Trixie: Open Std 2010 WCA Nationals

Trixie's Open Standard agility run on Tuesday, May 18th at the WCA's Weimaraner Only Agility Trial as photographed by Meridith, Memphis' owner.

She would have qualified but her "sit" was broken and it took her forever to decide to sit on the table, such a Weim thing...an otherwise clean run but over the allowed time...Oh well, I love this girl and come September, the new AKC rules will not require a sit or down on the table.

Not a bad comeback after having puppies just four months ago!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Trixie-Parker Pups!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Trixie-Parker pups!

At the WCA Nationals last week, l-r, Trixie with daughters Jam & Sky

It is amazing how much the pups from this litter have accomplished by the age of two. We have a champion, three other pointed (two with majors), Futurity and Maturity placements, three Junior Hunters, tracking dog and rally novice titles, agility and obedience competitors, therapy dogs and most importantly the best companion dogs for their families. Thanks to the wonderful owners, who are our friends and the original members of the Grayhart family:

• Marshall, CH Grayhart's In From the Storm
• Sky, Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain, JH,TD,RN,NSD,V, CGC
• Ranger, Grayhart's Midnight Lightening
• Mia, Grayhart's American Woman
• Monty, Grayhart's Stone Free, JH
• Jam, Grayhart's Purple Haze, JH,NSD,CGC

Oh, and Jam had a great birthday today going Winner's Bitch and Best of Winner's at the Staten Island Kennel Club show today! Of course, we then went shopping and she picked out a yummy smoked ostrich leg for a celebratory treat!

Mia-belle's First Point!

Congratulations to Jessica for showing Mia-belle, Grayhart's Special Request, RN (Zeke x Trixie) to her first conformation win going Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Breed for one point!

Mia-belle is Jessica's first Weimaraner and first show dog and Jessica has worked very hard to learn how to stack, gait and present Mia-belle, not an easy thing to do for a novice. We are very proud of them both and know that this first win is a special one.

Jam: Novice Obedience WCA Nationals Week

Jam, at the WCWDC trial during Nationals week, doing her recall exercise. Thanks to Sara for this beautiful picture.

WCA National Specialty

The Weimaraner Club of America National Specialty Show ended yesterday after a week of exciting competition and celebrating with friends. Jam and Trudy continued to make us proud by placing 3rd and 4th respectively in their classes at the National Specialty under breeder judge, Judy Colan of Colsidex Weimaraners.

I am still overwhelmed at the successful week we had as our hope was just to maybe get a placement or two but we ended up with class wins, a Futurity class winner (Mason), Futurity Placement (Trudy), Maturity Placement (Marshall) and our girls, Jam and Trudy, placed in every class they were entered in, not an easy feat at a National with such a huge entry and high quality of dogs. In the performance venues, Sky finished her Rally Novice title with a placement and went back the next day and got 1st Place at the National Specialty Rally trial plus we had exciting agility runs with Trixie's 1st place Open Std leg and Jam's 3rd place Novice JWW run. Jam even competed in Novice Obedience and would have qualified if she had not gone down on her group sit but I was happy with her performance since we have not focused as much on competition obedience and her individual run was passable. And, it seems forever ago, but only last Saturday that Jam ran in the WCA Hunt Test in Senior Hunter. She did not pass however, the judges were impressed with her solid point and trainability that we were honored to be asked to work in the bird field for another dog that needed a bracemate to back. We used this opportunity as a training session and Jam held to the shot and did a nice retrieve, a performance that would have passed in Senior. The gunners were extremely complimentary of my young, beautiful birdy bitch!

I am thankful for Trudy and Mason's owners who trusted us with their dogs and to Debbie with Sky, and Laura with Marshall, Meridith with Memphis, who drove long distances to make the Grayhart family reunion and had their own National successes. We are also blessed with the generosity and expert handling of Jam by Steve Lane and Trudy and Mason by Pat O'Brien. I truly appreciate all the calls and emails from our other puppy people and friends, cheering us on all week.

All the dogs were terrific travelers and held up well under crazy weather conditions from freezing rain at the beginning of the week to 90 degree temps at the end. This is a testament to their solid temperaments and training by their owners.

Trudy posing for her WCWDC 12-18 mo class win shot.

Trixie, on a very hot day, showing off her first place agility ribbon. We are all so proud of Trixie, bred by Amy and Michael Anderson of GraytSky, who has turned out to be an amazing producer and terrific performance dog.

