Monroe Trial 2011

Maxie:  6 runs, 3 Q's XJ, XJ, XS, 2 3rd places XS and XJ, 1 QQ, 39 MACH Points Videos Posted
Lucky:  6 runs, 2 Q's, 1 1st place, 1 2nd place OJ, OPEN JUMPERS TITLE Videos Posted


Lucky, Maxie and Willow cozy in their crates,
bedecked with ribbons, and finally, me in a "crate space" picture.
The black X-pen propped up behind Lucky's crate, rugs
 draped down the back and sides, and the cooler,
gave them a "front view only and almost complete privacy.

This was my second visit to the Ike Exposition Center in West Monroe.  Last year it seemed huge, so this year I made sure I arrived early on Wednesday so I could position my crate space with some privacy.  To my surprise, the arena seemed smaller!  Still, it's a 4 day trial, away from home 5 days,  with 2 rings going at once -- very stressful.  We stayed at Motel 6, a roomy ground floor "handicap" unit with king bed, microwave, fridge and desk, very comfortable, and only 1/4 mile away from the arena.  It was $44.75/night, including tax, and no pet fee. My cooler was packed with 4 Ocean Spray bottle blocks of ice, which actually lasted thru all 5 days.  As it melted, we drank our own Baton Rouge water.

GOALS FOR MAXIE:
1-3 Q's XS, if 3, he earns his Masters Standard Title (3 chances).  DONE! Earned 2
1-3 Q's XJ.  DONE! Earned 1
1-3 2Q's.  DONE! Earned 1
A few Placement Ribbons  DONE! 2 3rd place ribbons, 1 QQ ribbon

GOALS FOR LUCKY:

1 Q OJ, earning her Open JumpersTitle OAJ (3 chances)  DONE!
2 Q's XS - A, earning her Excellent Standard Title AX (3 chances)
More Q's if possible, of course.   DONE! 1st Q in XJ
Improved time.
A few placement ribbons.  DONE! 1st place in XJ, 2nd place in OJ

However, I had another goal . . . . . . .  to run my dogs at all.
Nursing a 3 week old calf injury, I went to the doctor Tuesday Morning, who okayed me to run (nothing seems torn), but fixed me up with Naprelan 500 mg. anti-inflamatory and Metaxalone 800 mg muscle relaxer.  Supposedly, both are non-drowsy.  I took my first pills Tuesday around noon, and by 3 p.m. I was so loopy I tripped and fell once, and felt tongue tied all evening.  But by Wednesday my calf was only slightly tender.  Things were looking good. Left at 10 on Wednesday, and had the highway to myself the whole 200 mile, 4 hour drive.

My strategy for the weekend, therefore, was to take these pills after settling in for the evening, let them work their magic overnight and leave me pain free and alert the next day.  Secondly, recognizing myself as a complete wuss where pain is concerned, I primed myself to ignore any pain I might feel.

This didn't work at all!

THURSDAY: Maxie was the 9th dog to run.  The XS course was easy enough, I walked it several times with no discomfort, and felt confident.  But 3rd jump into the run, I felt my calf rip, pain jammed thru my leg, I winced, Maxie got confused and missed the next jump.  I managed to hobble thru the rest of the course without fault, but of course we NQ'd, and my weekend came to a screeching halt. 

Maxie was perfect, and there he was prancing around expecting a treat.  But the crate area now seemed blocks away. The arena seemed enormous again. My face felt like a water balloon, filled with tears, but none came out.  My heart was so heavy I could barely lug it around. Tracy, who was videoing us, came up and said the camera misfired, so more bad news.  I didn't catch any more videos this day.  That night I discovered the memory stick had become dislodged.  I pushed it back in, and we were good to go.

