Many people are familiar with the concept of conformation dog shows. A group of dogs goes in. The judge selects the dog that s/he feels is the best representation of the breed and things go from there. That’s not something we do (ok…we did it once). The kind of golden Read more…
Most breeds have a national breed club that promotes the type of dog, preserves history, encourages improved health and behavior, and provides educational resources. Most of the breed clubs have a national level event. Golden Retrievers are popular dogs and good at many things – so our national specialty, held Read more…
We did a lot of things last year that I don’t think I shared about – here’s just a sample! January: Griffin and I entered our first AKC obedience trial (but had to leave before it was even our turn!). February: I went to the area veterinary conference and went Read more…
Yesterday we went to the local elementary school to do a few presentations. These were the youngest kids I’ve presented for and we had three groups, about an hour each time! Griffin did some agility, some tricks, and we talked about different ways to get behaviors. My favorite part was Read more…
Griffin and I are taking a Field Trial Foundations class and we’ve only done about 4 weeks so far. The first two lessons have been exactly what we need for obedience… relaxation and steadiness! There really aren’t many option for people seeking positive reinforcement training for field work, most attempts Read more…
On Saturday we were at a 4-H Dog Judge’s training day. I was there to be learning and I was there to help. I spent part of the day frantically taking notes about how to be even better at judging. And for part of the day I was a dog Read more…
Griffin has a really large family. Every few years some of them get together for a big family reunion/retriever training seminar. This year it was at a time and location that worked well for us. We’ve spent the weekend near Lansing, MI at the -beautiful- Omega Farms. The unfortunate part Read more…
I heard about this book only about two weeks ago. I impatiently waited, and ordered it as soon as the website was up and running. My book arrived! The only drawback? It’s written in French. Lucky for me, I can read it well enough to get through…with Read more…
The Golden Retriever Club of America offers some specific titles/opportunities. One of them is the Certificate of Conformation Assessment. Instead of comparing a dog to the others in the ring, like in conformation, the CCA is a pass/not-pass test* where each dog is compared to the breed standard. Yesterday we Read more…