"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom."

Because I am a glutton for punishment, Noodle, Dolphin, and I traveled to Kentucky for a field trial this weekend. Originally I had only entered Noodle since Pizza is getting ready to come in season (fingers crossed!), but at the last minute I threw Dolphin in the Amateur and Am Limited stakes as a reward to him for finishing his MH last weekend, and also because they needed one more dog to make a major. The weather was COLD with pretty high winds in some areas. Great weather for the dogs, but the humans suffered.

Last night Noodle had her usual meltdown, and she was up all night with some runny poop and a rumbly stomach. Unfortunately that meant she was having a flare up of her lymphangiecstasia, and wasn't feeling well. She ran the Open Limited Gun Dog stakes in the morning and had two birds that she handled well, but she wasn't her normal self and slowed down a lot by the end of the 30 minutes. By the afternoon Amateur stakes she was definitely feeling very off. She found one bird, and had one non-productive, and ran pretty slow with a lot of stopping. She was happy, but not her usual self.

Dolphin was amazing in the Amateur Gun Dog! He had 4 really fantastic finds. The first bird he pointed was a walking bird about 3 minutes in to the brace. Second bird was waaaaay deep in the heavy cover in the woods - he was hunting in the really heavy, hard stuff and it was impressive. The third bird was fun - he was running along the edge of the cover and whipped around and locked on one of his gorgeous dramatic points - there was a bird out walking in the cut field. the bird walked right at him, and then flew over him. He turned to mark behind him, but otherwise was solid! His fourth find was two birds running in the heavy cover, and again he was solid. I was thrilled with how he did. Unfortunately no placement, but I loved it when the judge was watching him run and remarked on his 'incredible reach and drive'. Yeah!

It was another cold and windy day. I opted to pull Noodle from the Open Gun Dog in the morning in order to give her a little more time to feel better. She slept yesterday all evening and all night, and by morning she was feeling a little better and actually ate most of her breakfast. We all got to sleep in and head to the field trial later in the morning.

The afternoon's stakes was the Amateur Limited. Dolphin was in the 2nd brace. Again, I was incredibly thrilled with how he ran! He had several nice finds in hard cover, he also had two amazing honors from a good distance (and a good distance away from me!). He had one point that was in the cover, and I searched and searched and couldn't find the bird so I relocated him. He moved forward maybe 2 feet and put his nose down an inch from a pile of cover, the bird was right there. I was able to flush the bird right out from under his nose without him moving...what a good boy! I think he ran better than yesterday. I was so proud of how he did.

Noodle seemed to be feeling better, so i decided to go ahead and run her in the Amateur Limited stakes. I figured if at any time I thought she was struggling, we would leash up and quit. Noodle ran awesome! I know she was only about 80%, but her 780% was pretty magnificent.

Her first find was on the edge of the field right before the woods, near the start of the brace. Second find was in a little island of trees and brush (that her bracemate just flew past without stopping). She was rock solid. She went on ahead and went on point on the corner I always called the 'corner of death' because there always seems to be a bird there and it's in a place that often takes the dog out. She was solid on point and I was in the heavy cover trying to find the bird when her bracemate blew right past her without honoring, then turned back and stole her point by coming up right next to her (literally maybe 1-2 inches away from her) and going on point, putting a TON of pressure on Noodle. Noodle was perfect. We went on (for some reason her bracemate was not picked up for that infraction) and she soon found bird #3 in the next treeline. It was a double - two birds flushed, and she was steady as a rock. We found a fourth bird in another treeline, and she again was solid. I managed to keep her out of trouble for the rest of the brace. I could tell she was really tiring by the last 5-10 minutes, but she kept hunting. LOVE this girl's heart!!!

Noodle ended up with a really nice 3rd place in Amateur Limited. Dolphin didn't place, but I was so happy with his birdwork it didn't matter. He has come so far! These field trials are so subjective, you really can't read much into wins and losses.

