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!

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!

Kiln Trial October 25-28, 2012

MAXIE: 8 runs, 4 Q’s, 1 QQ, 1 1st place, 2 2nd place, 1 3rd place, 44 MACH POINTS, 7 videos
LUCKY LUCY: 8 runs, 2 Q’s, 1 QQ, 2 4th places, 12 MACH points, 8 videos

MILESTONES:  Lucky’s 1st QQ.  Maxie’s 10th QQ., 1st 4 day trial this year.

A rare 4 day trial for us, I usually only do 2 or 3 days and hang around the last day to rest, pack, watch and visit.  But I felt up to this one being as it’s only 2 hours from home, my motor home is cozy, parking is close to the arena, October weather is generally cool and pleasant, the Kiln arena less intimidating with only 1 ring going at a time, the hosting club is very friendly, and I wanted to give myself enough cushion to meet my 2012 goals.  I figured I could sit out a few runs if I felt too tired or stressed out.  I made it through all 16 runs but came home exhausted.

Left out at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with a stop in Slidell to visit my Dad’s gravesite and take pictures that can help Mom and me choose some permanent grave markers.  The gravesite was still dirt from Dad’s recent burial, but there were fresh flowers.  Found out Thursday when my Mother called me (8 times before I checked my phone) that my brother Londo is visiting New Orleans from Tampa and put them there.  Also discovered he had reported a poor site condition to Mom by phone, which upset her, so she had just called Forrest Lawn and ordered the slabs herself, sight unseen.  Having originally assigned that job to me, I had visited to assess the situation envisioned how to make the area special, and now my efforts were trashed.  I could have let that bother me, but instead decided to set it out of my mind until the trial was over.  I had a few other opportunities to practice my mental game over the weekend, too (more on that later).

From a balmy 75 degrees to start, the weather turned cold and windy late Friday evening, down in the 40’s.  The rest of the weekend was spent inside the motor home unless I was bringing Maxie or Lucky into the ring to run. The door was hard to open in the strong wind.  My windows and fence whistled constantly. But it was my first time using the heater, and it works great.  The dust was awful, grit in the mouth, eyes, and nostrils, especially on Sunday.  The open air arena was like a wind tunnel, bits of weed fluff flying everywhere, very distracting to the dogs.  You'll see in the video below, Maxie left the weaves at one point to follow a little white tuft of something blowing across his path.  Still poor at my mental game, I was horrified and did something I never do.  I put him through the weaves again.  At least he succeeded the second time but I skewed our course time averages.  Which is better?  Still not sure.

Lucky does not like posing for pictures!
Her 1st QQ ribbon (purple) is quite a prize.
Two white rosettes are her 4th place wins.
Jumpers with 4.45 seconds to spare, Standard
with 8 seconds under SCT.  Yahoo!

LUCKY LUCY:  I attribute Lucky’s QQ on Saturday (after 4 NQ’s on Thurs and Fri.) to cold weather and her never once being crated in the arena.  She stayed “home” until her time to run.  I didn’t bribe her with treats, tugging, ball throwing or anything.  We ran into the ring, did our run, and then afterwards I ran out with her, tossing her pieces of fried chicken, which she loved, we visited a few folks, lots of praise and pats, then back to the motor home.  Also, I was jumping her at 24” this weekend as an experiment, to see if it increased her enthusiasm, and also because she jumps higher than that even at 20”, and 24” gives her an extra few seconds of course time.  Of course somebody complained about me jumping her so high.  No matter. It gave her just the edge of time she needed for those 2 QQ’s.  I was thrilled to hear people cheer for her when she Q’d in Jumpers – her first since obtaining her AXJ Title in Kiln a whole year ago.  By comparison, she leaves this trial with 8 Q’s in Standard, so we could possibly get her MX Title in Lake Charles next month.  Only 2 Q’s to go for that title -- but only 3 chances unless I go to Pensacola over Christmas.

