New Champion Presley!!!

  A little late in posting but excited to announce our newest Grayhart AKC Champion... Presley finished in style earning her 2nd major, owner/breeder handled by going Winner's Bitch and Best of Breed from the Bred-by-Exhibitor class, over a top special under judge Dr. Steve Keating. Presley is now CH Grayhart's Another Star, JH. Presley earned her first major, from the BBE class, going Best of Breed over 6 Specials for a 5-pt major!

Presley will be bred early 2018 to Justin, CH HiBourne's It's All About Me.

Weekends are for sleeping in....

From l-r: Savi, Trixie, Jam (pregnant with that big belly) and sitting, Presley.

Presley earns her Junior Hunter title and CeCe get her 1st JH leg!

Presley, with Qualifying Ribbon #4 for her JH title!

 We are thrilled to announce that Presley has earned her AKC Junior Hunter (JH) title and is now, Grayhart's Another Star, JH.  Presley completed her JH, handled by her breeder/co-owner,  by qualifying in four straight tests with terrific scores and at only one year of age!

Presley earned her first two legs at the Nutmeg Weimaraner Club Hunt Test in Simsbury, CT at the beginning of November under very difficult conditions.  The first day brought torrential rain but that did not deter Presley as she made her hunt test debut in style by finding and retrieving four birds to hand!

Extreme conditions call for the right attire & it worked for Presley's 1st JH leg

The next day, the weather was cold with swirling winds, which can be very challenging especially for novice dogs.  Presley hunted well and found her first bird, although did not point it and after the bird flushed, searched in thick cover and retrieved the bird to hand.  There is a rule that the dog must point 50% of the birds they encounter so we needed to find another bird and have a solid point.  She did not disappoint and with only minutes left, she made game, then a solid point before she went in on the bird.  She also caught that bird and retrieved it back. Chasing and busting the bird is allowed in the Junior level but not in Senior and Master so we will have to work on her training. Two tests, two qualifications on her debut weekend.

CeCe and Presley

I also ran CeCe, Grayhart's Almost Famous, co-owned with KellyAnn, in the Sunday test and this birdy girl qualified for her 1st Junior Hunter leg.  Tough conditions with few qualifiers but our girls made us proud by bringing home those orange ribbons. Guess we could call it a double Q!

After the test was over on Saturday, we took Savi, and her daughter, CeCe, out for a run and some training on the leftover birds in the fields.  What a beautiful sight to see CeCe back her momma!  Savi has her Senior Hunter and hunting is her favorite thing in the world.

CeCe honoring her mother, Savi

Savi on point

Presley with JH ribbon #2

The weekend after Thanksgiving brought the final hunt test of the season in the Northeast with the Nutmeg German Shorthaired Pointer Club Hunt Test at Flaherty Field Trial Grounds in CT.  Things did not look promising as we had a major snowstorm on Thanksgiving eve and the ground was covered with snow and ice.  Arriving at the test, those coming off the Junior course reported poor scenting conditions and the birds, Quail, were not staying planted.  Challenging conditions to say the least.  Plus it was cold!  

We met Presley's bracemate, a handsome, 22 month old male GSP, who turned out to be a hunting machine.  They took off from the start and after playing a few minutes started to hunt.  The GSP found a bird right away and hearing the shot of the blank gun, Presley upped her game and was trying really hard tracking and hunting to find a bird.  She found a quail under a log and pointed before flushing the bird.  She did not catch it.  She continued to hunt until the judges told us time was up and leash the dogs.  Presley qualified for JH leg #3.

On Sunday, we returned to Flaherty and fortunately, warmer weather.  Presley immediately knew why we were there and once we entered the bird field, boom, went on a gorgeous point.  The bird flushed and flew away.  Presley continued to hunt and the judge complimented her on how methodically she hunted.  We then saw her make game, showing the signs she was on a bird and boom, another beautiful, staunch point and to my surprise, she was pointing a walking bird!  Presley was easily 20 yards away so I couldn't get to her in time before she broke her point to flush the bird.  Very impressive for an untrained dog to point a walking bird and hold for a good 10 seconds!  It was exciting to see her perform so well and this was reflected in her scores of 9, 10, 10, 9,

Presley will now begin training for Senior Hunter and will return to the show ring in 2015. Her owners, Bob, Meridith and I are thrilled with how well she is doing and just adore this girl.

Happy 1st Birthday to the Wonder pups!

Happy Birthday to the Wonder litter!

We can't believe these pups are one year old - the year has flown by! They are all doing well and loved beyond belief by their families.  The Wonder litter is out of Fala, GCH A GraytSky A La Fala Love'A and Jam, GCH Grayhart's Purple Haze, CD,JH,AX,AXJ,SD,VX.

