Oh Yeah, You Blend

Alice Best of Breed 5/18/18

Alice (Alkemi Clear Air Turbulence LT) earned her first Canadian Kennel Club championship points today under judge Tony Monk at the K-W shows in Kitchener, Ontario. And she did it it style too! Winning Best of Breed over two specials and two class dogs for (I think) two points (that’s her CKC major out of the way with her first win!).

Yesterday she showed well but Ulla’s Winni (Nina’s half sister – they are both Bibi daughters) won breed and then a group 4 under Swedish judge Wera Hubenthal!

Today she showed really nicely, we worked well together and I think I did a better job with her too. I was thrilled with her. And the judge said very nice things about her when we were getting the picture taken (nice proportions, looks like she could do the job she’s supposed to do, good bone, etc.), and then the photographer dropped a big handful of plastic signs right in front of her (the ones that say what the win was), and she just sniffed at them, and they both commented on what a great temperament she has, no spook at all. Hooray for good genes and Puppy Culture! And kudos to the judge for checking the standard when he wasn’t positive about tails before he made his selections! All the other dogs were bobtails and all came from Ulla, so Alice looked very different, but the judge found her and liked her!

CONGRATULATIONS to Jennifer Corbin and Cricket (Zhora’s sister, now officially Alkemi Braveheart LS ADC) on earning her Agility Dog of Canada title in Agility Association of Canada (AAC is like USDAA but in Canada)! Cricket is a speed demon like her mother Nina, and Jennifer and Cricket have worked very hard. This is Cricket’s first title, but I doubt it will be her last, they’re an awesome team! Way to go! (Cricket also barks on the table….I fear this may be genetic LOL)

Can we just take a moment to admire this handsome devil? Pluto (Zhora’s son Alkemi Crusader LT, formerly known as Chex) lives in Los Angeles, his owner Pat is an amazing dog trainer, and maybe he’ll get to be in the movies some day! So happy he has an amazing home, and I can’t wait to see what he and Pat do in the future! He’s growing up very nicely!

Orbit (Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT) won best puppy at the Kandasaga AKC match today! Awesome work again Ruth and Jim!

Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT had a FABULOUS weekend in West Springfield! At only his second weekend out, he went Best of Breed over a Grand Champion (who won Westminster, no less, so a very nice bitch!) from the 6-9 month puppy class under judge Joy Brewster on Saturday and then on Sunday took Best of Winners over a class bitch under judge Kathy Madden.

Huge thanks and congratulations to his co-owners Ruth and Jim for raising and training and showing and (most importantly) loving him!

She earned her first MACH at the HABOC trial, and she earned her third there too!

Judge Laura English designed some tough courses, the Q rates on some were very low, but they were challenging in a good way and as I remind myself – it’s MASTERS, it’s SUPPOSED to be tough!

Jumpers today was quite demotivating at the start, and Zhora was extremely poky. She liked Standard much better and was happy to take a quick victory lap too! She got SPOILED afterwards, and her Aunt Sherry even shared her lunch with her.

She came into the weekend needing two, Friday I messed her up by talking while she jumped and cost us a double. But she was perfect after that. Our friend Zap (Saturday/Sunday videographer) multitasked and brought the ribbon to us while videoing, which looks like a “To Catch A Predator” sting on reality TV, which is hilarious.

Nina was wonderful, earning two very nice Standard Q’s. She will be 11 in May…I can’t believe it. And she still as fast as ever and loves agility more than anything.

There were very few 8″ dogs there this weekend and I only had about four dogs between them, which is quite unfair to the dogs, since you barely have time to stuff a few treats in their faces before you have to put them away and get the next one out, and the second dog doesn’t get anything like their usual warmup. I try to warm them up somewhat before we start running, but still…they cope very well with this stuff.

I am very very fortunate.

Zhora Friday Standard (NQ thanks to my big mouth):

Nina Friday Standard (NQ):

Zhora Friday Jumpers (Q, second place, 15 points):

Nina Friday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #59, second place, 15 points):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #59, third place, 27 points):

Nina Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 30 points):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of MACH3!! She hated this course’s opening, super poky, third place, 11 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ, the bar down came down so late she was almost over the following jump!):

Zhora Sunday Standard (MACH3!!!! Third place, 27 points, the top three dogs were within like a second and a half of each other!):

Nina Sunday Standard (Q, second place, 28 points):

This puppy….holy moly. The last time we practiced (three days ago), Alice still didn’t quite “get” tunnels, she’d go in with encouragement but she was still climbing on top and not quite seeing the point of them. And then yesterday (her next training session) she became a tunnel suck! In fact, she was SO enthusiastic about tunnels I had to do a quick couple of sessions of rewarding NOT going into the tunnel. I cannot believe how quickly she learns, how few repetitions it takes of most things before she really seems to understand them, and how much focus and working drive and enthusiasm she has at just five months of age.

