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October 2011 The pups had a blast at the Ririe trials. This was our last trial of the year (sob) and we set out with the intention of having a great time. The courses were nice and roomy . . . lots of fun for the big guy. He picked up two Master's Excellent Preferred legs. Doug and Helki earned three Master's Excellent Preferred legs and one Master's Excellent Jumpers leg with a double Q on Saturday. Way to go guys!
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We had a wonderful weekend in Boise. We camped out at the fairgrounds and had a great time catching up with friends. The courses were challenging, but very fun to run. Gavin picked up a Master's Excellent Preferred leg in Standard with a first place. Helki earned two Master's Excellent Preferred legs in Jumpers and one Master's Excellent Preferred leg in Standard.
We received our GSDCA Review and were very excited to see Mercy listed as the #2 dam for Annual Training Achievement Awards. We were also surprised and happy to find Helki in the top ten obedience rankings for 2010. Cool Beans!
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Helki and Doug had a great weekend at the Pocatello Agility Trials. They earned two Masters Excellent Preferred legs and finished their Masters Excellent Preferred title.
Helki also tried lure coursing for the first time and LOVED it! She had a blast running after the lure and completed two Coursing Ability Tests.
Gaines Photography
September 2011 Helki earned her second CDX leg with a 192.5 and a first place in Open A.
August 2011 Gavin earned his first Utility leg! WOOHOO!!!
Gaines Photography
Helki also earned her first Open obedience leg with a 195.5 and a first place.
July 2011 We are very excited to announce Mercy is the #2 ATAA Dam for 2010.
Mercy at age 10 with her contributing progeny, Helki and Gavin.
June 2011 Zen's litter has arrived . . . mom and all three boys are doing wonderful! Click here to visit our puppy journal!
May 2011 Thank you so much to the Fitzpatrick family for the following photos of Koda.
And thank you Sue for your letter and photo of Imara!
April 2011 The trial season has finally started again . . . woohoo! We had a great time at our club's trials in Ririe. Gavin earned his first Q's at the Master's level with two Master's legs in Excellent Standard & two first places. Doug and Helki earned a Master's leg in Excellent Jumpers and a Master's leg in Excellent Standard also with two first places.
We are also happy to note that Zen has been bred to Zamp vd Urbecke for a summer litter. It's been a long time since our last litter and we are very excited!
December 2010 Helki was the recipient of the USRVDTC Trophy for High Scoring Dog in Regular Obedience for 2010.
November 2010 A big thank you to Fran Jewell from Positive Partners Assistance Dogs for your letter and photos of Isabella in training. Fran had the following to say in her letter about Isabella, "I just love this little dog. She is a dynamo. She works her heart out when she is asked, and she is a love to live with."
We're happy to note that Isabella has OFA 'Good' hips and 'Normal' elbows.
We're so proud of you Iz!!!
October 2010 - What a busy month!!! 10/29-10/31 The pups had a super weekend at our club's trials in Ririe. Gavin finished his Excellent Jumpers Preferred title. Helki earned two Masters Excellent Preferred legs, as well as two Masters Excellent Jumpers legs. She also earned her first official double Q on Sunday. And, despite a spastic start to the weekend, Rain managed to finish her Novice Agility title. Way to go sheps!
10/12 - 10/15 We just got home from the German Shepherd Dog Club of America Nationals. What an amazing week! Gavin earned first place in Excellent A Pref JWW on Tuesday and on Wednesday. Doug and Helki brought home first place in Excellent B Pref Standard on both days. The club provided silver bowls and collars with "GSDCA Nationals Agility" printed on them for all first place recipients.
On Thursday, we took the dogs to Snow Basin and enjoyed a beautiful fall hike. The leaves on the aspens were golden and the weather was perfect. The dogs had a great time running on the trails.
On Friday, Helki worked her little tail off in the obedience ring. What an amazing girl . . . smiling in the heeling, straight in front, fast on the recall. She ultimately earned a 197 which put her in second place and earned her a GSDCA Obedience Elite Medal. Only later did we find out that if she had won the runoff for first place, she would have been high in trial. I am so proud of our little black and red girl.
