Sisu Catahoulas

01/01/2025

What a year! Our competition haul and title count wasn't much, but our year was still packed full of big things.

The pack grew with our long-awaited Oslo x Drama litter, which gave us our up-and-comers Asta, Strider, and Blaze. We saw Mack fly off to his new role as guardian of the Kelley family and Nova head to warmer climes to help Mr. Tingle recover game and put food on the table for many families.

A unfortunate string of injuries and illness kept Trek out of the chute save one pull at UKC Premier to give him a first place in his weight class. The summer also brought some Precision Coursing titles and qualifying runs for Baldr and Drama.

Drama started her "you're not really retired yet" career with North American Canicross titles and completed her 50 Lifetime Achieved Miles (LAM50) and Novice Canicross Dog (NCD) title just before my busy season at work and cruddy trails slowed us down for a bit. Drama is one of only two Catahoulas with the NCD title, which is earned by completing five 5k trail races (coincidentally the other is also an older red leopard female and has the same name as one of Drama's littermates). I never would have guessed that running races would be the thing she lights up for (even though I'm admittedly not a good runner, but I get better every race). Completing the Midwest Canine Obstacle Course without skipping any obstacles was the highlight of these five races.

Fall took us to NALC-MS to kick off the puppies' show careers and continue the big dogs' progress on their NALC achievements. Trek placed 4th in Senior males, Baldr placed 2nd in Hip Certified males, and Strider placed 1st in 6-9 month males. Asta and Blaze placed 1st and 2nd in 6-9 month females respectively, with Asta going on to win Reserve Best Female in Show. Trek and Drama did a great job and ended up in a tie for 2nd place in 2-dog B-Bay (only 1 point behind the tie for 1st place).

Drama, having been spayed during her emergency c-section, can no longer compete in NALC conformation, but can still show in UKC altered shows and in non-licensed veteran. In September she brought home a Best Veteran in Show. In December I pulled her out of retirement for Altered to ensure the minimum number of dogs would be in the ring for competition wins. She herself ended up with two legs toward her Altered Sapphire Grand Champion title via an Altered Best in Show and an Altered Reserve Best in Show. I guess she isn't as retired as I thought. She also wrapped up the year with another Total Dog award for conformation and weight pull.

Strider and (world's naughtiest puppy) Asta closed out the year by earning their UKC Conformation Champion titles on the same day at just shy of eight months old.

So, looking back at 2024 and looking forward to 2025 my show/performance goals for the upcoming year are.... None. I have a handful of UKC titles I'd like to finish up this year with the big dogs, but the priority for me is to let all the dogs enjoy just being dogs. The puppies are growing up both physically and mentally and it's good to let them mature without pressure, just learning how to be well-rounded dogs while building strong foundations for for the years ahead.

Warm wishes to our Catahoula and dog sports friends and family for the new year. When we inevitably have our downs, remember to use our hills and let our momentum carry us back up.

12/23/2024

I've been absolutely terrible about posting about our wins and accomplishments these last few months. I hadn't planned on doing much with the puppies for a while, other than letting them grow up and be puppies as I ease the big dogs into retirement.

At the beginning of December I brought the puppies out to help build classes, but somehow Asta and Strider wound up with some nice wins, including two Group 3 placements for Asta.

Yesterday I took them to a UKC show hosted by One Paw Forward (coincidentally the show where Drama earned her Ruby Grand Champion title a year ago) and both finished their UKC Conformation Champion titles.

It took a few tries, but we managed two wrangle two overclocked puppies (just shy of 8 months) for a picture.

Pending UKC verification:

CH Sisu's Strider "Strider" and CH Sisu’s North Star "Asta"

Bullhead's Oslo x Sisu's Drama Queen

10/13/2024

Drama and I keep plugging along.

Yesterday we completed the Wolf Lake 5k in Brighton, MI.

The costume was "Bad Ideas" which included running with scissors and doing a 5k after walking 18,000 steps at work. Yet somehow we were still 30 seconds faster than last weekend when I hadn't walked 8 miles first. Hey, progress is progress.

The race was so much more popular this year that they ran out of finisher medals and I ended up with one with last year's date on it.

The best part of the whole thing was people complementing me on Drama being so well behaved and polite. I have no idea why racing clicked so well for her, but we'll keep doing it even if we're slow to make progress.

10/09/2024

We completed the Midwest Canine Obstacle Run at The Woods Fitness Park on Sunday, didn't skip any obstacles, and still didn't finish dead last. I had a great time and Drama seemed to enjoy herself. These pics are after we got cleaned up. We were so wet and dirty.

10/05/2024

Great day today. I took Drama for a 5k trail race with the goal of finishing and maybe even coming in dead last. We finished and were pretty close to that second goal.

