August??

I know time goes by fast but, WOW, last month flew by me! A quick recap of August: Apollo earned a couple more points towards his CH. Zap picked up 2 points in Canada (thank you Kara). Truly and Zap finished up some rally titles (Truly RA, Zap RN). The Wachusett KC gave out beautiful title ribbons. I will try to get a picture soon. Siena has few more MXJ and MX legs....alas no double Q's yet. Truly is adjusting to open and after crashing the triple seems a little too cautious lately. Apollo is staying fit with daily biking alternating with lots of wide open running in the fields. He is a retrieving maniac alternating between chuck-it and the bumper. Zap tags along to our field workout since he is still too young to bike.
Our plans were finalized this weekend and we will be moving to our new house by the first of October. We are excited and thankful! The new house is on nearly 4 acres....it's mostly woods so our usable yard won't be any bigger, BUT the house is large and there will be plenty of room for family and friends to come visit. ;)


Zap and Apollo....wide open spaces

Zap making sure the camera is pointed in his direction!

Apollo waiting for the ball

Zap's first points!

Back to Work and Summer Happenings....

Employment is a blessing. A heartfelt thank you to all of our family and friends for the support, prayers and good thoughts during the past year.

We got back to dog shows in July and it's been a blast! A recent glimpse at the August calendar makes me smile as well. EVERY weekend is filled in.

Here is a quick re-cap of our July adventures:

July 4th weekend agility trial at AK9C. Siena was side lined (felt strange not running her), but Truly stepped up and did us proud. She earned her NAJ with first place in each class!

July16~18 was Rally with Zap and Truly up in VT. What a weekend! Great friends, lovely hotel room, delicious food (thanks to my roomies!) and lots of ribbons for all! Can't wait to go back next year. Zap and I stepped in the ring for the first time together..... this boy has a very bright future. He Q'd both days in Rally novice with high scores (99 & 100) which earned 1st place on Saturday and 2nd place on Sunday! Good boy Zap-A-ROO! Truly made quick work of the advanced courses both days with scores of 98 and first place Friday and Saturday! Truly prefers agility, but she indulged me and my silly rally game. Highlight of the weekend, however, was seeing Emmie (Zap, Apollo and Truly's mom) in the veterans ring. She looked beautiful and won Best Veteran! Congratulations Kara and Emmie!! It was also wonderful to watch my friend's handsome border collie puppy in the conformation ring. Jet, the BC, picked up 2 more points towards his Championship...I believe that puts him at 5 points! Congratulations Sharon and Jet!!

July 23 & 24th~Apollo went to his first conformation shows since last fall and did very well! The first day he went Winner's Dog and Best of Winners for his first point!! The second day he took a Group 4 from the classes!! I was at a seminar that weekend so I kept getting exciting text messages from Kara as the day progressed....,,really wish I had been there to cheer him on! Thank you to Diana Mason PHA for presenting him to perfection and to Kara for sharing such a special boy with us!

Congratulations to Kara and her parents, Duane & Jean on their new Grand Champion CH SunKissed Emerald City, Casa! Check out this handsome boy at: http://www.sunkissedgoldens.com/casa.htm

Looking forward to our August shows.

Truly & Zap with their agility and rally ribbons

Emmie and Kara

Apollo home from his wonderful weekend

Apollo's First BOB win!

Agility Fitness Isn't Just For the Dogs

Today starts week 3 of my run/walk program. I am tempted to repeat week 2 because I still feel like it's enough of a challenge. Or I could try the increase that the third week presents and cut back if it's too much. I've been feeling a tiny bit faster on the agility courses I run which means I'm getting where I need to be for us to work better as a team. At our last agility trial, the beginning of April, I felt out of shape and it showed. I was slow and unable to create the path I wanted for myself. Siena is forgiving and saves my butt often, but that's not her job. Truly and I are just starting out as a team and I almost ran into her at that trial in jumpers because of poor timing and sluggish running. We owe it to our dogs to bring our best selves to the game. Just like we prepare them with training, warm-ups and maintaining their fitness level so should we. Time to look in the mirror and be honest! It's safer for us and our dogs to be at a decent fitness level. Getting frustrated can be a catalyst for amazing change!

Sneakers on, watch set, iPod playing.....Game on!

This is the program I follow:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml?act=AFC-SocialMedia&Property=CoolRunning&Sport=Running&PageType=Content_Articles&Emp=TO&PostType=Profile_Link&Site=C25kfacebook&Dy=8_11_09&Note=C25kfanpagelink

Happy Mother's Day

It's a quiet day around here so after my run/walk and biking with the dogs I spent some time updating my blog. After sitting for awhile though I just had to get back outside to get some agility training done. Worked threadles, cueing the backside of jumps and wrapping. Also, worked on back crossing into the weaves. With Siena I also added more distance with her teeter contacts. Even added some layering.

