Yeah, we accomplished our goal.. :)

Yep, about damn time I was back on here!  Lots of updates, need to get out the calendar so I can jog my own memory on what the heck has been going on..

I think I'll start with the exciting news..  Cooper

Yes that is the 4th ribbon we had set out to earn this year!!  Which means he got his 4th pass, earning his Started Title..  Whooohooo....  We were over in Chewelah WA for the hunt test, it was a long drive but a nice area to go to.  We had a really great weekend, took all 3 dogs with us so that Cooper would stay relaxed and not get stressed.  Getting this 4th ribbon did not mean we got an easy pass, as usual Cooper tested my patience and was trying to make a fool of me in the middle of his test.  The good thing we did see is that it appears he is probably 80% over his bird issues as far as not wanting to pick them up, now he's just being a bit naughty because he gets to the bird and realizes there are far more interesting things out in the big field for him to sniff out, so he goes on "Walk-a-bouts" while in the middle of his tests!  G-Damn dog!!  lol

But the judges were patient, as was I..  I did not use ANY negative vibes and kept my talking to a minimum and actually the way I got him to pick up the bird finally was a new method I had to come up with on the spot and that was to show him I was leaving without him and turn my back to him and walk away..  That FINALLY prompted him to pick up the birds and come back to me!!  And of course swimming was his strong suit and he handled those retrieves perfectly..

Our hard work paid off, it's been a long journey this summer with him.  We feel he needs to see LOTS more fresh live birds, more dead birds from fresh hunting scenarious and a lot more field work of him just getting over the novelty of being loose out in a big field with so many smells!! 

~  Today (9/27) is Cooper's 2nd Birthday  ~

After our pass, at the ribbon ceremony on Saturday evening, we knew we were going to get wet.  Tradition is that your dog gets wet for you in the hunt tests; therefore, you will now get wet for your dog when the title is earned.  Derek wanted to take the honors because Cooper is his dog and he trains him, but I was not about to give up my seat because I felt I earned that dousing as well by training Cooper and running him in these tests..  I was not willing to let him take the honors on his own..

I earned that seat next to him on the bench!

It was only about 50 degress outside at this point, you can see the moon was out, so this was not a warm part of the day.. just hours earlier it had been 90!  As I sat in anticipation awaiting a VERY cold dumping, I was not expecting that when the water finally reached my body, it was WARM!!  I could feel on my right arm very cold water and I quickly realized that my HRC friends were looking out for me..  lol   I rather enjoyed my dousing of water, while Derek on the other hand got the full honors of the traditional dousing by getting the COLD water dump!  :)  It was hilarious!!!