Drama was phenomenal and really just needs a faster runner. She passed other racers cleanly and kept her lines tight. She was strong out of the chute, running flat out for the first half mile as I tried to not land flat on my face keeping up with her.

We're currently working on North American Canicross titles as she can stay active in "retirement" while I learn the ropes to get her kids off to a good start.

Tomorrow we tackle the Midwest Canine Obstacle Run, again with the goal of finishing and coming in dead last.

07/24/2024

On Sunday Drama and I took a short break from the puppies to go do the walking event at MRM Racing's Summer Breeze 5k. My work schedule limits what I can do on Saturdays, which is when most events happen.

This was the first 5k event I've done. I did a Volksmarch with Ranger many years ago, but this was a bit different.

I didn't go out expecting to do much more than finish, but we did well, winning my age group for women. Considering Drama had her puppies via c-section (and a spay) just 12 weeks ago I couldn't be happier with how she bounced back.

Shout out to the race crew for putting on a great event and also a huge thank you to my friend Lara Mahr for letting me know about it.

06/24/2024

The puppies are now 8 weeks old. They're all super confident and learning new things every day.

"Nova" the black and tan female and "Foxfire" the dark blue female have had lots of attention, but are still looking for their permanent spots. DM for more information if interested. These girls need to go to working homes.

"Umbra" the black tricolor is preparing for his journey to his new home.

"Asta" the blaze face girl couldn't shake being called "blaze face girl" so we decided that's permanent. Sisu's Trailblazer, aka "Blaze."

"Blue Moon" also decided he needs to stay here. My Dad named him for a character from Lord of the Rings, his and my mom's favorite book series. He'll be "Strider" as he's a Ranger of the North (Sisu's Strider).

Bullhead Catahoulas
J Cross Catahoulas

06/14/2024

Baldr did a thing.

New RUSH Precision Coursing title for Baldr at UKC’s Premier. Owned by Amanda Tikkanen

MWPP AP VPN RUSH RACEE UWPCH EGCH Warrior River’s Baldr SPOT-ON (Havoc x Talon)

06/12/2024

I introduced the puppies to very short tracks (10-15 feet) using pig blood and liver. I set miss Nova down and she took right to the game.

06/08/2024

The puppies love playing with their toys and obstacles, as well as being unholy terrors.

05/23/2024

The weather was great, so the puppies enjoyed exploring the yard and investigating the world. They also tried stacking, but mostly it was like trying to hold Jell-o.

Not pictured: Drama feeding them in a hole she dug under my truck.

05/21/2024

The puppies are starting to act like tiny dogs. They play, paw at each other, growl, and bark. They're also starting to show their personality.

They started on puppy gruel yesterday and took to it without any problem. They should graduate to puppy mush by the weekend as they now have their teeth coming in.

Drama encouraged them to escape the whelping box on Monday. When the weather is not cooperating they have a nice little play pen set up indoors. They have a crate to get them used to crates. They have toys as well as a nice comfy blanket. I had a play tunnel in for a hot minute and replaced it with the crate.

To keep them contained but also allow Drama to check on them we had to install a tiny coyote roller at the gate.

05/12/2024

Drama is being a really good momma, so on Mother's Day I had to shoo her away for a few minutes so I could finally take some pictures! They're growing like weeds—all are at least three pounds at two weeks old. They all have their eyes open and are trying to play, but mostly still tumble and gum each other. I had to wake them up from naps and they were still pretty hard to keep still.

04/30/2024

Saturday started early with what I expected to be a routine labor and the arrival of a little pack of puppies.

Things went sideways pretty quickly and, while Dr. Michelle at Dawson Hollow Catahoulas did an AMAZING job helping me over the phone, Drama needed more help than I could give her at home. We rushed Drama to Animal Emergency and Specialty Hospital of Grand Rapids where the staff quickly determined Drama's puppy was too big to get out without help. The staff did a great job and saved all five puppies and Drama via emergency c-section, spay, and supportive care.

Everyone came home the same day. The puppies are all fat little monsters (and they really ARE monsters—the smallest were the blue leopard girls, both coming in at a pound even) and are all eating well. Drama is so proud of her little family and is being a great mom.

The final count is three girls and two boys. Red, orange, and pink are the girls. Blue and purple are the boys.

I'll get better pictures and individual pictures when the fuzzy potatoes are more cooperative.

Bullhead Catahoulas
J Cross Catahoulas

04/25/2024

Drama had her puppy count X-ray on April 20th with her expected due date being the 26th, +/- two days. The team at Family Friends says to expect five (which matches thr ultrasound estimate of four or five), so any time we'll welcome these little spitfires into the world.

04/02/2024

Four weeks post breeding. She's getting big! I think she's carting around more than four. Two and a half weeks until we get the X-ray for a puppy count.

03/26/2024

Looks like at least 4! I'm super excited to meet these little alligators in a month.