Happy Canada Day!

Here are some celebratory photos taken on Canada Day 2012

Even Salander got into the spirit of Canada Day!

American Specialty - Part 2

Michele, Teva, Tinbie, Puffin, Cava and Liz participated in the conformation events at the FCRSA National Specialty in Wisconsin.  It was a long, long, long drive to get there......   Cava was also entered in rally, but she came into season the day before we left.

Liz showed Tinbie in the bred-by exhibitor class and placed 2nd in this huge class full of gorgeous dogs.  The  dog that won the class (Jennifer Andrew's lovely dog, Huntlane Lake Effect), went on to win Winners Dog and Best of Opposite.  Tinbie got to go back in the ring and was awarded Reserve Winners Dog.  What a thrill!

Liz and  Tinbie in the ring - thanks to Barbel Gammon for this photo!

Tinbie shows off his giant ribbon at home

Cava showed in the Amateur Owner Handler class, another large class filled with quality dogs.  She placed 2nd in the class, which was very nice!

Liz and Cava in the ring.  Photo courtesy of Barbel Gammon.

Cava poses at home with her ribbon.

Puffin showed in the Bred-by Exhibitor class, a large class of 21 beautiful girls.  We were absolutely thrilled to win the class!

A very overheated Liz with Puffin in the ring.  Photo courtesy of Barbel Gammon.

Puffin posing with her ribbon.

On the last day, Liz showed Puffin and Cava in the brace class.  They showed nicely and we managed not to get too tangled up together!  They placed 3rd in the class.

The specialty judge was Wies Boermans, a well-respected dutch flat-coat breeder/judge.  We have admired her dogs for many years, so it was nice to do so well under her and well worth the long, long, long drive!

American Specialty PART 1

While we were not able to attend the field events, a couple of Blazingstar dogs did very well.  


Annie, HRCH Blazingstar Beaufort CDX SH WCX CGC, passed the Master Hunt Test (her 4th pass).  Her owners Brian and Katy report "Not only did Annie pass, she never had a single handle on any marks, one whistled the land blind and easily had just about the best water blind. She literally pinned her marks."   Annie also passed the WCX test.  Congratulations to Annie, Brian and Katy!   


Roekkr, CH Blazingstar Longspur at Labrys Can CD JH WC RA Am CD WCX RE, passed the Junior Hunt test and completed his American Junior Hunter title - Congratulations to Roekkr, Joey and Linda!

Sam the Senior Hunter!

On the weekend, Sylvia and Sam passed two more Senior Hunter tests to finish their SH title.  We couldn't be prouder of this team and we are so thrilled for the two of them!  Sylvia phoned us from the test grounds on Saturday night to give us the wonderful news.

Sam is from our Mikey x Tally litter and is now HR Blazingstar Bobolink SH WCX TD.   

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO SAM AND SYLVIA (and a very tolerant J and Jammer for their support in the background)!

Thank-you to Amanda Rigby for taking this lovely photo of Sylvia and Sam. 

Third Master Hunter Leg for Annie and JH title for Keetch!

Last weekend Annie (HRCH Blazingtar Beaufort SH CDX) passed her 3rd Master Hunter test.  We are very proud of Annie and her owners, Katy and Brian!

At the same tests, Annie's daughter, Keetch, finished her Junior Hunter title.  Congratulations to all!

Annie and her MH ribbon.  Like her mother, Lupine, Annie does not enjoy having her photo taken and seems to be trying to hide behind the flowers!

Keetch and her JH qualifying ribbon and JH title ribbon.  She looks remarkably like her grandmother, Lupine, in this photo.

Medicine Hat Show

We are a bit behind in our news - time to catch up!  I took 2 dogs to the Medicine Hat show, to compete in obedience and rally.  Lupine was entered in Utility A and it was our first time ever in the utility ring.  And it showed!   It was not a pretty performance, in large part due to my nerves.  But we struggled through and Lupine maintained a very happy working attitude throughout.  We failed right off the bat, when she needed a second command to go for the glove on the seek back exercise.  At least that meant I could help her with the rest of the exercises!  We had been having problems with the scent articles exercise in the 2 weeks before the trial and she brought me the correct article once and the wrong one once.  It was a valuable experience, as it helped me to get a better feeling for the ring procedures and showed me a few "tricky" areas that I need to train better for.  

Lupine

Cava was entered it her first ever trials - rally Novice B and obedience Novice B.   In the rally ring, she did a beautiful round with great attention and focus.  I messed up the "moving down", by giving her the wrong signal, so we had to re-do it and the second time was not too much better!  But we came away with 95/100, 2nd place and our first rally leg.   The big problem was getting into the ring - with a small crowd around the ring entrance and a ring steward sitting in a chair in the ring, Cava thought it would a fantastic opportunity to visit with everyone and I barely had her under control (she actually tried to jump into the lap of the steward).  Not the entrance I wanted to make!  She then spotted the judge and lunged towards her.  At the start line I got her attention back on me and was very relieved that she went immediately into "work mode" after that shaky start.  Because of that, I pulled her from Novice obedience, as I would like to get that under control before we go back in the ring!

Practicing the long down stay with Pixel and Brit

Another Senior Hunter Leg for Sam

Congratulations to Sam and Sylvia for getting another Senior Hunter leg last weekend - just two left to go now!  Sam is HR Blazingstar Bobolink JH WCX TD.   The following day Sylvia completed her judging apprenticeship and became a full-fledged hunt test judge.  

We found this photo of Sam back when he was still "Puppy 5", 6 years ago.  It's lovely to see that he's fulfilling his potential in the field!