I am just as proud of my big guy. He had a really nice run in Versatility and even brought me the dreaded glove #3 (after he gave it a big shake). However, he didn't drop all the way on the recall and NQ'd. Super weird as that's typically his best exercise . . . guess that will be filed away in the 'stuff happens' file.
We had a great time at Nationals and I am very proud of Doug, Gavin and especially little Helki. :-)
10/1-10/3 Doug and Helki had some wonderful runs at the Pocatello agility trials. They earned two firsts and finished their Excellent Jumpers Preferred title. What an awesome team!
Gaines Photography
In typical "Mr. Consistency" style, Gavin ran once, Q'd, and finished his Excellent Standard Preferred title. Way to go big guy!
Gaines Photography
I want to say thank you to my friends in the 'Pray for Rain' Prayer Circle . . . it's because of you guys that miracles do happen! Rain aka "Wild Woman" went to her first agility trial and earned two Novice Standard legs. Hallelujah!
Gaines Photography
I also want to say thank you to Randy Gaines from Gaines Animal Action Photography. We're so grateful for your amazing photographs!
September 2010 Helki finished her CD in Farmington with a second and a third place. :-)
Now for the best news in a long time . . . the building is finally finished!!! We now have 2,600 sq. ft. for agility, rally, and obedience training.
August 2010 Helki earned lots of belly rubs at the Idaho Falls obedience trials. She qualified for the first two legs of her CD with a 195.5 and a 195. Good girl Helki!!!
Gaines Photography
We also received Gavin's OFA report and he carries two normal copies of the Degenerative Myelopathy gene. This means his progeny will never develop DM.
July 2010 We had a great time camping and hiking with all of the dogs. Gavin was up to his usual hilarious antics. First he proceeded to drag a small tree around camp encouraging everyone "please throw this for me." Then, one evening we were all sitting around the campfire, eating dinner when we heard a metal ting-ting noise. Looking around for the source of the noise, we realized Gavin was sitting at the door of the camper jiggling his metal bowl in his mouth as if to say "Hello? Where's my steak dinner?" His begging skills really have become world class.
June 2010 We took all of the dogs to see "Marmaduke" at the drive-in. We had a good laugh as Gavin squeezed between the front seats and would barely take his eyes off the screen. I haven't ever seen a dog focus so intently on a movie . . . maybe he can just relate to the whole big, goofy, boy dog theme.
Movie time!
(L to R: Mercy, Helki, & Gavin)
After our late night at the movies, we took the whole pack to "Paws for a Cause". Our club does an agility demo at a local charity event at an Assisted Living Center every year. I love to take our dogs and visit with some of the senior citizens. The dogs really love the attention and I love to see people's faces light up when they pet the dogs.
We worked with each of the dogs on the agility equipment. I even took Mercy out for a few runs. She will be 10 this fall, so we only did a low table, some contacts, and a few tunnels. She really cracked me up when she did the first tunnel. I sent her through and she came rocketing out the other side and pounced on me like "Ha! I forgot how much fun this is!" She still acts like a big puppy . . . what an awesome girl.
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We spent Father's Day weekend at the Blackfoot, Idaho agility trials. Helki and Doug had some super runs. They even earned two first place finishes in Excellent Standard Preferred. That's their first two legs toward the MXP! Woohoo!
Gavin earned two first place finishes in Excellent Standard Preferred. He's a super cool dog!
