Sleepy...

Mark and Ranger spent the evening training. Mark taught 2 field classes. Ranger went to obedience class with Mary. Who do you thing is more tired?

Congratulations on new SHR

Congratulations to Decoy (Tidewater Dirty Decoy), owned by Cindy and Chad in Minnesota. Decoy got his SHR this weekend. He's a Drake and Destiny son from the February 2008 litter.

Ranger and Sage

Today, Ranger and Sage went swimming in the Grand River. No fear for either of them - they had lots of fun trying to dunk each other. Ranger told Sage what he's heard about Going To Saskatchewan. They're planning their trip. Now they're chosing which one is the pea-field dog and which is the wheat-field dog.

Congratulations to Teya and Brodie!

Congratulations to Teya and Barbara and David and Brodie for passing their WC test last night at Mountain Valley. On what was probably the hottest night of the year, both dogs did very well. Diane and Butler competed as well - they did a great job on water, but has some trouble on land. We'll work a bit on that and have better luck next time, we're sure.

Training Day July 3

Great day today training with a fun group of dogs. Every one did really well. We ran some doubles for those dogs working on their WCIs and moving on to Senior Hunter and then some singles for those preparing for the upcoming WCs and JHs. Mark set up a land test on the cut grass in one of the industrial parks near Milton. We had wingers on one mark and a hand thrown on the other. The challenge was to get the dogs to look away from the very visible bank of wingers to focus on the not-so-visible gunner. All the handlers did a great job getting the dogs to focus on the correct mark.



For the water test, we all rang singles. There was a considerable wind on the pond, stiring up the water. Mark set up the test so the dogs would get some practice running into wind. Some dogs found that to be a pretty big challenge, but they worked through it.



We finished in the early afternoon before it got too stinking hot.




This is Brodie (Flat Coated Retriever), coming back on her water mark.

Lexi (Golden Retriever) is just 6 months old, but really loving the whole retriever thing. She went out in the water and did a REALLY long mark.

Raven (Labrador Retriever) waited patiently for her turn. Raven did a great job today learning to be a bit more patient when waiting in the holding blinds.

New Started Hunting Retrievers

Congratulations to Teya (and Barbara) and Cowboy (and Nick) for achieving their Started Hunting Retriever titles at Lake Ontario's test a few weeks ago in Pontypool.

Teya and Cowboy are Drake "kids" and very nice young dogs. Barbara and Nick have done a great job getting them to this point in their training.

Thanks, Trudy, for the lovely pictures!