Hattiesburg MS Trial - Aug 2011

Maxie 6 runs, 4 Q's (3 XJ, 1 XS), 2 4th places, 1 QQ, 1 TITLE MXJ, 36 MACH points. Videos posted
Lucky 6 runs, 2 Q's (XJ-A, XS-A), 2 3rd places. Videos posted
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 4 runs per day.
Judges:  Jill Roberts, Alan Arthur

Hattiesburg Arena entrance

Having beaten down the bugs problem - (previous post); beaten down the calf problem (Monroe Trial) to where I think I can run again, arranging special permission to crate at ground level (see Trial Site Summary for Hattiesburg), and finding the missing house key so the neighbors can feed my pets, I felt confident heading off to Hattiesburg for a 4 day trial, despite the strange new rattle in my car.

Crating at ground level, in the hall. There
was space for dozens more people.  It was cool and
quiet, and the car was parked just outside.  Arena entrance
is in the distant background of this photo.

Left Baton Rouge Wednesday at 12:30 and arrived at Motel 6 on 49 at 3:15.  Interstate all the way, not much traffic.  Checked in, hung around til 4:30, then drove 8.5 miles back to the arena where I crated in the hall around the back (South) side on the ground floor.  Hung around and helped set up both rings, all of us sweating like pigs because the arena A/C was out of freon and they had to call in emergency maintenance. My eyes were stinging with the fumes of urine, which I was told would clear up when the A/C was fixed.  Mercifully by next morning, it did.

THURSDAY:  Thursday morning, up bright and early, well rested, no stress, made it to the arena way ahead of time, stepped out the car and realized -- I was still wearing my Tom's slip-on shoes (they are so comfortable I forget about my feet).  Tennis shoes were 8.5 miles back at the motel!  On the way back, a terrible car wreck stopped traffic a good long while, which got me back to the arena just in time to walk the Excellent Standard course a few times.  This didn't seem to unnerve me.  However . . . . .

Maxie: Maxie was the 6th dog to run XS.  The course flowed well in 2 beautiful loops with the Table at 11.  I could run the whole thing in my head. Maxie was alert. We were in sync. When I found myself putting him through the weaves a second time, though, it hit me that I was repeating the first loop.  CRAP, I went left instead of right after the table! The humiliation would have been terrible last year.  Now I just told the judge "I'm lost", waved goodbye, and took a few obstacles on the way out.  Maxie made no mistakes, but Mommy didn't Q.  My fault entirely. Later that day, in XJ, we Q'd . . . . . but almost missed the run.  Running 2 dogs now in Excellent, Lucky had just finished his XS run and I heard them calling Maxie for XJ.  I hadn't even walked the course.  The "walkthrough" apparently occurred while I was out pottying Lucky before her run.  Alan Arthur, the judge, invited me to walk the course with the 16" dogs, and offered to set the bars at 8" so Maxie could run first.  How sweet! That worked, Maxie Q'd and got his MXJ title!  This judge was awesome handling scheduling conflicts.

Maxie didn't run as fast as usual, though.  Came in 5th.  That was, I think, because my calf muscle starting aching about half-way through the run, I started limping again, and Maxie could tell.  Afterward I hobbled back to our crate space where I immediately hooked my calf up to my new TENS machine for 30 minutes of electric therapy.  I had to run Lucky on that same course in about an hour.  Would I make it?  A bit of tension building now.

Lucky: Long story short, Lucky Q'd XS-A in her first run, 3rd place.  She was 3 seconds over SCT, (-9 points), but in Excellent A you can score 85 and still Q as long as you have no other faults.  Only 3 out of 11 dogs Q'd.  1st and 2nd place dogs tied, both running a full 20 seconds faster than Lucky!  All the other dogs logged approximately the same time as Lucky, so she's not the only slow dog out there.  On her second run XJ-A, she ran without faults, but so slowly she NQ'd due to being 6 seconds over course time (-18 points).  What am I going to do with her?  She only races hard for tug toys.

Skipped dinner with the club folks.  Went home to ice and electrify my calf, prop up my leg, and watch TV.  Actually, I ended up downloading Thursday's videos, and working on this blog first.  Oddly, my computer won't play back the videos.  Now what's wrong?

