April 16 & 17

On April 16 & 17 2011, our spring earthdog test will take place at Owl Hollow Farm. We're hoping for a good turnout. This year we have a couple of seminars that you'll find helpful. Jo Ann Frier-Murza is presenting " Handling Techniques for Earthdogs " on Friday afternoon. 4:00 is the projected start time. On Saturday afternoon Jo Ann has a short presentation on " The History of Earthdogs ". This will precede Richard Reynolds seminar entitled " Structural Priorities for Working Terriers ". While Richard's seminar is targeted at conformation judges, it is open to anyone. Space for these seminars will be limited so please keep that in mind. Our party has gained some notoriety. I've heard it mentioned in some far flung corners, in our travels. It sure is a great time, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.
This time around I seem to be getting more than the usual amount of inquiries from newbies. Let's all do what we can to make them feel welcome. I'm encouraging all of them to come to the practice day, which is April 9th, by the way. There, we can give them all the help they need, to determine if they're ready to come the following weekend.
Patrick Murphy, Debi Sutton, Sallie Redding, Lori, and I have made a few improvements on the site. It just keeps getting better and better.
Keep your fingers crossed for good weather, or bring a raincoat!

Steve

A lot has happened since my last entry. Our fall earthdog test has come and gone. It was very successful, as well as a lot of fun. We had our first Group Show at our new location in Pinehurst. We had a great entry of 104 dogs. Mary Jane Carberry was on the woolsack, and Gene Hains judged our Puppy group. We had a cookout afterwards and were able to enjoy some good food and fellowship. It seems that the "outdoors, on grass, 3 weeks before Montgomery was a good hook for us. Our November group show in Concord came off smoothly as well. Entries of 106, with Fred Ferris pointing the finger, and Bob Busby doing our puppies for us. My favorite part, of course, is the chili cookout. This year was particularly interesting to me. We had a large turnout of younger terrier handlers this time, some of whom, I overheard are turning 40. The best part was the kids that came along with them. Several toddlers were in attendance, and well behaved too. My daughter, Carmen, and her husband showed up for dinner, and after the crowd thinned out, told Lori and I that we are going to grandparents, again.
Sallie Redding, Jeannie Simmons, and Ursula Walsh are going to CA for the invitational agility event. We wish them luck. Of course they've got to be pretty good to even get invited. Safe travels ladies.
We are looking at adding some practice/work days to the schedule this year. We have some big plans for our spring earthdog event. There's a little work that needs to done around the course, and of course we should get in a little practice/play while we're out there.
Just a reminder, this is not MY blog. I'd sure love to see some more of you posting.
Oh yeah, Rita finished her master earthdog title in Palmyra, the weekend after our test.

Happy Trails
Steve

upcoming

Two weekends ago Lori, Debi, and I went to Louisville KY to a Scottish Terrier specialty. Lori showed our 10 month old male Dilligad Get Smart, Max, in sweeps and the 9 to 12 month puppy class. He won both of his classes. We got to see several puppies sired by Max's half brother Dilligad Urban Legend, call name Chase, ( his name was Cooper while he lived with us, after D.B. Cooper). Three of them, two bitches and a dog, I'd take home with me in a flash. We're getting ready for our first group show in Pinehurst NC on Sept. 17th. MaryJane Carberry is judging for us and Gene Hains is doing our puppy group. As usual for us, we're having a hospitality function after the show. We will have a member of the board of directors from the AKC flippin' burgers for us. There's only a handful of clubs in the country that could pull that one off. I hope that we'll see many of you there. It's always fun when we can get together for an event like this.
The weather is finally cooling off a bit so we can get back to work on our earthdog course, and get a little practice in. The next event is Nov. 6th & 7th. You can download a premium right here on the website.
On another note, anyone of our club members is welcome to use this blog. I'd love to see some more action on here.

