Classmates

CeCe on the left, Momma Savi on the right

A family that trains together stays together!  A fun night this week when I did a drop-in class at the training school where KellyAnn and CeCe, Savi's daughter, train for competitive obedience.  Very cute to see Savi and her daughter, do the obedience exercises.  I was impressed with 6-month old CeCe's great focus and Kel is doing a terrific job with her.  It was a good opportunity to work Savi in a new environment with new dogs and many distractions.

CeCe started Puppy Kindergarten when she was 10 weeks old and after that class, enrolled in a beginner obedience class.  She showed wonderful potential and was moved up into a Beginner Novice class, where the training is geared to competitive obedience.  All the skills CeCe is learning will benefit her in any venue that KellyAnn decides to venture into as well as just making CeCe a well-behaved dog and easier to live with.  My personal recommendation to my puppy people is that they should commit to two years of formal training at a high quality training school.  Training builds teamwork and gives the dog, especially Weimaraners, much needed mental stimulation.

2013 WCA National Specialty

5-pt Major winner Bliss with owner Jen Boyd

The 2013 Weimaraner Club of America National Specialty was held last week in Perry, Georgia, with the related agility and obedience trials on site and the WCA Ratings tests close by. It was disappointing that I was unable to attend due to work commitments but the three Grayhart dogs that did attend, made us super proud.  It was a week of exciting competition in various venues and all of our girls came home with ribbons and even a few titles!

The pups from our Trixie, CH GraytSky's I'm Not Really a Waitress, CD, RN, AX, OAJ, V BROM, Pet Partner Therapy Dog, had an awesome WCA Nationals week:

Bliss, Grayhart's Launch My Line, (Clay x Trixie) owned/handled by Jen Boyd, was 1st place Open bitch at the WCA National Specialty, was Winner's Bitch and Best of Winners for a 5-pt major at the Chattahoochie Weim Club Supported Entry on Thursday, and Open class winner/reserve winners bitch (RWB) to a 5-pt major at Friday's show!

Sky with her new AXJ title medallion & 2nd place ribbon

Sky, CH Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain,RN,TD, JH,OA, AXJ, CA, NSD, NRD,CGC, VX, (Parker x Trixie) owned/handled by Debbie Moody, earned her AXJ with a 2nd place at the Chattahoochie Weim Club Agility trial. On Thursday, Sky earned her 1st MXJ leg with 5 MACH points, then Double q'd on Saturday to earn an AX leg with 2nd place & an MXJ leg! Sky also earned her CAT (coursing ability) lure coursing title in 2 days!

Mia-belle, CH Grayhart's Special Request, CDX,RA,JH,NA,NAJ,NSD, RD, VX, (Zeke x Trixie), owned/handled by Jessica Scharff, showed in 3 different venues! In agility, they double Q'd with 2 - 1st places on Saturday in Open Standard and Open JWW, and then at the WCA National's Agility trial, Q'd in Open Standard with a 1st place! Mia-belle also made her Utility obedience debut with a nice performance and compliments from the judge even though she didn't qualify. Mia-belle also ran in the WCA RDX (Retrieving Dog Excellent) test but didn't want to share the bird.

Bravo, BIF, GCH Grayhart Crescent's Bravo, CGC, owned by Jay Logan, was invited to compete in the Top 20, and although he was not in attendance, Jay celebrated his ranking and was thrilled to receive the gorgeous ribbon & sash for the invitees. 

Bravo's loot!

Bravo looked handsome on his owner's banner!

Huge thanks to the owners for making their dogs shine!!! Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate but we were there in spirit.

Amazing Performance Pup Rigby

A guest post from Rigby's blog.  Rigby is Grayhart's Rider on the Storm, not even 7 months old and showing amazing potential in obedience, agility and tracking.  We are incredibly impressed with Rigby and the training Nina has done with her.  

Rigby's Home Movies

Grab some popcorn, it's movie night with Rigby!  These are a series of short videos showing our training for some of the exercises that Rigby is learning.

The first video shows our start of work on the Retrieve Over High Jump.  This exercise is designed to teach Rigby to go over the jump turn and come back to the center of the jump.  The idea is to give her the muscle memory to pick up her dumbbell, turn quickly and come back to the middle of the jump, no matter where the dumbbell lands when I throw it.  Here I'm just throwing food for her to retrieve.

The second video is just some dumbbell retrieves, first with her plastic dumbbell and then with a metal scent article dumbbell to get her used to having the feel of metal in her mouth.

This video shows some short heeling patterns with Rigby and then a couple recalls from a short distance, followed up with a bit of a recall game to keep her coming in quickly when called.

