Around here there are certainly less Newfs earning water or drafting titles than there used to be. Portland area used to be Newfie Headquarters but lately, zzzzzzzzz. Only 1 new dog qualified this year for water and 7 new for drafting. Conformation had more, don't know if #s went up or down.
At the recent big Rose City show "we had a small obedience entry of three, one of whom couldn’t make it down due to the really blustery weather to the north, and neither of the remaining entrants had qualifying scores. No one was entered in Rally" according to the club newsletter.
Things may begin to turn around. Seattle is hosting a series of drafting seminars and Portland-Vancouver is beginning a pre-water series.
Orka might be ready to take May's Seattle draft tests and I want to go to the Seattle classes but they are 4 hours away and Lynn will be in eastern Oregon on the draft trial dates, so I can't get there. At least with drafting one can do it alone, with all the books and videos available.
Water series we'll be attending if we and Orka pass the "audition." LOL It's the NCA training.
We're starting an obedience / tracking / agility / rally / CGC program tonight, will see if it fits us. One of my main criteria is fresh air and not too hot and this is held in an unheated barn with a dirt floor, not far from us, so I'm hopeful.
We're starting private professional water rescue training Wednesday with the PacNW premier water rescue instructor. This is not for NCA trials but instead the main reason I chose a Newf as my service dog, so I can kayak safely and go wherever I want. Starting with a planning session and mapping out safe places to train. We have a dirty water problem here and flood debris and very cold water temps so safety comes first.
It takes a lot of money, gear, time, patience, commitment and training to do these things. For newbies like me the learning curve is monumental.
In this economy a lot of ppl don't have the means to pursue these things so the drop in numbers does not surprise me.
Looking at different shows on youtube, comparing a Newf to the fast dogs for example Agility, it's actually funny. I'm still going to do it because I think it will be fun and good training. But it's slightly insane, not sure but many ppl have natural breakers to stop insane behavior :roflmao:
!! There are ALWAYS at least 30 entries, usually 45 entries, sometimes 50+ at the shows we go to! (in central Europe) (so around 8 juniors, 7 intermediates and 10 in open, for females, a few less for males)
