What has Jubilee been up to?

Happy birthday my sweet Serbian princess!! We got to spend our weekend doing some fun things. We finally got to go back to our  favorite sport, and went to our first flyball tournament since early February. Jubilee, per usual, was absolutely on F I R E !!  Four months without any practice sure didn't dampen her enthusiasm or her abilities! Her box turns are so beautiful and people really love watching her in the lanes because when she's waiting to go, she bounces straight into the air in anticipation . 

​

After our tournament, I decided on a whim to spend an extra day in Wisconsinwith our favorite herding instructor since I wasn't too far away. Everyone did great, and even miss Jubi who upon first encounter had completely denied the existence of the sheep, engaged them with enthusiasm once she understood what she was being asked to do. Since she was reluctant to engage them at first, she was allowed to have a little fun and be a little wild with them. I do hope to pursue more training on livestock with Jubilee, and I'm excited to see her learn and begin to work a little more thoughtfully as time goes on.  

​

It seems as though conformation shows are slowly beginning to start back up with limited entries. Of course, right as this happens, Jubilee starts a coat blow. UGH. Well, hopefully she will be done with it quickly so I can begin entering her into shows once again! Time to get back on track and catch up on our goals. 

​

​

I have had some very big plans for Jubilee and myself this year. Along with regular flyball tournaments, I had at least one, and sometimes two, conformation shows planned for each month. I was so thrilled to travel the country with my girl, working towards her AKC championship. Unfortunately, the world and all of our plans have been brought to a grinding halt by COVID 19. For now, we will quarantine ourselves and continue to work on consent training and hopefully soon we will be able to get back into the show ring and resume working towards our championship goals. 

We had a blast this weekend at our very first IABCA show. This is a very different venue from AKC! Multiple shows per day makes this a really fun venue to show in. Jubilee earned the highest possible marks from each of the judges, and took Best of Breed in each show. The judges each had very kind and wonderful things to say about my girl, and Stanley Matsumoto was a blast to show under. Thank you for recognizing my lovely girl! 

​

Jubilee is now an International Champion with IABCA! I intend to continue showing in this venue to gain more advanced and honorable titles. 

Jubilee and I began our show career in 2020 with a bang! We had an excellent show weekend and Jubilee lived up to her name during our time in the ring together! On Saturday, she went reserve winners bitch and had a great time! Sunday was our day. Jubilee went Winner's Bitch for a three point major under judge Maria Lily Russel! Her first points and her first major towards her AKC Championship! Absolutely love my amazing girl. Huge thank you to our wonderful friends who were helping us out and cheering us on!! ♥

One of my goals for this year is to better myself as a trainer. I wanted to start doing more cooperative care work with my dogs, and teaching them that they have freedom of choice. I have begun training consent behaviors, and Jubilee has taken to this training with great fervor. She enthusiastically offers chin rests after just a couple brief sessions, and we are working towards restraint free, consenting nail trims and grooming. I look forward to seeing our relationship blossom as we explore consent training together. 

To start our year off right, Jubilee and I attended one of the biggest Minnesota dog shows of the year to get some positive exposure to the show environment. While we were here, we decided to do some extra health testing! We had an OFA Advanced Cardiac screening done, as well as a CAER exam. She passed both health tests and they have been submitted to OFA for a CHIC number. Jubilee also had some additional DNA testing done, and came back full panel clear. I have a few more things I'm interested in testing her for before I have her first planned litter.  

Jubilee has been competing in all of our flyball tournaments over the summer. She has become my fastest flyball dog, and her fire in the lanes is undeniable! This October, she got to compete in her first U-FLI National Championships, and I couldn't have been more proud of this crazy little girl! I guess Jubilee never got the memo that show dogs aren't supposed to have any drive... Ha! 

Jubilee's OFA ratings came back! Jubilee has OFA Good hips, normal elbows, and normal shoulders!

Jubilee went to our amazing reproductive vet today, two days after her second birthday, to have her OFA radiographs taken. She had her hips, elbows, and shoulders radiographed and submitted to the OFA databases. I also have my vet check patellas, but I do not submit them to OFA. 

Jubilee got to experience her first interaction with livestock this weekend. We went to a herding clinic in which she got to meet sheep and ducks. Jubi, ever the princess that she is, decided she wasn't sure about those big, stinky sheep... But those smaller and much more elegant ducks were a totally different story! Jubilee realized that moving the ducks around was a very interesting task. She was showing some eye and doing her best to work the uncooperative ducks while I did my best not to distract her with my squeals of excitement. She made some very nice progress, and by day two, she was working thoughtfully and enthusiastically. I hope that I'm able to continue giving her positive experiences with livestock, and that not only will she improve on ducks, but also sheep!

After taking some time off of sports to raise a litter, we're back at it again and Jubilee is wrapping up her flyball training. After having only attended a handful of practices in her young life, Jubilee ran her first flyball race and boy what a spitfire she is! She is fast and loves to look over at the competition as she runs back with her ball!

My good friend and I hosted our very first shed hunting trial in the Summer of 2018. Clarity and Valor were both finished shed hunting dogs, but I hadn't really done any dedicated shed hunting training with Jubilee. I had played around with her enough to decide to enter her in the trial, just for fun and to see how she would do.  We went out hoping to locate at least one shed, and  I was thrilled when she found not just one but all of her sheds! While she wasn't entirely sure about picking up and retrieving them, eventually she did get the idea and she earned a qualifying time!

My good friend and I hosted our very first shed hunting trial in the Summer of 2018. Clarity and Valor were both finished shed hunting dogs, but I hadn't really done any dedicated shed hunting training with Jubilee. I had played around with her enough to decide to enter her in the trial, just for fun and to see how she would do.  We went out hoping to locate at least one shed, and  I was thrilled when she found not just one but all of her sheds! While she wasn't entirely sure about picking up and retrieving them, eventually she did get the idea and she earned a qualifying time!

Jubilee attended her first conformation show at the Northeast Wisconsin Dog Show Classic in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  I hadn't entered her in this show with any expectations other than building positive experiences in the breed ring. Jubilee was entered in the 9-12 puppy class. She won her class and then went Reserve Winners in the breed ring. We showed under judge Carolyn Herbel, who was wonderfully gentle and patient with my sweet Serbian princess! What a great experience we had here in Wisconsin.