Barbie

NA Prize III

SUMMER, 2025

Well, we had a long and busy Spring/Summer jumping back into photography events. I lost track of time with puppies and Barbie having already finished her Championship. I realized on May 15th that the Space Cadets would be 16 months on June 1st - it was enough to kick me into gear.

We were able to find a NAVHDA NA test within a 5 hour drive, so I became a member and registered her as quickly as I could. Barbie and I headed out at 2:30am to very rural Minnesotan property.

Considering Barbie has had no formal training and hadn't seen a bird in ~6 months, she did great! She was a little lackadaisical at the start of the "hunt" portion. Not gunshy, ready to move, but a little too interested in the other humans we were walking with. She was very confused about the theme of the party.

We stopped on old scent a couple of times and let her work through it. Then, she did point very briefly and flush a bird before she really realized what had happened but oh, boy. She knew what party we were having then! It was game on. Since we had lapped the field, the judges planted another bird and Barbie headed right for it. She held point for long enough that I was alongside her when the bird flushed and she broke to leapt a good 6 feet in the air after it!

We had a great time chasing frogs for a minute before retrieving the bumpers from the water and the judges said her tracking was on-the-nose, just like her mom. I was overall very happy that two newbies came out of the test with a title and a prize! Seeing her score sheet and knowing she'd have been at a Prize I if she had pointed one more time just made me all the more proud. We will get there!

And she's a bird dog

SUMMER/FALL, 2024

Barbie has been absolutely loving her bird intros when she goes to Bird Dog School with Breeze. She has a very long nose and is amazingly tenacious. Thus far, she's held a point through a literal sonic boom (thank you political rallies in Milwaukee) and a train blowing its horn less than 100 yards away.

She might be as fun as her sister! We're going to start some scent work training and see what we can do with that as well.

BPUP Debut!

JULY, 2024

Barbara made her Beginner Puppy conformation debut winning BOB both days followed by a Group 4 and Group 3 from a lovely and large lineup of sporting puppies. Yay, Barbie!