October 11, 2016 - Gotcha and Trumpet did the night run around the pond together. Gotcha is wonderful!!!!! straightened  Trumpet right out let her know her position in the pack (down with snail poop) and then said Chase Me! Bahahahaha! Catch me, You Can't!

August 19, 2016 - Trumpet is now 13 weeks old. Her training day always begins with progressive singles with live wing clipped pigeon flyers in our front pasture, which is a cut grass field. Today Trumpet did three progressive marks the longest mark being close to 70 yards. We release her to retrieve when the pigeon is at the top of its arch in flight, this produces speed, (as she will try to beat the bird to the ground) it also increases focus as she keeps her eye on the prize and helps her develop confidence. (video coming) Midday, Trumpet works on learning utility article's (scent discrimination) for future use when she will pursue her utility obedience title. We believe that this obedience exercise is best taught and understood long before we start field  force fetch. (Video coming) In mid-afternoon Trumpet  enjoys a long hike around the pond and a few fun retrieves from different prospectives around the pond.

August 13, 2016 - All things are milestones in the life of a puppyJ but being housebroken is high on the list. Today is the second day in a row that Trumpet has actually asked to go out when she needed to go. Making life much nicerJ. She is connecting the dots. A trip to the vets office yesterday at 12 weeks old for her first shot. Trumpet weights 19 lbs.

August 8, 2016 - California is a great place. We arrived at the San Francisco airport on July 3rd at 10 in the morning planning on hanging out for a few days, visiting both Napa and Sonoma, eating at The Girl And The Fig, one of our favorite California eating places, visiting with the puppies and  training with Cheryl and Chris who owns Trumpet's dad Kyhber. It was wonderful to be able to train with Kyhber. We had heard so many good things about him, but seeing his joy in his work was very rewarding. Cheryl's choice for Roca was a really good one. Needless to say it was a busy 4 days. Trumpet picked us hands down on July 5th in less than five minutes! She felt so right the moment I picked her up, our energy was absolutely compatible.

   July 7th came and we were off to the airport Trumpet in tow. Stuffed into her Sherpa bag she made the trip uneventfully and sound asleep under the seat ahead of me. It was 7:30 Thursday evening by the time we arrived home. Poor little Trumpet was wiped out but managed to take her first hike around the training pond after dinner and then sat in a chair around the fire table  on the patio till after ten scoping out her new digs and being played with. When put up for the night, she slept all night, not a peep.

August 10, 2016 - Trumpet has been here in the Midwest for five weeks. From day one, she has had a ten-foot umbilical cord attached to her collar. This ensures that she never gets into anything that could harm her with the added advantage of creating a puppy /human bond. Eherever we go she, goes be it a hike around the pond and property or sitting out on a mark with either John or myself and watching the performances of the bigger dogs. (monkey see monkey do). Along about 10 weeks, Trumpet decided that she could play a game of catch me if you can ...... OK time for a little attitude adjustment and a small lesson on the beginning of pressure. A small (3 links) pinch collar and a introduction to our training building where John and I call her back and forth between us using the "here" word with a slight amount of pressure on her umbilical cord attached to her small pinch collar. Less than five minutes and we no longer had to have her umbilical cord in our hand; she responded instantly to the "here" command and still does today no matter where we are. A testament to early learning and stimulation Everyday starting at nine weeks her swimming lesson always began with john and I on opposite shores on the pond (very short at first, about 20/30 yards) and calling her between us. She learns to swim without also trying to multi task and making a retrieve. When her swimming became strong and her confidence grew we would start to toss a dummy to her as she came close to the shore. This progressed to us being able to start tossing a dummies off the shore for her to retrieve. At nine weeks, she was on the retrieve! Now that Trumpets "here" command is taught and strong, we are beginning to throw progressive singles with live flyer pigeons on cut grass in the front pasture. She is doing great and bringing those birdies right to hand.