Skyedance I've Got No Strings On Me

NA NAJ NAP NJP CL2-R TBAD HIC CGC

Perky Bright Eyes


Perky-DN33905403-Dog-4/17/12

Breeders: Libby Myers-Buhite and Jack Buhite of Santa Clara, CA

CH Risa To The Spindrift Spirit PT HIC (Trip) x
UCI Int Ju CH Skyedance A Lark Ascending BN RE HT AX MXJ OF NAP NJP NFP AD SSA AJ AS AR CL2 CL3-FHS HIC CGC TDI VX (Skyelark)

Owners: Sarah and Doug Halsey of Fallbrook, CA

Handlers: Sarah and Doug Halsey


Perky at 1 year old!

Perky with Doug

Perky on Temecula Rock

Impy at 13 and Perky at 1


AKC DN33905403

Standard Titling

 2/02/14  Novice B Standard-Leg 1          95    1st/6     41.14'/57'    117
 3/15/14  Novice B Standard-Leg 2          90    2nd/4     56.04'/76'    160
 3/16/14  Novice B Standard-Leg 3          95    1st/5     45.67'/73'    153      NA

Jumpers with Weaves

 
 1/31/14  Novice B Jumpers-Leg 1           93    1st/3     37.46'/35'    106
 2/01/14  Novice B Jumpers-Leg 2          100    1st/2     23.41'/32'     96      
 2/02/14  Novice B Jumpers-Leg 3           95    3rd/6     32.49'/36'    108      NAJ

FAST


Time 2 Beat



AKC DN33905403 - Preferred Classes

Standard Titling

 8/17/13  Novice P Standard 16"-Leg 1      90    1st/1     65.59'/74'    144
 8/18/13  Novice P Standard 16"-Leg 2      95    2nd/2     46.74'/71'    137
 8/30/13  Novice P Standard 16"-Leg 3      95    1st/1     55.28'/72'    140      NAP
 9/02/13  Open P Standard 16"-Leg 1        90    1st/2     57.36'/71'    161
 9/08/13  Open P Standard 16"-Leg 2       100    1st/1     46.18'/65'    146 

Jumpers with Weaves

 8/17/13  Novice P Jumpers 16"-Leg 1      100    1st/2     33.46'/41'    108
 8/18/13  Novice P Jumpers 16"-Leg 2      100    1st/2     32.30'/42'    110
 8/30/13  Novice P Jumpers 16"-Leg 3      100    1st/1     33.50'/41'    108      NJP
 8/31/13  Open P Jumpers 16"-Leg 1        100    1st/1     32.00'/46'    142
 9/07/13  Open P Jumpers 16"-Leg 2         91    1st/2     41.69'/39'    120

FAST

 8/30/13  Novice P FAST 16"-Leg 1          52    2nd/2     44.00'/35'    	

Time 2 Beat



CPE 09226-04

7/20/13 (Club) UpsNDowns (Judge) Cindy Elliott

Perky just surprised us SO much at his first CPE trial. He was perfectly at home and even calmer than he usually is when other dogs are running! He was good in and on his crate and he really seemed to be having a ball the whole time!!! He played and tugged with me, had a little romp with another puppy friend (a Border Collie), and when he was in the ring he stayed attentive to me most of the time. He was such an amazingly good little boy. I was really really surprised! But isn't it always fun when you don't expect TOO much! To add icing to this fun day, Perky actually qualified in 4 of his 5 runs!!!! And the 5th was an NQ in Jackpot because I stumbled and fell over the line at the very LAST obstacle! Darn! And his only course mistakes were all runbys (fortunately refusals don't get faulted!). He did visit one jumpsetter....and he jumped on me a couple of times. But he had NO contact problems, NO Bars, NO weave mistakes, NO wrong courses, and NO back jumps. It has been a long time since I have been able to say that for 5 runs (let alone one!). I was so surprised and honestly thrilled to pieces. It is so hard to believe that this little "baby" seemed to know just what to do. Or he must have known exactly that I needed a fun little surprise and gift just now! So I am sharing our happy news of a very fun and wonderful day with a VERY VERY fun puppy, and you know just who that is.......our very sweet playful Perky, who brings smiles to every day. And every day I say thank you to you for entrusting him to us! We are still thrilled and VERY proud of Perky! Here are his first "real" stats! What FUN to have some to mention!!!