Maxie posing at home with his QQ ribbon
and his 4 clean runs, all with placement
ribbons - Blue = 1st place, Red = 2nd place,
Yellow = 3rd place.

MAXIE: Maxie is running a bit slower.  Don’t know why.  Maybe the dust and wind, as he was shivering in my arms at times. Also, the videos show Max certainly isn't chasing me like the famous pair, Tigger and Robin. If anything, we are running along side-by- side and I am setting the pace.  If I ran faster, would he? He popped out of the weaves 3 times. But he is crazy for his turn, and barks his head off in complaint when I head towards crate or RV.  He likes being in the thick of things, hanging with me.  And he Q'd 4 out of 8 runs, all with placement, and his 10th QQ.

MENTAL GAME:  I had to put my big girl panties on once again on Saturday when, just as I was about to enter the Jumpers ring with Maxie, a very self-confident clubmate/former instructor comes up and grabs me by both shoulders, looks me in the eye, shakes her finger in my face and  chews me out for not taking Lucky “immediately to her crate for a huge jackpot” after her first successful run.  My mental game went all to hell and Maxie knew it.  We had our worst run of the weekend-- 5 seconds over course time, missed weaves, 2 refusals.  I have to work on recovering from such shocks in 30, no 10, no 5 seconds flat!  Instead I entered the ring thinking that gal has some nerve chastizing me to encourage my dog while she discourages me!  I should have told her “How dare you accost me just as I’m going into the ring!”, and been done with it.  But I don’t think that fast, my mouth doesn’t open that quickly, and my confusion turns to resentment slowly.  I surmise that comes from being brought up in a household where the children could never speak their mind for fear of father’s wrath.  We learned to zip our lips. Sometimes this serves me well, other times not so much.

WILLOW: Of course she tagged along.  She has become noticeably more self confident lately, jealous for her pet/cuddle time, even looking to be included on training sessions at home.  She usually just tolerates Pepper's playfulness like a Mamma dog, but doesn't react or participate.  Here’s a short string of video snippets of her engaging in a rare bit of play in our RV yard, which also shows the fierce wind we experienced in Kiln.  All chairs and tables were laid down most of the weekend so as not to blow over.

PEPPER: Pepper is enthusiastic and shows no fear of anything.  He became “observant and tentative”, though, when I brought him to sit in the aisle between rings with all the feet tromping by and dogs barking, but he wasn’t cowering.  In the field, on a 16” retractable leash, he romped and froliced like a colt.  He tries to pee on everything and pulls hard on his leash!  He can get tangled up in that leash within 5 seconds of tearing around, and his constant rear crossing makes it hard to walk all 4 dogs at once.  The leashes are constantly tangled.  I had forgotten to appreciate how well the other dogs have learned to walk on leash together.



Portia and the 4 dogs hang out before breakfast.

VISITORS:  Laura and Portia came Friday night for the Pumpkin Carving and stayed Saturday thru about 2 p.m.  Good thing, because Laura was able to bring me several items from home. While it was fun, there were issues with food, phone cords, game boys, socks and such forth left out where the dogs could get them, not enough warm clothing, clashing schedules, a child needing tending, TV on after my bedtime, blocked passageways in my narrow motor home, who gets to sleep with which dogs, etc.  Just the nature of having company, I find once again that I really need my privacy at trials.  As they hadn’t packed clothes for cold weather and the arena was freezing, Portia didn’t see any agility runs anyway and Laura only saw one of mine.  Of course it was one of Maxie’s worst!  My sister-in-law and niece, Carolyn and Heather, showed up Sunday afternoon, just in time to see Maxie’s last run of the weekend, another NQ and no video to study to see what went wrong.  It was too cold for them in the arena as well, so after a brief tour of my RV, they also left.

The lucky Q pumpkin.

