High in Trial Haku!

Super proud of Haku, Carol took him up to Washington for his second herding trial – with a much more ambitious entry than our first attempt. A three day trial and he was running in both Started B (2 runs) and Intermediate A (three runs). Day one he just had the intermediate arena run – his first attempt and they went High in Trial with a 95.5! I tell you, sending your dog off to compete with an experienced herding handler makes you feel like your dog is just awesome. Carol said he was still polite, but definitely pushier than he was at the last trial – but obviously still very manageable. And that was with driving!

Day 2 they continued to rock it, with a Reserve HIT from his Started B course, and then also first place in Intermediate A again! Apparently they got lots of compliments and lots of witty comments about how Carol should get a border collie. No worries, as charming as Haku is, he is not luring Carol to the dark side.

Day 3 Haku stayed consistent, qualifying in all 5 runs over the weekend, which gives him a new intermediate title, another Reserve HIT and then a High in Trial Combined for the weekend – how awesome is that? This most definitely wouldn’t have happened had it been me handling him, but Carol and Haku made for a good team. Certainly not what I expected for his first trials, I knew he would have fun, but I don’t think of him as actually, well, trained. Luckily Carol knows what she’s doing!

It just makes me enormously happy that Haku got to have this trip, doing well is a nice bonus, but after 9 years of herding cats and chickens and toys for him to actually go herd ‘for real’ is kind of like Haku realizing his life’s ambition. I’m so glad he got to have this opportunity, and that we have slogged through it over the last couple years. We’ve had our ups and downs, but whatever happens now – HE DID IT! First herding goal complete, Haku competed in a couple trials this year – FOR REAL. Which is just so freakin awesome.

Carol ended up crated him at night this trip (ever since all the mayhem he created last time), she found that as long as there were no toys in the hotel room he actually just relaxed and didn’t drive the briards crazy. Though he would just lay in the middle of the room and softly whine in a very sad way. Haku definitely enjoys Fun Aunt Carol, who takes him both herding and dock diving. He thinks he doesn’t have to stop swimming when Carol tells him to. I find it very amusing as he never does that kind of thing with me – yet Carol is definitely no pushover, so I don’t know why he goes into Party Mode when she’s around. He most definitely had a good time though, and was MUCH less annoying than their previous trip.

The funny part is how completely unexcited Haku is to see me when I pick him up after being gone for 4 days. He’s always been like this though, he’s way too busy partying with all Carol’s fun toys to notice I’m around again. Border collies, they always believe you’re around somewhere, gotta love their self esteem.

Meanwhile, back at home we are taking it easy with our last week with Fig. She’s a bold little thing that makes herself at home wherever she goes, so I really do feel she’s going to have a giant party back at Karen’s – she’ll probably never think of me again! But we had a good time together, she’s a nice girl and I think she’ll grow up to be a nice dog. Bright will miss her, I think, but the boys … not so much. What we need to do here is get a boy puppy for a while and see how that changes the dynamics. Bright seems surprisingly into the girls, but the boys are not so fond of them. That may just be true for all puppies though, Navarre is sure he’s still the puppy and he has little patience for them once the initial shine wears off. Fig has gotten to run a bit wild this week, when I’m not thinking of long term training goals I’m much more relaxed. She’s just got to be a fun, happy 5 month old puppy – her many fans will miss her around here.

Ready for a border collie break, I’ll admit, but if Sarah needs me to watch a stafford puppy for a bit – I’d be tempted. I do very much miss my Eva. I’ll enjoy going and visiting with Mercy’s puppies this weekend, I think. I’ll get my staffy puppy fix one way or another. Also hoping we may have found a wonderful dog for Dove’s first litter next Spring, which may be harder to resist if there is a puppy that speaks to me then. I’m still looking at 2020+ though, and it’s fun to consider the possibilities.

I think we finally, for real, are done with summer this time. We had a burst of hot weather last week that wasn’t horrible, but still hot enough to make me feel grumpy. Cool weather makes me and the dogs SO HAPPY. Navarre and I continue to work on tightening up his agility, and he ended up getting to run with a very talented handler in class last week who was quite the mover – Navarre LOVED it! And it was fun to watch Navarre run from the outside, he is such a nice dog … though I may be biased.

I got my rain gear for herding practice this winter, we have no more trialing plans at the moment, definitely no AKC trials around anywhere until April – so no more conning Carol to take Haku on herding adventures while I stay at home and relax. I am going to attempt a USBCHA herding trial around here locally at some point, yes, with me actually handling him. But I’m in no big rush, I personally don’t feel at all prepared to actually trial with him – Haku knows a lot more about herding than I do. Probably always will. But time goes by quickly, I want to get in as much as we can while Haku can still physically hold up for it.

As for agility, Navarre and Bright have a busy October coming up, with three trials – 2 AKC and 1 USDAA. Trying not to enter too much though, our next trial is just premier, just doing one day of USDAA and limited on the next trial as well. Then it starts slowing down and getting cold, but we’ll have a few more trials before the end of the year. Navarre may or may not go to herding camp at that point – we shall see how he’s doing and whether I think it’s worth it.

Funny how it just feel like it’s almost 2019, I’m already thinking ahead to what long term goals I may have. Navarre does feel more grown up sometimes, so I’m thinking by the magic age of 4 we may give going to World Team Tryouts a go, just for fun. It would mean a season of jumping 24, which at almost 22 inches is not a huge jump for him. Not something I feel the need to do long term, but he may be ready to play around a little. Which puts him going to tryouts around 5, which I think is about perfect for my big dorky boy. If we don’t have our shit together by then, well, that’s a sign.

And at some point Dove and Navarre need to go to AKC Nationals, traveling with Heidi is a blast and we already decided at the last nationals that we should make it happen. As to when our goofy puppies are actually going to qualify, that’s another story.

Also thinking about flying out to Fenzi Camp next year, as I did very much enjoy it last year. I looked into Clickerexpo which is in Portland this year and I just didn’t see enough things that interested me to justify the price. Fenzi camp is much cheaper, so add in the travel and it’s probably about the same – but more relevant to what I’m interested in. They don’t have the details out yet, so no rush on deciding on that.

Oh, and going to Europe at some point, maybe next year. Because I want to check out some places if I ever decide to move overseas – and it would be fun to have a ‘big’ vacation, which I don’t really do (ever). So I have some ideas I’m considering, but nothing firm yet. It’s not as expensive as I thought it was, and I haven’t been since I was 18 – 2019 may end up to be an adventurous year.