Perky's 2nd rehearsal before trying AKC was near the end of July, doing one day only of CPE at a place where he had never been. But he seemed very calm and relaxed, maybe because he had people and dog friends there. Of course I wondered about the calm before the storm??? The 5 classes were short and fun. Of course he jumped on a jumpsetter (but just on one and not on the judge!) and he jumped on me multiple times. But no matter what he ran by (refusals are not faulted in CPE, thankfully at least if your interest is in ribbon collection!) or after he jumped on me, Perky always returned to follow my direction, which was neat to see. Gradually he seems to be getting the right ideas...while still having a wonderful time out there. He had no contact or weave issues, no bars, no wrong courses, no back-jumps.......and he got 4 out of 5 "Q"s! What a fun and unexpected surpise! His only NQ was done by ME when I fell over the Gamble line on the ground! Just call me klutzy!

CPE 09226-04

CPE Level 2 (4 Qualifying Standard Legs and 2 of each Game)

Standard - CL2-R - 11/02/14

 7/20/13  CL2-Standard-Leg 1-CR                  2nd       49.10
 4/19/14  CL2-Standard-Leg 2- 5                  3rd       44.85
 4/19/14  CL2-Standard-Leg 3-CR                  1st       29.57
11/02/14  CL2-Standard-Leg 4- 5                  1st       36.56         CL2-R

Handler - CL2-H

 7/20/13  CL2-Colors-Leg 1-CR                    1st       19.00
 4/19/14  CL2-Colors-Leg 2-CR                    1st       22.78
 7/20/13  CL2-Wildcard-Leg 1- 1                  1st       35.76

Fun (CL2-F)

 7/20/13  CL2-Fullhouse-Leg 1                    1st       39 points
 1/05/14  CL2-Fullhouse-Leg 2                    2nd/3     22 Points
11/02/14  CL2-Jumpers-Leg 1-CR                   1st       18.63

Strategy (CL2-S)

 1/05/14  CL2-Snooker Leg 1                      3rd 4     45 Points

CPE Level 3 (6 Qualifying Standard Legs and 3 of each Game)

Standard - CL3-R - 11/02/14


Handler - CL3-H


Fun (CL3-F)

 4/05/14  CL3-Fullhouse-Leg 1                    2nd       20 points
 4/19/14  CL3-Fullhouse-Leg 2                    1st       25 points 
11/02/14  CL3-Fullhouse-Leg 3                    1st       45 points

Strategy (CL3-S)


Titles

11/02/14  27th  CL2-R

Here I go again writing a TOO long story about the silly things my Beardies do in the agility ring! Most people just like to post statistics, but I love to read about and write about what fun and funny things can happen while getting those stats. I used to write about Wizzie's antics and those antics are what I remember most fondly and vividly. A couple of people said they hoped I would eventually tell silly stories about my newest baby Beardie, Perky, who joined our family a long long time (6 years!) after our previous puppy, the Hooligan. Perky is just 16 months and just starting to compete and create his own book of adventures.

Perky started AKC trialing on his 16 month birthday (August 17), doing Novice Preferred at 16". He is still a little baby, does not even lift his leg yet (thank goodness!), but we call him our little per-colater, because he is just always so busy so bouncy and bubbly when he is out and about. He loves to play tug with me. I am not sure he really thinks it is play so we often call him our Schutzhund Beardie! Perky is very social which is great, however it raises BIG worries about his being TOO social in the ring and going to greet the judge or jumpsetters as long lost friends! Which of course he has done!

Memories of Wizzie flash through my mind. Wizzie did just that, or left the ring (there was no ring netting in those days) many times during his first year because no one was EVER a stranger to Wizzie and he just HAD to say hello! We honestly thought for that year Wizzie would never be an agility dog and almost had stopped training and trying to trial, when all of a sudden Wizzie seemed to realize he could have his fun "people treats" before and after his fun in the ring which he came to love almost....but not quite... as much as people.