The RV’ers:
There were 19 RV’s in the park, about 10 more than my first Kiln trial with my pop up camper 2 years ago.  Our regional group of agility RV’ers is clearly growing! They did the Pumpkin Carving party on Friday night, which was fun and the Q pumpkin could be rubbed all weekend for good luck, but they called off the “Whine & Cheesy” party Saturday night. Just too cold, too windy, and everyone too tired. I had made a double batch of chili, again, and again it was not eaten.  John and I will be eating chili for awhile!

OUR CLUB:  There were at least 20 competitors from our Baton Rouge club at this trial.  I know 'cause Thursday morning early I counted the envelopes containing our badge numbers!

VIDEOS:  Several different people took my videos, all with different styles and ideas on how to do this.  One cut my head off, another got me but lost Maxie, another never zoomed in so Maxie is an invisible speck half the time, another zoomed in so much we were both lost, some tried to film the time clock at the end and never found it (I recommend the videographer just announce the time).  Most never documented the date, time or place.  Maxie's last run is missing. I despair of getting consistently good videos.  Such as they are, I uploaded a composite of Maxie's runs to YouTube, with commentary.

Maxie:
 

One thing Maxie's videos brought to light this time, you can't accurately calculate your dog's average YPS if you include the time it takes to put them through the weaves again. If I want to track whether my dog is really running faster or slower this year than last, this month than last, I either gotta keep moving forward, or I have to subtract the repeat time in my records.  It does help me to see that Maxie's average time has decreased from around 3.5 YPS last year to around 3 YPS this year.   Why is he slowing down?

Also, if 8 runs have roughly 20 obstacles each, that's 160 obstacles taken over the weekend. With Maxie's 6 faults, that's a 96% accuracy rate.  It helps me to count our success this way, not just in Q's.

Lucky:  4 of 8 of Lucky's runs were clean, but all but the 2 Q's were at least 5 seconds over course time.  Only 2 Q's, which thankfully happened on the same day, resulting in her first QQ in a year's worth of trying, and her first Q in XJ in a year. Rather than bore myself with reviewing her ongoing lackluster performances, I choose to just focus on her 2 wins. 



What is clearest to me about them is

1. She has no trouble jumping 24"
2. Her wins were a result of her speeding up, rather than barely walking, thru the weaves.  The future has to be all about those weaves.
3. She does not like being crated up all day.  It makes her sad, bored, stressed -- some combination of those things.  She ran fastest and clean when going straight from the RV to the ring.

It truly breaks my heart that dog fanciers can't see her as I do -- a magnificent athelete chasing squirrel, armidillo, possum, birds, with tail up, nose up, cutting corners on a dime, explosive speed, total focus, indomitable will, fearless.  Yet totally domesticated, cuddly in bed, a soft mouth that never nips, loving eyes, total devotion and willingness to please, quick to learn, etc.  Over and over people ask me her breed.  I say "Yes she is a breed, she's a "Southern Black Mouth Cur".  And I often hear, well, if she wasn't a breed, she should be, she is so beautiful (great face markings, build, coat . . . . etc.)

I used my new Logitech H530 headset/microphone (from Office Depot and highly recommended by a professional audio tech person), and am pleased with the results. No more cutting out, volume easier to adjust.  I was also pleased with the price, recently reduced from $50 to $30!

RV and OTHER PROBLEMS: 
Only problem I had is while the LED guage said my black water tank was only 1/3 full (and I emptied it recently, too), still, when flushing the toilet I see water and paper just under the valve.  Something is wrong.  Rather than use it any more, I decided to treat it as a port-a-pottie.  I lined the bowl with a kitchen trash bag stretched over the toilet bowl, put the seat down over that, and in the morning I stuff the bag and contents into a gallon zip lock and throw it out.  Same as I used to do with the port-a-pottie in the pop-up camper.  It worked fine then, and works fine now.  But still I want my flushable sewerage!

