It has been a very busy summer of work, family, travel and dog training here.  Sorry that I have not had a chance to keep you all updated, with the kids all at home with me, it makes it challenging to find the time and quiet space to do it all.  I suppose it would make the most sense to me to work backwards chronologically with the news.

On Friday we will be traveling up to Sioux Falls, SD to run Sam and BB in the NAVDHA Utility Test at the Fall Test of the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter on Saturday.  They have been doing well in practice and I’m hoping that they both prize.  Some folks grumble about whether they get prize I, II or III, but it is one day in the life of a dog.  If the dog is having a bad day, there is something in the environment that they don’t like, the conditions are not what we are used to, etc., etc., the dog might not get the prize we want.  In the recent issue of Versatile Hunting Dog, NAVHDA’s magazine, two of my most respected dog training mentors ran dogs in UT and NA and didn’t prize at all.  These are folks who have been doing this way longer than we have, or most folks I know have, for that matter.  We don’t reach some sort of state of dog perfection and never have a bad day or a bad score.  So any and all NAVHDA prizes are celebrated here!

The last couple of weeks we have been on the road on summer vacation.  The dogs stayed over with our friends at Pheasant Bonanza in Tekamah, Nebraska (http://pheasantbonanza.com/) while we were gone.  They have a full training and boarding set-up there, we elected to board only.  It is nice to take your dog specifically to a place for gun dogs that is clean and well-maintained.  The dogs came back healthy and happy. (Not a paid endorsement)

BB’s OFA hip certificate came in the mail while we were on vacation, so she will be ready to be bred sometime around the new year.  We are still working out who we are going to use as a stud, so we will be sure to keep you posted.

BB OFA

While we were traveling, I spent the day in the Lion Country Supply office.  Right now, I am in the process of updating their catalog of over 2300 dog training supplies.  It was cool to meet the people and see the facility.  My favorite part of the office was the gun dog humor found on the restroom doors.  Instead of Women and Men it was Setters and Pointers, ha!

Setters and Pointers on the restroom doors at LCS

Setters and Pointers on the restroom doors at LCS

The kids dropping me off at the office.

The kids dropping me off at the office.

Before we left for vacation we were training every chance we had!  Every weekend was spent on trips to the pond and field.  Even when we were sitting around the backyard, we were practicing blind dummy retrieves and “whoa”.

Sitting in the yard: Mae, BB and Sam

Sitting in the yard: Mae, BB and Sam

BB brings in the goose Dokken Dead Fowl dummy from a blind retrieve

BB brings in the goose Dokken Dead Fowl dummy from a blind retrieve

Sam's goose blind retrieve

Sam’s goose blind retrieve

I suppose I should explain a blind dummy retrieve.  That is where the dogs have to stay in the yard on “whoa” and one of us goes way back into the woods and hides the dummy without them seeing where we placed it.  One of the dogs is then released to go fetch the dummy.  The dummies are not scented and the dog is only finding them by sight, which is fairly difficult for them.

We had a cool new dog box shipped out to us from Michigan.  It is a hound style box and the dogs have lots more room and are able to stick their heads out of the side of the box.  It will make the long distance trips much more comfortable for the dogs and we are glad to have finally retired the “slave ship”.  It was a nice enough dog box, but it just didn’t have enough room for multi-day roadtrips.

BB and Mae getting ready to depart on the maiden voyage of the dog box

BB and Mae getting ready to depart on the maiden voyage of the dog box

Sam and Mae at the pond in the new box

Sam and Mae at the pond in the new box

Well that pretty much sums things up for the time being, I will be sure to update you all next week as to the outcome up in Sioux Falls, keep your fingers crossed for a good Saturday for us!  I am still running behind on returning voice mails and e-mails, so I apologize to those of you who have reached out to me and I haven’t gotten back to you.  I have dedicated time set aside this week to get caught up before we head north on Friday.  Talk at you next week!

Oh and hunting season starts in two weeks!  Woot!