Weekend of Glory!

Well, no photos to post, sadly, but...

Kyler took her 2nd Master hunter leg at the VCCNE hunt test on Sunday! She hunted well and had 2 retrieves on course with a nice honor...Mike has been working on her retrieve at home diligantly the past week and it paid off. She returned the quail to hand beautifully!

Rogue also was entered in Junior hunter and she passed the final leg for her Junior title with flying colors! She can now officially be known as Forest King Upland Tsunami JH! (well, once the AKC receives the paperwork)!

Cedar had a good showing as well in his Senior hunter test. Unfortunately, for whatever reason the judges were expecting more of a Master hunter level dog in a senior test, so they didn't pass him. He had a perfect retrieve and one nice honor, which they made turn into 3 honors...Finally 45 minutes into what was supposed to be a 30 minute brace, he decided he had enough and stole the point on the other dog's bird...Oh well... He has still come a long way!

On the home front, I have now made it past 35 weeks of pregnancy! I told the midwives that I was leaving the couch next week, once I hit 36 weeks...We have a "limited" time frame of when this baby would ideally be born, silly as it is! My sister is in Greece for the next 10 days, then about a week and a half after that my parents are out of town for 10 days...So, ideally, somewhere in between this baby can come so my family can be there! (I might have to push a truck up a hill to get it that way, but if that is what it takes then perhaps I will do that!) :)

Summer update!

(Jaida on a boat ride, July 4th)

So, after a long hiatus I think I finally have some time to update things here! It has been a rough summer since my last post. After being pulled out of work at the beginning of June things apparantly took a turn for the worse and I have now been hospitalized three times for pre-term labor issues...I have spent a total of 18 days in the high risk labor and delivery ward at Baystate Hospital's Wesson Women's Center. I have been on strict bed rest since the beginning of July. I am "allowed" one shower per day and can get up to use the bathroom, nothing else.

Mike has been busy taking care of all the animals here at Forest King, from the dogs to the chickens and tortoises. On top of that he is working full time and taking care of all the shopping, housework plus Jaida and I. He has been extremely busy!

Dogs are starting to grasp the concept that mommy doesn't feed them right now and have finally gotten the idea that Mommy doesn't take them for hikes right now. Rogue is finally getting to the age where she is beginning to settle down, luckily!

We are looking forward to the fall field trial and hunting season. With me being essentially out of commission until this baby decides it is officially time to come, I am not able to compete with any of the dogs. So, lucky for us, Andrew has kindly offered to run Rogue, the little nut-ball, in several field trials this fall. Since Mike doesn't ride and the majority of trials that Rogue will be running in will be from horseback, we need her to be handled by someone that is comfortable on a horse. I am hoping to get into the saddle perhaps by late fall. Time will tell!

Hopefully soon I will have more pictures to post soon, with staying at home all the time the camera hasn't gotten much use!

The joy's of a 3 year old!

Well, almost 4 year old. If you ask Jaida yourself how old she is, she will say 3 1/2. Her birthday is next month. Now that school has ended we are faced with the task of keeping her entertained for the whole summer. The first weekend off she had a birthday party for one of her friends. They had a huge slip n' slide that she spent about 2 hours going around and around.

Here is a video of her and her friends going down. (it takes a little bit to see her go down)

This is only a tiny bit of the mud she got on herself by the end of the party! The inside of her bathing suit was black!

The tortoise in our family, Wonka, has had a change of habitat, which is very exciting! She has finally been moved into a more appropriate house for her size. She now resides in what is called a Tortoise Table. Basically it just gives her a lot more room to move around and get some exercise. I am hoping that it will allow her to have the space for a friend or 2...

Then, on Saturday night we had the opportunity to go see the PBR (professional bull riders) in Manchester, NH. My brother-in-law happened to get 4 tickets for their company owned suite for free! This was Jaida's first time going to this type of event and she was very excited! She wore my cowboy hat and loved it!

I have never had the chance to be in a suite at any type of event...Wow, how nice it was! I don't know if I ever want to do it without the suite again! Spoiled!
Here is Jaida dancing prior to the riders coming out. They were playing a lot of good music andshe was obviously enjoying herself...


For anyone who worries that bulls used in bull riding are treated poorly....Think of it this way...The bulls that they use on these circuits are sometimes worth over $100,000. Would you treat something badly if it was worth that much money? Didn't think so! Here is a link to a PBR site on the bull's welfare: http://www.pbrnow.com/about/sportinfo/bulls.cfm
We have been to several PBR events, it was a yearly tradition for a while to make it to the event in Worcester, MA. The bull's always seem quite content and have always been in excellent shape.

