"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."

Field training today with Dolphin - unfortunately he broke on both of his training birds, so he did not get to retrieve them. Just a small step back, which is disappointing after the good weeks we have had. After we were done we did some retrieving with a dead bird, which he did great. We used chukkar today, probably his first time on chukkar. I am not sure if the scent is stronger or more exciting, making him break> Or quite possibly he was just being a bit of a brat today...yeah, that's probably it.

I entered one day at the local agility trial, all three crazies were entered. It was a pretty successful day with many ups and some downs.

Noodle had a great day, laying down a beautiful Double QQ with a 3rd place in Master Jumpers (beating out Dolphin, who was 4th!), and a 4th place in Master Standard. She fizzled out on the send in FAST, missing the second jump, so no triple QQQ today.

Dolphin knocked a bar and missed a weave entrance in Time 2 Beat. He nailed a really nice Master Jumpers Q, but had to be very "managed" as he was jumping wide and a little scattered, so he took 4th place behind his buddy Noodle. He had such a nice Master Standard run, with awesome weaves, but had two refusals - one where he didn't stop on the dogwalk contact so I got behind and he spun before the jump, and another he just brain-farted and missed the jump. Overall a nice run, other than the mistakes. He came back and Q-ed in Master FAST, although it took a lot of convincing to get him over the second jump in the send.

I really feel like Pizza made some serious progress today, and by progress I mean a tiny baby step or two. In Time 2 Beat she left me at the beginning to go visit and run by the judge, but this was all before the start jump and we might have saved that run but she took an off course jump on her way back to me. She came back and we had an awesome run, other than the weaves which took a couple tries. In Jumpers, she missed her weave entrance twice to go visit the judge, but once I got her through the weaves (we did finally complete them) she ran the rest of the run clean and fast. In Standard, I ended up walking her off after multiple visits...it confuses me why we managed to get two really nice runs and then the third she just couldn't handle getting past all of the barsetters (one guy got his face thoroughly washed by her LOL!). We did manage to squeak out a Q in Excellent FAST, although she went to visit one barsetter I got her back quickly and we nailed the send bonus...this Q finishes her Excellent FAST title! Finally a tiny bit of success! It is a definite improvement over the last trial, so I think maybe we are headed in the right direction?

It's been a pretty good couple of days. Training has gone really well for everyone. Yesterday I took Dolphin to go train some agility with a friend of mine and he was on fire! It was a blast. Of course, when he is on fire like that, that means knocked bars. It was a good opportunity to train through that.

Today Noodle and Pizza had agility class in the morning. Noodle was accurate, but rather unmotivated at times. She was in a very odd mood all morning, not really 'with it' like she usually is. I am wondering if she is thinking about coming into season early. She is due in early/mid April. She seemed a little hormonal, so who knows?

Pizza was phenomenal in class! Really fast, really accurate, and really focused. When she is like this, she is my absolute favorite dog to run. That girl is so damn talented! I am hoping to get her brain under control, I have some plans the next few weeks to work on that.

The biggest victory was Dolphin. We did some field training this afternoon. I put a check cord on Dolphin while we worked the first bird, and he was pretty darn perfect! He held for a long time while we got everyone squared away (gunners, backing dog, etc.) and held nicely though the flush AND the shot, and waited until I released him for the retrieve. We were using chukkar today and they were huge. I took the check cord off for his second bird, and he held through the flush but broke on the shot. Both times he did a really nice retrieve...both times the bird was still very alive and flapping a lot, so this was a good retrieving experience for him to pick up a struggling bird.

Building a bird dog is a journey - some short, some long, some on a windy twisted road, some on a direct highway. Noodle and Pretzel taught me that each dog is an individual and sometimes it can be a very different journey even with two dogs training at the same time. Pizza spoiled me by sailing though training and finishing her master hunter at age 2, taking the direct highway route to success. Dolphin is teaching me once again that every dog has their own path to success, and you have to let them choose the road that works best for them.

This is the stuff that fascinates me. Unlike agility or obedience, this sport requires raw instinct - along with the drive, desire, and trainability that other sports need. It is so interesting to see a dog's natural instinct get turned on, and they rise to a whole 'nother level. Harnessing the enthusiasm without squashing the desire is a fine line to walk, and you have to have buckets and buckets of patience to not try to shortcut the steps. It is pure joy to watch when it all comes together. This is why I love this sport so much. Man, if you haven't done this you have NO idea what you are missing! Snapping a photo like this is a bigger high than any drug could ever take you.

I got a chance to do some field training on my own today. I had two quail, one in a mesh bad and one in a cage, and I randomly planted them in a large field and went to work with Dolphin.

