Field Training 3/21/09

Roxie had training yesterday.  It was the first session since 3/6 and then the quail shootout on 3/7.  I went over how the shoot out went with Brad and I apparently made a few mistakes by tapping her for moving while on point.  I guess in the excitement of the moment, I got confused about the right timing.  I know better now.  As far as everything else nothing we did that day set us back.  Yesterday’s training focused on steadiness and a little bit of backing with Gracie his Pointe.  We didn’t do anything new but she did extremely well.  Brad was very pleased with her progression.   Tate came to training with his new camera.  He got some really great shots, some of them even calendar worthy however Roxie’s tail refused to cooperate and was stuck in banana mode all day (note to Liz, find a stud with no banana tail J)  Here are a few pics:

Working on her “Stand” command:

Standing through the flush:

Pointing:

Honoring Gracie.  Gracie was about 30 yards away and she stayed through the flush, multiple flushes since the quail refused to fly further than 3 ft at a time. 

At the end of the day on the way back to the cars, Roxie was running around and came upon the quail from earlier and went on point and held it until Brad got over to her to flush it until it eventually flew into the trees. 

You can see the quail to the left.  It just kept walking without a care in the world around and Roxie just held.  I was so proud! 

Here she is as she watches Brad kick the bird away (damn tail!). 

Unlike usual training days we did not end the day with the “bang” trap which simulates a shot bird which she gets in the end.  So Brad gave her a dead bird from a previous session.  At this point, her tail FINALLY went straight!

Here is a link to the rest of the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/3375624759/in/set-72157608889749909/

Here is video of Roxie's training session on 3/6/09

Shooting Day
11/9/08

click on photos to enlarge

Our 3rd Anniversary Trip
10/23/08

This year, instead of going diving we decided to fly back to Texas to see Tate's family for our anniversary.  The photo above is of Roxie who was not too happy about us leaving her for five days.  We flew out on Monday and arrived in Dallas at 6:00pm.  Time enough to get dinner and head to Graham which is about 2 hrs north west of Dallas.  Tuesday, we hung out at his parents house and did some shooting out on the property.  Since I am learning to shoot shotguns, I mostly shot the 20 gauge and had them throw some prickly pear cactus in the air.  I missed most of them.  Later in the evening, we went into town to visit with Tate's brother Ty and his family.  While there, his dad drove into Wal-Mart and decided to buy a trap shooter and some clays. 

Wednesday, we woke up to rain and hung out until the showers stopped and went out to shoot at those clays.  We had a great time and everyone shot pretty well.  I didn't shoot so well in the beginning but eventually, I got it together and was able to hit most of my final few rounds.  Later, Ty and his family came over to have dinner to celebrate his 40th birthday.

Thursday, we headed into Dallas where we went to the West End and walked around to see the place where JFK was shot.  We ran into a tour guide who showed us around and gave us great details.  We saw the book depository and the grassy knoll as well as the two "X"'s in the road where the President was when the shots came.  It was very interesting to actually see this historic location.  To see the rest of the pics from this spot, click here.

After our historic tour, we walked to Hoffbrau Steakhouse for some dinner where I had the BEST filet mignon I had ever eaten. It was so tender and juicy that I barely needed my knife. I'm just sad that this restaurant is only in Texas. 

After dinner, we took Tate's parents to see Neil Diamond.  It was supposed to have been a surprise for Tate's mom, but as most of you know, the Viehmann family can't keep a secret to save their lives.  The concert was great!  For as old as Neil is, he certainly sounds and looks 20 years younger.  I was able to briefly pull out my camera to video a portion of one of the songs.  After that, the ushers were hunting for the source of the light and I had to put it away.  Here it is, the song is Love on the Rocks from the movie The Jazz Singer.

Neil Diamond takes me back to my childhood when my dad used to play his music all the time, mostly the soundtrack to The Jazz Singer.  During the concert, I was reminded of this time and wished my dad was there to share it with me.  Tate has similar memories of spending time with his mom and hearing her sing along to the songs while she was vacuuming.

