After I posted the photo of Siiri yesterday, her owner Ilse Kokkonen sent this picture that I have not seen before. It was taken this past August during a duck hunt, which Siiri loves to do.

Sirri is paternal grandmother of the youngsters Taya, Tasha, and Thor, who also love to swim and are steady to gun. You can see photos of Taya's First Swim at age 10 weeks.

Viljo was not entered in earthdog this time. I am pretty sure he will be next time around! 

THANKS to Laura Mei-Lin Knoll for taking the photo.

Unfortunately, no additional Senior earthdog legs for Owl or Master legs for Gretel in Dayton. 

The good news is that Taya (entered today only) and Viljo (not entered) both showed excellent instinct in their first practices this weekend!

Many thanks to Laura Knoll for taking these photos!

DC Nadja v Dorndorf L CG, now ME, is pictured after titling in the Master class at Gem City's earthdog test in Dayton this weekend! She is the first Dorndorf dachshund to earn the Master Earthdog title!

Nadja, age 11.5, is owned by Tina Knoll and was handled by Laura Knoll.

Congratulations to all of you!!!

Though I made improvements on my website recently, I have not blogged anything for awhile. I am very happy today to post the news that Olive has earned the Junior Earthdog title! And - with that - Olive is titled in all six AKC performance and companion events! 

Yaaaaay Olive!!

Master Agility Champion
Field Champion
Tracking Dog 
Junior Earthdog
Companion Dog
Rally Advanced Excellent

Whether Olive would have become a show Champion had I shown her will never be known. She is a very nice bitch, however, and in a MULTITUDE of ways!

Congratulations to Olive's owners, trainers, and handlers for the majority of her achievements, Diane Webb and John Willmore of California. I am so happy and appreciative that you were willing to take Asti's 5.5 year old sister and do all these things with her!

May 9      Ochre, owned and handled by Laura Knoll, ran her Variable Surface Tracking test with excellent effort! Tina Knoll wrote: "Just to recap, they started strong then over ran the first turn. They recovered, took the first turn and Ochre was pulling like crazy, almost took the next turn. They disqualified but did all the rest just perfect with the track layer just following." VST may have a passing rate of 5-8% but I see VST / CT (Champion Tracker) in their future. This is a talented team!

May 10     Sisters Sage, owned by Maxine Brinker, and Seiko, owned by Tina Knoll and handled by Laura, were entered in the Tracking Dog Excellent test. Unfortunately, none of the three dachshunds passed. TDX tests have a passing rate between 15-20% annually; they are not a walk in the park! But they both gave it a very good go!

May 11     Nutmeg qualifies in Junior Earthdog for her second leg and the JE title! Congratulations to Maxine Brinker and Nutmeg!    

May 11     Gretel qualifies in Senior Earthdog for her third leg and the SE title! Congratulations to owner Jennifer Fry, handler Laura Knoll, and Gretel!

May 11     We all had big hopes that Nadja would earn her fourth qualification in Master Earthdog for the ME title. But this time Nadja had other ideas! As does her owner Tina Knoll, we look foward to Nadja getting that fourth leg!

May 12     Diane Webb writes: "We did earthdog with Olive and Bossa yesterday and today.  Neither passed yesterday, but today Olive passed and earned her first Junior Earthdog leg!  She ran straight into the tunnel (just like yesterday) but this time didn't come back out.  She got to the quarry in 17 seconds and barked and whined for over 60 seconds. 

Olive was the third of 30 JE dogs to run today or which 7 passed. We waited over two hours before we got her ribbon.  So Olive was tired and hot and was looking into the sun, and the award photos aren't very good.  But I am very proud of her!!"

Congratulations to Diane and Olive!

May 14     Nutmeg, 11 years, qualified with a 3rd place in a class of 14 dachshunds competing in the Master Jumpers with Weaves class! Her niece Sage also qualified in the same class! Congratulations to Maxine Brinker, Nutmeg, and Sage!

May 14     Diane writes: "Olive and John had an excellent day at DCA Agility, qualifying in Novice FAST Preferred (1st place), Masters Standard Preferred (2nd Place), and Masters JWW Preferred (2nd Place).  Olive earned her third double Q and 26 points towards PACH [Preferred Agility Champion].  Once again, Olive just missed winning High In Trial; this time she was about a second behind the Standard Preferred HIT Winner.

The venue was awesome -- artificial turf over the matted floor covering the entire facility in a large, well-lit, air-conditioned facility. I've got videos of Olive which I'll post at some point.  No photographers or videographers at the trial."

Congratulations to John Willmore and Olive!

May 15     Sage qualified in Novice B Obedience debut, placing 3rd and earning the first leg of her CD! Congratulations to Maxine Brinker and Sage!

May 16     Nutmeg and Sage both qualified in the Advanced B Rally class with Nutmeg earning 2nd Place of the 10 dachshunds competing! Congratulations to Maxine and the Spice Girls!

May 16     Olive qualified in Rally B Excellent for the necessary third leg in the annual DCA Triathlon! Combined with her passing/qualifying performances in earthdog and agility, Olive has qualified with a chance to win the Triathlon. Whether she does will be determined by performances of other Triathlon contenders that are still to come. Congratulations to Diane Webb and Olive!

May 17     Nutmeg qualified with a 1st Place in Open A obedience for her 3rd leg and her CDX! Putting this achievement in perspective, only four dachshunds earned the CDX title in 2012. Congratulations to Maxine Brinker and Nutmeg!

May 17     John and Diane end their DCA week with Olive being one of only 4 qualifiers in the DCA Triathlon, she finished 3rd!

Congratulations Team Olive!


Way to GO, everyone!! ♥♥♥

[Bossa is Chirribi's Bossa Nova Baby, 12 months, bred by May-Gun Bandige in Gotland, and owned by John Willmore and Diane Webb in California. Bossa's father and Taya's mother are littermates.]

Diane writes:

Congratulations to Bossa and John and Diane! And thank you for the especially good photo!