New litter expected at Hallmark

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | New Puppies | No Comments

Hallmark Shepherds are expecting a new litter in late June. Haley, Wynnter’s dam, has been bred to Hemi, the sire of our Wyndsong puppies. This litter should produce excellent prospects for conformation and performance. Please contact Mona at Hallmark with inquiries. You can use the link from our blog to Hallmark’s blog for your convenience.

Tracking lessons

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Tracking | No Comments

Wynnter and I have been taking tracking lessons at Canine Sports, LLC in Vermilion with trainer Karen Phillips. We have had four lessons now, and Wynnter seems to enjoy the opportunity to finally put her nose to the ground with permission! The most notable thing about these lessons is that it has rained on every single one! Fortunately, thanks to herding, we carry our foul weather gear with us at all times.

More to follow.

Hemi takes BOB at Pet Fair

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Conformation | No Comments

The sire of our Wyndsong puppies, RBIMBS UKC Gr Ch Starr Hallmark Hemi Supercharger, HICs, CGC, TDI, PenHIP, OFA (h,e,c,th) took Best of Breed, Best of Winners and Winners Dog at the Saturday AWSA show at Chicago Pet Fair on March 22. We have always loved Hemi, and now the whole world knows why. He is a wonderful white shepherd with a great temperament and good working size and abilities; a great asset to our breed.

Congratulations Mona at Hallmark Shepherds, Hemi’s owner, and of course, Hemi!

RBIMBS U Gr Ch Starr Hallmark Hemi Supercharger, HICs, CGC, TDI

LEXI AND TAYLOR AT MILFORD

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Conformation | No Comments

On March 22 & 23, junior handler Taylor and her puppy, Wyndsong Moonlight Sonata, competed at a UKC Multibreed show in Milford, Ohio. I am so proud to report that they came away from the show three quarters of the way to Lexi’s UKC championship! This is only the second time that they have competed in a conformation show.

Taylor has been taking conformation lessons at Columbus All Breed training facility since shortly after bringing her puppy home last September. She has worked diligently training her puppy to achieve such amazing results so quickly. In addition to Lexi taking several group placements, Taylor also showed in the novice junior handler class. In this her first outing, she achieved a first place with competition, which automatically moves the junior into the open class. In all, this beginning team came away from the show with sixteen ribbons! Amazing!

Video from the show (click the back button on your browser to come back):
Lexi and Taylor at Milford, Ohio

Lexi is the purple collar girl from the Wynnter x Hemi litter. She is now nine months old and is owned by Taylor’s father, Fred Price.

WYNNTER EARNS HER ASCA CD

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Obedience | No Comments

Oh March 21 and 22, Wynnter and I competed at the Buckeye Australian Shepherd Club obedience trial held at Canine Sports, LLC, in Vermilion, Ohio. This was just too close to home to pass on the opportunity. Since we had earned her AKC CD the previous week, we now had to compete in the Novice B group. Once again, we managed to squeak by and earn the required three legs, though this time without placements.

ASCA is the Australian Shepherd Club of America. They offer titling opportunities in conformation to Aussies only, but to other breeds in obedience, agility, herding and tracking. Wynnter’s grandma Luna was the first White Shepherd to earn an ASCA Started herding title. Her owner, Becky Joyce, worked with ASCA to have the White Shepherd recognized as a seperate breed, as it is in UKC and AHBA. So, like her grandma did in herding, Wynnter became the first White Shepherd to earn an ASCA CD.

We also participated in Wild Card Open, which is sort of like doing a run-thru of the open class. In wild card, you get to choose one exercise that you will receive a perfect score in, even if you fail in the execution. It’s a gamble for sure. This was actually asking a lot of Wynn; it is a lot of stress for a dog to compete four times each day. I did find out though that she is able to do out-of-sight stays very well. This is a concern when you train alone. Stays are hard on a dog when you are right in sight. To be left in an unfamiliar place with strange dogs and people around is hard. Wynnter did very well, only laying down from her sit one time in the four matches.

It was a great weekend for me, giving me an opportunity to closely study many very experienced and successful teams compete, and to try open for ourselves and see where we need to work now.

Gosh I love obedience!

BPIMBS U Gr Ch Hallmark’s Wynnter Moon for Neil, CD, RE, PT, ASCA CD, JHD, TT, CGC, PennHIP, OFA (h,e,c,th)

WYNNTER EARNS HER AKC CD!!!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Obedience | No Comments

On March 14, 2009, at the Fulton County Kennel Club trial held at the Toledo Kennel Club building in Holland, Ohio, Wynnter earned her title leg of her AKC Companion Dog title. Her first obedience title. The one we have been working toward for nearly three years. The judge was John Landis. Wynn and I were the only qualifying team of the three competing, so not only did she earn her title, she got first place by default! She even got a prize of $20.00 cash – so she bought lunch for Taylor and I, and a cheeseburger for herself!

I can not say that we earned the highest scores in the course of completing this title, because Wynnter and I just do not heel well together, and she nearly always forgets to sit when we halt. Not being able to tell her as I can in Rally, she looks at me as if to say, “now what?”, and all I can do is smile at her. We lose lots of points heeling, but she scores perfectly, or nearly so, in every other exercise. So by default, she earned two firsts and a third for her three legs, and she did it in three trials. That is very good for a Novice A team.

Video is here: Wynnter AKC CD Title Leg Hit the back button on your browser after the video to come back.

I don’t know what happened to the sound, but when I transferred the video from the camera to the computer, the video and audio got out of sync. So I put music over to cover that flaw. Gee, I’m starting to look like a producer or something!

We did one extra leg at the Obedience Club of Greater Toledo on April 11. I was hoping that since her title was already earned, we could possibly improve our score. Well, that certainly did not happen. She again was perfect in every exercise but the heeling exercises. It was actually our worst performance ever. The trial was held at an indoor soccer arena in Sylvania, Ohio. Along the edge of the ring there was exposed astro turf. Wynnter found it as soon as we entered the building, and sure enough, when the heeling pattern took us by it, she left to investigate. I hauled her back, thinking this will surely NQ our run. Surprisingly, it didn’t, and we squeaked by to another qualification and second place. This time we got a gorgeous rosette and a trophy!

On to Open A, where we only have to heel one time. So, if the other exercises are good, we just may do okay!

BPIMBS U Gr Ch Hallmark’s Wynnter Moon for Neil, CD, RE, PT, JHD, TT, CGC, PennHIP, OFA (h,e,c,th)