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Tuesday, March 2, 2021

All field, all day

It was a bright, sunny afternoon, although only in the high 30's. I took Noodle, Pizza, and Dolphin for some field training with my field trainer/coach. I must say that I love my trainer - she is so patient and positive and explains things so well. You know me, I tend to be an over-thinker about things, I analyze and re-analyze everything that I do and every outcome. She is very patient with me!


Dolphin got to go first. We worked him on a check cord so that we could control what he does. I was really surprised at how much he remembered - it's been a month and a half since we did any field training. The first bird required a lot of reminder to stand still on point - I had to pick him up and reposition him when he lunged at the bird. After that, he did a LOT better, holding some very beautiful points for me. The more birds he found, the more he hunted with intensity. I see a lot of daddy Pretzel in how he hunts. Hopefully I won't make the same mistakes with him that i did with Pretzel. Poor Pretzel, destined to be my practice dog in everything!


Next was Noodle. We tried to set her up for failure - hopping birds, birds that flushed in her face, shooting a shotgun, you name it. She didn't make a single mistake. Dang, it's hard to train through mistakes if she doesn't make any while training! Maybe if I get a lot of training sessions like this in before our next test, being good will be more of a habit for her.


Pizza was last, and we tried setting her up for failure also with the same things we did to Noodle. I was super pleased with Pizza - she was very solid! Her issue tends to be doubling back and going after the bird we just pointed and flushed, so we worked a bit on that. She is just drop dead gorgeous when she is on point.


Overall, it was a wonderful day in the field. I have so many plans for this year, and I feel like they are slowly coming to fruition. That's exciting!



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If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.

Slowing down? Me? Never! However, I am taking a step back, evaluating everything I am doing, and spending more time enjoying the moment. Too much time is spent working and worrying about what I am trying to achieve in the future, and I am missing the daily moments that make life so special. My goal is to focus more on today and what I do have, and not solely on what I am trying to achieve. Goals can be a wonderful thing, but they can quickly turn to poison if left unchecked.

"You are not what you’ve done. You are what you keep doing."

Wednesday - Thursday - Friday, March 3-4-5, 2021

So much training, so little time

Today I am posting a quick recap of that past 3 days, as pretty much all I did was work on my computer and train dogs.


Cadence is at a show in Indiana - her first indoor show. She has been pretty on edge in these new surroundings, so she hasn't been shown yet. Hopefully Sunday...though I won't be showing her since she really isn't ready for me. No sense in me screwing her up at her first indoor show!


Wednesday, Pizza had agility class (Dolphin's was cancelled). She was all over the place. I put her at a jump in a sit stay, released her, and she literally did a u-turn and ran the opposite way, taking jumps behind her. Her focus was non-existent. I walked out of there telling myself to be patient...I need buckets and buckets of patience for this girl. She was all over the place in the whole class. A bit discouraging, but we will keep on keepin' on as usual.


Thursday Noodle had agility class, and she was stellar. She was focused, fast, and was a blast to run. This was a good reminder to me that Pizza WILL get there. Noodle was far worse than her a few years ago, and look how far she has come! We got this.


Thursday afternoon, Pizza had her first competition obedience class. She did...ok. Not great, but I didn't expect her to be great as this is all very new for her. Having 8 dogs crammed in this little room stressed her out, but we worked through it.


Friday Pizza did a 3 hour agility seminar. She was MUCH improved over the past 2 days! She had much better focus. I knew it would come...baby steps!


Friday evening my scentwork instructor had a scentwork practice at her house for anyone that wanted to come. We did buried scents - where the scent was buried in sand and water. Pretzel was a little confused, and had a lot more trouble scenting in the water than the sand. I feel a little guilty, because it's been years since I have taken him anywhere or done any sort of training with him, and I feel like now he is kind of intimidated when we go into training. Once he gets into it, he is all about working, but while he is waiting around I can see he is a bit stressed and worried. I don't really know how to fix this, as he was always a supremely confident and happy dog when we went to various shows and training classes. He is a puzzle to me...he loves the work, but worries when he is not working. I just want him to be happy.


