And the winner of the Crypton dog bed is....us!!!

Savi enjoying her cool, new Crypton dog bed

Woo hoo!  Crypton Fabrics had a contest on Facebook and we didn't even know that we were entered or had even won until a friend notified us! By liking something on the Crypton Facebook page, they randomly picked four people to each win one of their amazing Crypton Wegman designed fabric dog beds. And they included a copy of Bark magazine in the box, which Crypton has a big ad in and on the back cover was Savi's Swiffer ad!  It was an awesome surprise to say the least!

From the Crypton Fabrics website:

Best Friend to Your Best Friend.
With inspirations from acclaimed artist William Wegman all the way to Molly B., Crypton's official Chief Operating Dog, every Crypton pet solution innovation is a true labor of love. Not only do they look great, they are strong, built-to-last and unbelievably resistant to troublesome stains, moisture, odor and bacteria. Imagine pet furnishings you don't have to hide from your guests! We did. Our Crypton pet solutions stay clean and never smell because nothing gets into a Crypton cushion. Since they are made from the highest quality fabric in the world, you can rest easy knowing your investment will last for years.
Don't you and your pets deserve the very best? We think so.

New Champion Bravo & another Grayt Day for Grayhart

Lots of wins from coast to coast!

New CH Bravo, 14 months old!

Introducing our newest champion...Bravo, CH Grayhart Crescent's Bravo, (Clay x Trixie), who finished his championship yesterday in CA going Winner's Dog and Best of Winners for his 2nd major.  Bravo was expertly handled by Keith Pautz. Bravo is the first champion out of our Clay x Trixie litter.

 

We are all very proud of this promising young boy and his owner's Jay and Ron are beyond excited over his back to back majors and new championship.  They look forward to Bravo being shown in his Futurity as well as going for his Grand Championship title.  Congratulations to Jay, Ron and Keith!

 If Bravo's wins weren't enough news, we had another awesome day on the other coast.  At the New Brunswick Kennel Club shows in NJ, littermates (from the Zeke x Trixie litter) Mason, Grayhart's Daily Special and Trudy, Grayhart's Special Reserve were both winners!  Mason went Winner's Dog and Best of Winners, handled by Zeke's owner/breeder, Pat O'Brien, and Trudy was Winner's Bitch, handled by her co-owner/breeder, me. Mason only needs two single points to finish his championship and Trudy has seven points including a major win towards her championship.

Trudy in the Open bitch class

 In Raleigh, NC, Sky, Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain,RN,JH,TD,V, went Reserve to the Major. Sky has eight points including a major win towards her championship.

And not to be left out, Savi (Clay x Trixie) got to hang out with her family and fans at the show...she's waiting patiently for her turn to go back into the show ring.  Meanwhile, she's been very busy modeling, training for Senior Hunter, agility and obedience titles.

Savi sharing treats with Mason and Trudy

The best part of the show - all the wonderful yummies in everyone's pockets!

All in all, a wonderful weekend for the Grayhart kids!

Bravo wins his 1st Major & Trudy goes WB!

Exciting show news....Bravo, Grayhart Crescent's Bravo, (Clay x Trixie), went Winner's Dog and Best of Winner's for a 3-point major at the Kennel Club of Salinas show in Vallejo, CA, under Judge Dr. Harold Engel! Bravo was shown to this awesome win by his handler, Keith Pautz.  Owners Jay and Ron were thrilled to watch this terrific win under terrible, rainy conditions, but that didn't damper their excitement.  Bravo needs one more major to finish his show championship.  Congrats to Jay, Ron and Keith!

On the other coast, Trudy, Grayhart's Special Reserve, (Zeke x Trixie), went Winner's Bitch for 1-point under Judge Dana Cline at the New Brunswick Kennel Club show in Edison, NJ.  Trudy was shown by me, her co-owner/breeder.  Trudy now has 6 points towards her championship including a 3-pt major.

Down in North Carolina at the Durham Kennel Club Show in Raleigh, with a major entry, both Sky (Parker x Trixie) and Mia-belle (Zeke x Trixie), took placements, 2nd and 4th respectively, in the Open class. 

Congrats to today's winners and good luck for the rest of the weekend's shows from coast-to-coast!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Special Litter!!!

Party girl Trudy!

Happy Birthday to our Special Litter who turn 2 years old today!  These pups are out of Zeke, CH OB's 38 Special and Trixie, CH GraytSky's I'm Not Really A Waitress,CD,RB,OA,NAJ,V.

Many of these pups have grown up to be talented show and performance dogs and in a short time have made their mark in various venues.  We are proud of what these pups and their owners have accomplished and look forward to seeing what the future brings.

