7/26/98 Novice A 20" Leg 1 90 1/22/99 Novice A 20" Leg 2 100 5th/19 49.22'/66' 4/01/99 Novice A 20" Leg 3 100 3rd/27 47.12'/71' NA 6/25/99 Open 20" Leg 1 85 3rd/7 76.40'/71' 9/04/99 Open 20" Leg 2 85 2nd/5 80.59'/75' 1/21/00 Open 20" Leg 3 100 4th/12 69.52'/73' OA 5/28/00 Open 20" Leg 4 95 5th/15 64.72'/75' 7/09/00 Excellent A 20" Leg 1 100 1st/6 66.30'/67' 9/30/00 Excellent A 20" Leg 2 92 1st/7 69.00'/67' 10/22/00 Excellent A 20" Leg 3 100 1st/9 62.21'/62' AX
1/22/99 Novice A 20" Leg 1 90 3rd/9 49.41'/44' 6/26/99 Novice B 20" Leg 2 100 2nd/18 32.91'/38' 9/04/99 Novice B 20" Leg 3 100 2nd/9 33.84'/38' NAJ 1/21/00 Open 20" Leg 1 100 40.13'/40' 1/23/00 Open 20" Leg 2 100 4th/18 39.20'/42' 5/29/00 Open 20" Leg 3 100 4th/12 39.70'/39' OAJ 6/17/00 Excellent A 20" Leg 1 97 1st/8 44.42'/43' 9/02/00 Excellent A 20" Leg 2 97 2nd/8 44.96'/43' 9/03/00 Excellent A 20" Leg 3 100 4th/9 43.65'/45' AXJ
3/09/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 1 100 2nd/8 67.27'/68' 4/07/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 2 100 3rd/9 65.63'/66' 5/26/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 3 100 5th/ 62.54'/63' 2Q 5/28/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 4 100 5th/ 63.89'/66' 7/07/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 5 100 5th/15 65.85'/66' 7/08/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 6 100 4th/15 66.14'/67' 2Q 9/01/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 7 100 6th/ 60.09'/62' 10/21/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 8 100 6th/18 64.93'/67' 5/18/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 9 100 59.14'/60' 2Q 5/24/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 10 100 3rd/12 59.15'/63' MX 5/26/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 11 100 57.30'/65' 5/27/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 12 94 4th/14 62.49'/60' 6/08/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 13 100 59.83'/67' 2Q
9/30/00 Excellent B 20" Leg 1 100 2nd/8 39.00'/41' 10/22/00 Excellent B 20" Leg 2 100 37.21'/39' 4/07/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 3 100 5th/10 40.68'/40' 2Q 4/29/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 4 100 4th/9 38.85'/40' 7/08/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 5 100 4th/10 40.41'/41' 2Q 7/29/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 6 100 5th/12 38.84'/43' 9/15/01 Excellent B 20" Leg 7 100 1st/5 39.73'/39' 5/18/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 8 100 3rd/9 40.56'/41' 2Q 6/08/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 9 100 38.92'/43' 2Q 7/27/02 Excellent B 20" Leg 10 100 4th/13 40.86'/46' MXJ
9/30/00 CPs- 3 10/22/00 CPs- 1 4/07/01 CPs- 0 2Q 4/29/01 CPs- 1 5/28/01 CPs- 2 7/07/01 CPs- 0 7/08/01 CPs- 0 2Q 7/29/01 CPs- 4 9/01/01 CPs- 1 9/16/01 CPs- 0 10/21/01 CPs- 2 5/18/02 CPs- 0 2Q 5/24/02 CPs- 3 5/26/02 CPs- 7 6/08/02 CPs-11 2Q 7/27/02 CPs- 5 Total CPs-40 2Q's-4
9/21/02 Novice P 16" Leg 1 100 2nd/6 49.85'/79' 9/22/02 Novice P 16" Leg 2 100 1st/3 58.23'/79' 9/30/02 Novice P 16" Leg 3 100 1st/8 51.66'/74' NAP 4/18/03 Novice P 16" Leg 4 100 1st/5 50.03'/74' 7/25/04 Novice P 16" Leg 5 100 1st/3 81.00'/81' 9/29/04 Novice P 16"-Leg 6 100 2nd/6 44.31'/73'
9/21/02 Novice P 16" Leg 1 100 1st/7 29.48'/46' 4/18/03 Novice P 16" Leg 2 100 1st/4 26.80'/44' 6/08/03 Novice P 16" Leg 3 100 2nd/6 29.15'/44' NJP 7/26/03 Novice P 16" Leg 4 100 3nd/8 26.73'/44' 7/27/03 Novice P 16" Leg 5 100 2nd/5 26.74'/41' 7/24/04 Novice P 16" Leg 6 100 1st/1 26.75'/43' 7/25/04 Novice P 16" Leg 7 100 1st/4 25.28'/40'
3/28/99 Novice A Regular 24" Leg 1-CR 2nd/10 43.68'/53.15' 6/19/99 Novice B Regular 24" Leg 2-CR 9th/28 48.36'/ 6/19/99 Novice B Regular 24" Leg 3--5 16th/30 51.83'/62.47' 6/20/99 Novice B Regular 24" Leg 4--5 14th/29 48.37'/52.03' NAC 5/5/01 Open Veteran Regular 20" Leg 1-CR 2nd/7 51.04'/59.13' 5/5/01 Open Veteran Regular 20" Leg 2-CR 5/3/02 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 3-CR 1st 45.16'/51.94' OAC 5/3/02 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 4-CR 1st 45.13'/51.94' 5/4/02 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 5-CR 1st 52.11'/58.34' 5/4/02 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 6-CR 1st 48.72'/58.34' 9/7/02 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 7-CR 1st 49.10'/68.40' 9/7/02 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 8-CR 1st 47.07'/68.40' 2/22/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 9-CR 1st 54.74'/62.41' 2/22/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 10-CR 1st 54.61'/62.41' O-OAC 2/23/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 11-CR 1st 49.97'/60.34' 2/23/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 12-CR 1st 47.89'/60.34' 5/03/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 13-CR 1st 46.02'/56.06' 5/03/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 14-CR 1st 48.89'/56.06' 5/04/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 15-5 2nd 47.60'/56.06' 9/06/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 16-CR 1st 56.56'/73.60' 9/07/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 17-5 1st 50.26'/47.72' 9/07/03 