This week I officially start training weave poles with Zap. He is 16 months old and I'm curious to see how quickly he picks it up. Gosh he is growing up to be a handsome, eye catching boy.

The "Broadway" litter turned 6 months old yesterday. Parker will be starting Therapy dog classes soon and I couldn't be prouder! Thinking of these 3 puppies always puts a smile on my face :) No updated pictures of them for today, but hopefully soon.

Molly Girl

I can't help being sad today....
Molly would have been 5 years old. Although I have a lot of wonderful memories of her this time of year brings me back to all the pain. There are times I still feel like I failed her. I know in my head this isn't true, but in my heart there is a void. The void left by the loss haunts me at certain times, I respond with tears, anger and sadness. Fortunately, I have people (dogs too ;) who help me out of the moments of despair. Grief may wear a different robe with each appearance and with different individuals. As we learn from one anothers grief we grow in our capacity to handle our own.

Happy Birthday Molly Girl. Your short stay with us was a blessing and we will never forget you.
SunKissed Starr's R Forever "Molly" 4/10/05~4/29/09

Catching Up

Writing has been difficult for me lately. Not sure exactly why but numerous times I have logged on to type a new post and it remained blank.
Attending a seminar yesterday with Kara ignited a spark in me. The seminar titled "Learning To Objectively Evaluate The Golden Retriever" was everything I hoped it would be. Some lecture time followed by hands on. Key points I personally took from this presentation:
~Educate your eye: find the ideal outline first then evaluate the dog by section. I love this point because I do this automatically when I look at a dog.
~Educate your hands: Put your hands on as many dogs as possible. Especially ones you are interested in. Pictures aren't enough! See many litters and sit in on evaluations when possible.
~Stack puppies early and continue weekly. Stack in front of a mirror to get a good look at the outline.
~Play show photographer: Take pictures every month of a growing puppy (stacked, from the front & rear) and keep them to refer back to.
~Watch out for extremes: Think moderation for everything (coat, tail carriage, length of neck etc.)
~Retain natural desire & ABILITY to do the job: Retrievers should have a STRONG desire to retrieve PERIOD!! This is a huge pet peeve for me. Why in the world would one breed a golden retriever that shows absolutely no desire to retrieve??? Why in the world would one breed a golden retriever that didn't have the ABILITY to retrieve??
I have read the standard many, many times; however, it is now front and center on my fridge!

"Broadway" Litter update: They turned 4 months old on March 8th!

Parker was here for a few weeks in February for some training and to let Jamie acclimate to his new job. What a great puppy! Zap misses his little buddy and their early morning play sessions.

Molly is a beautiful girl. Bob got to see her at the pet store last week and he was thrilled that she seemed to recognize him. She is with a family that adores her and will be starting basic obedience classes soon.

Bounce is growing right before my eyes! I see him weekly and am so impressed with his puppy heeling! I'm going to try to get a picture of him in action this week.

Bounce (red boy) waiting patiently for his class to start

Molly

Parker (green boy) & ZAP!

We are currently planning a fall 2010 breeding for Truly http://k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=244468 She is a beautiful, smart, talented girl who loves to retrieve! More details to come.

Focus on Fitness & Zap's Homecoming Day

This blog is officially one year old! ;-) I started writing on the eve of bringing Zap home. Here we are a year later and all I can say is that... I LOVE my Zapper!! Training, playing it's all the same to him and he lightens my heart everyday. The timing couldn't have been better for him to come into my life. Thank you to my very good friend Kara for this amazing boy and making this year brighter for us.

Now onto the business of fitness! I need to be in better shape. I have some very high goals of things I want to accomplish and being out of shape is no longer acceptable!!!! Heeling class with multiple dogs has been kicking my butt. Agility training with one dog (let alone multiple dogs) is kicking my butt! I am too slow and I need to head into my fifties fit and trim....end of excuses! Added to my daily hike now is biking. I take Apollo, Truly and Siena at least 3 times per week (weather permitting). I'm not going to paint a pretty picture the first week was hard. Hills are my enemy ;) But slowly I keep working at it and I am starting to see some results.

I have so much more to write about since I've been way behind on this blog, but it will have to wait for another day. I plan to slowly catch up this week especially if the weather gets bad.

The pictures below are of Zap (9 weeks and 13 months)....I get a kick out of his need to ALWAYS have something in his mouth. He's been like that from the beginning ;) I love you Zap!