As we close out 2022 and bring upon 2023 I would like to take a moment to reflect on 2022 the good the bad and the ugly. I do this so I can have a record of what the year has brought when I look back and to share the year with others.
Our 2022 was started out with the good and the bad that was carried over from December of 2021. It was on Christmas day 2021 that we welcomed 2 precious Norman and Guilty pups into this world. This was Guilty’s last breeding and when we found out the bad that Guilty had something going on with her liver.
Guilty was such a great mom during this time, her liver was failing and she marched on and took care of her pups. It’s amazing what mothers will do for their young. For the next six months Guilty would be on medications for her liver and bloodwork to monitor her values. During this time she didn’t act like anything was wrong, she was still a happy go lucky dog that would do anything to please us.
The middle of February Jake and Kola went to their forever homes. I accompanied Kola on his flight to Alabama to live with our best friends Alan and Nichole whom also have another Sand Spring pup Hector. The night in the hotel and flight went so well with Kola, he adapted to everything without skipping a beat. I had a great time visiting Alabama, I got to see and do so much in the short time I was there.
Gertie and Slammer were invited to the UKC Premier. Both of them were in the 2021 Top Ten for conformation which meant they were invited to the 2022 Premier, we didn’t make it to the Premier but it was a honor to be invited.
Gertie received her AKC Therapy Dog title, she made 50 therapy visits to earn this title. Mostly she visited John’s dad who was homebound then in the nursing home. It made Gertie’s day and Howards day to do the visits. It’s always nice to make visits and put smiles on peoples faces.
Slammer and John competed in two UKC HRC Seasoned tests, passing both of them to earn Slammer’s Hunting Retriever title. During the summer he continued to train towards his UKC finished and AKC Master Hunter title. He ran two master tests in which he failed both. We learned that more training is needed to accomplish this task.
Slammer and JoAnn received their AKC Rally Advanced title. The rally events were all done virtually. He passed three rally courses.
April 25, a litter of 9 was born to Belle, Slammer was the sire. Since we were not breeding Guilty anymore and Gertie was spayed due to health reasons we took a puppy in lieu of a stud fee. We picked out this little beauty and named her Shank.
At six months of age we got some bad news on Shank. It turns out she has pretty bad cataracts so we won’t be able to breed her either. This was some pretty sad news to us as it pauses our breeding plans for a few more years. Shank is currently being treated by the UW Madison Veterinary School. So far we are managing her cataracts with medications. Surgery to replace her lens will probably be in her future but for now we are going to hope her eyes stay quite and she keeps her vision for a long time.
The ugliest thing that happened this year is that we lost Guilty to liver cancer. She was doing great on her medications until she wasn’t. Her liver was one of the worst that the pathologist has seen, we can’t believe she did as well as she did. Guilty never woke up from an exploratory surgery and after assisting in surgery and seeing how bad the liver was we chose to let her go peacefully. Guilty was 6 years young. One shouldn’t have to loose a dog that young. We will remember the great times we had with her and are blessed to have 2 of her children to keep her memory alive.
This summer I tried something new with Gertie we entered some AKC Fast Cat events. Gertie received her BCAT title. It took a little bit to get her to chase the bag as I think she thought that was dumb but she caught on or she just wanted to run to momma, which ever she got it done.
The most amazing thing of 2022 was that my friend Nichole invited me along with her on a trip the Europe. Thank you husband Alan for not wanting to go so I could go. What a trip of a life time, I can’t thank her enough for that opportunity. I also need to thank her niece Casey for being an excellent tour guide and hanging with us. Casey picked us up at the airport with her two young children, drove us to their lovely home in Bury St. Edmund, showed us their town and then it was off to Guernsey Island then Normandy then back to England then Nichole and I were off for a layover in Paris which was spent in the very boring airport. Can’t complain the rest of the trip was to die for!
We went to Normandy did all the Dday history stuff. One cannot even imagine the feeling one gets to visit that part of our history. It had so much meaning. I can’t thank those soldiers enough for their service and braveness. I will never forget what they did for our freedom.
Another favorite part of the trip for me was that I got to meet Karen from Jersey on Guernsey Island. She took a short 12 minute flight over to the Island to hang with me. What a wonderful day it was, can’t believe we’ve been facebook friends forever and we finally got to meet in person.
I didn’t get to meet just one facebook friend I got to meet three. While in Normandy my blogging friends Mark and Katty drove 3 hours one way to meet up with me, how great is that? We’ve been blogging friends back with Norman and their Easy was alive, we shared their lives and then we grieved their losses. We exchange doggie bday and xmas gifts. They are such lovely people I am so blessed to have gotten to meet them and their new doggies Phenny and Nelson. I will never forget meeting my facebook friends.
When I got back home it was time to run another UKC Elite Shed Dog event to try and get Slammer and Gertie their Working Shed Dog titles. They both passed all three days giving them their titles. Off to Champion level for us now.
Another sad time for our family was John’s dad Howard passing away. He live a good long live until Alzheimer’s took over and ended his life. We will remember him for always hunting and fishing in his spare time. He loved all our dogs and helped us out by letting them out while we were at work. He loved Gerties therapy visits when he couldn’t get out of the house.
Another good time in 2022 was when Slammer became a dad for the second time. This time he was bred to Dicca and they had 5 beautiful boys. I’m blessed to have had a part in this and to now follow along in the adventures of some of the puppies.
During 2022 Slammer and I attended a few UKC conformation shows. We have one more champion leg we need to earn to grant him his UKC Grand Champion title. We already have dates in 2023 where we could possibly get this done.
Before the dog show we ran a shed dog event in the champion division. It was snowing hard that morning so the antlers were hard to find. Gertie timed out without finding all her antlers, Slammer on the other hand was a rock star and found his 5 antlers in 4 minutes and some seconds. He ended up in fourth place for the day. We were super happy. When we were at the dog show I entered Slammer in Rally Obedience for a chance to receive Total Dog. Slammer received third place in rally with getting reserve in the show ring gave him Total Dog for the day, so all in all it was a great weekend.
This fall we didn’t go to Saskatchewan since when they decided to lift the bird ban there wasn’t enough time for John to get off work to go so we had to decline the offer to go. We did do a little bird hunting here in Wisconsin. The most fun is guiding at Lone Oak Shooting Preserve, all the dogs get a turn at guiding. What’s not to love about picking up birds, they don’t care who shoots them and I don’t care that I’m not shooting them. All I care about is my dogs getting birds in the mouth. Gambler and Glory both turned 11 this year and they still have it.
To close out 2022 there was Christmas and now Sunday 2023 starts.
All in all through the hard times 2022 was special and very memorable. Every year there are going to be good times and bad times along with some devastating times. All I can say is that these times make us stronger for the next phase in life. With family, friends and our dogs by our sides we can get through anything.
Peace and love to all!