In other news, Roxie and I are finally back in field training.  Things are going really well so far.  I am planning to take the hunter's safety course next month so I can take Roxie hunting for real this season.  Also, I just purchased my very own shotgun.  A Browning BPS Hunter, 20ga.  I am currently on day five of my ten day waiting period.

The house continues to be worked on little by little.  Right now, we are preparing for our annual Halloween Party.  If you are in the Sacramento area, and would like to come, let me know and I will send you in evite.

Roxie's Last IABCA Show
9/29/08

Introducing... Int CH Fairhavens BluSky's the Limit, JH, NAVHDA NA2!  This last weekend, we attended Roxie's last International show.  I say last because she earned her adult conformation championship.  In two of the four shows, she came in third in the Sporting Group.  Tate handled her in both shows on Sunday and did a great job. Below is video I took of the first two shows on Saturday.

Also showing last weekend was Roxie's baby brother Lyric.  He is from this year's litter.  Liz has decided to keep him.  He did very well for his first show and earned his Nat/Int BA (baby) title. 

Roxie & Lyric

Latest & Greatest
9/22/08

Lots has been going on since the last time I blogged.  First, as you can see, I have redesigned our website.  I hope you like it!  Many of the older pages are still under construction and I will update them as time allows. 

So, at the beginning of September, we went on our annual Labor Day trip to Ocean Cove, CA with Dolphin Divers of Sacramento.  This year, Tate decided to enter the Men's cooking contest.  This was  going to be fun.  For those who do not know about the annual DDS men's cooking contest, let me tell you a little about it.  The men, are responsible for cooking the entire meal which includes clean up.  They must cook with basic essentials the only that of a tent camper would have access too.  They cannot use pre-prepared food.  The contest is judged by the women.  Many years ago, the women would visit each man's site to check his trash and to be sure he is following the rules.   The men began to bribe the women using alcoholic beverages and appetizers.  It has now become a tradition and a separate contest in of itself.  This year's theme was Mexican Fiesta.  Tate had GREAT idea to dress up as Zorro and serve our famous Jell-O shots (margarita flavored) as his bribe.  He also offered chili pepper bracelets to those brave enough to do a tequila shooter.  He served chips and guacamole and queso dip.  The women LOVED it and he earned the coveted "BEST BRIBE"!  I am so proud of his imagination and  dedication to this project. 

After the bribe, he rushed to finish his main course of Cabo Style Fish Tacos with fresh mango salsa and spicy tartar sauce.  It was REALLY good!  But so was everyone else's.  It was hard to tell whose dish the ladies liked best.  We would have to wait until the following night to learn the winner.  The next night was the pot luck dinner where we had fresh fish and abalone.  If you can imagine at least six picnic tables lined up end to end covered with FOOD!  It was impossible to taste everything.  After dinner and before the raffle, they announced the winner of both the bribe and cooking contest.  Tate ended up taking second place in the cooking contest and only lost by ONE vote!  I was very proud of him.

I had entered the women's dessert contest with S'more's treats (imagine rice crispy treats only with Golden Grams cereal and topped with chocolate).  No placement for me but everyone still enjoyed my treat.  To see photos from Labor Day weekend click here: http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/sets/72157607347250384/

9/6/08  The following weekend, Roxie and I drove to Boca Lake near Truckee, CA to visit with my friend Lani and her Weimaraner Logan.  The 'kids' ran and played and swam until they couldn't go any more.  Lani got some great photos from the day.  To see them all, click here: http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/2837692494/in/set-72157605164251932/ (note, there are other pictures of Roxie & Logan in this album but this link will take you to the fist photo of this outing).

9/20/08 we attended DRA's (Delta Riders Association) final wakeboard competition of the season.  Tate had entered last month's competition and took 3rd place in his class.  Tate entered this one too and placed 3rd again YAY!!! To see the photos from the weekend, click here: http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/sets/72157607422574349/ Here is video of Tate's run:

Next weekend Roxie has another IABCA show and we hope that she will earn her adult International Championship.  You can be sure that I will blog about it as soon as we get back.  Stay tuned...

