We’ve had a pretty busy summer at Eromit Acres! Things started off with a trip to Langley in early June where Verona and I attended the BC- Yukon agility regional championships. Verona was a rockstar, qualifying for nationals (which were held a few weeks ago in Ontario- too far away for us to attend but an honor to qualify for nonetheless). The highlight of that weekend- well, there many. Many highlights! One was a first place finish on a tricky standard course. Another was a Saturday evening gathering with Eromit puppy owners (and also several non-competing Eromit puppy owners came to visit throughout the weekend- gosh I am so lucky to get to see so many puppies after they’ve grown!) The final weekend highlight for Verona and I, that we’ll remember forever, was running in the Sunday afternoon Steeplechase finals, to the roar of our Lab-loving cheering section. We flew through a super fun, smooth, fast course, touched all the yellow bits, and ended up with a perfect run.

Throughout the summer we hosted 3 North America Dock Diving competitions, for a total of over 800 competition jumps! Special thank you to our team of judges- Leanne Dixon, Derek Dixon, Melissa Ramsay, Heather Schneider- and our administrator Barb King- for making these competitions possible! For our final event of the season- the Western Cup Challenge- we combined the big championship with a fundraiser for the Smiling Blue Skies Canine Cancer Fund. With a special thank you to everyone who donated to the raffle table, purchased raffle tickets, camped on site, or participated in the Tennis Ball fundraiser- we were able to raise 2782.40! I would surely miss someone if I attempted to list all of the individual donors, but must make a special mention of our business sponsors: IrRawsistible, The Little Red Pony, Raised Dog Beds, mARTcela Zentangle Mugtopia, Woof Images, Achieve Advertising, Free Life Canine, Dog Books Canada, Fit Pets Quesnel, and Cassie Young Dog Training.

The Western Cup Challenge itself was very well attended and the competition was fierce. Team Alberta swept the fastest division of the HydroDash event, setting multiple new pool records (the record finally landed by Taylor Sobchuk and her chocolate lab Rim). The Fast Fetch game was dominated by Eromit dogs with winners in all divisions being Eromit Labs this year! Tim and Avi were this close.-. to tying the pool record in Air Retrieve, and didn’t quite make it, but did still take first place in the Master division. The overall Western Cup Champion, determined by points accrued in each of the 4 events, was Buzz! He had an amazing weekend with personal bests in all events except Air Retrieve and came home with the beautiful hand-carved trophy made by Pine River Carving‘s Ken Sheen! (Ken also built a fantastical on-site trophy which will be updated with the winners information from each year- we are SO lucky to the support of an internationally renowned artist creating custom trophies for us!)

The Western Cup Challenge event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Dr. Bianca Scheidt from Animal Care Hospital in Quesnel, is our biggest and best sponsor year after year (and also the primary caregiver for all of our dogs.) Additionally she also recruits other sponsors through her supplier connections at the clinic. Thank you Bianca! And thank you to Merck Animal Health and Royal Canin for their donation of tremendous prizes for both the fundraiser and competition (we had several bags of dog food, collapsible bowls, those extremely luxurious plush blankets, some lip gloss, and various other swag). This year, the HydroDash event was sponsored by our friends at Real Life Raw in Telkwa- they provided huge bags of dehydrated treats for the winners in each division! Power Apparel provided super absorbent towels that made excellent prizes for hydrodash and Air Retrieve dogs. Many of the amazing toys that were handed out to first, second and third place dogs came from Anipet. Rogue Pet Science provided Origins Supplements for our random splash prize winners (by the way, we now carry this supplement!) We topped off the prize selection with some cool finds from the Eromit AIRcademy store.

So besides dock diving lessons and competitions, we were busy attending various agility trials hosted by Clear Sailing Dog Sports and Top Dog Agility. I taught lessons in advanced agility for Fit Pets Quesnel students and have nearly completed my professional Canine Fitness Trainer certification course ( fitness classes for beginner students will be available through Fit Pets starting in September with advanced workshops running monthly over the course of the winter). We attended the CKC obedience and rally trials in Prince George at the end of the July and the black lab crew of Mezzy, Avi, Shelby and Chester did a good job despite getting in a lot less practice than we had anticipated.