On the plus side, today was the first day with sunshine and NO SNOW! We have had snow and ice cover since mid-January. Today the dogs finally got out to run and burn some energy. Pretzel looks darn good for getting ready to turn 9 on Sunday!

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Saturday, March 6, 2021

Field training - priority #1

Today we went to do some field training with my trainer. Our goal with Noodle was to throw at her a ton of things that could go wrong - birds flushing right overhead, birds running instead of flying, bracemate not honoring, etc. She did pretty good, but a large blowing leaf while she was on point proved to be her downfall when she broke to grab it. I bet she felt stupid when she realized it was only a leaf. It was a good chance to practice working through mistakes. Her retrieve was really bad today. That is going to be a big priority for me to work on the next few weeks.


Pizza was surprisingly awesome. She held through the flush and show, and held even when her bracemate broke out and grabbed the bird. I am pretty proud of how she is coming along.


We worked Dolphin with another puppy, both on check cords. He had some nice points, but I had to use the check cord to steady him and make him stand. He was getting better by the end. I think he is progressing really well for having such little time in the field.


Two major field events are on the horizon for me - Noodle and I head to Missouri in 2 weeks for a double double hunt test to hopefully finish her senior hunter title. In April, Pizza and Dolphin and I will head to Virginia to compete in what has been a huge goal of mine - the WCA Field Futurity.

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Saturday, March 7, 2021

More field, more fun!

It was another beautiful March afternoon, and I spent it the BEST way - doing some field training with a friend. I braced Noodle and Pizza with her dog, taking turns. They both worked wonderfully with him, and it was fun to have two Weims training in the field together.


Noodle made one major mistake in breaking on the flush with one bird, but I worked her through it and she was dead on for the rest of our training time. Pizza also worked well through her mistakes. It was a very productive afternoon. My main goal is to work on Noodle's retrieve. It's iffy - she doesn't retrieve very fast to me, and she is starting to mouth the bird a little bit. I am going to make that a priority in training for the next week or two.


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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

On the road again

Today is a travel day, but I waited to leave until after my two classes in the morning. Dolphin was really good in his class. We started jumping! Not anything high - just around 12-16 inches. He basically can step over it, but he is learning to actually GO over it and that's what counts. Pizza, on the other hand, was not so good. It seems like she is starting to go into another false pregnancy since her heat cycle ended a few weeks ago. She was pretty lethargic. I did make the mistake of letting her have her full breakfast this morning a few hours before class, and she always likes to nap after she eats. Not sure what the reason was, but I ended up leaving class early because she was out of it.


She perked up quickly after we got home, and was somewhat normal the whole drive, although she was pretty "nesty" and needy...ugh.


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Thursday-Sunday, March 11-14, 2021

Show - Shelbyville, Tennessee

It was a pretty good show at Shelbyville, Tennessee. It wasn't spectacular, but Pizza did better than I had anticipated, so that is always nice. Out of the 3 days of shows, she earned two Best of Opposite and one Select (out of 4 bitch specials), and three Owner-Handled Best of Breed awards. No group placements, but I feel like she improved each day. We are still struggling occasionally with her wanting to pace when she gets slow or tired, and that sometimes hurts us.


Dolphin had a great time - he got to play with two different puppies all weekend. He also tested for anc earned his CGC title (Canine Good Citizen), he was stellar! Good boy!


IWe did a little photo shoot of Dolphin on Thursday. I think he is looking pretty darn nice for 11 months of age!

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Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Time to crack those goals!

Back to work! I took Noodle, Pizza, and Dolphin field training today. The girls were awesome. Pizza still shocks me with how she has suddenly got with the program. Dolphin took some steps backward in his training, deciding that pointing wasn't necessary when he could just pounce on the bird. I could barely hold him back with the check cord. I was pretty down about his backwards progression. I understand this is all a part of training, and that they often go backwards before going forwards. However...the field futurity is in less than a month! OMG!


Speaking of the field futurity, I filled out my entries today. I have to admit, I am usually rock solid about competing, but this event has me nervous. I don't know what to expect, I definitely feel out of my element here, and at a huge disadvantage since I am walking and not riding (it is a horseback field trial). I need to lower my expectations and just go have fun and make sure my dogs look good. Yeah...easier said than done!