Channel Islands and Latest Updates
8/8/08

We just came back from our annual SCUBA diving trip to the Channel Islands with our dive club.  We spent most of the trip around Catalina Island in the MUCH warmer water than what we Northern Californian's experience.  We Saw lots of great stuff including an Angel Shark and the endangered Giant Black Sea Bass.   I took some video of a bunch of them swimming around us. You can see from the size of the "normal" fish just how BIG these things are!  There are people who have been diving California waters for 30+ years and have never seen one so this was quite a treat!  Here is a link to the pics: http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/sets/72157606524321202/

In other news, we are still working on the garage in between trying to enjoy the summer and working.  It's still slowly coming along.  I am keeping busy with dog stuff.  I am currently working with a group of people to petition the Weimaraner Club of America to remove the disqualification of the blue coat color so that Roxie and other blue Weimaraners can compete in AKC conformation shows.  It's an uphill battle and one that I am the leader of.  If you want to know more about what we are up to, you can visit our website at www.bwcoa.com

Roxie hasn't done any field training this summer but I am hoping to get her out there soon.  We will begin training for Senior Hunter.  Hopefully, I will have a shotgun this fall so that we can take our training one step further and do some recreational hunting too.  I'm still learning to shoot and will be taking the hunter's safety course in September.  I finally received the photos that were taken during the Roxie’s NAVHDA NA test back in March.  I thought I would share.  In the pics in the field with the judges, we were getting ready to start tracking… it didn’t go well.  Here's the link to the rest of the pics: http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/sets/72157604137059822/ the last five pics are all the new ones starting with this one.

Finally!  Hawaii Video

After slaving for hours, I finally finished our video of Hawaii.  It's 17 minutes long, so get yourself a drink and a comfy seat and enjoy.  Below is the original Blog.  You'll have a better idea of what you are watching if you take a moment to re-read it.  

Hawaii, The Big Island 2007
originally posted 11/12/07

For our 2nd Wedding anniversary, we decided to use my Hawaiian Miles and fly to Hawaii for FREE! Tate was in charge of planning what Island we were going to and what we would do when we got there. He chose Hawaii, The Big Island. As it turned out, our friends Steve & Anna were also planning another trip to Hawaii and we decided it would be fun to go together and share their timeshare condo.

Steve & Anna arrived several days earlier than we did and met up with some other friends also vacationing at that time. Bill & Annie own a condo on the Island and were a wealth of knowledge when it came to telling us where to eat, sights to see and things to do.

We arrived at 3:00ish Saturday afternoon and met up with everyone as they were finishing lunch. We spent a couple hours walking downtown Kailua Kona and did a little shopping. Later in the evening, we headed to Mauna Lani Resort for Twilight at Kalahuipua'a - Talk Story Under a Full Moon. A monthly event right on the water with a different special musical guest each month. This month the guest Brudder Schmiddy and his band. They sang traditional Hawaiian songs and told stories of their Hawaiian heritage. This was a great treat since we never would have known about it unless Bill & Annie were there with us. It was late when we finished and finally got a bite to eat and got back to the condo. We were exhausted!

We spent Sunday with Steve & Anna and Bill & Annie. We took the jeeps and headed across the island. We went from having the top down in the jeep with hot, sticky weather to cool and dry in the (with cactus even!) then to beautiful and breezy on the west side of the island to down right cold! The climate is so different on that island

We went to Wiapeo Valley, which is where King Kamehameha was raised in solitude to protect him from the then King who was out to get him. We took the Jeeps 4 wheeling down a 900ft decline and through some mud pits down to the beach so we could look up the valley. It was truly amazing.

After that, we headed south to Laupahoehoe Point where a Tsunami hit and wiped out a school back in 1946. The sea was angry and smashed into the rocks over and over again. While walking around the area, a rainbow appeared over the water and allowed for a perfect picture moment.

We spent Monday just hanging out and shopping before our first dive of the trip. An afternoon/evening dive to see the Manta Rays. The afternoon dive was at about 4:00 pm at Garden Eel cove. This is the exact same spot that the Manta dive was to take place later in the evening. During the dive, we were treated with a visit from one of the Mantas! It was so cool to be out in the open water with him flying all around us. He hung out for quite a while so we got LOTS or pictures of him. We even got some video.

