Winter Wonderland
Bing & Nash
Bing Ranked in the Top 10 for FastCAT
Excited to see our results from two months ago finally get tabulated and now Bing is officially ranked in the Top 10 for FastCATs!
Don’t know what this means and want to learn more? Click here for info about this fun canine sport!
Maquoketa Caves State Park
I adore this dog. He is so biddable. We were near Maquoketa Caves State Park for a dog show this past weekend, so Bing and I tromped out to the park each day for some exercise, exploration, and, of course, photos. It might have rained on us, but it didn’t dampen our fun!
Autumn Pictures
Good Dogs!
I love that I can load up my dogs, drive to a state park, pose and photograph them…all by myself. Rocking their stay positions, even with people walking and driving by! Good boys!
New Title
Pending AKC confirmation, Bing earned his first Fast CAT (Coursing Ability Test) title this past weekend in Lincoln, NE. His new personal best is 7.59 seconds (26.95 MPH).
Fast CAT
Bing and Nash have both previously earned their “CA” (Coursing Ability) title by running CAT (Coursing Ability Test), but they both recently ran Fast CATs and had a blast!
There are actually several differences between CAT and FCAT. The CAT is 600 yards with turns; FCAT is 100 yards, strait. In CAT, timing isn’t critical, as long as your dog finishes the course in under a set time. In FCAT, it’s all about the time! Once your dog has run three qualified runs, the average of their three fastest times will be calculated and used to determine their ranking within their breed. Very fun and thrilling event!
To learn more about about AKC CAT, visit https://www.akc.org/sports/coursing/coursing-ability-test/ and for FCAT, visit https://www.akc.org/sports/coursing/fast-cat/. These events are open to all breeds, even mixed breeds.
Endora Reserve Best Puppy in Show
Bing has his CHIC!
Very pleased to have my fourth generation CHIC dog! Bing has completed all of his health testing with flying colors.
CHIC stands for Canine Health Information Center and it’s a centralized canine health database. To earn a CHIC number, a dog has to have all required health tests for their breed publicly documented (not all breeds are eligible for a CHIC number).
For Danes, there are four required tests – heart, hips, thyroid and eyes. These four things are deemed the biggest (testable) issues for our breed and recommended prior to a decision to breed a dog.
Bing’s individual results can be found here.
A note about CHIC: A dog does not have to pass all their health test – their owner just has to be willing to publicly list the results. Kudos to those who are willing to display less than perfect results. Even if that particular dog isn’t being bred, the information is helpful to those who own related dogs. And, less than perfect results don’t always mean the dog should never be bred. It depends on the problem, the severity, and the strength of the dog’s other merits when weighed against those results and the dog’s other weaknesses.
The CHIC program is a wonderful tool for breeders and puppy buyers alike. It allows breeders to make smarter breeding choices. The more information a breeder has – on the breeding candidate and their relatives – the more informed their breeding decisions. For buyers, it allows an easy way to verify and research before purchasing a puppy.