2015 has come to a close and it’s time for Sand Spring to reflect on the year.

The family of three that started out the new year gained a new member(s) on July 11, 2015.

Preacher and her siblings joined our family thanks to Glory and Thunder. We were blessed with Glory’s first litter of puppies. This litter brought so many joys and so many tears. What started out with 11 puppies ended with 8. This was our first experience with death in a litter. This was our fourth litter of puppies at Sand Spring. Nellie our foundation bitch had 3 litters of healthy puppies that needed only the love and guidance of us while they grew up. We were not prepared for what could happen with a litter of pups. They say if your a breeder long enough you will encounter the wonders of mother nature but let me tell you I don’t want to encounter that ever again. We do what we can to ensure a healthy pregnancy/whelp/rearing but in the end it is all up to mother nature and what she has in store for us. She only gives us what we can handle. This experience has made me stronger and wisdom to take on hopefully’s Glory’s pregnancy of 2016. 

Meet PreacherI can’t thank Linda from 2browndawgs enough for agreeing to use her stud Thunder for this breeding. It’s going to be a great adventure watching these puppies grow up and take on the world. Right now Preacher is starting her hunt test training and conformation training. She will be entered in her first UKC conformation show February 13, 2016.

Glory:

On August 29th just seven weeks after giving birth Glory and I ran a AKC Senior test this was for her title. She passed the land and water series so that meant a SH title for her. She was fantastic! A huge thanks to the judges Mark Holcomb and Beth Trudel. Host club was Madison Retriever Club. Then on October 8th while at the American Chesapeake Club National Show Specialty held in Oconomowoc, WI Glory and Gambler both passed their Community Canine test (Canine Good Citizen Advance) which gave them another title after their name of CGCA.  Glory also received third place in the owner amateur handler conformation class at the specialty. Glory went with us to Saskatchewan hunting snow geese. She thought this was the best since she hadn’t gotten to train all summer because of the puppies. She has turn into a really nice hunting partner. She was John’s first pick for hunting in WI this fall also.

Senior Hunter Title

Community Canine

3 place at the show

Glory was bred in December and we are awaiting confirmation of a pregnancy. If pregnant she should whelp around February7, 2016. After her puppies are weaned she will get back into hunt test training and will be working on AKC Master level and UKC Finished level tests. Hopefully we will get to run her in some tests come late summer early fall.

Gambler:Gambler had many up’s and down’s again this summer. I continued to train him for his hunt tests and John continued to handle him at his tests. It seems to work best for John to handle him, he tries to get away with to many things if I run him. He respects John during the tests. John was gone practically every weekend during the summer either running AKC or UKC tests. Gambler passed 4 out of the 5 needed passes for his AKC Master title. There were a couple tests where Gambler ran all three series clean and then went out on the last bird which happened on the last test of the year. John thinks the last tests was handler error or else said Gambler knew it would be the end of running tests so he failed so he could keep running. Gambler also ran UKC finished tests and passed one test and again failed the last test he needed for his finished title. Whatever the reason(s) it was a major disappointment not to get those titles at the end of the summer,  but all in all we shouldn’t be disappointed as he has really come along ways being amateur trained and handled. Gambler went to Saskatchewan again this past fall. He also hunted in WI, he just loves to hunt and does it very well. This year we will continue our training and hopefully get those 2 passes so we can move on to some field trial training. Gambler continued to visit the elementary school doing his therapy work, the joy it brings the kids to see him makes me smile. We will continue our therapy work too in the new year.

Gamblers Finished Pass

Gamblers Master Pass

Nellie:Nellie turned 11 in 2015. She is doing great for a senior dog. She brings so much joy to the family with her puppy like antics, you would never guess she is 11. She still goes hunting with us, goes out and plays with the other dogs, still runs off and finds dead animal carcasses because she thinks she is starving and needs to eat all the time. Despite running off and eating everything in site this old gal has a stomach of steel and nothing bothers her. She really has not had any health problems which is great for her longevity that she is taking on. She has been a great step in mother to Preacher she teaches her about space and respect for others.

Sand Spring Chesapeakes has really had a great year. We struggle at some things but then we excel in others. Here’s to meeting our 2016 goals and having fun doing it!

IT’S NOT ABOUT

BEING THE BEST

IT’S ABOUT

BEING BETTER

THAN YOU WERE YESTERDAY