Cape Cod Shows

What a good time we had on Cape Cod!

On Friday, the Dalmatian Club of Southern New England had their first of two regional specialties. There were about 50 Dalmatians entered each day. Spring was awarded Best Senior in Sweepstakes, and then was Winners Bitch/Best of Winners for 4 points. Dad Corey was awarded Select Dog – kind of like First Runner Up in the beauty contest. That gave him 5 points towards his Grand Championship title.

Then on Saturday, Spring was Best Senior and BEST in SWEEPSTAKES. She was, also, again, Winners Bitch/Best of Winners for 4 more points. That was enough points to complete the requirements for her AKC Championship. Dad Corey was awarded Best of Opposite Sex, again for 5 points.

On Sunday Spring was shown as a Champion. She is just a little too young yet to compete at that level of competition. Corey was again Best of Opposite Sex, another 5 points.

Spring showed wonderfully. She was so calm and steady throughout the 3 long days of shows. Wagged her tail and trotted around the ring happy and confident. What a fun dog she has been. She is now:

Am/Can CH PatchMt Spring Thyme at Blackthorn TD

Super Weekend

Wow, what a great weekend!

At the big circuit in New Jersey Daisy WON the Non-Sporting Group show, and picked up 2 more Best of Breed wins over big entries.

Saturday at the shows in North Conway NH Corey was BOB, Group 2 with his new handler Linda McCartney-Roy.

Sunday Morning at the University of New Hampshire campus Spring PASSED her Tracking Dog test - on her first attempt!

And then, Sunday Afternoon Corey was again in the Group ring with his new best friend Linda and WON the Non-Sporting group. His second group 1 - YEA!!

Spring in August

Spring has been having a fun month. First at the shows in Fitchburg on Sunday she was WB/BOW for her first major. That gives her a total of 8 points so far. Then, we have been to the tracking fields. With the very HOT weather she wasn't at her best, let's hope for cooler weather for the upcoming tests.

New Champion Tracker!

On August 1st the Dog Tracking Club of Maine held its second Variable Surface Tracking Test at Colby College in Waterville Maine. To PASS and add to his name, Corey is now CT CH Blackthorn Coreopis of PatchMt RN NA NAJ. It is one year to the day that his mother, Carina, passed her test at this same site. Both had drawn Track 1 – now I will always be happy to be the first to go!

To show how difficult this test is, the pass rate is about 5 percent. In the 15 years the test has been around, only about 248 dogs have passed. There now 6 Champion Tracker Dalmatians, quite an accomplishment for our breed.

Corey is the ONLY Dalmatian who is also an American/Canadian Champion, not to mention those agility titles he shares with his mother Carina.

To become a Champion Tracker a dog has to earn their Tracking Dog, Tracking Dog Excellent and Variable Surface Tracking Dog titles.
To add to Corey’s credits, he has passed all three tests on his first attempts, and has also passed his Canadian Tracking Dog and Tracking Dog Excellent test on his first attempts. Maybe we will now try for their Urban Tracking Dog titles. (Karen Hopmans – want to offer that one in conjunction with a Canadian National?)

Corey wowed the gallery with his near flawless performance, pulling me down the line like he was on a mission. At each of his articles, cloth, plastic, metal and that final wonderful leather, he threw himself to the ground, so proud of what he had found! We have worked hard to accomplish those “indications” and I was so pleased when I saw how excited he was to show me his finds. He did 648 yards of grass, dirt, asphalt and mulch in 14 minutes. A record for the 2 judges, Mary Thompson and Ed Presnell.

I love all the compliments I receive at these events. Things like “Boy, are all Dalmatians such great trackers”, how wonderful his temperament is and what a great working dog he is. He was so focused to the task at hand. Who says you can’t work intact boys in performance events?!? One visiting judge said she had heard great things about my Dals before the test and was so pleased to see all those nice things were true.

