will go on as before.

Just so happy.

Darbi Update

So far, so good I think.

She had:
-a spay
-one lumpectomy from her leg
-two lumpectomies from her mammary glands
-one complete mammary gland removal

What my wonderful vet thinks:
-two lumps from her mammary glands are no big deal.  That's his initial thought.
-one lump from her mammary gland probably cancer, but we most likely caught it early and that's over with.
-her leg is probably the biggest deal.  While the preliminary pathology reports showed inconclusive, he thinks there's a 50% chance that it is a Soft Tissue Sarcoma.  That's bad.

Now I just have to wait until next week to find out which of the lumps are cancer and if we got it all out.  If her leg lump IS a sarcoma and we didn't get it all out, then that's very bad news.

I'm hoping it's the OTHER 50% and it's not a sarcoma.

Fingers still crossed.

Momma D doing pretty well considering, however she does look a bit like Frankenstein right now with all the scars and sutures.

Willie's new friends

We had some pro friends stop overnight this week on their way home from their winter trip to Texas.

They brought some guests with them and put them in our front yard.

Willie was a little perplexed.