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 18-CR 1st 46.68'/47.72' 2/28/04 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 19-CR 2nd 43.81'/48.31' 9/11/04 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 20-CR 1st/4 55.26'/61.38' 9/12/04 Open Veteran Regular 16" Leg 20-CR 1st/4 53.44'/55.16' S-OAC 3/28/99 Novice Jumpers 24" Leg 1 15th/40 25.52'/32.00' 10/23/99 Novice Jumpers 24" Leg 2 28.34'/34.34' NJC 5/3/02 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 1 1st 28.61'/30.14' 5/4/02 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 2 1st 25.02'/28.89' OJC 9/7/02 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 3 1st 28.31'/38.40' 9/8/02 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 4 2nd 28.98'/30.60' 2/22/03 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 5 1st 26.28'/29.33' O-OJC 5/03/03 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 6 1st 25.85'/28.00' 5/04/03 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 7 1st 36.06'/37.16' 5/04/03 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 8 3rd 29.16'/29.58' 10/4/03 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 9 1st 29.84'/30.60' 10/5/03 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 10 1st 26.48'/31.00' S-OJC 2/28/04 Open Veteran Jumpers 16" Leg 11 3rd 30.61'/33.32' 6/20/99 Novice Gamblers 24" Leg 1 16th/67 26+20=46 2/12/00 Novice Gamblers 24" Leg 2 26+20=46 NGC 2/22/03 Open Veteran Gamblers 16" Leg 1 1st 33+20=53 2/27/05 Novice Tunnelers 20+ Leg 1 33.45'/35.70' 1/07/06 Novice Tunellers 20+ Leg 2 24.87'/26.00' 27th NAC 6/20/99 32nd NJC 10/23/99 17th NGC 2/12/00 24th OAC 5/04/02 29th OJC 5/05/02 4th O-OAC 2/22/03 2nd O-OJC 2/22/03 1st S-OAC 9/12/04 1st S-OJC 10/05/03
10/27/01 P1 Titling 16"-Leg 1 2nd/15 51.37'/63' 02/23/02 P1 Titling 16"-Leg 2 1st/10 57.76'/68' 02/24/02 P1 Titling 16"-Leg 3 3rd/9 56.23'/66' PD1 P1 Games: 10/27/01 P1 Gamblers 4th/18 49 pts/42.80' 02/23/02 P1 Gamblers 2nd/9 37 pts/50.37' 10/28/01 P1 Snooker 2nd/15 40 pts/54.19' 02/24/02 P1 Snooker 1st/12 42 pts/56.39' 10/28/01 P1 Jumpers 1st/21 23.97' 02/24/02 P1 Jumpers 3rd/9 21.26' 3rd PDI 02/24/02
6/13/05
Last Wednesday was Colton's 8th gotcha day. This past year has, once again, been a year of learning and growing for both of us.
When we finished up a couple of NADAC superior agility titles, Colton retired from jumping and doing contact equipment. He can still do it, but I don't see any reason to push him. The titles weren't for him, after all! Since he still enjoys getting out and working at the agility barn, he still gets to enter tunnelers and weavers classes. Imagine my surprise when, a week shy of his 11th birthday, Colton (who had never run any course at the required 5 yps pace) qualified in tunnelers for the first time and with two seconds to spare. It's a really nice thing for both of us that we can still get out and run a course every now and then and have fun. The Qs are icing.
We worked at our rally moves in preparation for Rally becoming a titling event. We entered three times and got the three legs for the RN title! Now we've moved up to Rally Advanced where the work is off leash...something Colton hadn't been particularly good at in regular obedience. This weekend, he showed me that he can excel at this too! With two tries, we've got two legs toward his Rally Advanced title. The feeling I get from a really good Rally run is very similar to a good agility run. It's exhilarating. And I just LOVE it when people come up to me after a run and tell me it was a really nice run. They just don't expect that level of work from a beardie and I'm so proud of us, as a team, proving them wrong!
Then, when getting Brin ready for a herding PT, I figured Colton could get out and work sheep for exercise every once in a while too. On a whim, I entered him in Started at the NCBCF regional. My goal, while somewhat pesimistic, was pretty realistic and was simply not to have a complete train wreck on either run. I was completely blown away when, not only did he qualify in both runs, but he really did some very nice work AND took the two High in Trial awards.
Colton isn't a dog that anyone who wanted a performance beardie would have chosen. It's a good thing I didn't know that. He's completely responsible for my being as good a trainer and handler as I am today. It was either that or give up.
I don't have the right words to tell you what Colton means to me. He's a once in a lifetime dog. Not in the sense that most people mean - the dog of their dreams - but rather that he is a dog that has made me grow and learn. He has been there to push me to get out of the bed and start walking again. He's made me learn more about dogs and training than I thought I would care to know. He's made it possible for me to have the amazing relationship I have with Brin. He gave me the incentive to make Lady's last few years good ones. He's shown me that with patience and love and a good dose of humor and introspection, that he and I can be a team. He is my partner and my companion. He makes my life better and makes me a better person. How can I argue with that?
Thank you, Colton, for the last eight wonderful, challenge- and love-filled years.
Barbara >>