FRIDAY: Slept okay, but had a weird dream about "a blog writing it's own blog about what it's like to be somebody's blog - disdain for all the stupid things they write, laughing at their jokes, etc". A blog from the blog's point of view.  HA! Blogs and dogs on the brain!  Got to arena in plenty of time, properly shod, and taking care not to walk around more than necessary, my leg held up.

Lucky: Lucky ran both Standard and Jumpers before Maxie ran at all.  She scratched in XS-A, by popping out of the weaves, and ran 11 seconds over course time. In XJ-A, she Q'd with a 3rd place, score of 91 because of running 3 seconds over SCT (again). 
Maxie: In XS, he scratched -  came off the A-frame fast, took the jump ahead and raced straight for the chute instead of following me left to the table.  It was an easy course and he made good time, but I couldn't call him off of that chute for anything. Bummer!  Usually "Here!"  or "This way!" works, but not this time.  Then he burned up several seconds sniffing the dirt until I hollered "Leave it!" and lunged toward him.  This got his attention and we completed the run without fault.


Everyone crashes after a hard,
noisy day at the arena.
Top to bottom:  Lucky, Maxie, Willow

Later he Q'd in Jumpers, with 5 seconds to spare but 10 seconds slower than the 1st place dog, another Papillon named Lily, from Pensacola, a few years older and far more experienced.  Everybody fusses me for slowing Maxie down, saying I need to run faster, etc. Of course placement is sweet, but Q's are nice too.  Unfortunately, what Maxie really needs are 4 more Standard Q's, more QQ's, and lots more MACH points. Maybe we'll Q tomorrow.
The food served at the trial was so delicious (unlike some trials where hot dogs, mac-n'-cheese, and junk food are standard fare), I got introduced to "Texas Caviar", and brought home my portion of pulled chicken barbeque, put it on sourdough bread with some lettuce, and that along with fresh fruit, was supper.  While I watched videos, everyone else crashed.

SATURDAY:
Maxie QQ'd.  Two beautiful runs, no problems, good time, 2 4th places, missing 1st place in XJ by just 6 seconds, and missing 3rd place in XS by 6 100ths of a second.  I was making a point of running faster, even though my calf pulled on the second to last run, and I ran Maxie's last run with the TENS machine attached to my leg.

Lucky struck out both runs.  In XJ, she balked at a jump for no apparent reason, stopped then walked around it, which screwed with my concentration, I got lost and sent her over the wrong jump, after which we got straight but it was too late.  Also, she ran very slowly.  I was so miffed that I crated her, called her "Bad Girl" and didn't give her any treats for her run.  She understood I was upset, cowered down and didn't budge for a couple of hours, but I doubt she understood it meant "next time, RUN".

VOLUNTEERISM:  After my runs were over, I volunteered as TIMER for EXCELLENT FAST and EXCELLENT NOVICE, where I wouldn't have to walk, timing for the first time.  What a class to start on!  It was fast paced and hard to hear the judge's calls with all the barking dogs and chatty observers right behind us.  One lady stood behind us with her huge black deep-throated non-stop barking lab.  I yelled at her to move away but she didn't hear me.  Someone else heard me and asked her to leave.  After about 5 runs and asking somebody to bring me a course map, I learned the value of each obstacle and so long as the judge made a noise, I was able to tell the scribe what to mark.  It will take a few more times to learn to operate the Timer box.  The judge had to come set the times for each jump height.  A few times the timer started counting on its own (apparently the scribe's metal pen was glinting light across the eye, which the judge finally figured out and set the eye at a different angle).  I had to eyeball the start line between two poles and press the button when the dog's nose crossed the line.  I did the best I could, but the system isn't exactly accurate and nobody seemed real picky about it.  Now that FAST is a titling class, I bet that changes.

Maxie's Ribbons:
Green for Q, White for 4th place, Red and Black
for MXJ (Master Agility Jumpers) Title.

Big darn bummer, Dog Gone Fun doesn't give out rosette ribbons for titles.  Maxie's MXJ titling ribbon is a plain blah double red/black ribbon, no rosette, not much bigger than a Q ribbon.  I'm going to complain to Monica about all of us working so hard and spending so much money all year pursuing titles, then getting such a plain ribbon to show for it. Nedra agreed to let me have an AKC rosette from our club's ribbons, and I'll attach the Mississippi Mavericks ribbon to that for my display case.

