Three bones are better than one...or ALL MINE!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

The official Grayhart holiday card featuring from l-r, Trixie,Joline, Savi and Jam.

Happy Holidays and wishing all our family and friends good health, joy and fortune in the New Year!

Holiday card photoshoot

 

From our holiday card photo shoot today, Savi and her BFF.

My very own Chilly Dogs coat!

 Savi will stay warm against the frigid temps sporting her brand new Chilly Dogs Great White North coat.  I call these the Northface of dog coats.

 These coats are awesome - great quality, design and fit the Weims beautifully.  Our dogs have worn them for years and they still look terrific after many washings.

Fireside chat

Life isn't always fair...

...especially when your big sister has the antler chew you want...

Oldie but Goody - the Pyramid toy

 One of the favorite toys from the whelping box from two litters ago, unbelievably still intact!  Savi goes for the steal....

 Now for some nooking...check out that look with the attitude of "it's mine now"

and the final tease!

Savi Guest Stars on the "40 til 40" Blog

 My friend, Kellyann, has a terrific, funny and inspiring Weight Watchers blog called "40 til 40" , 40 days til her 40th birthday.  She is Savi's godmother  and Savi is her "PBP", Puppy-by-Proxy!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Yesterday's challenge was met with such GRAY-t fun!
Started the day with my own fast fast with June for 20 minutes. She's favoring her back paw again, so we're gonna take it easy for a few days... short walks just to keep "the horns" at bay LOL!


Then I went to my friend's for the hike. First, I enjoyed a DELICIOUS ww-friendly lunch with Linda and her family. Mama-dog was resting and the pbp was running in and out...I think she was excited to be going on the hike without the other dogs! Oh, and we got a call during lunch...middle dog won at the show she's at!!
We got to the park about 4 pm and met up with Linda's dd and dh who were heading back home since it was getting dusky. We persevered onward since we had only been out for 17 minutes and it was planned for 40 for the blog challenge! Savi hurt her paw so we turned back but in walking a little slower, when we got back to the car, it was 4:41!! We did it :-)
The sun was going down and it was just beautiful. The leaves were a bit slippery, but we managed not to fall.
Today, I am pleasantly not sore, and feel great. The hike was definitely more cardio than just a walk in the park...


I will give June a short fast-fast, get Blue boy out in the sunny yard for some fresh air and head off to work.
My challenge today will be a dance party...gonna get my mom to "do-do-do- do the hustle" with me to celebrate her birthday!!

Note: Savi's paw is fine, we think she just stepped on a stick when she pretended to be super-dog and leaped off of a huge boulder. 

New Junior Hunter!

We are so proud of nine month old Savi for earning her AKC Junior Hunter (JH) title this past Saturday at the Nutmeg Weimaraner Club Hunt Test in Simsbury, CT.  Savi finished in style earning awesome scores of a 10 in Bird Finding and a 9 in hunting.  She had a blast running the course and found five birds, even retrieving one of them to hand, and I literally had to drag her off the course when the judges called time.  She just loves hunting for those birds.  Since she was already entered in the Sunday test, we ran her for fun and she received her 5th JH leg, a bumper leg as we call it, and then was asked to run as the bye dog in the last Junior brace, where right after the breakaway, she pointed a walking chukkar. 

Savi completed her JH in four straight tests.  Now, we will concentrate on training her for Senior and Master hunter, while she continues to train for the show and agility rings.

 Some photos of Savi, taken by Tom Davis at the DelVal GWP Hunt test last weekend on the Junior course

Two more Junior Hunter legs for Savi!

This weekend, at the Delaware Valley German Wirehaired Pointer Club's AKC Hunt Test at Freeland Kennel Club in Weatherly, PA, Savi, qualified both days to earn two more Junior Hunter legs.  The conditions on the Junior course were also not ideal as there were too many birds, not a good thing for a young, green dog. 

 We were lucky to have our friend, Tom Davis, who owns Trixie's littermate, Ellie, hang out with us at the test and generously took pictures of my girls....you know us, we always have our personal pup-a-razzi along.  I'll post all of those pictures with a full report of the runs later this week.

Savi has qualified three times in a row and only needs one more qualifying leg to finish her Junior Hunter title. An impressive feat for a nine month old puppy.

 Savi on point during her Junior Hunter run on Sunday.

The Grayhart girls rocked it this weekend!

Jumping for Joy

or the bird...same thing!

