The new year has started off with a bang!  We have gotten Bonnie and Bash in the show ring starting with 7 shows in 5 days in sunny Arizona.  We had a really good time as our puppies learned the ropes and took home some nice class placements.  The highlight of that cluster of shows was winning 5 raffle baskets that we had to figure out how to get back home with 2 adults, 4 dogs and a loaded SUV but we did it!.  
Show 2 was this last weekend in California.  Bonnie and Bash and grandpa Zuko outdid all my expectations.  Bonnie and Bash are both carrying a little extra winter weight so they didn't do as well as they could have done but I am still so proud of them.  Bash placed 3rd in his class and Bonnie took home 3 class placements in the 3 days we were there.  Grandpa Zuko was my surprise though.  Zuko has never been fond of showing even though I drug him around the ring for 4 years.  He is very patient with me but never really happy to be in the ring.  His 4 AKC points were hard earned.  But, I put him in Veteran sweeps and regular Veteran class and he had a ball!  He wagged his tail, moved well and was happy when people clapped for him!  He won Best Veteran in Sweeps on Sunday and looked great doing it!  So proud of this boy and I love him so much.  
Next show we will be going to is Caldwell and we hope to give Gator and Nelli a chance to pick up a couple of those last 4 and 5 points they need to finish their AKC championship.  We will keep everyone posted!

Once again it's that time of year.  So excited for this show year to start.  We have set some high goals this year.  the 1st is to finish the AKC champion title for Gator and Nelli.  Nelli needs 4 points and Gator needs 5.  
Goal 2:  introduce Bash and Bonnie to the show ring.  Their 1st show is coming up in Phoenix, Arizona.  We are so excited to do 6 shows in 4 days.  Its going to be crazy but fun.  We have been working hard with Bash and Bonnie to get them ready to be rockstars in the ring.  Hopefully, they don't forget everything we have taught them lol.
Goal 3:  1 dog show every month.  We are trying to expand how many dog shows we go to a year.  Usually it is 5 to 6.  Our goal this year is 8 to 10.  Only way we can put titles on our dogs is to get them out there and in the ring.
Goal 4:  Introduce Nelli and Gator to Dock Diving.  Be brave enough to try rally with Poppin and scent work with Rizzo.  We really enjoy the performance aspect of dog sports and the dogs seem to love it too.
Goal 5:  Puppies!  We are hoping to breed Rizzo late summer early fall.  We have the stud dog picked up and have high hopes for beautiful puppies.  We will also plan a litter with Nelli only after she has finished her championship.  We aren't in a huge hurry to have her take on motherhood when she has so much fun in the show ring.  She has one more clearance to go which are her hips/elbows.

The last two years have been interesting to show dogs.  2020 had very few opportunities for dog shows and so we spent the time working on our house and dog areas.  The one show we did attend here in our hometown of Filer, ID Nelli took a 4 pt major to get her 1st points @ 14 months.  Gator joined us in the ring starting in Caldwell in March and the spring and fall were just one adventure after another.  we took the summer off to raise 2 litters of puppies.  But, now that puppies are in their new homes we can focus on the dog show.  Gator has obtained 10 of his needed 15 points toward his AKC championship and Nelli has 11 points toward hers.  It is now a race to see which one will finish 1st.  Les and I always agreed that we would finish our 1st champion completely handled by us and not sending our dogs out with a professional handler.  We want that honor and opportunity to be the reason our hard work paid off.  Hopefully we will find a couple shows this winter if the weather cooperates that we can continue to add points and work toward that goal of having our 1st official homegrown AKC Champion.

It has been a busy time here at BlackRidge Labradors over the summer and fall of 2020.  Because there weren't any dog shows to participate in, we spent time improving things here at home.  We can say we are completely fenced and gated so everyone is safe whenever they get let out.  We added to their dog room space and gave them their own entry. We also made another dog yard so they have more outdoor playroom and we are hoping to build a shop this summer to add to their area.  
We had a litter of puppies from our Mia that are in fantastic homes and we kept our boy Gator who is maturing nicely and just made his dog show debut.!
We might not have been able to do any dog shows, but we did get some dock diving time in for Bubba, Mia, Poppin and Rosie.  Poppin finished her junior title, Mia added to her current jumps, Bubba needs 1 jump for his Junior title and 1 for his senior title.  Rosie needs 1 jump to finish her Junior title. It was a fun day and we will definintely be going back to Dog Mode for their events. 
Nelli did amazing in her 1st dog show in October taking Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Breed in her 3rd day in the ring.  It was an amazing feeling and we are excited to see where she goes from here.
In October we said goodbye to our sweet Annie.  She fought long and hard with her battle with lung cancer.  She is missed every day.  She was our 1st lab, our foundation, our love and the reason we have 8 labs now.  But, we wouldn't have it any other way. 
Finally, we are so excited to have dog shows starting up again and will be back in the ring in March, April, May and June.  We also have 2 litters planned this spring/summer as soon as Aspen and Rizzo decided to cooperate.  Rizzo has passed all of her clearances and only needs her Cardiac Echo clearance to have everything done.  So excited to have puppies again!  