Wednesday I managed to step my left foot in a puddle of water but was too busy to change shoes or socks.  By Thursday morning the sole of my foot was textured and tender, by Friday morning a crack had appeared between two toes and was hurting.  One thing I had forgotten to bring was Athelete’s Foot spray, Neosporin or Vitamin E oil.  Laura brought me those but of course it was too late.  So my foot was sore all weekend and I should have changed socks 2-3 times per day to keep it from being sticky. But of course I didn’t bring so many socks, so I just took off my shoe when I could and aired it out.  Which wasn’t often!  With 4 dogs and company, one is always on one’s feet.

Got home to John's surprise -- he prepared a few garden rows for me.  Unfortunately by Tuesday he had a pinched sciatic nerve, by Wednesday he could barely walk.  We went to the chiropractor on Wednesday, then Thursday, and today.  Ice pack every hour, anit-inflammatories, bedrest.  We're catching up on recorded shows and Netflix documentaries and I'm slowly getting this blog post together, interspursed with nursing my foot, Halloween festivities, cleaning out the RV, laundry, and Portia's birthday party.

GOALS MET/GOALS SET:

• First time to try it out, and the heater in the RV works great.  Since it works on both electricity and LP gas, I can take it to any trial in winter, even if they don't have RV hookups.  I actually only need electricity to run the AC.
• Maxie needs only 11 more MACH points to reach my goal of 550 by year end.  We should get that easily in Lake Charles.  We met our goal of 10 QQ's by year-end.  Hopefully 10 next year will get us to MACH in 2013, but I realize this is a stretch as it took us 15 months to achieve the first 10. 
• I just counted, and to obtain the new Bronze MXB and MJB titles, Maxie needs 4 more Jumpers Q's and 4 more Standard Q's for 25 of each.  With only 1 more trial scheduled this year (unless I go to Pensacola), I doubt I can attain that this year.  Early in 2013 is likely.
• Lucky finally got a Q in Jumpers.  Her last Jumpers Q was a year ago, in Kiln, to earn her MXJ.  Nothing since then.  A whole year, and always over course time.  Only 2 more Standard Q's to go to get her MXJ title, though.  We might reach that in Lake Charles.
• Run faster!  Lean forward. Learn to enjoy exercise. Treat agility as a game of chase.  Do more shadow handling and racing around the yard with my dogs trying to catch me.  Learn to time my forward momentum so I don't get caught where I can't move forward.
•  COMPLETELY outfit my RV with everything I need – a different set of toiletries, medicines, camp chairs, jackets, than I keep at home.  My goal is to never find myself without something I may need, and not have to cart things back and forth from the house, or risk forgetting something and being without.  One thing about a Class C as opposed to a trailer, once you’re set up you can’t easily unhook everything and drive to the store.

Next trial, Thanksgiving Weekend in Lake Charles. A 3  day'er, and the weather there is usually freezing, rainy and windy.  I must find another parachute suit with a hood, a trapper hat to keep my ears warm, and otherwise get myself prepared.  And another way to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Upwards and onward,

Port Allen Trial - September

Maxie, 6 runs, 4 Q's, 2 QQ's, 3 3rd places, 1 2nd place, 32 MACH Points, 6 videos
Lucky Lucy, 6 runs, 1 Q, 9 MACH Points, 6 videos



L to R:  Pepper, Maxie, Willow
with Maxie's 2 QQ's and placement ribbons.

John and I both headed off to Port Allen for our dog club's 2nd 3 day trial this year. Our first experience of pulling off 2 agility trials in 1 year.  I brought the motor home so John, assistant to the chief course builder all weekend, wouldn't have to leave the house at 5 a.m. each morning.  He spent Thursday and Friday nights with me, then went home Saturday night after the RV'ers "BringYour Own Beef" pot luck barbeque to bring our car back across the river.   He caught a ride back to the arena on Sunday morning with Nedra because he drove the U-Haul full of equipment back to BR Sunday night. We didn't want to have to go back across the river and get our car like last year, which took our last ounce of strength after the gruelling weekend.

