The Spaniel Annals
working and living with performance spaniels
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about
I’m a retired English instructor, now devoted full-time to training, showing and enjoying my spaniels in many sports.
- agility
- Behavior
- competition
- conditioning
- dockdiving
- dual champion
- English Cocker
- English Springer Spaniel
- Fetch!
- field work
- Freestyle
- Gordon Setters
- heeling
- heeling journal
- Irish Water Spaniel
- match
- mental preparation
- new freestyle behaviors
- puppy training
- rally obedience
- retrieve
- scent work
- TEAM
- tracking
- training
- Uncategorized
- Utility obedience
Category: competition
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It’s been far to easy to quickly document dog happenings in the past few months in short bursts on Facebook. That’s a bad habit if I really want this blog to be a journal of my life with dogs. Time to stop that! August was a wonderful month. Reardon earned two legs on his Open…
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The past few weekends have been promising dry runs for some big shows coming up in August: in the 3rd and 4th weekend of this month, Reardon will debut in AKC Open, Journey will debut in Utility at the IWS specialty, and both will show for the first time in a freestyle competition. Yikes! I wouldn’t…
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Journey’s never gotten a professional win photo with me. I vaguely remember reasons why; when she got her CD, I was quite ill with thyroid disease (heading into surgery). We pretty much finished the title and she returned to her breeder. Then she’s been bounced back and forth since then, although she’s now here to…
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The first obedience trial weekend of the year at the Puyallup Fairgrounds affirmed the mental and physical training I’ve been working on the past few months. Lanny Bassham, founder of the Mental Management program and an Olympic gold medalist, described the difference between accomplishment and attainment: “accomplishment” is the fulfilling of external goals. “Attainment” is…
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After four wonderful novice performances, Reardon and I bit the dust at the Olympia Kennel Club show in Enumclaw. I just can’t seem to handle heat these days, and in 85+ degree humid heat, with a swampy brain and sweaty legs, I couldn’t handle Reardon properly in his novice class. We had 2 no-sits (which…
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Geeshy-peeshy. I was idly checking the new ratings published by the national obedience magazine, Front and Finish, only to find that Roz and Reardon (better known as the “R-babies”) are at the top of the national rankings for their Rally Novice titles last year. They only competed three times for their three legs, but look…
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I’m feeling exhausted but happy from a demanding schedule of 3 trial weekends in the last 5 weeks, occurring at the end of a school year. Roz finished us up with a bang, by earning her second novice leg yesterday at the Puyallup shows and a 1st place! Her score was a very respectable 196. …
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Life with performance animals can be such a roller coaster ride of tearful disappointment and loss and in the next moment, exhilarating joy. In my last post, I wrote about Kani possibly having to retire. That’s now been decided. A urine culture told us that Kani is carrying FOUR pathogens, two of which are highly resistent…
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A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does…
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Sometimes I realize to what degree the sport of obedience trialing requires an almost obsessive love for delayed gratification. The video below presents Reardon’s debut in the Novice Obedience ring. He did a wonderful job, winning the class and earning a 196 out of 200 points, and ½ point away from the High in Trial…
The Spaniel Annals 