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!