About Our Dogs
Our Portuguese Water dogs come from the Sakonnet PWDs kennel of Mimi & John Karlsson in Hope Valley, Rhode Island. We have had three Sakonnet dogs, two of whom form the basis of our small kennel (Asta and Beleza). Our dogs compete in a variety of performance sports including Obedience (AKC and CDSP), Rally, Agility (AKC and NADAC), Barn Hunt, Canine Nosework (AKC and NACSW), Water, and Tracking. All of our dogs have earned their Canine Good Citizen certificates and all have earned several levels of tricks titles. We also had one AbFab Border Collie who trained and trialed in obedience, rally, nosework, tricks, and tracking.
In 2018-2019, Kari earned 4th place in the PWDCA Owner Handler program for Performance Venues and 9th place in All Venues Combined, a testament to her working with all of her Portuguese Water Dogs. Kari repeated her performance in the Owner Handler program in 2022, coming in 7th place for all Venues Combined, 8th place in Scentwork, 1st place in AKC Miscellaneous Titles, and 4th in Obedience.
We tend to start retiring our dogs around age 10 to ensure that they do not incur muscle injuries from strenous activities like agility. Nevertheless, they still compete and/or train in other fun, but less hard-on-the-body activities such as tracking and nosework, for as long as possible.
Our PWDs participate in the PWDCA's Register of Merit Program (ROM) and Multiple Achievement Award Program (MAC). By age 11, Darwin had earned Bronze, Silver, and Gold Register of Merits, and by earning 37 titles across at least 3 different venues, he was also awarded his MAC-6. By age 7, Bell had earned her Bronze and Silver Register of Merit and at age 8 had earned her Gold Register of Merit. With 52 titles across at least 3 different venues, she also earned her MAC-8. Bell has also been the model for 4 trick articles and 1 Rally article in the PWDCA publication, The Courier, and Kari's third installment of Advanced Tricks, Why Teach Your Dog Tricks was nominated for a special AKC Family Dog Award with the Dog Writer's Association of America in 2020. At age 6, Scully has earned 45 different titles across at least 3 different venues and has a MAC-7 and her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Registers of Merit. At 3 years of age, Streak has earned 27 titles in at least 3 venues and has a MAC-3. He also is now a model for a training article for The Courier. In 2024 we added Wanda to our family and she is currently training in obedience and water.
You can watch a water training session with our dogs here.
To learn more about each dog, click on that dog's collage.
In 2018-2019, Kari earned 4th place in the PWDCA Owner Handler program for Performance Venues and 9th place in All Venues Combined, a testament to her working with all of her Portuguese Water Dogs. Kari repeated her performance in the Owner Handler program in 2022, coming in 7th place for all Venues Combined, 8th place in Scentwork, 1st place in AKC Miscellaneous Titles, and 4th in Obedience.
We tend to start retiring our dogs around age 10 to ensure that they do not incur muscle injuries from strenous activities like agility. Nevertheless, they still compete and/or train in other fun, but less hard-on-the-body activities such as tracking and nosework, for as long as possible.
Our PWDs participate in the PWDCA's Register of Merit Program (ROM) and Multiple Achievement Award Program (MAC). By age 11, Darwin had earned Bronze, Silver, and Gold Register of Merits, and by earning 37 titles across at least 3 different venues, he was also awarded his MAC-6. By age 7, Bell had earned her Bronze and Silver Register of Merit and at age 8 had earned her Gold Register of Merit. With 52 titles across at least 3 different venues, she also earned her MAC-8. Bell has also been the model for 4 trick articles and 1 Rally article in the PWDCA publication, The Courier, and Kari's third installment of Advanced Tricks, Why Teach Your Dog Tricks was nominated for a special AKC Family Dog Award with the Dog Writer's Association of America in 2020. At age 6, Scully has earned 45 different titles across at least 3 different venues and has a MAC-7 and her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Registers of Merit. At 3 years of age, Streak has earned 27 titles in at least 3 venues and has a MAC-3. He also is now a model for a training article for The Courier. In 2024 we added Wanda to our family and she is currently training in obedience and water.
You can watch a water training session with our dogs here.
To learn more about each dog, click on that dog's collage.
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