Here we are starting a new year again. Welcome to 2022. I would like to take a moment to reflect on 2021 with the Sand Spring gang.

Gertie and I started the year out by becoming an Alliance of Therapy Dogs pet therapy team. This makes the 5th Sand Spring pet therapy team that lives in my house hold and the 9th pet therapy team that are in my lines. Pet therapy makes such a difference in peoples lives, we so enjoy our visits. We were unable to make many visits in the beginning of the year because of Covid but come July we were able to make visits again to a Clearview, they have many units in this facility that we can visit. In February Gertie became a R.E.A.D. dog so we started visiting a elementary school when the school year started in the fall of 2021. The third graders read to Gertie and the other dogs.

1/24/21 Gertie was entered into a North American Dock Diving event where she made 5 jumps in the senior division giving her a Dock Senior title which is a NADD title as well as recognized by the AKC. She has a ball jumping off the dock.

2/17/21 Gertie and Slammer entered an AKC Temperament Test. This is a new event to AKC so not many clubs offer it. We were fortunate to live near a club that offered this so I signed them up. Both dogs did the course with an even temperament, giving them a pass on two events which then gave them their AKC ATT title.

2/20/21 Gertie and Slammer headed to Dodge County Canine Club Rally Obedience event. Gertie was entered in Rally Obedience 1 and Slammer was entered in Rally Obedience 3. They both got qualifying scores in each event. The following weekend they went to Bark River’s Rally event where they both qualified again which gave them their titles.

4/24/21 During the annual ACC WI Chessie Day there was a Farm Dog Certified test in which Gertie was entered in and passed each event for her FDC title. She had to walk through a farm environment and past farm animals without freaking out. This is basically a canine good citizen test but in a farm environment.

5/14/21 Gertie attended the Fox Valley Retriever Club spring AKC hunt test where she completed the junior hunter test giving her her AKC Junior Hunter title.

7/12/21 Gertie made 10 pet therapy visits so that gave her her AKC Therapy Dog Novice title.

6/17/21 For the year of 2020 Slammer was the #1 Chesapeake in the UKC Top Ten Standings for conformation. With this accomplishment he was invited to the UKC Top Ten Invitational that was being held at the UKC Premier in Kalamazoo, MI. We attended the Premier where Slammer won the Champion class during the top ten invitational.

6/18/21 Gertie came with to the UKC Premier, she went Best Of Breed twice, doing so she received her UKC Show Champion.

Gertie also tried her paw at precision coursing where she had to qualify for three events and she did giving her her UKC Novice Precision Coursing title.

6/19/21 While at the UKC Premier Gertie dock jumped. She jumped 5 jumps in the senior division giving her her UKC United Senior Jumper title.

Because she won best of breed and qualified once in dock jumping she qualified for Total Dog.

7/23/21 Gertie and Slammer participated in two AKC Rally Novice virtual events. We did the two courses, video taped them and sent the videos to AKC for judging. We got our scores and qualified twice. They each qualified for one rally novice event back in March so these passes gave them their AKC Rally Novice titles.

7/23/21 Slammer along with John competed in a AKC Senior Hunt test. They passed both the water and land series giving them a qualifying pass and Slammers AKC Senior Hunter title.

8/7-7/2021 Gertie, Slammer and John headed to Muddy Water Retriever Club annual HRC hunt test. Gertie was entered in started each day in which she passed each day and Slammer was entered in started on Saturday and seasoned on Sunday. He passed each day as well.

8/21/21 Gertie, Slammer and I attended our first International Show. They received their International Champion titles with three V-1 (highest rating) ratings. The judges were Judy Corbett; USA, Gloria Kerr; INT & USA and Nancy J. Eilks; USA. This was the first time I attended this type of dog show. It was nice to get critiques on each of the dogs. The Badger State Sieger  held in Menasha, WI was a well run, very friendly atmosphere.

8/28/21 Slammer and I took a trip to Minnesota, stayed with Slammer’s sister Gunney and attended a UKC Dock Jumping event. Gunney and Slammer both jumped. Slammer jumped three times in the senior division giving him his United Senior Jumper title. It was a fun weekend hanging out with Mary and Gunney.

8/20 Slammer was invited to the 1st Annual UKC Total Dog Invitational. He qualified for total dog back in May where he got a qualifying pass in Rally Obedience 1 and received an Champion win in conformation showing he is a total dog. We didn’t go to the invitational as it was in Louisiana. Maybe one day if it ever got closer to WI.

10/8/21 Gertie participated in three AKC Rally Intermediate virtual events. We did the three courses, video taped them and sent the videos to AKC for judging. We got our scores and qualified all three times so Gertie received her Rally Intermediate title. Slammer was hunting in Canada when we were doing this so for once Gertie has a title that Slammer doesn’t have.

This concludes all the accomplishments for Slammer and Gertie. They both had a big year and I couldn’t be more proud of them. We will continue to enter more events in 2022 and hopefully get some more titles to add to their names.

Gambler, Glory and Guilty all had a good year too. Gambler and Glory are my senior dogs that are still going strong each one turned 10 this year and besides sleeping more you wouldn’t know they are seniors. We have been doing some guided pheasants hunts this fall and winter as well as hunting on public land. They have all gotten some nice retrieves.

I got a nice surprise with Gambler this winter as well. My friend Tom was doing some research to find out who was the first Chesapeake registered with AKC to obtain the Trick Dog Novice title. Low and behold it was Gambler. Another first for the Sand Spring line.

Slammer was the chosen one that got to make the trip to Canada this year. I stayed home with the other dogs. The guys had really good hunts each day. Slammer was in heaven with all his retrieves.

Gertie turned two this year. She is all grown up and has the best personality. She is a snuggle bug she loves to cuddle on the couch. She has turned into quite the hunter as well.

The big event for the end of the year is that we bred Guilty one last time. We did a repeat breeding with our foundation stud Norman. When ultrasound came around only one puppy was seen on ultrasound. We were holding out hope that there would be more but time would tell. The week before she was to have her pup I took a radiograph to see if only one or more. I got a pleasant surprise when there were two skeletons seen on the radiograph. She was due to have her puppies the day after Christmas. I took Guilty into my reproduction vet to have a progesterone test done to see how far along she was as well as routine bloodwork. The progesterone test was low meaning she was going to go into labor at anytime. Her bloodwork showed that her liver enzymes were sky high. We didn’t know what could of caused her liver to be angry as she had routine bloodwork in October before we bred her and it was all normal. I elected to do an emergency c-sec and have a liver biopsy done at the same time. The csec was routine, two beautiful male pups were born. A liver biopsy was taken, bloodwork for leptospirosis tests were sent off to the laboratory. We got the lepto tests back and they were negative which is a great thing. The liver biopsy is still pending. Right now Guilty is holding her own and doing well. She is taking her liver meds like a trooper and being the best mom to her boys.

Papa Norman’s spirit is looking down on these two. We had a wonderful Christmas surprise. This would make Sand Springs second birth on Christmas. 14 years ago Norman’s daughter Nellie gave birth to 7 pups, a few of these pups are still alive today. Our breeding program has come full circle. We couldn’t be more blessed. This will be our last litter for sometime. We have some breeding’s lined up with our males in the new year but they will be whelped elsewhere.

In conclusion I would like to take a moment to say how truly blessed we are. We Made it through another year covid free, healthy and happy. Our dogs have been healthy and have made our lives complete. We would like to wish everyone in the New Year good health to them as well. We hope all your dreams come true.