A Tail of Two Springers

Eric and Cali with her 3rd place and qualifying ribbons.

Cali started out strong at the Coyote Cluster show on Friday in Tucson with a 3rd place finish and a respectable qualifying score of 185 in Open Obedience. This is her first of teh required threee qualifying scores (or “legs”) required to earn her AKC Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title.

Unfortunately theremainder of the weekend didn’t go quite as well with Cali failing to qualify the remaining 3 days. Conditions were less than perfect and frankly at 9 years old, I think she was just getting tired. We’ve done a lot of intensive training over the past couple of weeks, and I suspect that she is just a bit burned out.

So I’ll give her a week or so off and then back up in her training and work on attention and focus some more with her before starting to fine tune the Open exercises again. She knows all of the open exercises and is able to perform them perfectly. The problem seems to be that she is easily distracted when competing by things going on in and around the ring.

I can hardly blame her for loosing focus when a big fat pigeon landed in front of her in the ring in the middle of her drop-on recall exercise at the OPDT trial 2 weeks ago. Heck, that even made me loose focus. But at the Coyote Cluster this weekend she was distracted by routine things happening outside the ring. A golf cart going by, a dog outside an adjacent ring that looked like Jack, the wind. So it’s back to attention and proofing working with distractions. So if you see some crazy guy and his Springer Spaniel walking in circles in front of a busy grocery store or at a shopping mall around Tucson, AZ… it’s just us. Please feel free to come up to say hello and be a distraction for Cali!!!!!

Presenting Windfall's Perpetual Motion RN (a.k.a. Jack)

Jack earned his Rally Novice title at the Coyote Cluster this weekend in Tucson, AZ with three back-to-back qualifying scores Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While not quite good enough for placements, all three scores were respectable runs in the 80s. Frankly we’re a bit surprised that his did so well this weekend. At his first trial a couple weeks ago he proved that at 19 months he wasn’t really mentally ready for the ring by failing to qualify - spectacularly -  both days. But Michelle has been working hard on attention and heeling since then and it paid off wonderfully.

Katie Webb handles Jack in the conformation ring - 11/14/2009

All in all the feedback we got was about what we expected. Jack is still very physically immature and can’t compete against more mature dogs at this point. And he still has a significant overbite, which may be his downfall in conformation. He moves beautifully in the ring though, with much credit to his talented handler Katie Webb. Katie knows how to show him to his best advantage.

Cali finished ther APDT Level 1 Rally title on March 13th. She also recieved the APDT Level 1 Award of Excellence by completing her title with 3 qualifying scores above 190.

We had to say goodbye to our lovely old lady Liddie on Wednesday, February 11, 2009.

Liddie (Tristar Tori’s Liddiette CD RE) came to us as a 10 year old senior rescue, along with her 6 year old daughter Cali, 2 1/2 years ago. Her owner / breeder, Marsha Ambrose, had died unexpectedly and the four Springers she had with her ended up in the care of English Springer Rescue America.

Liddie had at least 4 litters of puppies when she was with Marsha. She was, by all accounts, a wonderful mother and had beautiful puppies. Besides Cali, we have had the privilege of meeting several of her puppies and they are all wonderful examples of the breed. 

Liddie - Tristar Toris Liddiette CD RE

After we adopted Liddie and Cali, she began her ”second life” and began training for obedience. Liddie earned

her CD, RN, RA and RE titles at the age of 11 with many placements and multiple wins, and had two legs toward her RAE title. She competed at the ESS National Specialty last October at age 12 and won several placements, including two brace obedience placements working alongside her daughter Cali. Liddie loved to train and was always excited when it was time to go work. She spent her last good day Sunday at the park being a demo dog for the Rally class we teach for Old Pueblo Dog Training Club in Tucson.