It is with a heavy heart that we let everyone know that our Sweet Annie, our foundation, our love was recently diagnosed with lung cancer.  She has been very healthy with just some arthritis which at 10 1/2 is to be expected.  But, she was having some other difficulties so we took her to our wonderful vet.  All her labs were perfect, she had a urinary tract infection and they were going to give us antibiotics and send her home.  But, a very observant vet tech noticed she was having a hard time taking deep breaths.  They immediately x-rayed her chest and found that she had several marble-size lesions.  We are heart-broken.  We don't have any real treatment options for her but, our goal is to give her the best quality of life while we still have her and enjoy every second with her.  She is well-loved and we will miss her very much when she is gone. 

We have been busy this past 6 months here @ BlackRidge.  We are thrilled to announce that Aspen is back with us and currently living the good life with our friends Russ and Jaylene.  She has her sister Cosette for company and gets to go to the fish hatchery everyday with her dad to work.  We are hoping to get this adorable girl back in the ring this spring to continue her show career.  Russ is hoping to get her started on hunt tests and got her started this past fall by introducing her to grouse hunting which she LOVED!  
Poppin and I are going to try Rally this summer and we hope to finish Poppin's Fast cat title.  
Zuko got started on scent training which I think he will really enjoy because it involves his 2 favorite things - sniffing and ;lots of treats!  
We are hoping to get everybody's Canine Good Citizen titles this summer so that in the fall We can get certified as part of the Idaho GO TEAM which is a therapy and crisis dog group in the Boise Area.  This is an area that I am super excited about.  I have seen therapy dogs at work and the comfort and love they bring to others is a wonderful thing. 
​Stay tuned as we keep you up to date on our progress!

This is Aspen and her sister Cosette.  We just love when they come to visit.  it is wonderful to have these 2 so close to us so they can come play with their other sisters Poppin and Rosie.  It is crazy having 9 Labradors running around but they have a GREAT time!

  We try really hard to introduce our dogs to new and fun things.  I had the opportunity to take Zuko, Mia and Finn to work with our friend Sonja on hunting skills.  All 3 dogs have had water and bumper exposure but not actual frozen or live duck.  Finn and Mia LOVED IT!  Mia is 5 years old and never chased anything but a ball or a bumper.  When exposed to a live duck on the water she went right to it, retrieved it and brought it back!  It is amazing to me the instinct that is in these dogs.  It was beautiful to watch.  Finn did great with the live duck and the frozen ducks as well but the live duck started hissing at him and that threw him off his game.  He looked at me like....Mom, get it yourself!  I am so excited for the Mia/Finn litter this fall.  They should have amazing puppies with huge retrieve drive!

The show season has begun with a bang!  BlackPine Harlequin Dancin Through Life "Nessarose" received Reserve Winner's Bitch at the South Jordan Beehive Cluster, Poppin showed beautifully and able to go in for Winner's Bitch.  The boys did not have as good a show but Finn loves the show ring!  He made up for it by going Winner's dog at the Mount Ogden Kennel Club show in Logan, UT a couple weeks later.
​The best thing that has happened is we took 3 of the girls to the Chiropractor.  Annie has had horrible movement and been unable to lift her head well for a long time.  After getting adjusted she has gotten her "Swag in her wag back"!.  It makes me happy!.  Poppin and Mia both had front shoulders out and now have great movement and no limping of any kind.  Wish we had done this sooner.  Going to the chiropractor will definitely be a routine thing especially for Annie.  She may be almost 9 years old but if I can keep her pain free and moving well then she and I will both be happy.

We are very happy with our show season this year.  It was a lot of work showing 5-6 dogs each show  but we did it.  I learned that I need to spend a little more time with training to make sure that my dogs give a more consistent performance whenever we enter the ring. But, I am very happy with what we accomplished. 
Zuko got 2 Winner's Dog, Best of Opposite and multiple 1st place open class placements.  We are still a ways from his championship title but we are working on it.
​Rosie had a really rough summer - she had an infection on her face, lost a lot of weight and had a horrible appetite which required hand feeding at times but by this fall she bounced back with a vengeance.  She got over her shyness in the ring and got her first Winner's Bitch, Best of Opposite Sex and rocked it like a Rockstar in the ring.
​Our biggest surprise has been Finn and how much he loves the show ring.  He is a superstar.  He got his first Reserve Winner's Dog in Boise at our last dog show as a 9 month old puppy.  We have a ways to go an he is still growing but I am thrilled with this boy!  He makes me smile every day.  

I have a brave friend who took on the challenge of photographing 6 busy Labradors and Les and I.  We got some beautiful shots that you can see throughout our website but I saved the family photo for our blog.  I absolutely love it!  Thank you so much Krystle Doty for accepting the challenge and adventure of playing with BlackRidge Labradors.