I have been laid out with one of the worst cases of the flu I have ever had. It's been YEARS since I had the flu, I guess it all stored up on me this past week. Today was the first day in over a week that I ventured out of the house (other than to my doctor's). What a day it was! The temps were around 78 and sunny, absolutely gorgeous false spring day. My training partner and I headed out to the bird dog club where we met up with a couple of guys that were going to gun for us. I just brought Noodle, to work on some shot steadiness and her retrieve. Noodle was amazing. She had two nice points, solid, and both retrieves were straight, fast, and direct to hand. WOOT! Afterwards I tossed the bird a few times and got another couple perfect retrieves. We used chukar today, as I have 10 to use up from the bird package I purchased from the club last spring. Those are such nice birds to use for retrieving, for sure!

Just the little bit of time in the field wore me out. I tried to do some agility training with Dolphin in the evening, butcould barely make it around course. I have zero stamina, and my lungs are so fluid-filled I can't catch my breath. Man I hope this clears up soon.

This week was spent doing a lot of catching up. I still have almost no stamina after being ill. It's a weird feeling, usually I have enough energy to go go go, but now I get exhausted after every little thing I do.

Monday morning, I took Dolphin out to the bird dog club, in hopes there might be some birds left out loose after the chukar challenge all weekend. No such luck, there wasn't a bird to be found. We did have a great time exploring the trails in the woods together, just he and I. He took a few dips in the river, even though it was pretty cold this morning.

Tuesday, I brought Noodle out to do a little training on pigeons with my friend. It was a beautiful day. Noodle was spot-on with everything she did today. She skidded to a stop to honor when she saw my friend's dog go on point, and that was wonderful to watch. Her bird work was nice and steady (though she always is steay on pigeons, so I expected that). It was a beautiful day. We ended our session with a nice romp in the woods and the river.

On Wednesday, it was all about the Pizza Pie! It was a gorgeous 68-degree day. I worked her first with my friend's master dog, we worked 4 birds together (pigeons) and she was solid as a rock. Of course, her honoring was spectacular. This girl never misses a beat.

After that session was done, we put out 4 more birds and Pizza got to work with my friend's puppy, being the good example that she is. At this point I was pretty darn exhausted, but she of course has no quit in her.

I should mention that Pizza is still not showing ANY signs of coming in season. At this point, I hope and pray she waits until April 1st or later to come in, that way she will whelp after our national specialty (which just so happens to be here in Ohio). I am really hoping the schedule works out, but regardless - I just want her pregnant, no matter what the timing is!

Thursday was agility all morning with Pizza and Dolphin. I should mention that Noodle had her class yesterday morning. This week's lesson was all about NOT taking obstacles that are right in your face unless they are cued. Noodle, of course nailed it. Pizza, surprisingly, nailed it also! Dolphin, however, had a hard time running right towards the tunnel without taking it. I guess I have spent so much time making the tunnel so rewarding for him, that he now wants to take it even when not cued. It's a fine balance of training. His enthusiasm was nice today, so I'll take that even with the mistakes.

Yesterday I worked Noodle with my gunner friend. I flushed the chukar and it flew right over her head and she jumped up and got a mouthful of feathers. Bad girl! Overall it was not a very good training session. I expect that - she's not a robot, and she is spicy enough that sometimes her spice rises to the top. I have to admit I kinda love that about her!

The bog news for today is that Pizza is officially in season! Let the breeding games begin! Of course her timing is terrible. She is a full month LATE, which means she might end up whelping the weekend before our national specialty, which of course means no national specialty for me! It's disappointing, but I so desperately want this litter that it will be A-Ok if I have to miss the show for the puppies. In fact, it would be glorious!

Can you believe it's been 6 weeks since my last agility trial? Yikes! Today my agility bestie and I headed to Westlake just for one day to an agility trial. We actually headed up last night and stayed the night. I only brought Dolphin, so it was a pretty nice, relaxing trip.

Overall, it wasn't too bad of a trial considering Dolphin hasn't trialed in 6 weeks. We started off with a nice Q in FAST, although I am pretty sure he missed the A-Frame contact but wasn't called. That was a bit upsetting, I have worked SO dang hard on that running A-frame all year and as he gets more confident, he started changing his striding. Time 2 Beat was next, and I nailed a nice Q with my friend's dog. Dolphin ran great, but knocked a bar...ugh. Then in Standard, I did not handle an off course tunnel very well and ended up with a refusal when he missed a jump, then he knocked a bar so it was all over anyways. We ended the day with a pretty nice Jumpers Q. It was decently fast, and very very accurate. I like ending the day on a good note, it sure makes the drive home more pleasant!

