2011 - A Year in Review

We're so proud of 2011 and how well our dogs did in everything we asked of them. Here are some highlights:

ATLAS
Atlas has had an amazing year, as always. What makes this year remarkable is not what he accomplished, but the consistency he has shown at the age of 9 years old. He has continued to excel in conformation and performance!

Performance accomplishments:

• In March after a long time away from agility, he came out and earned two qualifying scores.
• Three perfect scores in UKC Rally and many scores in the high 90s.
• 89 UKC All-Star points in Rally Obedience 1 which will rank him in the UKC All-Stars (tentatively #3) of all dogs of all breeds.

Conformation accomplishments:

• 2011 WGSDCII National Specialty Best of Breed and Grand Victor and Select 1
• Best of Breed in the German Shepherd Specialty at the UKC Premier
• THREE UKC Best in Multi-Breed Show Wins taking his career total to 12
• Six UKC Best Veteran in Multi-Breed Show Wins
• 74 UKC Top Ten points which will rank him in the UKC Top Ten (tentatively #5) for 2011, his 9th year in the Top Ten.

To top it off, Atlas also won his fourth UKC Total Dog award. He also sired an amazing litter that was born in March and has already earned multiple titles!

MIRA
Mira had another great year in agility and rally. We entered 2011 needing just a few Qs for her Canine Performance events Agility Trial Champion title and she earned it in February. She was also able to come back and earn another champion title, this time in the enthusiast division in August! We also competed in her first national agility event and she did very well there. She continues to show a remarkable level of consistency in agility at eight years old. My our math, she earned 72 qualifying scores in agility this year in three different organizations. Pretty amazing for a dog her age!

Her accomplishment this year include:

• Canine Performance Events Agility Trial Championship (C-ATCH)
• Canine Performance Events Enthusiast Agility Trial Championship (CT-ATCH)
• Earned 24 legs towards her second CPE Enthusiast Championship (CT-ATCH2)
• Earned 45 points towards her UKC Agility Championship
• UKC Rally Obedience 3 Title (URO3)
• Earned 32 points toward her UKC Rally Obedience Championship
• Earned 4 legs toward her UKC Rally Obedience Excellent Title 

VEGAS

Depending on how you look at it, I suppose you could say that Vegas didn't accomplish a lot this year. She didn't compete in any performance events and wasn't shown in conformation. However, in our eyes, Vegas had her best year ever. On March 26 she gave birth to a litter of seven puppies sired by Atlas. We have to give Atlas a little credit on the genetic side, but it was Vegas who raised the pups and got them started in life. This litter is only eight months old and has surpassed our expectations in this short time. We already have three UKC Champions, two UKC Champion pointed, a UKC Rally title, legs towards a UKC Rally Title and towards a UKC Grand Championship. We could not be happier with what she produced in both structure and temperament.

Vegas also went with her breeder Eclipse Kennels (also the breeder of her litter) to the German Shepherd Dog Club of America Temperament Test this year. She passed the test and this earned her a Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) number. She is only the fourth white GSD to earn a CHIC number (Atlas was #1). We're very happy with what Vegas has accomplished in 2011!

ANUBIS
Poor black dog didn't get quite as much time trialing this year as in the past because we let Nadia have a lot of time. He still enjoyed training and he did get out to a few trials. He picked up seven Qs in CPE and he got his first Q in NADAC this year. Hopefully in 2012 he'll have some more opportunities to play. We're still proud of his Qs in 2011.

NADIA
Of all the dogs, Nadia probably had the most surprising year. She started competing in agility in January with VERY little training. It was more of a test to see what she would do in a trial. She not only Qed, she had a perfect weekend that first weekend with three new titles! And she hasn't looked back since that first weekend. She's been outstanding in agility. In 2011 she did 58 runs and she Qed in 49 of those! That's an 84% Q rate on a dog with very, very little training. She's working in Level 3 in CPE and in Level 2 in UKC. She also had a great year in conformation and rally.

