Yesterday we went to an AKC Conformation Dog show in Eaton Ohio. The girls we had entered looked good, but it was a supported show and the competition was stiff. While there though, the three girls we had with us completed their Canine Good Citizen testing with a pass. That means that they have that now once we finish the paperwork required with the AKC for that. The girls that did this fantastic feat were Ruby, Misty, and Sadie. That brings to five the number of dogs in our collective kennel that have that title (Willow and Chief also have such).

During the same weekend, Chief was with a handler running passes toward his Started Hunter Retriever, completing his second pass successfully, leaving two more that will be needed to achieve that goal.

Hopefully, during the coming week, we will get a few things caught up here on the site to include a bit more of our documentation and plans for how we will be operating things moving forward. One of the most important things is the additional inclusion of some professional photos of all the dogs we had made a few weeks ago and a standard presentation of the health papers and the pedigree that matches from dog to dog as well as location the dogs page. Look for it this week.

On Feb.23, I moved the dogs into their new quarters. I have been working on the 24×72 part of the barn that they occupy since then. Attached are a couple of pictures of what I have now for my covered training area. One picture is from my bench showing the wide area I have and the other is from the east end showing the 72 feet I have for retrieves.

Today I worked all six dogs and established for my mind where each is in their training.

Best at heeling: Willow and Ruby – Chief and Bull do well but they want to get too far ahead. Bull acts like he’s in trouble when I put him on the leash. Duke has no idea and Misty does pretty good after she stops her kangaroo imitation.

Best at 20 yard retrieves – the boys, with Chief doing pretty good. Bull wanted to play, but he wasn’t to hard to keep steady. Duke was down and back – but I had to almost choke him before he would settle down so I could send him.

Worst at 20 yard retrieves – Ruby and Willow. Ruby looked like she was going to bury the dummy and Willow ran around with it. Check line on them tomorrow. Misty was the best of the girls and is going to be good.

Best at sit/stay – BULL! shocked me too. Chief does well but when he decides to break, he’s gone. I can stop Bull with the command. Willow is learning. The others aren’t there yet.

Best at down – Chief. Bull knows the command but he hates it and rolls over. Willow and Misty are learning with treats as encouragement. Ruby could care less about treats, so another route is going to have to be used on her. Duke doesn’t sit – so down is not yet in his world.

Best at fetch/drop – Bull. Chief is still trying to chew on it. Haven’t started this with any of the others.

I’m excited about having this area to train and will have the dogs ready for outside as soon as we can get the tractor going and I can get some mowing done. Thanks to all of you for your help and for putting up with me as I was going crazy while working on it.

* – by John Contini

Sadie won coming out of the classes two days and now has two points toward her Championship.  Chief won Best of Breed all three days, one of the days over championship competition.  The number of dogs during the days got him two of his majors and a total of seven points towards his Grand Championship.  Congrads is in order Chief!

John and Ray also learned a LOT this weekend.  Making friends within the show world, especially as it relates to the people showing Chessies.  Beyond that, which is great mind you, we are also starting to think we might being getting this conformation show ring thing figured out just a little bit.

If you have muddled around any here on the site, you have also probably seen that we have started filling in some of the blanks with actual information.  Still a bit to go and this is just the background effort compared to our real bread winning efforts but hopefully we will have it near completion in a few more weeks!