Perky had 2 rehearsals before his AKC debut:

The first was in mid June, at a place very familiar (maybe TOO familiar!) to him. It was a venue called TDA(TeaCupDogAgility) for dogs over 1 year old, and measuring no more than 20". The first day I was going to run him on leash (FEO - for exhibition only) but a trainer said to go ahead without. Well, maybe there were a few good parts (and maybe one"Q"), but mostly Perky truly had fun! He was furious about other dogs in "His" tunnels, and said many "words" about that when outside the ring! He jumped on the judge, on more than one jumpsetter, and often on me. He tried to pull the chute to the finish line. He got his leash and ran around with it, trying to entice me to tug with him. Oh dear, I do LOVE for them to have fun, but I have to admit I embarrass easily, too! The next day I figured might be more of the same....maybe WORSE! After all, we maybe made a mistake when we registered Perky as Skyedance I've Got No Strings On Me!!! Well, perhaps Perky had gotten some of his hijinx out of the way the day before, because on Sunday he really kept his focus on me and what I wanted. He seemed to see that running a course at my direction was really fun, too! And the icing was that, instead of having a royal ruckus, Perky actually got 4 "Q"s! And his FIRST real title! The funniest co-incidence is that the novice standard title in TeaCup Agility is TBAD, which is now after Perky's registered name. It means TeaCupBeginnerAgilityDog! How fitting for a BAD Beardie! And Perky truly is a very BAD Beardie, who can't help being very cute, sweet, and loving, too, which of course all BAD Beardies are!

Perky's 2nd rehearsal before trying AKC was near the end of July, doing one day only of CPE at a place where he had never been. But he seemed very calm and relaxed, maybe because he had people and dog friends there. Of course I wondered about the calm before the storm??? The 5 classes were short and fun. Of course he jumped on a jumpsetter (but just on one and not on the judge!) and he jumped on me multiple times. But no matter what he ran by (refusals are not faulted in CPE, thankfully at least if your interest is in ribbon collection!) or after he jumped on me, Perky always returned to follow my direction, which was neat to see. Gradually he seems to be getting the right ideas...while still having a wonderful time out there. He had no contact or weave issues, no bars, no wrong courses, no back-jumps.......and he got 4 out of 5 "Q"s! What a fun and unexpected surpise! His only NQ was done by ME when I fell over the Gamble line on the ground! Just call me klutzy!

Now back to Perky's first AKC. I had entered him mostly to get him measured and actually thought we probably would not end up going because it seems other things keep happening time after time. I have not even been trialing Hoolie very much at all. The site in San Diego was new to us. It is very close to the airport with planes flying over low and often and LOUD. Hoolie LOVES them and chases planes at home, but ignores them in the ring, thank goodness! We didn't know how Perky would react to their super noise! However, the planes were drowned out by an even louder rock band performing across the street. But Perky was not bothered by that noise, just by the sound of other dogs running through "his" tunnels.

Perky's first class was JWW. He had a clean run, but lost some time going in a wrong direction, almost visiting the judge, but all in all he kept his focus and eye on me. And he had fun, too! In Standard, he again got a "Q" but he had a Refusal and a Wrong course called when he put one paw on the Walk. He does love his contacts (unlike Hoolie who is very allergic to them!) but I think he went there because I was unclear about the correct obstacle. Then Perky perched on top of theA-Frame seemingly forever as a huge noisy plane flew very close right overhead. I know he couldn't hear my "contact" command, but I think he was considering chasing it, too! So Perky did qualify again, but that long perch and the 2 faults cost him a bundle of time. Of course, he doesn't know or care about that. It was probably his most fun of the weekend! Of course the yummy mouthfuls of icecream on the way home weren't bad either! It was so much fun and such a surprise to get 2 Qs at Perky's first AKC trial. Being the eternal pessimist, I figured that was beginners luck and Sunday would probably be an embarrassing bust. So on the 2nd day, there was no rock band, and maybe fewer planes. Don't know about the dogs, but I missed the lively band! Again Perky had JWW first. He again lost some time noticing a dog outside the ring, but he still came right back with me, had a clean run and got another Q. That just seemed too amazing to be true, but we were so proud of his wanting to do things right, and having so much fun. Probably his favorite obstacle is the Poles and so far he has never faulted them in any trial. I just know I'll jinx it by saying that! And finally on to Standard, which started with a jump to the right side of a curved tunnel, then a 90 degree turn to the tire followed by the Walk. He did the correct entrance but I was out of position when he exited and so he went back over the first jump.Darn! Already one Wrong course! I figured this was not a good sign! But I got my confidence back when he did the A-Frame nicely, no pausing on top & contacts fine (again always fine, knock on wood!). Perky even did a wraparound entry into the Poles which I was really proud of! He only stopped to visit one Jumpsetter and that was AFTER the finish jump! And so Perky got another Q! It is just so much fun and so fabulous to Doug and me to have Perky end up getting a Q, let alone 4 Qs, when we only expected all sorts of green dog antics at his first AKC trial! The really neat thing I think is that Perky seems to fairly quickly be getting an understanding of what being in an agility trial ring is all about....and he is having lots and lots of fun doing it!

