Boo hiss! No Q's in earthdog this weekend. That's alright. . .I really shouldn't expect ANYTHING at all since we don't really train for this. Became apparent to me that we actually need to do some before we try it again. I also came to the conclusion that I was very VERY lucky to get a senior leg a month ago. . .still not sure how that happened but it did. So to wrap it up in a nut shell, Rhys on Saturday, missed the entrance. He's not apt to use his nose in earthdog. . .I think he gets to revved up and just wants to get to the rats as quick as possible, not thinking hey maybe this rat scent will take me to them quicker. So he shot over to the judges to check them out and see if the rats were there. Then he meandered back and hit the false entrance, worked the rats fine, but at the recall, he just laid at the den and wouldn't come. Better on Sunday. I scratched the grass a little to get his nose down and he got a whiff. He took off, almost bypassed the entrance but then made it in. Worked fine again. Recall. . .same deal. This time, he laid just out of the peephole viewing area of the judge so the judge thought he was gone, but he wasn't popping up any place. So when time was up, we peeped in and yup, sure enough, just sitting there waiting for those ratties to come back.
Saturday for Riley wasn't very helpful. This judge didn't do hardly anything to get the dogs interested in working. Without reassurance, Riley doesn't work. So both junior and intro were a loss. Sunday was better. This judge really got down and was trying to get the dogs all jazzed up. Funny, since they are a husband-wife team of judges that they have such different styles but that's the way it goes. Anyways, she really got in to it in intro. Junior not as much but she did make an attempt.
The good thing out of the weekend, that after a LONG seminar, I passed my judges test so the first step in becoming an earthdog judge is now complete.

Alright, so as you may have noticed, I'm really bad at keeping this blog updated. I tell myself "oh I'm going to wait on getting these pictures uploaded" or something like that so just keep putting it off longer and longer. Anyways, I thought making one all-inclusive update would be better than nothing at all. Since the last update, we traveled to Champaign, IL where Rhys wonderfully earned his first Senior Earthdog leg. I had all but given up hope that he wasn't going to come for his recall when all of a sudden, his head popped up right in front of me and scared the crap out of me. I made a grab for him, which scared the crap out of him, and he yelped. Either way, it means we got leg #1, and 2 more to go. I was just so tickled and couldnt' keep a grin off my face that whole day.
The weekend of April 25th, Rhys and I headed to Michigan for the Westie Club of South East MI speciality. Rhys' breeder, Dawn Martin, and her breeder friend Jane Sajban were there. They took Rhys in hand and made my grooming mistakes somewhat managable and presentable. ;) They also provided many tips and tricks in to this showing world that is new to me. Bless him, Rhys won his class in Sweeps. The judge went back and forth between him and his half brother, Granite, for BOS in Sweeps but ended up picking Granite. Then Rhys came in and won his class in regular and also took RWD. We were thrilled! That's the best we've ever done in confirmation to this point. Well, not officially, but it's the best we've done when actually having competition and at a speciality too. I say it's cause he looked so pretty from Dawn and Jane's ministrations but I've learned from them too to relax in the ring and have fun with him, which helps. I think that really helps him relax too and make the show ring a game to him. . .or at least a place he gets treats for tricks! ;) Now, I just might be addicted to specialities. They give you good stuff there and have good food, etc! Just a lot less hectic than all-breed shows!
Last weekend was the first outdoor agility trial of the year. Riley was super pumped but that did not work to our advantage. ;) I've come to notice that she runs so much faster outside or on padded flooring but hates dirt or wood chip surfaces. Anyways, she takes off like a bat out of hell outside. There were some definite handler errors this weekend. . .I had to jump a jump with Riley cause I stupidly didn't get a front cross in with enough room. Then I fell again on Sunday. . . graceful, I'm not. Luckily, neither of these follies was caught on video! ;) I don't think we hit the weaves on the first try for any of the runs. Pat Kay came up and stayed with us to join the fun. As she said, "it wasn't a good weekend in Westie-ville". Between the two of us, we went 0 for 8 runs! Blah!
That's about it for a summary of our last month or there bouts. So this coming weekend, we are heading to Roscoe, IL for a big earthdog trial. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll have good things to report about later! ;)