Here is Rigby playing one of her favorite games, retrieve the glove.  This is to teach Rigby to love gloves as she needs to find a glove at the end of each of her tracks.  This lesson has carried over and although she is not yet picking up the glove at the end of her tracks, she does play retrieve with the glove as a reward when she finishes each track.

Here Rigby practices her fronts and then some drops that, in time, will develop into her drop on recall in the Open Class.

And, in working toward the Utility Class, Rigby is learning to watch my hand direction for the Directed Retrieve.  Here I throw a treat and direct her toward it with my hand and then release her to go get the treat.  She returns and does a front and then lines up to do the exercise again.

Finally, this is just a bit of fun, Rigby playing and being herself.

Training time

 No stay at Grayhart would be complete without some training.  Ember's owners have done a terrific job training her and it was fun to reinforce what she already knows.  This pups has so much drive and attitude, and offers behavior after behavior, that you need to make sure that you reinforce the correct command and only with 100% accuracy.  Especially when you have a smarty pants like Ember!

 5 1/2 months old with a solid sit-stay!

GSA: Grayhart Girls go to Greenville!

Our Grayhart Southern Adventure, (GSA), ended on a successful note at the three day show circuit in Greenville, SC.  These shows are some of the largest all-breed shows in the country with over 2500 dogs entered each day in conformation, obedience and rally.  The shows are held in the TD Convention Center which has ample air conditioning and a great setup with obedience in a separate area from the commotion of grooming and conformation.  This is one of my favorite venues and it doesn't hurt to have a ton of awesome vendors for a little shopping therapy.  I had two goals for the  weekend.  For Mia, it was to get her comfortable showing at her first indoor shows and be happy in the show ring as we are still in the process of training her to be a show dog.  For Savi, it was her debut in the obedience ring and I was hoping to get a qualifying leg or two.  Our focus has been on agility so I knew that some of the obedience exercises would need work, others would be solid, like her stays.

 Mia made me proud!  She was a happy girl in the ring, wagging her tail when the judges went to examine her and she even tried to kiss them!  She sure didn't look like a newbie in the ring.

 Mia on the go round...

 Each day, Mia got better and better.

 She was so wiggly, wagging her tail that her whole butt moved and I had to hold her still for the judge to examine her.

Movement shot, a bit of a blur but all feet, human and canine in sync.

 Savi was a good girl and showed what a star she could be, qualifying two days in a row for her first Novice B legs towards her CD or Companion Dog title!

Savi's down stay...even the judges smiled at her.

 Her heeling needs improvement but her stand for exam and stays were excellent. Every dog activity has its challenges and rewards and all are a learning experience.

 Not only did Savi qualify, but on the 2nd day at the Hendersonville Kennel Club show, she won the Highest Scoring Weimaraner in Obedience award and was given this lovely blue dog bed!

What a successful trip for Savi - first making her agility debut at the Tarheel Weimaraner Club Agility Trial and earning two qualifying legs, Novice Standard and Novice Jumpers with Weaves, with placements - a 1st and 2nd place respectively.  One week later, she earned two CD legs!  Versatility at its best!

You can check back to our previous posts for pictures and videos of our trip including videos of Trixie winning High Combined Weimaraner at the TWC Agility Trial and our awesome hikes in Pisgah National Forest as well as time spent with Debbie and Sky and Elena and Summit.

Photos by our good friend and pupparazzi, KellyAnn Kwiatek.

New CDX title for Mia-belle!!!!

 Huge congratulations to Jessica and Mia-belle on their new CDX (Companion Dog Excellent) title!!!  Mia-belle is now, CH Grayhart's Special Request, CDX, RA, NSD, NRD, V (Zeke x Trixie)!  Mia-belle earned her 2nd CDX or Open leg yesterday with a terrific score of 194.5 earning a 2nd place.  She earned the 3rd and final leg today, finishing her title with a 192, earning a 3rd place!

The Open class exercises are all performed off leash and include a heeling pattern, drop on recall, retrieve on the flat and over a jump and the broad jump. Once the individual exercises are completed, all of the dogs are brought into the ring for out of sight group sits and stays, lasting 3 and 5 minutes respectively. This class is sometimes referred to as the heartbreak class due to the high level of difficulty of some of the exercises for some dogs, especially the out of sight stays.

 We are very proud of this awesome team who will be training for the Utility level of competition obedience.  If that wasn't challenging enough, Jess and Mia-belle are also in training for agility and pointing and retrieving hunt tests!

