Bravo's Beach and Pumpkin Field Visit

Enjoy these fabulous pics from Bravo's Blog, our California beach boy.

Let's have some fun today!

Bravo, GCH Grayhart Crescent's Bravo, is owned by Jay Logan and Ron Goularte.

DUMBO Dogs

 The view of Manhattan from the lovely Brooklyn Bridge Park in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn.  DUMBO is the acronym for Down Under the Manhatten Bridge Overpass, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, which has undergone gentrification and become one of New York's premier arts districts.  We were there last week for a photoshoot/commercial for Jam and had to bring Savi and Mason along on the second day, straight from a dog show on Long Island, where Mason, now Champion Grayhart's Daily Special, finished his show championship.

Savi, Mason and Jam, relaxing in the park.

 Beautiful views

 Although these dogs all live in the suburbs, they had no problem acclimating to the city.

Weimaraner Wednesday

 Fall is definitely here and we had a perfect day for field training - cool, crisp and sunny!  I forgot my camera but snapped off a few shots of the dogs running in the field before we began training.  No, I didn't get a German Shorthair Pointer.  This energetic girl belongs to my friend and training partner Jeff and I took her for some obedience and socialization training with Jam, Savi and Trixie.

 Becky, the GSP, is a friendly 9 month old pup but needs to learn some manners with other dogs.  Jam took on the role of teacher and gave Becky a number of appropriate corrections until Becky learned how to behave.  All dogs need to learn dog language and if they don't it can be dangerous.  Becky runs in hunt tests and needs to know when another dog doesn't want to play or not to get in their face.

 Once Becky was comfortable with my grey girls, she had a blast running and playing with them in this huge field.  It also helped get burn some of her endless supply of energy off.

 Training was very satisfying.  Jam ran with Becky's housemate, Beau, who received his 1st Senior Hunter leg last weekend.  The two ran well together and we were able to steady them and shoot for retrieves.  Jam broke before the shot and I was able to correct her before she grabbed the bird.  I then made her stand and then released her for the retrieve, which she did well with.  Unless a dog makes a mistake in training, it is difficult to fix problems encountered during the actual test.

 Even though Becky is a green dog and working on her Junior Hunter, she is extremely birdy and the perfect running mate for Savi.  Savi had a gorgeous point, sorry no photo, and we shot over her for the first time.  I did attach a check cord before we flushed and released the Chukkar in case she broke.  Well, so proud of my girl who stood through the shot and waited until I released her for the retrieve.  She had to search for the bird as she didn't mark the fall but when she found it, had an impressive retrieve to hand.  We are also training her to honor and she's starting to understand that not every bird is hers.  I'm very excited at the progress she is making and hope to have her ready to run in Senior Hunter in the Spring.

Trudy's Winning Weekend

Unofficial win photo, taken while we were setting her up for the real thing.

 Our Long Island princess did us proud at this past weekend's shows on her home turf.  Trudy, Grayhart's Special Reserve, (Zeke x Trixie) began the weekend with a bang on Friday going Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite for two points, alongside her littermate, Mason, now CH Grayhart's Daily Special, who was Winner's Dog and finished his bench championship.

On Sunday, Savi, Grayhart's Shear Genius, JH, won the Bred-by-Exhibitor class, and then I quickly switched dogs and showed Trudy to win the Open class.  In Winners, Trudy strutted her stuff and won her 2nd 3-point major going Winner's Bitch and Best of Opposite.  She now only needs three single points to finish her AKC show championship.

Gray-t Weekend for Grayhart!

Jessica & Mia and Debbie & Sky - new NRDs!!!

Our weekend began on a high note with Mason finishing his championship and littermate Trudy, going Winner's Bitch/Best of Winners/Best of Opposite at the same show.  Well today, at the Tarheel Weimaraner Club WCA Ratings test, both of our Southern girls earned their Novice Retrieving Dog titles.  Congratulations to Debbie Moody & Sky, Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain, RN,JH,TD,NSD,NRD,V (Trixie x Parker) & Jessica Scharff & Mia, CH Grayhart's Special Request,CD,RA,NSD,NRD,V (Trixie x Zeke)!


From the WCA website, here is what is required for a dog to earn an NRD:


NRD—Novice Retrieving Dog 
A. Requirements for dogs competing for NRDs shall be as follows: 
1. Land Retrieve 
a. Dog is required to retrieve a single dead bird on land, a shot will be fired. 
b. Retrieve shall be a minimum of 20 yards, but shall not exceed 40 yards. 
2. Water Retrieve 
a. Dog is required to retrieve a single dead bird in the water with a minimum swim of 20 yards, a 
shot will be fired.

At the Long Island New York shows, Trudy, Grayhart's Special Reserve (Trixie x Zeke), handled by me, her breeder and co-owner was WB/BOS for a 3 pt major! Trudy now only needs three single points to complete her AKC show championship! Trudy's win photo to be posted at a later date.

New CHAMPION Mason & more points for Trudy!!!

Mason at a park by the Brooklyn Bridge with NYC across the river

Mr. Mason is now Champion Grayhart's Daily Special!  Mason handled by his breeder today at the Brookhaven Kennel Club show, earned his last two points going Winner's Dog under Judge Dr. Steven Herman, to complete his championship.  Mason, finished with three - 4-point majors, including a Specialty major, shown by his sire's owner/breeder, Pat O'Brien.

If that wasn't enough excitement, after I finished showing Mason, I ran to switch dogs and proceeded to show Savi and then Trudy.  Savi won her Bred-By-Exhibitor class and Trudy was the only one in Open.  For the Winner's Bitch class, a friend took Trudy in and I handled Savi.  Trudy won and was Winner's Bitch and Savi was Reserve Winner's Bitch.  Trudy then went on to be awarded Best of Opposite and Best of Winners!  She now has 9 points towards her championship including a major win.

It was a wonderful feeling to have two littermates win the points.  The club had a lovely podium set up with fall decorations, hay bales, pumpkins and flowers for the win photos.  We only had time to take a new champion win picture of Mason and will post that in a few weeks.

As soon as the photo was done, we were off and running back to Brooklyn for day two of the a shoot with Jam. .

Ooh La La Jam!!!

Jam behind the scenes with Coco.

 Jam was back at work today and what an exciting day it was.  We arrived on set in Brooklyn, New York, to find that she was hired to be the co-star with supermodel, Coco Roche in a commercial and advertising campaign for a very special client.  This will be part of a 2012 Spring/Summer campaign and of course, we'll let you know when the campaign is launched.

Coco and Jam in deep discussion behind the scenes during a set change.  

We loved working with Coco, who although a bonofide supermodel, was down to earth and a true animal lover.  She told me all about an amazing charity that she is involved in.  From her website,  Senhoa is a great charity that supports victims of human trafficking in South East Asia by providing income-generating opportunities, social reintegration and programs for self-empowerment. Some of the children they work with are as young as 4 years old.

This weekend I flew to LA to finalize jewelry designs which we hope to have available within a few months. The Jewelry ‘Coco Rocha For Senhoa’will be made in Cambodia by the older girls in the program, with all proceeds going back into the program.