We have a home full of Grand Champions now! Funny that Karmie, our biggest over-achiever is the last to finish this title too! (Halo would take this moment to remind us all that she is a super model and finished her GCH in only 7 days needing to beat the #1 Vizsla bitch in the country to do it. Which she did several times, so there, she can be an over-achiever too!)
Back to Karma — we are proud to announce that today, Karma retired from the show ring with a Grand Champion MAJOR win to finish her Grand Champion title! Karma came upon her GCH much by accident, being entered in our club’s shows to support entries, and when Halo was out; to build majors and breed count for her. For the last year and a half, she has sat at 22 points with all her champions defeated and 2 majors. On rare weekends that didn’t conflict with her agility, therapy dog, or hunt test schedule, we would enter her, but majors did not come to fruition on those days. We gave up on the idea and figured her show and agility championships would be enough. 😉
A little push from her best Auntie Jill Hoffbeck informed me that there would be a major in Iowa and I had some friends traveling to be there. Iowa is Karma’s state! The site where she became a Champion (and her buddy Mason became a BIS on the same day) and where she picked up her first GCH points as a move-up the next day. So we rolled the dice and sent her on a girl’s getaway with Katherine Hokens and Chimay, to be handled by Halo’s favorite, Sarah Luther of Velocity Handling.
Beaming with pride to introduce her new fancy name:
GCH CH MACH Diamond Cruiser 5280’s Reap What You Sow RE SH MXB MJG OF T2B CA CGC aka Karma, Tarmie-Tarm, Karmaleets, Karmalita, Lita, Wiggles, Squish Face, and my best girl! Thank you to everyone that has loved Karma (almost as much as us) along the way! We are sure she will enjoy cheering ringside for her friends today, and not having to do that show girl thing. (Haven’t told her yet that she will still show at Nationals for Iron Dog points!)
And while Karma was busy on her Iowa roadtrip, we took Indy and Halo out to get some Springtime birdwork in! There are some hunt tests coming up this Spring, so maybe the girls can be ready! Halo was awesome — natural honor and worked on steadying up and impulse control. We NEVER train with e-collars so you’ll not see any in our photos — scroll below the goal list for some training photos from today! 🙂
Agility Goals:
-Karma’s XF titles
-Karma’s MJC & MXS titles
-Karma’s MACH2
-Get Karma qualified for AKC Agility Nationals
-Get Karma ranked in the Top 25 (agility)
Conformation Goals:
-Grand Championship on Karma — DONE!
-Best Veteran in Sweeps Win for Karma (after July 23)
Obedience/Rally Goals:
-Therapy Dog Novice on Karma & Indy
-Canine Good Citizen on Halo
-Community Canine on Karma
-Companion Dog on Karma
Field Goals: (some may be 2 year goals)
–Master Hunter on Karma
-Senior Hunter on Halo
-RATN on Indy
-Tracking Dog on Indy
-Coursing Ability on Halo
Other Goals:
-Versatility Certificate on Karma
**Need an explanation on titles? Check out our “Activities” tab for write-ups on most of these events**
Here, Marc has “collared” Halo after she naturally stopped to honor Wyn (Karma’s half-bro) who is on point. This means that Halo saw Wyn pointing, stopped in her tracks, and now Marc has stuck a finger under her collar to remind her to stay in that spot until Wyn finishes his retrieve. At the Senior level, Marc will be able to hold her collar through her bracemate’s retrieve, but he has begun weaning her off his collar hold as she will need to do this task independently at the Master level.
A good example of the individual steadiness skill on the honor. Kai, Tok, and Stoli all saw Indy on point (you can find him in the photo if you follow where all 3 of the dogs are pointing) and stopped dead in their tracks. Gunners are moving towards Indy and the other three are staying put!
Finally, a picture of Halo on retrieve. Head up high, tail wagging, just as happy as a clam! She gets a little full of herself and likes to parade her bird to everyone in the gallery before taking it to Marc — “Mom, look what I have! Aunt Franny, let me come show you too! Ok, Dad, now I’ll come bring it to you. You’ll be so proud of me!!”
So funny. We will work on her bringing it straight back to just Marc for her tests this Spring, we are pretty sure the judges won’t want her to come show them first! 😉