Excellence among us!

We just returned from a day down at the Flaherty field trial grounds in East Windsor, CT. The CVVC was holding their annual Hunting Dog Stake, which consisted of 2 different stakes: Huntind Dog Exellent and Hunting Dog. The difference between the 2 being the level of the dogs training. The excellent stake has dogs who have had a lot more experience and actually have to retrieve a shot bird. It is very similar to a senior hunter test, other than an honor, if not presented, is not required. (meaning, if the opportunity arises, the dog must honor) The regular stake is more like a junior hunting test where the dogs go and find birds and blank guns are shot over them. No birds are actually shot for this stake.

I am happy to say that our very own Widdershins Flyin Kyler SH CC FC took first place! Kyler had the first brace of the morning, on what was to be a very humid, dead air type of day. She had a couple nice finds in the back course and shortly before getting to the bird field had a stop to flush. However, when Mike got up to her at that moment, not only had she had a stop to flush, but she was also on point on another bird! Mike blanked that one and on they went into the bird field. Kyler went on point on a Chukar in the bird field, which Mike initially couldn't find. After kicking around for a bit he relocated her and she moved foward only a tiny bit. At this point Kyler was looking almost straight down and to her side. Right next to her foot was the bird! Mike tried to kick around to get the bird to move, but it was apparantly very, very asleep. Mike finally opted to pick it up and try to get it to wake up and fly. Once in his hand he realized that the birds beak was actually stuck in it's wing somehow and was actually unable to fly that way. Mike opted to throw the bird for the gunners, even though that type of scenario can cause some dogs to come unglued and break. Kyler held firm through the throwing of the bird and through the shot until Mike asked her to "fetch". While she didn't bring the bird entirely to hand, it was to 2 steps in front of Mike, which is allowed in this stake. She did a phenomenal job!!

Cedar got to run a few braces later. While he only had one bird find, it counted, as it was in the bird field and he was allowed to retrieve the bird. Considering that 6 months ago we didn't know if he would ever hunt again, he did really, really well! He didn't place but boy did he have fun and showed how tough of a dog he is for coming back from such a bad injury. (What I previously didn't mention is that he had his first hunt test in several years last weekend and took his first SH leg! How's that for a middle age guy after a long break in training!)

Here is Cedar getting ready to go out on his run (he is actually standing behind the judge on the left. On the right is Sparky, Joan Heimbach's 12 year old dog, who she enters just so she can go and have fun! Nice job Joan and Sparky!

Rogue ran the last brace of the day in the Hunting Dog Stake. As she came into season last week she has to go last. In a hunt test they are not allowed to run while in heat, so it was great to get to compete with her in this event! She had a nice break away and ran like a champ for the entire 30 minute brace. She had one find in the woods where the judges weren't able to see her on point, but it was obvious that she had found a bird. Then her bracemate bumped a bird and she chased it, catching it and carrying it for a bit. While she wasn't really steady enough for this stake (they are supposed to be steady until the flush), it was a great training run and the judges were quite impresses, especially considering that she is only 10 months old! They showed their approval by giving her a Judges Award of Merit. Which basically means that they couldn't place her, but really liked what they saw!

Here she is just before she went out on her brace!And during her run! Thanks to Amanda for toting my camera along to capture the Roguester!

Leaping for joy! Check out the ears on her!

So proud of all our guys! On top of all this Jaida had a blast playing with Grampy (my dad) who came to help us out with child care for the event! As some of you may know, I am 5 1/2 months pregnant. Due to some issues my doctors have instructed me to sit as much as I can, so I am not "allowed" to chase the dogs or Jaida around. I was actually instructed to not work anymore, until a safer date at least, due to the risk of pre-term labor. So, sadly, I have been staying home a lot lately and spending a lot of time sitting on the couch!

Here is Jaida wearing Grampy's glasses and baseball hat, she is so silly!

And a cool find where Rogue was going to run, a big slimy frog! She loved it!This is what the dogs got to enjoy once we got back to Northfield! All 3 had a nice vanilla soft serve cone! (kiddie size-of course!) I didn't get a picture of Cedar, as he was the first one, and I didn't think to grab the camera...Rogue had never had ice cream before so I think she was a bit surprised that I was letting her eat something like that! She's hooked now!

Rogue's first cone!