I also forgot to pick up one of Maxie's Q ribbons and sticker.  I'll have to snag one next time I'm at a BARK trial.

The meatballs served for trial workers was again delicious.  Swedish meatballs and bread. Fresh veggie platter.  Fresh fruit platter.  Lots of desserts. Yum!

Met up with 6 of our Red Stick gang at Oscars on 98W for a margarita and Mexican dinner.  Everyone was chatty and cheerful.  I was too tired to eat and couldn't wait to get home and snuggle in with my doggies.  In bed by 9:30. We are all wiped out.

SUNDAY: Didn't run, just hung out, shopped at the vendors, took pictures for my Trial Site Summaries, photographed my score sheets, etc.  I awoke at 6:30 (without an alarm this time), packed leisurely, got to the arena around 8:30, and headed home around 11:30.  Stopped at Mandeville Seafood for a dozen crabs for me and a lb. of boiled shrimp for John, and still arrived home by 2:30, unpacked the car, did laundry.  All was done by 4 when John got home.  He had mowed the whole yard.  Looks like a park.  Sweet! Audrey came over for dinner.

Trial Site Summary:  See links.
The arena didn't seem quite so huge this visit.  Guess I'm getting used to big arenas. It makes a world of difference being able to crate on the ground floor, though, and having the car near by.

LESSONS LEARNED:
Every NQ was only one little mistake.  We are so close to getting it right.  Just need to analyze the mistakes.  Are they often the same?

• LUCKY, exceeding course time, walking thru the weaves, stopping in front of a jump where I am attempting a rear cross.  Do box work. Figure out how to get her running faster like she does at home.
• MAXIE, sucking into the tunnel, chute, A-frame or dog walk.  Have to block, pull harder, call "here" or "this way" instead of naming the next obstacle.
• ME, getting lost on course, missing walk-throughs.  Need to learn to handle scheduling conflicts, anticipate how much time I have between runs, etc.  With 2 rings going simultaneously and 2 dogs running, this has become a must.
• When timing or scribing FAST classes, make sure the Course Map is at your table and become familiar with it beforehand.

Used my new Igloo Ice Cube 60 qt. ice chest for the first time.  I got it by trading with Nathan for an older non-wheeled cooler he wanted of mine that allows you to sit on the lid.  He needs the seating for his new boat.

Assessment:  4 blocks of frozen ice (in Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice bottles) did not last 4 days, and lining the bottom of the cooler, did not keep the top tray cool enough.  Need to put ice cubes from the motel over the blocks each day, also put ice in the top tray and refill daily.  If ice is kept in ziplock bags, it shouldn't be messy.  Also learned, anything juicy needs to be in a water-tight container.  When wheeling the cooler around it tilts, and salad dressing got all over everything because the plastic lid I had my salad in wasn't tight-fitting enough.  But I love my cooler.  It has a smaller footprint, wheels easier with the weight right over the wheels, handles better, makes a great coffee table, foot stool or desk.  But you can't sit on the lid!

GOALS:

• Get Lucky running faster like she does in practice.
• Learn to run faster myself.
• Heal my calf.
• Work on Lucky's rear crosses.
• Work on Maxie's "this way" and "here".
• At the next trial:
• 1 XJ-A and 1 XS-A to get Lucky's AX and AXJ titles
• At least 1 more QQ for Maxie and 179 more MACH points by November.
•  3 more XS Q's for Maxie's MX title.
• Find out what's the rule at trials about dogs that won't stop barking?

Upwards and Onward!

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,

Preparing for Monroe Trial

It's Monday, I leave on Wednesday for 5 days in Monroe, and I'm not the least nervous about my packing.  This makes me nervous!

Perhaps I've finally got the drill down, or have I just gone blank?  Let's see. 

• Monday I pack my gear, charge all batteries, make ice.
• Tuesday I pack the dog's gear, trial paperwork, maps, shop for food, confirm hotel reservations, etc. 
• Wednesday I pack the car, gas up, check tires, etc. 
• Thursday I pack the coolers and take off.

Only this time I'm leaving on Wednesday, a day early, the car is in the shop til Tuesday afternoon, the A/C is out in the den so I'm waiting for the repair man instead of packing.  I've got to get everything done in 2 days.  Still, no nerves.

