SEPTEMBER 18, 2007

• MACH Sunshine South End Logan  CGC
• Sunshine Chief of Police MH
• Int. CH HR Sunshine On Golden Pond SH RN CD WC CGC
• Sunshine Shuga Baby

       3 SH legs, 1 MH leg
• Sunshine Back to the Future JH

Hi Susan and Steven
 
Ed & Cody participated in the Winnegamie Agility Trial in Neenah, WI on December 1.  Cody qualified in Novice A Jumpers with Weaves (JWW) and took 1st Place with 92 out of 100 points.  So he now has his 1st leg in JWW!
 
Cody didn't do as well in the Standard Course and unfortunately did not qualify.  However it was their very first time competing in Agility and weren't quite sure what to expect.  It's nice to have that first time now out of the way.
 
I am very proud of both of them!  Will continue to keep you updated on their Agility progress.
 
Diane

MACH Sunshine South End Logan CGC

Congratulations to Jodi and Alex Murphey for  "Logan"  earning his final Double Qual for his MACH title at the Lake Elmo Training Club competition August 26, 2007.  He is a son of Sunshine Amazing Baby JH and Counterpoints Captain MH.

"Decoy" continues to work on more advanced titles with his owner Linda Kiey.  A boat load of thanks to these three dogs and their families for earning MAZE the OD (Outstanding Dam) title.  She has many more offspring coming along to enforce the title.

Congratulations to Scott and Kim Katzenmeyer(my niece) for  "Chief "  earning his final leg for his Master title at the Madison Retriever Club Hunt Test June 10, 2007.  He is a son of Sunshine Amazing Baby JH and Counterpoints Captain MH.  Chief is also competing in obedience and Rally with their daughter Morgan.

UPDATE!!!   UPDATE!!!     ABBY EARNS HER CDX

November 11. 2007

Abby passed her CDX in three consecutive tries with two second place finishes!  Becky says she is almost ready for Agility now; she just need a little more work on the teeter.

Stan Johnson

The first mark was down a hill into a swamp area with fairly tall grass and rough terrain, then up a hill where the birds where thrown on the top, probably a 90 yard mark.  There were a bunch of goose decoys on the hillside.  When we ran the area was shaded and it was hard to see the falls.  The wind was coming from behind us so the dogs could not smell the birds until they over shot the bird.  Abby had no trouble on this bird, marked it perfectly and ran straight to the bird. The second land mark was a flyer and we had to move to a second line.  This one was angling down a hill into heavy cover and the dogs had to run past the gunners to the bird.  There was 3 levels of cover in this area, some of the dogs got lucky and the bird would land on the side of the hill in the light cover, but most of the birds landed in the heavy cover in the valley.  There was no breeze in the valley and a lot of dogs could not find the bird even though they were very close to it.  One dog could not find the bird and they told the gunners to pick it up.  Three people looked and could not find it so they called for a dog to help look and finally it was found.  Abby went to the fall area and looked but didn't scent it so she started hunting the area, at one point she stopped and looked at me for direction and when she didn't get any she realigned herself from the gunners and went right to the bird.

The water series was also a challenge, but to this day Abby has not failed to bring back a bird when sent into the water. The first mark was fairly long and the bird dropped next to a floating bog.  The water was mostly open with a few lily pads and some decoys to swim through.  She had no trouble and swam close to the fall where she scented the bird and retrieved it.  The last mark was set up so the dogs had a tunnel in the cattails to see into the pond and after the cattails there was about 20 yards of thick lily pads to go through. T hey could only see the bird for an instant, but there was a good splash.  After swimming through the lily pads most dogs seemed a little disoriented.  Abby went to the right of the bird and swam around going to the right more getting pulled by the scent pool as the wind was caring the scent that way.  When she was about 20 yards to the right of the bird she figured everything out, turned and made a straight line to the bird. Becky's tracking training has paid off!   Abby finished her JH on Saturday. It was a challenging test with only 12 of the 27 dogs in her group passing.

Stan & Abby

Cody gets 3rd Leg, has CD Title!

Yes, Cody & Ed did it!   Cody got his 3rd leg this morning in Oshkosh and also his CD title!  Total of 184 out of 200 points (did much better today) and took 2nd place again.  Here's a picture of the two of them with today's Judge.  We are so proud of Cody, and I am so proud of both of them.  Now it's on to Open to try to get his CDX.

Also, on Saturday, Dec. 1 in Neenah, WI they are planning to try an Agility Trial (Novice A - the standard course and jumpers w/weaves).  Might as well give it a try and see how they do.

Will continue to keep you posted on the boys' progress.

Thanks for everything!
Diane, Ed, Cody & Cubby

Mike Riippa’s Sunshine Goodtime Henry SH WCX, son of Hightimes Sunshine Fancy and Counterpoint’s Captain MH WCX CGC earned his 4th Master leg at the Fall Test of Northern Flight Hunting Retriever Association the last weekend in August, 2007.

Good going Mike and Henry!!!

UPDATE ON SUNSHINE GOLDEN PRINCESS II "HONEY"

WE DID IT !!!!!   Her complete name is now, SHR Sunshine Golden Princess II, after her win this past weekend.
We traveled to southern Illinois this past weekend to compete in an HRC Test and got her title though she caught
me by surprise on each retrieve.  She nosed  the duck at first,  before retrieving it.  Well, she does make it interesting
while you  sit on the bucket.  We are stepping up our training to run seasoned  test this spring. Hopefully this time next
year we are running finished.

Thanks for the great dog
A.G.

Congraulations to A.G. and Maureen Shaw and their Baby II/Yukon pup, Honey.  She is the first of the litter to get a qualifying score in this January 2007 litter.  She did it at the Badger State HRC & Wisill HRC Tests August 26, 2007.  You are off to a great start…Best wishes to continued successes and Golden Moments.

Susan and Steven
 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2007 Update:

Just thought I would let you know we got two more passes this weekend
We need one more to title, "SHR". We are looking at a road trip down to St.
Louis to get that started title before winter.

Thanks for the great pup!!
 A.G.

“CGC CERTIFIED!   WOO HOO!   More to come!”  says Todd Economy.  And he has reason to be very happy.  He has been doing extremely well with his young pup and still has more plans for him to come.  He is looking into service work, obedience and tracking to keep his young companion occupied with worthwhile endeavors that both of them will enjoy.  This pup got his CGC at 8 months old; he is a son of Baby II and Yukon.  Congratulations young man, we hope to see you at some tracking events.