Jam, with only some of the ribbons that she won!

Not to be left out, Savi, came everywhere with us and thought that the Nationals were the best party she's ever been to! Littermate Memphis joined us for a few days and attended the Novice Field Seminar and learned all about hunt tests, field trials and was introduced to bird work. Both Savi and Memphis got to meet Daddy Clay's owner, Vicki Ruiz, who loved what she saw in his young get. The hunt test, show, agility trial and motor homes setup, gave Savi incredible socialization and training opportunities. There were numerous puppies and friendly dogs for her to play with and she caused quite a stir everywhere she went with her confident strut, bold manner and even showed off her retrieving skills. One day she'll be on that winner's podium.

Banner day at the WCA Futurity/Maturity

We couldn't be prouder of our pups who competed in the futurity/maturity. Above, Mason, Grayhart's Daily Special, owned by Jen Woods & Matt Zwetolitz, won the Jr Dog Futurity class!
Trudy, Grayhart"s Special Reserve, owned by Barbara & Rich Alfieri & Linda Hartheimer, was awarded a 2nd place. Big thanks to Pat O'Brien for doing such an awesome job handling these two energetic pups out of Trixie and Zeke.

From our Trixie and Parker litter, Marshall, Grayhart's In From the Storm, handled by Susan Line and owned by Laura Roehrich, was awarded 3rd place in his Maturity dogs class. Jam showed well in her Maturity and made the first cut but with a class of almost 20, the competition was stiff. And the woman in the green suit with the big smile, in all the pictures is me, the very proud breeder.

It has been an amazing week and tomorrow is the conclusion of the WCA National Specialty.

WCA National News: Sky, Jam & Trudy

Congratulations to Debbie and Sky for completing their Rally Novice title with a 3rd place! Sky earned this title in three straight trials and with placements for each leg.

Jam with Steve Lane

In the WCWDC Specialty Sweeps, our Grayhart girls made us proud with Jam, shown above, placing 4th in a very large class and Trudy placing 2nd in her class. Thursday is the WCA Futurity and Maturity and we hope that all our dogs show well and get a piece of the prize!

Jam's Novice Std debut at the WCA Nationals

Jam surprised us all with her boundless enthusiasm and drive during her agility runs. Being surrounded by Weims definitely added to her excitement but she did a terrific job considering this is her debut week of trialing. She was close to qualifying on this day but we had a failure which DQ'd us. Her attitude and speed, and being on the verge of control was a joy to watch. We were proud that she qualified the next day with a 3rd place in Jumpers with Weaves.

Trudy wins her class at the WCWDC Specialty!

Trudy, Grayhart's Special Reserve, won a large 12-18 month class at the Weimaraner Club of Wash DC Specialty Show held in conjunction with the WCA Nationals.

Trudy was expertly handled by Pat O'Brien, owner of Trudy's sire, Zeke. We were thrilled with this win as there were many lovely bitches in the class. It is an honor to get a placement at a National event like this and we were beyond excited with this win.

Trudy's win had us all excited and then it was back to the agility ring, where Jam, had a super fast Novice Jumpers with Weaves, JWW, run to earn her first JWW leg with a third place! She ran the course in 30 seconds, 7 seconds under the course time.

Then, we literally ran up to the breed ring and handed Jam off to Steve Lane, who showed her in Open bitches. It was a very large, competitive class and we held our breadth when both Jam and Sky, handled by Debbie, both made the cut. Both girls showed their toes off and in the final round, Jam was awarded a 4th place and Sky was just out of the ribbons. I couldn't be prouder of my dogs and their people.

Trixie's 1st place Open Std Run at the WCA Nationals!

Our week in Gettysburg started off with a bang as Trixie wowed all of us with a terrific Open Standard run that earned her a 1st place for her first Open Std agility leg, at the Weimaraner Club of America All Breed Agility trial. She ran the course 12 seconds under course time!

We have lots more exciting news on the Grayhart gang and their successes so far at the Nationals...to be posted separately.

PCOTC Agility Trial, FDR Park

We had a great time at our first agility trial of the year, this being Jam's agility debut and Trixie's first runs in Open. Although neither dog qualified, my girls had very respectable runs and looked terrific out there. I was pleased on how well they handled and was able to see our hard work paying off. You can even see me successfully doing some front crosses on course. Trixie is back in shape post pups and loves competing in agility.

