Awesome year for my V's

In terms of accomplishments with all 3 of my Vizslas, 2012 was one the best EVER!  In total, they (and I) earned 21 new titles in four different canine organizations.

At 9.5 years of age, Miska (Int'l BIS/RBIS (Veteran) AKC/CKC/Int'l/UKC CH Varazs Kiralyi Kedvesem FD, NAVHDA NA Prize III, JH, AKC/CKC CDX, AKC/CKC RE, AKC RAE, AgNS, AgNJS, NJP, URO2, CGN, CGC, TDI) is not slowing down – in fact she’s speeding up!  Her year was outstanding with a total of 10 new titles plus legs towards 6 more! AND, she was # 3 Vizsla in obedience in Canada (CKC) in 2011 and currently sits in #1 spot for 2012.  Miska has earned a total of 28 titles in her lifetime, not including her International Best in Show awards. To earn 10 in one year accounts for 36% of all her titles!

Miska has proven herself and the breed, time and time again, that she lives up to the moniker of a Versatile Vizsla excelling in obedience, rally, field, conformation and agility.  (Next year, I will apply in Miska's name for the Vizsla Society of Ontario's Tibor Reiter trophy for versatility. She certainly is deserving of it. I applied for the trophy in the name of her mom, CH Ferngold Varazs Innovation Am/Can CD, Can/AM RA, Am RE, Am RAE, FDJ, JH, CGN, "Nova", for the year 2012.  Nova just missed out in 2011 so I am hoping she will be the top Vizsla for 2012. The trophy - if Nova earns it - would be awarded posthumously. Keeping my fingers crossed!  Miska's sire, Sasha, earned the Tibor trophy in 2007.)

Miska - 10 NEW TITLES in 2012!

Miska's New Titles!

1.    Therapy Dog International (TDI)
American Kennel Club (AKC) titles:
2. Canine Good Citizen (CGC)
3. Companion Dog Excellent (CDX)
4.  Novice Jumpers Preferred (NJP)
5.  Novice Agility Preferred (NAP)
Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) titles: 
6. Agility Novice Jumpers Selected (AGNJS)
7. Agility Novice Selected (AGNS)
8. Companion Dog Excellent (CDX)
United Kennel Club (UKC) titles: 
9. Rally Level 1 (URO1)
10. Rally Level 2 (URO2)

PLUS . . .
4 UKC High in Trials (Rally and Obedience)
1 UKC Group 3rd - Gun Dog Group
2 CKC Intermediate Agility Selected legs
2 UKC Companion Dog legs
1 UKC Rally Level 3 leg
1 AKC Novice Agility FAST Preferred leg
1 AKC Open Agility Preferred leg
1 AKC Open Agility Jumpers Preferred leg

#3 Vizsla in obedience in Canada for 2011
#1 Vizsla in obedience in Canada for 2012

TYRO - 4 NEW TITLES IN 2012!

Despite having bilateral elbow dysplasia, Tyro (CH Varazs Napkelte Tyrone CD Am/Can RE, Am RAE, URO2, CGN, CGC) is very active and loves to compete. In 2012 he earned 4 new titles.  Although the number of titles pales a little with Miska, his AKC Rally-Obedience title required him to compete in a LOT of trials.  Amazingly, he earned this title in just two (very long weekends), earning 20 qualifying scores in a row.  Anyone who has worked on an RAE title knows how hard it can be and how long it can take.  At 6.5 years of age Tyro appears to be pain free of elbow dysplasia.  I don't train or compete with him in field or agility, two sports which would put tremendous stress on his elbows.  However, he is terrific in rally and obedience and continues to compete in both. Once he turns 7, he will be able to compete as a senior in CKC obedience which means he can jump a much lower jump height in the Open class (2 jumps).

Tyro's New Titles!
AKC: 

1. Canine Good Citizen (CGC),
2. Rally Advanced-Excellent (RAE )

UKC:  

3. Rally Level 1
4. Rally Level 2

DIVA — 7 NEW TITLES!

Diva (CKC/Int'l/UKC CH Varazs Kedves Quickstep FDJ JH NA AgNJ AGI CGN CGC) is primarily my agility dog although I want to earn more hunting titles and some obedience and rally titles with her too.  She loves agility and can be quite fast (although not as fast as Border Collies and some of those other crazy breeds in agility, thank goodness, because I wouldn't be able to keep up with her at my age!).  I am still working on her focus and control which is why she didn't earn as many legs and titles this year as I had hoped.  At 4.5 years, she is still a young dog.  I was  pleased with her performances this year and we had a lot of fun competing although she had a lot more fun at times going off and doing her own thing on the agility courses!!

