Hattiesburg Agility Trial - STCA

Maxie 6 runs, 2 Q's, 1 3rd place, 39 MACH points, 6 videos.
Lucky Lucy:  6 runs, 0 Q's, 5 videos

Maxie and me at the start line,
on the red, red dirt of Hattiesburg.

This was a new trial on AKC's calendar, hosted by the AKC afilliated Staffordshire Terrier Club of America on the red red dirt of Hattiesburg.  Dog Gone Fun was hired to run the trial, and they took my BARK bucks in payment, but as no nearby STCA club members could be found to form a Trial Committee, 5 flew in from far parts.  2 from California, 1 from Missouri, and a few others I didn't meet.  They lent a very different flavor to the trial --  loud, friendly, competitive, opinionated, and quite bold handlers of their terriers and pit bulls, who all ran superbly!  They crated near me at ground level in the back hall, so I was privy to some of their almost continuous talk.  No shyness there, and they liked Lucky Lucy.  Their comments were that we southerners are way too uptight, our handling in most cases not very sophisticated.  Their motto:  Fun, Fast, and Fair.  In one kitchen conclave, they said their judges were lots more laid back and entertaining, they handled much more boldly, they focused more on speed and less on Q'ing, and they favored upping the difficulty of AKC courses to prepare competitors for national and international competition.

I objected to that last, explaining that only a handful aspire to compete at the higher levels, that most of us do agility for the health benefits, mental challenge, and structured activities with our dogs.  Several ladies agreed. I suggested the place to make things more complicated is once a dog MACH's, but don't take the recreational aspect of the sport away from the vast majority.  They listened and weren't the least huffy at hearing opinions contrary to their own.

They related that almost all trials out west are held outdoors, as the weather is not so humid and the summer heat much easier to tolerate, everyone brings canopies against heat and rain, and there are tons of matches and trials to attend almost every weekend.  They hinted that outdoors, dogs tend to be more excited about the sport.  Is that why Lucky does so well at our field, so poorly in the arenas?  I hadn't thought of it, but we NEVER practice indoors!

OUR PERFORMANCE:


Maxie's 1st run was splendid, a solid Standard Q with 20 MACH points.  A few wide turns cost us placement. That felt great!   His second run was clean but he broke his start line stay (not a fault but very rare) and ran 2 seconds over course time.  Why so slow?  3 runs were very close to Q's, 1 run he veered right and did a tunnel suck while I was going left.  Another run he knocked a bar.  Then one run we did the "Walk Of Shame" off the course, where he smelled something mid-course and wouldn't stop circling and sniffing, and would not let me pick him up.  We got whistled off, of course.  I finally commanded a "Sit", and he sat.  Several other dogs sniffed and NQ'd in the same general area.  I marched straight to his crate and denied him a treat, and ignored him for awhile (a first for us), but I don't think he related this punishment to his behavior.  The best part of all this, for me, is I didn't feel the least bit embarrassed!  Last year I'd have been mortified.

Lucky had 3 clean runs, alas all over course time, and the other 3 she had one mistake each - one weave pop-out, another caused by my bout of vertigo at a planned front cross so I just stood there as the room spun around and she took the jump straight ahead, another a badly placed rear cross.  This last run was her only one with seconds to spare.  She mostly walked the courses.

"BEHIND" command.  One of the STCA gals, running a fast 20" terrier, did an amazing maneuver that caught everybody's attention on Saturday and some of the small dog handlers, walking the course afterwards, crowded around the jumps to discuss it and wonder if we would dare try it.  I was sorely tempted, but with a QQ on the line and no prior practice, I chickened out.  I include the map below. 



It's a "ketchker", some said, but one which I found easier to comprehend than most. More elegant than making a 260 turn, and much faster, the STCA lady showed me how she taught that maneuver at home as a "behind" command.  I'm setting it up in my yard this week, from both left and right directions.

At the vendors, I finally fitted Pepper with a sturdy red harness, and a matching black leash.  Immediately upon attaching this leash to either his collar or harness, he began calmly walking by my side on a loose leash.  Not one bit of pulling, the whole rest of the weekend.  Go figure!  Is he growing up or is it that he finally feels properly pampered?

It was a pleasant RV vacation.  All went perfect.   Nothing forgotten.  No injuries.  No mishaps. Weather overcast and not too hot, nothing like last year's tornado/hail storm.  There was space between the isolated rain showers to pack without getting wet.  A few visitors - Ken, Karen and Christina.  Avoiding the 4th of July parties, I enjoyed my yard and listened to an audio book, The Promised Land, for hours with my new Bluetooth speaker -- my version of celebrating the 4th, because the book is about a Russian Jewish family who emigrated to America in the 1890's and compared their new-found freedoms with the oppressive social, political, poverty and religious conditions in their native village.  We do have it good! While listening hands free, I made a few more improvements in my packing.  cut down significantly on road rattles by placing damp sponges behind the dog crate doors and stove grate.  I learned that Maxie and Pepper love to lie in the red wagon on the porch and chew their twizzle sticks in isolation from Lucky.  We were all completely relaxed.  I worked on training them not to bark so much at passersby, popping a damp wash cloth against the fence and saying Aah, which startled them!  After a few times, they settled down very well.

Going to Hattiesburg and back, generator running, takes 3/4ths tank of gas, i.e., 45 gallons, i.e. $148.  Yikes!  Including running fees for 2 dogs (entered only in MS and MJ) and RV spot for 3 nights, this trial cost me +/- $450.  Sounds high, but imagine those who have several dogs entered, run them in 4 events daily, stay in hotels, eat out, come from much further away, and whose SUV's don't get much better mileage than my RV!

GOALS MET/GOALS SET:

Maxie to surpass 750 MACH points, accomplished.
Maxie one QQ, not met.
Maxie, run his weaves.  Did this 3 out of 6 times.
None of my goals for Lucky were met.  No Q's.  No fast weaves.  Only 1 run under course time.  But I can say a few good things.  She didn't pause on top of the A-frame, didn't miss any of her contacts, and didn't seem overly stressed.

So my goals remain the same:  QQ's, running weaves, faster times, and better handling.  Do what I can to lengthen Maxie's stride, which seems to be getting shorter and shorter.  And now, getting to the bottom of this vertigo and having the courage to deal with my worsening vision.

I delayed this post a long time waiting to finish my video composites, but I still haven't done them.  Not much of a thrill watching a long string of NQ's!  Besides, doing Librivox recordings and my garden have kept me plenty busy, plus an upcoming post on the produce we've enjoyed.

Upwards and onward!

Port Allen Agility Trial - April 2013

Maxie 6 runs, 2 Q's, 1 2nd place, 21 MACH points, 6 videos
Lucky Lucy 6 runs, 0 Q's, 6 videos

Port Allen is right across the river, 25 minutes from home, so we came home every evening.  It's my own dog club's trial, John participated as 1st assistant Chief Course Builder and was there at 6:30 every morning and among the last to leave.  He put in lots of volunteer hours for this family!  I did some, too, like cleaning equipment, help loading the truck, managing the signage, managing the wireless mike for the FAST classes, and some ring work, but mostly concentrated on running Maxie and Lucky. Pepper came along for the ride and enjoyed visiting friends and prancing about. We did lots of crate games, some leash training, and a bit of off leash training at the warm up jump, where he was easily distracted.