Some  of our Special Stars include:

• Mason, Grayhart's Daily Special, Futurity Class winner at the 2010 WCA Nationals, GSWC Specialty Major Winner, who only need 3 single points to finish his AKC Championship.
• Mia-belle, Grayhart's Special Request,CD,RA,NSD, Futurity placing, GCWC Specialty Major Winner, who is halfway to her championship title and is working on advanced obedience as well as agility and field titles.
• Trudy, Grayhart's Special Reserve, Futurity placing, Major pointed, who is on her way to her show championship.
• Jersey, Grayhart's Goin Someplace Special,JH, who is in training for her Senior Hunter title.

Mia-belle and Jessica enjoying life!

Jam is now a Delta Therapy Dog!

Last Sunday, Jam, CH Grayhart's Purple Haze,JH,NA,NAJ,NSD,CGC,V, and I underwent evaluation for the Delta Society Pet Parners Program.  The test was given at Kathy Santo's Dog Training School.

What is unique about this program is that both the dog and handler are tested on their skills and aptitude as relating to what it takes to being a successful and safe team able to visit various environments.  I was so proud of Jam, who did an awesome job, getting the highest marks in all test categories and we received an overall team qualification to visit in complex environments.

From the Delta Society website:

Pet Partners® program

Delta Society's Pet Partners program trains volunteers and screens volunteers and their pets for visiting animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools and other facilities.
The Pet Partners program was established in 1990 to ensure that "both ends of the leash," people as well as animals, were well-prepared to participate in animal-assisted activity and animal-assisted therapy programs. Pet Partners is the only national registry that requires volunteer training and screening of animal-handler teams.

Delta Society's national network links volunteers with facilities in their own communities that request visiting pets and helps Pet Partners contact facilities to begin visits in new locations.

Thanks to my good friend, Kellyann for the terrific photos and helping make the entire test day a success!

What happened to Spring???

Savi and the rest of us are quite disappointed with Mother Nature.  We have been so excited about the wonderful Spring weather, enjoying the great outdoors and then woke up to a couple of inches of snow this morning.  Not sure if March came in like a lamb and out like a lion is what this month will turn out to be...

 With fabulous sunny days like yesterday in Central Park, who can blame us...fingers crossed that this week will be the last of the winter-like weather.

 This beautiful bride lucked out with perfect weather for her wedding photos in Central park.

Sneak peak

Just a teaser from Trixie's modeling gig last week for a greeting card company.  We can't wait to see the finished product.

The Unofficial Start to Spring!

...the Weims sunbathing on the deck!  l-r: Trixie, Jam and Savi

Singing in the Rain

Trixie waiting to go to the studio

March rain storm on this Weimaraner Wednesday but Trixie stayed warm and dry with her ChillyDogs Rain Slicker. It just wouldn't have been proper for her to arrive at a modeling job with wet hair.  Today's photo shoot was for a greeting card company and boy did Trixie turn on the charm.  The client and photographer adored her and she did everything they asked with typical princess attitude....anything for a hot dog!  Trixie sat like a pro in the tilted swing, of course her agility training paid off and made that part easy.  They also loved her Mod Dog collar and asked that she wear it for the shoot.  All in a days work for this supermodel.  Hopefully we'll have on set photos to share and see the finished greeting card.

Mia-belle's Awesome Weaves

Another pirated post from Jessica's blog.  Again, why recreate it when Jessica explains it so well.  Jessica is a complete novice to agility but her background in obedience training and learning about how Mia-belle learns and what drives her is educational for all of us, plus it's just pretty darn cool!

Mia, Grayhart's Special Request, CD, RA, NSD, CGC

So...I know I have a lot to learn about handling...especially in agility.  Mia has a ton of drive, is really fast, and jumps big...which makes handling her a challenge, especially for a novice handler.  She does not like to slow down or stop when she's running a course.  So if I mess up at all and don't tell her where to go fast enough (or if I get mixed up in the course), she will often make her own decision as to which obstacle to do next.  With all of that said, I am beyond thrilled that she weaves 12 poles and does so pretty independently.  I'm gradually working on guiding her less and less until I can send her into the weaves by herself.  Last night in class, despite how fast she was running, she hit her entrance to the weaves beautifully.  However, her speed and enthusiasm sometimes catches up with her and she popped out after a few poles.  Mia is young and still learning to control herself.  The good news is, I just started her over at the weave poles and she weaved all 12 beautifully.  In time, we will get there.  All of these things that make her a challenge to handle are also what make her so much fun to train and watch. 

Patience, patience, patience:)

Jam earns her 2nd CD leg!

 

At the Monticello Kennel Club Show today, under Judge Betsy Horn Humer, Jam, CH Grayhart's Purple Haze,JH,NA,NAJ,NSD,V, (Parker x Trixie) earned her 2nd Companion Dog (CD) obedience leg. She had a respectable score of 184 and received many compliments on her run, especially from the judge, who said "what a nice working dog she is."

