Gearing up for some big shows!

Next weekend our "club" (really just a group of flatcoat lovers) will be holding a supported entry at the Oconee River KC dog show. We did one of these about 3 years ago - it was fun, but we had some problems with the hosting club, so we looked for another local club to host the show. The Oconee River club is a new club; this year's show is only their 2nd licensed all-breed show. We tried to get our supported entry onto last year's show schedule, but it didn't work out, so we tried again successfully this spring!

We have entered 8 dogs....that seems like a lot now that I think about it!! Hopefully we can dig up some friends to help us get all the dogs ringside and into the right classes.

So we're going to have to start grooming everybody this weekend....nail trims, rough out trimming, maybe even a bath or 2 for the especially grubby ones.

The show should be fun - the venue is nice (outdoors, under cover - we'll be unhappy if it rains!), we drew a very respectable entry and we're looking forward to seeing a lot of friends!

Grace goes to the dog shows

Grace was a gift to us from her breeder Judy Gladson of Victory retrievers in Maryland. Her registered name is Victory's Grace Under Fire, and she just moved in with us in January 2010, nearly one year old at that time. She started her show career by going with our friend and handler, Cathy Pullian to the Montgomery shows last weekend.

There was only 1 point each day, but Grace managed to do quite well - reserve winner one day, then winners bitch both Sat and Sun for her first 2 points! She is a dynamite little field dog, and I'll likely start her out in Senior. She's learning all the skills now, an boy, is she fun to train!

Morbidly obese or just obscenely pregnant??

Halo is not due until May 16....ultrasound revealed 8-10 puppies. But with almost 3 weeks to go, Halo is HUGE!! She feels pretty good, and still hops up onto the grooming table as lightly as if she were her normal, svelte self, but we think she's got a pretty big litter.

It's almost close enough to term that we can start trying to count heartbeats with the portable doppler we have....first time we'll get to use it, so that's exciting!

New Junior Hunters!

We only had 2 dogs needing Junior Hunter legs this spring - everyone else is either prepping for JH, or transitioning to Senior work. With this in mind, I scheduled just one double-header test for this spring, keeping a couple of "back-up tests" in mind later in May.

Well, my dogs did not let me down! Nickel needed one ribbon to title, and did that handily on Saturday at the Atlanta Retriever Club test. It was stormy day - the test was delayed twice with thunder and lightning. As a result, it was a long day (45 Junior entries!), but both Nickel and Bo passed in the end.

Bo came into the weekend needing 2 ribbons, so I was nervous on Sunday. He is a good marking dog, with excellent line manners, but he is not quite handling yet, and I hoped he didn't get in trouble in the tall grass (taller than we normally train in, although I had run the dogs in pretty tall cover "just in case" while training).

Sunday's weather was gorgeous - not too hot, but sunny and clear. The marks were meaty enough to not be "gimme's". I scratched Nickel and left her home. Bo came out and proceeded to step on all 4 marks to earn his title in great style!

So this week we celebrate 2 new Junior Hunters for Bertschire - CH Bertschire Ka-Ching JH WC (Nickel) and Bertschire High Velocity JH WC (Bo). Bo is owned by the Keegan family of Deer Park, IL. We're showing him too, so hopefully he can add a CH to his name before he returns home in June!

Party Mardi!

We have had an absolutely gorgeous day, and the evening is just as beautiful. Here is Mardi (Flat Castle's Blue Ocean Bayou) enjoying a retrieve as the sun goes down. Mardi arrived in the US from Holland on March 21, 2010 and has been a true joy. She is extremely easy to live with so far, but that is likely to change when she turns into an adolescent in a few months! In the meantime, we are enjoying her extreme cuteness!

Halo's pregnancy confirmed!

It seems like forever since we had "pupperdoodles" around and indeed it's been a year since our last litter! Halo's mother, Caper missed when we attempted a frozen semen breeding last November, then we had to just wait for another bitch to come in season. One thing that happens when you have multiple bitches is that they begin to tend to come in season in groups...not great for timing when you want to spread your litters out throughout the year!

Well, Halo came in season at exactly the same time as Flame. We had planned to breed Flame on this season, but the stud dog was indisposed, so we have pushed that litter back until fall. Halo had been planned all along too, so we were excited when her intended was available.

This will be the first litter for both parents and we are so excited at the potential in this combination. The ultrasound showed between 8 and 10 pups, so we're looking forward to a lot of work, as well as that joy of watching the puppies grow and develop personalities.

Halo's litter is due in the middle of May, so stay tuned for updates!