Diva's New Titles!
CKC:
1. Agility Novice (AGN)
 2. Agility Intermediate (AGI)
3. Agility Novice Jumpers (AGNJ) 
AKC:
4. Canine Good Citizen (CGC)
5. Novice Agility Standard (NA)
6. Novice Agility Jumpers (NAJ)
UKC: 

7. Rally Novice 1 (URO1)

W.A.W.

What A Week!

As weeks go in the life of dogs, this was one incredibly busy and very successful week for Varazs-bred Vizslas!!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

• Miska completed her Cdn Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title. That was her 26th title!
• Miska's daughter, Stella (2011 litter) finished her Rally Novice (RN) title in the Cdn Association of Rally Obedience with a score of 190 / 200.  

Sunday, October 21

• Miska earned her (and mine) highest score ever in obedience with a 197 / 200 in Open and a 2nd place.  That put her in #1 position for a Vizsla in Obedience in Canada for 2012 according to Canuckdogs.com.  Woo-hoo!!

Thursday, October 25

• Diva, Miska's daughter from our 2008 litter, completed her Cdn Agility Intermediate title with a first place and the only dog to qualify in her height division.  This was my first Intermediate agility title ever - so another first (for me).

Saturday, October 27

• Another of Miska's offspring, Bodi (also from our 2011 litter) was Best Male and Best of Winners completing his United Kennel Club (UKC) Championship. This is Bodi's 7th title and he's only 17 months old!
• Tyro earned the second and third legs of his UKC Rally Level 2 (URO2) title with two fourth placements. This is his 14th title.
• Miska also completed her UKC rally URO2 title (her 27th title) with two perfect (100 / 100) scores and a second and first place.
• Diva earned two legs towards her rally URO1 title with two first place finishes.
• Stella earned her first two conformation points taking Winners Bitch and Best of Winners.

Sunday, October 28

• Miska earned her first two legs towards the UKC novice obedience title and finished in first place in both trials AND earned not one, but TWO High In Trials!  Her first score was a 194.5 and her second a 197/200!  Awesome work Miska!
• Diva completed her rally URO1 title (her 10th title).
• Miska took Best of Breed and a Group 3rd in UKC conformation in show #1. 
• Miska earned a UKC Total Dog award for earning wins in both conformation and performance wins.
• In UKC show #2, Bodi took Best of Breed over his mom and two other Vizslas.

That amounted to five completed titles in one week on my dogs and two titles on Miska's kids.

Congratulations and big thanks to the owners of Stella and Bodi and kudos to my three dogs for their wonderful accomplishments! 

Highest score e v v v er!!!

Who?   Miska

What?  Score of 197/200 in Open B

When?  October 21, 2012

Did I earn that??

One day after finishing her Cdn Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title, Miska did a brilliant job in the Open B class under Judge Paul Townsend, scoring 197 out of 200. This is the highest score EVER that one of my dogs has earned in formal obedience competitions and the highest ever in the Open class for my dogs.  Years ago, my Vizsla Keira earned a 196 in Novice in the US and a 195 in Open twelve years ago.  Today Miska did a fantastic job and broke a long-held record by 2 points.  What a terrific weekend - well, except for the speeding ticket this morning.  Seriously officer, don't you know that punishment, i.e., fines, doesn't change human behaviour permanently?  We need to have a serious talk about that.

 

Redeemed with a CDX!

Miska redeemed herself today after yesterday's roll in the smelly crud by earning her final Open leg for her Canadian Companion Dog Excellent title (CDX).  Woo-hoo!!!

Breeder mom, Miska & Judge Cheryl Bishop

Miska's reward - Hamburger

Yumm!! I deserve this!

All I wanted was a pass or Q (qualifying score). The minimum to pass is 170 but she did very well with a score of 193.5 and I was thrilled.  Were it not for the fact that some of Canada's top handlers and dogs were in the same class/ring with us, she would have had a placement but it's very tough to compete against these other dogs, some of which had come straight out of the Utility ring with high 190's. So way to go Miska!  It's been a long journey but worth it.

PS, she was "tied" for 5th place overall in the class.

My first agility Vizsla

Keira (CH Varazs Nekah's Gold Edition Am/Can CD, Am/Can CDX, AGN, NA, NAJ, TT) born June 5, 1997, was an awesome obedience dog and my first agility Vizsla.  Today is the seventh anniversary of her death and I still think of her and miss her.

