Port Allen Agility Trial

Maxie, 6 runs,  3 Q's, 2 1st places, 1 2nd place, 54 MACH points, 6 videos
Lucky Lucy, 6 runs, 0 Q's, 6 videos



L to R:  Pepper, Lucky Lucy, Maxie

Well, I got what I asked for at this trial,  a few Q's.   And a surprise bonus -- some wonderful doggie portraits!

Maxie Q'd all 3 of his Standard runs and NQ'd all 3 of his Jumpers runs!  No QQ's for us this weekend. Oddly, all of his Jumpers runs were 1-3 seconds over course time - that's very odd, because on all of his Standard runs he made good time, 17, 16, and 21 MACH points with 2 1st places and 1 2nd place.  He mostly walked his weaves, though, and back-jumped 1 jump because I mis-cued him.  I held my own, not ever getting lost on course, but he's not yet back to his old self.  Will he ever be? After his last run we visited the on-site chiropractor who popped several vertebrae back into place and I heard a big crack which she said was popping his sternum back into place.  OUCH!  But she did NOT confirm the vet's assessment that he has any compressed disks!

Lucky NQ'd all 6 runs, and never once made course time.  She ran clean twice, but made lots of errors between the other 4 runs.  There were pretty parts to each run, though, and she never once stopped on top of the A-frame to survey the arena and never missed a contact!  I have got to get her into some open-air trials and under-roof matches where she will run fast.  I'm convinced she just hates under-roof agility.  Where are the matches?

Pepper was a superb crate mate the whole weekend, walking on a loose leash, not barking or whining when Maxie left the crate, hardly ever bolting out of the crate, and not even trying to lift his leg on arena posts and other dog's crates as at previous trials.  He is maturing very nicely, encouraging me to begin training him more than casually.

The best thing that happened at this trial is some new photographers that were taking group shots in front of a green screen, then letting you select your background.  First time I've had any of my dogs sit for a professional photograph.  I bought the CD @ $50  (only because they took about 30 pics and gave permission for me to use them any way I want).  I will have lots of fun learning how to extract the photos from the green background and add in my own.  Above is one of many shots taken.  I will be mining this field for individual portraits, for of course trying to pose three dogs at once is difficult, and there are often shots with one dog that looks great while the other two are looking away, etc.  What fun!

Another good thing, my son and his wife Allison, stopped by Friday noon and got to see Maxie's first run, a fast and solid Q.  Here we are at my crate space, with Pepper probing Nathan's ear with his ant-eater tongue.

Another thing, we learned that the Port Allen arena has a wireless mike system, and Wi-Fi, and will make these available to us for future trials.  I don't have to bring our equipment anymore to call the FAST points.  I can stream Librivox files between runs and relax.  I also got tutored a bit by our Trial Secretary on how the runs are scored and score sheets printed out.

Maybe the best thing of all is that John, using up 3 days of his vacation, worked his tail off the whole 4 days, beginning by supervising the new professional movers in loading and offloading of the trailer on Thursday afternoon then helping Nedra and me set up tables and hang signage around the arena, then showing up at the arena by 6:30 every morning, being in the ring at every course change all three days, filling and tamping holes (which a dozen or more competitors thanked him for profusely, or came up to me and praised him to the skies) and being the last to leave every night helping the arena guy with the injured hand water down the dirt, and organizing the equipment for pickup Sunday after the trial was over.  It felt great for me and our dogs to have him near and feel so well supported.  He was my hero.

Unfortunately, our Ring Steward decided to "economize" on volunteer concessions tickets this year, consequently she gave John only 5 $1  tickets per day, not counting Thursday!  Just enough for one small hamburger and fries per day.  As a result, not for the lack of food (because we brought or bought our own) but for the principle demonstrated, we are both less inclined to bust our butts in future.

Upwards and onward!

 

Dog Club Aging, and Mentorship

This is Blog Event Number 7.  Read other agility bloggers' thoughts on Aging here.

Yes, I'm aging and slowing down. My dogs are aging, which at their young ages of 4 and 6 translates into "maturing", which is a good thing.  We hug more and train less and do about as well as before.  But what I want to talk about is dog club aging.