Then, in addition to that...The Regal Vizsla's Momo (you can see his version of the blog at that link) took an Award of Merit in the Hunting Dog Excellent stake! From the sounds of it he had a really nice brace with Geena, another one of the placements in the stake. So, the VCCNE crew really did quite well! The VCCNE crew has a history of doing very well at this event. Andrew's dog, Jozsi took the Hunting Dog Stake last year. The prior year, Stephanie and Manny's dog, Baron, took the first place in the Excellent division. 2 years before that it was won by Ivan and Marlena's dog Fruska, also a VCCNE member! All of these dogs are from similar bloodlines, tracing back to Widdershins Farm's Hollywood lines! Goes to show you what good hunting bloodlines can do! Way to go Widdershins dogs!!!

Little Stinker!

Well, all is well here. No real big news to report.

We spent the first weekend of May down on the Cape at Crane Wildlife Management Area. The Mayflower GSP club was holding their spring hunt test. I was actually scheduled to judge junior hunter on Sunday, but the entries were such that they decided to cancel half of the judges. It was fine with me, as I had been really sick for the past 2 weeks and actually looked forward to just running the dogs and recovering.

On Saturday Mike ran Rogue and I ran Kyler. Rogue ran well and passed her 2nd JH leg. Kyler was having a great run when she went on point in the back course. Unfortunately, her bracemate, who is obviously not ready for the Master Hunter scene, screwed her up. He came running up to her and basically ran circles around her, not honoring at all. Kyler moved and one of them bumped the bird, they both jumped at it. I called whoa to Kyler, who stopped instantly, but it was too late. We both got picked up. Kyler should have stayed steady, but I can't really blame her for moving...The other dog was just being an idiot.

On Sunday Mike and I changed roles and he ran Kyler and I ran Rogue. Rogue remembered the deal from Saturday and went off like a shot from the break-away. She hit the back tree edge and was barely a spot on my radar. Yikes, that is a field trial dog for you!

She came around nice and went into the bird field with one find on the back course. We were braced with Jen and Dennis' puppy, Raven, who made an excellent bracemate! Neither of them had any interest in playing and were obviously out to work. Rogue ran like a little nut-ball and was basically on the other side of the field from me most of the time. She hunted like a pro. The one thing she didn't do was pay any attention to me! She was out for herself and had not a care in the world that I was there. At one point she had a nice point on a quail, which was completely buried in the grass. When I went to flush it, it could only fly up about a foot due to the grass. Rogue was able to grab it and spend the next 5 minutes running around with it in her mouth. She would not bring it to me no matter what I said. She finally dropped it because she thought she had found another bird.

In the end we did pass with all 9's except for trainability (which we got a 7). I actually thought that the judges might give us a 5, which would just pass us. One of the judges came up to me after with some funny comments. She said that someoneelse would have failed us due to how everything went. She actually said that I should have yelled at Rogue when she wouldn't listen to me. I found that a bit funny because had I yelled at her, she still wouldn't have listened to me, and I think it would have looked worse.

Here she is with a really nice point, even if you can barely see her in the grass! All of these pictures are compliments of Jen, who was out on the brace with us.

Then, when we were done running the dogs, this guy showed up! He is well known in the area for coming to take away some of the game birds for his bird to eat. Jaida was quite facinated by Sarah the red tailed hawk. She was intimidating and kept flapping around, which was a bit scary for Jaida!

2 phenomenal weekends!!

I haven't had much chance to write lately, we have just been too busy! Some of you may have gotten some updates from Andrew's blog, the Regal Vizsla. He nicely has updated people for us when I am slacking on the blog front!

For starters Rogue spent last weekend competing in East Windsor, CT at the Nutmeg GSP club field trial. She placed 3rd both days, the second day being Open puppy. It was a horseback stake, but I walked the brace instead of riding.

While Rogue was running in the field trial, Kyler was entered up in Springfield for a 3 day show. Happily, on Friday, she took a 3 point major! This means that now she has 10 points towards her show championship. You need a total of 15 points with 2 majors (a win of 3-5 points, basically they have to win out of a certain number of dogs at once). So, she needs a major and a total of 5 points. She is being handled by Alessandra Folz, who is probably one of the top show handlers in the country. She does a great job and makes Kyler look amazing! (which I know she is, but it is nice for other people to see too) When I am able to get the picture scanned into the computer I will post it here!

