Proud breeder moment here so I have to share Crawfish Chesapeakes year in review for 2022. Sand Spring Chesapeakes bred Josey who started Crawfish. Dieter is a Norman son while Carmelita is a grand daughter. We love to par take in the dog world with the Crawfish’s.
Congrats on all your accomplishments.
Tom and Josey make an awesome team. They have many accomplishments together. The biggest one being in December she became the first Chesapeake to earn the UKC Emerald Grand Champion title. She was bred at Sand Spring Chesapeakes: Glory and Thunder 2015 pup. We are so proud!
It’s official Josey is An UKC Emerald Grand Champion in conformation. She is also the #1 Chessie across the nation in the UKC. Stay tuned for a write up on her accomplishment. Congrats to Tom, Irene and Josey! (Glory and Thunder 2015 pup).
Josey on her 100th visit! Therapy Dog Advanced, pending AKC approval. Huge congrats to Tom P at Crawfish Chesapeakes for this outstanding achievement with Josey who is out of my Glory and Thunder 2015 litter. Changing lives of others with pet therapy.
2020 was certainly a different year than all the others with COVID-19 showing up and putting a damper on things mainly dog training and events. We still managed to have a good year at Sand Spring, here are the highlights of the year.
Slammer the year off with a bang, he managed to pull off 5 titles in January. He was tested out for his AKC Canine Good Citizen, Trick Dog Novice, Trick Dog Intermediate, Trick Dog Advanced and UKC Socialized Pet Obedience Test. He was just shy of one year old.
Gertie was the chosen one to stay at Sand Spring out of all the reforms. They all went to their new homes and little lime girl stayed. Her full registered name is Sand Spring Strong Spear we picked this name because John wanted to name her Gertie so I researched what Gertie meant and in German it meant Strong Spear so that she became.
January 31, Slammer turned one year old. He has been such a joy as a pup it’s now time to enjoy him as a young adult.
February 6th Guilty turned 4 years old. Time is going fast with her.
Slammer became my 4th therapy dog with Alliance Of Therapy Dogs, he was tested and evaluated he passed with flying colors, He was able to start doing therapy work before COVID-19 hit. He even managed to do 10 pet therapy visits and receive his AKC Therapy Dog Novice title.
Glory completed 50 pet therapy dog visits on February 12.
She visited 3 different schools for pet therapy and then 1 school for R.E.A.D. program. She received her AKC Therapy Dog Title.
April 2020 WI was shut down due to COVID-19 and masks were to be worn. Slammer did a photo shoot with his mask on how to properly wear a mask.
Gambler turned 9 on May 13th. He doesn’t act like a 9 year old, he has a little sugar on his face but his attitude and personality is all young. He still gets into mischief by destroying things when left unattended. He still trains with the other dogs and does a little more sleeping these days.
Even know COVID-19 was in effect we were able to compete in a dock diving event. This was the first dog event we have gotten to do since the shut down. Slammer jumped 5 times and received his Master title in the North American Diving Dog association. AKC recognizes this title as well so he added DM to his registered name. His personal best was 22.8 ft.
Gertie receives 5 titles on June 13th. She received her AKC Trick Dog Novice, Canine Good Citizen, Community Canine, Canine Good Citizen Urban and her UKC Socialized Pet Obedience Test.
Slammer received his AKC Community Canine and Canine Good Citizen Urban titles on June 13th.
He also received his AKC Farm Dog Certification. Slammer was the first Sand Spring dog to receive the FDC title.
Gertie along with John ran her first two AKC Junior Hunter tests the weekend of July 20th. They passed each day. This was the first hunt tests done this year.
Gertie received her AKC Trick Dog Intermediate and Advanced titles.
Gertie received her 3rd AKC Junior Hunter pass. She only needed one more for her title. JoAnn took her in September to run a test and unfortunately she failed so no title this year.
Slammer had a big weekend in August, on the weekend of the 28th he was entered into 4 UKC Rally Obedience tests and 4 conformation dog shows, he was shown previously in conformation last February where he received 3 conformation wins he just needed points to finished his title. He managed to title in Rally Obedience 1 and finish his conformation title as well as receiving a Total Dog status for qualifying in an performance and receiving a win in the conformation ring showing he is a Total Dog.
In October Slammer was entered in 3 Rally Obedience 2 events. He had a great weekend and passed all three tests to receive his UKC RO2 title.