When we were not competing this summer, we were kept busy with following the exploits of our talented puppies in other areas. Liz Dole and Chelsea flew to the Netherlands to represent team USA in agility at the European Open competition- and we were able to watch their fabulous runs via live streaming! Dan Vaughan and Shadow attended the National Amateur Retriever Field Trial Championship in Alberta! Steve Bushie and Sidney finished their Grand Master Hunter hunt test title and ran the National Master hunt test! Eromit East represented by Holly Drabyk with Savvy and Ember, and Ellen McGaghey ran at the AAC Agility Nationals in Ontario- gosh, it’s a full time job keeping track of all of these fabulous teams these days, but I’m pretty darn proud to be able to do it!

The last sports-related thing we’ve been working on is our online course for dock diving foundation training. Early enrolment is available now with the course officially launching in 2020. Find out more info HERE.

Puppy Stuff!

Now that fall is upon us, more or less- the world begins to revolve once again around puppies! As most people know, in recent years we have begun making our litter plans to avoid having little ones over the summer months- so that we have a little bit more flexibility in travelling and hosting competitions (and simply because it’s nice to be able to sleep through the night once in a while!) Our first litter this fall was born on August 22nd to Pepper and Buzz. As of today, we only have one puppy available from this litter (a female, with preference to a working/sporting home). There is more information about the litter HERE and some cute videos of the puppies on our facebook page, like this one!

Speaking of facebook- they have changed their policies to prohibit any advertising of animals for sale. While we’ve never overtly used facebook for advertising in this way, they are being REALLY sticky about what they consider a ‘for sale’ ad, and have shut down some of our breeder friends pages who have simply been using their page as we do- for sharing the glory of puppies, litter announcements, and posting brags and news. I am trying extra hard not to post anything that could be interpreted as an advertisement, but you can help me out by directing any puppy buying questions, references or inquiries, directly to my email at erin@kinderdoggin.com

Other litters that we are eagerly expecting this fall, to be born in October – include Viper x Buzz (one reservation for a black male puppy is available)- Fergie x Ruger – reservations for black male puppies are available – and Avi x Coulee (available reservations for black male or female, or chocolate (must be flexible on gender). Our next litters after these are planned for early spring, and we are accepting reservations for those as well. You can find all of the litter plans we have going on, updated regularly, on this page HERE (note that I do not plan more than one litter in advance for our girls, so I am not accepting reservations for litters unless they are specifically listed on the above page).

Traveling With Puppies – For Our US Friends

I don’t think the word is entirely out yet, but as of right now- things are ‘back to normal’ with regards to our American friends being able to purchase a Canadian born puppy without a hassle! That’s right- the whole quarantine & permit system that had began in 2014 was rescinded in December, and now, all you have to do to get your new puppy home is to show your bill of sale and puppy health records at the border (both of which we obviously provide). As a reminder, we do not ship or deliver puppies- they must be picked up here in Quesnel (or we are happy to meet you in Prince George, our nearest ‘big’ airport). We are happy to discuss potential travel plans if you are far away and considering adding an Eromit puppy to your family!

For Sale Things!

A few items that are currently available, including some used training equipment, and new Store inventory!

Channel weave poles (old spacing)- $20 each. Includes pvc poles. – must pick up

Base for 6 weave poles (old spacing) $15. No poles – must pick up

Teeter Totter Base – brand new, not assembled, no plank – will need to have a plank attached – $100. must pick up

Origins 5 in 1 Supplement– 2 lb packages $45 (includes tax) – shipping available

IrRAWsistible Duck and Turkey necks (frozen) – $10 per package includes tax. ~5 necks per pack.

***Check back as I will be going through some more equipment and may have more to list in the coming days.