Was it our worst trial ever?  No, but it seemed like it at the time.  No Q's for Lucky.  Only 2 for Maxie.  But finally getting the heart to check Lucky's spreadsheet since then, it's not the first trial she came home with no Q's.  And actually, her first run was splendid, a solid MS Q with 18 seconds to spare, her highest speed points ever, and we both knew she had done GREAT!  Alas, exiting the ring I was informed we had been whistled off because she ran with tags on (can't do that in AKC)  I had put on her agility collar but failed to unclasp the everyday one. A first, and talk about kicking myself all the way to our crates!  How could I do that? Probably got distracted talking to someone.  I apologized to the judge later for not leaving the ring immediately, but I never heard the whistle. She said "no problem" and I will always be glad she let us finish that first wonderful run.  The rest of the weekend was just one thing after another, incomplete weaves, a backjump, missed contact, I missed queing one jump.  Sometimes she was looking for Daddy in the stands. On the other hand, her videos show some brilliant moments -- long stride, great form, spurts of real enthusiasm.



Veteranary therapy is growing in popularity at dog events.  Here's
Tracey's beagle getting an acupuncture treatment.

Maxie is a different story.  His first run he ran by the weaves without even attempting them (a first), Q'd twice his next 2 runs, then NQ'd the rest of the weekend, lots of missed weaves.  His times were a bit slower.  A chiropractor was on site so I set up an appointment for right after the trail.  She immediately noticed that he sits crooked, then diagnosed him as having "LOTS OF THINGS OUT OF PLACE",  and gave him an adjustment which she said "should hold 6 months"! She told me to never again let him jump off our high bed or high couch as it could be doing serious injury to his shoulders.

By coincidence, today I listened to a Bad Dog Agility podcast about Alternative Medicine For Agility Dogs, covering chiropractic, acupuncture, lazer and massage therapies.  It's quite interesting. I had no idea so many performance dogs have regular physical therapy treatments to keep them in shape for competition. 

So therapy is my plan for now.  We're in "take it easy" mode for now.  Maxie laid around the house for 3 days after the trial and looked pathetic.  Was he in pain?  How does one know?  After reviewing the videos carefully all I can see is maybe less push off in his rear legs, shorter strides, a bit less focus.  But it's very subtle.  I notice once in awhile Lucky clears a jump way too high (like 36" over a 24" bar) and comes down hard on her shoulders.  Will they wear out soon?

We've been to the Brandon trial two weekends after this one (previous post), where Maxie did Okay, not great.  He seems okay around the house, but maybe not so "puppy like" or playful. I have to become a better observer, and have begun to give him regular massages.

Oh, there was a videographer at the trial and for $18, I got a video composite of the whole weekend's runs, one for each dog, set to music.  They came in, and I found I much prefer fiddling with my own videos.

Upwards and onward,

Brandon Agility Trial

Maxie, 6 runs, 2 Q’s, 1 QQ, 1 4th Place, 19 MACH points, 6 videos

Lucky Lucy, 6 runs, 4 Q’s, 1 QQ, three Places, 11 MACH points, 5 videos

I'm behind in my posting!  Been busy fighting off the stinging caterpillars, spring roundup in my huge yard and my neighbor's, and our club's agility trial in Port Allen, which I haven't even begun to analyze except we did terrible.  Not wanting to go there has made me more willing to take care of my yard!  Even defeat has its advantages!

This trial two weeks later ended up much better, but started out with me nursing the flu my husband brought home a few days earlier – packing the RV was such a drag I almost didn't go.  But I got to thinking about all that wasted trial entry money.  I sprayed Zicam Cold Remedy in my mouth and cheeks at  3 hour intervals 24 hours before hitting the road, and by the time I made it to Brandon (a 3.5 hour drive), I was feeling better. Used it all weekend and made it through.

Thursday night it poured down rain, I got wet setting up camp, and wind rocked the RV half the night. An ominous start. A shot of Zicam before bed and first thing Friday morning I was on the line at 8 a.m.  Running an 8" and a 24" in MS and MJ, I'm almost always bound to be one of the first on the line!  Maxie’s first run was one of his fastest and best runs EVER, with 25 seconds to spare and a full 8 seconds ahead of any other 8" dog, except the very last obstacle he took the wrong end of the tunnel!!! ACK! It seemed downhill from there for Maxie, with no Q's until Sunday, which was a QQ but neither run was fast.  I left worried about his health and my handling skills, then got home and watching the videos, realized we actually ran pretty well.  A few wide turns, he walked his weaves 4 times out of 6, popped out twice, and took the wrong end of the tunnel twice.  Other than that, good runs. What's with the sudden tunnel sucking, I don't know.  Only one error per NQ, though, all of them "nearly Q's", which I still find encouraging.  His stride seems to be getting shorter, which I will address in my Port Allen post where we saw a doggie chiropractor.

Lucky, I felt, was slow and sluggish and Bonnie McDonald, the judge, even remarked to me "Some dogs do agility because they want to, others because we want them to", implying that Lucky is the latter.  I left the trial discouraged for Lucky, dreaming of finding her a more suitable venue.  She came home, and next day jumped the 5' fence and with boisterous enthusiasm chased down and killed an enormous armadillo in the woods, exhibiting all kinds of stamina and focus, and despite a fierce 10 minute battle with a wild animal, got not a scratch on her.  Her skill amazes me. Then, reviewing her videos, Lucky actually looked pretty good and even enthusiastic on some portions of her runs.  Came home with 4 Q's out of 6 runs, 1 QQ, running under course time 5 out of 6 runs, and being the only 24” dog to qualify in both XS and XJ on Friday, got two 1st places! A wonderful change from our last trial where she never Q’d once, plodded through her weaves, and exceeded course time three out of 6 runs.  How can I make the "armadillo connection" with agility?  Do they sell armidallo juice?

Maxie and Lucky's composite videos, with my commentary, are posted at the end of this story!

Ring conditions on Friday

ODDITIES:

• Ring conditions on Friday were HORRIBLE, with huge rutts and cross hatches across the entire arena left by the tractor tines and tires.  We all ran fearing twisted ankles.  Friday night, though, the course was cleared and BARK, the hosting club, hired a private firm to come plow and level, as the horse arena staff obviously had no idea what was needed for a dog trial.  By Saturday morning the ring was in great shape, though the crate area remained rutted all weekend and we had to walk around very carefully.
• A weird thing happened to Lucky after her 2nd run on Saturday.  Within a minute after leaving the ring her whole back became covered with what looked like white snowflakes that I couldn’t rub off.  I've never seen anything like it. Alarmed, perplexed, I had Rosey, a vet, look at it and she said sometimes when dogs get stressed they blow a bunch of dandruff! Maybe ring stress, or she got into some poison grass or something. She recommended 25 mg of benydrill per 25# of dog.  I gave it with her supper and the next day the dandruff was gone, and no reoccurrance since then.  I don’t think it was ring stress because on the way home we pulled into the La. Welcome Center for a pottie break.  Just as I was about to let the dogs out the door this huge 18 wheeler pulls up and parks right alongside me, rumbling loudly and never shut down.  Lucky went into a fit of trembling that lasted 5 minutes, definitely stressed out, but didn't blow any dandruff.

LESSONS LEARNED:
Keeping Lucky in the RV instead of in the arena all day, running her to the start line without loitering around the ring gate, is making a difference in her speed and enthusiasm. She gets nervous standing around at the gate. As opposed to Maxie, who doesn't mind the ring gate at all because it means more treats.  He wants his turn to last as long as possible.

Reviewing the videos, it's clear Maxie reads hand motions far more than shoulder pulls and where my feet are pointing.

Maxie and Lucky will both nail this sport when they consistently RUN their dog walks and weaves, and will place higher when they learn tighter turns and I learn better placed front crosses. That's pretty much all I have to concentrate on to raise our Q rates considerably.  They both handle pretty well.

The puppy, Pepper, is another matter!  We are still working on him not bolting out of the crate, pulling on his leash so hard he chokes himself, and rear crossing the other dogs every 5 seconds on our leash walks.  He is an adorable but tangled up mess.  On the positive side, he follows me everywhere and is increasingly loyal to me, not just to food.  He is developing a very good recall.  He's fast and strong and loves to jump.  My tactic, I believe, is to love on him more, not show so much favoritism.  I'm becoming more aware, I've spoiled Maxie rotten and he has spoiled me rotten.  He is a hard act for anyone to follow.  With Pepper, I'm going to have to fake it til we make it.

