Colorful

The Bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas.

They are native to the area, but their abundance in Texas is also a result of Lydon Johnson's wife, through her work with the National Wildflower Center...now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center.

They are everywhere and amazingly beautiful at this time of the year.  You see them in fields and alongside most roadways in the ditches.

Libby poses in the field right behind where our trailer is...along with my next door neighbour.

She's here!!!

My new puppy was born last week.

I've been waiting and waiting for this breeding.

This little pup will be all mine!!

The sire is FC Fresh Squeezed Juice and the dam is Elmingo's Prime Suspect (Prime x Darbi 2008), a very nice dog I won an Open with in Canada last year.

My very own Darbi granddaughter!!

"Meg" had three puppies, and only one girl, but thankfully I had the spot as "pick" female.  Will be an easy pick for sure.

Here she is...laying on top of her two brothers!

I think I'm going to name her Tealgrove's Hat Trick.  "Gordy" was going to be Hat Trick, but his new owner decided to go with another hockey themed name instead...Elmingo's Controlled Power Play.

Since there are three pups in this litter as well...the same as Gordy's litter...Hat Trick is a fitting name.

Introducing "Hattie".

High Fashion

Libby showing off my stylish new HOT PINK collar strap.

1000 stories

Oh the stories these feet could tell. Every grey hair is a chapter in Darbi's book of life.

Some of the pages are old and faded and some chapters are short, while others long, too long.

Like the first Derby she ever ran where I handled to the go bird in the first series. That page is still eared in her book. It seems like yesterday.

Other grey hairs speak of training woes and mistakes. I didn't know much of anything the first years and she sprouted a few of those hairs, I'm sure, from my many mistakes. She was so patient with me.
Her feet are gnarled and old. She's run many miles, and all because she loves me.
Darbi is limping again. Another injection into her poor, old feet maybe? But the end of trials is near for her....those old feet have almost done enough.

Seminar

The week-end is over...thank goodness.

I organized a seminar for Avery Sporting Dog put on by two fabulous guys...Danny Farmer and Kenny Trott (Luckiest Man Alive).

It was a fun time and I think everyone learned and came away with something.

When the cat herding was over (Danny and Kenny being the cats) and a date was put in place, it was pretty straightforward to manage.  Avery is a great organization and they are very supportive of our dog sports.

We hope to have another one next year, but on a better date that isn't competing with two Texas Field Trials and a local hunt test.

It must have been intimidating to run under the watchful eyes of Danny and Kenny.  Both are great teachers though and put everyone at ease.  We had 12 handlers and a number of spectators.  I was the one who volunteered to get the bird rack and got sidetracked...as you can see.

There was a morning review the first day of Danny and Kenny's basics programs.  Very helpful to most people I'm sure.  The guys had demo dogs at the actual level of the topic for parts of it.

Basics are everything...this is the NUMBER ONE thing I've learned in the past few years.  Basics doesn't just teach go, stop and come.  It teaches guts.  It teaches try.  It teaches a dog to be a team player.  It trains a dog HOW to be trainable.

A dog will never meet it's full potential with bad basics.

All the review and re-review of Basics doesn't overcome basics that were not done right the first time around.  It is hard to break bad habits, and sometimes impossible.

You have an issue with your dog?  Where is the hole in Basics?  It is truly that simple most of the time.

Basics are everything.

I dare anyone to argue with me on that one...I'd send you to Danny and Kenny for a follow up discussion.

Cozy

We got a new travel trailer.

Yes, we're trailer trash in Texas.  Since it's our home away from home for many weeks of the year we decided we needed an upgrade to something nicer (BIGGER) than what we had.

Darbi likes the fireplace the best.

Shreveport

Had a fun week-end running the Shreveport trial here in Texas.

Miss Libby ran, what I thought was, a so-so set of opening marks.  For each bird, her lines were to the right of the actual lines to the birds.  Not sure why she "moved the test over" in her little head, but it was what it was.  While the wind was blowing left to right, causing her to crosswind and quickly pick up each bird, I knew from a judge's stand point that it wasn't desirable.
They called her back to the land blind... a very difficult poison bird blind with some water.  I was happy with her effort and she ran a decent blind.  It was only decent though and we were dropped.  I knew those opening marks would come back to haunt me.
However, Libbs seems to have gotten over her poison bird fetish and that makes life less stressful for us now.  10 or so dogs picked up the PB in this test and she cast off of it very nicely with the bird on her nose.  I'm sure happy about that.

