Homeward bound

The girls are on their way home.

Leaving Texas today and arriving at Kenny's home base in Colorado sometime tomorrow.

I'm going to be going down there for 2 1/2 weeks.

In 1 week and 6 days I will see them.

Not that I'm counting or anything.

Alaska is warmer?

Well, I was a little annoyed by this video.  Not at all because of Harper (Prime x Darbi 2008), but because of the OBVIOUS lack of snow in Alaska of all places!  While watching this clip this morning, I could only see snow falling and cold outside my window.  When will winter end here in Alberta??  It is growing tiresome.

But I digress...little Harper (not so little anymore) is shown here running a 150 yard mark on a tide flat.  Doesn't she look great?  She just turned 6 months old.  My, how time flies.

Brazosport

Darbs ran this week-end at Brazosport.  She picked up the first 3 marks of the quad, then got lost on the 4th.  She tried real hard though, and that's all I ever ask of her.

On a great note...Kenny WON the Open with FC AFC Fat City Pacer.  I love Pacer.

Congrats to Shaq

Congrats to Miikka's baby daddy Shaq for his THIRD All-Age win of 2009 so far.

I am considering a repeat of this breeding for fall 2009.

First Swim

Meg (Prime x Darbi 2008) took a trip to Alabama with her owner for some training in milder climates.

Here is Meg's first introduction to water...I think she likes it.

Way to go Yankee!!

Congrats to Darbi's son "Yankee" (Elmingo Flight Director XXXVI) who finished the Mississippi Valley Open with a Reserve JAM!  It was the third Open he has ever run, and he is a newly turned three year old.  Way to go!

Miikka came into season over the week-end in Texas...so she can't be entered in any trials for the next 3 weeks or so, but Darbi will be running again in 2 1/2 weeks at Brazosport.

Rockwell

Well, Darbi made me proud at the Rockwell trial in Texas.  She made it past a very tough 1st and 2nd series, only to go out on the 3rd series water blind.

According to Kenny, she ran a real nice water blind but drove deep of the 250 yard retired poison bird and needed to be handled back to it.

Pretty darn good for her first American Open, and we're very pleased with her!!!

Way to go Prime

Congrats to Darbi's baby daddy Prime on his Open 4th at the Bluebonnet trial in Texas this week-end!

Entered

She's in.

Darbi is entered in the Open at the Rockwell trial in Texas the first week-end of April.  Wish her luck.  Kenny is running her.

Miikka is "almost" there....close, but not yet.

One day...

One day...we'll both be big.

Little Harper checking out her future adversaries.

Home Again

I'm home...and bummed.

I will miss the great weather, the great dog training and my two favorite girls.

I'm going back to spend 2 weeks in Colorado with Kenny in May and will bring the girls home then.

"Prime" made it down to Texas before I left and it was great to see him.

Darbi, as seen here, was not as thrilled.

Prime: "I'm so cute, look at me...don't you just LOVE me?"

Darbi: "Get away from me, you never even bought me flowers"

So, after a bunch of pictures of Darbi putting on the "she beats me look", I got tired of it and just started taking pictures of Prime.  Like Miikka, he really hams it up for the camera.

We did a triple water blind with each of the dogs yesterday.  It was the first chilly day of my trip and I actually had to wear a coat.

Miikka and Darbi looked really good on their blinds and I think Miikka has really stepped up in her blind work.  Other than a couple slipped whistles at the end of one of the three blinds, Miikka rocked it!  Darbi needed a few whistles to get out on one point, so she is still out of balance, but not near as bad as in January.

I am so pleased with how they are progressing.

HOT Today

I forgot to mention that the Purina Hi-Point Dog dinner was held Friday night during the PRTA trial and I went.  It was great fun and I had a hoot rubbing shoulders with the icons on the game.  Purina had a table FULL of goodies and I got to pick two as being the "Youngest Person at the Table" and "The person who travelled the farthest".  I picked out two nice pieces of woman's clothing from Cabela's with a Purina logo on it.

