Trust but verify

Just remember this, the next time you see some ridiculous blogpost here.  Larsen may have acked-hayed my asswords-pay.

Source: Peter Steiner, New Yorker.

Early morning on the beach

Larsen appears to be putting his best paw forward while out on a cold and clear Atlantic Ocean morning.

Favorite things

We hope you got some of your own favorite things for Christmas. 

As for ourselves, a breakaway whistle lanyard onto which slide Hunt Test qualifying leg hardware is our own favorite thing.

More than the hardware itself, it indicates that 2010 was the year Larsen matured and started putting together the pieces.  He earned a Rally Novice title, and two (three needed) Rally Advance legs.  He earned three (four needed) legs on his Junior Hunt Test title. 

All of this would have been unthinkable a year ago.  Of course, a year ago, he was sleeping in a blue barrel in a kennel in Sumter, South Carolina.  As we leave 2010, it is on a high note and with the anticipation that we can cinch up expectations, earn the final Junior Hunting leg, and then progress toward the equally unthinkable Senior Hunting title.  

Larsen counts off his JH medallions.

The sun is shining, the grass is green

The sun is shining, the grass is green,
The orange and palm trees sway.

There's never been such a day
in Beverly Hills, L.A.
But it's December the twenty-fourth,—
And I am longing to be up North—

Christmas giving

Aki stuffs this Christmas basket with all sorts of goodies.

A Starbucks card.  Someone will like that.

A ribbon adds the  finishing touch to this little gift.

I wonder who will get this treasure trove?

Bob Feller 1918-2010

All of Cleveland, and the baseball world, mourn the passing of Indians' great, Bob Feller.

The Emerald Necklace

Unlike the Cleveland Orchestra, few have ever heard of the so-called Emerald Necklace around the Cleveland area.  Like the Orchestra, the Emerald Necklace is a national treasure.  The Cleveland Metroparks portion of the necklace had its origins in the Rocky River Valley.  It now has unconnected beads in Huntington, Big Creek, Hinkley, Brecksville, Bedford, South Chagrin, North Chagrin and Euclid Creek.

Another of the unconnected gems in the necklace is the Boston Mills Historic District (which technically is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park).  Boston Mills fronts the Ohio and Erie Canal just north of Akron.  The canal paralleled part of the Cuyahoga river, which in that region of the state winds north from Akron to Cleveland and then into Lake Erie.

We accompanied Cousin Dave, his wife Meg, and their 12 year-old Brittany, Scout, on the trails of the Rocky River and Boston Mills parks during Thanksgiving.  We had some nice, chilly outings. 

Meg, Aki, and Larsen enjoy a cold and wet Thanksgiving afternoon as the turkey cooks at home.

  
Cousin Dave and Scout lead the way.

Do you recognize this?  It's the Cuyahoga River.

Aki, Dave, and Larsen view the waterfall from a distance.

The former canal towpath in Boston Mills has been reclaimed for recreational purposes.

The low winter sun casts sharp shadows on this little store in Boston Mills.

Hardware store

In today's world of big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes, you might not know of, or have long forgotten about, the neighborhood hardware store.  Such a store carried all manner of hardware, stacked to the ceiling in trays and bins and on shelves.  It may even have had yellow decaled footprints that (reminiscent of Burma Save) instructed "This" "Way" "to" "GE" "Bulbs".  Even your neat and tidy Ace hardware store is the city cousin to this country mouse.

This particular store, not far away, brags "Over 50,000 Items.  Many Hard to Find."  Does the owner know that, in truth, all of those items in his store are hard to find?

A patron examines the Dura Flame logs, next to the cast iron skillets and flashlights.

Light bulbs and repair parts for any electric lamp made between 1900 and 1950.

Christmas catalogs

Those catalogs can save some time, but sometimes they just drive you crazy.

2011 Westminster invitees

The Westminster Kennel Club has invited these Welsh Springer Spaniels to the 2011 show February 14-15.  Listed in alphabetical order (not by ranking):

• CH Rock Springs Hawk Of The Battle ("Gavin")
• GCH CH Heatherstone's Jopa Blue ("Winston")
• GCH CH Holly House Empres Josephine
• GCH CH Rolyart's Full Of Grace JH ("Grace")
• GCH CH Statesman's Corinthian ("Starbuck")

Gavin (Kit Goodrich) was 2010's Best of Breed at the 2010 WSSCA National Specialty.

Winston (Shannon Gandee) was 2010's Best of Breed winner at Westminster.

Empres Josephine (Holly House) is a WDX.

Grace (Shelley Traylor & Cindy Ford) was a 2007 and 2008 Westminster entry and is a Junior Hunter.     

Starbuck (Meghen Basel and Susan Riese) was Winner's Dog at the 2009 WSSCA National Specialty.

Good luck to all!

Snow day

Kim Parkman of Pocotaligo Kennel ran Larsen on Sunday while I enjoyed a bright cold winter day in Chicago.  I had some business meetings on Sunday and was reduced to receiving the results via text message.  I learned that Larsen seemed pretty distracted on the line with Kim and that he really didn't want to hunt. 

Larsen and I will go back to training.  He's come a long way.  He earned his third leg on Saturday and was going for a run of the table on Sunday and his JH.   It would have been fitting and fun to have earned that final leg on the same weekend that Mazie earned her MH.  On the upside, I'll have the joy of finishing him myself. 

Wrigley Building from the Trump Hotel in Chicago.

Susan and Mazie

Congratulations.

Ch Ivywild's Mazie Morning Dew MH

Susan's dog (and Larsen's dam) Mazie successfully completed her sixth and final leg and earned her Master Hunter designation today at at the Atlanta Cocker Hunt test at JL Lester WMA.