A few of them have even started showing and earned titles.  The seven Wonder pups are: 

• Quest, Canadian CH Grayhart's Travelin' Man
• Presley, Grayhart's Another Star, JH (pointed)
• Siri, Grayhart's Conversation with GraytSky (major pointed)
• Zoe, Grayhart's Pretty Little Angel, CGC
• Blaze, Grayhart's Beach Stomp
• Brody, Grayhart's Master Blaster
• Ensign, Grayhart's Ebb Tide (hunting dog)

2014 GSWC Independent Specialty Show

Trophies for the 2014 GSWC Independent Specialty & WCA Eastern Futurity/Maturity. Not all are pictured. Thank you to our talented club member, KellyAnn Kwiatek of 2K Designs, for the trophy design of the Weimaraner profile with scrollwork.

Sunday, October 5, 2014 was the annual Garden State Weimaraner Club Independent Specialty Show at North Branch Park. The club put on our usual outstanding show and everyone had a great time showing dogs, eating the delicious hot and cold buffet supplied by club members and winning raffle prizes.  As trophy chair, I was in charge of buying and organizing all the trophies and sponsors for them and was pleased with how they looked set up outside the ring and the winners seemed to enjoy them.

Our Grayhart entry at the show included three pups from our Fast Times litter (Parker x Savi), Ice, Grayhart's Going All the Way, CeCe, Grayhart's Almost Famous, CGC, and Reagan, Grayhart's Wild Life, NSD, and two pups from our Rockstar litter (Summit x Jam) Ella, Grayhart's How High the Moon, and Ember, Grayhart Light My Fire, CGC (major pointed).

After the big rainstorm the day before for the WCA Eastern Futurity, it was wonderful that the weather cooperated for our Specialty and was perfect.  The day began with the Sweepstakes and only Ice, CeCe and Reagan were eligible to compete.  What a thrill when CeCe, shown by Steve Lane, who is the breeder/owner of CeCe's sire Parker, went Best in Sweepstakes under breeder judge Michelle Govette!!!!

CeCe, Grayhart's Almost Famous, CGC, owned by KellyAnn & Chris Kwiatek & Linda Hartheimer, shown by Steve Lane, Best in Sweepstakes at the GSWC Independent Specialty Show!!!

In the Specialty Show, judged by Frank Washabaugh, CeCe, shown by Bonnie Lane, placed 3rd in her class. Reagan and Ice looked good in their classes but did not get any ribbons. Ember, was the only entry in the Bred-by-Exhibitor class and littermate, Ella, was 2nd in a large Open class. Ella went on to win Reserve Winners Bitch to the Specialty 5-pt major! I was so proud of Ella, who has had limited showing and showed her little paws off.

Ella, Grayhart's How High the Moon, owned by Brook Ryan and Linda Hartheimer, Reserve Winners Bitch to a 5-pt major at the GSWC Independent Specialty!

We had a great time with many of our Grayhart family visiting.  Nina, with Rigby, Grayhart's Rider on the Storm, TD, came to the show for a visit and Rigby was able to play with her littermates, Ella and Ember, who she hasn't seen since they were eight weeks old.  The day before after the Futurity, we took seven of our pups on a fun run at the park.

L-r: Ice, Presley, Reagan, Ember, CeCe, Savi & Ella

Where has the summer gone! Cape Cod & other adventures...

This is probably the longest I have ever gone between blog updates and so much news to share.  We spent the summer vacationing, traveling from Cape Cod to Alabama, competing in dog shows and agility trials, visiting with friends and enjoying many of the pups we've bred in addition to our own girls.  There was also a major health scare with Savi, who has recovered completely, that I will share once the blog is up to date.  The summer included show wins, agility titles, legs and placements and great times with the dogs for all the Grayhart family. We were fortunate to have a number of Grayhart pups come visit and loved having them here.

Now that the weather has gotten cooler and the fall is almost upon us, we have switched gears and started field training, planning our fall show schedule which includes our favorite show, my club, the Garden State Weimaraner Club Independent Specialty, that is also hosting the Weimaraner Club of America Eastern Futurity and Maturity and gearing up to breed Jam.  Weekly agility classes are a highlight of our week as both Jam and Savi, along with their handler, continue to improve.

Here are a few pictures from our annual Cape Cod holiday and we are blessed to be able to spend two weeks in this beautiful place.  The dogs consider it heaven!

 Savi is our star swimmer and retriever!

 She loves to swim and impatiently waits for us to go for our multiple walks/swims each day on the Cape, and will even run down to the marsh with the bumper in her mouth.

