That's exciting! Unfortunate that you won't be able to trial with Kastle, but you'll have more opportunities when he's ready. I never knew about his drive/grip issues though - what stood out to me about the puppy pedigree is that it seemed to point to strong, hard hitting, sporty dogs that still maintained a clear head and a good off switch off the field. I don't know the dogs in Kastle's pedigree and just assumed he was the right amount of crazy. Well, now I think it's pretty cool that you usually focus on the positive aspects of his temperament/drives (and there are so many!) and still make such a great team with him. The health issues are a real blow, though. Seems like he just can't catch a break!
Yeah, we started remedial tracking today, for sure not going to be ready by the trial. Oh well, we can bang out the I, II, III faster this way I think.
Oh sure! He has great drive, but it is actually too much for accessible/workable drive. If I had had a good, strong, supportive club (like I have now) from when he was young, we'd probably have been fine. But, I did all of his foundation on my lonesome and we have some areas that I didn't handle well - because I either could not, or did not know how. LOADS of leaking drive inappropriately in obedience, and also as he gets closer to 3 years old, we're getting a little...test all the things-y. He has started coming up the line (in a very Kastle way, not breaking the skin but bruising me from elbow to wrist/hand). We did not start real protection until he was almost 2, so he never learned proper gripping behavior and genetically, his grip is not full. And he's a thrasher. He's actually not all that enjoyable to handle in IPO lol. Each phase now (tracking used to be my favorite) has something that triggers his non-existent frustration threshold and causes a conflict. We're getting through it, but it's not pretty, nor fun.
Luckily, he's an absolute sweet doll in the house/outside of sport work and I just love him to death. But, his drive/health issues are the reason we are not doing agility.
Yes, precisely, that's exactly why DH is so excited about this litter/pedigree. We're hoping a real nice drivey dog, with big grips. I am very eager to see what handling a female is like too.
Of your list, i really like:
What about Juniper, call name Ginny? Or call name Tanq (for Tanqueray)?
Jadzia
Joon
Jinkies (call name Velma)
I am loving Tanq and Joon!
DH and I went through the list...left on the original is Juke, Juvi, and Jaded/Cynic.