It may be because now I keep all my equipment gathered in one place.  To wit, I've simply commandeered the dining room table, the first flat space I come across when entering the house, and that's where I keep everything "dog".  It's an eyesore, but absent a convenient closet to store everything, I gave up appearances for convenience for 2011, and that was a major step forward in organizing this dog agility obsession of mine. John hasn't complained.

Still, I've got a hint of a toothache so I should be nervous about that.  And, I got a really bad charlie horse last week, which flared up tonight at practice, so bad I couldn't run either dog.  So I'm hobbling off to the doctor tomorrow to see what to do about a "sports injury", and call the dentist for some antibiotics and pain killers to see me thru the weekend.  For some reason, I'm not even upset about all that.  I should be in tears.

Since I couldn't get in my last planned practice tonight, I asked Sandy R. (who runs both her dogs in the same classes as I run mine), to try and run Maxie.  You always hear people say "Oh, my dog won't run for anyone else!", but from watching Sandy's videos in the past, I already knew we use mostly the same handling signals, and I surmised Maxie would run with anybody carrying his treats around.  And so he did!   He ran very well for her and much faster than he does for me.  It was a joy to watch.  Sandy came back breathless and amazed at Maxie's speed!  In exchange for running Maxie for me, I gave her my next turn to run Tango, her daschund.  Maxie and Tango usually vie for placement at local trials in the 8" class, but now we both see Maxie can easily outrun Tango.  The sad fact is, Sandy can outrun me!  Looks like it's true, then . . . . . the dog keeps pace with the handler.

After that success with Maxie, I asked her to try running Lucky at 20" on the other course.  I had her tug with Lucky a few minutes, then run with Lucky's tug toy in her hand, and they both zipped around like they had been running together forever.  That, too, was a joy to watch.  Lucky ran fast and sure (it was cool and breezy out).  Sandy says "STOP"  where I say "HALT",  she says JUMP where I say OVER, she says A-FRAME where I say UP, but it didn't matter to either dog.  They understood exactly what to do based on the body language and hearing any kind of "oink" coming from their handler.

Oh well, enough of this musing, I really must go serve dinner, kick back and watch Twilight Zone with my sweetheart, and put a hot pad on my calf.  I'll think about packin' tamarraw!

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!

Port Allen Agility Trial

Maxie: 6 XB runs, 3 Q's, 1QQ, 1 1st place, 1 2nd place, 1 3rd place, 38 MACH points
Lucky: 6 Open runs, 5 Q's, 4 1st places, 1 2nd place, Earned her OA Title

John drills the weave nails into place, while Anna, his
assistant, reads the Course Builder's map.

The Port Allen trial was put on by our local dog club, so there was a lot of work involved in addition to running my 2 dogs.  John took 2 days vacation, initially to help me video our dogs, plus he volunteered to drive the U-Haul on Thursday morning and Sunday night to and from the arena to our field, and be an Assistant Course Builder. But he ended up having to step in as Course Builder some of the time, with almost no experience, because our scheduled Course Builder had his dog die over the weekend and could not attend all the sessions. John worked his butt off the whole 4 days, I mean worked, sweated, figured his way through 9 course changes per day, and worked, which earned him lots of kudos He came home dog tired every night, bathed, ate a bite, and went straight to bed with the alarm set at 5:00 so he could be at the arena for 6:30 each morning.  He toughed it through and learned a lot, and maybe has found his niche in the club and in the sport. I'm sure he will be called on again.  When asked if he would volunteer for next year, he said "I know better than to ever volunteer. But my wife volunteers me anyway." He may say that, but he is usually happy to help and proud of his volunteer efforts.

Only 6 helpers showed up to unload, with John
deep in the truck, handing stuff out,
sweating like a pig.

Preparing for the Thursday match and Fri/Sat/Sun trial included securing the location, washing and re-labeling all the equipment, repairing 4 sets of number cones (my job), loading and unloading the U-Haul, organizing people to help with all this, etc.  Of course the job of Trial Secretary and Gate Steward were enormous and continuous and how Nedra and Georgie also run their dogs I have no idea. There was also the job of organizing food and icing down beverages for the workers all 4 days, which Sheryl did very well.  I'm not sure what the Trial Chairman did.