Jam is the 2nd of Trixie's pups and the 1st of Parker's to earn CD legs.

One more leg to go and she'll get her AKC CD title!

Memphis & the Girls

Memphis (Clay x Trixie) next to Jam and Trixie, on his weekly visit for field training and Grayhart boot camp.  Memphis is such a good boy andfits right in to our pack.

Memphis may be bigger than his littermate Savi, but she is faster and more agile!

Nonstop play, just make sure to stay out of their way when they get the zoomies around the yard!

Trixie and Jam have the right idea and watch the youngsters play...

Savi is queen of the hot tub!

Take that!

After two days at our house, Memphis goes home a tired boy...his owners love it!

Mia-belle & Jess continue to impress!

I admit it, I've pirated Jessica's blog post because I couldn't have said it better than her explanation of Mia-belle's show-n-go run and would have used the same photos.  I truly am amazed and proud of how well they are doing in obedience, especially as Mia-belle, Grayhart's Special Request,CD,RA,NSD, (Zeke x Trixie) is Jessica's first competition obedience dog and they are already polishing the Open level exercises which I know can be a challenge.  Mia-belle isn't even two years old and Jessica has exposed her to all things Weims excel at and already has made her mark as a serious competitor in the show ring, competition obedience and rally rings.  They are still training in the field and now, something truly close to my heart, have taken the leap into agility!  I cannot wait to see this awesome team in person when we spend time together next summer.

 

Show-N-Go Spring 2011

We took part in the Azalea Dog Training Club's Spring Show-N-Go this morning. A show-n-go is like a practice competition where owners/handlers can fine tune things in the ring and correct and reward when needed. Being the truly versatile girl she is, I decided to run Mia in open obedience, rally excellent, and novice agility jumpers (standard agility was not offered). She did her obedience runs after one of her agility runs so unfortunately, she was super tired (and a little hot) and did not perform as well as she usually does. However, her out of sight stays were perfect. She even stayed when a bird flew over and landed on the ground in front of her. Needless to say, I am very proud of her for working so hard for me. We had a great time on a gorgeous day and received numerous compliments on our performances.

Getting some tips from the "judge" on our off-lead figure eight (another great thing about show-n-go's - the "callers/judges" offer some great advice and notice things you may not realize you are doing).

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Mia is starting to drop for the drop on recall

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Retrieve on the flat

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Broad Jump

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Couch - 5 minutes after we walked in the door:)

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Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from our agility or rally runs. Mia did well and showed much improvement in her second agility run.

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Best part of the day - spending it with my girl:)

Savi's Official Win Photo for her 1st Point!

Savi, Grayhart's Shear Genius,JH,NSD,CGC, (Clay x Trixie), went Winner's Bitch from the Bred by Exhbitor class at the Wallkill Kennel Club show under judge Thomas Feneis, handled by her breeder/owner.  Savi is now the 2nd pup from our Bravo litter to be show pointed.

One down, fourteen to go to get her AKC championship!

Jam's Official Best of Breed Photo

Jam, CH Grayhart's Purple Haze,JH,NA,NAJ,NSD,CGC,V, (Parker x Trixie), with owner/breeder/handler, wins Best of Breed at the Rockland County Kennel Club show under Judge Col. Joe B. Purkhiser.

Weimaraner Wednesday - Spring Tease

 After being pounded with snow and ice this winter, we were so excited to finally get back to field training for the first time in almost three months!  Yesterday's temps of almost 50 degrees made it feel like Spring and the dogs couldn't have been happier to be back at the preserve. A friend came out with her beautiful champion Gordon Setter for training.  The three Weims and Gordon had a good run before we started bird work.

 Savi (Clay x Trixie), was turned on by all the smells but remembered what she was supposed to do and found her birds and held her point.  She did move when we flushed the bird and she received  a correction with the check cord.  Then she stood solid for the flush.  She is training for Senior and must hold point until the shot.

 Here Savi turned on scent to find her second bird hidden in the grass.  This one she didn't need any reminders and held steady during the flush, shot and until we released her!  We'll start working more on honoring and shooting over her to get her ready to enter in Senior this year.

CH Jam (Parker x Trixie) impressed us with how she's matured over the winter and held solid, intense points until we released her.  Next session we'll focus on backing and retrieving to get her ready for the April Hunt Tests.

 Gorgeous point Jam!

 Memphis (Clay x Trixie) came for a visit and had his first training session.  He's a very sweet boy and well trained.  We were thrilled to see him show natural ability and interest in the quail. He showed independence in working the fields away from us and loved chasing the birds, something we allow the novice dogs to do to build drive and confidence. Our plan is to run Memphis in Junior Hunter this Spring.

 Now that most of the snow and ice has melted, the dogs were able to really stretch their legs and run.

A fun and successful day in the field!