This is a most remarkable achievement.  The unofficial count says that Mazie will be the 9th Welsh Springer Spaniel in U.S. history and 2nd female to have earned the Master Hunter designation.

Mazie completed the Master Hunter requirements with a water retrieve in the mucky and shallow JL Lester reservoir.  In her own fashion, Mazie swam to an unlikely portion of the shoreline and then took her sweet time--but steady and unfaltering--bringing the bird to Susan.

Tomorrow, Susan will run Mazie in another Master leg for the sheer fun of it.  It will give Susan a chance to see Mazie with clear and unworried eyes, and watch her in the same way that we have enjoyed watching her.

 Susan displays Mazie's Master Hunter ribbons.

Focus

For handler as well as pup.  I'll pay attention to him this weekend and bring him to sit if he seems to be fooling around.  Otherwise, give him his nose. 

Baker finds a new home

Changes in a family's life can result in a homeless Welsh Springer Spaniel, which is what happened to Baker, the WSS from Indiana. 

Shannon Gandee of Heatherstone Welsh Spring Spaniels and her many, many volunteers at WSSCA Rescue perform the herculean effort of finding foster and permanent homes for unwanted dogs.

We were honored to have played a small role in one placement on Thanksgiving weekend.

We were traveling from Cleveland to Atlanta.  Suddenly, WSSCA Rescue needed someone to drive a dog along the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati-Lexington-Knoxville route.

Can do!  We picked up little Baker, a six-year-old Welshie in Lebanon, Ohio and dropped him off with his new owner, Laurel, in Knoxville.  Baker will have a new home in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina with another WSS, Alex.

Get it?  A happy ending for Puppy A and Puppy B.

 Marrielle introduces us to Puppy B.

Larsen gives the eyeball to sweet little Baker.

Frank does his best to manage two active and curious spaniels.

Larsen and Baker pose, in a manner, along the road to Knoxville.

Time of giving thanks

Mayflower.

Thanksgiving.

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to

"recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

(Credit to: wilstar.com/holidays/wash_thanks.html)
(set by Washington and revitalized in 1863 by Lincoln)

Why Rally

Years ago I poo-poo'd the idea of rally, but I really believe it is an excellent intro to communicating/developing a language with your dog.

Susan R., an accomplished trainer, breeder, and owner of WSSs.

I thought I'd give a novice's insight as to the value of Rally. 

Compared to many of the other activities - - conformation, obedience, agility, tracking, HT - - Rally seems to have a more forgiving on-ramp for someone new.  The difficulty levels may be non-linear.  Entry is easy but finishing a "Rally Excellent" is a genuine accomplishment.

By giving the novice handler a forgiving on-ramp, Rally gets dog & handler into the ring and in a "competition" without the looming prospect of an automatic and discouraging NQ waiting at the finish, as would be the case with some of the other activities. 

In RN and RA, you get used to working with your dog in front of people and under a type of competitive pressure.  You get through the feeling of complete amnesia that you can get the moment you step into the ring in a real, non-practice situation. 

Rally gives you a chance to learn focus and timing in a competitive situation, which I guess is communication, since you have to give a command when the dog is ready for it.

There's also the matter of practice, since nothing gets you into the back yard for some work around the orange cones faster than thinking about an upcoming event you've signed up for. 

As for the HT crossover, I'll sometimes take 2 of my Rally cones to the field near the house.  We stand at one cone.  I flip the dummy toward the other, which is all of six feet away.  Then I tell Larsen  to fetch.  The cones are there for nothing.  But I think Larsen thinks "I know how to do this" since it is just another cone-type exercise.  He is able to fetch the dummy without getting distracted by what is going on in the big field.  

Those of you who breed WSSs may find families asking for suggestions of what to do with the little dog.  Rally is a wonderful entry point for a kid who wants to do something with his or her new dog.

Autumn in the south

The Circle W Hunting Preserve in Heflin Alabama showed its natural beauty at last week's Hunt Test.  The weather was cool enough for the dogs, and invitingly warm for the participants and spectators.

We also take this moment to thank MaryAnne for her great work planting chukars in the field during the entire two-day run.  Many, many thanks, MaryAnne. 

MaryAnne plants a chukar for the Hunt Dead test at the Circle W Hunting Preserve.

 MaryAnne disappears into the loblolly pine thicket on a beautiful fall day in Alabama.

Have gun, will travel

Many thanks to Shoni, Bill, Roger, Allan, Al, and Gary for working last weekend's hunt test.  It's hard work.  People come from many miles away and want their dogs to have a fair shot at earning a ribbon.  Every shot is on display.  Our Dogwood club is fortunate to have these safe, sure shooters in the field.    

Shoni approves of the dog work.  

Al watches Lizzie B retrieve a chukar. 

It's camp day as Allan and Bill demonstrate the finer points of john boat navigation. 

Bill watches a retrieve.

Allan quacks like a duck during the water retrieve.

Rags gets some tips from Tim as Gary (background) looks on.  

Roger adds to the camaraderie of the day on and off the field.

More from the weekend HT

Felix.

Adara.

Larsen.

Puppy kiss.

Exuberance

Endurance?  Pluck?  Those aren't quite the right words for the dogs in this weekend's Hunt Test, but it's a start.  Here is a small tribute to the little dogs that are all heart.

(You can find these and many, many other photos here.)

Tatum sets a new standard for style.

 On the hunt.

Sly still hasn't come down. 

Mazie comes in.

 Bingo.

Humphrey has his own sense of exuberance.

 Rags flushes a chukar.

Tuff is on a mission.

Larsen, you are cleared for landing.

Skip heads home with a prize.

Spud-nik.

Ashley heads out to sea.

Good boy, Felix.