2018 the year that was!

Wow it is already the 13^th of January and I am just now recapping 2018.  I generally like to recap the year by the New Year but life is just crazy and I’m just now getting around to celebrating the year that was.

There was a lot going on in 2018 that we can only attribute to “Life” .  There were two very big events that kept me stressed out for the greater part of the year.  Thank goodness for the dogs as they always make everything better even when they are misbehaving.   The 1^st big stressor is Mom aka Ginger dealing with health issues.  She has pretty much been confined to bed all year including a 3 ½ month stay in the Hospital and Rehab.  She has been home since July but she is still stuck in bed but doing better.  The 2^nd  stressor was I bought a house, a 1^st for me as I had never bought a house before.  I pretty much spent March through September with my hair standing on end!  I can never thank the people who love me for helping me through it in various and sundry ways.

Outside of those big events we have still had a lot of fun.  We ended last year during the 2017 NYE weekend with Bailey earning our 1^st AKC Scentwork titles and she finished the year at our 2018 NYE weekend trial earning a total of 9 AKC Scentwork titles.  I love this sport and so does Bailey, she is amazing.  She was also amazing as she earned her Coursing Ability Test Excellent  – CAX which is the 1^st Excellent level title my dogs have earned.  She also earned some points toward her DCAT the 2^nd level FastCat title.  We were focusing on the CAT so 2019 will be working on the DCAT as she loves to Chase the Bunny!   So at the end of 2018 Bailey is GCH CH ICKC CH Solstice Flying Circus, CAX, BCAT, SCNE, SINE, SENE, SCA, SIA, RATS RATI.    My fabulous partner, love my Bailey Bug.

Caliwags had a good year too.  She finished her Championship in December 2017 and with limited showing this year she has earned 2 GCH majors, hopefully she and her friend and co-owner Ellie can finish her GCH this year. Cali also earned several NOHS BOBs and Group placements.  She also earned her IABCA Championship and we went to the UKC Premier weekend in Kalamazoo, MI where she earned points toward her UKC Championship (we will look for some more UKC shows to finish that title as well) .  She also added a couple of sets of letters to her name by earning her Trick Dog Novice (TKN) title and her Farm Dog Certification (FDC) and she earned 1 leg of her AKC Herding Instinct Test.     Her TKN & FDC along with her Championship helped earn her Momma Tawny her CWCCA Registry of Merit certificate, we are proud to be a part of that wonderful accomplishment.  She just started Scentwork so hopefully she will have some fun with that this coming year.

Miss Frosty also earned her Farm Dog Certification and will start Scentwork this year and hopefully we can finish a Barnhunt title, Frost really enjoys leaping on the straw bales, she knows where the rats are but the bales are so fun!

Momma Dog Lindy was Cali’s stable pony this year, she travelled with us to MI and went to several shows just for the ride along.  I also showed her as a veteran at a recent IABCA show where she was awarded Reserve Best in Show and she had fun time.  Hopefully we can do a few more of these fun events as a veteran, as long as she is having fun.  She is pretty spry for 13 ½.  She is going to try for her Farm Dog Certification in February since it is close to home.

Bailey, Cali and Frost all earned their AKC Achiever dog Certificates for trying multiple dog sports, a fun certificate for doing fun things.

PJ, Banner and Sunshine were just really good dogs, hanging out at home.  PJ is my guardian, making sure house and home are protected from all things.  Banner keeps track of the toys and little Sunshine takes care of my Momma as her constant companion.

Speaking Farm Dog, I’m now a Farm Dog Judge (yikes the AKC gave me a judges number LOL) to go along with my CGC and Trick Dog evaluator status.

One of the most special things that happened this year was the membership of my wonderful Obedience club awarded me the AKC Sportsmanship award for 2018, what an honor to be chosen for this award especially from my peers.  I am humbled.

Another very exciting thing that happened this year was I got new dogs!  My dear friend Kathy Davis of Dwysan Cardigans invited me to join team Belle.  So now I co-own the lovely Belle and her handsome son Sammich along with Kathy and Ryan.  I am so excited about being their chief cheerleader.