We celebrated three birthdays in November (four if you count mine) with Dukino turning 6 and Astrid & Arn turning 4. I still refuse to accept that they've grown up at all!
Astrid & Wunjo started herding training at the beginning of October and have both shown decent instinct over the three lessons they've had so far. Wunjo started off a little hesitant but was insanely pushy during her second lesson and certainly didn't disappoint with her third! Astrid has been fairly consistent across her lessons, even taking the lead of an experienced dog during her second lesson. The experienced dog wasn't too impressed about the surprise face kiss when they first started though. |
We had several more agility trials with some great runs and great laughs! One of the most notable laughs has to be Arn's warm up roll at the start line for his last JDX run at East Gippsland. The judge asked if we were ready and Arn flopped over onto the ground and proceeded to roll around in the grass for a good minute at least. Apparently we weren't ready. He followed it up with a pass and 2nd place with less than a second to spare!
Our biggest star of the season was definitely Astrid, who took home her first two JD passes and first places (one of which was the only JD pass for the ring) even in less than ideal conditions with a couple of scares throughout the day. She's also managed to bring home a couple more passes since then and is getting more confident with her weaves and A-frame again. She's never been the easiest dog to work with so I'm extremely pleased with how she's coming along.
Wunjo completed her foundation agility training over December & January at Coimadai Park and will be continuing her training when we can throughout the year. Tunnels are definitely her favourite! And being fast.
Our biggest star of the season was definitely Astrid, who took home her first two JD passes and first places (one of which was the only JD pass for the ring) even in less than ideal conditions with a couple of scares throughout the day. She's also managed to bring home a couple more passes since then and is getting more confident with her weaves and A-frame again. She's never been the easiest dog to work with so I'm extremely pleased with how she's coming along.
Wunjo completed her foundation agility training over December & January at Coimadai Park and will be continuing her training when we can throughout the year. Tunnels are definitely her favourite! And being fast.
We did a couple more Rally-O trials with Arn gaining his RA title in a very slow and steady manner, taking over 6 minutes to do a course that other dogs managed in 3! I've made the decision to take a break from Rally-O at this stage with Dukino trying to race me around the ring to get it over and done with (which does not work off-lead) and Arn not getting as much enjoyment out of it as he initially did. We have plenty of other sports to keep us busy for now, and Arn & I will probably give it another go once Wunjo is ready to hit the novice ring. |
We started hitting the show ring again at the start of October with Arn gaining his Championship title with a decent Best of Breed on only our second show back out! Wunjo also did me proud at the same show by taking out a decent bitch challenge having only just started her junior coat drop a week before. Our other achievements include:
- Dukino earning 91 neuter points, shortlisted to top 3 in a large group lineup at Portland & getting her confidence in the ring back after several years off
- Arn earning 65 points for a total of 156 points (after sitting on 91 for 2 years because we hadn't really been out, sorry matey! I'll try not to do the same to your mother)
- Wunjo earning 69 points, consistently taking out BoB or RuBoB against competition & taking out Junior in Group at Portland.
Wunjo also had an amazing start to her lure coursing career at Geelong in November with her taking out the two passes needed towards her Junior Courser title on the Friday & Saturday, and her first pass towards her Coursing Ability title on the Sunday! She also brought home two of the Highest Scoring Finnish Lapphund in Trial ribbons that we donated for the weekend. She definitely wins best birthday present. I'm looking forward to getting her out again this year! Thank you again to those of you who came out to celebrate over that weekend and special thanks to those who brought along Wunjo's competition! |
An actual wrap up
With us being so busy out trialling last year we managed to achieve a few titles, and have made a start on a few more!
Dukino achieved:
Astrid achieved:
Arn achieved:
Wunjo achieved:
And not to be left out, Jaska achieved:
This year will see us focusing on some new sports and some better foundations for our current ones, and hopefully a little more family chill time and bush walks!
Dukino achieved:
- Rally Novice (RN) title
- Jumping Dog (JD) title
- Agility Dog (AD) title
- 4 x Jumping Dog Excellent (JDX) passes
- 2 x Strategic Pairs (SPD) passes
- 1 x Snooker Dog (SD) pass
- 1x Gamblers Dog (GD) pass
Astrid achieved:
- Working Pack Dog (WPD) title
- 3 x JD passes
- 1 x SD pass
Arn achieved:
- WPD title
- RN title
- Rally Advanced (RA) title
- Championship (Ch) title
- JD title
- 4 x JDX passes
- 3 x AD passes
- 2 x SPD passes
Wunjo achieved:
- Junior Courser (JC) title
- 1 x Coursing Ability (CA) pass
And not to be left out, Jaska achieved:
- awesome job at puppy raising (seriously, he even willingly sits out in the pouring rain with her!)
- best puppy block walker
- most popular with guests & on road trips
This year will see us focusing on some new sports and some better foundations for our current ones, and hopefully a little more family chill time and bush walks!