Best.Present.Ever

I got this from Luckiest Man Alive for Christmas.

I'm thinking I'm the Luckiest Girl Alive.

A painting of my Darbi done by artist Pete Ferin.  Pete owns "Asia"…a Prize x Darbi pup.

There are no words to describe how he captured Momma D to perfection.  It's as perfect as a picture down to every last hair.  I can't stop staring at it.

Treasured forever.

Happy Birthday Princess

It's Libby's fourth birthday today!

We had a princess party with her, Darbi and Miikka.

Darbi, as usual, was less than thrilled with the festivities.

We tried to get Doc (the puppy I'm raising for a client) in for the photo, but it didn't go over so well.

Luckiest Man Alive spent some time chasing the party hat thief.

These are the four house dogs we have right now.

Fun times all around.

Happy birthday sweet Libby and Merry Christmas to everyone.

Seminars with Luckiest Man Alive

Luckiest Man Alive (AKA Kenny) has THREE seminars booked for 2014.  He looked at me a little sideways when I told him that, but he's a trooper and they are all for good causes.

Feb 1&2: FREE (FREE!!!!) Avery Seminar with Danny Farmer and Kenny Trott
Location: Anderson, Texas
A couple of handler spots left and unlimited spectators.

July 4/5/6: Kenny Trott seminar for the Manitoba Gun Dog Association
Location: Balmoral, Manitoba

July 11/12/13: Pat Burns and Kenny Trott Seminar for the Centennial Retriever Club
Location: Wellington, Colorado

Send me an email if you want info on any of these.  They should be great learning experiences and great fun.

marcywright@me.com

I must be crazy

I think I'm crazy.

As if I didn't have enough to do, I recently became voted in as Secretary/Treasurer of the PRTA at the annual meeting at the National.

The PRTA is the Professional Retriever Trainers Association and we promote ethical standards and conduct for professional dog trainers, have a voice in the world of Field Trials and Hunt Tests and award annual land grants.

Before I took on this position, I have been organizing the monthly Ask The Pro column in the Retriever News and doing the PRTA website.  The Ask The Pro work has been daunting and I think I will have to delegate it off in the next year or so before I get burned out.  The PRTA website is nothing fancy, as I have no web development training, but it is better than what they had (hint: nothing).

And now add Secretary/Treasurer to the duties.

As much as I moan, I actually enjoy the work.  I re-did the PRTA homepage, did a TON of work in Quickbooks and went through a stack of PRTA mail this morning…all before I force fetched my first dog at 8am.  Thankfully Kenny does the morning chores in Texas so I can do some of this extra work.

The moral of the story is: check out the PRTA website.  www.prta.net 

The membership list is a list of pros that are not just paid members, but fellow professional trainers that were accepted into the Association based on a vote of acceptance from their peers.  These guys and gals are the best of the best.  They put on 5-8 Field Trials a year, give away all their money to Field Trial clubs, the NRC/NARC and Retriever Hall Of Fame and try to influence the direction of Field Trials in a positive way.

A great Association that is under recognized in the sport of Field Trials.

Back in Texas

It has been a whirlwind few weeks, so sorry for the lack of blogging.  It seems I'm blogging less and less these days, and I probably am.

After the three day drive home from South Carolina and the National, we stayed home for a short time and then hit the road again for Texas for the Winter Trip.

I am happy to be in Texas.  I like it here.  But it is not home.

A picture of our pre-National group in Georgia.  We have all, for the most part, been pre-Nationaling together every year since I've been around.  It is always a fun time.

And Riot, who is a riot, FINISHED the National!!!

Here are Riot's owners, Brad and Diane, along with the Luckiest Man Alive.

And of course the man of the hour, Riot himself.

We are very proud of young Riot. 

2013 National Finalist

I just "happened" to have a Tiara in our truck and popped it on 2013 NFC Trumarc's Dot Com.

It made for a fun bunch of photos and all the more fun because Dottie is so photogenic.

Danny Farmer won the National and it is at his place that we winter in Texas, so we couldn't be happier for him and his wife Lisa.  They are good friends.

That tiara has been around…and won a few Opens, a Derby and now a National.

Training in Texas.

Hattie (not worthy of the tiara…yet…but one day...) and her photo hating Grandmother Darbi.

Hattie is a BIG girl.  We love her.  She's working on force to pile in the yard and is doing great.  She looks like she can mark and has TONS of horsepower.

Luckiest Man Alive said to me today: "I think you have a pretty nice dog there".

I had fun watching her dad "Juice" (FC AFC Fresh Squeezed Juice) at the National.  It was a sad deal to watch him go out in the 8th series, but I saw why he is such an awesome dog.