A Summer to Remember!!

Wicca Woo Masters Agility Dog

Check out this agility news from Sarah ,Amanda, and Kim! What a fabulous summer they have had.

From Sarah: "We have had a couple great weekends Trialing. Gyp is running great and bringing home the Q's, we are working towards her SIlver Award of Merit. Kaleb reached his 40th Masters Standard Q! And Miss Jane retired from Agility Competition this past weekend. Our Agility friends made it special by presenting a book of memories and a cake with her photo on it! She ran her little heart out in the 2 runs she was entered in, and placed 1st and Q in her runs. We hope to do more Rally in her retirement years, and I think she will love that! We had 7.5 years in the Agility Ring together and I am so lucky to have had that time with her. She was the first JRT in Alberta with an ATCHC, Bronze, and Silver Award of Merit."

From Amanda: Wicca earned her MAD (Masters Agility Dog) title at a recent trial. This has been a long time coming, and I am very proud of her.

Boone earned his ADC (Agility Dog of Canada) and SGDC (Starters Game Dog of Canada) aswell. He has come a long way since I first got him, and as his confidence grows so does his success in agility.

From Kim: "

We spent the Labour Day long weekend in Namao at a CKC agility trial. Maggie earned an Intermediate Standard 'Q' and an Excellent JWW 'Q'. Bosley finished both his Intermediate Standard title and his Intermediate JWW title and went on to earn an Excellent Standard 'Q' and and Excellent JWW 'Q'.

Last weekend we headed to Medicine Hat to an AAC trial. Maggie had an awesome weekend bringing home 4 'Q's (2 Advanced Snooker, 1 Advanced Gamblers and 1 Advanced Standard). Even better than the 'Q's was how great she ran all weekend, even in the heat, as we often struggle with motivation/stress issues in trial situations. Bosley made his AAC debut and brought home 3 'Q's (2 Starters Standard and a Starters Snooker) and I was very pleased with his focus and enthusiasm all weekend. "

Stateside

Quick addition to our blog. Mary Ellen and Gracie returned from the United States with a Rally Excellent title and a High in Class Award. The trailer towed nicely and shopping was great! What more could be said?

Judi

Harvest Fest Celebrations

Saturday, September 19th, members of the Southern Alberta Working Herding Dog Association set up their booth at the

Kootenai Brown Museum in Pincher Creek, Alberta, and spent the morning and early afternoon informing and entertaining visitors. Joan and Maureen with Beau, Dezi, and Levi drove from Calgary, Jan, Deb, Gary and their mom came from Coaldale with their Bernese Mt. dogs , and Lee and Hank came from Claresholm with Bess, the golden, to join Louann, Deb, & Judi. It was a perfect opportunity for us to practice obedience with our dogs and to expose them to different activities that were taking place all around the museum yard. Jan's young Bernese Mt. Dog was amazed and very interested in the bean bag toss. Beau really tried hard to have his picture taken with the goat that showed up for the pet contest, but the goat was having none of that. Maureen's sheltie, Levi and Lou's Cardigan Corgi, Brazil, passed the 'cart rides' offered by Deb's and Judi's GSD's. Walker and RoZe. Lee had her golden retriever demonstrate some of the skills she has learned in the personal assistance dog program. The dogs also demonstrated parts of the Canine Good Citizen test. And Judi's GSD, Token, amazed her by remaining calm and working to find the correct scent article despite the fact that three kids raced through the articles and one stopped and tried to

pick up the articles and then followed Token around and even swiped at her to pat her before moving on! What a good dog.

There were pies of every flavor available for purchase and we couldn't stand it and just had to taste.

While we were packing up, we discovered a fairly flat area of lawn with two sets of bleachers on one side set away from the main museum area. We are thinking that this might be a good place for us to do some carting or rally 'O' next summer. Parking is very close and our entry fees could go to the museum instead of to the club for the use of the venue.

And, speaking of the venue, club days will begin again at the Cowley Hall mid-October, so keep tuned!!

More news

Just received word from our Spokane friend, Jackie, that she is going to attend the agility trials in Kelowna next weekend.

Matt, the young fellow who drove Jackie to Cranbrook, has agreed to drive her to Kelowna, only this time they have rented

an RV to relax in when they are done the agility fun. What a super summer!

Jackie is still elated that Rosie finished her RN title at Cranbrook with 96/100 and that Raisin, her Alberta born sheltie qualified in both her rally classes. Found some pictures of the celebration!