Here is another pic of the great FC AFC Tangata Manu.  He was 3rd in the Amateur at the PRTA trial.  CONGRATS!!  What a cool old man.

FC AFC Catalina's Miss Monica catching Kathy's hat in the air after the test.  She got a JAM in the Open this past week-end...congrats to "Scandal".

A pic of one of the set-ups today.  You cannot see the long gun here, but it is WAY out.  We shot the long retired and then the short retired...picked up the short retired, then shot and retrieved the flyer and sent for the long retired after that.

PS-You can see all three guns if you click on the picture to enlarge it.

I thought my girls needed a credit card for an overnight stay to get the long bird, and as expected, both girls needed help.

After running tests, we stake out the wet dogs to dry off.  They are very well behaved and just sit and watch the other dogs run.

Last, but not least...the Peanut.  Kenny ran her and although she looked like a piece of crap in training today, she sure had fun doing her job.

PRTA Trial

I went to the PRTA trial this week-end and had a great time.  It was unreal at how big the trial was, and it was great to see some of the best dogs in the country.  I saw pretty much every test at every stake, and enjoyed the dog work.

I didn't take many pictures as it was hard to do.

Here is Kenny and Gunner running the Qual.

And Kenny and Pic in the Derby.

Horsetooth Retriever Kennel ended up with an Open 2nd and 3 JAMs, Amateur 3rd, Qual 2nd and 2 Derby JAMs.  A great week-end considering the huge entries.

Can't forget the peanut

Here's a pic of a semi-clean Miikka.  Don't want to make her feel bad that I'm leaving her off the blog.  She's sitting in the shade...waiting her turn.

Texas Day Two

It was HOT today.  I burned several body parts (my neck mostly), but it was worth it.

The PRTA trial starts tomorrow and even though I'm not entered (I'm a chicken and the girls aren't quite ready to run a 126 dog Open and 95 dog Amateur), I will be there to watch some of the best dogs in the country.  Can't wait.

This is my favorite picture from today.  Although I wish I had the dog centered more...it is a neat action shot.  This is "Arson" (Catalina's Controlled Burn, I think), owned by Brad and Diane Clow.

Kenny ran Darbi today-lining up for the memory bird.

Here is Kathy Berdan and FC AFC Mizpah Miz, she WON the Amateur last week-end.

And Martha McCool and Maple Ridge Sooner Boomer-who were 4th in the Amateur last week-end!!  Way to go!

A pic of 2 of the 4 marks on this test.  Look for the long gun way off in the distance below the buildings.  This picture does not give justice to how far away it was.  Both my girls broke down early and hunted short...showing they don't have enough experience with marks of this sort.  They'll see lots more in the weeks to come.

The shorter mark on the left is a bird thrown onto the island...the dogs were having a very hard time with this.  Miikka worked it out nicely after some hunting on the near and far shore...Darbi ran all over the countryside, but she was certainly not alone.

Sorry Miikka, still no pics of you.

I ran her today and it is kind of hard to run a dog while taking pictures.  I promise she'll get her mug on here next week.

Texas Day One

Beautiful day here.  Got a sunburn already.

A friend from work lent me a very nice camera, so I'll be taking tons of pictures.

Here is me running Topbrass Repete Pawsibility.  I really like Pete and he is a neat dog.

A picture of Tartan Prime Pizazz.  He is a son of FC AFC Tartan Prime Time (Prime), the sire of Darbi's 2008 litter.  Zazzy is a fun dog to be around.

FC AFC Perpetual Dizzy Daisy (Prime's sister) on the line.  She is hilarious, and really loves her job.

A very happy Darbi.  She looks great and seems very content here.  She is learning lots and I've already seen a difference in her work in just a month with Kenny.

I didn't take any pics of Miikka, as the first thing she did when she got out of her kennel was roll in the dirt.  She is doing well also. She is really starting to clue in on the fine art of running blinds, instead of just running full out to random places.  She is also learning that stopping is not optional and casts are not suggestions.