Then, this weekend we were planning to be in Belchertown at the Swift River Sportsman's Club for the Central New England Brittany Club hunt test. I was judging Sunday but entered both girls in tests. Kyler was to compete in her first Master Hunter test and Rogue in her first Junior Hunter test. I am happy to report that Kyler passed her very first MH with flying colors! We are so proud! Sadly, this is the best picture that I could get as it was cold and rainy, both of which Kyler hates! She hunted like a pro and had a somewhat decent honor, which is the most difficult part for her, I think. When she went on point in the bird field it took them a few minutes to set up for a proper shot just based on how the bird was located. Mike had to move around so that the bird wouldn't fly right over the trucks of the gunners and the gallery. They flushed the bird (or Mike did, as the dog has to stay steady) the bird flew and flew, probably a total of 6 shots were fired. Apparantly the bird finally went down at the far end of the bird field. When I say the far end of the field, I mean the complete opposite end of the bird field just about into the woods. The judges told Mike to send her to retrieve despite the distance. Kyler shot out on command to find the bird. She went most of the way to the bird and searched very hard for it. She started to come back after a minute of not finding it, Mike told her to go out, hoping she would travel a bit further. Kyler went back out and cast a bit further this time. She came across the scent and began to track the bird. She found it within a matter of seconds this time. The obstacle now was that it was injured and running in circles cackling. Kyler, being the phenomenal dog she is, eventually was able to grab the bird and shot back to Mike with lightning speed to put the bird directly into his hand!! She was the talk of the weekend between the spectators and the gunners. It has been called the "most amazing retrieve we have ever seen"! That's our girl!!

Rogue had a decent day as well. She passed her first Junior Hunter test, despite going missing for a full minute on the back course. (I think she was on a bird deep in the woods) She had several finds, probably about 10 from what I can gather. She had nice stylish points and held for an appropriate amount of time for a dog her age. Her lowest score was in trainability, since she completely ignored me for most of the brace! She got very good hunting, pointing and bird finding scores.

She isn't quite as miserable as her mother in this picture, but still not happy because of the rain.

On Easter Sunday I was scheduled to judge my first Junior Hunter tests. Rogue was entered in a field trial with Andrew handling her. It was her first time being handled from horseback. While she didn't place she was apparantly quite good considering her human was on top of a horse for the first time! Kyler did compete in another test on Sunday but due to a very tempting situation she broke on the shot of the other dogs bird. On her behalf, however, she honored on her own from extremely far away, which was a first for her! Mike hadn't made it up to her side yet when the other gun went off and she broke. Oh well! Can't be perfect all the time!

Next weekend we are off to Connecticut again for the Connecticut Valley Vizsla Club's field trial. We plan to spend the weekend camping and having fun with good friends!

Spring is finally here!

Spring finally appears to be arriving here at Forest King! Some of the snow is melting and we actually have large patches of grass/dirt showing in the yard. This, of course, also means that 4 months of accumulated dog poop needs to be picked up. Yuck...That was a fun project...

We have had several things going on over the past month...

At the beginning of the month Zealand's owners visited. Zea is Kyler's puppy and Rogue's sister. She was the "red" puppy from the last litter. It was great to see her and to meet her new owners, Kelly and Jason, since they picked up Zea from Widdershins in Maine, we hadn't actually met them yet.

Zea is a tiny bit bigger than Rogue, but almost not noticeable. She is slightly taller, but Rogue has a bit more bone than she does.

Here she is looking for her first bird!

And here she is after finding her first bird! Mike is just out of the picture holding the pigeon up. Can you tell she wants to get it!? It was great to see her figure it out and start to work our little field like a pro!

Then, last weekend our wonderful friend, Andrew, offered to take Rogue down to Virginia for the Conestoga Vizsla club field trial. It sadly rained all weekend (when it was sunny and 50 degrees here) and soaked Andrew to the bone. Despite the rain however, Rogue put in a great performance and placed third in Open puppy! This picture was taken shortly after her run, you can't quite tell how hard it had been raining. I was surprised to hear how well she ran, especially knowing how much she hates the rain. I guess her knowing that there might be birds involved made her not care.

We have a few events coming up in the next couple of months. The second weekend of April is both a hunt test as well as a field trial. I am supposed to be juding one day at the hunt test(which is in Belchertown at the Swift River Sportsmans Club), but not only have they not sent me any paperwork, but the premium isn't out yet. Seems a little close, since it is 3 weeks away. The same day of the test is also a field trial down at Flaherty field, put on by the TarTan Gordon Setter Club. I may enter Rogue in the puppy stakes there, as Andrew plans to go and has offered to run her. Then 2 weeks later is the CVVC field trial where Rogue and Kyler are both entered. We have been enjoying the field trial thing so far, it is still new, so we will see how it goes!

Hopefully we will have more news soon with results of some of the events!