It was a very good session, as I was able to plant the birds multiple times, and work on steadiness. Dolphin was 50/50...he was super steady on the first bird, but then the next he tried creeping up, and lunged slightly when I moved the bird around. We worked a lot on self-control while I made the bird flap and flutter and I moved it all around while Dolphin was on point. When the bird made a lot of noise (fluttering), it was a lot harder for him to control his impulse. On a good note - although a few times he did break and lunge forward, he never actually put his mouth on the bird. I was able to stop him verbally and he obeyed. I know he knows what he is supposed to do, but right now he doesn't know how to control that inner bad dog voice that coaxes him to jump. He is improving, but it will take a LOT of repetition with a LOT of birds.

Call me crazy, but I decided to travel north to an agility trial I have never been to before, and with BOTH Dolphin and Noodle. These two crazies in a hotel room? Yikes...luckily the trial started at 10am so I decided to leave early in the morning, reducing my hotel stay to only one night.

I had mixed results today. Both Noodle and Dolphin Q'ed in FAST, Noodle beat Dolphin because he accidentally went around one jump so missed out on the extra point. Both ran nice and fast.

I only entered Dolphin in Time 2 Beat and he ran clean, though he slipped and slid a LOT on the turf, causing him to lose some time and go wide (he ended up 2nd in time). Standard was awesome for both dogs - Noodle nailed a really nice fast qualifying run and 1st place. Dolphin was smoking that course, he was flying! The ending was a line of 4 jumps, last jump a triple. He got so far ahead of me, there was no way for me to catch up so I just yelled "Go go go" and he kept going forward, got the jumps, but on the last jump I was so far behind, he turned his head slightly in mid-air to look for me and knocked the top bar of the triple. So disappointing! What an awesome run. He was almost 6 seconds faster than Noodle.

Jumpers was a big disappointment. We had to wat 4 hours between standard and jumpers. Noodle was DONE. She went into jumpers with zero motivation and speed, and was so lazy she went around a jump that I didn't support 100% and incurred a refusal. Dolphin was pretty motivated, but was very sloppy and knocked 2 jumps. It was a tough way to end the day.

I take that back. I tougher way to end the day is to take these two crazies back to the hotel and get zero sleep! They wrestled and played for quite a while, then Dolphin fell asleep. I tried to sleep, but after a few hours Noodle because restless and bugged me, from about midnight until I woke up at 5:30am. You would think she would be used to sleeping with me since she does so most of the time at home, but sleeping in a motel room got her really charged up. Tomorrow is going to be a very exhausting day for all of us!

I think I was pretty much a walking zombie for most of the morning. Noodle was the same. She Q-ed in FAST, but we really had to move to make time. She went on to Q in both standard and jumpers for a Triple QQQ! That is Double Q #16 towards her MACH. However, both runs were terribly S L O W and I struggled to keep her moving. Her MACH points were in the low to mid single digits, which tells you something. At this rate, we will never get the points needed for our MACH. That's turning out to be the biggest struggle. However, we did get the QQQ today so I need to focus on that and be happy.

Dolphin's day started off a bit messy. He missed the send bonus in FAST. The send was jump - teeter - jump, and even though the line was fairly close to the teeter, he still leaped off. I definitely need to add teeter distance on my list of things to work on, because he did the same thing in Florida when we had a teeter in the send.

He had the most beautiful standard run, but for some weird reason when I released him off the table, he went behind me. I awkwardly tried to turn him around me and get the jump, and he did manage to jump it, but knocked the bar. The rest of the run was really nice. That was a weird puppy-brain mistake. In jumpers, he knocked 2 bars, strictly from sloppy jumping. Maybe he is tired also? He seemed to sleep good even though Noodle bugged me all night, but maybe he didn't. All I know is I need to get Noodle more relaxed in the hotel rooms if I am going to continue to travel with the two of them to trials.

I swear, if I wasn't so damn determined, I would have quit months ago. At this point, it's personal!

Tuesday I took Dolphin for some field training. He got a chance to point a ton of birds, we worked on steadying him during the flush, and randomly threw some pigeons at him to simulate a wild flush. He was about 50/50. At times he was pretty steady, and at times he just couldn't help jumping in. He broke quite often when the big pigeons flew, so then he quit wanting to point the pigeons. He knows he was making mistakes, and that de-motivated him a little bit, which I hate. He got his juices flowing again when he was able to point some quail, and we finished strong.

Wednesday we went field training locally. The first bird was terrible - he broke big time on the flush, so no shot. I put him back on the check cord and tried to control bringing him in to the second bird (he pointed way too close on the first bird), but it was really difficult because he was pulling so hard - he wanted to RUN and hunt, not stay at my pace. Can't blame him there! He leaped in the air on the flush on the second bird, luckily I had a hold of the check cord because the bird got shot, and I would NOT let him go for the retrieve. Instead, he got to stand there and watch the other dog do a nice retrieve.

