NEW VCD2

In June, mom Skookum competed in an all-breed obedience trial in Canby, Oregon, in conjunction with the Mt Hood Dalmatian Club Specialty and earned her CDX (companion dog excellent) title! This means she is now a VCD2 which requires a minimum of open titles in obedience and agility, and a tracking title. We now have a goal of attempting to qualify for a VCD3. As far as we know, no dalmatian has ever done this, but it will at least be fun trying. To do this, we must obtain a TDX, UD, and one more agility title. Wish us luck! At our rate of speed, it may take awhile. Here is a fun photo of Skookum taking an agility jump. One of these days, I must get an obedience photo.

February Agility

This month, Skookum returned to the agility ring after her cut paw healed and had a really good time. Our teamwork still needs improvement, but we did gain a few MACH points:

January Shows

Mom Skookum still has a lot of work to do to get ready for more showing, it seems. At the agility trials we entered at Argus Ranch, Skookum seemed to have a rock bruise after her third run, so we aborted our last run and headed home. She and I are still rusty, but our teamwork got better each run, and we almost "Q'd" on our last standard run with just one fault. I was especially pleased that she got all of her contacts. We also entered an obedience trial at the Puyallup shows, but her heeling was nonexistent as she looked like she forgot what to do - no attention to me. Her jumps, retrieves, drop on recall, and sits and downs out of sight were just fine, though. So, I need to work some attention exercises and head for a couple of fun matches. At the Mt Hood show, she stepped on a sharp object the night we arrived and has been lame for several days, so she was unable to compete in either obedience or agility. On a positive note, we (all 3 dogs) had fun tracking one afternoon at Fort Vancouver and Skookum was a demo dog at a judge's seminar at the show. Cricket needs more handling practice, but handled getting mobbed by a group of grade schoolers very well. All of the dogs have been exhausted and sleeping a lot since we got home from our 3-day journey. We at least caught up on our sleep and are ready to go to work again. And, Ms. Cricket has had no more car sickness for weeks, now, thank you very much!

Six Months

Merry Christmas! We are looking forward to a better year in 2011. My Mom has made it, has a new heart valve, is recovered well enough to move to a senior living facility to continue gaining strength. I have actually restarted training little Cricket, who has been somewhat neglected the last few months and acquired a few bad habits. We joined an agility class midsession and are managing to stay abreast of everyone else. She is doing just great- has no fear of any of the obstacles she has been introduced to so far. In November, just after she turned 6 months old, I took her to the shows in Monroe to socialize her and gauge how she does in crowds. To my surprise, she won the Nonsporting Group at the Friday night fun match! At the real show on Saturday, she was a bit squirrely, not wanting to stand still for the judge and jumping on him as we did the courtesy turn (oops!), and on Sunday, she dived for a piece of floating dog hair right in front of me as we were gaiting around the ring, almost causing me to trip. She did win her puppy class, which allowed her to go in again for more experience. She leaned into her collar at the shows, which made her move like a hackney pony. Nevertheless, I was pretty pleased with how well she did for no experience. She was friendly to both people and dogs and for the most part kept her feet on the ground- very difficult for her. In assessing how she is looking right now, I'd say she has a really nice, smooth gait with lots of power in the rear, looks good coming and going, has a proper scissor bite, nice dark eyes, and a good topline. I think her markings are pretty nice, albeit a bit dark. She is very striking. On the negative side, she has that curve at the end of her tail, is a bit long in the body, and needs to have more people go over her to give her a bit more confidence. Her small size will also hamper her somewhat, and some judges may not like the heavy spotting on her face, making it harder to evaluate expression . All in all, though, she is certainly showable in the breed ring. My plan now is to enter her in at least one show in Puyallup in January and the Mt Hood Specialty in Portland, as well. She needs more positive experience while she matures physically. The above photo showing Skookum, Cricket, and Flojo was taken by Jerry Vavra at the show.

The following weekend, Cricket was in the Holiday Parade in downtown Seattle, which is a very noisy, crowded and fun function. I took her into the Grand Hyatt to get our costume, walked her all over the streets, and let lots of people pet her. After hanging around awhile, she seemed very confident and I handed her off to a club member to walk in the parade while I went back to the car to get Mom Skookum. I was extremely pleased with Cricket's behavior during the parade. She handled the crowds and noise very well, and didn't seem to be too embarrassed to be dressed in a Santa coat. What a good puppy!

