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.

New Junior Hunter for Mia-belle!!!

Huge congratulations to Jessica Scharff for finishing Mia-belle's Junior Hunter title today at the Sandhill's Hunt Test in NC. Mia earned her Junior Hunter title in four straight tests.

Mia, is now CH Grayhart's Special Request, CDX, RA, JH, NA, NAJ, NSD, RD, VX, (Zeke x Trixie).  She has been trained and handled to all her titles by her novice owner, Jessica.  We are so proud of all they have accomplished. 

Jam gets her WCA Versatile Excellent Title!!!

Jam's 2011 Blue Ribbon ad for the Weimaraner Magazine, showing off her versatility.

We are pleased to announce that Jam has qualified for one of the Weimaraner Club of America's prestigious titles, Versatile Excellent or VX.  The WCA recognizes Weimaraners who excel in a number of areas of competition and based on a point system, dogs can quality for the Versatile title and then the Versatile Excellent title and beyond.  The dogs must acquire titles in at least three different areas.  It is an exciting milestone not only for Jam, who did this before her 3rd birthday, but for our breeding program as Jam is our first VX and completed this title during the 2011 WCA Nationals week when she completed both her Open Agility (OA) and Companion Dog (CD) titles.

Jam is now CH Grayhart's Purple Haze, CD,JH,OA,NAJ,NSD,CGC,VX

Jam's Versatile Excellent points came from the following areas: conformation (Bench Champion), obedience (CD), field (JH) and agility (OA).

From the Weimaraner Club of America Rules & Policies, here are the requirements for Versatile and Versatile Excellent awards:

SECTION VIII- Versatile Rating Standards

I. Schedule of Available Versatile Points
A. Bench Champion.....................................................8
Ten Bench Points (includes major win)...............6
Five Bench Points.....................................................4
Bench Pointed...........................................................2
B. Obedience Trial Champion....................................10
UDX.............................................................................8
UD...............................................................................6
CDX.............................................................................4
CD...............................................................................2
C. Field Champion, AFC or MH..................................10
Senior Hunter, SDX or 1st place in AA/GD Retrieving Stake 6
Junior Hunter, SD or 4 Field Points.....................4
NSD or 1 Field Point................................................2
D. RDX............................................................................6
RD...............................................................................4
NRD............................................................................2
E. Champion Tracker (CT)..........................................10
Variable Surface Tracking (VST)...........................8
Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX)...............................6
Tracking Dog (TD)...................................................4

Section II—RULES Standards for Ratings
F. Master Agility Champion.......................................10
Master Agility Excellent (MX) or MXJ...................8
Agility Excellent (AX) or AXJ.................................6
Agility Excellent Preferred (AXP) or AJP.............5
Open Agility (OA) or OAJ.......................................4
Open Agility Preferred (OAP) or OJP...................3
Novice Agility (NA) or NAJ.....................................2
Novice Agility Preferred (NAP) or NJP.................1

II. Requirements for Award of Versatile “V”
A. Twelve (12) versatile points minimum total.
B. Above Twelve (12) points must be obtained from at least three (3) of the above six (6) groups.
C. Points are not accumulative in any one group (i.e., a UD entitles a dog to six (6) points. His CDX and CD cannot be added.)

III. Requirements for Award of Versatile Excellent “VX”
A. Eighteen (18) points minimum total
B. Above eighteen (18) points may be obtained from three (3) of the above six (6) groups and must include a Bench Champion, Field Champion, Amateur Field Champion, Obedience Trial Champion, Master Agility Champion or Champion Tracker.
OR
Above eighteen (18) points may be obtained from at least four (4) of the six (6) groups.
C. Points are not accumulative in any one group.
IV. Requirements for Award of Versatile Excellent 2 (VX2)
A. Twenty four (24) points minimum total.
B. Above twenty-four (24) points must be obtained from at least four (4) of the above six (6) groups.
C. Points are not accumulative in any one group.
V. Requirements for Award of Versatile Excellent 3 (VX3) – VX7
A. Must meet the requirements of Versatile Excellent 2 (VX2)
B. Minimum total points required:
VX3...................................................30 Points
VX4...................................................36 Points
VX5...................................................42 Points
VX6...................................................48 Points
Weimaraner Club of America Rules and Policies

New Junior Hunter Savi!

We are so proud of nine month old Savi, Grayhart's Shear Genius,NSD,CGC, for earning her AKC Junior Hunter (JH) title this past Saturday at the Nutmeg Weimaraner Club Hunt Test in Simsbury, CT.  Savi finished in style earning awesome scores of a 10 in Bird Finding and a 9 in hunting.  She had a blast running the course and found five birds, even retrieving one of them to hand, and I literally had to drag her off the course when the judges called time.  She just loves hunting for those birds.  Since she was already entered in the Sunday test, we ran her for fun and she received her 5th JH leg, a bumper leg as we call it, and then was asked to run as the bye dog in the last Junior brace, where right after the breakaway, she pointed a walking chukkar.

Savi completed her JH in four straight tests.  Now, we will concentrate on training her for Senior and Master hunter, while she continues to train for the show and agility rings.

Always fun to travel and trial with friends, along for the ride was my friend, Lilly and her girl, Missy, CH Hibourne's Ain't Misbehavin,CD,NSD, who qualified in Junior Hunter both days for her 2nd and 3rd JH legs. We celebrated the girls successes with a lovely dinner Saturday night and then were quite surprised when the hotel upgraded us to a three room suite!  The dogs thought that was just fabulous and had a party running around and then finally settled down when I gave them yummy knuckle bones to chew on.

Jam, quite comfortable on the King size bed

Jam was entered in the Senior tests however, was not steady on her birds in the back course and therefore did not qualify.  She hunted well  but just could not contain that high drive and hold point while I flushed the birds.  Train, train, and train until the Spring tests...