Well we've been practicing lots and have had great instruction from Nitsa Traylor having complete one of her handling seminars this past weekend. So WE ARE READY!!!! to kick some but and rack up some majors with style. Nationals are just around the corner and we'll be headed out to North Carolina in just one month. In the mean time we have a moderate show schedule to work on our skills. Her brain has really turned on lately so this winter, once we've made it thru Nationals and Eukanuba, we will be focusing on her Master Hunter plus I plan on pursuing a new direction in Agility with her. I will let everyone know how Nationals go and hopefully have plenty of pictures to share. Her Daddy- Cutter will be competing at the National Field Trial and we wish him and the rest of the family the best of luck at Nationals show and FT!

Ginny had her first weekend of swimming on the Trinity River in N. California. We had figured that she wouldn't be so into swimming as this is the same dog who avoids the sprinklers and has no particular affinity for the kiddie pool. Famous last words! She took two steps and dove right in. We'd gotten her a life jacket and made her wear it at first, just in case which was a good thing as she promptly decided to take a swim across the river, I barely kept up. Day two we decided to put a long line on her to keep her tethered to the shore. By the 3rd day we'd graduated from the life jacket to just the long line. Please see our video to see the incredible swimming fool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THFDzndenqM

So no recent posts since we've had nothing to report but disappointments, ugh. Ginny did pass her Canine Good Citizen Test this weekend which I had entered on a whim just to find out what we need to work on! Guess it's time to work on something else....Here are some photos courtesy of my friend Aimee Peart who's dog Sawyer took 2- 5 point majors this weekend having never won 1 point before! Congrats Aimee and thanks for the photos.

Hi everyone! Still have to get the pictures posted from the hunt test, I know.... Nothing new to report. Ginny came into season and she has absolutely fallen apart. Being out in the country she's stuck in what my husband refers to as the chastity chamber two days a week which hasn't helped her body condition any either, she's floppy and flabby, funny I know that feeling! Hence the last two shows haven't been successful. Next show is awhile off so hopefully by then...there is a FT the first weekend of May that she's entered in so we really hope she's only a three week cycler. Will keep you posted and try and get those photos up soon!

Well our first weekend of FTs are done. Saturday a disappointing run as Ginny's bracemate in Amateur Walking Derby busted all of the birds. Sunday she had a nice run in Open Puppy but just isn't competitive with the big running dogs, she runs like my husband likes her to for his hunting use- closer and quartering rather than a line drive type dog. We are going to enter one more round at the VCNC's Walking FT's in May and see how it goes. Back to the field next weekend for the second half of her Junior Hunter, hopefully she can finish it up.
Great news though for the family, Ginny's Dad just took 4th out of over 50 dogs in the AKC Pointing Breed Gun Dog Retrieving Championships. He was the only owner handled dog to place! Congrats to Clint and Val and good luck at the Vizsla Club of America's Gun Dog Championships coming soon!

Now the show weekend update! We were entered in 3 of 4 days at Vallejo and were off to a great start on Thursday 3/19. The judge really liked Ginny and we pulled off a 1st in Ginny's first entry in the Open class (I've taken my trainer's advice and gone straight from 9-12 puppy on to Open). Then to my surprise pulled off a 2 point Winners Bitch and an Opposite Sex over a very nice Special. Unfortunately, we didn't get the Best of Winners which would have given us a major. Saturday and Sunday didn't go so well, a third Saturday and no placement Sunday. Good news is that the points were spread around throughout friends with two of Pam Lambros' kids (Duna and Jasper) finishing and Joy Bodanza finishing her girl (Brenna). This is both to my delight for them and dismay for us since numbers drop and now we need the majors. Good news is there are plenty of upcomming shows including the Nor Cal Vizsla specialty. Ginny now heads to the field for two weeks, much to her delight, with a weekend of FT's followed by HT's. We are the first brace on Saturday and this may mean I will be running her, with no idea what I'm doing, as it is opening weekend of turkey season and I think Wade will be out chasing them! Wish us luck!

Ginny turned 1 year old on 3/17! Hard to believe it has gone so fast. We celebrated with our friends at our conformation class in Woodland by taking cupcakes for the people. Pictures of her private celebration at home are below. I also took informal pics of her so we have a record of her development.

Sorry I haven't updated since the HT and Santa Clara but my life has been a bit short on time with work and then a trip with family to Las Vegas this past weekend (lady luck wasn't with us!). So anyway our Hunt Test went great both days. Unfortunately, pictures were hard to come by as the field was just barely within binocular distance and Sunday it poured rain. Regardless Ginny did fabulously as you can see by her scores. Saturday the judges remarked that our brace with Grady was the best of the Jrs! Grady and Ginny were pros and there was even a spectacular honor of Grady by Ginny at over 20 feet! Sunday, scores were down across the board but still an easy pass for Ginny. Monday was followed by a disappointing second to our usual opponent, "Nyajas", in the puppy 9-12 mo and her last run in puppies classes as for her next show she'll be a year old and have to move somewhere else, where I haven't decided. Nyajas won a 4 point major by taking best of winners on Sunday so goes to show how tough our competition is! Of additional note we've joined, or put in our app to join, the Nor Cal Vizsla Club which we've found full of a great group of people. Coming up they have a couple of FT's that we hope to participate in. Check out our schedule of up coming events! Also of note, we're hoping to add to the family come June as Bitteroots Ich Liebe Dich, a full sister to our Belle and an aunt of Ginny, has been bred to a Semper Fi dog and we're hoping for another little Bitteroot girl! No word yet but she should be about 30 days along. Well I hav e a red dog demanding that we go run while the sun shines so I'll update more later.