My self appointed job of videoing as many of our club's teams as possible for our club's web album, was all shot to hell with me running 2 dogs, in 2 classes.  Seems I was always missing someone because I was prepping my own dog to run, or Gate Keeping.  I barely managed to get my own dogs filmed (letting John know when to video us), and catch all the newbies as they are the ones who seem most anxious to see how they did.  When Lucky moves up to Excellent Class (and I'm only 1 Q away in Jumpers), I'll only have 2 courses to walk and memorize, then I should have an easier time of it.

Two nice surprises:  Nathan and Allison came to see Maxie run on Saturday morning, and Audrey showed up Saturday afternoon and caught a Lucky run, and one of Maxie's too, and all 3 of those runs were Q's.  They brought me luck!

Milestones:

• For the first time, I didn't need the course maps!  I walked the courses early, found them easy to memorize within about 5 passes, recognized the patterns more quickly than ever before.  It's true what Susan Garrett says, course memorization skills do improve!  I did the visualizations she taught me, and they were very effective.  More than ever, my dogs seemed confident I knew where I was going, and they followed along, resulting in a lot more Q's.  I also benefitted from the Handling Fundamentals course I've been teaching, doing my own flatwork homework, so my handling was a bit smoother.  Not perfect, but improving.  And, there was so little difference between the Excellent and Open courses, by the time I had memorized one, the other one was easy.

Lessons Learned:

• Move Up Deadlines: If your dog titles at a trial, be sure and get your Move Up request into the next Trial Secretary as soon as possible.  We titled on Sunday in Amite, I unpacked on Monday, and I waited until Tuesday to move Lucky up to Open for our club's trial the next weekend. Alas, Tuesday was one day past the Move Up deadline.  Nedra, bless her, did me a favor and moved her up, because I didn't know there was a deadline.  She said "Read The Fine Print"!  Of course, I hadn't.
• Never curse in the ring.  I didn't realize it, but on Lucky's last run I said "SHIT" when she ran right up to a jump then stopped and I almost tripped over her trying to rear cross.  The judge called me over afterwards to advise she could have taken my Q away, but would be lenient this time.  We NQ'd anyway, because while Lucky had only 1 refusal fault, she exceeded course time by 13 seconds, strolling through those weaves. 100 - 5 - 13 = 82 (takes 85 points to qualify) in Open.
• Time to focus on speed and weaves.  Both Maxie and Lucky can race through the weaves, but at trials they barely walk through.  Why?  Don't know.  Gotta fix that.  They each lose precious seconds in the weaves, and with the loss of rhythm Maxie often pops out.  Could this be because I anticipate a problem with weaves, slow down and babysit them through it?
• Pick up your ribbons, stickers and toys as soon as possible after the last dog runs.  The trial crew packs up and goes home as soon as they can, so if you shilly shally, you may not get these items.

TRIAL SITE SUMMARY:
The Port Allen arena is wonderful.  Much better than the Parker Collisium!  I posted a short video tour and description on the Trial Sites Summary page.

GOALS:

• Lucky's OAJ title in Brandon.  Only 1 more leg needed.
• Lucky's Excellent Titles, only 6 Q's needed, 3 each in AX and AXJ.  We can concievably do this within 2 more trials.
• Another QQ for Maxie, in Brandon, and more than 50% Q'ing average.
• Perfect the weaves with both Maxie and Lucky.  Work on speed.
• Keep practicing how to run.
• Keep building my stamina
• Keep reducing my packing.  I still bring too much.

THINGS TO DO:

• Move Lucky up to Excellent Standard for the Brandon trial.
• Fix my red wagon (new cotter pin on wheel, weld the cross bar back on).
• Upload videos.
• Toss around the idea of a blog post on "Things That Can Go Wrong In The Ring".  Ask Michael Loftis to photograph the 'oops' moments: refusals, wrong courses, sniffing, stalling, stopping, cross behinds, etc.
• Interview Nedra on what the Trial Secretary does, start to finish.  Sit with her and make a list, which she has agreed to do. Post in our club docs, in case anyone else wants to learn the job.