People start dog clubs.  They get fired up, invest in it heavily, create their niches, love their jobs.  It becomes an integral part of their lives.  They open up and invite new members in, but the club always really belongs to them.  It was their dream.  They have history, loyalty, habits . . . . . and set views. And the same people with those same views do the same jobs year after year -- trial chairman, trial secretary, gate steward, chief course builder, instructors, decision makers about equipment purchases, equipment maintenance, equipment storage, where to spend the club's money, who teaches, and what methods are acceptable.  The other members are allowed to scurry around hauling equipment, setting bars, running errands, cutting grass, etc., but they never really get "in".  They are never actively trained to the more challenging positions.  They aren't privy to the decision making process, and especially aren't encouraged to introduce anything new. Those who want to, need to, be more involved, those who thrive on giving and being creative, don't get the chance, so they tend to drift off to more rewarding, fulfilling pursuits.  This goes on fine for quite awhile, but then, the older club members start aging, and the club starts aging.  Without transfusions of new blood, everything ages.

I join clubs to learn, and to share what I've got to offer.  It is as fulfilling to give as to receive. The motto of the computer club I belong to is "sharing the knowledge", and that motto, to me, can't be beat.  To me, clubs are all about sharing knowledge.  Most people, like me, join clubs to find like minded people, also to learn new skills, be useful, and to belong to something I see as culturally important.  I want to improve my community.  In the case of dog agility clubs putting on trials, this includes, well, putting on trials.  If the more experienced people don't take on eager, younger protégés and groom them to those important positions, aging clubs are courting the very real danger that they will eventually, imperceptibly, little bit by little bit, fizzle out and die.

Thus, I recommend dog training clubs turn serious focus towards the concept of "mentorship", not just teaching people how to train their dogs an hour a week, rallying them to wash and load equipment in the truck for trials, set bars, and otherwise just be pleasant and not complain.  Those in charge may not feel themselves to be responsible for passing on the important skills.  I've heard more than one of them say "Nobody taught me.  I just got in there and did it."  And that's true.  As pioneers, they had to build something from nothing, they got busy and did it, and loved it.  But most of us are NOT pioneers, and can't be.  The club already exists.  The positions are already filled.  AKC doesn't allow more than one AKC club within a certain geographical radius.  You can ask the trial secretary or other top brass to mentor you, but if they won't do it, you are stuck on the outside, looking in over the fence . . . . Kilroy style.

My advice to dog clugs. Grab ahold of your younger members, and actively teach them how to run your trials and your club.  Give them leaway to ask questions and challenge your methods.   Breathe vitality into your clubs.  Then maybe in a few years you can sit back and just show up for classes, sip your Poweraide, set a few bars, straighten a few chutes, and run your dogs around the courses trying to Q, in ignorant bliss of the heart of the sport like the rest of us.

Upwards and onward,

Dog Club Newsletters

Several months back our club's newsletter editor quit.  There being no other volunteers, I took on the job. Temporarily at first, but here I am still doing it.   It's not much different than writing this blog, which I enjoy and I had made contributions to the newsletter already.  I don't mind it.   Since then, I have tried to get other members to contribute write-ups and photos on club news but found that is close akin to dentistry, prying and pulling things out of people.  Club members don't seem to want to report on their activities, brag on their achievements, share in building our club's history.  I think sharing what we go through is helpful to all.  But it seems I'm alone in that sentiment.

Despite all this, I proceed forward.  I feel confident.  This issue I ran into a new problem.  The club's biggest news is about our two big publicity events of the year, and since I'm the Publicity Chair and ran both events, I'm basically reporting on myself. That feels weird. I run the risk someone will say I'm patting myself on the back.  Well, I am.  But I interview myself and compliment my efforts the same as I would if someone else had done the job.  That's the only way I know to cover the events.

I often wear multiple hats.  It reminds me how in college I sometimes used to play all 4 hands at bridge, and actually bid and played each hand as if I didn't know what was in the other hands.  It's compartmentalized thinking, a peculiar mind set that I'm oddly good at, and this feels much like that.

Our club does good stuff and I'm proud of everyone who works so hard to make it happen.  Want to see the newsletter?  Here it is.  Long Sit, February 2013 - Community Involvement.

Upwards and onward!

Practice Drills - Continued

Continuing on from here.

Alas, when I went out Saturday to practice, I discovered they had picked up my course to mow the field.  And they had set up new courses all over the place, including encroaching on my 40' x 50' space, despite the fact that I chose an out of the way spot that is rarely ever used, where the grass doesn't grow!