We put out a third bird. I had the check cord on him but turned him loose and let him go on point on his own. He was a little close, but not as bad as the first bird. The check cord was loose, I stood on the end, and flushed the bird...he held perfectly! The bird got shot, he continued to hold perfectly. I paused, then tapped him on the head to retrieve, which he did with enthusiasm. I can't figure it out, he was about perfect on bird #3! Was it because he saw the other dog get his retrieve after he broke? Was it because we have just been repeating this scenario a bunch of times over the past few days and he is starting to understand? Or was it just pure luck and circumstance? I have no idea. I am thoroughly frustrated but equally determined. We WILL get this!

I did something a little different today. My friend and I took our dogs to a CPE agility trial in Dayton. I brought Pizza, for several reasons. This is a much more relaxed atmosphere for her to hopefully train through her issues, and also I think she deserves some one-on-one time with me. I will say she was SUPER happy to be spending the day with me all to herself. I definitely need to make time to do this more often.

Pizza was her normal social self. On the plus side, everyone loved her and she was a favorite because she LOVED getting attention from everyone at the trial. The downside is...of course we had issues with this in the ring. We had 5 runs total today. Interestingly, she get a little better each run, so that by the end of the day she was running with me and not visiting bar setters!

Our first run was a mess - she visited all 3 bar setters and the judge. Second run had a bunch of visits, but she came back a little quicker. Third run only had a couple brief visits. Fourth run had NO visits and was great! 5th run - we were the last dog of the trial, and all the bar setters left the ring right before I ran (they did that on purpose to give her a positive experience...LOVE that!), and she ran perfectly. Every single run she was enthusiastic, super fast, and when she brought her focus back to me she was wonderfully accurate. By the end of the day she was back to holding her contacts and nailing her weave entrances, like she does in training.

What does this tell me? It tells me what I thought all along - the visiting is a stress thing, and the more comfortable and confident she got, the more that went away. I am on a zero correction policy - I am not correcting any mistakes she does. Wrong end of the tunnel? We just go with it. Knock a bar? So what! Little by little this seems to be working. I don't know how long this will take, but I am in it for the long game so I will do what needs to be done. She is my fastest, most talented agility dog, we will get there!

My vet called me with Noodle's blood test results from her appointment last week. Her albumin levels have dropped again, and he is concerned. Normal levels are 2.6-3.9. Her levels were 3.0 in 2021, 2.1 in 2022, and have now dropped to 1.9. We aren't sure what is going on. She doesn't appear to have any fluid buildup, which is a symptom, but she does have a lot of weight loss (can't seem to keep weight on her at all). I am terribly worried, because this girl means everything to me!

Field training today was a lot of ups and downs. Dolphin was jumping in on the bird the first couple times, the last bird he did hold, though we didn't shoot it so no retrieve (which is ok!). I keep repeating my mantra to myself "It's a work in progress, it's a work in progress..."

We threw a bird down for Noodle, and she was awesome. She also did a couple beautiful honors that were all on her own. This gives me great gobs of hope for the hunt test this weekend! That might be a mistake...but I am going with it.

Speaking of Noodle, she has been diagnosed with Protein‐losing enteropathy (PLE). I have her on a high-protein, low-fat diet. Interestingly, she LOVES it and is actually cleaning up her food. I am also doing "egg therapy" - giving her one hard-boiled egg in her food each day to help add protein. This could be the reason why she is so darn THIN, and why her poop is soft and her stomach rumbles all the time. I think the low fat food is making her feel better so she is eating more. We will test her blood levels again in a month and see if they are improving.

What a great day - not only did I get to judge at the hunt test all morning, but I got to run my bestest girl in Master Hunter in the afternoon. She was wonderful, doing two nice retrieves and holding steady on several birds in the backfield. Her honor was...um...let's just say it wasn't pretty but it was barely passable. Luckily she got a lot of 9's in other categories (hunting, bird finding, pointing) to balance out that low score, and earned her 18th master hunter PASS! I had an absolute blast judging and watching bird dogs all day, can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

I had the best morning judging, watching some really awesome bird dogs and seeing how they hunt and work the field. I swear I could do this all day, every day!

