Sky High Mudi

05/12/2024

05/12/2024

05/12/2024

03/31/2024

Birdie showed in conformation in Doswell, Virginia yesterday and we had a great day! Birdie went BOS for a single. She did her best yet in the ring and only moved a little for the exam.

12/03/2023

Birdie, Kizzy and I had an amazing weekend playing NASDA!

Birdie got her Trailing and Locating Level 2 title! She is the first Mudi to earn this title. She also earned her Lost Item Level 2 Title and is the second Mudi to earn this title (the first being my other Mudi, Rocket). Birdie got High in Trial three times this weekend one of which was for her first trial in Urban Locating Level 3 - essentially NASDA’s Master Level. And she went second place for her other run at that level. I am so incredibly pleased with the baby dog! She had a blast in all of her searches and always put forth a good effort.

Kizzy got his Urban Locating Level 2 title - his first level 2 title! Kizzy loves all the crazy games we play. He always tries so hard in anything I ask him. I am also very proud of his cars skills getting better at almost 4 years old. Friday and Saturday he was for the most part calm and cool in his car crate. This morning was a bit rocky but he still had a lot of good moments.

Thank you to all the competitors at this trial who were helpful setting up, tearing down, and flexible with the crazy schedule due to weather. Thank you Shannon Bryant Forbes for giving me a place to crash. Thank you Jules Asbed and HTC Dog Sports for having me as an apprentice judge. And last but not least, a huge thank you to Jessica Clough for another awesome experience learning and judging.

11/26/2023

Birdie and I had a great weekend playing scent work!

Saturday, Birdie and I q’d 7/10 times and in the morning trial earned High Combined! For those unfamiliar with AKC Scent Work, High Combined is awarded to the fastest team who q’s in all five disciplines of the same trial (Interior, Exterior, Containers, Buried, and Handler Discrimination). I was not expecting such an accomplishment on our first weekend trialing in scent work together and was even more surprised that this was the first High Combined award that my club has ever been able to give out.

Today, we were just there for two container runs. Birdie q’d in both runs earning her container novice title! What a good weekend for us!

11/21/2023

Birdie and I had a fun weekend playing some barn hunt on Sunday! Birdie earned her Open title and 60 more crazy 8 points! Go Bird!

11/21/2023

Today is Birdie’s birthday!

Between going to work with me every day, following me around the house, and traveling with me around the country, Birdie is rarely away from my side. She is incredibly sweet, driven, and a complete goofball. My little ball of fuzz is growing up to be a dedicated working partner and I am amazed every day by what we’re able to accomplish together.

I look forward to all the new adventures Birdie and I will have in the next year. And huge thank you to Heather of Thanagar Mudi for co owning a very special puppy with me.

AKC Pointed Thanagar Corvus Corax RATI RATO DN DJ SVB UL-2

11/14/2023

Now that I’ve got all my pictures - let’s talk NADD Nationals!

Rocket - As many of you know, this event was Rocket’s official retirement event. To have Rocket’s one and only National sport event be his last hurrah was both very exciting and very emotional.

Rocket is the first Mudi to be invited for or attend NADD Nationals for all three disciplines. To those unfamiliar with NADD, to get a national invite, you must first attend regional qualifying events throughout the regular season and place top 3 in your division to get a regionals invite. Then from there you have to attend regionals and either place top 3 in your division at regionals or in the top 25% of your division from all regional results. Getting a National invite for one discipline is not a guarantee so to get all three was an incredible accomplishment for Rocket.

At Nationals, Rocket placed 9th overall in junior hydrodash. Rocket is the first Mudi to earn a National invite for Hydrodash and now the first Mudi to place top 10 in Hydrodash Finals.

Rocket also earned 3rd place in the emerald division of the pilot year of the H.AR.D Charger Program. This is a new program by NADD to recognize dogs who attend Nationals for all three disciplines. H stands for Hydrodash, AR stands for Air Retrieve, and D stands for Distance. Rocket is the first Mudi to be recognized by this program.

I am incredibly proud of this dog and everything we have accomplished in such a relatively short amount of time. I could not have asked for a better performance from Rocket in such a difficult environment.

Birdie - Birdie’s story is much shorter. 😂 Birdie doesn’t like cold water. The water was freezing. Birdie touched the water and said no thank you!

On a more serious note, Birdie may not have liked the water temps but handled the environment like a champ. Birdie is not even a year old yet and attended an event with well over 800 people like she’d done it 1000 times. We had fun playing on the dock and she screamed her little banshee heart out. What can I say? She just doesn’t want to get in cold water - and who can blame her?

11/13/2023

Birdie and I spent Sunday at Hat Trick Chaos’s Barn Hunt trial. Birdie had one Crazy 8 run and got 80 points (personal best!) and 2 q’s for Open!

11/13/2023

We are working on adding more distance/duration when stationing now. The free Klimb we won from a raffle at NADD Nationals is coming in handy!

11/13/2023

Birdie and I spent some time at the IOC on Saturday learning about farm chores and what makes a good farm dog. Birdie got to see some sheep, goats, birds and evens a donkey up close. Then we practiced some stationing around other dogs and stock and we learned how to safely get through farm gates when there is stock on the other side. Here, Birdie is trucking along next to the cart with sheep food on our way to feed the herd.

11/13/2023

Hello everyone! I’m changing some of my social media around to have everything under the same name. This includes Facebook now! The majority of my dog related stuff will now be posted through this page. Bear with me as I get this all set up!