We have a practice day coming up on April 10th at Owl Hollow Farm. The information is available on the web-site under Earthdog practice. This is a great time to try out a new dog or start a puppy. It's also a chance to work through some training issues. There will be lots of people on hand who can help out with training. These things typically run from 10:00 til 2:00. If we're having fun, or we're not quite through, it could run longer. Hope to see you there.

My heart in my throat. Now I know what that means. Saturday morning I turned Rita loose on her first official Master hunt. She had practiced once three days earlier, on our home field with Sallie's Tate.I felt perfectly safe and at home there. Saturday was different. Different location, different running mate, chosen by random draw, no less, different weather conditions, different people with us in the field. The results though were the same. That girl loves to hunt! It was quite a treat to watch her scenting in the air and then on the ground,and running with abandon, or so it seemed. I thought several times, she's way off line, only to find out at the end that the judge had placed some scent in those locations to test their noses.We were fortunate to draw two good dogs to hunt with. Both were seasoned veterans and good methodical hunters. We saw a lot of old friends, and made some new ones this weekend. God, I love this sport.

Upcoming Events

Next week-end, March 6th, there's going to be a practice day at Wilson Farm. There's also a George Alston handling going on in Southern Pines.I'll miss the practice day since I'm in charge of the Alston Clinic. I'd love to be both places. Definitely though we'll be at Stokesdale the following week-end. We've had a lot of great times at that site, and we appreciate Sally Yancey's desire to keep it alive. We had the opportunity right before the Atlanta trial to help her out with some maintenance issues over there. I hope if the chance comes up you might help out too. Safe travels, and good hunting.

Atlanta Trip

This past week-end Lori, Debi, and I went to the Atlanta Terrier Club Earthdog test. I was thinking we might be crazy as we were driving into a snow storm. There was a four hour delay on the first day due to the weather and the fact that the club members were not able to finish the preparations on Friday, also because of the snow. We were still able to get in two tests on Saturday, and of course one on Sunday. We took Paddy (WFT puppy), Max (Scottie puppy), Ella (Norfolk bitch), and Tuff (Norfolk dog ME). We stayed with friends Darald and Ellen Avery in Mableton. We had a couple of really great meals there, and an especially good Chilean Pinot. My Paddy finished his JE on Sunday thanks to good breeding :) and of course his "personal trainer" Sallie Redding.

Ella got a Junior leg on Sunday but thumbed her nose at the whole concept on Saturday. And Tuff. What can you say? That dog is just a blast to watch work. He ran for grins and giggles only, but he ran great every time. Our friend Ellen got a second Senior leg on her Scottie dog Beck on Sunday. He's been giving her the same hard time that Rita gave me for so long. We should have named both of them WACO (we ain't comin' out). I think we're all looking forward to the Furniture City event next month, and of course the CTA event in April. We have some of our Border friends, Paul Emanuelson, and Gail Warnick, coming down from the Rivanna River Earthdog club to judge for us and also to apprentice. They have been nice enough to give me my first judging assignment at their test the first week-end in May.If you've never been to Palmyra you should go. The site is beautiful and the people there are great. You can get a Premium list to their test right here on the CTA site.

First post

I've never done this before, but it looks like fun. It will be a great way to keep up with what members are doing, and to keep everyone up to date on plans and events.
At our last meeting the decision was made to add another specialty show to our schedule of events. The Moore County Kennel Club has invited us to join them in September at their show grounds in Pinehurst NC. This will be an opportunity to practice, outside, on grass, just a few weeks before the Montgomery Co. week-end. Let's try to get the word out and strive for a good entry. We will be including a best puppy competition,as will Moore Co. throughout the rest of the week-end. Mary Jane is our judge on the day and Sally Yancey has stepped up to chair the event.
Our November date is unchanged, and Mary Jane is our show chair for that event.
We have several Earthdog happenings coming up. There is a practice day on April 10 2010.The actual tests are the following week-end April 17th & 18th.As always there will be a party on Saturday night. You don't want to miss this. Debi and her lovely assistants throw one hell of a party.
There is premium list for our event on this site, as well as ones for Furniture City and the Rivanna River Earthdog Club. All three of these will be good events and hopefully will be well attended. Lori and Debi and I just got back from the Atlanta Terrier Club event. More on that in the next post.

Our new blog!

Hello everyone. Over at Carolina Terrier Association, we've decided to start a blog. Regular updating will begin soon, but until then, enjoy this adorable Jack Russel puppy.