All of my aforementioned goals -- down the toilet.  All my entry fees lost.  My weekend ruined. Or so I thought, until Tracy offered to run Lucky in XS.  They have never run together but Lucky has played with her at the field.  So, after a bit of bonding and tugging, they headed onto the course, and miraculously Q'd!  It was a beautiful run.  MOST UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't have the good sense to hide, so when Lucky crossed the finish line I screamed for joy, she heard me and leaped over the ring gates to me . . . . . . . and was immediately disqualified.  SHIT! SHIT!  SHIT!   It seems I have to learn each and every single lesson in this sport personally, at cost.

.
I caught this run on my Sony Cybershot, and will certainly add this blooper to my ever-growing list of WHAT CAN GO WRONG IN THE RING.  Here it is:

On their second run of the day, Open Jumpers, Tracy took Lucky around the ring like the pro she is, Lucky Q'd and my first goal of the weekend was miraculously met -- Lucky's Open Jumpers Title.  Plus 2nd place!  Lucky walked thru the weaves and her time was a few seconds over SCT, but she Q'd.  I made sure I was hiding this time, and only screaming for joy on the inside.  My heart was pumping, though.  What an adrenalin rush!

Noel offered to run Maxie's second run of Thursday, and they did amazingly well, too, but not a Q.  Noel has never run Maxie, but she pretty much taught me how to handle so we handle similarly.  They warmed up awhile, Maxie pretty much paid attention to the hot dogs in Noel's mouth, but a few times during the run it seemed Maxie was looking for me and missed a few of Noel's cues. She did manage to catch him after the run.  I videod this with my little Sony Cybershot, but I can't find it now.  Bummer!  I'll keep looking.

Went to dinner with clubmates at El Sombrero Mexican restaurant, next door to Motel 6.  Wonderful enchiladas!

Tracy/Lucky with OJ TITLE ribbon,
1st and 2nd place ribbons

FRIDAY: Again, Maxie was 9th dog to run in XS, only this time Sandy R. ran him.  He ran wonderfully for her and Q'd . . . . . .  BUT, afterwards she couldn't get his leash on, he kept backing up and eventually ran out of the ring looking for me, and got eliminated.  Another perfect run gone awry.  Later, she ran him in XJ and they Q'd with time to spare.  She had practiced slipping the leash over his head beforehand this time, and he sat for her.  Another goal met.  It was a QQ day in my estimation.  AKC disagrees.

Lucky fared about as well, with Tracy running him, and me hiding up in the bleachers.  It was her first XJ - A run and a difficult course.  She ran 3 seconds over SCT, so 6 points were deducted from her 100 score, but she was the only dog to Q at 20", so she got 1st place.  What a frickin' shock!  Another goal met.

Went to dinner with club-mates at Outback Steakhouse.  It was Brittany's birthday (Noel's friend). The spinach/artichoke dip was a big hit.

SATURDAY:  With 4 runs to go and my leg no better, Tracy and Sandy agreed to run my dogs again on Saturday.  Both claimed they were enjoying it, though both were running multiple dogs of their own!



Noel and Sandy pose with Maxie,
wearing his QQ ribbon, 2
3rd place ribbons, and 3 Q's.

To my great joy, Maxie double Q'd with Sandy, and both were 3rd place runs.  So 2 more goals met.  Sandy said Maxie was "lots of fun to run", so now somebody besides me knows that!  I did hobble through the courses with her and gave a few handling tips, such as calling Maxie hard off the dog walk or he will take it every time, not front crossing after the A-frame because Maxie shoots down that sucker very fast, that he sends to the A-frame, dog walk and see-saw from a great distance, and that he has good "go outs". I learned later than one of Maxie's 3rd place wins was only by 1/100th of a second!  If the 4th place dog had exactly tied, there would have had to be a runoff!

Lucky didn't fare so well.  No Q's.  She just couldn't seem to focus, ran around jumps, and walked thru the weaves.  Her time was terrible.  Tracy chalked it up to "doing that hound dog thing".  Plus, by the 3rd day Lucky is always tired.  Tracy didn't seem quite herself either.  I myself was so tired from all the adrenalin pumping and stomach churning, not to mention trying with each step not to limp and make other body parts sore, I fell asleep by 4 p.m. watching TV and icing my leg, and didn't make it to dinner at Olive Garden with the gang on Saturday night.  I didn't even have the energy to download and watch the videos I took, and I always look forward to that!

