We’re Thankful For Our 2023 Sports Achievements

Today I’m in charge of the 2023 Sports Achievements for the family. I may be the youngest, but I earned more titles than everyone else altogether! My sisters explained to me that I am new at everything and my titles are all for lower level achievements. As I get better, titles will be fewer and farther between. Still I’m proud of all my achievements, and my sisters are happy with theirs. Let’s go through 2023 month by month. January was a dud, no sports, so we will start with February. June and December also had no sports.

February

February was Olivia’s month. Mom and her had the goal of earning her Elite Championship Title before she turned four. She did it with about five weeks to spare! This was the main reason for our trip to North Carolina. Olivia is now the first GBGV to earn an NW3 Elite Title and the Elite Championship Title. Her 2024 goal is to be the first to earn a Summit Title.

March

March was a big title month! I kicked off the title party by earning my NW1 on the first try the beginning of the month. I’m the first one in the family to not need two tries! Boys rule, forget that stuff about us not having a brain the first couple years, not true for me.

The very next day, Madison had an NW3 trial at the same school and she earned her third NW3 Title and her NW3 Elite Title. Mom didn’t think she would ever earn one NW3 Title let alone three! It took her nineteen trials over four years to achieve this goal which is a bit much. Mom and Madison are super proud of this very expensive title!

At the end of the month, we attended an AKC Scent Work Trial where Olivia earned her Detective Title, the first GBGV to do so. It is hard as you have to pass ten searches with no mistakes. The number of hides is unknown between five and ten. This was her search area where she passed her tenth search. There were nine hides.

I had a lot of searches that weekend including Advanced and Excellent levels. I earned my Interior Advanced, Excellent Exterior, and Excellent Container Titles.

April

We haven’t done much Barn Hunt for a while since it requires a lot of extra practice and Olivia and I are stuck at the same level. You can’t reward your dog in the ring, and we both refuse to find four rats if we don’t get paid when we find each one. Mom says a break is good and we will get back to it as Madison loves it so much. I did earn my RATO, (Open Title) last April with two first place searches and one high in class.

May

May was my month once again. I earned my L1V and L1C Titles (Level 1 Vehicle and Container). Hope you like my bow tie with cars on it.

In my Scent Work Trials I earned my Buried Advanced Title and my Overall Advanced Title.

Most exciting was to earn my first FastCAT Title, BCAT. Dogs can’t run FastCAT until they are a year old and this was the first trial weekend in our area since I turned one. I earned enough points in my first six runs to title. Chasing the lure is so much fun!

July

In July I entered an NW2 and passed. It was a bit tricky but Mom is patient and I worked hard to find all the hides with no mistakes.

August

We sure did lots of FastCAT last summer! Olivia earned her FCAT2 in August. She is really fast and is still the fastest GBGV ever on the AKC Top 20 List! I’ll never catch her, but I’m happy to have her as a speedy sister.

The next day I qualified for my DCAT Title. I even ran a personal best that weekend.

September

Madison earned her FCAT2 Title in September. She is a bit behind since she was injured in 2022 and didn’t get to run much. For her FCAT1, she got an awful medallion, so for her to get this beautiful ribbon for her FCAT2 is wonderful! It is totally Madison!

Olivia came along to Purina Farms for the dog show again this year. Lucky for us there were things for her to do besides the show dog stuff which is sooo boring! We each earned our Novice Trick Dog Titles. I doubt we will earn more trick titles but it is fun to have one.

It was bothering Mom that I didn’t have my CGC Title (Canine Good Citizen). Purina Farms had someone doing CGC tests the first day of the dog show and I earned my title. Now all Mom’s GBGV’s have one.

October

Bailie hasn’t done sports since October 2022. She is very tied to Mom emotionally and she doesn’t like to travel, which make trialing difficult. Mom wants her to get at least one NW3 Title. This fall there was an NW3 trial fifteen minutes from our house, so she entered Bailie. They had a great time. Bailie only missed one hide, but got two no’s. Having not done nose work at a trial in so long, Mom was thrilled. All day, people kept telling Mom what a happy dog she had. The new plan is to enter local trials in 2024 and see if they can get that title. She is one silly hound!

November

I’m bringing up the rear for our 2023 Sports Achievements with the last ribbons/titles of the year. We entered another NW3 for me here locally. I’m still young to be at the NW3 level, Olivia started NW3 when she was four months older than I was at this trial. I did really well but missed one hide in my last search. Still I earned my NW3-I and NW3-E Titles (NW3 Interior, Exterior).

That is a wrap for our 2023 Sports Achievements. We are all looking forward to 2024, to see what we can accomplish. Each of us have our own goals we are aiming for.

I’m  joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!