And Momma D!!!  She finished with a JAM.  She was fabulous!  Someone came up to me and said "my word, she runs like a 5 year old!".  I was very flattered.  She was great in all 4 series, especially the land blind and the water marks.  I think a cross wind on the long retired in the first series kept us out of the ribbons.  3 trials since December and she's been to the water blind twice and finished once.  Not bad for the old lady.

I can't say it enough...every day with her is a gift.

And Darbi's son Turq finished alongside his mother with a JAM as well!!  Atta boy Turq!

As an aside...I have learned in recent years that downwind marks are the only way to go when judging dogs if at all possible.  "Downwind marks and crosswind blinds" is what everyone who I think is wise says.  These poor judges had set up a nice set of marks that started the day off as downwind...but after a couple of dogs...the wind changed.  The marks became way too easy and all because of a little wind shift.  I felt sorry for the judges, but that is how it goes sometimes.  That's okay...they got us back on the land blind.  :-)

The hardest job of them all...

These Field Trial dogs work hard.  Very hard.

400 yard marks as the fourth bird to retrieve.  Long, long water blinds in stiff cross winds.  Etc.

But I'd have to argue that Miikka has worked as hard of any of them in her retirement.

She has raised a village of puppies in the past 3 years.

Now, only two of these puppies are her own and the others are all puppies I bought and re-sold to clients or others.

Miikka is the supreme baby sitter and puppy raiser.  She has taught each puppy to have good house manners, how to play nice and be brave and bold in every situation.  She has set the example to these guys to relax in the house and be bird crazy in the field.

No doubt in my mind that every one of the pups in this picture will be a Field Champion one day.  They are all bright young stars.

And we owe a little bit of thanks to Miikka for all her hard work.

From left to right:

Gordy, Libby, Otto, Willie, MIIKKA, Rip (in front) and Stanley

Missed from the picture but loved by Miikka:

Ahti & Loki

$1

You could have had Darbi for just $1 last week.

Just $1.

Coastal Bend

Very happy.

Luckiest Man Alive (LMA) went to a trial in Texas this week-end, while I stayed home to work some young dogs.

I was worried for Darbi because of her foot and all she's been through.  Plus, LMA has not run her, even in training, for a very long time.

I was worried for Libby because she's a young one and these big Opens can be overwhelming for any dog, let alone a newbie at the Big Time.

Well, I can put my worries to bed.

First/second series was a double, then pull off to run the blind, the pick up the double...that were both retired.  Both Darbi and Libby did great!!  Field was cut from 80-ish to 20-ish.

Third series was a water blind.  Cold honour for single, then come back out to see dry pop, run water blind, then pick up long retired bird that was shot as a single after the water blind.  Kenny said that Darbi did very well, was trying very hard and he was surprised she was dropped.  And NO limping!!  Amazing.

Miss Libby did GREAT apparently.  There was a lot going on in that test and it's amazing she handled it all (excuse the pun) so well!

Libby made it to the last series, but alas, it was a bit over her head.  Long flyer last bird down with two very hard short retireds in front of it.  She had to handle on one bird and had a "good sized' hunt on the other.  She did not receive a green ribbon.

Doesn't matter.  I'm very pleased with my two girls.  They both tried so hard and one can't ask for more then that.

Some things never change

Whether we're at home or on the road...

Peanut has perfected her sleeping into a fine art.

...and Rip is taking to his sleeping training naturally.

Big swims and tired puppies

Gordy is growing up!  He's from the Arson x Miikka breeding of 2011 and he will be breaking out in the derby in the near future.  He looks just like his dad Arson and has his mom's sense of humor.  We are excited about him.

Darbi coming back with the bird after two VERY big swims today.

Her leg is doing GREAT so far.  I almost can't believe it.  

We've run a few big land tests with her since she had her foot injected and I cringe every morning expecting to see her limping (she's off her Rimadyl) and there has been no limp.

It's remarkable.

Fingers crossed that it keeps up.

The fun today was almost too much for Rip.  He had to crawl into the 4 wheeler for a nap near the end of the day.  I think he's found his new favorite spot.

The weather has been great in Texas and we're having a great time with our crew of dogs.

Darbi's Leg

I wrote this post a year ago.

http://elmingoretrievers.blogspot.com/2012/03/ahtis-boo-boo.html

It's about Darbi's daughter Ahti hurting her ankle and how I saw the greatest vet ever - Mr. Wonderful Ortho Vet.