MUSINGS: RUNNING EACH OTHER'S DOGS:
All of these goings-on this weekend, with the Noel/Maxie, Sandy/Maxie, and Tracy/Lucky teams demonstrating that dogs can run for multiple handlers,  led to various comments among LCCOC clubmates about running each other's dogs once in awhile at practice, for insurance purposes. 
Reactions were mixed:

• Some claimed their dogs would never run for anyone else.
• Others opined that they didn't want to confuse their dogs with different handling techniques.  In my classes we practice each sequence several different ways. How can one know what what works best for you, until you try them all?
• One person claimed she could never concentrate well enough to do the close handling my dogs take. 
• Another said she would never let anyone else run her dog, because she didn't want to be shown up!   Oh, contrare!  I am so happy if someone can show me up, Q my dogs. I have no grand illusions about my skills, and what better way to learn how to improve myself.
• Someone summed it up that dogs who enjoy agility will run for just about anybody, and dogs that don't enjoy agility just do it because they are velcroed to their handler. 

All I know is, Maxie will follow anyone who offers him food.  Lucky will chase after anyone carrying her toy. The hussies!  And having someone else willing to run my dogs this weekend really saved my ass!  All my goals were met!
 

Maxie, Willow, Lucky, Michele

TRIAL SITE SUMMARY:  See links.

LESSONS LEARNED: 

• Make sure to train my dogs so anyone can grab their collar, and put on their leash.
• If someone else runs my dog, disappear.
• Don't tug too long with Lucky before a run -- it tires her out.
• Lucky does best with a long lead-out, where she can see H standing on the landing side of the jump.  If not, she tends to go around the first jump.
• You never know where your help is going to come from.  Someone you might not have expected to be there for you, can suddenly save your day.
• Travel with instant heating pads, and instant cold packs. 
• I learned that for inflammation or swelling, use cold packs (makes sense to reduce the "flames"), for tight muscles or charlie horses use a hot pad (makes sense that a hot bath relaxes you).

Packed up to head home, I wheeled us thru the arena and heard lots of comments how cute Max and Willow look tucked in the caboose, how awesome my red wagon is.  I finally got someone to take a picture of me by my wagon.  On the way out, I discovered Lucky loves to pull the cart.  I had her leash attached to the upright pole (by my shoulder), and she just steadily walked by my side and pulled, pulled, pulled all the way out to the car!  Is she a cart-puller?

NEW GOALS:

• Maxie is 1 Q away from his MXJ title, and 4 Q's away from his MX title.
• Lucky is 2 Q's away from her AXJ title, and 2 Q's away from her AX title.
• Need to attend at least 2 more trials before November to reach these 2011 goals.
• Not exactly a goal, just a fact, Maxie needs 2 more QQ's and 189 more MACH points by November 30, 2011, to qualify for AKC nationals next year (6 QQ's and 400 MACH points required). It would be sweet to qualify, whether we go or not, but I don't think I'm up to that level of stress yet.  
• Heal my leg completely before any more running!  Give it 6 weeks, at least.
• Learn to teach my Wednesday night class without running!  Nedra says I demo too much anyway, just let them run the sequences and figure it out for themselves.
• Get signed up for the Hattiesburg trial on August 18-21, only 8 weeks away.
• Get signed up for the 2 Kiln trials in September and October.
• Find some first aid cold packs and hot packs.  Need a box of each. 

What a weekend!  I will never forget the friendly support extended to me by my clubmates, and their professionalism, which saved our weekend and made it possible to stay on track with my 2011 goals.  They told me to disappear, get lost, etc., and I never worried that they would forget to go get my dogs out of their crates, warm them up, treat them right, do their best.  Even with Sandy, who was running Tango in the same 8" XB class, I was totally confident she would do her best for Maxie, and she did.