9/15/13

About Perky.....what a neat, fun little boy he is turning out to be! He seems to build on each trial getting more and more the idea of doing a full course, following my directions (which are far from perfect!) pretty well. That isn't to say the runs are faultless or totally smooth, but he really tries, and seems to have a lot of fun (of course, so do I !!!). And so, at this trial Perky added his 2nd leg in Open Preferred JWW on Sat. and on Sunday in the heat of the midafternoon at the end of the trial, Perky got his 2nd leg in Open Preferred Standard, with a totally clean run! What a way to end the trial! Honestly, Libby, I truly don't believe ANY of this, how such a young little thing, with really very little training and experience, could be getting Q's so often! I think I must be dreaming when I see the huge stack of BLUE ribbons (which are blue mostly because as you know Preferred classes usually have very FEW entries.....but I don't mind.....BLUE is FUN to have!!!).

Sunday's Standard run on 9/08/13:

And so are we having fun with him, now at trials as well as at home! We, being TOTALLY biased of course, have always told him at home that we think he is the best sweetest funniest most loving perkiest puppy in the whole world. Yes, PERKY is very lovingly perky all the time and we love him for that!!! Sarah and Doug

 

Thu, Sep 5, 2013

PERKY gets his first Open Std & JWW legs!!! And we all have FUN!!!

What FUN.... but HOT! HOT! HOT!... 4 days of trialing we just had over the Labor Day weekend! It was like a mini "Beardie Specialty" for us here in the Los Angeles/San Diego area because we seldom see more than one or two Beardies entered at any one trial. This time there were 6! Also making it more Specialty oriented, the trial was held on the same grounds as the 2012 National Specialty, but this time agility was in a covered arena, thank goodness!
Tracy Corey came over from Phoenix with her three: beautiful white Snow, Kinsey, and Novice Kiernan She was using this trial as a prep before attending the Specialty at Purina. Lucky her! I am VERY envious! Although we had met at the 2012 Specialty here, we hadn't trialed together since. So this was lots of fun to get to know each other! We set up together, shared stories, and cheered each other on (Doug taped her runs for her... on her camcorder... the only downside being that I wouldn't be able to replay them at home!). And she had many great runs to be proud of! Her Snow is closing in on her MACH and I believe she double-Q'd at least twice! Tracy also has a Novice Beardie who was in his first trial, only in JWW. Like my Perky, Kiernan was full of hi-jinx, often giving her his noisy opinions about what she "should" have done! The other Beardie in addition to my Hooligan and Perky, was Dixie a brown girl who has just started trialing and was there for 2 days in Novice. She is very cute, very fast, and very vocal! We had met her owners several years ago when we saw them with an adorable little 4 month old puppy. They live hours away from us but asked who I might suggest as an agility trainer. They ended up liking that trainer very much and she is the one who handled Dixie at this trial. That was because her owner/handler had broken her heel a year ago and still can not run on it. Dixie worked smoothly and fast, for her trainer, and I believe got all Qs! It was so much fun to see Dixie and her family again! And to have such friendly camraderie among all of us Beardie owners. That just made it extra specially nice!

Now to mention my two "hooligans"! Yes Perky can be a "hooligan", too! I have not trialed very much this year so when it looked like we might have a chance to do 4 days under cover, I entered both my boys, basically because it is something I and they love to do! Hoolie who would rather be fast than careful has never kept bars up very well, especially in the often deep loose dirt arena at Industry. In addition he is highly "allergic" to yellow, as I have mentioned before! However, Hoolie is pure joy to run. He constantly checks in with me, is so happy and eager and fast, that I just run him for the fun he gives me. And that means a lot to me. However, on the final Standard run Hoolie gave me a HUGE unexpected surprise. And it wasn't a Q! He did ALL 3 of his contacts, not by just a toenail, but actually holding them! The Teeter was the biggest miracle because he often leaps off before it has tipped very much. This started several years ago when he did a normal teeter contact but as usual I was way behind trying to catch up. Hoolie tried to get to me and crossed UNDER the descending teeter which hit him on the head! At his next trials he began wanting to get off the minute it started to tip. It has beenvery difficult to undo. However on this Labor Day, in both T2B and Standard, he nailed and held his Teeters....from a big distance, too! I almost hugged him then and there! Hoolie also stopped (and waited!) on the Walk, another shock! Since he usually does a running AFrame correctly, this was good too. And also Hoolie kept ALL the bars up!!! WOW!!! And so what did Sarah do? Typical.... I momentarily got lost and I SENT him to a wrong course tunnel!!!! Yikes! However, I think I was, and acted, so happy about the contacts and bars that some must have thought we got a MACH! For me it was just a great and very fun run...and Hooli thought so, too, as he chomped down his favorite goodies!