It feels like my project is being thwarted.  No matter. I set it up again.  I marked the fence with yellow rope to tell our yard man not to mow this spot.  Then I received an email from a club member who complained that no one member can commandeer a spot all for themselves and she'll break it up whenever she wants.  I need to get our Agility Director to put out a notice that this is a sanctioned experiment to benefit all our members, not just me.

Last night my tent stakes came in so I'll go ahead and prepare the holes for the tumblers. We'll see what happens next.

Upwards and onward!

Club Newsletter Editor

Last month I stepped in as our dog club's Newsletter Editor, the previous very popular gal  having had to resign suddenly for personal reasons.  I had already been contributing articles, ideas and feature stories for the past few years, and had been helping proof each month's draft for a couple of years, so I already had the template on my computer and pretty much knew the drill.

In fact, I already had an interesting feature story written up on Tracey Roth, a long time club member who pursues AKC's Versatile Companion Titles, so I had material for the June issue on short notice, and have been working on other articles as well.  What I hadn't encountered yet was the cost of mailing hard copies to our 5 club members who don't have email.  Our Constitution requires that each member receive a newsletter, and most are sent out electronically, but we charge $6 per year to those who request hard copies.  I hadn't realized how inadequate that fee is.  I bought postage yesterday to last thru 2012, at $22.75, and realized that mailing out 8 pages costs .65 cents a month per person (up to 2 ounces), not to mention color printing costs (an even larger expense).  All tallied, it actually costs our club $21.00/year per club member to mail out hard copies.  And we charge $6. I learned that the previous editor ran these costs thru her employer, but I don't have an employer so either the club will have to pick up the tab or we need to find another donor.
Yikes!  I have to bring this information to the board immediately!  So that's my job today.

Tomorrow morning, Saturday, Ken and I go to the agility field with Max, Lucky and his novice dog, Casey, and begin training in preparation for the Hattiesburg Trial, only 3 weeks away.  My hip is still sore, but not debilitating at the moment.  Hope I can pull this off.

Upwards and onward!

Laminating Machine Finds Me



GBC Heat Seal H-4325 Laminator

Sometimes just when I feel beat down and underappreciated, in this case underfunded by those I'm trying to help the most and unnecessarily overworked by that woeful underfunding, the Goddess rewards me with a fabulous gift - in this case a brand new laminating machine!

Here's how it happened:
Doing my very best to weather'n'wear proof everything in the new Publicity Booth I'm building for my dog club, I found it essential to laminate every single piece of signage, protecting many color photos and newsletters that would otherwise be subject to staining and water damage and almost worthless within a use or two.

I started laminating everything at Kinkos, but even at just $2 a sheet for 8.5"x11", and $4 a sheet for 11"x17", and arranging everything as close together as possible for maximum value per sheet, I quickly ran up an $80 bill!  Almost half my allotted budget!  And I wasn't even finished.  An impossible situation!  Very discouraging!

Has put me way over budget, and out of pocket.

Mercifully, a clubmate came over to see the booth-in-progress and offered to laminate the last 15 pieces for free, using her employer's machine.  I hate mooching off of employers, but I need them QUICK, so last Tuesday I headed across town to her office to get this job finished.  Alas, the first sheet we fed into her barely used, still under warranty laminator got jammed in there and never came out.  Project aborted.

Next day she called the company, they said throw the unit away and they'd send her a new one.  Not worth fixing, they said!  So, she tossed it off to me.  John took it apart, removed the jammed paper, and now it works perfectly fine. So I have a $220 GBC Heat Seal H-4325 Laminator, practically brand new, for free!

Of course, I still don't have any laminating paper, so I shopped around this entire morning and discovered Office Depot prices are outrageous!  Amazon.com has the best prices, so I spent $55 with them and now must wait 5 days for a lifetime supply to arrive (have to order in quantities of 100 sheets/box).  Meanwhile, I need about 15 sheets TODAY if I want to complete my project in time for the booth's debut on September 24th, but my friend is out of the office.  Waiting for mine to come in, I'll be cutting things mighty close.

All this running around, scrimping, saving, canniving, begging, repairing damaged discounted items, just to save my club a few bucks they can well afford to spend, takes much of the fun out of the project and makes me question why I put myself in this situation?