Definitely can't let Maxie jump off the bed in the middle of the night as he's been doing the last 4 months or so.  Chiropractor says his spine was misaligned and shoulders may be injured, (will be covered in a post about the previous Port Allen trial, still not written).

GOALS MET/GOALS SET:
I actually had no goals coming into this trial except to survive it as best I could with a bad cold and to observe how Maxie runs.  My mind was mush, too, because I've been mulling over how to scale back my commitments in my dog club.  Too much angst, not enough reward.   I like to contribute my talents to whatever I do and enjoy team work. Without that, I grow bored.  Overhearing other agility folks talk at trials, it seems to be a common problem in many clubs for the old timers to hold the reins tight, i.e., exclude newer members' ideas. Marsha Jones, the brand new Trial Chairman at this BARK trial was a breath of fresh air, though, sharing herself, listening intently, bouncing ideas off of others, greeting everyone (especially the newbies) like a gracious hostess does, gathering opinions, encouraging input.  Nothing done by rote  . . . . . yet.  She's a newcomer on the rise with a rapidly growing club, and my what a difference her effusive attitude and slathering of "thank yous" makes.  It was a delightful trial!

MILESTONES:

My stride is getting a wee big longer
and I'm leaning forward some.

• I'm running better now that I have shoes with cleats, my ankles and calves are stronger and my stride a few inches longer with my leg exercises, and I didn't get lost or confused on course once, (without even looking at the course maps). I still run way too slow for my liking, but the trend is definitely UP! I didn't get nervous either.
• Lucky bounced through (not walked) her weaves twice.  YEAH!!!!!  She got 2 jumpers Q’s with seconds to spare, leaving only three to go for her Master Jumper title. I no longer despair of her getting that title, maybe this year, and that's a heap of encouragement for me to keep her in the game.
• I have some direction to improving Maxie's performance.  First and foremost, keep him from jumping off the bed and couch and doing further injury to his shoulders.  Second, pay more attention to my arm cues.
• There is agility life beyond club involvement.  I've been noticing club members at this and other trials who don't invest much in their club, and attend trials without necessity of "hanging out" with other club members, putting in so many volunteer hours, nor concerning themselves with whether the club thrives or grows.  Their agility training and competition doesn't seem to suffer in the least!

Upwards and onwards!

 

One notices a lot analyzing and comparing one's videos, things you just simply don't notice when running the course. 

For example, Maxie doesn't respond to shoulder pulls and foot placement nearly as much as hand motions. His stride appears to be getting shorter, which appears to be due to less propulsion with his back legs, explaining his slower YPS averages.

 

Maxie's composite video - with commentary.

Lucky walks through tunnels instead of running.  I had not made sufficient note of that before.  Her stride over jumps is inconsistent, and her jump height is inconsistent, sometimes way higher than necessary.  When walking the weaves, she does so with inconsistent footwork.  When she runs well, she runs really well.

Lucky's composite video - with commentary.

Cataract Surgery - Part 3

It's been almost a year since my Cataract Surgery on my left eye (March 15, 2012), and the botched job is finally getting so much worse I need to do something.  Studying my videos from the recent Monroe trial, I was horrified to see my handling getting worse.  I know it's because my depth perception is off, as though I'm blathering drunk or seriously hung over all the time.  I have a hard time distinguishing obstacle distances and all the horizontal bars blend together.  I can't rely on vision to judge the distances.  Sometimes the jumps are farther away than they seem, sometimes closer.  I run in halting fashion like I'm confused, surprised, nearly lost.  No wonder my dogs are slowing down despite them becoming better agility dogs.

Worse handling has resolved me to at last do something about my eyesight.  I haven't wanted to think about it, much less deal with it.  But now I see I must.  I can't go thru life seeing things in a blur, not taking stairs unless I have a rail to hold onto, much less run my dogs with confidence.

Taking action on this fills me with fear.  I have no confidence in doctors.  They deal with your most vital parts, but don't know you from Adam.  They make their money and toss you out to fend for yourself.  The highly respected specialist who did my cataract surgery made me feel like a slab of cow meat.  A few months after the surgery I attempted to write a followup post, but I couldn't finish it.  I've finally posted it today, unedited, unpolished, a stream of conscious rambling account of my surgery and aftermath, entitled Cataract Surgery - Part 2.  The upshot of which is . . . . when I told that doctor something wasn't right, his reaction was "I've done over 30,000 of these operations and I've done my job right.  The tests show you have 20/20 vision in that eye.  I don't know what else you expect me to do." 

I don't either.  But you're the specialist.  Do something.  Show interest in my case.  Find out why my left eye is still swollen, it feels like a pin pricking the inside corner when I look left, like a blast of cold air hitting the surface when I look right, and my eye cries all the time. Plus, I'm still looking through a fog, and little brown squigglies float through the eye. My new eye sees things one size, the old eye sees them smaller. Very disorienting. I can't go back to that same pompous jackass, but I can't go on like this.  So now I have to figure out my next move.  What will it be?  Guess I'll confer with a few different specialists and see what they suggest.  I'll keep you posted.

Upwards and onward!

Monroe Agility Trial March 1, 2, 3 2013

Maxie: 4 runs 3 Q's 1 QQ, 3 2nd places, 30 MACH points, 4 videos
Lucky Lucy: 4 runs, 2 Q's, 2 3rd places, 6 MACH points, 4 videos

Left BR Thursday at 1:30 planning to arrive West Monroe before dark.  Oops, before I got on I-10 I noticed my gas peddle was flopping around.  I whipped into Firestone, they did a “curb side” check and sure enough, the pin holding the pedal onto the shaft had broken.  They rigged up a nut and bolt to get me going.  That put me 1/2 hour later on the road.  Didn’t bother me.  Uneventful trip, beautiful drive, little traffic.



RV park at the IKE Convention Center.  I'm on the left.

First time RV’ing at the IKE Center, a vast asphalt parking lot with no shade, no beauty, little grass to potty the dogs, and a 4 minute hike to the arena from my spot up close to the back.  Arrived, picked a spot way back by the grassy area, backed in, leveled the RV, then discovered the electric was 50V, which I didn’t have an adapter for.  S#%T!  By the time I went looking for a 30V it was pitch dark and no night lighting whatsoever.  Running around with my flash light, I found most of the boxes were locked down.  I finally found a 30V connection open close to the arena, then leveled the RV in the dark in 35 degree weather.  So much for picking my favorite spot!  And with all my strength I could not open the water valve, so I did without city water all weekend. Somehow, none of that stressed me out either.
 

Only 2 channels came in on my dinky little AIR antennae, but I got to watch Jay Leno for a change.  He’s gotten funnier over the years.  I opened up my couch and used it as a bed for the first time.  It’s so comfortable, I fell asleep watching TV and woke up there in the morning!  But I noticed the RV walls got cold. Heater worked great after I directed all the vents towards the center of the rooms – they were all facing the floor.  Heater ran almost continuously with temps ranging from 28-55 all weekend (4 days), and used up about 3/4 of my LP tank.   Also learned I don’t need to bother with connecting up the water line.  1/2 tank is plenty for all my flushing needs, and I bring 4 gallons of drinking water for coffee, cooking and dogs.

Our crate space -- daytime home for 3 days.

It was too cold to set up my outdoor yard, and since the arena was far away I set up my crate space indoors. It’s easy as pie to set up if all you do is drive up, level up and plug in. Yahoo!  (But first, be sure you can plug in.)

