CCRCA National Specialty

We flew out to St Louis, and the next day Rick and I judged the first field events, him the X & Q and me the C.  "Poor Sketch" was so upset at not being able to go fetch things he broke out of his soft crate and screwed up the zipper.  Sigh.  He did get to be pick up dog during the water series at least.

Next up was obedience and this year it was all breed.  A pair of high powered BC folk showed up, but other than them Sketch was a star.  He was HIT & HC Curly, plus Third in Utility and Second in Open for two more points.

The next day was the Upland test, which Sketch is already titled in, so we did tourist and went to the Meremec Caverns.

It was way cool but a looong walk!

Next day was Sweeps and Sketch was actually a show dog!  He won his class in Gundog and then went on to BOS in Gundog Sweeps.

After that it was just dog show, beginning with the CCRCA breed classes.  Sketch was fourth out of four in Working Retriever dog but I handled Harper to an Award of Merit, and took some other dogs in the next three days (oh my aching hamstrings!).

End of a long loop

Montana was a bust - there were barely enough entries to make for points and of course someone was absent.  I thought about not going and I probably should have gone with that, instead of wasting all that money on just two points from earning two 197+ scores.  He did win 6 out of 8 classes and a High Combined, but as it turned out, by the time we got back to Oregon he was actually tired!

It did not go well - he FLUNKED everything until the last day when I finally got it together and he won Open for four more points and a run off for High in Trial.

Next, we are off to Purina Farms for the CCRCA National Specialty! 

Beginning of a long loop

We are heading out on a long loop from Oregon to Montana, back to Oregon and then home.  The first weekend had big entries and heavy competition, so I was very surprised and pleased that Sketch managed to earn 5 OTCh points and two UDX2 legs.

3 points

1 point

1 point

Not all work tho - Sketch got to go for a swim and I've been finding some flowers.

Back to Obedience

Out of the field and back into the ring, it took Sketch a bit to get his act together again, but recently he has earned another 9 OTCh points.

 Last weekend we were in Chino Valley, AZ where he won Utility on Saturday and was Second on Sunday for a total of 8 points, plus another UDX2 leg.  The site was very nice but covered in cicadas!

 before

after

They were very noisy but didn't seem to bother the dogs.

I took Sketch for a swim to cool off (temps were in the 90's both days) and took a pic of a cool dragonfly. 

More field fun

In May we ran the only HRC test we have in Southern Cal, and Sketch earned his first Seasoned leg.  

This month we drove all the way to Portland for a hard to resist four days of trials, to finish his HR.  He was AWFUL the first day then straightened up and went two for two to finish his title.

 Saw some beautiful flowers on the way up and back.

 

More field work

The weekend of April 27-28 we ran Senior at Raney Ranch, where there were many beautiful wildflowers!

 The ranch is big and scenic.

 On Saturday, Sketch earned his third SH leg!

 

Hunt tests

We went out to the Arizona desert to run Senior, plus Rick was judging Master and Junior.  The first test, Sketch - cough - could have had better manners but his marks were great, his land blind fine and his water blind probably the best of all the dogs that ran it.  So he earned his second SH leg!

 (I'm struck by how much he looks like great grandpa Diver in this picture)

Sunday, he ran second, it was COLD and he had a ball.  Unfortunately, that included screwing up at the end of the land blind, so no leg.  Sure know what to work on before next weekend tho!