MAXIE'S SCORES:
Friday:
JWW EXC B  Not Qualified   Yards: 133   SCT: 44   Time: 41.5   Score: 0
STD EXC B  Qualified   Place: 1   Yards: 165   SCT: 71   Time: 59.79   Score: 100
Saturday:
JWW EXC B  Qualified   Place: 3  Yards: 148   SCT: 49  Time: 42.54   Score: 100
STD EXC B Qualified   Place: 2   Yards: 168   SCT: 72   Time: 64.22   Score: 100
Sunday:
STD EXC B  Not Qualified  Yards: 163  SCT: 70  Time: 70.29   Score: 0
JWW EXC B  Not Qualified  Yards: 146   SCT: 48  Time: 48.01  Score: 0 

LUCKY'S SCORES:
Friday:
JWW OPEN Qualified Place: 1 Yards: 129 SCT: 37 Time: 39.34 Score: 96
STD OPEN Qualified Place: 2 Yards: 156 SCT: 64 Time: 63.56 Score: 100
Saturday:
JWW OPEN Qualified Place: 1 Yards: 124 SCT: 35 Time: 42.26 Score: 86
STD OPEN Qualified Place: 1 Yards: 156 SCT: 64 Time: 69.95 Score: 90
Sunday:
STD OPEN Qualified Place: 1 Yards: 143 SCT: 59 Time: 56.55 Score: 100
JWW OPEN Not Qualified Yards: 125 SCT: 36 Time: 48.71 1 Refusal Score: 0 (actually 82)

Home on Sunday, long hot soak in the tub, dinner, fall into bed.  Next day, John off to work at 5:45 a.m., me play catch up on house work, emails, wash and groom the dogs, then out to the field to help set up courses for practice all this week.

Upwards and onward!

Lucky's Mobile Photos

Just got my disk in from professional photographer Michael Loftis, with 2 photos purchased of Lucky in Mobile.  Here's the first one, which I love for the way it captures her beautiful coat and build, enthusiasm and focus:


Photo by Michael Loftis

  and here's the same one, which I printed out and decorated with her 4 1st place Q's earned that weekend, jumping at 26":

Here's the other one, with her jetting thru the tire like a border collie, with dead center aim and a look that's all business:

Photo by Michael Loftis

Even though she's still a novice dog, with a barely past novice handler, I think she has enormous potential in this Agility gig!  I am really looking forward to running with my All American Girl.  For those who insist that pure bred dogs are far superior to mutts, that mutts should never have been included in obedience and agility trials, I think the challenge is now on for them to prove their claims.

Upwards and onward!

Amite Agility Trial Thurs-Sun

Maxie: 6 runs, 3 Q's (two XS and one XJ), 2 1st places, 1 2nd place, 1st QQ, 87 MACH points
Lucky Lucy: 6 runs, 2 Q's (one each NA and NAJ), 2 2nd places, 2 Novice Titles: NA, NAJ

The RV Parking area, right up next to the arena.
My pop-up camper on the right.

Just got back from 4 days in Amite, about an hour from home. Spring breezes, clear skies, but still got into the upper 80's and I broke a sweat a few times.

I brought the pop-up camper. John followed me there on Thursday morning, we arrived around 11 and had 3 hours to set up then help the ring crew set up for the match at 4. He stayed thru Lucky's novice runs on Friday before heading home. Then I was on my own, including packing up the camper to leave on Sunday afternoon. I was the very last one to leave, except for Michele S. who mercifully stayed behind to help me. It was hot, windy, I had trouble getting the awning zipped up and was running on fumes by that point, just short of tears. When I got home I was totally exhausted. Michele S made a good point -- that the pop-up is good for "testing out whether I want to do agility", but if I decide I really do, I should get something more comfortable and easier to fool with. Also, she said motor homes don't really give much trouble if you use them regularly. The problem comes in with them sitting up.

PERFORMANCE NOTES:

Lucky with her Novice Title Buttons
and 2nd place Ribbons



LUCKY: We got a shaky start from home, leaving a few hours late because Lucky was throwing up and had diahrrea. I believe she ate some poison grass off the club's agility field on Wednesday night while fetching her tug toy from the grass. The field had been sprayed the day before. She was the only one of our 4 dogs who got sick, so it wasn't a virus. At any rate, she had an empty stomach on Thursday, half rations on Friday and more diahrreah, and she had NO BOUNCE IN HER STEP whatever. I lowered her jump height to 20" from the 26" she jumped in Mobile. She managed to get her 3rd leg and TITLE in Novice Standard on Saturday, though, so moved up to Open Standard on Sunday where she scratched horribly with a "Where The Hell Are You Going" kind of run. By Sunday afternoon, though, she was clearly feeling better, and managed to get her 3rd leg and TITLE in Novice Jumpers, too.  I took her photo when we got home, but never could get her ears up. She seems not very fond of her wearing her ribbons on her collar.

