Mara
May 23 2000 Mara came to live with us. Her full name: Dutch CH, Luxemburg CH and International CH Baroness Mara of Weimar’s Joy. Born: March 31 2000.
With Mara I did all sorts of dog training courses; puppy course, Obedience A, Obedience B, Obedience Club GG, Obedience GG 1, GG2 and finaly Mara got her Cynophilia GG 3 diploma when she was just 4 years old, the second weimaraner bitch in Holland who had this diploma after my Mouse. We did a doggy dancing course, UV Uithoudings Vermogen which is a training the the working dogs, th dogs have to walk in a trot next to a bike for 20 km, gundog training, Feld und Wasser Prüfung in Austria, de VGP in Austria.
We started gundog training when Mara was already over 3 years old, it appeared she was a natural. We got our KNJV- C diploma. But this wasn’t really my kind of way to work with a dog at the time. So we trained for the Feld und Wasser Prüfung in Austria which was a big success. The field work went really well, the dogs have to point fur game and feathered game. Not very long after we entered the field during the test Mara pointed 2 pheasants and after that she pointed a deer and was completely steady !!! The deer run away, like they do, and Mara was sitting and stretching her neck for miles. It was so beautiful.
After that we trained for the VGP. Training went well and off we went to Austria again for the test. The tests in the woods went SUPER, retrieve of a fox out of a jump, track of a fox up the hill, the track of the rabbit, working the field looking for game for over 5 minutes on her own went super. Her style while working in the woods was extremely good, all was well so far.
Then it went wrong at the water work. In the meantime it started to rain really hard and we had to wait for nearly 2 hours before we could do something, the atmosphere among people was getting really unkind and impolite and that got to me and so to Mara. It wasn’t her fault. When I sent mara in the water she went in because I asked her too and then she bumped into something that was underneath the water, that startled her and she came back to me. The Austrian judges thought it was really funny and laughed out lout and I heard them say; she can go back to where she game from. How professional is that?!
Bin there, done that, never again.
In September 2003 Mara and I were at the Jubilee Clubmatch of the Weimaraner Club of Great Britain and Di Arrowsmith invited Mara and me to go to a fieldwork course with Peter O’ Driscoll in February the next year. Mara was a natural, I was a beginner but Mara knew what she was doing. We enjoyed ourselves so much that a lot of weeks of training followed after that.
In March 2009 Mara had to have a operation on her left elbow and the result wasn’t what we hoped it would be so unfortunally Mara can’t work a whole day in the field anymore but she still loves it. We are going to Scotland again in a few weeks (July 2010) to do a three day training with Myrtle on grouse and Mara can make a head start to explain to Myrtle what it is you have to do when you are working on the most beautiful piece of earth on this planet; The Moor.
Unfortunally I couldn’t have a litter with Mara because she had to be spaid at a early age because of medical reasons.
Mara has done extremely well in the show ring – She became best bitch at the Club match of the Dutch Weimaraner Club in 2002, the judge was: Mr. N. Newton from England. And in about 10 shows Mara became a Dutch Champion, a Luxemburg Champion and an International Champion. I am very fortunate with Mara and I always say; If I could clone Mara I would, that’s how special she is to me.
Mara’s father is Forgun Fifty Five owned by Carl and Chris Issit from England and Mara’s mother was Grayshar Winsong on the Rise (Am. Import) from Jur and Yvonne Deckers. Kennel where Mara come’s from: www.ofweimarsjoy.nl