Now, on to the trial: I only got in for Friday and Sunday, so Saturday I just hung out and tinkered. Dogs ran tall to small all weekend, making Lucky the 6th dog on the line in each class, and Maxie was second to last! Only one ring, which went smoothly and Tanya Lee, Trial Sec, says it goes just as fast as with 2 rings if the judges nest the courses properly.

GOALS SET/GOALS MET:
Maxie:  1 QQ, at least 20 MACH points, and running weaves/got my QQ plus another Q and 30 MACH points, but no running weaves which helped cause his 4th clean run to be 3 seconds over time.
Lucky Lucy:  1 jumpers Q, 1 standard Q, at least 5 MACH points, and running weaves/got both Q's and 6 MACH points, but no running weaves.
Pepper:  better leash behavior, off leash sit/stays in arena at practice bar, attentiveness to me, ease with other people and trial environment/got all except better leash behavior.

Theresa and Breeze, a tiny sheltie

FRIDAY:  Maxie QQ’d with 2 2nd places, placing that high only because Breeze, who usually beats Maxie by 10 seconds or so and working on his 4th MACH, got pulled.  The little 8” sheltie took off from the start line walking– by the 3rd obstacle Theresa picked him up and pulled him out for the weekend – they’re supposed to compete in Nationals in 2 weeks.  She reported he had given a yelp at the practice jump just before his turn.  Musta pulled something. How heartbreaking is that?  Lucky Q’d in Standard by 5 seconds despite walking her weaves, but scratched in Jumpers by walking her weaves plus a refusal in a threadle and taking the table twice. Someone just had to comment that she doesn’t have a good “work ethic”.  I guess that means she lacks drive?  Another chimed in saying I’ve slowed both Lucky and Maxie down by demanding perfection, over-practicing, and not making it fun.  That’s all such bulls#%t, I hardly practice and don't demand perfection, but I wish they’d apply their “make it fun” standards to encouraging me.  I’m going to follow Joe’s advice (who had overheard their comments) –  “Don’t listen to anybody.”

Found out that some clubs comp the runs of their Trial Secretary, Chief Course Builder and Gate Steward, confirming what a few of us have been thinking/talking about recently -- It’s too darn much work to expect key positions of a trial to be filled by volunteers for free, especially when trials are netting thousands of dollars.  We are outgrowing our "hobby" status.  AKC trials have CUSTOMERS who expect competent SERVICE for the thousands of dollars they spend each year.

Tanya Lee studies her club's new tire.

Saw a breakaway tire for the first time, and several of us studied how it worked, with electromagnets holding the bottom sections together. The tire did break apart for several dogs, but Judge Mary Mullens didn't fault that because nobody was sure how to set the tension.  It's clear, several dogs do nick the tire.

Here's a video that explains AKC's new requirement and shows how the breakaway tire works.

Here’s a link to a collection of YouTube videos showing Scary Tyre Accidents, which I’m sure contributed to AKC’s new rule.

Mary Mullens was the most pleasant judge I've encountered so far. She was gracious, supportive, clear, concise, kept things running smoothly, her courses flowed, she nested the courses well.

Dawn in pink with her new pap puppy, Theresa in green
with her new pap, me in red with Maxie & Pepper.

SATURDAY:
Didn’t make it off the waiting list to run Maxie and Lucky, so Saturday was Pepper’s day.  We hung out all over the place. I had several people hold him while I walked away. We stayed in the bleachers awhile, ringside awhile, alone in the crate awhile, did some heel work, and I worked him off leash in the warm up area.  He sniffed a lot but didn't run away. For those who don't know, this is called "proofing the dog", i.e., desensitizing them to the trial environment long before they ever compete.  It's very important because arenas are very noisy, busy and stressful.   Talked with 2 new papillon owners and we had a little party. Theresa helped me measure him and he's definitely going to jump 12" with his 11 3/8" height.  Sorry, boy, you're going to have to run with much larger, faster dogs.  I hope I can learn to keep up with you.

SUNDAY:  Maxie had 2 clean runs and I really thought he had QQ'd a second time with a 1st place as no other dogs in his class qualified.  Much to my dismay, when the results of the last run were posted, he was 3 seconds over course time.  A first for him. In fact, his YPS all weekend were down, in the 2.8 - 3.2 range whereas he's usually in the 3.25 - 3.8 range.  He seemed to run with nose to the ground a lot, and he never once ran his weaves.  This despite running weaves every day at home for the last week and him begging for more turns.  He sits at the end of the weaves or on the see-saw and refuses to budge.   I literally have to fetch him out of the yard to end his turn. Lucky's Q in Jumpers was icing on the day, with her fastest run time all weekend at 3.68 YPS.

RAFFLE:  Great raffle karma this weekend.
 

Bought my usual $10 worth, got 15 tickets, and put 5 into each of 3 choices.  I knew I'd win the Addidas baseball shoes because mine were the only tickets in the bag.  I tried them on, they fit perfect, and I have been wanting cleats for training in wet grass or muddy conditions, and the leather cover over the tied shoe laces means they can't come undone while I'm running around.  Worth between $30-$60.

My other two choices had lots of other bidders, so I didn't expect to win.  I was surprised, then, to win a WOOF Leash Rack and assorted dog toys in a plastic sterlite tub.  The rack and tub will go in the RV. We chew through toys quickly so those are always welcome.

And while I didn't win the little plush dog bed, I did congratulate the lady who won it and to my amazement she said she didn't want the bed, just the stuff in it.  I offered her $5 for it and she agreed!  Said it paid for her raffle tickets! Willow is sure I brought this incredible bed home just for her, but they all take turns nestling in. It is very very plush and very very soft, unlike the other cotton, terry cloth or velveteen lined beds around my house. Can they really feel the difference?  The bed seems always occupied, even by Lucky who barely fits.  Except for FoohFooh the dingo, who doesn't go for such froo froo.  In 12 years I don't think I've ever seen him go in a dog bed!  He prefers the hard floor.

L to R:  Willow, Pepper, Maxie, Lucky Lucy

And as I write my last paragraph, I look over and see this vision of adorableness -- Pepper and Maxie curled up together.  Whipped my iPhone out and snapped another pic to show you.  Couldn't resist. It reminds me what the lady said who gave me the bed:  "It wouldn't suit my dog" (a mid size dog but not sure what kind), "but is perfect for your Papillons."  She was right! Before this, I would never have gone out and purchased a plush bed or blanket for my Paps, but by gum, they really can tell the difference and prefer plush to plain!!!

 

Another bonus: While packing up to leave the arena, I sought out the manager, told him about the dark parking lot on Thursday night, the locked electric boxes and no water, and he refunded me Thursday night's reservation fee -- $20. More details on IKE’s RV accommodations available on my Trial Site Summaries page.  Got home about 8 p.m. and John had dinner cooking for me -- spaghetti and meat sauce, french bread and a big green salad.  Plus he helped me potty and feed the dogs, and unload the RV.  I was quite tired by then, and really appreciated the warm welcome home!

 

Monday morning I noticed the azeleas had popped open all down my driveway. Picked some for my window sill and used them for Maxie's QQ photo. He didn't much like posing amidst those flowers. Lucky would barely pose. I never could get her ears up and she kept looking at me with those huge brown eyes one is always in danger of falling into, as if to say "how much longer must I endure this torture".

Still have my videos to watch and study, so the trial isn't over yet for me.  I look forward to that, but tomorrow is another Agility Bloggers Event so I have to concentrate on that right now.  I also need to catch up on the 2 courses I'm auditing from the Daisy Peel Online Classroom. Not to mention the rest of my life, which is in a state of complete neglect because it is nowhere near as much fun!

Upwards and onward!