Yesterday I did a bunch of training in the field with Noodle. I worked about 3-4 pigeons, and 2 quail (with a gunner). Of course she was rock solid on the pigeons. She was a little hoppy on the quail - not a huge deal but she did pop whenthe bird was shot. On the plus side, she did several perfect straight to hand retrieves. Her honoring started off really good, but we ended up honoring about 5 times and that was a bit much for her (can't say I blame her!)

Today was Dolphin's turn. He hasn't worked a bird since the field trial last month. On the plus side, his bird work was steady as a rock - went on point and did not move even for the shot. On the minus side, his retrieve was awful, and his honoring was messy. You can definitely tell he is out of practice! We worked some loose birds on the woods and that was fun. The birds ran all over the place and it was a great chance to work on steadiness. Dolphin had a nice big run for the first 45 minutes or so before he got a bit tired. It was a good session, but I will really have to work on his retrieve before thinking of trying to get his master advanced title. He's not quite there yet.

Dolphin and I went to an agility trial with our training partners - it was in a place we haven't been before up in Washingtonville, Ohio (i.e. middle of nowhere!). It was a nice facility. Dolphin ran fantastic all weekend! I am just loving this enthusiastic, happy Dolphin, he is so much fun to run in agility. I don't think I will ever take that for granted.

Friday's results: Dolphin took the wrong end of the tunnel in the sed in FAST, so NQ (but we took the opportunity to do a little training on the A Frame after that). He had a smoking awesome run in Standard, but cut in front of me after the dogwalk and took the wrong end of the tunnel, which was the LADT obstacle. Heartbreak! He came back with an amazing Jumpers run, and even my badly-placed rear cross worked and he managed to read my late cue and scramble over the jump without knocking the bar.

Saturday's results: FAST was one of those unusual moments where everything went EXACTLY as planned, and we got a solid Q. Dolphin had a nice A-Frame and Teeter in standard, I feel like he really missed his dogwalk contact but it was not called, so we ended up with a really nice Q. Dolphin ran that course great! IN Jumpers, he bumped the upright on jump #3 and knocked the bar. I expressed a little disappointment verbally as we were running - my mistake! He slowed down a little bit for the next 3-4 obstacles...STUPID me! I know better than to show that I am disappointed! Dolphin really takes that to heart. Luckily I was able to get him going again and he finished string and happy, and like a typical boy he didn't even remember the mistake (thank goodness).

Sunday's results: Today was an amazing day. We started off with a wonderful standard run (though he barely got a toe in the yellow on the dogwalk...ugh). These courses were so nice and big and open, PERFECT got big-strided dogs. Dolphin loved running them (and so did I!). We had a great run with a ton of MACH points in standard. Next was Time 2 Beat, and it was a really good run for another Q. We ended the day with a smoking awesome Q in jumpers...YES, you read that right - it was a DOUBLE QQ! What a fantastic way to end the weekend. This is Double QQ #9. We are almost halfway there...we need 20. Dolphin has all of his points needed for his MACH, he just needs the QQ's.

The best thing about the whole weekend (and I know I sound like a broken record) is that Dolphin ran every single run with joy and enthusiasm. It was so much fun. Weekends like this give me hope. Hope is such a scary thing.

I've been pretty lax about updating Pizza's status. This past Thursday (March 27) we did her first progesterone test - it was a 0.38 so pretty baseline. We also did a complete culture and checked for bacteria and whatnot. Results are still pending. Saturday Mark took her to her appointment, and she was at 0.39, so still pretty baseline. Today she is at 1.1, so just starting to slowly progress. We are pulling blood every day. Every other day we test progesteone, and the 'off' days the blood is stored in case we need to back up and do an LH test. That's a lotta trips to OSU. Going to be worth everything if we get her pregnant.