Well...I had a long visit with him again today about Momma D.

As you know, her foot/wrist has been bothering her for some time.

You see, Darbi had a similar injury to Ahti many years ago.  It has developed into mild arthritis in her right foot.

We tried a long term arthritis medication with her this past summer that did NOT work at all.  I "lost my dog" is how I put it.  She was lethargic and a shell of herself.  This is why I think she ran poorly on our Canadian trip last year.  We took her off the med and then put her on Rimadyl.  She's not on it every day and we noticed an improvement right away.

Although her limping was very periodic and mild, I wanted to be sure she was comfortable.

At the recent Canadian National, her limping "broke through" the Rimadyl.  She was quite sore by the 9th and 10th series and I knew then that we had to make a plan.  One couldn't tell (nobody said anything to me) when she was going out for the birds, but I could very much tell as she was coming back to heel and coming out of the holding blinds.

I asked the Luckiest Man Alive if I should retire her in December and his response was "that would be cruel".  I know she's old, but she loves it now more then ever.  We only train her on one set up a day and some days not at all.  We run her on the tests that will keep her mind and her marking sharp and she is thriving on it.  She barks in the truck when we pull in to a trial or training grounds.

So...I called Mr Wonderful Ortho Vet and we went to see him today.

As with Ahti, he didn't need x-rays to assess and diagnose Darbi (although I had them).  He diagnosed her with Seasamoiditis.  Inflammation of the seasamoids in her foot.  She also had pretty large arthritic changes in two toes.

Now this is the kicker...
He told me MANY front leg injuries in Field Trial dogs begin as some sort of change in a dog's foot...or seasamoiditis.  With this a dog will change how they put their foot down and it will lead to problems up and down the leg, like shoulder and elbow problems.

It was such a fascinating hour with him that there is too much to write about what I learned.

Our course of action: we injected Darbi's right foot at the two main points of inflammation with a steroid.
I asked him about Adequan and he said "I could pee in her ear for a week and you'd see the same thing as if we put her on Adequan".  Yes, he actually said that.

He told me to take her off the Rimadyl and that I'd see a big improvement in one or two days.

WOW.

If the injection doesn't work, they can also inject with cortisone or Hyaluronic Acid...but he thought I'd see improvement with the steroid alone.

I can't wait to see what happens.

I've always said Darbi will tell me when she's ready to retire.  Her heart is not ready yet and I truly believe that her body isn't ready either.  In the near future, one or the other will tell me it's time.

Mr. Wonderful Ortho Vet checked her out head to toe and was amazed at her condition overall.  Great hocks, good ACLs, good elbows and shoulders...everything else checked out A-Okay.

Every day with her is a gift that I cherish.

Puppy mark

A gorgeous day training today (for January!).

As the sun was going down, we closed the day with puppy marks for Rip.

Warms the heart

We are back in Texas for Winter Trip 2013.

It was cold training today...well, cold to me, but compared to my former home of Alberta, it was downright balmy.

I got a picture today of Ahti and her two "boys".

It really warms my heart.

I just need to find something to warm my feet too.

Merry Christmas!

Taking a little blog break.

Merry Christmas to everyone from Rip!

Texas Hunt

A short time ago the Luckiest Man Alive saw a bunch of birds sitting on the pond at Vinwood Kennels in Texas.

Lucky Miikka got to go help take care of them.

Sleeping on the job

Had a great day training today at the property where the recent US National was.  We train there once a week or so while in Texas as it's only 30 minutes from the kennels.

My new pup Rip is now Horsetooth's new Equipment Coordinator.

Looks like he's a union guy.

No rest...

The National is over and after taking Sunday off...we were back in the field today.  Nothing like BIG water blinds to relax and enjoy the nice weather.

We are so proud of both Turq and Boomer, as both got to the seventh series in the National.  They are both young guys and have bright futures.

Some random photos from this past week...

A view from the retired gun station in the first series of the National.  Quite a few trucks there.  I was throwing this bird for one shift, and they went back about 6 rows!  Now you can see why these dogs need to learn to handle with "distractions" behind the handler.  There is a lot for the dog to look at back there!

Girl dogs don't air.  They just don't.  They lay around and stare at you.  Sometimes I wonder if they ever go to the bathroom.

Turq relaxing and cooling off after running the big 5th series quad at the National.  He enjoyed hanging out with Rip and his brother Trouble.  "Trouble" has gone to his new owner and now we have just Rip.  He's a great little puppy.

