Brags

Sending huge congratulations to Cassie (Rundlemtn Blazing to New Heights SWE SBAE AX AXJ OF CCA WC) for earning her WC in Nebraska today, handled by her grandpa, Jim! She did awesome 👏🎉 It’s so amazing hearing about all the success Summit’s puppies are finding. Great lines, great pairings and incredible families! I appreciate you all!

May 2026, Summit earned her CKC Agility Master Champion title!! We are so thankful to her breeders (Zaniri), for bringing this fabulous girl into this world and for choosing us to be her home. We're especially grateful to her primary trainer Sarah Novak for coaching to this success! We're thankful for our Calgary crew who have been with us through our highs and lows while working towards this achievement. Summit is our first sporting dog, now a dual Champion! We couldn’t be more deliriously proud!

On May 1st, Pilot managed to achieve her first 3 titles! She completed her Novice Trick Dog, Intermediate Trick Dog, and Advanced Trick dog titles within 24 hours. It seems Pilot is a chip off the ol' block, showcasing her love for training and tricks just like her mom and dad. What a great start to Pilot's sporting career! 

We want to send HUGE congratulations to our first born, Cassie and her mom. They have now finished their AKC Excellent Scent AND Agility titles! These two are an incredible team. I’m so excited to see how far they go together!

In exciting news, Summit was ranked the #3 Golden Retriever in Canada for CKC Agility last year. 🎉 This is quite impressive considering she missed 1/4 of the year due to having a litter of puppies. We’re hoping to shoot even higher this year, as she is currently ranked #1! But there is lots of year left to go and many incredible competitors! Thank you especially to her trainer Sarah Novak and with additional help from Donia Roorda too. Can’t wait to get back to classes with her in May! 💕

Summit has attended 3 trials so far this year: 1 in Calgary, 1 in Edmonton and 1 in Kelowna. During these trials she achieved her Masters Jumpers with Weaves title! She is now only 2 points away from her Championship. We are getting so very close! I cannot wait to celebrate BIG with my girlie this year. Lots more fun to come!

Summit attended the 4-day Alberta Kennel Club trial, one of the biggest dog events of the year! She completed her Excellent Points and Distance title! She also picked up 3 more Steeplechase Q’s, 3 more Masters Jumpers with Weavers Q’s, 3 Jumps and Tunnels Q’s and 1 more Masters Standard Q. She is only 5 Q’s away from her Agility Masters Championship! Although we won’t be able to pick up enough points before she has a litter this year, next year her Championship title should be well within reach!

Icy has been training with @fr_labs this summer. Over the past two weekends they made their Hunting Retriever Club debut and picked up four seasoned passes to complete her Seasoned title. Go Icy go!! Now she is back home for a well-deserved respite. Although she will probably spend most of the time driving her 3 brothers up the wall! LOL!

We are so proud of Cassie and her continual success! Recently, she completed her Agility Fast Novice Title! She is also REALLY close to finishing Novice Standard. And then the following weekend, she received High in Trial both days at the scent trial! She left no crumbs. Cassie and her mom are absolutely killing it! 

This weekend the Golden Retriever Club of Alberta (GRCA) put on a Hunt Test. I attended part of the day as a GRCA board member. I served lunches to the judges, marshalls, gunners and secretary. While I was there, I got to see Maui's water test for his Working Certificate. He did AMAZING! He was one of the only dogs not to cheat by running AROUND the water, instead of swimming the bird back . I was super proud, and thrilled for his owner Chris, who has been working so hard to get him ready the past three months! 

We are so proud of our first puppy, Cassie who just had an incredible Scent Trial Weekend! She successfully located 11 out of 12 hides this weekend to complete her AKC Advanced Scent Title! She goes into her search with so much enthusiasm it's amazing she that she can still work. But, she somehow even stops herself to lay down and indicate a find. It's an amazing thing to see! I can't wait to see more of this girlie, and what she can accomplish! 

Summit spent Easter weekend at an agility trial and it was one for the books!! She got her last Standard Excellent Q for her AGXS title!! On top of that she got 2 legs towards her Masters Excellent Standard title (10 required). She was 3/3 in Standard. She also got another leg towards her Masters Jumpers & Weavers title - she’s now halfway there (10 required). She went 2/2 on steeplechase, and nailed her jumps and tunnels run.  So thankful for an incredible weekend, and to all the friends who cheered us on! Hoppy Easter!

All eyes on Cassie right now. Cassie officially competed for the first time in agility, April 2025. She ended up with 4 qualifying runs, and showed amazing focus, speed and confidence! All signs point to having an incredible career in agility, as well as scent! Love watching this girl work. 

Cassie had another exciting day of Scentwork! She was entered for her NW1 in Kansas. There were 33 dogs entered. She finished 2nd Overall, 1st in Containers, 3rd in Exteriors and Overall Pronounced! Judges are allowed to declare exceptional teams Pronounced. This can be from speed, accuracy, teamwork, and clear indications. Essentially they stood out. Cassie was considered pronounced in every search! 