My thoughts of Keira have been more frequent in the past year as I competed with Miska in Open obedience and now as I train Miska and Miska's daughter, Diva, in agility.  Keira did extremely well in obedience and breezed through her trials, often with high scores.  I don't know if she ever didn't pass a trial.  Miska has been totally different with many, many "did not qualify", especially in Open.  Mind you, Miska is an awesome hunting dog which Keira wasn't.

Keira doing well in Open (CDX) obedience in the US

I recall the weekend I headed to Niagara Falls NY for 2 days of AKC Open obedience trials with Keira.  She had already earned one leg - and 2nd place - at the Vizsla National events in Charlotte, NC in Oct. 2001.  Well, we returned from Niagara Falls with her CDX title, passing both trials, including placing High in Class and getting a second place in her other trial - something I never expected to do but was absolutely joyful about!  Believe me, people were very envious of our success!! 

But the most fun I had was doing agility with Keira.  She proved to be fast and very good at it and she earned 3 titles and one leg in AKC Open Standard before being diagnosed with hepatic hemangiosarcoma which took her life all too soon in 2005.   

It has taken me several years to get back into agility. I have two very good prospects - Miska and Diva  - so I hope to relive the thrills and fun that I had with Keira in this fun sport. Thanks for the great times Keira!
   

New title professional pics

Here are the professional photos I had taken of Miska & Tyro for their new titles earned in Scottsdale, AZ in early March. The photographer is Bill Koler & Assoc. It was so bright and sunny that it was difficult not to squint.

Miska (above) earning her AKC Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title in March 2012 with a 1st place. Judge is Gail Carrol from Manitoba. 

Tyro (above) earning his AKC Rally-Obedience Advance-Excellent (RAE) title.  Of his 20 Q's most were placements (1st to 4th place finishes). 

Last dog standing

After our (largely) disastrous weekend of five indoor Open obedience trials in Phoenix in early February when Miska blew 4 trials and only came home with one qualifying score for her Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title, I hemmed and hawed over whether to enter her at the Fiesta Cluster of five days of shows in Scottsdale, AZ from March 1 to 5.  This is an outdoor venue and in the past I swore never to trial outdoors again after Sasha and then Keira peed in the ring.  Not only is this a huge no-no resulting in an automatic failure, it's embarrassing and doesn't win you any friends because other competitors' dogs may then be tempted to do the same thing and 'mark' their scent.  And when you own a bird dog, outdoor trials can be a big distraction.  Going on point does NOT gain you any points from the judge although it may garner chuckles from the spectators.  Flies, bees, inclement weather, and heat or cold can also be more than annoyances, especially in the group exercises.

It was with major trepidation that I decided to send in entries for Miska.  With 5 days of trials at this cluster, I could see more dollars going down the drain in my effort to finish her Companion Dog Excellent title.  I decided only to enter two trials; the first day (Thursday) and the last day (Monday).  And that's all I needed because she surprised me by passing on Thursday March 1!!

Her performance, however, wasn't without a hiccup.  The first time I threw the dumbbell over the high jump, it went outside the ring.  As the judge moved to go pick it up, I told Miska to "break" which meant she was free to get up from a sit but she thought she was supposed to go fetch it.  Not long ago, I changed her command to "Over" from "Break" so it wasn't really a surprise that she then took the jump after I said 'break'. She reached the dumbbell before the judge did, picked it up but then went around  (not over) the jump to return to me.  For those not familiar with the rules, going around the high jump is an automatic fail.  Aaaaarrrrgggh!! This did not bode well. Anyway, I threw the dumbbell again but this time it fell quite short.  I thought it was too short and expected the judge to ask me to re-throw it but she said, "Send your dog." which I did and Miska executed a perfect exercise.  Huge relief!!  And then she finished with a perfect broad jump (her challenge) - the last exercise before the group sits and downs.  Whoooppppeeee!! I was elated because up to that point because it meant we were passing.

Miska with her High in Class and finishing title rosette.

In the end, Miska was the last dog left standing (so to speak) as we were the only team to qualify in Open A that day.  She got a 189.5 / 200 (very respectable) and High In Class.  Our judge was a Canadian from Manitoba, Gail Carroll, who had judged us last year (although Miska didn't pass then) and so it was nice to finish under her.

Although we had LOTS of fails, when Miska passed, she did it in style with two 1st and one 2nd place finish.  Thank you Miska!!  But remember, you still need two more Open legs to finish your Canadian CDX!