 

New Iberia Agility Trial

Maxie: 6 runs, 4 Q’s, 1 QQ, 2 2nd place, 2 3rd place, 49 MACH points, MXB and MAB TITLES, 6 videos
Lucky Lucy: 6 runs, 3 Q’s, 1 QQ, 5 MACH points, 6 videos



Our setup, right at the entrance. 
Each support beam has a 30 amp hookup and water.
Unfortunately,
the asphalt parking lot was studded with limestone rocks,
which is going to hurt us later.

It's Valentine's Day weekend and I'm off to a trial, leaving my sweetheart at home. We agreed to postpone our celebration til Monday night. After a 1.5 hour drive, and another 1.5 hours to set up the RV including my fenced yard, I was completely settled in 3 hours.

The Sugarena has electric and water hookups on every metal beam front and rear of the arena.  I was one of the first to arrive at 4 p.m. Thursday so I got my pick of spots right at the entrance, not far from the rings. No need to set up a crate space, which saved me lots of effort, and the dogs were warm and comfy between runs.  Sweet!  These hookups are new. The weather was cool, crisp, and dry.    Furthermore, most other RV'ers parked in the back or way to the side, so I had the whole front to myself.  The dogs seemed calm and happy.

I got several compliments on my fenced yard, and discovered that by bungying my 2 little wooden tables to the outer corners, was able to increase it's stability when Lucky lunges against it.  So much so, I didn't mind leaving them alone outdoors for short periods. It's always been bungied to the awning uprights and the 2' x 4' table, plus the white strips on top keep it mostly stable, but it needed more.

Temps in the low 40’s with wind early mornings and evenings, in the 60’s during the day. So glad to have my Trapper’s Hat! Still need to work on looser layered clothing that doesn’t make me feel stuffed in a sausage skin. Also need warmer, looser lounging clothes for evenings when taking the dogs out. I had to stay dressed in my day clothes for enough warmth.

Dogs ran small to tall all weekend, and Maxie was the 1st 8” dog on the line all 3 days, Lucky the 2nd 24" dog.

Friday, Feb 15, - Trial started at noon so I stayed up til almost midnight Thursday night, and slept in til the dogs woke me up for breakfast at 8. I'm on vacation!  Maxie's first run wasn't until 2 p.m. He Q’d in Jumpers with a 2nd place win and pretty fast times.  NQ'd in Standard by entering the weaves on the wrong side. Otherwise a nice run.  Lucky miraculously Q’d in Jumpers -- with 2 seconds to spare, then scratched in Standard with several WC's and R's, like she didn't want to be in the ring.  Curious.  I earned 1 raffle ticket for gate keeping T2B, and won a $25 gift card to Chilis’.

Maxie with his placement ribbons, and a
purple ribbon from Mommy for his 11th QQ.

Saturday, Feb 16 -  Up at 6 a.m. Maxie on the line at 8 a.m.  Maxie QQ’d, with a 2nd and 3rd place win.  Darnit, the hosting club offered no purple QQ ribbons!  Lucky scratched both runs, one with so many errors I removed her from the ring. She was totally distracted. I had noticed her licking her right front paw incessantly Friday night and all thru Saturday, leaving wet pools of slobber on the couch and bed.  When we did our traditional hand shake and she gave a cry, I felt sure a lodged stone or bruized paw accounted for her dismal performance Friday afternoon and Saturday.   She would not let me examine it, but by Sunday she wasn't licking it any more, which is maybe why her performance improved significantly with a QQ.

Lucky Lucy's 3 Q's and a purple scarf from
Mommy for her 3rd QQ.

Sunday, Feb 17 – Up at 6 a.m. Maxie on the line at 8 a.m. Q’d in XJ with a 2nd place.  Lucky, to my absolute amazement, QQ’d!  She barely made course time both times, one with only 2 one hundredths of a second to spare, but walked/ran clean and made it. I earned1 raffle ticket on Saturday for gate keeping but too late for the raffle.  They gave it to me for the Sunday raffle plus another, and I won another $25 gift card to Chilis’.  I'll use these cards to take my husband and our dog sitters out to dinner.

Composite videos, with commentary, will be posted when I get enough time.

GOALS SET/GOALS MET:

• a QQ for Maxie and 35 MACH points, which earns him both bronze titles: MAB, MJB.  All that and more accomplished - 4 Q's, 4 placements, 1 QQ, 49 MACH points.
• a Jumpers Q for Lucky.  We did a QQ, and 2 Jumpers Q's, which was beyond what I expected.
• get all my videos taken without stress.  That happened thanks largely to Karen Des Roches and others who stepped up and offered to help willingly.
• Get Pepper used to the trialing environment.  He seemed OK with the noise, let several people hold him, sat in the bleachers a long time, and pranced about like the wild man he is.  He doesn't mind the noisy, bouncy motor home, a great relief as he used to throw up in the car as a young puppy.
• Relax and have fun.  Yes, one of my best trials ever in that regard.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Rhonda Crane was a very pleasant judge.  Her courses were "melodic".  They flowed beautifully and while challenging, were not tortuous. She nested her Open and Novice courses so they could be built with just a few changes from the Excellent setup, making the course builders' jobs much easier.
2. I'm always trepidatious about those limestone parking lots.  How can the dogs not get bruised paws? I must try to avoid them whenever possible.
3. I came home with the outside of my shins aching something terrible.  Someone speculated it's because the hard packed dirt had no "give", like running on concrete.  Do I need to train for that?
4. Gift Cards: I really like the way this club gave out a raffle ticket for each class worked, with a drawing near the end of each day.  (Plus, they also gave out a $5 lunch ticket to spend at Concessions.) They had a range of gift cards from Starbucks $25, Burger King $10, Subway $15, Chili's $25, plus an assortment of agility books and T-shirts.  At other trials I've also seen gift cards offered instead of raffle items, where you purchase tickets for $1, or 6 tickets for $5, or 15 tickets for $10, etc., with cards for Home Depot, Pet Smart, and others included. Much easier for the hosting club to pull cards together (and possibly members would donate cards) in lieu of the extreme hassle of hauling and assembling hundreds of raffle items.
5. Maxie would easily have 20 QQ's by now if it weren't for his hesitation in those darn weaves!  Lucky would make course time way more often.  I've begun to suspect it's the white metal spacer bar that throws them off at trials.  We don't have those at home.  I'm going to paint my spacers white and see if that helps.
6. Most interesting maneuver I learned was in MS on Sunday, second to last obstacle was a 20' tunnel going under the dog walk and pointing straight to the exit.  Very few handlers reached the end of the tunnel before their dogs did, resulting in D veering left to find H (like Maxie did), and taking a WC at worst.  Only way to do this well was to cross before the tunnel and run like hell, which few did.  I noticed it from the stands, and corrected my own performance by the time Lucky ran and she Q'd by 2/100th of a second. A bobble there would have killed her Q. I analyzed video snippets of several people doing this below.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• The road to Lafayette is bumpy as hell in Lafayette and I-10 out of Lafayette towards BR.  They need to fix that road. Good thing I had my cabinets bungied shut because 2 of them popped open slightly and scared Lucky so badly she raced up and jumped over my gate to hide under my drivers seat, with her butt almost touching my gas peddle and I could not budge her, and me on the Atchafalya bridge.  I managed to pull off at the Atchafalya Welcome Center a few miles up the road and calm her down, then chained her up so she couldn't reach me, but that could have been a disaster.
• Label everything.  I left my new Trappers Hat and gloves on the workers table.  By the time I remembered, the crew had packed up and left.  I hadn't labeled them but I emailed the trial sec and she has them.  She'll bring them to me in Monroe.  If I'd have labeled them, someone would have found me and delivered them.
• I'm comfortable as Gate Keeper, but on Saturday I was handed the gate list and envelope of scribe sheets for a large T2B class.  I taped up the list and people began checking in, but when the scribe was nowhere in sight and only 5 minutes to go, I began to sort the the big stack of sheets according to the list as best I could (never done it before).  Many people hadn't checked in.  Those marked ABS I pulled those sheets.  Oops, I was just supposed to mark them ABS and leave in correct order.  Those Moved I moved into the new order.  The unchecked people I left in order and waited to see if they showed up.  If they didn't by their turn I  ran over to the scribe telling her to mark them ABS.  It was controlled chaos.  Next day I was visited by the Trial Sec, who very nicely thanked me for a good job but in future please do it differently . . . . . . . Yes Ma'am!
• Next day I asked the Gate Keeper to move Lucky from 2nd to last (about 5 dogs down) on the 24" running order so I could film a friend running late in the 20" jump height. The gate keeper happened to be a judge, and OMG, how she fussed me for that! "Oh No, you don't get to move because you want to film somebody. You have to have a real excuse, like a conflict getting your 1st dog put away and your 2nd dog on the line on time. If you miss your run in the correct order, you will just miss your turn."  Again, Yes Ma'am!  But then, I'm glad she wasn't gate keeper on Saturday when I didn't get Lucky to the gate on time and the friendly Gate Keeper just moved her to the bottom, as I've done for numerous people in the past. Didn't know that was a wrong thing, especially in a friendly game.  I've seen people move themselves to the bottom and never give a reason why.