John worked his ass off.  Two rings, always a course to build, for 3 days.  Few breaks, then pack up the truck and bring everything back to the field.  All I did was manage our RV, our crate space, and ran our dogs, trying to save my hip for my runs.  I didn't video other people, just my own dogs and a few of our novice competitors.  My hip didn't hurt a bit all weekend - must have been adrenalin keeping me from feeling it because it was sore before the trial, and is sore now.

Maxie ran clean the first 2 days but didn't run as fast as usual, walked the weaves, and on the 3rd day he went off course on both runs, attracted by some scent at the back side of the arena.  The first of those NQ's, XS, he ran clean except on the second to last jump he ran completely out of the ring and around the column, but the judge only raised her hand for a refusal of that jump and the score sheet showed Maxie's time and 1 fault.  Why we weren't Eliminated I can't figure.  Here's that run.



On the XJ run, he ran around a jump which was his only fault, but didn't leave the ring.  But the score sheet showed we got eliminated and no time.  I can't figure that out.  Plus which, the video shows that the clock kept running for at least 4 seconds after we crossed the finish line. Here's that run. 



I pat myself on the back that all weekend I didn't lose track, kept on going, never got lost on course. I've changed one tactic.  If my Excellent dogs miss an obstacle, I don't go back to correct it.  I'm NQ'd anyway, but I keep the flow going to encourage speed.  Will this come back to bite me if my dogs start thinking they can skip something?  We'll see. Does it worsen my score?

Lucky Q'd once with 9 MACH points on her first XS run, but otherwise she was not much interested in participating.  It was hot.  Her tongue was dragging. Even when clean, she was always over course time. On one run, a spectator was eating a plate of fried fish at the edge of the ring. She smelled it and ran towards him. DON'T EAT FOOD RINGSIDE is now added to my Tips list. 

 

I'm still processing both dogs' composite videos, but my microphone is acting up, as is my video editing program.  I'm trying different things, still not satisfied with the programs I've tried.

On Friday and Saturday both, I had visitors. Audrey came Friday and Saturday. Nathan and Allison came Saturday morning.  Laura and Portia hung around all Saturday afternoon and evening. 9 year old Portria unabashedly interviewed several dog owners about their breeds, and one of our own club members spent lots of time showing off her Corgi's. I was also impressed with a lady who showed us her Shelties.  I've always been attracted to the dainty ones that look like miniature collies. If Portia gets one of those, I'll be thrilled.  My cousin Lois also offered her a Papillon puppy, 5 months old, but Portia now has Shelties on the brain.

Portia with my Paps

The most encouraging thing that happened all weekend was the interest shown in my new "Tips For The Novice Competitor" paper, which is a work in progress. Competitors shared their pet peeves and gave me lots of encouragement to publish the list. One experienced competitor said "No matter how long we've been at it, we're all still novice.  It would do everyone good to review the rules and especially the etiquette."  I agree.  There's a lot to take in.

GOALS MET/GOALS SET:

I'm running a little faster, with a slightly longer stride. Courses are easier to memorize.  My nerves aren't frayed.  My heart isn't in my throat as I enter the ring.  I don't agonize over mistakes.

Maxie's first 2 QQ's in one weekend was a real surprise.  This leaves only one more QQ to meet my year-end goal of 10.  We're at 493 MACH points now, and my goal is 550.  With 2 more trials this year, we have a good chance of making these goals.

Lucky actually did run her weaves once. She never stopped on the top of the A-frame. She didn't miss any contacts.  That's a little progress, at least.

My goal for Lucky is still the same - to figure what it takes to get her moving in the ring like she does in practice.  For starters, I've entered her in our next trial at 24" and we'll practice at 24" from now on.  She seems to like jumping higher. Maybe this will boost her enthusiasm, and she will get a few more seconds to complete each run. The cooler October weather may help too. She needs 3 more Q's in XS to get her MX title.  We could well accomplish it this year, but with her speed issues, her MXJ can't come until 2013.