Unfortunately, on Christmas day, little Cricket discovered that she can jump my fence and gate with no problem. Oh, well, I was meaning to replace that section, anyway... I'd better get busy.

Five Months

Well, my 88 year old Mom had heart surgery last week and seems to finally be recovering. At her age, it's going to take some time. Yesterday, we transferred her to a rehab facility where she can slowly heal and start exercising her heart, lungs, and muscles. The good news is, she has a new heart valve and single bypass and is in otherwise very good health for her age. So, her prognosis for a few more years is very good. I am making no progress in training the girls, but they are holding up very well as I spend long hours at the hospital.

My original plan for my dogs was to finish Skookum's CDX title this year so she would qualify for a VCD2, and also work on a TDX for her and a TD for little Cricket so both girls could enter the National Specialty Tracking Test in Kentucky. I am not sure that is going to happen now, but it might if the weather holds over the winter to get out and practice. In the meantime, Skookum has an appointment next week to be spayed, so will need some recovery time for that. I am going to try to get Cricket to an agility class starting next week and catch up a bit on our training goals.

Four Months

Sometimes life is not fair and you just have to roll with the punches. On Saturday, mom Skookum entered her first agility trial since January. She is still packing about 4 pounds too much, but we thought we should see where we were in our training. She still was impatient to hold the start line, bobbed out of a couple of weave poles, and missed a down contact on the dog walk on her three runs. However, her speed is coming back and her distance work was totally excellent. In the FAST class, she was one of only a few dogs to do the distance obstacles. She was well under time on the Jumpers course. I was looking forward to Sunday when I got an unfortunate call that my Mom had suffered heart failure and was in the hospital, so we packed up and went racing to the emergency room, camping outside the hospital in the old motorhome. Her condition is now stable, but she has come to live with me for awhile until heart surgery can be done. I have cancelled all my community and dog activities to assist her. We will just have to cope.

3 1/2 Months

Well, it has been an eventful month since our last post. Cooper has been very ill with some sort of virus infection and his owners have been very concerned, as have I. He had a very high fever, diarrhea, and poor appetite. I am told other dogs and pups out there have had an unidentified virus, also. McKenzie also has been on antibiotics for a UTI after a bout of diarrhea. Cricket has escaped "it" so far, whatever it is, but it sure doesn't sound like much fun.

I have been busy as Show Chair for our local breed club show again this year, and so am running a bit behind on my training schedule, but somebody has to do the job, I guess. It has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun, also. You only get out of anything what you put into it, I think. It's nice to have a 3-day weekend to catch up on a few things now, though. On a positive note, Granny Flojo's brother Tony actually won the Specialty Show on Friday with a Best of Breed from the Veteran's class. It was to be his last show, and he won it in style. I don't believe he has been in the show ring for years. I also don't believe I can remember another dog having won a show like this at the age of almost 12. Since Flojo and Tony's mom Jackie is 16 years old now, it should bode well for the health and longevity of Skookum's litter. Let's hope so. Wow, what an achievement! I am glad I was there to see it. Bonnie Rose, Granny Flojo's breeder, has posted a win photo of Uncle Tony on her website. You can look at it by going to Seaspecs Dalmatians website home page, and then clicking on the link to On The Spot Dalmatians. On the same page is a picture of Great Granny Jackie, Flojo's mom, celebrating her birthday. Jackie was nicknamed after Jackie Onassis because of a circle of spots she has on her flank. Flojo has the same circle in the same place.

Skookum is slowly regaining her prenatal fitness, but is still a bit portly and much slower than before on the agility course. Two weeks ago, I finally got her back up to her full 20 inch jump height with no problems, and last week we ran all but the first course at the full jump height. We are starting to work as a team again, but our timing is not perfect. Maybe since she is a bit slower now, I should try entering a trial and I might actually be able to keep up with her!

Here is a pre-pregnancy photo of Skookum and I hanging around the bleachers, waiting for our turn in the agility ring. I have actually entered a trial for a couple of weeks from now. It will be interesting to see how Skookum does. She has shed a couple of pounds- down to 44 from 47 since the puppies were weaned, and is getting faster and stronger, but is still not back in competition form. Her normal weight is 40 lbs, but she would really excel at 37 lbs. Maybe we should shed a few together. I am going to an outdoor show, and am planning on camping on the grounds. So, it should be a good socialization experience for little Cricket. Plus, I should have time to do some training during our down time. I can hardly wait!