Which is why I think the divine hand graced me with my free laminator -- to lift my spirits and remind me to be ever-joyful. Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  And I just found out, my friend has mailed me the 15 sheets I need.  I should receive them tomorrow by Priority Mail . . . . . another unexpected gift, and I feel so much better!

. . . . . . . Now, dear Goddess, can you also please send me a servicable professional copy machine that enlarges, reduces, does legal size, and multiple pages?  Mine has been broken for months and is unfixable, I can't find another one I can afford that does all I want, and not having it handy really cramps my style. I've made so many free copies for all my friends and clubs for so many years, surely I deserve a free copy machine by now!

Upwards and onward!

Publicity Committee

After 3 years of coaxing, I've finally convinced my dog club we need to promote, i.e., create a public presence beyond our website (which I built 3 years ago).  What actually turned the tables, I think, is the Baton Rouge Recreation and Parks Commission's (BREC) new Obedience classes, their plans to create an agility course at their Burbank dog park, and some new teachers in town who are advertising their classes.

So last April the club officially activated a Publicity Committee and named me Chairman.  But it took until August to announce it to the membership and approve $200 toward the creation of a Publicity Booth we can take to parades, dog park openings, and other public events.  I asked for $300 but got less, so the club is borrowing my canopy and many other items until I can submit a budget next year. The wheels of progress grind exceedingly slow, and apparently my enthusiasm isn't shared by all.

I've been working on the booth (pictured above in my back yard) for a month now, trying to make it attractive, informative, interesting, weather impervious, easy to set up and take down, comfortable, and fun.  The whole thing (canopy, 2 tables, 2 bins, ring gates,  display board, 2 posts) has to fit in one car (a large car).  With the weather turning cooler, I pretty much live in the booth these days, tweaking its features every day.

The biggest task has been the tri-fold display board, with collages depicting our club's activities, a few of our best newsletters, signage, etc.  I've taken so many photos of our club's activities over the years, I had plenty to draw from - trials, matches, seminars, classes, demos, and of course, dogs.  The problem is, photo paper and color ink aren't cheap, and laminating adds up quickly and for now, all this is out of my own pocket!  I'm not real happy about that, but what else can I do?  The point of the booth is to show what our club does, attract new students to our classes and members to our club!  Can't do that without props.

In the past few days some club members have come by to see the booth (Polly, Nedra, Linda, Joy, Sheryl, Noel), and their reactions have been favorable.  Now I've got to call more members, one at a time, and invite them to see it.  John and I don't mind working the booth, we think it's fun, but we won't always be available.  For instance, the first event coming up is September 24th for AKC's Responsible Dog Ownership Day, but I'll be in Kiln at an agility trial, and so will many of my club mates.  A perfect time to tap into LCCOC's newer members, who are looking for volunteer hours.  They'll need training in booth setup, take down, how to run it, what to say, etc.

Burbank Dog Park Entrance - side view,
possible booth location

I met with BREC's events planner last week and mapped out a schedule of dog-related events we can participate in thru next March.  They are investing heavily in their dog parks and seeking ways to promote them.  Last Friday, John and I drove out to the Zachary Park, then  the Burbank Park.  Both have beautiful new dog parks with expansive lawns, wrought iron fencing all around, double gates, separate small and large dog yards, lots of green grass, water fountains, wading pools, poop bag dispensaries along expansive sidewalks, new shrubs planted here and there.  Unfortunately, neither one has a single tree . . . . . so there is no shade.  It's so hot, only a few dogs were out there and they didn't stay long.  We had to leave quickly not to faint!  Trees all around the perimeter, but none in the dog parks!  What were they thinking?????

Also unfortunate, no night lighting, and no electricity.  No place to take your dog at night, and no fan in our booth!  Bummer!

Willow and Lucky at Zachary Dog Park

One thing I discovered -- Willow loves water!  We don't have a pool at home so how could I know, but she jumped right in and started snapping at the bubbles she made when prancing around.  She got in over and over.  I coaxed Lucky in as well for a few minutes, but Maxie wanted nothing to do with the pool.

Also, my dogs went crazy barking at the other dog running loose in the big dog yard.  Lucky was growling and lunging at the fence, Max and Willow barking their heads off, while the Siberian Husky just stood around quietly.  Not sure I could let my dogs loose at a dog park.  I presume they would settle down after awhile.

Always more to learn!

Upwards and onward!