Pepper, my livewire 8 lb. Pap, at 11 months old, wasn't the least bit unnerved by the trialing atmosphere.  Crates beautifully. Not shy of dogs or visitors. Tried to mark everything, though. I measured him several times at 11.25", so looks like he may be jumping 12". I hope cousin Lois is right that Paps shrink a bit at about a year old. I'd prefer him to jump 8". When I hooked his leash to our cart going too and from the RV, just expecting him to tag along, I discovered he's a great cart puller.  Here's a little video we took of him pulling, with Maxie and Willow riding in the caboose.  Notice that 46 lb Lucky, in harness, is often on a loose leash, while Pepper is pulling the 50+ lb cart all by himself.  I've got to get him a harness before he strangles himself!  He is unstoppable.

Got a whole month to practice before Kiln, and Pepper just got booted out of Intro up to Beginners.  Got to see what classes are available.

Upwards and onward!

Blog Action Day Take-Aways

Plowing through 40 posts (as of today) by agility bloggers participating in Blog Action Day, on the topic of "If I Knew Then What I Know Now", list linked to here", all the pages put together about as thick as a novel, with hundreds of interesting points mixed in with lots of brags, photos, nostalgia and unrelated ramblings, here are my favorite take-aways and links to the pages they came from:

http://agilitynerd.com/blog/agility/handling/ProativeHandling.html

• Before the dog commits to a jump it must know the direction to the next obstacle and how much effort to exert taking the current obstacle.

http://www.flyingpoodles.com/2012/03/07/if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now/

• The most important thing that I have learned over eight years of training Elly (and then Dancer, and now Rush) for agility is how important structure is. The dog, no matter how willing or personable or sweet or trainable or smart (or whatever you think matters to you more), can not do what you ask unless she (or he) is fully comfortable in her own skin. The structure is what everything else hangs on.

http://fulltiltbordercollies.blogspot.com/2012/03/hindsight-is-always-2020.html

• When I started, it was more about how to get the dog to perform a given task...that is how I was instructed and how I thought dog training was. If the dog didn't fit into the program of training, they were faulty or not made for the work. And I have been proven TIME and TIME and TIME again...dogs are individuals, dogs don't fit into ANYTHING. We as trainers need to change, adapt, constantly. There is no standard. There is only the path that each dog takes you on. The JOURNEY is very much more important. It's a team sport...always remember that. Dogs WILL put up with a lot to deal with the ones they love.
• The nice thing about dogs....is if you are messing up in that regard...you just begin a new way today...they will begin that new way with you :) 

http://bcagility.blogspot.com/2012/03/if-i-knew-thennuggests-along-way.html

• Success can and should be measured in ways other than a "Q".
• and everything else on this page: 

http://bcagility.blogspot.com/2012/03/if-i-knew-thennuggests-along-way.html

• Many of the nuggets that I cherish can only be acquired on the journey. That is, they don't have the deep meaning if someone just tells you.
• Be kind to those just starting out in agility. The sport is very humbling, we all need support to get through the first several years (and longer).  

http://kathy-agilityadventures.blogspot.com/2012/03/hurrier-i-go-behinder-i-get.html

• My favorite way of logging training now days is using Google Docs. (Details on the link.)

http://nancygyes.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/what-i-know-now-and-wish-i-knew-then/

• Train every behavior long before you ever need to use it. . . . . . don’t train door/gate behaviors when you want to go out the door with four dogs crowding you to go for a walk . . . . . don’t train stays when it is imperative that your dog do so . . . . . don’t teach recalls when you really need your dog to come to save his life . . . . . don’t wait to train your dog to tolerate physical exams while you are at the vet during an emergency.

http://muttsandaklutz.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-my-dogs-wish-i-had-known.html

• The single biggest thing I would have done differently would be . . . . . "go with the flow" approach when first starting out in agility. The biggest example of this, for me, is when the dog goes off course or misses an obstacle or whatnot -- do you go with it and continue on as if it was all according to plan, or do you stop the flow, go back, and "fix" it? I did the latter for my first few years in agility. The result? One dog who was never as fast and enthusiastic as he could have been, and another who eventually said "screw this" . . . .