On November 6th Gertie turned one year old. This gal has a personality of no other and is full of life. She sure does put smiles on our faces.
On Thanksgiving day while watching the National Dog Show we saw a picture that I had taken of Guilty on the banner for the Sporting Dog class. I didn’t know they would be using the photo but it sure was nice to see Guilty on TV. My friends were messaging me saying they saw Guilty on TV. Nice to see my photos and my beautiful dogs are showcased on TV.
Glory turned 9 on December 4th. She doesn’t act like a 9 year old either. She doesn’t have as much sugar as Gambler. She is such a easy keeper I can trust her with anything.
So far Slammer and his sister Gunney are holding their UKC Top Ten conformation spots. They are still going through some shows in December but it seems Slammer might be the number 1 Chesapeake in the UKC Top Ten. He will be the third Sand Spring dog to receive this recognition. His brother helded the Top Ten spot for two years in a row and his momma Guilty for one year. If he continues to be in the number 1 spot after all the shows are done he will be invited to the UKC Premier in 2021.
Usually the end of September we pack up the dogs and truck and head to Saskatchewan. This year that all changed, because of COVID-19 the borders were closed so we were not allowed into Saskatchewan. This would be the first year since 2009 that we haven’t went. We were able to do some hunting in Wisconsin. Each dog was able to get out and get some doves, ducks, geese and pheasants. We have continued to guide for other hunters pheasant hunting at the game farm. The dogs get to hunt without having to pay for a hunt at the game farm and I get paid for it so it’s a win win.
We ended 2020 with a pretty big accomplishment. Gertie was evaluated for pet therapy through Alliance Of Therapy Dogs and she passed. Pending Alliance approval Gertie will be Sand Spring’s 5th therapy dog. Dieter which is a Josey/Norman son also passed his therapy dog evaluation and his AKC Trick Dog Intermediate, Dieter is the second Crawfish dog to have his therapy title as Josey (Glory/Thunder 2015 pup) has hers. The little punkin in the picture is Carmelita, she is a Glory grand daughter she passed her AKC Canine Good Citizen, Trick Dog Novice and her UKC SPOT-ON.
Here’s hoping 2021 has more normalcy so I can spend more time with my dog friends doing dog events.
We weren’t able to do all the events or see all the friends we wanted to this last year but it was still a great year for us as we have our health and our dogs which is a blessing that we will look upon in the year ahead.
Happy New Year all!
The Sand Spring 2019 is in the books, it’s time to reflect back on all our accomplishments and special moments.
The special moments started off on January 31 with the birth of Slammer. This was a long awaiting breeding using my soulmate Norman. We did an surgical artificial insemination between Norman and Guilty. Guilty delivered 9 healthy puppies in which one special male was staying at Sand Spring.
Gambler took over having the most titles awarded to a Sand Spring dog this year. He was a title whore or maybe it’s just that him and I work so well together and he aims to please so I do more events with him. He is retired from hunt tests since he has his hunt test titles so he doesn’t get to train anymore so doing other performance events is something we can do together in order to spend time together.
In January he received his AKC Rally Novice title.
In May he received 3 titles starting off with his AKC Therapy Dog Advanced title. He received this title after completing 100 therapy visits. I can’t tell you how much Gambler loves his therapy work.
He then received his AKC Trick Dog Advanced title.
Last title for May was his UKC Rally Obedience 2 title. Rally Obedience was fun this year as we trained and competed with our friends enjoying our time together and titling our dogs together. Some great memories were made.
In June he received his UKC Rally Obedience 3 title.
Lastly for Gambler in July he received his AKC Farm Dog Certified title.
Glory had an huge accomplishment in August. She passed her last UKC HRC Finished test to receive her Hunting Retriever Champion title (HRCH). She is our 4th Sand Spring dog to receive this title. We are very proud of her. She is now retired from hunt tests and will be our hunting buddy.
Glory’s daughter Guilty is the next in line for receiving a hunt test title. In August Guilty received her AKC Senior Hunter title.
Then in September Guilty’s son Slammer went 4/4 to receive his AKC Junior Hunter title. He is the first Sand Spring dog to go 4/4. Norman was our youngest dog to receive this title until his son Slammer came along and beat him out by 3 months. Slammer was only 7 months old when he got his title, Norman was 10 months old. We are very proud of Slammer and his work ethic. He has big paws to fill by following in his fathers pawprints and I think this guy can do it. He also has to be as good as Gambler as Gambler is a Norman son too.
