Friday 10 August 2012

Gotcha Day & New Title

Today is the one year anniversay of our wonderful little girl coming home with me.  I love this dog and she has brought lots of fun and new experiences to our family.

We "celebrated" by competing at a show in Victoria.  Stella successfully passed her remaining two legs of her pre-novice obedience title so now can add P.C.D. to her name.   Next up will be training towards the Rally Advanced (RA) and Novice Obedience (CD) titles .  She did a pretty good job today although her heel work wasn't nearly what she is capable.  My fault for not working it very much lately plus I also entered her in our first confirmation class at this same show so have been cramming in last-minute training for that this week.  It has confused her to go from a heel with attention and automatic sit (obedience) to focus forward and stand/stack when stopped (confirmation).  I'm sure we could easily sort that out with some more time but it made things interesting today.  Luckily she is pretty easy going and adaptable.

The confirmation actually went pretty well and I didn't fall flat on my face or embarass my lovely dog :o).   We competed with some local Vizsla friends so things were very relaxed and friendly.  We didn't come away with any points but it was an interesting experience.  I am still evaluating if this is something I am interested in pursuing further.  I have no plans to breed and showing gets pretty expensive especially when there is any travel.  A lot will depend on how things progress with Riley over the next month or so when we meet with the surgeon to see if we will do hip surgery.  If that happens then the show and training budgets are going to be pretty tight for a while.

Here are a few pics from her first day home with us and then today at the confirmation show.


Already showing signs of her love of shoes

Sneaky cuddler

Smile





4 comments:

  1. Happy Gotcha Day Stella. What a fun way to celebrate with friends at a dog show! :-)
    I just love the photo of her snuggled up to Riley when she was a baby. And I totally understand trying to balance the vet bills with the training and showing bills. Whenever I have a large bill, I stop training for a bit and use that money to rebuild my emergency fund. I hope all will be well with Riley.

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  2. That would be weird going from obedience focus to conformation work without much training!
    What an adorable picture of Riley and baby Stella.
    Congratulations on the new title and I wish Riley the best for upcoming vet visits!

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  3. YEAY, STELLA! Congratulations!!! Fingers crossed for Riley's appt.

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  4. Very proud of the Teri-Stella team!! You just hit 'gold'! xxoo Hoping for a good prognosis for Riley.

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