A Star is Born...well, a few years ago

Congratulations to our Jake and owner Diana C., who finished second in the national ratings for Rally Excellent for 2012! And if that isn't enough, they received an invitation to the AKC national rally championships! However, we should not be surprised.

Stardom is not new to Jake the Wonder Whippet though (officially, Timbreblue's Mysterious Dream Warrior). He and Diana have won titles in competitions I'll bet you didn't know existed!

For example,in the "Do More With Your Dog" tricks program, he's earned:
NTD (Novice Trick Dog)
ITD (Intermediate Trick Dog)
ATD (Advanced Trick Dog)
ETD (Excellent Trick Dog)
TDCH (Champion Trick Dog)

You can see some of Jake's amazing tricks on Youtube: -- all definitely worth watching! These are short videos that will inspire you to teach your whippet tricks....or at least think about it.

Jake's Advanced Tricks

And if you think that's impressive...

Jake's Expert Tricks

Jake Backs up the Steps

He started young!

Jake's Ball of Fun

When Jake gets bored with tricks, he goes dancing, In WCFO freestyle he's earned
his:

  W-FD/MF ( Beginners Musical Freestyle Dog Title)
  W-FDX/MF ( Novice Musical Freestyle Dog Title)
  W-FD/HTM ( Beginners Heelwork to Music Title)

Plus he passed the W-BB/MF  ( Bronze Bar Musical Freestyle Proficiency Test  Title)
(And I may be wrong, but I believe he was the first whippet to pass this!)

Combining all this, he earned his W-DDFD/MF ( Musical Freestyle Dancing Dog Title) which is earned after a freestyle title and a proficiency test in the same division,

With sister Piper. Who knew?

 But Jake isn't all about entertainment! He's also earned AKC titles:
RN (Rally Novice)
RA (Rally Advanced)
RE (Rally Excellent)
Obedience BN (Beginners Novice)
CGC (Canine Good Citizen)

And UKC titles:
URO1 (UKC Rally Level 1)
URO2 (UKC Rally Level 2)
and he has his first leg on a UKC obedience title (winning first place while he was at it!)

The Companion Dog Sports Program also offers titles and our well-rounded Jake picked up his novice obedience title (CD-C) from them and was ranked 11th in 2010 for Novice A obedience. He followed up with the next title, CDX-C, for open obedience.

I had no idea the Association of Pet Dog Trainers offered competitions, but Diana and Jake did! He's earned  his  RL1 (Rally Level 1) and bagged an Award of Excellence by scoring 190 or higher in his first three entries. He followed up with his RL2 (Rally Level 2) and the accompanying Award of Excellence for that level, and of course RL3 (Rally Level 3) and the Award of Excellence for that level.

Jake has two of three legs towards his first Cyber RallyO title, which is done by video.

Was he already planning a career?

He passed the Dogs Can Dance entry level (by the way, using Kevin Harris' music, thus keeping it all in the Timbreblue family. Dogs Can Dance is a video freestyle organization...you can compete with your dog in the privacy of your own home!

And between competitions, to keep themselves from getting bored, Jake and Diana earned Dog Scouts of America badges in dog scouting, therapy, retrieving, freestyle, and naked obedience (I didn't ask, but I'll assume this just means Jake performs without a leash and it has nothing to do with Diana's wardrobe...)

Jake even provides community service as a therapy dog certified by POYC (Pleasure of Your Company).

Now comes the fun part. When a dog earns a title, it becomes part of his official name, So, condensing all this, Jake is now URO2 Timbreblue's Mysterious Dream Warrior (Jake): BN, CDX-C, RE, RL3, AOE-L1,L2 & L3, TDCH, W-DDFD/MF, W-FDX/MF, W-FD/HTM, W-BB/MF, CGC, POYC Therapy dog, DSA.

Proud and happy doesn't begin to describe how we feel about Diana and Jake! We're proud of all our Timbreblue dogs and, as we have told our owners many times, all we want for our puppies is a loving home for each of them. But boy, when you get a pair like Diana and Jake, you just gotta brag on them a little!

Jake is from the 2009 Thanksgiving litter, Party and Nelson.

What Cooper (Winchester) has learned

Winchester (now Cooper) has been in his home in North Carolina with Hugh and Jean Bartlett now for a few weeks. Hugh and Jean own Cammie, from the Flower Children litter, and two other whippets, Geordie and Britt. Here is what we hear from him:
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 This is what Cooper Winchester Bartlett has learned in these last two weeks, per Cooper.

You can only get on furniture that has cover on it.  If you err, Mom tells you to get down in a VERY LOUD voice and then shows you the correct place.

You can NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put your feet on ANY table.  I learned that pretty fast.

Don't bring toys or chewies onto the people bed.

Wait your turn for your dinner.  Geordie goes first, Britt goes next, I finally get mine, and I don't care who goes next.

Mom took me for a walk by myself once.  Then she took me again with Cammie.
Dad took me once by myself and once with Geordie.  We all went for walks with everybody.  There's rules there too but I'm not too clear on them. Both people say I walk very well, whatever that means.

The people tell me easy when I'm nervous and pet my back.  I like that a lot.

Dad puts his hand out and uses it for a target.  I put my nose on his hand and get a treat.  Pretty cool.

I have to sit for a treat.  Mom says I situationally sit but Dad thinks I really know the word.

Don't mess with Britt when she has a chewie.

Geordie is pretty cool and does some really interesting stuff in the yard.

Cammie is fun to play with but is sometimes a little scarey.  Mom makes her stop playing and lets me in the house so I'm not scared.

Mom is wondering if the honeymoon is over.  I have no idea what she's talking about.