The very next weekend after Cassie's last competition, she and her mama travelled to Kansas for Scentwork. Cassie she went 12/12 and finished her AKC Novice title! She was High in Trial out of Novice B two of the three days, competing against up to 13 dogs, many of them experienced working towards elite titles! She averaged 13 seconds per search and made every judge laugh a little at her antics, especially in containers and buried where the surface was quite slick. What an amazing girl! 

March 8 weekend, Cassie finished Level 1 CPE, started Level 2 and went 7/7! Her scent career is really taking off! She looks very proud showing off all her winning ribbons from this weekend. Hurray to Cassie and her mama! 

Both in January and February, Summit and I got to compete in local agility trials. This is very exciting because normally we don't get the opportunity to compete during the winter. The downside is that with snow on the ground our practice time is limited. Despite not getting a ton of Q's, we had a lot of fun! Summit got a couple more points toward her Masters Jumpers title. With the opening as the Good As Gold facility, we now get to train where we compete! And we should start seeing more regular trials, year-round! Whoohoo!! 

On Feb 8, 2025 Maui obtained both his open containers and interiors. Unfortunately, there was a very appealing garbage can that needed marking during his exteriors, so he will have to finish his open exteriors title another day. My husband and I popped into visit Maui before his competition, and boy is he growing to be a handsome boy! We are very hopeful that someone will want to use Maui for their program one day. 

We are so thrilled for Cascade 

https://www.k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=1322464

for her success in Nosework this weekend. Cassie earned both her Novice Interiors and Exteriors titles, after finding 4/4 scents. The judge gave her extra points for enthusiasm! Without question this Torch x Summit puppy loves and lives to work. Congratulations Cassie and Trish! 

This past weekend (Nov 16-17th, 2024), Summit and I attended an agility trial at Dynamo Dogsports! Summit had a GREAT weekend getting another Q towards her Standard Excellent title, and getting 2 Q's towards her Masters Jumpers title. This was our last trial of the 2024 year, but we are so excited to return to competition in January. 2025 will mark the run towards Summit's Masters Agility Championship title. We will see how many points we can accumulate before her Fall breeding to Rio <3 

Nov 2, 2024, our first-born Cassie, attended her first scent trial. She went 2/2 finding both of her hides. Her mom sent us videos of her search and you could tell she was having the absolute best time! Cassie's mom has been told by very dog-experienced people that Cassie is the happiest dog they have ever met. We love to see her loving life whether it be cuddling on the couch, hiking, training or competing. This girl is up for it all! 

Today (Oct 13, 2024), we are celebrating 7-month old Maui, who just earned his first CKC Novice scent title with his dad, Owner of Canines by Chris (https://www.caninesbychris.ca/). He is a stellar dog trainer, and is proving it with his Rundlemtn puppy, Maui. I have no doubt this is the first of many titles they will receive together! So proud of our Rundlemtn puppies and their families!

Oct 5, 2024 Summit earned her Scent Detection Excellent title at the Alberta Portuguese Water Dog Club trial in Bruderheim, AB. She had a clean sweep getting her Excellent Containers, Interiors, and Exteriors all in one day! Now we are starting our prep for the Masters level of scent detection. We'll have to keep our eye out for any upcoming trials. But tonight, we celebrate! 

This past weekend (Sept 28-29, 2024), two puppies from Summit's second litter had great success! Icy (pictured above) from Uprise Retrievers got her Working Certificate. And Maui from Canines by Chris got his scent interiors and containers qualifiers towards his Novice Scent title. Such impressive work from 6.5 month old puppies. I love seeing the product of genes x rearing x training and great homes! 

Sept 6-8, 2024 we attended the Rocky Mountain Agility Club trial at WetNoses - one of our favourite places to compete! Summit brought home two new titles - Excellent Jumpers with Weavers (JWW) and Steeplechase! We are now at the Masters level in JWW, and starting her run for a Championship. 

August 1-4, 2024 we attended the AKC Summer Classic. Summit got 3 jumps & tunnels Q’s, 3 steeplechase Q’s, 1 jumpers and weavers excellent Q, and our first excellent standard Q! Before our last run, the photographer who had been there all weekend stopped to tell me that she thought Summit and I made a beautiful team 💕. I was deeply moved by her compliment! The courses by judges Jan Skurzynski and Dale Mahoney were absolutely gorgeous! The Alberta Kennel Club put on an incredible event. On top of it all, it was so great seeing and cheering on my fellow competitors, and sharing a tent with Cydweli Corgis. I want to do it all over again! 

June 8-9th 2024, Summit earned 2 more points towards her Steeplechase title. She now has 6/10, and will have a chance to earn this title at an upcoming CKC trial in August! Although she would have to get all 4 clean runs... This month is all about practice, practice, practice to get her ready for the upcoming trial. Yahoooo!

Summit earned her Intermediate Points and Distance title at the FSACA CKC Agility Trial in Edmonton, Alberta the first weekend of June 2024.

May 18, 2024 I helped the Golden Retriever Club of Alberta put on a structure and movement seminar led by CKC/AKC judge Nancy Talbott. Often performance breeders are criticized for not prioritizing structure. But, goldens need to be properly balanced for long and successful careers in dogs sports. I pride myself in my continuous learning and promotion of proper golden retriever structure, movement, and coat. This remains a high priority of my breeding program, despite not currently breeding goldens specifically for the show ring.