Later, after our surface interval and it was dark we prepared for our night dive. This is THE spot for Manta rays so there were several other boats full of other divers and snorkelers anxiously waiting to get in the water. Basically, they set up a “ring” of rocks and boulders on the ocean floor, about 30 ft down. They set several boxes of lights in the middle shining up. The divers gather around the ring and sit on the bottom and wait. The light attracts plankton which attracts the Manta’s for feeding. The past several days, they had seen 5-6 Manta’s a night. Unfortunately, we only got one for our dive. This was actually ok because it meant that our view of him wasn’t obstructed by anything. Our boat did not have a videographer but I had my little camera which takes great video. I took lots of video which I am currently working on putting together. Several times as the Manta was flying by, I shined my flashlight on him and he turned to come towards me. He flew right over me. At one point, he was so low that he smacked right into me. I was taking video at the time and you can hear me squeak as he hit me. Tate got a few pictures of me as the Manta was flying over me. It was such an awesome experience. I highly suggest that if you are planning a trip to the Big Island, that you dive with the Manta’s.

Tuesday, was a quiet day. We shopped, and hung around and relaxed.

Wednesday and Thursday were both dive days. We had morning 2 dives each day. By the time we got back to the condo we were pooped and didn’t do much other than eat, nap and eat. However, Thursday afternoon it rained. Well it rained a lot while we were there, but this afternoon it REALLY rained. Tate and I had massages out on the Lanai with the rain falling around us. It was so nice. Later, we went to the Four Seasons resort and had a WONDERFUL dinner. I ate duck for the first time. It was a small appetizer but was actually pretty good.

Friday, Tate and I took off by ourselves and went South. Again, the climate was constantly changing. South Kona was nice a green and lush, but further South it was completely dry with nothing but Lava rock for miles. We felt like we were on the moon! We took off down a 5 mile long dirt road in search of the green beaches. After driving for about 30 minutes on a bumpy dirt road, we finally made it. It didn’t seem like the sand was all that green. It wasn’t black, or tan, it seemed kinda dark brown. I walked down on the beach to get my feet wet and the surf was pretty strong and if you ask Tate almost sucked me out to sea. It did however get my pants wet. There was another “green” beach just over yonder so we hopped in the jeep and back on the dirt road and headed down a much bumpier ROCKY road to the other beach. We ended up at the end of it and not actually ON it. So we admired from afar. It didn’t look very green either. What’s up with that?

I thought we were done with the bumpy roads but alas, there was ANOTHER green beach that we wanted to see. So we headed down the highway to South Point, which is the most southerly point of the United States. Many people think it’s the Florida Keys, but nope, it was right there! The area was flat and WINDY. Man was it windy down there. The ocean had white caps galore! We decided that we hadn’t had enough four-wheeling so we took the off-road trail to the other green beach. This was by far the scariest of all trails. So many people had taken this way that if one “road” got too muddy or deep, they would just create a new one. So no matter which road you took, it still got you to the beach. The fun part was trying to pick a road. Some were nice and smooth, others were SCARY! One of them actually had us practically sideways on 2 wheels. I kept leaning to the opposite side to keep us from tipping over, not that it was actually helping, but it made me feel better. When we could finally see the beach, we were just a valley away but couldn’t figure out how to get over there. The “way” there was too steep and after getting out and evaluating our options, we decided that if we made it over, we wouldn’t get back. So we looked for a different road. I finally saw one WAY over there up a hill. Yep, that was it. It took us right to the cliff where the beach was. It was a long way down and I really didn’t feel like climbing down and then back up so we admired from afar, again. This beach was actually more of a cove and the sand went up the sides. The wind had carved lines into the walls making it look like stone. It was so windy that sand was stinging our skin as it whipped past us. After all that bouncing around, I had to pee so I found a bush. Nothing I could do to get away from the wind and sand so I ended up with sane in my end. Yuck! On the way out, we encountered a NEW Ford Expedition on its way in. We told them that they may not have much luck as some of those “road” weren’t very friendly. They went ahead anyway. Hope they made it out ok without breaking their truck!