Liddie also became a  TDI certified therapy dog. She loved working with children and participating in the Read to a Dog program at the local Library. Her happy, pleasant demeanor made her an instant hit with the kids, and in fact everyone who met her. Liddie loved everyone and was always ready to make a new friend or just say hello with a big smile and a wagging tail. She was a great ambassador for her breed and for senior rescue.

Liddie had a series of seizures Sunday night which were caused by a large, previously undiagnosed brain tumor. She never really regained cognitive function after the last seizure early Monday morning at the veterinary hospital. After an extensive neurological workup it was clear that she would never recover to the point of having the quality of life that she had enjoyed and deserved. So Wednesday we had to make the extraordinarily difficult decision to let her go.

Liddie didn’t suffer, thank goodness. She was happy and active right up until the last round of seizures Monday morning. We were with her to comfort her during her seizures and we were there to hold her and talk to her as she passed on to the rainbow bridge. While there is a huge hole in our hearts right now, we know we made the right decision to let her go with the grace and dignity that was always her style.

Thank you Queen Liddie… for all you taught us about life, and love, and the joy of just being. There will never be another one quite like you, and you will always be in our hearts and thoughts. We’ll see you again at the bridge someday. We love you and will always miss you old lady…

If any of the many people who Liddie touched would like to say thank you or goodbye, please consider making a donation to English Springer Rescue America in Liddie’s memory.

http://www.springerrescue.org/donate/donation.html

Michelle stumbled on this the other day…. Liddie was ranked as the #2 English Springer Spaniel in Novice A Obedience in 2007 by Front & Finish magazine. And we didn’t even know. Guess I gotta check the F&F rankings more often….

http://frontandfinish.com/webstore/index.cfm/fuseaction/feature.display/feature_id/122/index.cfm

With just a week to go before the National Specialty in Dallas we’re in the midst of a frenzy of activity…

The girls did a practice match with the Tucson Kennel Club on Saturday. it didn’t go quite as well as we would have hoped. Cali wasn’t focused in ther ring and blew both the broad jump and retrieve over the high jump. Then I blew the drop on recall. Arrrrgggghhhh! That’s why we do practice matches - to get all of the mistakes out before it counts for real.

While Cali and I were bobbling though the open routine, Liddie and Michelle were ding their long exercise in the next ring. I didn’t realize it until too late but I was standing behind Michelle right in Liddie’s line of sight during the long sit and apparently my arm waving and animated discussions with the judge were too much for Liddie who got up from her long sit. That’s the first time I can remember her ever breaking a long exercise.

Anyway… we’re hoping that we’ll all do better in Texas. It’s an indoor show, and the girls have never competed indoors before, we it’ll be interesting to see how they react.

 We did decide to enter them in brace obedience as well. We still haven’t really trained much for brace work, but they do OK… not exactly perfect score candidates, but they *might* sqeak out a placement. Brace is all about having fun and having a great photo oppoortunity anyway, so it really doesn’t mater.

They got their “show” groom yesterday, and we’re running around getting everything ready to leave for the 900 mile drive to Dallas on Saturday morning. I’m not looking forward to the long drive, but an definitely looking forward to the Specialty.

Liddie and Cali will be competing at the 2008 English Springer Spaniel National Specialty in Arlington, Texas at the end of October! This is THE big event for Springer Spaniels in the United States, and Liddie and Cali will be there to compete in multiple events. Cali will be competing in Open Obedience, Veterans Obedience, Rally Advanced and  Rally Excellent. Liddie will be competing in Veterans Obedience, Rally Advanced and  Rally Excellent.

Both girls will also (probably) be competing together in the ring in Brace Obedience! We haven’t really trained for brace, but we’re pretty confident that we can get them to the point of not embarrassing themselves (or us) pertty quickly. Now that’ll be a photo op! Mother and daughter rescues together in the ring at the National Specialty just two years after being pulled from a shelter, sick and homeless. I get kind of choked up just thinking about it.  I’m so proud of the girls and all that they have accomplished already.

