Dales

[Calvinator]

Hycntry,

Bill tells me you are breeding some supreme Dales. If I would have been off work that day, I would have love to have made the trip to see your dogs. Can you post photos of the two males you brought to the test?

Calvin

[hicntry]

Cal, would have enjoyed having you there. The weather was less than what one would want for a tracking event but, Ya do what you got to do. There were 30 running in the Jr. Fur. 8 passed. All three of my dogs inthe Jr passed. My Odin was the only one in 5 to pass the Master fur. I also ran a pup in the Master, Magnum. He ran the track but got hung up on why someone was hiding in the bushes by the coon tree. He was sitting right in front of the tree judge staring at him. He got the tanked award for running the tack and blowing it. On all 3 fur events there were forty dogs entered with ten passing, 4 were mine. wasn't bad after spending night and day in a box in a trailker for four days to get there. Tnbey arrived at 3:30 am Friday morning and ran the test in pouring rain at about 9am. I just got home and have a 10 hour drive tomorrow to go pick my dogs up(they are still in a trailer coming home). I will get some pictures up in a few days.

Really enjoyed meeting and spending some time with Bill and am really glad he could make it.

[yawallac]

Don,

That's AWESOME!!! Congrats!!

I can't wait to hear more... especially about how your dogs were received by the conformation crowd.

Also, I've been meaning to ask you, are you related to any of the Turnipseeds in SC?

[bill10979]

Congrats on job well done. Hope they treated you well in OH!
Got a pregnant cranky wife at home but hopefully get to meet you some day.
Im happy for you, but surprised overall. Amazing that only a small % could run a Fur Track! But your breeding program is obviously working well for you as tests showed.
Test time always brings out Murphys law-my dog in practice found my buddy hiding & started baying him, forgot about the duck, had me worried!

I presume most dogs there were working dogs? The low % of dogs there passing really threw me off. 300meter track?
Thoughts on the SCHh2 Dale? Like him?

[blathens]

I went down to see Don on Friday and watched the tracking test. I had no problem finding Don; black Resistol, black rain coat, oversized airedales. I was a little dissapponted that he was a pretty nice guy and people were actually kind of friendly towards him.
The two dogs he had with him were magnificent, Odin and Magnum. They were double the size of some of the Dales there and had what I thought was great conformation. I think Don said Odin was 97 pounds and Magnum, a 10 month old pup, was 80 plus pounds. They were calm and friendly dogs.
I was not able to watch any of the other events but if I was in the market for an airedale, High Country is where I would be looking. I did take some pictures but I will have to have Calvinator try and post them for me.

Bill

[DK1]

Hicntry - that's great!!! Sounds like your dogs totally knocked the socks off those other dogs! Can't wait to see the pics of those beautiful beasts!

[hicntry]

Thanks everyone. Haven't recooped yet but here are a couple of pictures of the pup, Magnum, and Odin





Odin in front

[hicntry]

Don,

That's AWESOME!!! Congrats!!

I can't wait to hear more... especially about how your dogs were received by the conformation crowd.

Also, I've been meaning to ask you, are you related to any of the Turnipseeds in SC?

I don't know of any relations in SC but I have never worried much about family history.

As far as how the big dogs were recieved by the show folks. They stood back in little groups and stared but said little. The working folks loved em. I have to say, I didn't notice it for a while but I got a lot of comments on the color of the dogs. Mine have dark, shiny black saddles and I thought the show dogs did also. I have never seen so many washed out colors. Apparently chalking is alive and well. The usual things were conveyed. Like my little Brewster could run circles around your dogs, you know....dreamworld stuff. I had fun probabley in part, due to the animosity created. After walking the fur courses and seeing how they do it, I told them next year if I go I would run some 6 mo old pups in these tests because, over all they are not real difficult in my mind.

[DrahtsundBraats]

After walking the fur courses and seeing how they do it, I told them next year if I go I would run some 6 mo old pups in these tests because, over all they are not real difficult in my mind.

I admire your politcal savvy and finely honed sense of diplomacy

Congrats-wish I could have been there. I'm sure you've caused a few folks to think, though, and that's all you can do.

[hicntry]

After walking the fur courses and seeing how they do it, I told them next year if I go I would run some 6 mo old pups in these tests because, over all they are not real difficult in my mind.

I admire your politcal savvy and finely honed sense of diplomacy

Congrats-wish I could have been there. I'm sure you've caused a few folks to think, though, and that's all you can do.

I look at it as promoting the event, DB. I don't care if they come to see me get egg on my face or to see me do well.....as long as they are there. I quit trying to tell them anything so now I am showing them(I hope). Many are against N/A test. I think it is a must. They are suffering under the illusion that training makes the dog. That is why, if I have them, I am going to run puppies if I have them. That is the reason I ran the 10 mo old in the Master fur. No one has ever run a really young dog in it because the perceive it as something only an older dog can accomplish. If I can't tell them, I will show them what a young dog can do if it is bred into them. Besides, it gives me the chalenge of putting my dogs to the test in a public stting where I either have to eat crow or prove my point. That means more than their titles to me. Until they look at this a little competitively, the overall working ability will never improve. That is what I am trying to instill. Hopefully, they will start looking at what they are breeding with an eye on produceing dogs that can do it better, and do it younger through breeding instead of training. What do you think will happen if I can pass 2 to 4 6 or seven month old pups through the Jr Fur when only 8 out of 30, with a lot of mature dogs, passed it this year and half of those were mine and 11 mo old. If they do pass, I can bump them right into senior but for a really young dog I am not sure I can push them for the distance in a strange place. I think I can because the way the test is run, a tracking judge and myself are not far behind. Wouldn't that be a kick to pass them on Sr Fur at that age. Only one 4 yr old dog passed it this year.LOL