Upwards and onward,

Brandon Trial - Sat Sun

Maxie, 4 runs, 3 Q's (XJ 2nd place, XS 1st place, XJ 2nd place), 1 QQ, 42 MACH Points
Lucky, 4 runs, 1 Q (XS 2nd place)
Videos are posted (see links right column).

Maxie, Lucky, Willow and I attended my 5th trial for 2011, in Brandon, MS this past Easter weekend. The mood was festive and several ladies wore Easter garb between their runs and told stories of previous Easter trials and how they've decorated their bonnets over the years.

Pulling out of BR around noon Friday, I heard a thunk under the left front wheel about half a mile down the road and the car began pulling hard to the right. I turned around and went home, called Sherwood Car Care and they said bring it in. I offloaded the dogs, went, they put her on the rack and said "don't drive her out of town". So I went home and unpacked my Grand Marquis with its clean windshields and ashtray, dusted floormats, filled tires, and full gastank into John's Grand Marquis, with its dirty windshields, un-checked tires, littered floor, and half a tank of gas, and made it to Brandon 2.5 hours later than I expected. I refused to interpret this as a bad omen. I had a second chariot, after all, and had built in a 4 hour cushion for unseen circumstances.  I do that these days because I can't take rushing any more, and because at my age there should be "no surprise to surprises".  It all worked out.


Lucky's crate left, Willow and Maxie's right,
With cooler, duffle bag, a tray for my table, and chairs arranged
on my 5x7' brown carpet, that's our little weekend home, tightly
squeezed in amidst a sea of others.

I set up my crate space on Friday, then went to the hotel to offload, then Nedra and I went to an early dinner at a fried Catfish shack a few blocks away. $8  Delicious! Mark Ostrich joined us so we learned more about his training and dog club activities in New Orleans. It made me appreciate our club having a field of its own, regular classes, a core of willing instructors, and 24/7 field privileges for qualified students.

Fewer of our club members (Nedra, Kay, Loralie, Tracey, Sandy and me) showed up at the trial due to it being Easter weekend, not the usual gang that hangs together.  With various personalities missing the dynamic was different, which I found interesting. 

Also, the trial was smaller, the days ended by 3 p.m., so everyone was willing to hang around for the last runs of our Open and Novice dogs (Lucky, Trea and Toozie). Since Toozie was the last dog to run on Sunday, Kay kept telling me I didn't have to stay, she understood we wanted to get on the road, etc.  Which gave me the opportunity to explain to her I really truly don't want to miss any of our "doggie debuts".  I find them thrilling, even more so when I contemplate comparing them to videos of these teams 3 years from now.  As in "from this tiny acorn a giant oak grew". Or, "from this wild unrully unfocused dog a highly coordinated champion emerged."  And equally, "from this gangly, eratic, confused student a competent, graceful, sure-footed handler metamorphosized!"  It doesn't happen overnight.  Newbies need to know that.  I need to keep reminding myself, so I don't get discouraged.
Gas prices, $3.65/gallon, make these agility trials more expensive! It took $55 to fill up my tank and I heard many people talking about laying off of trialing for awhile.

Trial Site Summary: (see Trial Site Summaries link, right column)

Our Runs:
The runs all weekend were Small to Tall, so Maxie was the 4th dog to run each morning. I had to be there by 7:15 a.m. to settle in, which was not a problem -- for the first time I felt totally alert. I was able to memorize the courses quickly, without maps, and didn't feel nervous on my turn. Maybe I've finally got the "early morning" issue resolved: Lights out by 10:30. Take half a sleeping pill. Get up at 5:30, plenty of time to do my morning rituals without rushing.

Maxie: When I'm sure of where I'm going on course, Maxie follows pretty well.  There were no great challenges.  He made good time, as evidenced by his 42 MACH points, i.e. 42 seconds under SCTs (Standard Course Times), an average of 10 seconds under SCT per run.