So I continue to ask, how hard would it be to teach a little class or write an instruction sheet on how to change your place on the list?  How to put scribe sheets in order??????  Gate keep??????  Time??????   Scribe??????  I hear over and over people say they'll "do anything but scribe", including this weekend.  Getting it wrong affects a team's score, so it's serious stuff.  Learning to watch the judge instead of the dog is hard for some, and scribing what the judge signals instead of what you think you saw is another level of difficulty.  Marking the wrong sheet with faults and time would be a sin.  I propose at the very least providing a laminated chart on every scribe table showing the judge's hand signals. Who knows those starting out?  AKC provides such a chart, shown here, and linked to here. I'm going to print up and laminate a few for our club, plus give them out to Gate Stewards at every trial I go to from now on!  Enough of this nonsense of not systematically training people, then fussing over not having enough volunteers and/or fussing them for getting it wrong.

 

Despite all this complaining, the Acadiana Kennel Club did an outstanding job rounding up volunteers.  I know it was a tough haul for them, but they enlisted some outstanding helpers from other clubs.  If not yet, I hope future Trial Secretaries, Chief Course Builders and Gate Stewards get comped for their trial entry fees or other financial compensation.  They work very very hard all weekend on top of trying to run their dogs.

Next trial in 2 weeks, in Monroe, LA. I look forward to another cool weather trial.

Upwards and onward!

Kiln Trial–January 10, 11, 12–1st Trial of 2013

Maxie: 6 runs, 3Q’s, two 2nd place, one 3rd place, no QQ’s,  44 MACH points, 5 videos
Lucky Lucy: 6 runs, 3Q’s, 1QQ, MX TITLE, 7 MACH points, 5 videos

Kiln is generally a great place for RV’ers.  But 9 days of rain made for slushy grass, water filled ditches and puddles to slosh through. My freshly washed Papillons were filty at the first pottie break, and my freshly vacuumed interior was tracked with red sandy mud within minutes.  Fortunately I had old sheets to drape over the upholstered furniture and floors, except the dogs thought them great opportunities for digging. Worse, due to hard rain, we had left home at 4:30 p.m. instead of 1 p.m., which put us there to set up at dusk. While trying to maneuver into a high dry parking spot, I backed over a water spigot and broke the pipe.  It began gushing, we got drenched finding the cut-off valve, the ditches flooded even more, and a whole line of RV’s went without water Thursday night thanks to me. They were not very happy, but the repair guys had it fixed by next morning. Since I carry my drinking water, plus half a tank of water for flushing and rinsing out my coffee cup, and towel bathe or take showers in the arena, I don’t really need water, but I found out some others rely totally on their city water connection, even to flush. 

What I DO NEED is golashes!  Everybody had some but me.  My socks and tennies were soaked, so I made sure to dry my feet as soon as I got in.  And I had plenty of shoes and socks for a dry pair every day.

While packing at home between raindrops, I had discovered a new leak over the bed had dampened the quilt, sheets and mattress cover, fortunately in time to put them all in the dryer.  I had to protect the bed in case of further rain with a vinyl tablecloth.  Good thing John promised me a new rubberized roof as my Christmas present (sweet), but I haven’t done that yet.  Now I’m motivated. This makes 2 leaks now, at each dome roof window, caused by me driving under a low hanging tree branch and making huge scratches in the roof.

Due to the anticipated difficulty pottying the dogs in mud and rain, I decided to bring only Maxie, Lucky and Pepper. Willow screeched in torture as the rest of us departed! John reported she laid by the door for 3 days waiting for our return.  But it was a lot easier managing just 3 dogs.  Her travelling days may be numbered.

Ring conditions were horrible.  Even under cover, the ring dirt was saturated, and the more we tromped on it, the more the water rose.  Here’s how it looked by Day 3.  I’m surprised no one slipped, but I know I ran slower each day, and neither Maxie nor Lucky liked having cold wet feet. You can hear squishing on the videos.

Despite all these and other problems, I felt totally calm. I attribute some of this to working on my mental game, as outlined in my previous post.

FRIDAY.  (dogs ran small to tall, only one ring.)
Maxie was my first dog to run, but not til around 9 a.m. after the FAST class.  So I got to stay up til 11 and watch some TV.  My new air antennae was picking up 8 channels and all came in well despite the weather. I popped open a beer, watched a cooking show, and slept like a baby all night. I don't generally drink on trial weekends, but if this works again, I’ll replace my half sleeping pill with beer!

Maxie had a smoking good XS run, very fast, with a few bobbles but no saves required.  Alas, he took a wrong course near the end.  It happened so fast, I didn't see it coming.  Just an imperceptible push, or not enough pull, on my part.  Even with that WC, his time was 8 seconds faster than the 1st place dog.  I could hardly keep up, but I felt great and never got lost or rattled.  It was the most memorable run of the day despite the NQ.  His XJ run was clean and solid, with a 2nd place and no bobbles, and while an analysis of his SCT and personal time showing he ran even faster, it didn’t feel as fast as that first run.

Lucky Lucy got what I thought was her 1st QQ ever, running faster and surer in both XS and XJ, walking the weaves, but at a faster walk.  She didn’t get distracted.  We felt connected.  Her jumps at 24” were pretty, with ample clearance.  (I found out later checking her records, this was actually her second QQ!) To celebrate, I joined the Red Stick gang at the nearby Delsey’s Seafood restaurant, and bought the table some appetizers. I made Q’s out of the onion rings to decorate. And brought some hush puppies home for Lucky.  The food at Delsey's was somewhat pricy but huge portions and delicious.  Lots of items on the menu, and the best onion rings I've ever tasted, served with a dipping sauce made of Ranch dressing, wasabi, and cayenne pepper.  It kicked ass!

Karen, Christina’s mom, was thrilled to video my dogs on Friday if she could also video her daughter. What a sweet deal.  Too bad she’s just there for 1 day. I hate scrambling for people to take my videos.  I want a mom along who wants to record my every run!  But I if I brought my mom to a trial, she would soon be bored to death “watching dog after dog do the exact same thing”.  It takes a practiced eye to see the endless variety we see. No one but us knows the difficulties we face attempting the miracle of a clean run.
 
SATURDAY: (dogs ran Tall to Small, Lucky on the line at 8 a.m.)
Lucky earned her MX title!  That’s 10 Q’s in Masters Standard (what used to be called Excellent B).  She only had .87 seconds to spare in her XS run, but she made it! Her XJ began with a whimper but ended with a blast.  After falling asleep in the weaves and NQ’ing, she noticed the tripple bar jump, which she loves, and decided to run the rest of the way.  The half run that was good, was very, very good. That's a sequence I'll play over and over in my head.