Reflect

Savi, candid swim shot from the DelVal/GSWC Retrieving Ratings, taken by Michelle Ostrander.

DelVal/GSWC WCA Ratings Test - Part 2: Savi's NRD test

As I had reported earlier, Savi was entered in her first NRD (Novice Retrieving Dog) ratings test but didn't pass.  The WCA Retrieving Ratings have two parts, a land retrieve and then a water retrieve.  At the NRD level, all dogs are tested on the land first and the dogs must retrieve the dead bird from a specific distance, 20-40 yards for the NRD test, and bring the bird back to the handler, who must remain in a circle with a diameter of 6 six feet.  No food or training collars are allowed.  The dogs that pass the land retrieve move on to the water portion of the test.  Savi completed the land retrieve with flying colors so off to the lovely pond we go.

Savi is quite the little fish so I was not concerned about her swimming skills and typically, she'll retrieve anything from the water, especially her favorite accessory, a bird.  Well, my fault for not properly introducing her to ducks, which is what they used for the morning test.  Savi swam out the distance but then, wait she said, something isn't kosher here, I didn't order the duck...her pup-a-razzi caught some video of her in the act:



Basically, no bird, no pass.  We patiently watched the rest of the dogs take their turn, some were successful, some were not.  Then the morning test was over and it was time for lunch...never one to miss an opportunity, we grabbed one of the used ducks and a teased Savi with it...hmmm, she thought it was time to play and the duck was much more her style...into the water it went and Savi followed for the retrieve.  We did this a number of times, increasing the distance and success!  Maybe we didn't get the title, but she is still a winner and we have the tape to prove it:

Novice Shooting Dog Title for Savi!

Savi with her new title ribbon - Novice Shooting Dog (NSD)

 We had a perfect weather day for the combined Delaware Valley & Garden State Weimaraner Club's Shooting & Retrieving Ratings tests at Collier's Mills Wildlife Management Area in New Egypt, NJ.  The Ratings tests are Weimaraner Club of America hunting tests that have their own set of standards, similar but different than the AKC hunt tests, and at the lower levels, test a dogs natural ability in the field.  Since there are no AKC retrieving tests for Weimaraners, the WCA has its own retrieving ratings, as they are called, to test retrieving skills on both land and water.  All of the tests are judged against specific criteria that the dog must meet and done a pass/fail basis.

Savi was entered in both the Novice Shooting Dog (NSD) and Novice Retrieving Dog (NRD) tests and we are pleased that she passed the NSD test to get her first WCA title.  She passed the land portion of the NRD but would not retrieve the duck from the water.  More on that later...

 

Savi in the Novice Retrieving Dog test

Savi had her own "Pup-A-Razzi" there to photograph her during the day!  Big thanks to Kel for all the awesome shots of her PBP!

Obedient girls

Savi and Jam at obedience class last week at Kathy Santo's Dog Training...practicing go to place, basically a send to the bed from a distance, and stays...my girls decided to share a bed, even if it was one of the smallest in the room.

GSWC Specialty

 The Garden State Weimaraner Club's Independent Specialty show was a nice place to show Savi as the Sweeps and Regular classes gave us the opportunity to go in the ring twice.  We are still working on getting her stack just right and standing for exam but it important to me that she has fun in the ring.  This show was her last in the 6-9 mo puppy class.

 Savi placed 3rd in her sweeps class and 4th in the regular class.

Savi also got to visit with many friends and even hung out with Kel and hubby Chris..I made sure I wasn't gone too long as they adore Savi and would make room for her on the couch next to June!

Thanks to Chris for capturing the day with his wonderful pictures.

Weimaraner Wednesday in the Field

 Savi's day in the field began with a romp with the Weims and she especially loves her brother, Monty.

 

and when you least expect it, POINT!  Savi found a wild pheasant running through the corn field!

 She turned on scent and then was zoning in on where the bird was planted.

 Check out the intense look in her eyes.  She's on point and Mike is going to put the check cord on her to prevent her from grabbing the bird as we teach her to hold steady.

 Another point!

 Yes, this is a point.  She turned on scent as she was hunting and turned into the wind.

 She naturally quarters the field, doing a zig zag pattern as she hunts and then her body language changes when she gets on scent.

Running through the thick sorghum, nothing stops Savi, our bold pup, from finding those birds.

Savi's Swiffer Ad

As seen in the October 2010 issue of Self magazine

Savi did her first modeling job at only four months of age for Swiffer and we are thrilled to see the final product in print.  A friend reported seeing the ad in Self magazine but we are sure that it will appear in many other publications nationwide.  Let us know where else you see it.

