Practice!

As I'm attempting to stay cool in the horridly hot weather we are receiving, I thought I might catch up on my blog :)

Last weekend I packed Ziva, Reba (Mielikki-Mandolin's Pahu Pahu JC GRC), First (Celeritas Bellatrix of Silkenswift GRC), Gibbs(dork boy extra-ordinaire) and Aurora & Bella in my friend's van, and headed up to NJ for a QC/JC/Practice. The club was holding the QC/JC's early, unlike the local club who does it after the event, thus making it the hottest part of the day for a young dog, and it was our first chance to do so, so I really wanted to get out and see.

Got there about 8:30 and it was already getting warm. Ugh, set the xpen up for the babies, left the other dogs in the AC car and waited our turn.

AKC changed rules earlier this year for entering Open. Originally, all you had to do is get your JC(Junior Courser) and you could run in the regular event, even tho they did recommend you practice with other dogs. Unfortunately, there were people who thought JC meant they were ok to run in Open, and jumped the part about practice runs to make sure your dogs ran clean. I personally have made sure to have an ASFA Cert paperwork in hand before ever running in open, but not everyone was as conscientious. The QC(Qualifying Courser) is essentially the same as the Asfa Cert, and makes people get that practice run in before running open.

So, poor Reba got to be the QC dog for both Ziva & First, everything else we have is too old or in season LOL She handled it well, even tho she's in her slump from her season. She's a good silly red head.

I wasn't sure if Ziva would run, but she shocked me. Her practice we'd had last spring hadn't been quite as good as I'd hoped, but her QC run was really nice, even with Reba playing field cheater, she totally ignored her, and kept going. She's back to being a bit unsure with another dog, but I'll just make sure to run her with some known clean dogs for awhile, and definitely not Lemans or Serrano who scream LOL She is soo much like her mother in softness.

First's run was brilliant, and she will do her breeder proud if she runs like she did. THe judge was very complimentary of both the girls.

Gibbs had quite a decent JC run. I chose a JC with him, as he suffers ADHD right now. Silly, happy, dorkie as hell puppy, his brain doesn't stay on one subject for longer than a few seconds. He needs some focusing work, and will continue running by himself for awhile.

Then I got the babies out.

Aurora's going to make someone a great dog, she is not afraid of anything, went right up to the RR puppy who was bigger than her and play bowed, bounced off his head, and didn't get worried when an older pup joined in. She thought the entire crowd was there for her. She shmoozed, made lots of friends and jsut had a grand old time.

Bella's more suspicious, not afraid, but not willing to jump in without looking. By the end of the day, both girls were play bowing to one of Fergie's puppies and having a lot of fun. They met everything from a young litter of RR, to whippets, to RR of all shapes and sizes and age

Then we got to the line, and my sweet little Bella, who has been perfect on leash, became a little hellion, radar ears came up, she lunged at the end of the harness and was just raring to get the bunny. I had no clue if any of these pups would run, as Mom is a tofu dog, she has no desire to chase anything I've tried her on, but Bella was channeling her grandfather Brooks(DC Mandolin-Mielikki's the Dance SC, CD) and WANTED THAT GOSHDARN BUNNY!!!!

I handed Aurora off and slipped Bella, who took off like a bat out of hell, tearing down to the pully, where the bunny stopped, as they're flipping it around, she is bouncing off of it, tearing at it, having a great time, to the point they had to carefully start it to bring back, as she was refusing to let off of it LOL. I truly hope she keeps than enthusiasm and grows up to her potential, as she looks like she's going to be a fun dog.

Handed a very unhappy Bella off and slipped Aurora, who took off also, but when the bunny stopped and didn't move right away, she came back to me. Not a bad thing, Great Uncle Eros is the same way, it's only fun when it moves, but we'll keep working on focus with her.

Put them in the car, where everyone promptly flaked out, and left. I was gone by 11, and it was too darn hot by even then.

Unfortunately, no pics as we rushed thru it all to get done before the heat, but hopefully next time!

Was going to head out coursing this weekend to get Jenny's QC, run Ziva(I hope to have her pointed for the NLCC), but with a heat index of almost 110 expected tomorrow, temps over 90 on Sunday, we will be staying home!