Winter has bowed his head to Spring and her freshness. Tulips of varied hues have opened their tutu's of colors; bringing cheer to the soul. The Tulip Festival has come with its carnival fair food choices, a 5K race (that our son won!), the Queen and her Court ride down the street with their figure 8 wave and I get tears welled up in my eyes as the local school bands débuted their latest moves and the sirens scream as the fire trucks and police cars are the grand finale!
The Poodles here are all know that Spring is here! The green grass beacons a roll and a time to get the pool out. I know it seems early; however for the past 2 weeks Luna and Indigo have been going to the dog pool and are learning the art of Dock Jumping! They have taken to this sport like (pardon my pun) a duck to water! The water has been in the low 60's so we keep the training time to 15 mins. per dog. They don't seem to mind the temperature but if my poodles are wet............yes you guessed it I am WET! Let me tell you 60 degree water is C O L D!!!!!!! It's funny how people are surprised that Poodles like water. When you explain they were breed to be water fowl retriever's; there is usually a look of disbelief. It's that "how can a dog with hair spray swim" look! Then I give the history of the poodle's roots. I love that "A HA!" moment when people see what our amazing dogs were breed for.
We are practicing dock jumping for our first competition, which will be in June. Luna and Indigo are going each week to Southtown K9 for our dock time and learning the difference between lake and pool swimming. The difference being when in a lake they just swim until their feet touch the bottom; in a swimming pool....they have to learn to swim to the ramp and then climb out. This is hardest part of their learning but it's crucial!
Another new sport we are working on is Weight Pulling. Now most people are surprised by this as well; thinking it is a sport for Pit Bulls, Bully's and other more heavy built breeds. WRONG! Luna and Roux who are my first two Poodles to learn this event are loving it! The first part was getting used to the harness and having the wagon behind them. Once we past that hurdle it is just slowly building on the amount of weight they pull. The UKC Rules book states they must pull 8x their weight on wheels to earn a title. So it will take some practice to get there. I will tell you they love when the harness comes out. It's Poodle Power time!
Indigo and Luna, besides the dock jumping are also involved in Fly Disc! This sport is amazing......I love watching them leap, twist and pirouette as they reach for the flying disc. It' Poodle Ballet....and just takes my breath away! Their first fly disc event will be in June at the UKC Premier.
This year at Premier, which is held June 10 -14 in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Winters Wind Poodles will hopefully title in:
MCPCA Specialty and conformation 2 shows a day over 3 days! We are hopeful for 2 new Grand Champion Titles, 3 new Champion titles!
Lure Coursing.....looking for 3 new CA titles in this event; Luna, Kenzi and Roux.
Weight Pulling.....looking for 2 new Titles, Luna and Roux.
Dock Jumping.....Luna and Indigo for 2 Titles!
Fly Disc.....Luna and Indigo will perform a Poodle Ballet! :)
I know this looks CRAZY! However it's our chance for many of these events to title since these sports are not held in our area. So let the Party Begin!!!!!!
To relax before the madness I created a Fairy Garden by my patio where I try to have quiet moment in the day to unwind. It's here that I dream of Poodle pirouette's to the melody of Tchaikovsky's "Sugar Plum Fairies"!