Noodle put on a school when it was her turn to run Master in the afternoon. She has been cooped up for 3 days other thn her one master run yesterday, so she was FULL of energy. She disappeared in the backfield and I had flashbacks of October 2018 when Noodle was running Junior Hunter at this place (Read about it here. When we finally found her, she was up over the hill and had been standing on point for a good 5+ minutes. This was a forecast of what was to come, as she found SIX birds. My bracemate had gotten picked up in the back field, so the field was all hers. We had two birds out of the bird field that we worked perfectly and blanked. We then had a great find with a perfect direct retrieve. Then two more finds where the birds flew over the judges and they called a safety, and I had to heel her off. I honestly just wanted to keep her out of trouble, as the judges were making me keep her down the entire brace even though we were the only ones out there and she was cleaning out the bird field. Yeah, there is NO stopping Noodle when she is hunting. BOOM she goes on point on bird #6. She was pretty wired at this point. I flushed and the bird went sideways, the gunners shot and Noodle moved a couple steps to mark the bird. She had to step forward to see around the gunner, and unfortunately the judges were ones that would not accept ANY forward motion when marking a bird, so they made me pick her up. She completed another perfect direct retrieve, and I leashed her up. I know judges all have their own opinions about what they will and will not allow, and I can accept that. Even with a fail, I was so freaking proud of how she hunted...finding SIX birds and every one of them a beautiful, dramatic point with intensity. I am so proud to be hunting with a dog like her!

Today I took Dolphin and Pizza field training. Dolphin had middle-of-the-road success. He was steady for the most part, but did creep and try to jump in on one bird, which I corrected. We didn't fly any birds, so i wasn't really able to see how steady he was to the flush.

Pizza was rock solid. I had some pigeons in a bag and was able to toss them when she went on point on the quail, and she was very steady. It was good to be back out with my girl again, it's been about a month since our last outing in the field.

Today I took Dolphin to do some field training locally. He is doing a weird thing when honoring. I think he is just barely starting to understand what honoring is all about, but I am convinced he really isn't sure yet. He will see the dog on point and pause, but when I caution him "whoa" to stay still, he turns and comes to me. I send him back out ahead of me, and then he will stop and stand still and wait for me while watching the dog on point. He did that several times today...and while it is a little frustrating that I can't get him to stop and STAY standing and facing the dog on point, I do think he is starting to understand parts of it. The third honor we did was spot-on perfect - he was out ahead of me, saw the dog on point, stopped, and stayed put until I got up next to him. Now staying still while the other dog is retrieving is a different story...he starts whining after the bird flushes and he gets super excited. I am kind of glad, because this excitement will bring out some intensity in his honor.

Dolphin's first bird was PERFECT! He pointed nice and solid, I kicked around and flushed, the bird was shot, and he held steady until I released him. His retrieve was a little sloppy because the bird was shot messy, and he kept putting it down, but did get it to me. I was thrilled with how steady he was!

He went on point on his second bird, and I was a good distance away. I whoa-ed him, and he then slightly left the bird, then turned and went on point again. He did this another time before I could get him to stand still on point. It's weird - it is almost as if he is blinking the bird, but he isn't. It's like he goes on point, then suddenly worries about being wrong and the pressure, and comes off the bird for a second, only to go right back on point and do it again. It is surprising since he was so darn perfect on the first bird, it was 100% positive.

On this bird, he held nicely through the flush, but then broke on the shot (OK for senior hunter, but I am trying to train UP). The bird was missed, and I had to really get after him to come back to me and stop running to where he thought the bird went. I am glad the bird was missed and he didn't get the opportunity to retrieve, since he broke on the shot. If there is one thing I learned this weekend while judging, it's that letting your senior dog break on the shot will be disaster once it comes time to do master. I have high hopes for this young boy!

I should mention my agility classes with the girls this morning. Noodle was useless. Very unfocused. I am convinced she is coming into season, I wish she would get all this out of the way and just come in already! I have her entered in a Rally trial this weekend and a Field Trial next weekend, I'd rather her be in season and scratch and get it done...she just isn't training well this week. Pizza did really well in class. Her focus was 50/50 but when she was focused, she was really ON.

I did something a little different today. Pizza and I headed to Wilmington to do a *gasp!* dog show! Yeah, we haven't done one of those in forever and a day. I figured I would support my Weim club and enter, see if I can make Pizza behave. Well, she mostly behaved. Actually, she did pretty darn good for the first part. We had 7 bitch specials entered, she showed great and actually made the cut! By the time the cut was made, this girl was DONE, so she didn't want to stand still. Her good behavior was all used up. We didn't get a placement, but we got the greatest compliment. As everyone was leaving the ring, the judge called out "Anyone who wants to feel what a really fit Weimaraner feels like, put your hands on her!" and pointed to Pizza. Man, that made me feel good. I work hard on my dogs' fitness, and it is important to me that my dogs are strong and have stamina. I love the fact that the judge noticed, and picked her out of everyone to mention that. That's a win in my book!