Tracking, Vista Visit, and more

So on Tuesday night we headed for Cindy's home on the Snake Trail north of Cowley. Shar and I, Jeremy and Jillian had no trouble with the directions, but Deb and Brenda......... well, they were so busy talking they missed the crucial turn into the driveway and we received this phone call in the field, "Hi, Judi, we are kinda lost. And this is so not funny right now. Where are we? On a road. If we knew where we were, would we be calling you????? Heh?? Heh??? Oh, turn around and come back and turn left into the driveway when we see the sign on the rock. Will do.

While we were waiting, we laid tracks for Jeremy and Jack. Jack handled the track very well and Jeremy did a good job of handling the pup, waiting when he was supposed to wait and moving when he was supposed to move. Not once did he 'push' his dog.

Cindy's Belgian, Lugar, made the most improvement. By his second track, he was deep-nosed and pulling with conviction. I walked behind Cindy and let her know that he was right and she never said a word to the dog and he was super. Shar and Ryder found Deb in under a minute and handled the corner just right. Fyre managed to find Sharlet and was pretty excited about it. And Token went

zipping along and missed lying down on one of her articles, firing by to the next. Brenda managed to hold on to two German shepherds without losing her composion and that was cool. We all did very well at tracking. Next week, we hope to track Cowley's glider track. We'll look into it.

Our visit to Vista Village this morning was super. Around 30 residents were on hand to watch the dogs perform jumps and tunnels, barrel racing and tricks. Fun for all, but Brenda's dogs stole the show as Ali zipped around the agility course and weaves like an old pro and Tug barked his way around the barrels. We are thankful that she came all the way from Cranbrook to join us. Thanks to Shirley, Barb, and Sharlet for putting on a very enjoyable show. We are allowed to train in Vista's courtyard anytime so we really should make time for that.

Hunter learned to swim today. We were unpacking the agility equipment and he just couldn't stay out of the van. And so he came along with RoZe, Drummer and Ryder. He had the funniest approach to swimming I've ever seen. He was doing corgi-in-the-tallgrass leaps straight up as he headed out to the deeper water. What a nut! But he swam and that was the goal.

If it's hot tomorrow, we'll get out to the river again for some more water games. Working on entries for the Cranbrook show.

And Working,.... and working.

On a sadder note, Liz and Andy lost Huxley, their flatcoat retriever, to kidney failure. He was a neat dog with a super sense of humor which he shared with everyone. He will live on in his kids.

Square dance practice at Shadowbar Sunday at 11:00 for those who can make it. Maybe we can do some rally O, too.

The Pres

Condolences

We offer condolences to Lore and Rick Bruder on the loss of Lore's father this past week. It is never easy to lose a parent, even after we try to convince ourselves that they had a wonderful, adventure-packed, long life. The time we spend with them in the last years, once it is no longer necessary, often leaves us with a sense of confusion as to what to do with ourselves. Know that we are all thinking of you at this time.

Judi

Show and Shine for the weekend

Great big congratulations to MaryEllen and her three GSP bitches, Grace, Cheyenne, and Tessa.

Representing three generations , all three girls were winners at the GSP Nationals this weekend in Calgary.

Grace was awarded the Veterans class as well as Brood Bitch and Get. Her daughter, Cheyenne, finished her CD title with High Scoring German Shorthair Pointer in Novice A obedience as well as being presented with an Award of Merit. Cheyenne's daughter, Tessa went Winners Bitch, Best of Winners, and Best Puppy!! What a fabulous weekend for this team from all of SAWHDA members.

Way to be!

Last day of dog show was fantastic for Carol and Bernese Mt. dogs, Emily and Hank. Emily earned her Rally Advanced title and Hank took second place in his Rally Novice class and now needs one more leg to get his title. So proud of the 2 berners this weekend. Carol thanks Maureen O. for putting the basic training on Hank when she wasn't able to. The combined effort certainly paid off. Good job, girls.

And thank you to Deb, Sharlet, Russell and Marilyn for attending The Thunder in the Valley parade with their dogs. We looked fabulous!!! Very professional appearance. Sharlet led the way right behind the RCMP with Mesa and Ryder. Deb and Walker took one side of the street with Mojo riding in Walker's cart. He did a great job and people were so impressed. RoZe carried a placard in her cart which read, "Canadian Dogs Rock" . The crowd loved it. We were pretty happy with the numbers of people and the positive comments about the dogs. After the parade we headed to Deb's to cool down the dogs and have a bit of lunch and then off to the entertainment. The Chevelles were great and the Dance troupe was energetic and very athletic despite the near +30 weather this year. The Show and Shine was super spectacular with 50 cars or more. Loved the Prowler!! We headed for

Judi and Darryl's for a spaghetti and steak supper and relaxed until 9:00 p.m. after which we

returned to Deb's. We walked to ISS at 10:30 arriving just in time to set up our chairs before the fireworks began. This year it lasted about 20 minutes. No news who the 50/50 draw went to or how much it was worth but my phone didn't ring. What's with that?