She is jumping 4″ bars. She steps on bumps so I elected to stop using them, 4″ is well below her hocks, and we actually do jumping very rarely. The OneMind Dogs “offering the jump” exercise is extremely effective. And Puppy Culture is amazing.

To say I am pleased would be an immense understatement. I am absolutely thrilled. She is amazing. I feel very lucky. So far she is EXACTLY what I was hoping to get out of this breeding.

Holy crap. I can’t believe how well this little 4 month old is doing! Huge thanks to Sue! We were using bumps but she was stepping on them. Per the OneMind Dogs folks, you’re OK to use jumps below hock level, so that’s what I’m doing. She’s doing very little jumping anyway but I needed something for her to go over rather than step on.

Today we went to a Barn Hunt workshop and found some rats! Very fun to get out of my comfort zone and learn about a dog sport I know nothing about! She did great. Awesome focus and working drive on this puppy.

…The Return Of Zhora.

She made the most of it! Turning in a perfect weekend in her first trial since early last July (other than the Invitational, of course). She was amazing, even accounting for my stupid handler tricks that nearly cost her a Jumpers Q today. She picked up QQ’s # 55 and 56, only 4 to go for MACH3!

Nina had a lovely JWW Q yesterday but Nina’d the rest.

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #55, 18 points, third place, 4.75 YPS):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place, 22 points, 5.36 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #55, 26 points, third place):

Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #56. 13 points thanks to my random misplaced front cross that nearly sent her to the wrong jump, I praised her for calling off it, which nearly caused a refusal…then she slowed right down because my GPS was clearly malfunctioning):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ, rough angle on that first bar down, then after the third bar I say “HEY!” at which point she shouts back at me, judge Laura English said it was like she was saying “HEY YOURSELF!”, she didn’t knock any more bars though!):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #56, 26 points again, third place again, at least she’s consistent!):

Nina Sunday Standard (NQ, allergic to yellow, I caused the weave issue by praising her for making th entry):

When you have a newborn litter, the days seem much the same, you don’t have to do much except make sure the dam is looked after, keep the whelping box clean, and handle, weigh and monitor the puppies. With this litter we had to do a bit more because Popcorn (now Cora) was struggling at bit at first, but overall, they grow, they eat, they crawl around. And then, all of a sudden, their eyes are open, then they’re walking, then they’re moving to the big pen, they’re learning things, and now, somehow, we’re almost at the point where they’ll start leaving to go to their new homes and now….now we have to figure out how to let them go. I love this litter so, so much, they are exactly what I was hoping to get from this cross so far. And while I am SO looking forward to following their adventures out in the world, I am also going to cry….a lot…as they leave me.

Today we took them all to the vet (where I work) for their first doctor exam, microchipping (we use a local anesthetic so they don’t mind that big needle), and since Cora is scheduled to leave on Saturday, she got her first distemper/parvovirus vaccination. The others will get theirs next week.

Cora getting her checkup (with a snack) from Dr Julie.

Everybody was healthy! No heart murmurs, everybody who should have testicles has two, and nobody who shouldn’t have testicles has any. Bites were good. And they really did very, very well. They played, nobody was really worried about being up on the exam table, nobody cared about their local anesthetic injection OR their microchip. Cora was very brave with her vaccination and didn’t even notice it. They wrestled and played in the exam room and then played tag up and down the hallway with the staff.

Licensed Veterinary Technician Simone and Chex

There are many reasons I love working where I do. We have an awesome staff who are dedicated to making sure pets have a good experience at the vet, we’re a certified Fear Free clinic and we work hard to make the vet fun if possible! I love the doctors and staff I work with and seeing how they all interacted with the puppies was awesome. We have Adaptil diffusers in every dog examination room, we play music specifically intended to help dogs feel calm and comfortable, we use food and low stress handling techniques, but even so, I was very happy with how the puppies did! They played, they ate, they wagged and barked and socialized!

Simone and puppies

Simone getting the bities from Alfie (formerly Orson):

“Sorry Jan, she knows how to bark!” (Cora, wearing the blue collar):

Veterinary Assistant Jason had LIVER….they liked liver AND Jason