WILLOW:  Maxie did much better in the crate with Willow along, no howling or yapping, earning Willow the official title of "Crate Mate Extaordinaire". While she is virtually untrainable in doing anything but whatever she wants to do (which is eat, speak, and be close to me), she now has an important job at trials and does it very well.

MAXIE: As to performance, Maxie nailed the weaves 4 times, ran fairly fast and fairly smooth, didn't sniff a single time or run off to visit anyone, mostly paid attention to me, made very good time, QQ'd for the first time, and got double MACH points for 2 1st place runs. His success was helped by the fact that Gee!, a long haired dachshund with more experience and very fast, was not behaving well this weekend. Found out later his owner/handler, Sharon, had hurt her foot on Friday and Gee! must have picked up on that. Also, two other Papillons, Jet and Lilly, who usually smoke Maxie on time if they Q, weren't running this weekend. All that spelled good luck and placement for us.

PLACEMENT: Just goes to show there are all sorts of angles to placing, and it's not dependant solely on your dog's performance. Only Q's and Time are a pure measure of performance.

VIDEOS: I was not able to video the 8" Excellent dogs, as usual, but I couldn't video the Novice dogs either, including Lucky and me, Kimberly with Beau, nor Jane with Bean. John caught us on Friday, Kimberly came back all day Saturday to help with the videos, Nedra, Loralie and a new friend, Lisa Jones got us Sunday morning, and Tracey hung around til the bitter end on Sunday to, in her own words, "support our club's novice teams", which I greatly appreciated and she videoed us all with my camera. By the time the novice dogs run, see, most of the Excellent teams have cleared out. I find it odd that our instructors don't hang around to see how their own students are doing! If it was their child or family member, I bet they wouldn't even think of leaving.  Be that as it may, unless I get a willing video crew together, it's going to be impossible to film the 8" and 20" Excellent dogs shortly, when I have a dog running in each height category. I enjoy filming and reviewing everyone else's videos, but if I can't get my own dogs filmed, I won't be filming everyone else!

RV CULTURE: The RV'ers outdid themselves every night. After all the teams went home and the crew had laid out new courses for the next morning, out came dish after dish of food, the RV'ers and some crew gathered around a rectangle of cafeteria tables in the atrium, and the laughter could be heard for 2-3 hours after that, from all the way out in the parking area. I was invited over and over to attend, by Joe, Michele S, and others, and I made a brief appearance on Friday night for a few bites, but I was so darned exhausted on Saturday night I couldn't even lift a spoon to my face, much less walk back to the arena. I was asleep by 9 p.m. and didn't regain consciousness until 5:30 a.m. Apparently there is a strong RV culture I didn't even know about -- people who camp out routinely at the shows have created a strong agility family. Sometimes the hosting trial crew provides a few dishes, games, etc. I don't think our club does that, but the RV'ers all invited me to take the initiative in Port Allen. I think I'll bring them a pot of my chili, but just on my own behalf.

STAMINA: I am utterly astonished at the stamina these agility regulars have. I mean, up at the crack of dawn to set up courses, reset courses all day, run several dogs, solve problems, after the last run and everybody else leaves, show up to lay out courses for the next day, then party for hours afterwards, day after day. And all with the greatest good cheer. Then poor Michele S, the Trial Secretary, after all the other RV'ers have left, stays behind for an extra half-hour to help me finish packing up my camper and hitch it to my car. That girl has incredible strength and speed, always good natured and sweet. I couldn't get over how fast she works. Even at her age, I don't remember being that fast. But she made me realize how slow John and I move these days, especially me.

Trial Site Summary: See here.

LESSONS LEARNED:

At one point, while walking a course, some of us complained to the judge about an obstacle being directly in the path between two other obstacles. It seemed it should be moved to the side a few feet. She explained that Agility was a test of handler's awareness as well as the dog's ability to follow, and she refused to move it! This compared to last week, when the judge moved a see-saw out of the way so handlers would not trip over it as they rounded the corner.

On one run, after the last jump, Maxie and some other dogs ran out the gate and could have been disqualified.  It is important to continue to direct your dog away from the gate opening after they complete the last jump, and if they do appear to be running out, call them back sharply.