Traffic was very heavy and we didn't get home until 2:00 a.m. but we had a blast! Literally.

Tracking Seminar

Our Introduction to Tracking/ Refresher seminar was very successful with 8 dog/handler teams in attendance. The instructors were able to point each team in the right direction, providing a method which they felt would be the most motivational for the dog. Dogs varied in age from 7 months to 9 years old and handler .......oops, I won't go there. After some 'book-learnin'" and line-handling, and a chili lunch, we were ready to put our newfound knowledge to practice. T0jhe Cowley Ball Field gave us perfect conditions for new trackers and track-layers and the dogs were happy and relaxed in their work. We were able to work through problems that had plagued advanced handlers and the dogs came away better for it. We decided that Tuesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. would work best for those who intended to continue with the sport and that we would video the dogs as they worked their tracks and would be given a new lesson each night. Cindy kindly offered us the use of her ranch on the Snake Trail and we hope to do our second night of tracking there. Tonight, we will gather at Shadowbar Shepherds and travel to the Lundbreck ball park for our practice. We welcome all trackers to join us.

Sunday, we held our Square Dance Practice with Barb, Shirley, Deb, Sharlet, Janet, Joan, and Maureen in attendance. We had a good time and everything went well I thought.....but after watching the video of our practice at the Lundbreck Hall, I am almost certain that the 'men' were going the wrong way on Sunday. If you "all the men left" with the lady on your left, the men will be going counterclockwise and the women clockwise. We'll work it out on the 25th. I will email everyone to ensure that if you are dancing at Spruce Meadows, you can attend the final practice so we can get this done properly.

I have the following people dancing on Sunday, August 1st at noon:

Judi, Shar, Lore, Louann, Mary Ellen and Maureen, Janet and Joan. Donna & Friday will do their Freestyle.

On Monday, at noon, the next team to dance will include:

Judi, Shar, Lore, Louann, Janet, Nancy, Barb and Shirley Donna and Friday will do their Freestyle.

Carol will be our spare for both days in case someone is unable to dance.

Parking passes will be sent to me as will wrist bands although those of you who are already entered in the show may have yours mailed to you. "Guys" will wear a black shirt and blue jeans, and "Girls" will wear white shirts and blue jeans. I will bring the scarves. We park in Exhibitor Parking. I will email you a map. We perform at noon each day. Please be on the Spruce Meadows grounds and meet at the Show Secretary's Table at 11:00 a.m.

See you at practice on the 25th and I'll give out the passes and bands.

Judi

Vernon Results

Hi, everybody,

Nancy and Brie, her papillon, entered the Vernon Dog Show and did sooooooo well. Here's her recap of the story.

Rally went well in Vernon for Brie & I …. first trial 100/100 & high in class both days – almost high in trial first day but a Lab in the excellent class also got 100 and just beat her by a couple seconds. I screwed up on the second day but still got high in class– I was the last dog in the class & it started pouring rain when it was our turn. She didn’t sit right away on a “front” and I forgot I could tell her to sit (duh) and re-did the exercise so lost 3 points plus a couple pts for poor sits. Judge on 2^nd day was from USA and DQ’d a lot of the dogs. He definitely marked harder than first judge and told us to re-do if we thought we screwed up as it was better to lose 3 pts rather than 10 so guess that was on my mind. Dick said “why did you redo that exercise” and I said cause she didn’t sit right away. Been doing traditional obed too long and have to remind myself that I can give her commands L. There were only 2 Rally trials so need one more to finish the Novice title.

We are pretty proud of this team, especially when they can both work in the rain! Here are some pics of the action.

Congratulations! And keep up the good work. Papillon power!!!

Canada Day

We had a great time celebrating our National Holiday. Attended the Canada Day Parade in Coleman and got to watch the Cranbrook Girls Drum and Bugle Band perform. The routines they did were humbling for those of us who complain about drill routines or square dance formations. They were wonderful.... flag bearers were super. We won second place!!

Came home to lunch with Lee, Hank and Darryl and then did some scent hurdle practice. Going to Calgary with three dogs tomorrow night. Wish me luck. The whistle is still an issue.

Hope you all enjoyed the day and that you found some time to reflect about how truly blessed we are to live in such a country.