The Spaniel Annals
working and living with performance spaniels
recent posts
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: Uncategorized
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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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To you, a tennis ball might be a lowly object, a cheap amalgamation of rubber and fuzz, easily substituted by an exact replica and easily discarded. But to me, a tennis ball keeps chaos at bay. A house without a tennis ball is a house with a raging Gordon Setter puppy mouth, happy to fill…
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Our English Springer Spaniel National was held in Albany, Oregon this year in October. We’ve been training this past year to get the younger springers ready for this event, as the National rotates around the country and so is not always nearby for us to attend. I was thrilled with the performances of both Rozzie…
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It seems appropriate to re-start this blog the way it began a year ago: with a Christmas visit to a nearby wildlife recreation area for a dog run. Cherry Valley is much wetter than last year, but still a joy for some muddy, wet dogs: This trip is also Gael’s first free run in a…
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Last weekend kicked off the first “cluster” of dogs shows for the new year. In our area, they begin at the Puyallup fairgrounds in mid-January, and then during the following weekend move down to Portland for 4 days of shows. Because these two weekends cluster several days of shows, many professional handlers and big-name dogs come…
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For the last several months, it’s been our Sunday morning ritual to attend handling classes. Handling classes provide a training environment for us to practice the game of the conformation ring, where the dog is judged on his structure (conformation) and movement. Here’s the ritual: 7:30 am: Reardon gets a feathering bath. He needs one once-a-week anyway for…
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Particularly when I ask my dogs to join me so much in my endeavors, and they do so with such willingness, I do what I can to acknowledge and fulfill their essential nature. It is the essential nature of the Springer Spaniel to run, hunt and find game. So on this Christmas morning, at dawn, we…
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The rest of my life (“real” life? “unreal” life?) has stalled our training and my blogging: fighting to get my energy back after surgery, then catching a cold, then the pressure of getting final writing portfolios graded. Meanwhile, Reardon and Rozzie are clearly saying, “I’m ready!” Through many physical behaviors (their primary language after all),…
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“Exuberance is beauty” – William Blake Right now I’m recuperating from surgery and don’t feel well enough to do anything with the dogs other than walk out to the pasture with them. They still give me great delight in their ability to play.. and their effortless grace while in full extension… and the joy they seem…
The Spaniel Annals 