What a fabulous start to her modeling career!

Puppy Agility: Practice makes perfect

We were lucky to have a friend join us to watch at agility class today and tape our runs.  Savi is in an Advanced Beginner level class, with advanced being the key word.  In this clip, you can see that we reinforce solid stays at the start line, work on jumping skills, contacts, 180s, front crosses and weaves.  The weave pole method employed uses gated weaves to teach independent, fast weave poles.  I also taught Savi a running contact on the Aframe.  It is apparent that Savi loves this game called agility and she loves the contact equipment.  Not bad for an 8 month old pup! 

Junior Hunter leg #1

Savi, only 8 months old, qualified for her first Junior Hunter leg at today's Westminster Kennel Club Hunt Test in beautiful Millbrook, NY.  I was so proud of how well she ran and the judges were impressed, giving her scores of 9 in both hunting and trainability.  The judges were very nice and it was great seeing old friends.  The Westminster Kennel Club runs a very hospitable test and served a terrific lunch to everyone attending.  A terrific way to celebrate the qualifiers!

AKC RDO Day: Match Shows and New CGC titles!

What a fun day at the AKC Responsible Dog Owner's Day with a morning Specialty Match Show by the Garden State Weimaraner Club and an All Breed AKC Sanctioned "B" Match by the Plainfield Kennel Club.  Savi won her class in the Specialty Match and in the afternoon, although wilting in the heat, she got a Puppy Sporting Group Two!  I am extremely proud of both Savi and Monty for passing their AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) tests and did it like competition obedience dogs.  I still can't believe that Savi is only 8 months old and had no problems with a 3 minute out of sight stay and did all the exercises perfectly...what a good girl! It was a wonderful day spent with friends and our pups.  Thanks to Kel for being our official photographer and helping with the dogs.

Savi getting ready for her AKC CGC test.  No food or pinch collars are allowed during the test and the dog must pass a 10 different exercises that test basic obedience commands, socialization and reactions to distractions.

Sunset Swim

 After a late afternoon hike on our favorite trail at Harriman State Park with all three girls, we took Savi for a quick swim to cool off at one of the lovely lakes. 

 Even though it's been a few weeks since she last swam, Savi didn't hesitate for a second and went right in to retrieve the bumper.

We won't divulge exactly where we go as we know that people who read the blog are inspired by our outings and try go to the cool places we go, but we don't want to spoil the uncrowded trails and lake areas which are our little secret...I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Savi the savant

 Savi, turned on scent 20 feet from the bird and held point!

We've always known Savi was special and we're not just talking about her lovely conformation or sweet disposition. Between seeing her develop from birth (lucky me to be her breeder), the incredible performance during the temperament test at 8 weeks and now, at 8 months of age, she keeps impressing everyone with her boldness, birdiness, amazing focus and high level of trainability. Yesterday's field training session, which we are now calling Weimaraner Wednesdays, had our trainer Mike, not one to give false compliments, showing off Savi's hunting skills to those in the gallery.  He says he's never seen a Weim with such an amazing nose and holding steady at such a young age.  She then showed off her retrieving skills, bringing back a thrown chukkar to hand. A very exciting thing to watch and nice to see just days before we run her in her first hunt test.

The field is not her only area of talent.  She's already in an Advanced Beginner agility class and at our second class of the new session on Tuesday, just after we introduced Savi to all full size contact equipment, this puppy ran a 10 obstacle Novice course off lead and did it beautifully!  The instructor and I spotted her on the teeter and dogwalk and the weave poles were gated to form a chute.  Wish I had someone there to video Savi running her first full course.

 What has helped make this puppy so successful?  I attribute much of it to who she is, a confident pup with a great temperament (which is hereditary), and then starting her training while in the puppy pen with fun toys, games and lots of socialization.  She started obedience classes at 8 weeks and learning attention, impulse control and play skills, like tugging, gave her the foundation to do well in any venue.  It also helps to have an experienced owner/trainer, who has learned from past mistakes and prioritizing/setting goals for training the new pup.  In the field, she has had early and consistent exposure to birds.  For agility, attention, impulse control, making work seem like play and a solid stay, which I can't stress enough.  Obedience is just part of everyday activities and recalls and stays are reinforced constantly.

Fan club

Savi and the president of her fan club, feeling the love!

Don't worry June, you're mom has plenty of love to go around...