The two long guns in the fifth series quad at the National.  Things are always tighter in the field then they look from line.  I'm throwing the one bird angle back towards the other guns...and as you can see...they are not that far away, and throwing their bird towards me.  These birds were each about 380 yards from the line.  Amazing what these dogs can do.

And little Ahti at "show and tell" in Victoria, BC.  Not sure what the fire helmets are all about, but Ahti had fun anyways.  Ahti showed off her new trick - Shake A Paw.  I miss Ahti very much, but she's in doggy heaven, no question.

Early mornings...

It's 4:45 in the morning right now.  Ugh.

Kennels are done and dogs are looked after.

The National starts today and Turq is the 5th dog to run, so we need to be there early.  Test dog goes at 6:30.

I'm not a morning person and the Luckiest Man Alive would say that is an understatement.

How many pros does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A picture of the test planning for the last day of pre-National yesterday.  From left to right: Randy Bohn, Howard Simson, Wayne Curtis, Bill Eckett, Luckiest Man Alive, Rob Erhardt and Dave Rorem.

Not a fancy picture with my iPhone, but it will do.  Darbi's son, Backwater Smokin Turq watches the birds go down.  The last test we ran for the week was a double and a blind, with handlers doing it in various fashions...straight up double with the blind, interrupted double, singles, etc.

Double Trouble.

Here are two puppies I'm looking after right now.  If it seems I'm never without a puppy...you're right.

The pup on the left in one I bought for myself to raise.  His name is Rip and the breeding is FC AFC "Zoom" out of "Tootsie" QAA.  I named the pup Blackwater's Hoof Hearted.  If you get the joke in his name...extra points to you.

The pup on the right is "Trouble".  I'm watching him until the end of the National for his new owner.  They have been a joy so far and are wonderful little guys, although Trouble seems unimpressed with the pre-National proceedings.

Pups from the previous ZoomxToots breeding got 1st, 3rd and 4th in the Derby at Missouri, so we're excited about these little guys.

Pre-National

The US National is in Texas this year, so that is why we made the trek down earlier than normal.  Pre-National training started on Monday and it's been a busy few days getting the dogs ready.

Our pre-National group consists of Dave Rorem, Bill Eckett, Rob Erhardt, Wayne Curtis, Randy Bohn and of course, the Luckiest Man Alive, Kenny Trott.  There are also several Amateurs with dogs qualified in the group.

A picture of the gallery at Tuesday's water triple and blind.

The trucks line up.

A CANADIAN dog...CFC Backwater's Boomer, owned by Daryl Shmon and run by my husband.

My boy Boom.

Wayne Curtis and the wonderful FC Drake's Bay Parting Of The Sea - "Moses".

Moses likes his flyers.

And the second CANADIAN dog qualified for the US National.  FC AFC CFC CAFC L and L Just A Gigalo - "Deuce".  He is owned and will be run by Howard Simson of Ontario.  Deuce trains with pro Kevin Cheff.

Deuce watching the bird intensely.  

It is great fun having both the Canadian dogs that are qualified in our pre-National group!!

Plus, we can't forget the Canadian BRED "Turq".  I'll get some pics of Darbi's son up soon.

Ahti's New Home

I mentioned in my last blog that I would be off on a big adventure, and a big adventure it was.

I made the decision some weeks ago that Ahti was not going to make it as a field trial dog.  She was talented, and she was cute, but she didn't LOVE it.  They need to love it to succeed.  She was always worried about what she was going to do wrong instead of relishing in what she did right.

It is probably one of the hardest dog decisions I've ever had to make.  A lot of emotion was involved and I had to think with my head instead of my heart.  I cried many tears (I cry easily as I'm sure you've noticed) and I had many long conversations with the World's Luckiest Man about it.

I was stuck, with my heart, in that Ahti is the only Darbi daughter that I kept.  Darbi is my Heart Dog and I so desperately wanted to recreate the amazing years I've had with her.  But Darbi wants it more.  And why make Ahti do something she didn't really like just to satisfy my own emotional needs.

The decision was made, not lightly, and it was time to figure out what to do with Ahti and what would be best for her.  

What was best for me was to KEEP Ahti forever and ever.  However, was that really best for her?  If I wasn't on the road (with limited dog space) so many months of the year, that would be have been easy. But I didn't want Ahti to have a life of living on a dog truck when she could have so much more.