Lucky: Can't say the same for Lucky.  On Saturday she was running fast, jumping low, and I was sometimes handling at a distance!  She hopped thru the weaves, too, never popped out.  Even at that, she was from 1 second under SCT to 5 seconds under SCT.  On Sunday she ran some, loped some, and walked some, resulting in running 2 seconds over and 9 seconds over SCT.  This is way too close, even at her best.  She HAS TO RUN FASTER and MAKE TIGHTER TURNS. PERIOD!

Both dogs' weaves were faster with the daily practice I've been putting them through at home, tossing treats ahead as Maxie exits the last pole, throwing a tug toy for Lucky, building drive and muscle memory.  I followed through with my plan not to "dread" the weaves, to just put them in and trust them to take every pole, kept my distance. But this needs improvement and broke down once as Lucky came to a stop at pole 10 and almost lost her Q.  I reached in psychically and pulled her nose through to the finish.  It was by a thread that she Q'd.  By a thread.  The audience sighed relief when she made it through. And Maxie popped out at weave 10 on his first Sunday run, then ran the first 6 and walked the rest on another run. The videos will show me what I was doing wrong.  My dogs can weave fast.

Lucky's jump chute training is paying off already, after just a few reps. She jumped lower and broader and ran faster, though not consistently. Still, I was pummelled rather brutally (just after her Q on Saturday - odd damn time to pummell someone) for not cheering her on, that she looks tired and uninspired in the ring. I raced back to the hotel, even skipped dinner, to check the videos of how uninspired my dog is, and found the observations were exaggerated. Other than still yelling "over" at every jump (i.e., I still don't trust my dogs to automatically take what's next in the sequence), I cheer them on no more or less than most people including my critic (excepting Tracey, the cheerleadingest person at every trial). Good lord, I'm so busy concentrating on finding the next obstacle, picking up my feet, not falling on my face, etc., it's all I can do to say "here", "over", "come on".  Lucky isn't unhappy, she just has that hang-dog look, and running agility for her mamma is NOT her greatest thrill in life.  It's mine!  But then, playing fetch and tugging with her for hours is NOT my greatest thrill in life.  It's hers! So we trade favors.  She runs like a maniac if she isn't hot or tired, and if I have a tug toy in my hand.

Lessons Learned:

• People's observations aren't necessarily accurate. They don't know all the factors being dealt with.   A woman who seems to run like a clutz might well be a polio victim who was told she could never walk!  Then "look at that clutz" becomes "wow, look at her run."
• The "butt push".  One lady's dog took the wrong end of the tunnel when she pointed to the correct end with her arm, but bent over in such a way that her butt was pushing to the path of the other end.  Dog ran behind her behind and took the other entrance.  I couldn't believe it when, discussing this with Nedra, she called it "the butt push" and said she had been warned against this at a seminar!

Goals:

• I'm tired of "barely got that Q" runs.  I want flawless Q's.
• Lucky didn't get her Open Jumpers Title. No problem. Next time.
• Lucky needs to run faster -- keep up the jump chutes and weave pole practice. Get her involved in Lure Coursing.
• More practice on rear crosses.  Too many push offs and near push offs witnessed and experienced.
• 3 more XJ Q's for Maxie's MXJ title
• 5 more XS Q's for Maxie's MX title
• 3 more 2Q's (at least) for Maxie by October, making a total of 6, qualifying us for an invitation to AKC Nationals, leaving 14 for next year.
• Sign up for the next trial.  Monroe?  Birmingham?  Definitely not Galveston, which is unairconditioned and will be hot.
• More practice on front crosses.  I don't do them, but need to.
• Get the LCCOC crawfish boil organized for Mother's Day weekend.
• Plan next session of classes for Intermediate Beginners.  Nice group of novice competitors developing there.

With all the videos I'm taking, last week I conceived the idea of putting together an e-book called "What Can Go Wrong In The Ring", with hundreds of snippets.  I ran the idea by a few people, who liked it. All I need is a good video editing program.  Still haven't found it.

Upwards and onward!