Central States

Lori, Debi and I made a trip to Cincinnati this past week-end for the Wire Fox Terrier Club of the Central States annual specialty show. We saw lots of friends that we see only once or twice a year. They all still know how to party though! We had a great time! All three puppies from our last litter were there. I had Paddy, Lori had Fiona, and Karma was shown by Leonardo Garcini for her owners, Tracy DeLoria, and Joyce Diehl. I was quite pleased by how well they all did for such a young age. I was especially proud of Paddy with his Senior Earthdog title. He was one of only two dogs there with a working title. The other was a veteran bitch who needs only one more leg for her Master. The overall quality of dogs was better this year than it has been in the past, and the specials class was just as impressive as you would imagine it to be. We made some new friends this weekend and joined the club while we were there. What the hell, right?

May 1st & 2nd 2010. My friends at Rivana River Earthdog Club gave me my first judging assignment. It was greatly appreciated as well as enjoyed. These folks put on a really nice event. It was well organized and well run. I did IQ on Saturday, and JE on Sunday. I had a couple of Junior Handlers, who both did a really nice job. A young man with a Russel Terrier and a young lady with a Lakeland. Both qualified in IQ, and the girl with the Lakie qualified in JE on Sunday. I wish I'd had a most improved trophy to give away, as I remember this particular Lakeland bitch and the girl's father there in November. They've come a long way. I had a nice visit with Barbara Tiegen on Saturday. It's always nice to be able to keep up with what's going on in our sport around the country.There was a potluck dinner on Friday evening at Paul and Karen Emanuelson's motor home. One of my favorite things to do at things like this is to sit back and watch people as they discover Lori's Bananna Pudding ( notice the capital letters. It's that good.) This time was no disappointment. Pulled Pork was the Saturday night fare. I'm a barbecue fan, and I've got to give the Virginians their due. All throughout the weekend there were raffles and silent auctions. I actually won something in a raffle. It's a silver hip flask with the American Working Terrier Association logo on it. Anyone have doubts about whether or not it will get used?...... I didn't think so.The highlight of the weekend for me though, was Paddy's two, near perfect runs in Senior. This finished his title. Three legs in four runs. Not too bad. Those who are familiar with his mother's story know that her trek through senior was not measured in runs, but in years. Oh well. If it was easy anybody could do it.

Pictures

Hi there. I'm Carmen Eckard, Steve's daughter. I went to the even last weekend with my husband Jon, and we had so much fun. I just wanted to let everyone know that you can see our pictures from the event here.

April 17th & 18th

Earthdog done right! This was the word we got from one of our judges for the week-end. High praise indeed. It was a wonderfully orchestrated week-end. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and Owl Hollow Farm was in tip top shape thanks to Gary Howlet and his crew. Pat Matsuo did a wonderful job for us as our test secretary.Check ins,and "day of" entries all went smoothly.It was our first shot at doing two tests on Saturday and as usual we found a few things that will make it go better next time. We had a good qualifying rate with only a few creative performances.True to form, it was my Rita who was the most creative. Who knew there's a rule against running Senior and Master at the same time? As a most pleasant addition to the week-end, three of our kids showed up and spent Saturday evening and part of the day on Sunday with us. They're a fun bunch. People I truly enjoy spending time with.

Did I mention a party? Our traditional threebie ( Beer, Blues, and Barbecue )party just keeps getting bigger and better. The FOG ( four old guys ) blues band provided the entertainment for the evening once again, and it seems the older they get, the better they sound. There was domestic beer and wine as well as some great microbrews from The Carolina Brewery. Rumor has it that there was a bottle of Johnny Walker red label circulating among the VIP's.

Our AKC rep Barbara Tiegen was with us this week-end. It's been a year now since she came down and did a judges seminar for us. There are a number of us now who have completed all or part of our required apprenticeships to get our judging license. Some of our friends from Rivana River, Gail Warnick, and Paul Emanuelson, were with us this week-end doing IQ and apprenticing. They have given me my first assignment, judging IQ and JE on May 1st and 2nd in Palmyra.

Barbara did a write up on our event for the AKC web-site. It is very well written and has over 30 pictures! I don't know how in the world she kept up with everything, but all of the pictures have captions with names of people,and dogs, and in some cases which leg of which title! Great job Barbara. Thank you. You can find that write-up at

http://www.akc.org/events/earthdog/carolina_terrier/2010/ .

There will be some pictures coming soon. Stay tuned. We'll be making a few improvements to our site, and as always looking for ways to make this better and more fun.