After the third green sand beach, we headed further around the island to the volcano park. Unfortunately, the lava flow of Mt. Kilawea had shifted and was only accessible by helicopter. I didn’t see that they were offering helicopter rides anywhere. So we headed into the Park and drove around to see the outer rim of the crater and then we drove INTO the crater. There were still steam vents all over the place. There were signs telling what year this particular trail of lava flow occurred. It was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, it started to rain before we could get to the lava tube. We headed back to Kona for a last night out dinner with Steve & Anna. I had Ono fish for the first time. YUM!

So that’s it. There’s the Hawaii story in a BIG nutshell. Click here to see photos from our trip. Be sure to read the descriptions as it tells the story of the picture (this is why it took so long to release this blog).

Music by John Keawe: http://www.johnkeawe.com/

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy and the next few weeks will be just as busy!  Here's the low down:

SUSAN G. KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE

Saturday, May 10th was my second Koman Race for the cure 5k walk.  It was also Mother's Day weekend.  Mom came down to do the race with me.  This year, I brought Roxie with me even though technically, she wasn't supposed to be there.  I figured that there was no way I was going to walk 3.1 miles without my doggy by my side. 

SFBWC SPECIALTY & FUN MATCH

Friday, May 16 was the San Francisco Bay Weimaraner Club Specialty (dog show) and Fun Match.  Somehow, I got suckered into planning it.  Planning events isn't new to me, but dog shows are, so it was quite a learning experience.  Tate was able to take Thursday off of work to help me set up Thursday night and Friday morning.  The event itself went pretty smoothly and our raffle earned $750 for NorCal Weimaraner Rescue. 

Unfortunately, Roxie was unable to compete in the regular dog show because of her color.  However, after the regular dog show, we held a Fun Match for rescue dogs, spayed/neutered  dogs, puppies and of course blue and long hair Weimaraners.  Tate handled Roxie in this show and she handily beat the other two blues and one long hair to take Best Rare Breed!  I am very proud of Tate for taking on the challenge of handling Roxie.  If you would like to see the other pics from the Fun Match, click here:

NRA Women on Target Shooting Clinic

As you all know, I have been training Roxie to hunt.  Through inspiration from several women I have met in the field, I have decided to learn to shoot for myself.  This means that I can take her hunting next season both for fun and for training. So, while researching shotguns to purchase, I learned of a shooting clinic just for women in my area.  In talking about it, Holly and Corinne thought it sounded fun so the three of us signed up.  Saturday, May 17th was the day.  We, along with 60 other women picked up our guns and learned to shoot clay pigeons.  It was SO FUN!  I didn't think I would hit anything but on my first try, I nicked the clay and on the second shot, I blew it away.  The rest of the day proved to be positive as I hit over 50% of the clays.   I am now sure that I can shoot (and hit) something so I am on the hunt for a new shot gun.  So, if you're wondering what to get me for my birthday, gift certificates for gun accessories, ammo, and hunting gear is top on the list. 

Roxie & Logan Play Date

Sunday, May 18th - I met Lani on one of the National Weimaraner forums.  She lives in Reno and was in the area for the SFBWC Specialty and the Coyote Hills Kennel Club dog shows in Vallejo.  On her way home, I met with Lani and her Weim Logan at Folsom Lake for some fun in the sun.  The kids had a great time swimming and playing in the water.  Logan was just learning to swim and watching Roxie literally swim circles around him, he got into the spirit.  To see the rest of the fun pics, click here: http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/sets/72157605164251932/

Tate continues to work on the house and both at CalStar and in the hospital.  We are looking forward to our 3rd annual houseboat trip to Shasta Lake so we can finally get some wakeboarding and relaxation done without feeling like we need to be working on something. But before that, there's still lots to do as I am planning that trip and still have to finish the after show paperwork from the dog show.  Yep, busy, busy, busy.  That's all for today.  Have a great week everyone!

