Prairielight Blog

October / November 2011

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:10:46 -0500

The evenings in late October are getting shorter and shorter but we still can run some exercises on our hayfield.

September 2011

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:24:36 -0400

The late summer here has been very beautiful. Quinta and I go for walk in the mornings and here are some pictures from these walks. We have also spent a lot of time at the retriever club's land. Here are some pictures.

August 2011

Mon, 1 Aug 2011 16:16:20 -0400

I had the misfortune losing my computer contents so I have no e-mail addresses. Please write me when you have visited the website so that I can get in touch with our puppy owners and friends again!

Jona came home from BC in the beginning of June, having finished his Senior Hunter title and qualified twice for the Master title. He gets a rest for a while since we are not able to go to any trials this year. The water surrounding us has to be watched!

Splash, who tore her cruciate ligament in the early spring, is back to her usual lively self and has returned to daily runs and training. We are pleased with the outcome of the surgery.

We did go to the WC-I-X tests here in Saskatoon though and Chat got her WC and Ylva her WCX.

May 2011

Sat, 21 May 2011 21:02:43 -0400

Winter finally left Saskatchewan but instead of snow we now have water-to the delight of the dogs. When the skies darken and thunderstorms are approaching we hope they will dump the rain somewhere else than on our property.

March 2011

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:27:01 -0400

Still winter in Saskatchewan! During a snowstorm in February we realized we had three new neighbors, a bull moose, a cow and a calf. They passed our yard about 75 meters from the house and were not concerned about the dogs. We have seen their tracks during the last three years but we have never seen them close up.

You might be interested in checking out one of our flatcoated retriever friend's Facebook page. Maja is owned by Brett Wilson and lives in Calgary.

February 2011

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 09:07:54 -0500

We had disappointing news that Maisy is not pregnant. We had an ultrasound done the other day which confirmed what we already suspected. Usually the rest of the dogs treat a female in whelp in a certain way and this did not happen this time. So now we wait for Quinta. We hope it won't take too long before she is in season but it's difficult to predict.

The winter is still here and we do obedience training to hopefully do well in upcoming trials. Ylva, Weizer and Ulk do Utility. Jona is also doing Utility with a friend. Maisy, Pippin and Quinta are in Open and the three youngest are in Novice.

We got some pictures sent to us from Thunder Bay and new Hampshire. Toby is in the chair with a whole bunch of ribbons and the whole gang is showing off their ribbons from this fall.

January 2011

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 14:51:41 -0500

During the winter months, we do obedience with our dogs. In November we went to Prince Albert where Quinta got her last leg for Novice and Weizer his last leg for Open. We also had a trial in Saskatoon in December where Pippin got his first leg for Open. I am also trialling Ulk and Ylva in Utility and Jona is handled by Sharon Ball also in Utility.

Maisy is bred to Liz Saunders' Tinbie and we hope for pups in the end of February.

Annie's sister Ceilidh has visited during the fall for some retriever training. Jona's brother Cash spent 6 weeks here while his family relocated from BC to Alberta. It was really nice to have Cash here to be able to know him a bit better. He is a great dog. Annie's brother Stanley visited us during the Christmas break. It's always good to see the dogs who come from here.

We are waiting until more spring like weather before heading out to any shows as winter driving in SK is not the most pleasant.

We have got a few pictures from dog relatives and here are a few.

September 2010

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 21:47:16 -0400

In the end of July the Regional and National Flat-coated Retriever Specialties were held in Calgary with very good entries.

Our Prairielight dogs did very well. Lupine, owned by Liz Saunders and Andy Hurly, won the female 7-9 Veteran's sweepstakes class, Ylva came second.

July 2010

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:41:13 -0400

Ylva's and Karo's daughters Nyx and Ruby, the first in Thunder Bay with owners Joey Farrell and Linda Roe, the later in N.H. with Joe Juza have both got a Senior leg, Big Congratulations!

Nyx has already her Senior Hunter in the States but this is her first in Canada.

We went to Wabamun in the beginning of July and both Pippin and Maisey finished their Junior titles.

The American specialty was held in June and Joe Smithberger who owns Taylor, the sire of our latest puppies, had made a "steady box" to be auctioned off at the specialty auction. It was dedicated to Patsey and we were very moved at his kindness.

At the specialty Taylor did very well , getting a second in the open class,which is a big and very competitive class.

June 2010

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:31:41 -0400

We spend quite a bit of time at the retriever club's land.

These are wonderful training opportunities.