Now… of course the main reason were going to Texas is to support English Springer Rescue America. If it wasn’t for the wonderful people at ESRA Liddie and Cali might not even be alive today. It was ESRA that took them in when their owner / breeder died back in 2006. And it was ESRA that eventually brounght Liddie, Cali, Michelle and I us together. Liddie and Cali truly changed our lives in amazing ways that I could never have dreamed of two years ago, thanks to ESRA. So we’ll be there working the ESRA booth and helping with whatever else is needed. And the girls, of course, will be acting as ambassadors and spokesdogs for ESRA and senior rescue.

The highlight of the week will undoubtedly be the Parade Of Rescues which will be held just prior to best of show judging on Saturday. Liddie and Cali will join 18 other ESRA rescued Engine Springer Spaniels to strut their stuff under the lights in the “big ring”. Who would have though that a couple of homeless dogs would be in the spotlight in front of their peers at the Nationals. Liddie wasn’t even supposed to survive, let alone win multiple obedience and rally titles. To have her and her daughter in the ring together as examples of the potential of homeless senior dogs is nothing short of amazing to me. I’m sure I’ll bawl my eyes out the entire time I’m out ther in the ring with them!

One final note… Liddie’s recovery from her surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago has been remarkable. She’s doing great and was out doing demos at the Rally class we teach for Old Pueblo Dog Training Club here in Tucson last Wednesday. There’s no reason to think she won’t be 100% for the Specialty!

Liddie had another major surgery on Tuesday, September 2ndto remove a number of rocks from her stomach that she had somehow ingested. We were very luck to discover the rocks during a routine X-ray to check for a possible stone in her urinary tract. This was not the type of stones we were expecting to find!

We tried for 2 weeks with medication and diet changes to get the rocks to pass, but we were only successful at getting a few of them. We did become quite adept at poking though dog doo looking for rocks though - a skill which I would have been fine with not ever developing!!!!

We decided, with the advice of our vet, that the risk of serious complications was too high to delay any longer and proceeded with the gastronomy on Tuesday morning. Liddie came home with us Tuesday night and Cali and I slept with her on the floor downstairs to make sure she was comfortable and doing OK. Honestly, she slept more than I did. I didn’t have the advantage of pain meds to help knock me out. 

Liddie returned to the vet for the day on Wednesday for observation and follow-up tests. Cali went with her to keep her company and help keep her from getting stressed in the kennel.

I’m happy to report that Liddie is doing just fine since her surgery. She’s a tough old bird! She’ll be getting her staples removed on Wednesday and the prognosis is very positive. At this point there is no reason to think that she won’t be ready to compete in Rally at the 2008 English Springer Spaniel National Specialty in Arlington, Texas at the end of October.

Needless to say, she no longer has access to the rock areas in the backyard!

We launched our new Aussie Pet Mobile franchise a couple weeks ago. This has been keeping me really busy for the past few months, which explains the lack of posts on the site. Not much going on besides getting the business started. Too hot to train for the most part, so we’re just doing light training with Cali.  I’ll post an update on Jack in a little bit with pictures.

Cali and I did an 8 week session with obedience trainer Adrienne Perry earlier this summer which was fantastic. It really got us off on teh right fott as we prepare for Open class this fall.

Our main focus right now from a competition standpoint is getting ready for the English Springer Spaniel National Specialty in October. It will be in Arlington, TX and we’ll be talking both Cali and Liddie. Cali will be making her Open Obedience debut, Liddie will compete in Novice B, just for fun, and of course both girls will compete in Rally Advanced and Rally Excellent. They will also bothbe in the parade of rescues the final night in the main areana just before the Best of Show judging which will be really exciting.

The main reason we’re gong to the Specialty is to support English Springer Rescue America and help man their booth, work their events and generally help out in any way we can. Cali and Liddie are sort of the unofficial poster girls for ESRA and senior rescue.