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Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Happy St. P Day!

Wednesdays are so busy for me, but today was a pretty darn good one. Dolphin and Pizza had their agility classes in the morning, and both dogs were great - worked well and did a lot of things right. It was a beautiful day so in between classes and work I took Noodle outside and worked on her retrieve with a dead bird. Of course she retrieves perfectly when we are alone at home. I hope she keeps her head together for our hunt test this weekend.


Pretzel had his scent work class this evening. I feel like he is making small improvements. We had a little more trouble with the blind interior searches. He does pretty well with the boxes or containers on the ground, but when it is a bunch of random furniture he has a hard time figuring out what exactly to search. I need to work on this at home with him. The house is certainly cluttered enough to make for a good search LOL!

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Thursday, March 18, 2021

Life changes, starting today

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea my life was about to take a drastic turn for the worse. I took Noodle to agility class and she was awesome. I packed the van for our trip to the hunt test in Missouri tomorrow. I packed the motorhome for our subsequent trip to Tennessee for the show next week. Took Pizza to obedience class. Headed to a friend's house to help her with something. Then I got the phone call, and I knew this would be the moment I would never forget. Mark had been in an accident - hit by a car while crossing our road to get the mail. My heart and my soul, the person who saved me and keeps me going, life hangs on a balance.


The brief synopsis is this - broken leg, broken arm, multiple broken ribs, fractures in his facial bones, and the scariest thing - a small hemorrhage on his brain. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe. Surgery on his leg and arm was necessary, and was scheduled for tomorrow if he was deemed healthy enough to withstand it. My own heart is shattered. That's all I can say.


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Wednesday, March 24, 2021

A Week

What a week it has been. I feel like my life has been suspended in time for the past 7 days. Thankfully Mark's surgery went well on Friday (putting a titanium rod in his leg and a plate in his arm), he was taken off the ventilator and woke up very confused, but he woke up! He remembers nothing about the accident. Every day was very hard for him in the hospital, but every day showed tiny increments of improvement. I thanked God every night that he is still alive and with me, and I woke every morning in a complete panic attack when my brain remembered what happened. Needless to say I am not getting much sleep, I am almost afraid to sleep some nights. But things are looking up...they aren't looking sky-high up, but slightly upward, and that's all I can ask right now.


It's been a hard week on the dogs also. The boys seem OK, other than they really hate being alone so much. The girls (Noodle and Pizza) are taking it much harder. Noodle is freaking out to the point of hyperventilating sometimes, and Pizza just curls up in a ball of depression. They miss Mark, they know something is terribly wrong, and they don't understand why I am crying so much. I literally have not done a single thing with any of the dogs in a week, and that is SO unlike our normal crazy schedule. But we will get through this, this too shall pass. I have faith, and hope.


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Thursday, March 25, 2021

A little Pizza time

Mark was moved to the rehabilitation hospital today. He was in MUCH better spirits. I think this is because he was finally leaving the hospital (and the incessant BEEPING and DINGING that goes on 24/7). Leaving the hospital meant that he was making progress in healing, even though it just meant he was going to a different hospital. Every day he is a little better.


Tonight I finally was able to do a little training - my friend and I rented the agility building and did some training. It was wonderful to work with Pizza and Dolphin again. Pizza was doing really good. I loved having an hour of normalcy.

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Friday, March 26, 2021

Mapping out a plan

I got a chance to do some field training this afternoon since I wasn't allowed to visit Mark. All 3 dogs did really good, though Dolphin still needs a lot of work in holding his point. Noodle did some beautiful honors, she did great when I accidentally flushed the bird right into her head. Pizza was pretty steady, and had some nice run to her. My trainer and I mapped out a training schedule for the next couple weeks so I can be as ready as I possibly can. The field futurity is in 2 1/2 weeks. This is a huge goal of mine. Thankfully Mark's daughter will be able to come and stay with him so I can still go. Kind of depressing to think about going without him, though. It's going to be a very lonely week.


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