Our last special moment for 2019 was the birth of Gertie. We bred Guilty to Moses and we knew we would be keeping a girl puppy to continue the Sand Spring lines. On November 6th Gertie was born. This was bittersweet as on this day 6 years ago we said goodbye to our foundation stud Norman. Gertie is one special girl that I feel will go places.
This year I also became an AKC CGC, Temperament and Farm Dog evaluator as well as an Alliance Of Therapy Dogs Tester/Observer.
I want to end our year in review with a couple more announcements. First I want to say thank you to Tom at Crawfish Chesapeakes for all the time, money and love he has put into his Sand Spring pup Josey. Congrats on all your accomplishments that you two have done this year which as been a lot. Thank you also for picking Norman to breed Josey to, we were hoping for a big litter of Normie/Josey pups but we got one very special Dieter. I can’t wait to watch this little guy grow and have him and Gertie compete together as they grow up.
Second the biggest accomplishment for a Sand Spring pup happened to Trish and Roxy. Roxy is Guilty’s littermate (Glory and Bear 2016 litter). Trish and Roxy compete in different performance events. They rock at scent work. Unofficially Trish and Roxy are the first Chesapeake team to receive the AKC Detective title. This is outstanding for them and especially for me that Sand Spring bred this dog to make it to this highest level in scent work. They have put a lot of time and practice into scent work. Roxy is a sniffing fool, she loves to sniff and is very good at it. She also completed the Master level in which only 3 dogs have completed this title so that to in itself is a huge accomplishment. I am over the moon with what my puppy buyers have done with their dogs and I can’t thank them enough.
Thank you for following along with all the Sand Spring adventures. I hope you continue to follow along in 2020. We have big plans again that involve hunt tests, therapy work, rally, dock diving and anything else that comes up. We will be campaigning Slammer and Gertie so keep a eye out for these rock stars.
We hope that you all have a blessed and wonderful New Year and accomplish all that you set your mind to. It’s not about winning or loosing it’s about the time spent with your dog(s).
Peace to all!
A huge congrats goes out to Tom and Josey (Glory and Thunder 2015 pup) for passing 5 shed dog events to receive her UKC Working Shed Dog Title.
If you would like to read more about UKC Elite Shed Dog program you can learn about it HERE. Tom has become a judge for the shed dog program as well so you might see him at a test in WI if you go.
On October 27th Josey passed her ATTS – American Temperament Test Society test.
My gang has already been tested and passed their test years earlier. Slammer being 8 months is to young to do the test as you need to be at least 18 months old to participate. By that age the society feels the temperament is what it would be. I volunteered to help out with the testing this day. I was the first station which is the neutral stranger. I just greet the people and ignore the dog, they then go on through the test and stop at 10 stations total, some stations were multiple stations. Below is a video of Josey doing the test. I of course couldn’t video station one but have 2-10.
If you would like to learn more about the American Temperament Test Society and what all is involved you can do so HERE.
Josey was evenly tempered. Did you notice how she looked to the sky when the gun went off? Congrats Tom and Josey on a passing the temperament test. She is a well rounded girl.
On June 22, 2019 Josey received her HRC Started Hunting Retriever (SHR) title at the Horicon Marsh HRC test. She needed one more pass for her title and she pulled it off.
Then on July 20, 2019 Tom and Josey were entered into two AKC Farm Dog Certified tests. In these test Josey is tested on how she acts and reacts to different farm equipment, farm animals, people and other dogs. She needed to pass two events for a AKC Farm Dog Certified (FDC) title in which she did. She had no problems with any of the stations and passed with flying colors.
Huge congrats to Tom and Josey on these accomplishments.
Josey’s new registered name is: URX UROC UAGI USJ CA SHR U-GRCH RATN Sand Spring Outlaw JH THD DS CGCA CGCU RA TKI FDC SPOT-ON
Josey is out of our Glory – HRCH U-CH Sand Spring No Gut’s No Glory SH THDN CGCA CGCU TT and Thunder – HR CH SRR’s North Point Thunder Bay SH CGC WDQ she was born 7-11-15.
Sand Spring Chesapeakes would like to wish the Glorious-Thunder pups a very Happy 4th Birthday. We hope they have many many more.
We hope you get many pets and biscuits today and everyday!