Of course, both girls are staying with me in the hotel while I'm here.  It's so nice to be able to scratch their bums again.

More tomorrow...

New QAA!!!

CONGRATS to Adey (Elmingo's Chasing A Whim owned and handled by Roger Fangsrud) for finishing 2nd in a Qualifying in Oregon this past week-end!!

This makes Adey Qualified All-Age, the second pup from this litter to do so!  These are the only two pups in trial homes, so I am thrilled with the results.

Adey is from the Tiger x Darbi litter of 2006.

Due to a last minute buyer back out, I kept Adey until she was 4 months old and sold her to a great guy, Andrew.  Andrew sent Adey to Colin McNicol for Basics training, and due to unfortunate life circumstances, Andrew could no longer keep Adey and gave her back to me to sell her to a great home.

I kept Adey for a couple months and sold her to Roger and Donna, indeed a fantastic home!  She is a very active pheasant dog when she is not trialing.

Here is a pic of Adey and I when she was a little gaffer.

Hope you like my hat, I think it's sexy.

Here is a pic of Adey at the Rocky Mountain Sporting Dog Club trial, where her and I won the Junior (Derby) together just before I sold her.

Standing on her head

When I talk about Darbi standing on her head...this is what I mean.

This is an old picture, but the only one I have of Darbs doing this.

I'm off to Texas on Tuesday morning.

Can't wait to see the girls.  Updates when I get down there!!

Chug

Meet "Chug", Elmingo's Chuggin At Full Speed, from the Prime x Darbi litter.

He is owned by good friends of my brother and lives in Missoula, Montana.  I am jealous, as I want to live in Missoula.

The name suits him as evidenced in this photo.

Happy Birthday Peanut!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIIKKA!!

And you guys thought I was out of dogs-wearing-party-hats photos.

Here is a pic of Miikka taken when she was 8 weeks old.  Her and Darbi have always had a special friendship.

This is one of my favorite puppy pics of Miikks.

The Miikka I know and love.  A clown who loves to sleep on her back and snore so loud I can barely hear the TV.  This picture was taken shortly before she left for Texas.

See you in a week Peanut.

Harper

Here is little Harper from the Prime x Darbi litter, and living in Ketchikan, Alaska.  Looks like she has a sense of humor!  Harper is a lucky puppy in that she gets to go to work with Rod every day.

Her and her sister Meg look a lot alike.

Harper's owners sent me a video of her being exposed to a live duck for the first time.  It's pretty cute.

More twinsies

Here is a picture of Miikka taken when she was about a year old.  As mentioned in the last post, I was blown away by how much Nike looks like his mother.  Miikka sure throws herself, as previous posts of her and her daughter Lili side-by-side also show.

Growing like weeds

Here is a picture of Elmingo's Nike Mike from the Shaq x Miikka litter of 2007.  As you can see, he has a big family (especially the Great Dane).

Nike's owner says he lives to retrieve and has been working hard on his yard work this winter.

I must add that he looks like a spitting image of his mother.

And another picture of "Meg" (Elmingo's Prime Suspect) from the Prime x Darbi litter of 2008.  She sure is growing fast!

Booked

I couldn't stand it anymore.

Air Canada has a seat sale on...I'm going back to Texas in March.

Now let's see if I have the nerve to enter a trial while I'm down there against the "big dogs".

Update from Texas

A pic of my favorite ladies from last summer.

I have been getting reports back on "the girls" and it sounds like they are doing great.  Kenny says they are trying hard and doing good work.  The boys on the Horsetooth truck have also learned that sniffing around Darbi's hoo-ha is NOT a good idea, and she "runs the airing yard" according to Kenny.

Miikka even broke in training a couple days ago (on a 350 yard bird!), so it sounds like she is having a blast and Darbi is starting to run some really nice blinds.

I wish they missed me, but it doesn't sound like they do.