And lastly to the other "hooligan": our youngster Perky. Perky had had just one AKC trial under his belt. This was to be a new experience and test for him. First time competing indoors, a very noisy indoors, on dirt, with a second ring going at the time he was doing a run in his ring. as well as competing 4 days, and to top it off in very muggy high heat! Perky hates heat and sun, my first agility dog to be like that. However, fortunately, the trialing atmosphere so excited him (sometimes TOO much!) that I don't think he even felt the heat that was making us humans wilt!

And little Perky just keeps on surprising us, perking along! In spite of not much experiece, he always keeps focused on me MOST of the time. If I am unclear or slow, Perky gets mad barking and leaping at me, which has brought Refusal calls. This is his biggest problem and also causes a big loss of time, but we feel we can work this out eventually....and just want him to remain SO very happy and excited to be in, and get into, the ring. No contact or bar problems in 10 runs! Compared to Hoolie, it is a MOST welcome change! He also only had one time pulling out of the Poles, which are probably his favorite obstacle!

And so on the first day Perky got his titles in both Novice Preferred Standard and JWW! And a leg in his first time in Novice FAST! We were just very thrilled, expecting anything but Qs! What fun! It has been SO long since we have had a move-up to do! And we weren't sure this was the right thing to do, but if your dog isn't stressed by being in the ring, I think you can also learn a lot about your dog by actually competing. But we figured if the courses were too long and difficult, and he could NOT come close to qualifying, we could always go back to Novice at the next trial. So into Open Perky was thrown for the next 3 days!

His first Open run was JWW and it was actually better, smoother and faster than ANY of his Novice runs! So so proud of him! Open Standard was a different story, with right away an off-course into the wrong end of a tunnel as well as a couple of refusals, so no Q. On the 3rd day again no Qs, with us wondering if maybe we made a BIG mistake to move to Open??? But on the 4th day, Perky's runs were better again. An extra refusal & backjump in JWW meant no Q there. But in Open Standard (very similar to Excellent, with a difficult weave entry and exit) Perky managed to run nicely and ended the trial for us by getting his first Open Standard leg. SO I GUESS THERE is NO LOOKING BACK NOW!

Doug and I had such a great four day weekend meeting new and old friends again, playing the very fun game of agility with my fun buddy Hooligan who still thinks he can fly, and now with my little buddy Perky who always has fun.... whatever he does!!!

Sarah and Doug
Impy, Hoolie, and Perky

October 30, 2013

Dear Libby,

I know I told you I was going to write to you a few weeks ago! It seems that, like happens to you, the favorite people I want to keep in touch with, sadly get pushed behind my obligations. I wanted to congratulate you and Frolic for getting his HIT! And we loved the videos! Frolic looks great! We are very happy for you that he has SO much herding ability! And Frolic looks very happy out there, too! And now it is time to add another CONGRATULATIONs, for Frolic's first agility title!!! That is so wonderful and you must be very proud of him! I didn't know you could get the Strategy Level 1 title in one day. I did Level 2 with Perky because we wanted him to have the Teeter, etc in his courses to test his progress handling ALL obstacles, so we could see what his understanding was and if he could be ready to attempt an AKC course. We would love to see videos of one or more of Frolic's runs, whenever you have a chance to post them!

How did the Beardie supported trials go? Hope they were successful. I sure miss going North for all the Beardie events like we used to. What fun those times were!