 Presley, above, spent the summer with us at Grayhart boot camp, learning to swim and just having a great time!

 The gorgeous view from our deck.

 Plenty of room to run through the salt marsh.

 Presley, below, pure joy!

 A favorite activity for Jam and Trixie is squirrel hunting in the decayed wood pilings.

Presley's official win photo!

We received Presley's win photo from the Putnam Kennel Club show and were pleased with how beautiful she looks.  Many times, it is harder to get a good win photo than the win!  Thank you to judge Robert Robinson for this win, where Presley, Grayhart's Another Star, went Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite from the Bred-by-Exhibitor class, for her first show point.  One down, fourteen to go for her AKC Championship!

Presley wins her 1st show point!

 After a fabulous two-week vacation on Cape Cod, we returned home Thursday night, unpacked and got ready for a show the next day.  On Friday, Presley was a winner!  Presley, Grayhart's Another Star, from our Wonder litter (Fala x Jam) was Winner's Bitch, Best of Opposite and Best Bred-by-Exhibitor (BBE) at the Putnam Kennel Club under Judge Robert Robinson for her 1st point towards her AKC Championship.  This was owner/breeder handled from the Bred-by-Exhibitor class.  Presley is only 7 1/2 months old and we are thrilled with how she is maturing. She is also the first pointed pup from her litter.  I am so blessed to co-own this lovely girl with friends Bob and Meridith Voltaggio.  They also own our Savi's littermate, Memphis.

We could not stay for an official win photo or for the BBE Groups as we had to leave the show as soon as we were done to drive an hour and a half to New York City for a fashion shoot with Savi.  We did return to the show on Saturday to show, no wins that day, but we did get a win photo with the judge.  That first point is always special.  Below is a shot of Presley taken last week on Ryder Beach in Truro, MA, on Cape Cod.

2014 Blue Ribbon Issue: The Grayhart Ads

The most awaited issue of the year, the June Blue Ribbon Issue of The Weimaraner Magazine, (the official publication of the WCA) has arrived. The Blue Ribbon is the biggest advertising issue for breeders and fanciers and this issue is sent to all AKC Weimaraner judges. It is the place to showcase your dogs and the issue is kept as a reference book for years to come. 

We are very excited to share the Grayhart ads from the 2014 Blue Ribbon which were designed by my extremely talented friend, Sara Renee Beaver. Sara even took some of the photos including my most favorite, the gorgeous head shot of Jam.

We had a total of five pages in the Breeder's Showcase section. This included the pages for Jam, her daughters, Siri and Presley, Savi and her daughters, CeCe and Reagan and littermates, Bliss and Bravo.

 Littermates Bliss and Bravo, stunning show dogs, strutted their stuff into the Top 20 in consecutive years, 2012 and 2013.  An impressive feat!

Wonder litter - Six months already?

Quest, Grayhart's Travelin' Man, our Canadian pup

Hard to believe that our Wonder litter pups (Fala x Jam) are six months old already!  Actually, we are behind a few weeks as they turned six months on May 29th.  All the owners report how fabulous their pups are and absolutely adore them.

Turning six months is a big deal in our world, as six months is the official age when dogs can be entered and shown in AKC conformation shows to compete towards earning a show championship. They can also compete in hunt tests, obedience and rally trials.  Agility will have to wait as the pups need to be at least 15 months to compete in AKC Agility but for safety sake, I personally prefer to wait until a pup is closer to two years old to make sure their growth plates have closed before competing.  In class, the pups can practice and learn many agility foundation skills jumping at a lower height.

Presley

Presley, Grayhart's Another Star, made her show debut last weekend.  We've been working on getting her to stand still and stay in stack (show) position and stay for exam.  At this age, pups have the attention span of a nat so it can be a challenge to get them to stand still.  I was proud of how Presley showed, solid for the judges exam and moved beautifully on the show lead.  We had serious competition, with the bitch that beat her for the points, going Best of Breed over specials.  A great way for Presley to kick off her show career.

Siri

Siri, Grayhart's Conversation with GraytSky, owned by Kristen and Amy, will be making her show debut mid-June, handled by Michael, the owner of daddy Fala.  Both Siri and Presley are growing up to be lovely girls and we are excited to get them out into the show ring.  Quest is in training for show and other venues and will be competing in both Canada and the U.S.

Pack walk Weimstyle!

Memorial Day was a perfect weather day and my friend, KellyAnn and I enjoyed taking the girls, Trixie, Jam and Savi plus visitors CeCe and Presley on a 3-mile walk in the neighborhood.  It was quite a sight!

Presley at 11 weeks!

Presley, formerly Miss Teal, is Grayhart's Another Star, from our Wonder litter (Fala x Jam)