Meridith was free to come bring Memphis and her son, and took these excellent photos. The socialization was a great experience for Memphis, with all the excitement of dogs running in the rings and lots of different breeds befriending him.

WCA Nationals here we come!

One of the highlights of being involved in dogs is being able to attend your breed's National Specialty show. This year, the Weimaraner Club of America's National Specialty show is in Gettysburg, PA and we are beyond excited to go and meet friends, showcase our dogs, compete in various venues (conformation, obedience, hunt test & agility), see dogs from all over the country, attend the Breeder's Education seminar and of course, shop! There will be a Grayhart reunion and eight of our pups will be in attendance, with six competing in the show. Additionally, there will be an important legislative presentation by Phil Guidry, Legislative Analyst, AKC Government Relations Department and Dr. Noa Safra, DVM, will be speaking on the HOD research study as well as updates on the recently discovered HUU gene in Weimaraners and other important health issues effecting our breed.

Puppy on point - field training for Savi

There is no rush to train a pup on birds but there are a few key things that need to be done to make a good bird dog. Exposure at a young age is critical, which is what we've been doing with Savi. We've done this in a safe way, not letting the bird scare her, paying close attention to her body language and without any gunfire. She's a pup and it needs to be fun and we want to pull out that natural instinct. Letting her run in the field on a checkcord builds confidence, draws out her natural hunting skills and teaches her to work away from me.

Yesterday, we started with the pigeon in the trap and just let Savi loose in the field to find it and she did. She also wanted to eat the tail feathers! Mike, our trainer then took the bird out and as you can see Savi is pointing the pigeon.

The pigeon was released and Savi is marking the bird, watching to see where it flies to. If you look closely, you can see the pigeon in the picture. And then off she goes to chase!

Only pups and green dogs are allowed to chase. This builds confidence, drive and enthusiasm.

Savi's now looking to see if we have any more birds for her. Savi has had just a couple of mini-field training sessions, attended a number of hunt tests and goes with us every week while we train Jam and Monty. This is in addition to obedience classes, shows and all the other fun places we take her makes her a well socialized, confident pup.

Feeling groovy

Monty on the move

Monty and Jam stretching their legs for a good run

and their off...

A good run to take the edge off before we start our field training session.
A nice, intense point for Monty, who is now officially training for Senior Hunter. This is the big leagues and holding steady to shot is critical. This young male has tons of enthusiasm and we will teach him self control to only go after the bird when we release him. Hopefully, he'll be ready to run the Senior test in the fall with littermate Jam.

She's trouble...

Trouble aka Savi magically appeared on the dogwalk while we were training the older dogs. I can't leave this future agility star alone fora second, especially with a cup of English Breakfast Tea on the dogwalk!!! Maybe she was waiting for a scone...

Seeing red

Yesterday was one of those glorious Spring days where you wish everyday could be like this, sparkling sunshine, not too hot and beautiful views. We took Jam and these gorgeous Vizsla boys, Stevie and Wes, who belong to my friend Esther hiking at Harriman State Park. Both boys are show champions and accomplished hunting dogs. Wes is 10, graying around the muzzle, and Stevie who is 3, is currently working on his Master Hunter title.

After the hike, the boys showed off their water skills. Wes, above, is quite the retriever.

Stevie, did a beautiful job of retrieving the bumper but could not convince Jam to go in the water. Ironically, I didn't snap a single shot of Jam...too busy enjoying the scenery and the Vizslas. Hopefully, this summer we will get Jam swimming as she has told me that she would rather watch from the sidelines than get wet.

Our WCA Southern Futurity and Maturity Placers

Sky, Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain TD JH NSD V was awarded a 4th place at the 2010 Southern Maturity held in April in Perry GA. Sky also placed in her Futurity last year.

Mia-belle, Grayhart's Special Request, RN, was awarded a 4th place at the 2010 Southern Futurity. held in April in Perry GA.
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We are very proud of both Debbie and Jessica and congratulate them on their placements. Both are owner-handlers, who managed to earn placements, beating out professional handlers. Jessica is a novice handler, with Mia-belle being her first Weim and show dog, and with determination, practice and the mentoring, friendship and support she has received from Debbie, has managed to hold her own and do a terrific job with Mia-belle. We know the future will bring many more accomplishments and fun for our Southern gals!

Sky celebrates Derby Day

Sky, Grayhart's Early Morning Rain, JH, TD,NSD, CGC,V, owned and photographed by Debbie Moody. Girls in the south know it's all about the hat!