DCA President Carl Holder, John Willmore, Diane Webb, and Olive!

We're back from the Dachshund Club of America National Specialty --

48 dachshunds qualified in at least one DCA 2014 field or companion event (field, earthdog, agility, obedience, or rally) and 7 qualified in two events.  Probably around 100 or more dachshunds participated in these events.

Only three dachshunds qualified in 3 events and were Triathlon qualifiers -- our three girls!

-- Olive, who received 16 points from earthdog, agility and obedience.
-- Bossa, who earned 16 points in field, earthdog, and agility.
-- Asti, who earned 10 points in field, agility, and rally.

Olive received one more point than Bossa in Triathlon Conformation to finish with 19 points and is the DCA Triathlon Dog of 2014!

To recap our DCA --

We started with field trials in January.  Bossa won the Open All Age Bitch stake and Best Open, and finished her Field Championship (5 triathlon points).  Asti was awarded an Award of Merit from the Field Champion Bitch stake (6 points).  And Olive was robbed. ;-)

Olive had to qualify in Junior Earthdog the next day to keep her Triathlon hopes alive, and she did (3 pts).  Bossa easily qualified in Junior Earthdog as well (3 pts.)

Olive needed to earn top points in both agility and obedience at DCA last week, and she did.  She qualified in first place in both Masters Preferred Standard and Jumpers with Weaves (9 pts), earning both Preferred High in Trial awards and her PAX (Preferred Agility Excellent) title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXmT0CZ1QM4

Then, Olive earned a score of 188 in Veteran Novice obedience (4 pts) on Thursday -- conditions were tough (hot and sunny on grass with goose poop) and this was the best score earned by any dachshund in obedience.

Bossa earned her Novice JWW agility title on April 25 and we gambled by moving her up to Open JWW for DCA.  She came through in style, qualifying in first place (8 pts) and earning the JWW High in Trial. Bossa's not quite ready for rally or obedience. ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46kiJm-GTAo

Asti needed to qualify in agility and rally, events in which she has solid skills but hasn't done in several years.  She had a great performance in Novice FAST Preferred (2 pts) on Monday and fought her nerves enough to qualify with a 78 in Advanced Rally (2 pts) on Friday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSqWx6gio-4

I won't dwell on Triathlon Conformation (the final event on Friday) which once again was a bit of a debacle.  In the end, Olive got 3 points and Bossa 2 points, making Olive the Triathlon winner.  Asti also got 2 points and finished in third place with 12 points.

We are extremely proud of all of them!  It is the accomplishment of a lifetime for Olive, who has now qualified in three Triathlons over five years.  Bossa almost won at just over two years old and continues to show great promise.  And Asti showed what a talented girl she really is.

-- Diane & John

Carl Holder, John, Diane, Bossa, and Olive!

Bossa earned her first leg in Junior Earthdog (JE) today!! 

Bossa flew out of John's arms at the release and jumped into the hole.  She got to the quarry in 16 seconds and dug the entire 60 seconds.  She never barked, but she dug a huge hole.  That's a pass on her 3rd time ever in a JE tunnel!  And our first earthdog ribbon since DCA 2010!

Diane left you a message on your cell phone, but I thought I'd give you more details about today's field trial results.

I judged Open Dogs first thing in the morning (as a substitute), so the girls all got to rest in.  The dog we put up first won Absolute - always a nice validation. :)

Bossa had a really nice first series in Open Bitches, taking a long line along a road and making the check, although overshooting a bit to the far side of the road... the dirt road made her take a while to find the check.  She was called back high.  In second series we had a really short line between trees, and she didn't really understand what to do and stood around grazing, so she dropped to second (behind eventual first and new field champion Star).  In third series she defended well taking a bending line around a tree.  She finished in second (class of 12) for her first six points!

Bossa works a lot like Asti - moving fast and making fast decisions.

Olive was drawn in fifth brace and Asti in sixth for FC.  I was late to the line and hadn't heard the additional bits of line, so I was a bit sad to see Olive break off to the left at high speed, but it turns out that was the continuation of the line out of the cover.  Olive was called back fourth.

Second series, Olive's rabbit started in a dead tree stump and we had good line on it.  She and her bracemate both started on the first part of the line fast, but Olive nailed the check and did a TON of line. Easy win.

Third series we had another tight release into cover.  I think I released too soon, before Olive really had the line.  We lost that on my lack of handling experience. Olive placed third out of 12 field champions.  A solid performance given how rusty we all are.

I was really proud of all three girls.  Bossa is still very green but got the idea fast - the few bits of trailing practice we've done clearly helped, the judges were impressed with how she worked the check.  Asti was very happy to be in the field and really looked good (and had MUCH better recalls than in the old days). And Olive looked great in my first time handling her in the field (aside from one run at DCA 2010). Her tracking background really shows - she's more methodical than Asti, who works more on instinct.

Tally ho! - John Willmore, CA

Bossa and John at the field trial in the southern California olive grove.

"Whoa! Do I know you? Who ARE you?"  - Bossa

I took Bossa to her Fun for Fido class this week.  We had a tunnel-jump-table-jump sequence, with a straight tunnel.  The first time I tried running with Bossa, we got all tangled up.  So I had the instructor hold her while I led-out between the jump and table. Bossa came FLYING through the tunnel and over the jump, and screeched to a stop on the table.  The second time she was even faster and despite fighting to stay on the table, tumbled off the far side.  The third time she held on to the landing.

We did have trouble going over the final jump; she kept coming with me.  John says he's working on that.  But dang she's fast! Hope you're having a good week! - Diane

You can have the ribbons. I will keep the bone.  - Sybilla