GOALS MET:

• Lucky's Novice Titles, but not quite at Maxie's record of 6 Q's in 6 runs. Lucky made 3 Q's in 6 runs for Novice Jumpers, 3 Q's in 5 runs for Novice Standard. This in 2 trials, Mobile and Amite. I also got her measured for the 2nd time, so she should get her permanent jump height card from AKC within a few weeks.
• Maxie is on track for 2011 with an equivalent of 1 Q in each category at each trial (of course I would prefer we did better, but this is my minimum goal). We've done 3 trials: New Iberia, Mobile, Amite, and he has 3 MAX Q's, and 3 MAXJ Q's (10 needed for each Masters title). As a bonus, he now has 1 QQ, and 87 MACH points, which count towards his MACH titles. I don't have any goals set for qualifying for Nationals 2012, which requires 6 QQ by later this year.

NEW GOALS:

• Lucky: Two more trials, 12 more runs, 6 Q's at least, 2 Open titles. Improved speed. Placement.
• Maxie: Try to exceed the current average of 1 Q per trial per class. Try for QQ's and MACH points. Improved speed.
• John and I want to attend a Nationals Championship, not to compete but just to see how it is. I've heard the dogs at those levels run so fast and so accurately, it puts our local standards to shame. I want to see if that's true.
• Continue to improve my stamina.
• Ditch the camper. Get an RV. While the camper is cozy and comfy as can be and I love being in it, it takes too long for one person to set up and take down. It's best if set up in one location for a week, with no rush to vacate or fear being left alone in a strange place

 Upwards and onward!

See Saw Fly-Offs

Dog springs off see-saw long before it hits the ground,
an automatic disqualification.

Photos by Michael Loftis

This weekend in Mobile, I witnessed several see-saw fly-offs, and tonight teaching my first Intermediate Beginners class, I witnessed 3 fly-offs in a row as all 3 of my students (Jen, Jerry and Judy) sent their 20" dogs running full throttle thru a curved tunnel then over a full-height see-saw!  It was their dogs' first fast run to the see-saw, and they didn't reach the end when their dogs did. The fly-offs surprised the heck out of all of us!

Witnessing all this has confirmed for me, more than ever, that the 4-feet-on-the-down-contact behavior on the see-saw is a must. In fact, according to Susan Garrett, there should also be a nose touch as well.

Not only does a leaping dog land with a thud from 2-4 times their height and is often stunned on contact, and could easily sprain a leg, but I've also seen a tightly spring-loaded see-saw return upright and bang the airborn dog in the stomach or catch their back feet and flip them over.  An improperly performed see-saw can scare the dog from doing see-saws, and can be dangerous.

Low and behold, Michael Loftis, the photographer in attendance at the Mobile trial last weekend, caught a few of these fly-offs on camera.  What luck!  I've never seen pictures of this before.  Since I doubt any of the handlers will order these photos of "oops" moments, I asked Michael for permission to use these thumbnails for "editorial use", to illustrate a serious point. He graciously agreed.  As each of these photos show, the handler was not at the end of the board when the dog got there and was unable to put a treat down, or a hand out, as in training, to slow the dog down.  Their only ammunition was to call "halt", "spot" or "stop", and this apparently was not enough for these novice dogs.

Lucky Lucy and Michele, Mobile, March 2011

Lucky had a bit of a fly-off too, not much and the judge didn't fault her, but she landed hard, stopped running for a few seconds and looked at me, somewhat stunned.  I wasn't sure she would continue the run.  But she did.  This shook her up, though, and a few obstacles later she leaped clean over the down contact on the A-frame and got eliminated. The next day, I made sure I reached the end of the contact zones before she did, made her stop, and she did perfect contacts on all 3 contact obstacles.

The only way I know to prevent this error is that dogs must NEVER be allowed, from the first day of agility training, to leave the see-saw until released from it.  It has to be totally ingrained into them that the only behavior they can do is run to the end, ride it down, stop, and wait for a release. They should learn to stay at the end for 5 minutes if necessary, until released. Training this is not hard, but requires absolute consistency throughout the life of the dog, and however great their training, you can count on the performance being a bit less reliable in the ring. I've already blogged about training the see-saw in these posts:

See Saw Training Around-The-Clock
See-Saw Issues
Fast Contacts

Now I'm more determined than ever to train and teach the contacts right.

Upwards and onward!