So off we went to her new home.

Ahti and I hopped a plane to Seattle, Washington out of Houston, TX.  She flew cargo and seemed unfazed by the trip.

We then jumped on a FLOAT PLANE for the last leg of our journey to Victoria, BC.

There is not enough room on float planes for dog crate, so Ahti had to ride loose on the plane during the flight.  I HATE (capital H) flying and I swear we were going to crash about 6 times during the flight.  I had Ahti's crate from the previous flight donated to a dog rescue centre in Seattle in Ahti's name.

Here we are landing in beautiful downtown Victoria, BC where her new family awaited.

Ahti must have surely thought I had taken her into a weird world, when these faces met her for the first time.  It was Halloween!

However, she was completely unfazed by the whole adventure.

Ahti's new family is my brother, sister-in-law and most importantly...their two boys.  The boys had a little calendar on their fridge crossing off the days to when Ahti would arrive after the big announcement was made to them two weeks prior to our arrival.  They are SO excited to have their very own puppy.

Ahti walked to school with them her first morning in Victoria.

And I was quickly forgotten as she figured out who her new buddies were.

It tore at my heart on several levels.

She was SO wonderful with the boys in the few days I spent there during the "transition".  She never once jumped on them, she was very sweet and loyal and listened to them so well.  All the wonderful qualities that Darbi has that I love so much.  She is truly her mother's daughter in so many different ways.

But this is best.  Best for Ahti.

I cried (again) when I left, but I know she will have a better life then what I could offer her.  I know the present to her of her own two little boys is the best gift I could have given.  

And my brother works out of his home, so she will have a lifetime of companionship and love, which is all she ever wanted.

I'll miss you Ahti Boo.  But I'll see you very soon.

Texas!

Shorts on.
Air conditioning going.

We're in Texas!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, but we made it down and are all settled in.

However, I'm off on a big adventure tomorrow.

I'll blog all about it when I get home in a few days.

Hunting season is here!

And the Elmingo dogs are out in full force!

Darbi has been out a couple of times already with the Luckiest Man Alive in between trials last week.

Elmingo's Prime Suspect "Meg".

Elmingo's Shanghai Surprise "Asia"

Both looked they enjoyed an early season hunt in Ontario with their owners.

Blinded by color

I keep this "ribbon" on the visor of my truck.

It keeps me grounded and reminds me of what is important.

You see, this is a ribbon I received at a field trial earlier this year.  It's not a sob story, but I truly thought Darbi had finished in the top two at the trial, but most likely had won.  Everyone there thought she'd won...by a mile.  She didn't put a foot down wrong and hit the 4th series quad way harder than anyone...absolutely face planted all 4 birds and took all the water doing so.  It was amazing...SHE was amazing!

When the results were announced, I received a green ribbon.  Everyone was stunned.  Even the winner apologized to me.  Hey, not his fault.  The judge's saw something they didn't like and who knows to this day what it was.  (I think I was a hair wide on the water blind, maybe???)  But dogs placed above me that wouldn't get IN the water on the same blind, gut hunted a mark, etc.  I didn't understand.

So I took my green ribbon back to the truck and shed a couple tears.  Not tears of pity or disgust, but tears that the RIBBON was what mattered to me that day.  The RIBBON was what provided me the validation I thought I needed.  I was disappointed in myself.

I should have been thrilled with my dog no matter the ribbon.  I was pumped to run a near "perfect" field trial, and I was shocked that that feeling deflated when the awards were presented.

So I took my ribbon, removed any trace of color and placed it in my truck as a reminder.

A reminder that color doesn't matter.  I need to be thrilled with the effort, no matter what the results.  We've all been to trials where we got ribbons we didn't think we deserved, either higher or lower (and of course we keep the higher ones to ourselves, but tell the world when it's the other way around).  We all know how frustrating it is to pick up our dogs in the fourth series after running a great trial, we all know how difficult this game is and how failure happens much more often then success.  We all know what it's like to think we got "screwed".

Heck, only three years ago I wasn't "ready" to win a US Open according to the Luckiest Man Alive.  Look at how far I've come in such a short time.  I'm in the mix at the end often now and I have a right to feel "screwed"??  I don't think so.

I'm trying to keep it real and keep it about the dogs.  Ribbons don't matter.  Having a great week-end with a special dog and really clicking with one another matters most of all.  Having all the hard work pay off is what matters most of all.  This "ribbon" reminds me of that every day.