Her accomplishments this year include:

• CPE Level 1 Enthusiast Fun Agility Title (CTL1-F)
• CPE Level 1 Enthusiast Handler Agility Title (CTL1-H)
• CPE Level 1 Enthusiast Strategy Agility Title (CTL1-S)
• AKC Rally Novice Title (RN)
• CPE Level 1 Enthusiast Regular Agility Title (CTL1-R)
• CPE Level 2 Enthusiast Handler Agility Title (CTL2-H)
• CPE Level 2 Enthusiast Strategy Agility Title (CTL2-S)
• Clever Canine Companions Outstanding Versatility (OV)
• APDT Rally Level 1 (RL1)
• CPE Level 2 Enthusiast Fun Agility Title (CTL2-F)
• UKC Agility I Title (UAGI) 
• GSDCA Temperament Certified (TC)
• Canine Health Information Center number issued (only 5th white GSD with a CHIC number)
• Winners Bitch at WGSDCII Show for a four point major

LUXOR
Since Luxor didn't exist when 2011 started, he definitely had a great year! His first outing was the WGSDCII National where he competed in the "Personality Puppy" competition which he won. He sure has a personality! His first time in conformation in July he took Best Novice Puppy in Multi-Breed Show over six other puppies. He did well as a baby and has competed in just four "adult" (over six months old) shows and has earned his UKC Championship and a leg towards his grand. He's also already earned a leg in performance and a Total Dog award at seven months old! We're so proud of what he has accomplished this year!

Luxor's accomplishments this year include:

• White German Shepherd Dog Club International Dorothy Crider Personality Puppy Award 
• Best Novice Puppy in Multi-Breed Show (twice)
• Reserve  Best Novice Puppy in Multi-Breed Show (twice)
• UKC Championship
• One leg towards UKC Grand Championship
• One leg towards UKC Rally Obedience 1 Title
• Total Dog Award at 2011 UKC Gateway Nationals (at seven months old!)
• Herding Group IV in Total Dog competition at 2011 Gateway Nationals

 

OTHER NOTABLE DOG ACHIEVEMENTS

I was going to call this "co-owned" dogs, but many of the dogs above are co-owned. The above dogs are the ones where we have done a good portion of their training. HOWEVER we couldn't have achieved any of these accomplishments on Vegas, Nadia, Atlas or Luxor without the help and support of Eclipse Kennels.

Here are a few other dogs we are proud of in 2011 that we're involved with, but where the credit goes to someone else:

BENTLEY

Eclipse's Drive For Excellence (Bentley) is a littermate to our Luxor and we co-own her with Mary Stacey of Excellence Kennels. Mary has a great focus on conformation and performance and what she has accomplished with Bentley really lives up to her focus. Bentley has earned both her UKC Rally Obedience 1 title and her UKC Championship at the tender age of 8 months old! Great job Mary - we can't wait to see what 2012 holds!

IVY

Eclipse's Argent Sun (Ivy) is another littermate of Luxor and we co-own her with Monique. Ivy earned her UKC Championship with multiple Best of Breeds and Group placements in 2011. She was handled by Monique for all her wins and we're very proud of them both.

 VIVA

Eclipse's Viva Las Vegas (Viva) is a third littermate of Luxor. We don't co-own her - she's owned by Carrie Grose-Phares and Eclipse Kennels. Viva has earned all three of her competition wins towards her UKC Championship and just needs points to finish her championship. We're very proud of her as well.

Thank you to everyone who helped us achieve our goals for this year!

• Tim Karsjens - patiently holding down the fort at home when the dogs are at shows (and for attending some shows as well with his great handling!)
• Donna and Mike Beadle (Eclipse Kennels) - thank you for your support and for breeding great dogs. Thanks for helping with handling and getting dogs to events and taking care of the dogs when we had personal issues this year. A special thanks for all your work with the Atlas/Vegas litter!
• Mary and Jon Stacey (Excellence Kennels) - thank you for your support and your awesome work with Bentley!
• Ken and Ann Schneider - thank you for always being an awesome home away from home for our dogs!
•  Michelle Hewitt and Deb Merritt - thanks for all your support and help in agility. I couldn't do it without you!

There are many other who help us as well - it takes a village to achieve potential in dogs and we couldn't do any of it without the support of the great dog community around us! And as always, thanks to the great judges (performance and conformation) who are grossly underpaid and often under appreciated.

Here's to an even better 2012!!!