Roxie's First Weekend on the Boat

This last weekend, we went lake camping for the first time since Roxie came home last June.  It was her first time on the boat.  In the last few months, she has grown to love swimming so I knew she would like the lake.  We bought her a life jacket as any responsible parent wants their child to be safe.  She loves her life jacket because she knows that it means she gets to go on the boat.  It took a little while for her to figure out what the boat was all about but she soon settled in for ride.

On Saturday we had a few friends out and were able to go out and do some wakeboarding.  Of course, Roxie wanted to follow her daddy into the water and had to learn to wait for him to finish his ride and then give her the ok to come swim with him.  She watched patiently (with the help of our friends holding on to her to keep her from jumping off the back of the boat after him).

I was hoping to be able to teach her to go potty on the swim step but when I told her to go potty, she headed for shore (with a little encouragement).  She got to shore, went potty and hopped in the water and swam back to the boat!  How proud we were of her! 

She just loves it out there.  She swam after balls and around in little circles.  She seems to recognize that the life jacket makes it A LOT easier to swim. 

Here is a link to the rest of the photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/reneeviehmann/sets/72157604903961857/

And here is the little video I took of Roxie fetching the ball and heading to shore (for the second time) to go potty.

ROXIE Earns her JH Title
"Nat/Int JA Fairhaven's Blu Sky's the Limit, JH, NAVHDA NAII"

Yesterday, 4/27/08 Roxie earned the 4th and final leg towards her Junior Hunter title.  It has been a long and sometimes frustrating but fun road to this milestone.  It took her six tests to earn the four legs.  In this test, her goal was to find the bird, point it, hold the point until I reached the bird to flush it and then fire the blank pistol.  Sounds easy enough, but when you have an overly excited puppy that just wants to catch the bird, it takes a lot of training and patience.  Next is a little break and then to train for Senior Hunter.  I have decided to learn to shoot this summer so that when bird season comes around next fall, I can take her out and do some real hunting while she is training.  Not sure yet what I will do with any birds I actually shoot. 

In other news, the garage is coming along.  We had the concrete poured in the back bay of the new garage so now the boat and a car can fit nicely inside.  We still have to grade and level the back yard area so that the RV can go back there.  I think that will be later in the summer.  For now, we have a few things to finish up and then we will finish up the laundry room so we can stop loosing heat/cooling through the un-sheet rocked walls.

We plan to get out this summer and get back on the boat and do more camping. We really missed that last summer while working on the house.  Our first camping trip is next weekend with some friends to Camp Far West. 

That's all for now.  Much love to all.  Renee & Tate

ROXIE'S 1st Birthday

Well, yesterday was Roxie's 1st birthday.  We had a few friends over for a BBQ and cake.  We dressed her in her birthday t-shirt "It's Fun Being One" and party hat.  Roxie had her own cake which she enjoyed while we all sang happy birthday to her.  To see the rest of the pictures click here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/66999112@N00/N2k0R8

In other Roxie news, she has earned 2 of her 4 legs towards her Junior Hunter title. She was supposed to have (hopefully) earned the other 2 legs this weekend but she was feeling under the weather and didn't perform on Saturday and we withdrew on Sunday.  Well, that's the short version. 

Hunt Test 3/22/08 - Roxie Pointing, me going to flush and the judge on horseback

ROXIE'S NAVHDA TEST
(North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association_

Roxie is now: Nat/Int JA Fairhaven's Blue Sky's the Limit NAVHDA NAII

Recently, we attended Roxie’s NAVHDA Natural Ability test. Her test was scheduled for Saturday and she was the very last dog to run (out of 8 dogs).  She did excellent in the search and point section of the test as well as the swimming part.  Unfortunately, she did HORRIBLE in the tracking part.  She would not track to save her life.  The judges gave her as many chances as they could but she just wouldn’t do it.  Finally, they called it and told me to go and help her. She finally found the scent and tracked and brought back the pheasant.  Too little, too late.  Those who were watching thought for sure that they would give her at least 1 point.  Nope.  She got a zero and did not prize L.  Here were her scores:

As you can imagine, we were very disappointed.  She did great when we practiced tracking the previous week.  Perhaps the 7 tracks laid before her, the howling wind or simply the transition from hunting to tracking (they were done one right after the other) had something to do with it.  Fortunately, someone had dropped out of the Sunday test so we decided to enter and try again.  We figured if she passes, it saves us a trip to Oregon.  Luckily we were in the RV so it didn’t cost us another night’s stay in a hotel.