Collage of the 2012 Grayhart Blue Ribbon Ads

A collage of all the Grayhart ads that appeared in the 2012 Blue Ribbon edition of The Weimaraner Magazine.  Thanks to the extremely creative and talented Sara Renee for designing these gorgeous ads and photographing some of our dogs. Additionally, I want to send special thanks to our friend, KellyAnn, who also took some of the beautiful pictures of our dogs and traveled with me to many shows offering support and a helping hand.  I also couldn't thank the owners of the dogs enough for providing them with great homes and letting them shine, whether in the show ring, performance venues or just snuggling on the couch.

The ads represent a few of the Grayhart dogs and showcase their accomplishments. All of their individual ads have been posted in previous blog posts.


We look forward to another exciting year and cannot wait to get started on the next Blue Ribbon issue!

Field trip

 At obedience class Thursday night, we took a field trip to the local train station.  What better way to incorporate real life distractions into our training regimen.  Above, group stays and below, Savi, practicing her stand for exam, waiting to be examined.  We also did off lead recall and Savi nailed them as well held her stays.  A bonus was to enjoy the beautiful spring evening during class and walking to and from the train station!

Patience...

Savi, patiently waiting for her turn while I worked Jam at obedience class last night! And no, she wasn't told to get on the chair, her leash was hooked to the fence and she decided to get comfortable!

Thursday Thoughts...

Puppy Savi at the 2010 WCA Nationals with her bird

 As I begin my Spring Break, yes, I'm one of the lucky ones that gets to enjoy a week off in April, there is much to do (house projects, family activities and dog stuff) and other stuff I'd love to do but just can't fit in.  It is a challenge juggling a full-time job and trying to keep up a training schedule for the girls.  At the begiining of the year, I set goals for each of the dogs and then attempt to set a training schedule to help achieve these goals.  Happily, I already accomplished two on my list and that would be finishing Trudy and Savi's show championships!

Now we move on to obedience, agility and hunt tests.  The hardest is field training so I have scheduled sessions for Jam and Savi during vacation.  There are upcoming hunt tests that Jam is entered in Senior Hunter and she needs a tune up.  Savi, who has amazing drive and natural ability, needs more training before she'll be ready for the Senior Hunter tests.  My goal is to have Savi ready for the fall hunt tests.

Jam at the 2010 WCA Nationals in the obedience ring

 Obedience is easy.  I have the tools and resources close by to practice and train.  The girls typically go to obedience class once a week and I can practice with them in multiple locations.  I plan on getting Savi ready to compete in Novice Obedience this summer and she is well on her way to being ready.  Jam has begun training for Open but I'm not sure when she will be ready to compete.

Trixie at the 2011 WCA Nationals

Agility, my favorite of all the dog sports, has been on hold since the local training school is still shut down from last year's hurricane damage.  I've taken some seminars and private lessons and am working on an alternate place to train.  With the Spring trials coming up, Trixie and Jam need practice and coursework.  I'll setup the weaves and jumps in the backyard and try to get them ready.  Savi would benefit from a weekly class to work on foundation skills.  So much to do, so little time!

We are also working with some of our other Grayhart dogs to get them ready for the show ring this year.  And if that isn't enough, we are planning on breeding Jam this summer and hope for a fall litter.  A very full plate but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Mia-belle: Open A Obedience

Mia-belle, CH Grayhart's Special Request,CD,RA,NSD,NRD,V, (Zeke x Trixie), and owner, Jessica, showed in Open A obedience last weekend in North Carolina.  They had a terrific run, as seen in the video, and went into the out of sight stays with a score of 195.  Well, as we know too well why Open A is called the "heartbreak class", Mia-belle was disqualified for her out of sight stays and did not pass...very disappointing.

 Mia-belle has an awesome drop on recall...

Good girl retrieving over the high jump!

We are so proud of how far this team has come and are quite confident that they will fix those stays and get that CDX and much more.

Video and photos by Judi Nicholson

Out-of-sight, out of mind...

Practicing group "out-of-sight" stays at obedience class tonight.  Savi is on the far left, behind her in the ex-pen is Annie B, a 10-week old German Shephard puppy, then another GSD, Chewy, Trixie, the Veego, a GSD and another GSD...is there a pattern here?  

We practice these stays as they are part of AKC Open level competition obedience.  To earn a CDX, or Companion Dog Excellent title, a dog must receive three qualifying legs. For each leg,  a dog must complete the individual exercises, which include off lead heeling, drop on recall, retrieve on the flat & over the high jump and jumping the broad jump.  Then the dogs must remain in place for out of sight groups stays, a 3-minute sit stay and then a 5-minute down stay. The Open class is very challenging and therefore, referred to as the "heartbreak class" in the dog show world.  I agree, we have had a tough time getting Trixie's last qualifying leg to complete her CDX title.  She has competed in a number of trials and been one of the only dogs to pass the individual exercises and then blow it on the stays.  I am hoping that time off from trialing her and practicing in a fun way will lead us to success at our next trial in March.