News just in.....the braces have been set for Ginny's first Hunt Test this weekend and on Saturday we get to run with Grady who's a good vizsla friend of Ginny's (from the dog shows) owned by Pam Lambros. When I found this out my worry-wart personality kicked in and I just had to call Pam and give her a heads-up just in case Grady loves Ginny too much or vice versa! The good news is that Grady is business in the field and has already finished his JH so this is just practice for him in pursuit of his SH. I can't think of a better pair for Wade and Ginny to run with for their first time. Sunday they run with a Brittany so it'll be good for Ginny (and Wade) to get a day under her belt with Grady and Pam as her brace mates. I'm hoping to get to go Saturday, if my boss will let me off shift my schedule, so hopefully there will be pictures of Ginny's first hunt test to blog next week, til then we wish you all lots of vizsla kisses:)

Hope you weren't holding your breath.....Fresno went well, lots of good practice but as expected no points. The other vizsla entered didn't even show up so we were automatically Best of Breed both days and on to group where we did a lot of practicing! Ginny's doing great, so mostly the practicing was for me since I become a nervous wreck, hence the reason we stayed to practice knowing that points were a very long shot. I had fun though and met some very nice people along with spending time with our trainer and pro handlers Jean and Josh Hargis, I learn so much just watching them. One of the people we met happened to shoot some photos and sent them to me so I have them to share with all of you, and something to show for our efforts this past weekend, Thanks Nici! A couple weeks off til Ginny's first hunt tests and then on to Santa Clara.

Another winners bitch at Daly City, one of only 3 benched shows in the country! A big thanks to the Nor Cal Vizsla Club for taking us in. Ginny took all of the commotion of the day in stride, her usual relaxed self. Now on to Fresno where the only way for us to get any points is by taking a group 1, ha ha ha! Wish us luck but definitely don't hold your breath!

Hunting weekend was fast and furious, same with the birds and dogs. Wade found that the hunting situation wasn't conducive to Ginny's training; poor scenting conditions with as dry as it is, massive bird releases, lots of dogs and hunters in a small space, so unfortunately Ginny's hunting time was limited. She did well hunting with Belle on the last morning and as you can see from the pictures she had some very solid points and honors. There wasn't much opportunity to practice the retrieves since Belle, being an old hat at this, beat her to the punch. Belle had an amazing weekend! Of 40 birds released at one time, in one field of corn stubble she nailed fifteen (there were four other dogs, all flushers). People without dogs always want to hunt behind Belle and hopefully, with time (Belle's 8 years old), Ginny will be the same. Maybe off to the local club tomorrow for some practice time then off to the Cow Palace benched show Sunday 1/25.

Belle forward, Ginny honors!

Ginny went hunting the last couple of weekends with Wade and although her points and marks are perfect her retrieves of pheasants, not so much...Chukar no problem, to hand! Pheasants no thank you! So we spent this week, my weekend (Mon-Wed) working on this little glitch. First we started with the whole frozen bird, and I mean whole feathers and all! After a few games of 'fine if you won't pick it up you can't have it" she had no problem! Then today I went to the local club, bought a hen, had them wring her neck and brought her home. With the jiggly, non-frozen hen once again she refused but when I went to put it away, oh-no! As you can see from the pics there's no problem anymore! I may have created a keep-away monster but Wade's just happy she's picking them up as this weekend is their annual pheasant club guys weekend this year at Clear Creek Sports Club in Corning, CA (home of quite a few FTs) www.clearcreeksportsclub.com. Hopefully there will be pics from the club and she'll keep up the pick-ups for Wade!

Exciting News Just In!!!

Ginny's dad DC AFC Bitteroot Semper Fi Cutter went number one Vizsla Amateur Gun Dog of the Year for 2008! This is with his owner/dad, Clint Sails, handling him . For those of you that don't know the Sails' they are wonderful people and they're how I connected with Ginny's mom's owner Kelley Leach. When I went out to pick Ginny up I got to meet both sides of the family and both of Ginny's parents. Cutter is a half brother to our 8 yo Vizsla, Belle, who we had spayed at 6 mo old :( . They are out of Bitteroot Bittersweet Belle who is a CH ROM JH owned by Paul Bernhardt out of Idaho. Cutter is one of the few dogs out of this line who puppies on the ground and we got lucky enough to get one for ourselves. When I visited Cutter I was amazed at how much he is like our Belle and now how much Ginny is like them, these lines obviously hold true to their breeding. They are all Jekyll and Hydes, by this they are snugglers of the best type but when you flip the switch they are all business in the field, plus they've got the looks to do it in the show ring too. Cutter was All Star at the Vizsla Nationals in 2006 and now number one AGD for 2008! Congrats to Val and Clint! Ginny's mom is a beautiful girl too. Zoe, aka CH Ricochet Misty & Col's Pride JH, has also done it in the ring and field and now her pups are doing it too. Ginny's sister is competing in FT's and is doing very well at only 9 months old.

Be sure to watch the family in 2009! Nationals are being held out in their neck of the woods in Virginia (FT) and North Carolina (Conf.). We hope to have Ginny in the conformation events and see Cutter in the FT's, maybe Rose or some other Cuttletts too!