Sunday, I got to sleep in since I had already heard the safety speech and Roxie was running dead last again.  I went and got a “used” pheasant and dragged a couple of tracks in a nearby field and she did wonderfully.  I felt pretty good about today’s test.  When it came test time, it started off pretty good, but today, the judges decided they didn’t want Roxie to catch the birds as she did the day before so on her second bird they had me grab hold of her while on point and they came and scooped up the bird and took it away L.  Roxie was NOT happy that they took her reward away so for the next two birds, she only pointed briefly and before I could get to her, rushed in and caught the bird.  This, brought down her pointing score from a 4 on Saturday to a 3 on Sunday.  Now for tracking, I was feeling good based on practice earlier in the day, but she again was all over the place.  I left the field VERY disheartened and thought for sure she was going to fail again. According to those watching, she DID track from the start to the spot where the bird stopped before it ran over the berm into the ditch.   

Now, for the scores…. waiting until last to hear our score was KILLING ME here it goes.

I was so happy and relieved, I jumped up and down and hooted and hollered.  Everyone there knew what I had been through and was just as happy for me.  So, staying the extra day was well worth it.

Special thanks to Jack Scullion of San Francisco Bay Weim Club for help getting Roxie in the water and learning to like swimming.  Thanks also to Julie Dean and Ben Voris of Great Central Valley NAVHDA Chapter for helping me and Roxie to prepare for the test and for all the encouragement before, during and after the test. 

Now, back to training with Gar to break that bad habit of chasing the bird.   We have a hunt test this next weekend! 

More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/66999112@N00/67c18h There were several people taking pictures throughout the weekend but it will be a few days before I will receive those.

Roxie had training last weekend in preparation for her NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dogs association) next weekend.  Julie (test secretary) and Ben worked with us and Roxie did GREAT!  She found and pointed with ease all three birds, tracked three more birds, and most importantly, swam after the bumper with no problem!!!   Based on how she did, Julie feels she will pass the Natural Ability test next weekend with no problem.  This is a huge relief and I was so proud of her. 

Her last point was perfect and beautiful.  Luckily Ben had his camera and was able to take a few pics (click to enlarge).  That's me in the orange jacket standing on her check cord trying to keep her from chasing the bird when it flushes (she did anyway, we're working on that).   Photos below were taken by Ben Voris.

These next pics were taken in the field behind our house.  It's spring time so the wild flowers are out.  To see the rest of the pics click http://www.flickr.com/gp/66999112@N00/c16M14

With 3 weeks to go before the GSP Hunt test, it was a VERY busy weekend for me & Roxie.  We had field training both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday we were at Hastings Island with the Sacramento Weim Club.  We worked on her whoa command in several different settings, finding and pointing the bird, flushing the bird and retrieving the bird.  She started off slow but had picked up quite a bit and was doing well by the end of the day.  It was helpful to watch others training with their dogs as well as watch the more experienced dogs do their “thing”.  I was able to see how it’s SUPPOSED to go. 

Sunday, we met Jack out at Yankee Slough for some water work.  He was able to get a couple of pheasants and chuckar to practice with too. Again, she was a little slow to start but was getting better by the end of the day.  We went to the water and got her to fetch the bumper a few times, but was really reluctant.  But once we brought out the dead birds she was HAPPY to go get them.  Jack brought out all four of his dogs and worked them a little too.  We let Roxie run with one of his to see how they did in a “brace” situation.  Roxie did fine, but I think that was because Loose wasn’t interested in playing with Roxie and let her know right off the bat.  Not sure how she will do with a willing participant.

We will continue training with Gar too.

I took some pictures of her retrieving from the water and a little video too.  Jack, there are a couple pics of Sparky and High Five if you want to download them.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/66999112@N00/b27qE6