Savi has not even begun competing in Novice level obedience but we always try to train up.  I have learned from my mistakes over the years and want to avoid issues with out of sight stays with her.  My goal is to have Savi ready for the obedience ring over the summer.  All the time training in obedience has also helped in other areas.  Most notably, was at our recent field training session, where part of Senior Hunter, the dog needs to heel off leash.  Savi is doing well with that and all the training helps with control and focus in the birdfield.

Happy Training!

Triple training

People coming into the training school thought they were seeing triple - three Weims and three German Shepherds!  It seems our Thursday night class is made for multiples, plus a few other single dogs thrown into the mix.  I was so proud of my girls, especially Trixie and Jam, who held their sit and down stays with huge distractions such as group recalls and me working Savi.  The dogs all received a very high value reward - liverwurst!  Maybe gross to hold in your hand or bait bag but it worked like magic.  Savi had terrific focus on all her exercises and worked with great attitude and purpose.  Trixie, who hasn't been to a class in ages, did well on heeling and drop on recall but was a bit rusty on the hand signals.  And Jam, well let's just say she was thrilled to be invited to the party and was her fun loving self.

Life is ducky!

Savi is a nooker...not all Weims are but it is a Weim trait - sucking on toys or blankets in a trancelike state. I personally think that it is soothing for them.  When Savi does it, she also kneads her front feet, with them going back and forth, so cute.  Amazingly, this duck toy, one of her favorites, which still makes a quacking sound, is from Savi's litter's whelping box and has lasted a long time.  Quite a feat for any toy, especially a stuffy that makes noise!

Speaking of things that last...I took Savi to obedience class for the first time since the summer.  I was so proud of how well she did, showing how much training she had retained.  To be fair, even though she has not been in a formal competitive obedience class in months, doesn't mean that there has not been training.  My dogs get training everyday at home, whether formal or informal and we include obedience in agility and field work.  They have to work for treats and I'll take a few minutes to practice various skills, whether it is sending to place or a drop on recall.  My goal for Savi is to get her ready to compete in novice obedience and earn her CD or companion dog title in 2012.  A very doable goal to work towards as she's had a nice foundation and knows the exercises.  Just a matter of fine tuning and focusing on her on and off lead heeling.

The Grayhart Southern Girls Rock with a Major & CDX leg!

At the Atlanta show circuit, Sky, Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain, RN,JH,TD,NSD,NRD,V (Parker x Trixie) was Winner's Bitch for a 3-point major at this morning's show handled by Susan Wise.  In the afternoon Specialty, Sky was very close to winning and went Reserve Winner's Bitch to the major.  Sky only needs one single point to finish her AKC Show Championship.

Sky with handler Susan Wise posing for their win photo

 The exciting news continued to arrive as we heard from Jessica that Mia-belle, CH Grayhart's Special Request,CD,RA,NSD,NRD,V, (Zeke x Trixie) qualified for her 1st CDX obedience leg with a 4th placement!

Congratulations to Debbie and Jessica and their awesome girls for a gray-t showing today!  We are so proud of our Southern girls!

Another Southern Sweep: Mia gets Point # 14 & Open Obed Debut & Sky goes BOB!

Sky in the Sporting Group with handler Susan Wise

Congratulations to Jessica and Mia, Grayhart's Special Request,CD,RA,NSD, (Zeke x Trixie), for going Winner's Bitch and Best of Opposite on Saturday at the Western Carolina Dog Fanciers Association! On Sunday, Debbie and Sky, Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain,RN,JH,TD,NSD,V, (Parker x Trixie), went Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Breed!!!  This is the 2nd weekend in a row that Mia and Sky have won the points both days at North Carolina shows.  Very proud of my Southern girls!

From Mia's blog:
We traveled back out to Waynesville, NC this weekend to compete again in conformation.  Mia went Winner's Bitch and Best of Opposite on Saturday to earn point number 14.  She just needs 1 more single point to finish her bench championship.

We also made our Open A Obedience debut.  Open A is considered the "heartbreak" class because it's difficult to qualify and many people NQ several times before the get their 3 legs to earn the CDX title.  We didn't qualify either day (Mia decided to go around the jump instead of over) but I was beyond thrilled with her performance.  She showed a ton of drive and enthusiasm and I had a great time with her in the ring!  We have some things to work on but we are definitely well on our way...and she's only 2 years old.  Here are some clips of our runs

Saturday: Mia's debut in Open A

Sunday - Open A again, even though she went around the high jump, I still loved her attitude!