Maxie scratched in Jumpers, missing the weaves, but Q’d in Standard.  His times were good, not counting slow weaves.

SUNDAY: (dogs ran small to tall, Maxie on the line at 8)
Maxie Q’d in Standard, NQ’d in Jumpers, again popping out of the weaves, otherwise clean. His times were slower, I suspect due to muddier conditions. I know I was walking fast more than running.

Lucky NQ’d both runs, seemingly tired and not focused.  Her first run XS she stopped on top of the A-frame, plcking up Ken's scent in the stands, went down and headed for the sidelines trying to get to him.  Lucky has a serious thing for Ken.  We always have to arrange for Ken to disappear during Lucky's runs, but we both thought up in the stands was far enough away.  NOT. This is developing into such a problem, we may have to stop training together on weekends.  Lucky literally quivers and whines looking in the direction of his RV whenever I let the dogs out.

Didn't get video of either of their last runs.  Couldn't find anyone willing to take them.  I have to quit letting that bother me, but I feel I'm missing valuable information I can use to improve.

There's going to be a fun run in 2 weeks at the same arena.  I'm going.  I can't wait to show some of these agility folks how fast and well Lucky runs when I'm carrying her toy, and I pray someone will take her video then.

I'm having trouble with my AVS Video Editing Software.  I discovered that one of my USB ports gives an unreliable connection, resulting in problems with voiceovers, and it sometimes takes forever for these huge HD videos to load into the program.  After futzing with it for several days and trying Windows Movie Maker again, I got AVS to produce something.  It's still better than WMM.

Maxie's Composite Video, with commentary.  I learned that as Maxie improves, I no longer need to push or pull him very hard to get him to veer. I have to become more subtle in my corrections.  Without watching the videos, I probably would not have picked up on that.  Also need to time my front crosses better.
Lucky's Composite Video, with commentary. I managed to capture a segment in slo mo showing Lucky's beautiful 12' jumping stride, which no one seems to notice but me.  I may have a long ways to go with her enthusiasm for trialing, but I know I've got great jumping skills to work with.

GOALS MET/GOALS SET:

• My goal of another QQ for Maxie was not met, but we racked up two more Q's in Standard and 1 in Jumpers, leaving only 1 more to go in each class for his Master Bronze Agility Titles - MXB, MJB.  (25 Q's in a class)
• Lucky's 2nd QQ was a great achievement, plus her MX title. I don't know how long it will take us to get MXJ with 8 Q's to go, but I WILL GET HER THERE.
• Work on my mental game.

Otherwise the weekend was full of too many oddities to mention, including a see saw whose end got stuck in the mud leading to many fly-offs, how few dogs qualified in class after class, and some turse comments.  The courses were not that difficult, but some of those border collies were running wilder than usual.  Was it the weather?  The barometric pressure?  The wet ground? Handlers unsure of their footing?

There was one magical moment worth sharing.  My friend Sue Cohen handed me a thumb drive with info for a story we're working on, said she needed it back tomorrow.  I promised to download it that very evening, and stuck it in the bottom of my wagon on my way into the ring.  But when I got the wagon back to the RV it had vanished.  I searched high and low to no avail, then retraced my path to the arena, searching the ground.  About tearing my hair out, I told another RV'er about the jinx, and she suggested I look up St. Anthony prayer (patron saint of lost items) on my iPhone, say the prayer, and see what happens.  Said her mother swears by it.  So I went back to my RV, lit a candle, and did it.  Here was my prayer:

     St. Anthony, St Anthony, please come around.
     a thumb drive is lost and can’t be found.
     Dear St. Anthony, I pray
     Bring it back without delay.

Within 5 minutes, a voice said “look in the basket on the table”, where I found a thumb drive I had lost 3-4 months back.  I have NO IDEA how that one got into the RV!  Apparently, one has to be very specific in wording ones prayers to St Anthony.  I repeated the prayer saying “Sue’s thumb drive”, then a little voice told me to look again in the duffle bag I’d already gone through 3 times.  I did, and there it was, sealed in a ziplock bag!!!!!  I will not be forgetting St. Anthony's Prayer!

Is there a patron saint for agility?

Upwards and onward!

Armchair Training - Hassock Drills

Hassock Drills: Here's something I do with my old hassock that really taxes Maxie's and Pepper's brain -- they have to walk backwards to go forward, and forward to go backwards. They have to be really careful with their feet, take turns, and stay focused. I can do this indoors with little prep time, sitting in my chair, in slippers and PJ's while watching TV. Now that's my kind of training, and great when the weather is too hot or cold to train outdoors, or when I'm tired but the dogs are anxious to do tricks and earn treats, or when I'm nursing a leg injury and can barely walk!



I also use it with 50# Lucky Lucy, but haven't managed to take a video yet. People spend a lot of money on training aides -- plastic bubbles, inflated peanuts, etc. -- that need to be stored when not in use.  But my hassock stays in the living room all the time and serves as my foot prop, grooming table, TV tray, etc.  It's an inexpensive and handy piece of furniture ($20, Walmart)  that I'd be lost without.

Upwards and onward!

Lake Charles Agility Trial–Thanksgiving Weekend 2012

Maxie: 6 runs, 3 Q’s, 0 QQ’s, 35 MACH points 6 videos
Lucky Lucy: 6 runs, 0 Q’s, 4 videos

This trip began with stress and ended without it. I had the remnants of an old flu flare up after the agility seminar last weekend.  Bone weary from coughing and lack of sleep, I managed to pack the RV by parking the motor home right at the front door and moving things in there whenever I got out of bed for coffee, meds, or to powder my nose.  Plus, my RV fridge had mysteriously crapped out.  Wouldn’t work on A/C or LP.  John and I worked on the problem Wednesday night and Thursday, to no avail, so I ended up using it like a cooler, filled with frozen blocks of ice.  I ran both Maxie and Lucky thru the weaves 4 times before leaving home, and every time with both of them was fast and accurate.  I know the key to this weekend’s Q’s is going to be the weaves.




Pit Grill, Iowa, LA

I always stop at the Pit Grill in Iowa, 8 miles before Lake Charles, and buy hot boudin balls to share with agility friends as a Thanksgiving treat. They are large, spicy, the best I've ever tasted, and only .50 cents apiece. This time I remembered to take some photos of the place. It’s a great grassy shady clean place to stop, pottie the dogs, and get refreshments.

I got to Lake Charles about 10:30 Friday without incident, and to my amazement the RV slot closest to the arena was open!  I grabbed it.  Would save me many steps all weekend.  I had 3 hours to set up before check-in. Thank goodness for that!

My RV, me and 4 dogs, on asphalt.  No grass,
no trees, even in winter, if it's sunny, it's hot inside.

Plugged in, and no electric power.  Stretched to the 2nd slot and still no power.  I went looking for the maintenance man, who confirmed both outlets were live.  My electric line wasn’t working.  He checked my fuses and breakers -- all fine. He opened the plug and found the screws in there were loose.  He tightened them up and presto, I had power.  Good thing because in the afternoon, cool as it was outdoors, it was getting uncomfortably warm in the RV.  Also, the refrigerator began working immediately! Hurray!  John had checked the plug back home but somehow had not fixed it. It was the cause of all our problems. I gave a few boudin balls to the maintenance man, who had refused a tip.

