Obedience
Harley finished up her Beginners Obedience class at Tulsa Dog Training Club (where we are doing our obedience training) with honors, receiving the 'Top Dog' award which is given to one dog out of the 100+ dogs completing Beginners Obedience during that class session. She also earned her Canine Good Citizen certificate with flying colors on March 22, 2003 at TDTC. We completed her CD with the AKC on August 21, 2003 with a third place finish, but have not yet had the opportunity to get out in the UKC. NEWS FLASH: on the weekend of February 7-8, 2004, Harley and I earned the first two legs towards her U-CD in Columbia, MO and are hoping to have that third leg finished soon! The third leg was completed on April 17, 2004 in Gainesville, TX with a third place finish and a score of 194! We are currently training for Open level competiton.
Conformation
Harley has been out in the AKC conformation ring beginning March 28, 2003. We have yet to earn a point, but are working hard towards that goal. The largest part of the problem has been in my lack of grooming skills. We have been taking handling classes with Mary Green and Kim Sykes of K9 Manners and More in Broken Arrow to help improve our performance in the ring. NEWS FLASH: On April 18, 2004 Harley became a UKC Champion in one weekend and in three shows (the minimum in which it can be done in UKC) with wins of a Group 2nd and two Group 1sts.
Tracking
We've recently started training in tracking. The people we're working with feel that she'll be ready for her TD by the end of the year.
Personality
Harley has a very soft personality. She loves to cuddle and give hugs. She's also very quiet. She will bark, but only when she is trying to alert us to something going on. She loves to play and especially to chase cats and other small animals. I love to watch her 'hunt' bugs by the outside lights at night.
Size
Harley is 23" tall and weighs about 40-45 pounds. I'd really like to get that weight up to 50 pounds, but am having a hard time getting her to eat enough to get there.
Future Plans
We are continuing obedience training with the hopes of having Harley's CDX and U-CDX finished within the next six months to one year. We are also continuing to get out in the conformation ring. She's growing hair well now that I've learned better grooming techniques, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that we may get somewhere soon in that area. Additionally, we are hoping to start agility training in the next session and trying to find some place to dabble in tracking and field work training.
Another extremely exciting part of Harley's future is her planned breeding to Manny (CH Peckerwood's Man From LaMarka) for a Summer 2004 litter. Health testing is completed as can be seen at the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals web site. This will be Harley's first litter. Manny has offspring who are working (and some titled) in Conformation, Obedience, Agility, and Tracking. We are expecting personality, conformation, brains, and performance potential from this litter. If you are interested in a puppy, please e-mail me for an application and more information.