And, a very, very special Thank You to my very best friend, Linda McSherry. Corey was first alternate, and Linda withdrew Maeve so Corey could have his chance to shine. I owe her big time – and now it is Maeve’s turn to add CT to her name!

Weekend Brag

What a great weekend we had!

First, at the Vermont circuit shows, Daisy - GCH Blackthorn's Flower Power continued her winning ways, picked up 3 more BOB wins, with a Group 4 on Sunday. VERY small entry of specials only. Daisy is owned by Bertha Little and Joan Eversole and expertly presented by Jeff Langevin.

And at an agility trial in New Hampshire her siblings:

Am/Can CH Blackthorn Violet of Patchmt Am/Can TD NA OAJ qualified in both her Open Standard and Open Jumpers courses on Saturday to finish her Open Jumpers titleand get a second leg on her Standard title. Violet was run by Linda McSherry.

Am/Can CH Blackthorn Coreopis of PatchMt Am/Can TDX RN NA NAJ qualified in Open Standard to pick up his second leg. Corey would have qualified on all his runs if his inept handler would quit sending him over the wrong obstacles and through the wrong tunnel entrances! I had such great attention and he was so tuned into me. What a good boy he was all weekend.

AND, most importantly, not to be left out, their mother:

CH CT PatchMt C Pepper N Paisley (with her many titles) qualifed in her Open Jumpers Preferred run to finish that title. That gives Carina a total of about 23 titles in AKC and CKC events! Now she can just relax and enjoy trail rides for a while.

And, never ones to be bored, Linda McSherry and I got to meet and evaluate the puppies for the Corey and Holly litter. Their pictures can be seen at: http://blackthorndalmatians.com/HollyCoreyPups.html.

We couldn't be happier with this litter. Complete trim, dark, dark brown eyes, good hearing numbers, pretty puppies. Thanks Ann for bringing them all the way to New Hampshire and special thanks to Karen Rochin for flying in to see the litter. It was a great visit.

And, anyone interested in doing agility in New Hampshire in the summer this is a great site - at least in my opinion. Indoor sports complex, huge creating area, rings on padded artificial turf and most important Air Conditioned! Thank you Yankee Golden Retriever Club.


http://blackthorndalmatians.com/HollyCoreyPups.html

New Puppy Blog Site

Follow the Holly & Corey puppies at Ann's blog site:

http://mapleleafdals.wordpress.com/

Thetford Mines Canada Shows

Thetford Mines Canada

May 29 & 30th

Patch Mt's Springthyme at Blackthorn, "Spring" an 11 month old puppy bitch owned by Sara Pruyne and bred by myself and Sara earned her Canadian championship title in 3 shows. She went BOB, Group 2, Puppy Group 1 twice on Saturday and once on Sunday to finish her title in two days! Spring's sire is "Corey", Am/Can Ch Blackthorn Coreopisis of Patch MT TDX, RN, NA, NAJ x "Maeve", Am/Can Ch Patch Mt's About Time Am/Can CD, RE, TDX, OA, NAJ, CGC. Spring finished her Canadian championship under Canadian judges Sandy Gelinas, Alan Bennett and Michael Gelinas.

Meanwhile at the same shows her mother "Maeve" earned her Canadian CD title in 3 shows with a two 1st placements and one 2nd place.

Maeve also finished her Canadian championship title on the Sunday afternoon show by going WB and then BOB over a special under judge John Rowton. She had only needed a single point to finish.

We love going to these shows because although they are nearly 5 hours away you can do 4 shows in 2 days and the trip takes you through some of the most beautiful parts of Maine. Unfortunately it required driving home after dark in a very remote mountainous area where there is no cell phone reception and you can regularly count on seeing wildlife. We saw a moose, a bear and a porcupine but arrived home safely.

We couldn't be more proud of this lovely puppy bitch that Corey and Maeve produced. Like her sire she shows at the end of the leash for the exam and never flinches. A real show girl!