 

FRIDAY: Dogs ran Small to Tall.
Maxie’s first run was XJ,  a Q 3rd place, and covering 3.91 YPS, was among his fastest runs ever.  He’s only topped that once back in November 2010, at 4.32 YPS on his AXJ TITLE RUN.  Yikes!  Digging for that info, I realize we’ve been trialing 2 years since then, 17 trials, and only 10 QQ’s.  Not a stellar record.  Maxie’s 2nd run a “nearly Q” (he ran fast and sure but walked the weaves and popped out of the last pole). But the score sheets show 1R and 1E. I still cant’ figure out the score sheets.

Lucky’s 1st run was clean but 4 seconds over time, and her 2nd run was aborted after 5 obstacles due to a timer malfunction. Starting over, I couldn't get her focus back, resulting in 2 mistakes, but some parts of it were good.  My nose was dripping. My head was full of cotton. I was still standing, I didn’t get lost on course, and that was victory enough for me.

 

SATURDAY: Dogs ran tall to small.
Lucky first.  XS she took the wrong end of the far tunnel (a WC, my fault), got an E for missing the dog walk contact, and another E I can’t figure.  Maybe for not taking the tunnel correctly after doing it wrong? Her 2nd run didn’t get videoed.  All I remember is missing most of the walk-through and having to run it after watching about 10 others run, and the resulting NQ.  More on that under VISITORS below.  But it wasn’t  so bad for all that.  We only had 1 R and nearly made course time.

Maxie missed the weave entry on XS, otherwise a nice run.  He Q’d in XJ and ran darn fast, 3.5 YPS, but placed 6th.  There are some new 8” dogs on the scene, Sadie the Welsh Corgi for one, and a 3 year old Papillon named Bodie who has already MACHed, both of whose time usually exceeds Maxie’s by 10 to 15 seconds.

 

SUNDAY: Small to Tall again, and Excellent dogs on the line at 8 a.m. Up, therefore, at 5:45, to make sure I had enough layers of clothes on and coffee in me by 8 to function.

 

Maxie’s last chance for a QQ. Alas, he Q’d only once with a 1st place, but missed the other Q by just one wee tiny pop out at the weaves.

Lucky jumping the 24" tripple in Kiln last month.

Lucky the same, one clean and one mistake on the other, but always over course time.
 

One booboo I made with Lucky was failing to raise her jump height to 24”.  That worked well in her last trial and I had until Nov 19th to change it for this one, but forgot.  Had I done so, she would have had an extra four seconds on her clean run, and qualified.  And maybe been more excited to participate in the other runs.

There were flies, but she didn't try snapping them all up like last year.  In fact, she hardly noticed them.

I didn't bother posting Lucky's runs.  Nothing remarkable, somewhat painful to watch.  But here's a composite of Maxie's 6 videos, with commentary.  A few interesting points worth sharing:

• This judge asked teams to enter the ring when the previous dog was only half way through the course. It was harder to keep my dogs focused in front of that first obstacle. I had to shake hands, walk them around, reposition them.  Over the gate keeper's protests that the "judge would get mad", I quickly started going in at the usual time - about 4-5 obstacles to go.  Even at that, there were delays.
• Another timer malfunction makes me question whether our times were accurate.
• When front crosses go wrong and you NQ as a result.

Audrey standing in front of the arena, with L to R,
Maxie, Willow, Pepper and Lucky Lucy

VISITORS:  Per her usual custom, Audrey drove over on Saturday and spent the afternoon with me.  She brought some of my favorite thanksgiving dishes – her sweet potato & green bean casseroles.  Unfortunately, her arrival coincided with what should have been my walkthrough for Lucky’s jumpers run.  I lost focus, only got to walk it 4 times, was not well prepared and of course, NQ’d. When they whistled everyone off the course and I grumbled of the short walkthrough (someone outside had told me the judge was still tweaking the course), the scribe said they had been calling and calling for me and where was I.  I explained about company arriving, the judge overheard and said “Best way to do agility is to tell your family and friends to stay home!”  With 2 dogs running and soon 3, and the amount of concentration required to be in the right place at the right time, with the right dog and all the right things in my pockets, and all the other dogs tucked safely away, my opportunities for visiting are dwindling fast.  It's nice to have someone help you walk the dogs and cheer you on though.

 

SUMMARY:

• Came home with only 3 Q’s under our belt out of 12 runs, but I’m okay with that considering how under the weather I felt.
• I tried taking Tanya's advise to study the course maps, but they don't hold the earlier allure.  I find I can memorize the courses by walking them 10 to 15 times, then walking them in my head several times.  The visualization is what sets it.
• We had the same judge all weekend - Sarah Beathard.  I thought trials were required to have 2 different judges, so Novice and Open teams can title.
• This was our last trial of 2012. 

2012 GOALS MET:  Maxie 10 QQ’s, 574 MACH points

2012 GOALS NOT MET: 

• Maxie didn’t earn his Masters Bronze titles, 2 Q’s to go in Jumpers and 3 in Standard to make 25 of each.
• Lucky didn't earn her Masters Standard title, 2 Q's to go for that.
• My dogs are not still not running their weaves at trials.
• I am still not running fast enough, thus my dogs aren't running fast enough.

2013 GOALS SET:

• Bronze Titles for Maxie by next spring
• MX title for Lucky by next spring
• MACH for Maxie in 2013 (10 more QQ's, and 232 MACH points, will require more trials further away from home.)
• Run faster, exercise, plug in the tread mill and use it.
• Control my arms from flapping around, keep them down.
• I would say "lose weight", but every time I say that I gain weight.  So I'll pray to not feel hungry as often.
• I would say "stop smoking" but every time I say that I smoke more.  So I'll pray that I just forget to reach for a cigarette as often.
• I would say "quit drinking" but every time I say that I drink in defiance.  So I'll pray that I'm just too busy to get fuzzy headed.  I only drink when there's nothing interesting to do.
• Train small skills more frequently, indoors and out.
• Work with Pepper in fun ways on impulse control, leash work, obstacle focus.  Train in different ways from the standard "run sequences an hour a week" we've been taught to do.  Add more clicker training, shadow handling, fundamentals.
• Advance the sport of agility in any way I can.  Make it safer, funner, less intimidating.

NEW THINGS LEARNED:

• ”Ear To Pocket” – that’s what your hands are supposed to do when you run fast, and you’re supposed to hold your palms open, not make fists.  Supposedly relaxes you and makes you go faster. 
• Yes, I do flail my arms around too much, per Tanya Lee’s observations of me at the seminar. I do need to hold my arms down.
• How to disassemble and check a 30 amp electric plug.
• Walking 4 dogs at once is a feat, especially when one of them is a puppy who rear crosses the other dogs every 3-5 seconds.  What a tangled mess.  I borrowed one of Nathan's double leashes with the swivel on the end, and that helped, but the most help was resigning myself to walking only 2 dogs at a time.
• Susan Cohen, whose dog ? rear legs are crippled so he runs around with his back half on wheels, told me about her research for the very best unit, and that she wanted to share the information.  I agreed to post it on my blog – next post.
• Met 4 Bearded Collie owners, got their emails to send them the Weave Performance Study I did last year in Lake Charles which included their dogs.
• Saw lots of very cute puppies, a few in breeds I’ve not seen puppies of – beardies and goldens.  Oh lordie, seems everyone is getting a new puppy.
• Need a bigger AC unit on my RV.  The little one I have barely kept us cool in the middle of a sunny day in winter, parked on asphalt.  I’m going for a 15,000 BTU if 30 amps can handle it.

On the drive home, with traffic flowing smoothly and dogs all sacked out, I remembered how last year an orange truck had overturned on the interstate and everyone idled along at 3 mph for about 5 hours. And I just about ran out of gas and called 911 for advice before an exit appeared.  Now that was stressful.  Without that impediment this time, I got home full of energy and unpacked for 2 hours while John watched the Saints game.  Long hot bath with a vodka and grapefruit juice, bowl of soup, and then I slept like a baby.

Upwards and onward!