Now to let you know about Perky's recent doings. It is SO funny you had recently written twice making sure we had seen the BCCSC notice about the upcoming Instinct Test and encouraging us to enter Perky! At that time I was writing my sad letter about my memories of Pat, and also was having many medical appointments. I also have been having much more pain than before, so I didn't know exactly what we could end up doing.. However, at about the same time, just SO VERY co-incidently, I got a call from Sherrie Bie (Hoolie's grandma) to tell me that the Beardie Bunch (the other Beardie club we belong to, located here in San Diego County) was going to put on a BCCA Instinct test in nearby(40 minutes away) Poway on Saturday Oct 19 at NOON! Logistically SO much easier for us than going to Palmdale (over 3 hours away and with a start time of 8 a.m., horrors!). And so we entered Hoolie and Perky at the Crazy Dog Ranch event. There were 8 Beardies tested. I do not think many passed, but I actually don't have a list. However, it was interesting to us (being Herding newbys!) and lots of fun! Especially since our mighty mite Perky passed!!! We are SO very proud of him. He seemed to naturally know how to drive the sheep and how to turn them, and he never lost interest. Unlike Hoolie! Very surprising that Hoolie had absolutely NO interest. He is SO intense in agility and Lure Coursing. He chases planes flying over our property, but I think maybe the years(he is almost 8) of obedience to NOT chase dogs in the ring, or cars on our street have inhibited him. I think possibly it is better to test a YOUNG dog before too much training or too many years have passed. So you can add whatever the initials are to Perky's name and picture! We know you wanted Perky to go for his test, so we guess you will be as pleased as we are! And it was really really FUN! We might even continue on with Herding training! We have not received the certificate yet, but it IS official. Speaking of pictures, we have both video and still pictures which we will send once all are collected.

Now on to more fun and more about pictures, video, and Versatility! Another video we have been trying to put together is about a VERY FUN and very surprising and great day where Perky got to do 3 different competing skills. This was at a Fun Match put on by the local Temecula Kennel Club. It offered CGC, Conformation, and Agility fun runs. I wanted to try CGC and Conformation, for neither of which has Perky had even the tiniest bit of training! The last touch of Conformation was at the 2012 Speciality when Perky was in the 4-6 months Puppy class! And the only resemblance to Obedience is what Perky has learned for Agility! Doug told me I was just perfectly STUPID to try for Perky's CGC!!! Maybe I am just obstinant? but I had faith in Perky to not be out of control.....plus it would show us what he could do or not do, for another attempt if needed. I really had no clue about what the CGC test would be like nowadays! Regardless, it would be fun and a learning experience! What a good little boy! I don't think he did anything the tiniest bit wrong. I worried about the "out of sight stay" with the tester, but Doug could film it all from behind the tent where we hid. Perky kept his eyes in our direction the ENTIRE time but never tried to get away from the tester. However he was over the top to see us return. And so now Perky has his CGC! And I have had the greatest time telling Doug he should apologize to Perky for having so little faith in our good little boy! I got the last laugh! And finally on to Conformation. It was a pretty small entry: no other Beardies and a small Herding group. Perky stacked and gaited fairly well and was great about the going over by the judge, though of course we were far from "professional" looking. And so he won the Herding group! What a day of surprises! He was doing an agility run when Best-In-Show was called to the ring. Of course I had time only to sort of smooth out his coat and try to catch my breath, and try not to panic about being way out of my agility element! Perky was a good little boy again, but of course he didn't win (you would have heard from me ages ago!!!). The winner was a very good-looking professionally handled German ShortHaired Pointer (by an associate of Valerie Nunez. Valerie now lives not far from us, but had just been at Purina Farms with Carole Desmond's dogs, he told me). So now we can sort of (jokingly, of course!) call Perky our Versatility Beardie: in one day Obedience (CGC), and Conformation (Herding Group), and Agility (fun runs). the next week Herding Instinct test, which Perky passed! What FUN! Even though all on the lesser side, these tests do show something about Perky's capabilities and willingness to cooperate.

We are SO proud of Perky and love him SO very much. Perky is just helping me so much at this time to deal with lots of stuff. And even Hoolie, who seldom qualifies, seems to be doing his part to cheer me up! In his last 2 trials, he got 2 JWW Qs, even though I am not running as fast or seeing as well. Incidentally, this is impacting Perky who does not understand when I am slower or am not timely, so more refusals and wrong courses are being called. So Perky has not been getting Qs as easily.....darn! In the meantime, we sincerely thank you for your prayers, good thoughts, and concern for me. Your kind words are honestly deeply felt and mean so very much to Doug and me. Thank you just so much from the bottom of my heart. And you know how very much the "perky" little gift you gave us has brightened my days! We love Perky very very much!!!! And we will get videos and photos off to you. And send me some of Frolic, too.

