Author: Heather

We’ve had a busy month of dog sports!

May started off with a fun conformation show in Pinehurst, NC on Mother’s Day weekend – we took the four “youngsters” (Swift, Puffin, Junco, and Flicker) and everyone had a good time. Swift was awarded Reserve Winners Bitch, and the younger dogs had great experiences in the ring. Sunday, we relaxed with an UpDog Challenge disc event for Junco and Sas.

Our sweet boy Junco celebrated his first birthday on May 20, so on the 21^st we traveled to his first official Fast CAT event. His first runs on record were 25.65 mph and 26.13 mph. The next weekend, we drove up to Virginia for two more FCAT runs, and Junco nailed the final points needed for his BCAT title! His runs came in at 27.3 mph and 27.46 mph, and he is now Csudacifra Goncol BCAT. This boy is fast and he’s only going to get faster as he matures.

After our Virginia trip, we headed to Teamworks in Youngsville, NC for a NADD dock diving competition. My goal was to let Flicker and Junco get acquainted with a new dock and location, in preparation for an upcoming qualifier event. Junco had a blast and left with two good baby dog scores – 7’9” and 10’11”. He is building his confidence on the dock and we expect him to just keep getting more air. The real surprise of the day was Flicker, who started off with a 9’ practice jump and finished with two amazing scores of 16’6” and 19’!! Flicker now has the best scores of any female Mudi in the United States for dock diving (second best female is Swift at 16’9”).

Hang in there, we’re not done yet…

Sunday after dock diving, we loaded the whole crew up and headed to Pilot Mountain for an UpDog Challenge disc event hosted by Jam’min Dog Sports. Our team had great scores across the board, but the highlight was Swift setting a new personal best in Frizgility, earning the top score of all dogs who played that day. Flicker also earned her first recorded points in Throw N Go.

Finally, this previous weekend our girls showed in the Salisbury and Hickory Kennel Club shows in Concord, NC. On Friday, Puffin was awarded Reserve Winners Bitch, and on Saturday she took Winners Bitch for a 3 point major! Puffin is officially our first pointed conformation dog and we’re so proud of our beautiful, sweet girl. Swift took Reserve WB behind Puffin.

Our next event is the Teamworks NADD qualifier – wish us luck!

Saturday, April 30, we decided to play some last-minute UpDog (dog disc) and boy are we glad we did!

Sas played for the first time since her litter and spay, and nailed 2^nd place in Throw N Go with a new personal best of 48 points! She was on fire!

Junco earned 3^rd place in Greedy and a new personal best of 32 points.

And last but not least, Flicker played her first official game in public, and while we didn’t get a score, she had a blast and it’s obvious she LOVES the game!

We’re still early in the disc season, so I imagine we will have quite a few of our dogs earning invitations to next year’s UpDog International Finals.

We took a long trip to western Kentucky this weekend to compete in the 2022 UpDog International Finals. This was a long awaited event, cancelled twice because of COVID, and I’ve been qualified since 2020 with the older boys. Swift got her qualifications in 2021 for this year.

The weather was absolutely awful. Until Sunday, it was freezing, sleeting, hailing, snowing, raining, and gusting 15 mph winds all day. Frisbee is hard to play in even perfect conditions some days.

We didn’t play super well most days, but Friday we jammed. Pax tied his own personal best in Frizgility, and then Hawk blew me away with an amazing round – beating his own personal best by FIFTY points. I have never seen my wild boy stay so focused and I was so incredibly proud of him.

The icing on the cake for the weekend however was our surprise podium appearance – with Swifty! Swift placed third in her division (size) in FunKey – making her not only the first Mudi to qualify and attend UpDIF, but also the first Mudi to podium at the event

Overall, I cannot say enough about my amazing dogs. We played in terrible weather, with four active fields swarmed by humans and other dogs. My crew has never played such an open format before and not once was their focus jarred. Even the dogs who weren’t competing were angels and got plenty of disc time themselves throughout the weekend. Nobody had an issue with the long drive, being crated long days, sleeping in a hotel, or anything else I threw at them over the weekend.

Today I’m refreshed and energized to practice and be even better for next year!

We’ve hit the ground running this summer, and it’s still early!

Our first news to share is that Swift earned her BCAT title! BCAT is the first level title for Fast CAT (lure coursing). Swift debuted in FAST Cat earlier this year at the Piedmont Kennel Club, raced again in Williamsburg, VA, and then earned her first title at her third event in King, NC.

The girls have had a blast dock diving this year, as well. We welcomed Swift’s mother, Sas, to the family a few months ago. Sas loves dock diving, and earned her Dock Master title within two events. Swift has set a new personal best already this season, jumping 16’9” at Teamworks in Youngsville, NC. Both Swift and Sas have earned invitations to the 2021 NADD Regional Championships.

For herding news, we are working hard on new skills. Swift earned two started level herding titles through the American Herding Breed Association last November, shortly before her first birthday. She’s currently the youngest Mudi in the U.S. to achieve started herding titles on sheep! We do not plan to trial again until this fall. 

Stay tuned for more exciting news a little later this summer!