Also, thank you and congratulations to Diane for the wonderful news about Sierra! Hi Shyne & Doug, I AM SOOO PROUD MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL! She scored in the 90th percentile on her Penn Hip tests. I am wondering if this is the norm for all in her litter. This has to be one of your most exceptional litters ever! I took her to the only certified Penn Hip vet in our area. He is located at Washington State University in Pullman. That place had so many dogs & people it was amazing just to sit & watch the comings & goings while Sierra was with the vet. Sierra garnered so much attention from the staff I couldn’t believe it. EVERYONE that came in contact with her came to us & said what a wonderful dog we had. The term “sweet” was used at least 4 or 5 times by as many individuals. The doctor & his 3 assistants were the most complimentary about her temperament & especially her physical condition. Her hair is soft & shiny, she is hard all over with excellent muscle tone & weighs 63 lbs (she ranges between 63 & 65 lbs) . . . She’s so wonderful I could brag on her all day. I know I owe a large part of it to her early handling by you folks. We will be working on her good citizenship certificate this year & hope to start agility since it is now safe to let work. Thank you again for such a wonderful dog! :<))
May 2010 The GK crew had a super Mother's Day weekend. Gavin finished his Open Standard Preferred and Open Jumpers Preferred titles. The big guy made it to thirteen Q's in a row. A back jump on the fourteenth run ended our Q streak, but man it was fun while it lasted! :-)
Doug and Helki had a super weekend. They finished their Excellent Standard Preferred title! Way to go guys!!!
Gaines Photography
April 2010 We spent Easter weekend at the Ririe, Idaho agility trials. These trials are sponsored by our home club, so we had a great time catching up with friends. Who knew huddling around a propane heater could be so much fun?!
Gavin continued his Q streak with a 6 Q weekend. He now has 10 straight qualifying runs. He finished his Novice Preferred titles and earned two Open Jumpers Preferred legs, as well as two Open Standard Preferred legs. (Geez, I think he really likes running Preferred!)
Doug and Helki had lots of wonderful runs. They even earned a first place in Excellent Standard and a first place in Excellent Jumpers. I'm so proud of how they are doing. I'm especially proud of Doug - he has become such an amazing handler!!!
Thank you so much to the Stokes family for your wonderful letter and photo of Nina!
"Hi Shyne, it has been awhile since I have shared a photo or an update, but I feel like a broken record about our Nina. She is simply the best dog EVER. In fact, I am hesitant to think about adding another dog to our family because I am afraid she has set the bar so high. However, this is one of the reasons I am writing. We would eventually like to add to our family with another one of your pups . . . Also, the attached photo is from Halloween this year. Nina is fascinated by this holiday and the whole “ring-doorbell-greet-kids-give-candy” ritual. I set the bowl of candy on the steps not thinking that it one of her favorite spots when the door is open and she has full view through the storm door. I came around the corner when the doorbell rang to find her patiently waiting for the next trick-or-treater. Love. This. Dog."
Thank you to the Fitzpatrick family for your letter and holiday photo.
"All is going well here. Koda is
having lots of fun terrorizing the birds in the yard and enjoyed an
outing to Lowe's Hardware store today. She is shedding her winter
coat like crazy, but she loves being brushed. I have little
"Chihuahua's" in the house. At least that is what I call all the
little puffs of hair she's losing. I am vacuuming 2-3 times per
week, it's crazy. You'd think she'd go bald by now. The weather here
can't seem to make up its mind if it is going to be hot or cold, so
I think she holds onto her hair one day then it warms up and it all
falls off like leaves on a tree in the Fall.
March 2010 We had another great weekend in Caldwell, Idaho. Gavin finished his Excellent titles back in January, so we decided to start all over in Preferred. He must really love to run at 20" because he qualified in all four of his runs with three first places and one second place. Look at this big sheppy grin!
Gaines Photography
Doug and Helki had some really great runs. They even earned their very first Excellent Standard Q on a very tricky course. Go Team Helki!!!
Gaines Photography
February 2010 Shyne has been certified as an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator.
January 2010
(L to R: Doug, Helki, and AKC Judge Jan Skurzynski)
Okay, so the photo above isn't the best quality, but if you note those grins, you'll know there's a great story behind it! Doug and Helki had a super weekend in Farmington, Utah. They had a first and a second in Open Standard and a first place in Open Jumpers. The really cool part is, they earned their Open Jumpers title and their Open Standard title!!! I'm so proud of these two. They've become such an amazing team!
Not to be outdone by his little sis, Gavin earned his Excellent Jumpers title and his Excellent Standard title with two first place finishes. Four titles in one weekend - what a great way to start the year! :-)
Thank you to the Dean family for this awesome photo of Shackleton. We wish you all the best with your avalanche dog training in 2010!
Click here for news from previous years
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