Good luck with all you do with Perky's big brother! Hi to Jack, and your Mom,too! Hugs to you all and the shaggy ones, too. Please keep in touch! With much love, Sarah


TDA D13286

Yes! PERKY got his TBAD this weekend! Seems just unbelieveable and unreal! Libby! We are SOooo excited!!! "Little" PERKY just got his very first title....and it is an official AGILITY title, too! Can't you just imagine how thrilled we are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is now almost one year ago that you met us in Buellton (can you believe a year?) to give us our "little best medicine man." And that is still his #1 title!!! I had no thoughts then that agility trials would ever be very much in the picture again, let alone so soon! And yet, in spite of huge breaks and little regular training, Perky has started competing already! He just LOVES agility, remembers what he learns, and seems to love to work/play with me! We had no idea our very playful Perky, (we call him the little "percolator!") would be ready now for competing! And you know how neat it is when the totally unexpected turns out to be so great. And we think you will be proud, too.

It was the relatively new Bud Houston organization for SMALL dogs measuring only 20" or LESS, called TDA (TeaCup Dog Agility). Dogs between 16" and 20" jump 16". So TDA signifies SMALL dogs! We have told you that Perky is little, that he wasn't 20" on his 1st birthday. Well, at the end of May our trainer informed us she was putting on a TDA trial at her place mid June and that dogs could enter as young as 12 months (like AKC did briefly) in a TDA trial! She measured Perky as 19-3/4 so we entered FEO (for exhibition only) where the jump height is 4" lower than regular, and they can use a leash (except on contacts). We thought FEO would be a safe introduction. But later she suggested I try Perky in Regular classes. Said I could change to FEO on Sunday if I felt Perky was over his head doing Regular. However she had much more faith in Perky than I did. Perky just seems still a baby to Doug and me.

We actually think Perky is growing now. The TDA judge measured him right at 20" on Saturday, and Doug and I measured him on Sunday getting a smidge over 20". So Perky may never be able to measure in for his needed 2nd TDA measuring. We don't care if he can't go on doingTDA . We are just very thankful that this small trial being held in a familiar place was where Perky could do his first trial experience. What a little pro and what a little "ham"! He did all the usual green dog hi jinx: visited a jump setter,and the judge, grabbed his leash to run and play with it, tried to pull and play with the chute. Yet he always returned to keep trying the course with me!

The Standard courses are judged very like AKC. Beginner has about 14 obstacles needing a totally clean run. I had thought I would be doing FEO on leash. Instead with great reservations I tried the regular runs. Still unbelieveable to me, Perky had 3 clean standard runs and missed a 4th by running by and then backjumping the LAST jump! Bummer! He also got a Tunneler games Q! Unbelieveable! Would never have dreamed it would be like this for us!

And so Perky is (very appropriately for a BAD Beardie!) now officially a TBAD dog! Isn't that funny that they use those initials for the title. TBAD means TeaCupBeginnerAgility Dog!!!

Will send a video and picture of Perky with his ribbons when I get to them. Also would particularly like to hear how Frolic is doing in agility, when do you plan to start him, or are you concentrating on other avenues for him right now ? Do you have any agility videos of him, like your wonderful herding videos?

Our love to you, and always many many thankyous for our happy silly sweet puppy! How much fun and joy he has brought to us! Great big hugs! And write SOON!!!! So proud of Perky, and how we love him so!

Sarah (and Doug)


Perky at 6 months

Just a Beautiful Soul!

LOVE his adorable face!

Perky (6mos) and Hoolie (6yrs)

Pals on a sit-stay!

Perky 6 months on his Megaball


USDAA U143678

 

Perky at 3 months

Hooli and Perky - 3 months


NADAC 13-06129

10	NJC		10		2014-05-31				UDAC May-14
10 NJC 20 2014-11-15 UDAC Nov-14
10 NAC 10 2014-05-31 UDAC May-14
10 NAC 20 2014-11-15 UDAC Nov-14
10 WV-N 10 2014-11-15 UDAC Nov-14

ASCA T8176

 

Lark

Lark

Lark's Puppies by Trip


Perky's Links

Skyedance - Perky's Grandsire


Ceilidh - Perky's Granddam



Lark


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