It has been a while since I have written anything, but I have been really busy.  First, we had the marathon run of dog shows for Halo as mom was trying to finish her.  Belle and I were along for the ride.  We went to Glen Rose which I wrote about, San Marcos, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Midland (actually I was in bird school for Midland).  Halo won her second major in Fort Worth and then picked up two more points in Midland.  She only needs two more points to finish. In between the dog shows with Halo, mom took me to four hunt tests and one field trial.  I got three legs of my Junior Hunter and then figured out it was more fun to catch the birds than it was to point them.  Anyway, I think mom is getting ready for the summer round of dog shows as she wants to finish Halo before the end of the year.  Boy am I glad I will be in bird school for a big portion of the summer. Mom says I need to learn to point again.

Speaking of bird school and pointing, I spent April in bird school learning to heel, whoa and perfecting my recall.  The trainer was real impressed because I already was good at heeling, unless there was a bird around, and I had what he called the best recall he had seen on a dog my age.  April was a fun month for me even though I missed mom a little bit.  I lived in the kennel and had my own private run which was next door to an English Pointer.  I even got to sleep in a barrel filled with hay.  It was great.  Mom picked me up from bird school in late April because she wanted to take me and my sisters to the Nationals.

The Nationals are the big German Shorthair Pointer dog show that happens every year somewhere in the US.  This year it was in Denver.  Mom had plans for all of us.  Belle was entered in Open Obedience, Halo was entered in Novice Obedience and Conformation and me, I was entered in Sweepstakes and Conformation.  It was my debut in the ring.  Mom was handling Halo, so I got to meet Kristina Chandler.  She handled me.  I really liked Kristina because she had the best treats.  She could even get me to free stack.  I guess that is important because mom was really proud of my free stack. I had fun in the ring, but I have to say birds are a whole lot more fun.  I didn't win anything, but mom said I did really good for first time in the ring.  One of mom's friends said my mom was brave debuting me at the Nationals.  I think I did pretty good though. 

Halo didn't win anything in conformation either, but she made a haul in obedience (more about that in a minute).  Belle...mom said Belle put on the performance of a life time.  I didn't get to see it, but allot of people were talking about it.  Something about her retrieve on the flat where she was supposed to retrieve the dumbell.  Apparently, she decided the exercise needed improving.  When Belle improvises look out.  Mom said she went out for the dumbell nicely and picked it up, but when she turned around to return the devil was in her eyes.  At that point, she tossed (not a little toss, but about 10 feet up) the dumbell in the air and the folks watching started laughing and clapping. She of course retrieved the dumbell again and raced toward mom (I think she was supposed to return the dumbell to mom), as she got about 5 feet from mom, she tossed the dumbell right at her feet.  I think that is pretty good, but I guess that was not what she was supposed to do.  The judge told mom later that if she could have qualified Belle she would have as she had never seen a shorthair with that much enthusiasm in the obedience ring.  Belle told us she had fun too.

Halo on the other hand stuck to the script.  After a complete bust at the early obedience show on Wednesday (Halo got up from her sit), she came back on Friday and nailed her performance.  Mom was walking in the clouds for at least two weeks.  Halo scored a whopping 196 in her obedience run and won her class, and she also won High in Trial.  She was the best Obedience dog at the GSP Nationals this year.  Her picture is even going to be on the cover of the Shorthair Journal.  As I said earlier she made a haul.  She got a blue ribbon and pewter dish for winnning her class, and she got a beautiful trophy, a nice bag from the Purina lady, and an enormous ribbon for winning HIT, that's High in Trial.  Here is a picture of her and mom after the win.  It is hard to see the shorthair trophy, but it is really a nice statue (about 8 X 8) of a shorthair pointing on a wooden base.  We were all really proud of Halo.

This one is me showing in Sweepstakes.  This was my very first time in the ring, ever.  That is Kristina with me.  She stacked me just like mom did all those times we practiced stacking at home.  It sure makes me look good when I get stacked.

Not bad, huh?

And here are some pictures of us in the fifth wheel in Denver at the Shorthair Nationals.  We are all watching TV after a long day of showing. I think Belle was actually napping.

And of course, Princess Halo after her big win.  She was really tired.

We had allot of fun at the Nationals and are all looking forward to going again next year when it is in Gainesville, Florida.  Mom says it will be hard to top this years Nationals, but we intend to try.  Yippee, another road trip.

I am going to close off this post now because I want to do one more post about my birthday. Here is a hint, mom took us swimming for my birthday.