http://agilitygurl.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/you-are-you-your-dog-is-your-dog/

• We all have strengths & weaknesses but to constantly compare yourself to others is going to always make you feel inferior.
• “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” -Dr. Seuss

http://agileiws.blogspot.com/2012/03/past-regrets.html

• But, as awful as our early days were, I wouldn't change a thing. If I had started off doing all the right things and practicing perfect foundation, maybe I wouldn't be the trainer I am today.

http://dognerd101.blogspot.com/2012/03/if-i-knew-thenits-not-about-what-i-want.html

• Honor your dog for who they are, and remember it's not just about what you want.

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2012/03/dogs-are-amazing-and-will-do-everything-you-want-if-you-have-cheese/

• To know the dog really is just a product of what we know and when we get annoyed at the dog we are blaming him for our lack of ability to communicate what we want. To be receptive to the lessons the dog is sharing by their inability to do what we want and to make sure “every day is game day” when I train my dog.

Rant: I almost didn't add this one, because I don't agree with Susan Garrett that "the dog is just a product of what we know", as though they are nothing but programmable robots.  I don't want to go around with cookies in my pocket 24/7, constantly shaping my dogs' behavior, bribing them to do everything I want until it becomes a reflexive response, controlling every aspect of their lives, depriving them of their natural joy just being the glorious animals they are, depriving me of the thrill of observing their instinctive skills.  My Lucky Lucky needs no bribes whatsoever and no training to kill an armadillo, for example, or to retrieve, or jump a 5 foot fence. She and Maxie equally scamper their feet all day over boulders without a single slip, and Lucky plows thru the woods, briars and brambles without a single scratch.  I find those and other of their skills utterly amazing.  Dogs awe me, and humble me.  Sadly, they will be distracted by a little cookie, and still "be happy".  But taking advantage of this weakness every hour of their waking lives is a violation of their being . . . . . . . as wrong as this hilarious "Sheldon Shaping Penny" video from a popular TV sit/com, Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon tries to train his roommate's girlfriend with chocolates, the same way we train dogs.

We had a beagle when my son was young, chosen because she would be a sweet docile house pet, and she was.  But I hired a contractor once to work on my roof, and I'll never forget his comment . . . . "what a waste of a good huntin' dog."  I had no idea what he meant, until we took Annabelle on a hike to Tunica Hills one Easter and let her run free (no leash law back then).  She showed a totally different side of herself, running up and down ravines fetching deer droppings, circling round in wide arcs, scampering thru streams, tossing her ears about, smiling, baying, never tiring, never hungry, and not wanting it to end.  In 3 years of life in the back yard or on leash, I had never seen that side of her.  More on Annabelle here.

One of "the lessons the dog is sharing by their inability to do what we want" , from Susan's quote above, might be that we are trying to conform square pegs into round holes.  Trying to turn a silk purse into a sows ear.  Hello!

My tendency is more libertarian, to balance teaching them to be good family pets, safe in crowds, to entertain with some tricks, be good agility dogs, etc., and likewise let them be free to be themselves so long as they don't harm anyone!  I am incredulous when I hear agility people say "I can't tolerate a dog that barks", "Hush your dog", "I don't appreciate your dog sniffing my dog".  OH, P-A-L-EEese!

The ball and chain of constantly shaping my dogs' behavior is not for me.  I delight in training, a few short sessions per dog per day, and a few classes, but not 24/7.  Sometimes we're just "in the zone", one papillon curled contentedly under my chin, another laid at my side, my husband in the recliner with our cur dog sprawled out over his lap asleep, quivering and making sounds like she's chasing game in her dreams.

The first rule of life:  "Know thyself."

I suppose that means I'm not a totally dedicated trainer.  I don't feel pressed to hone my dogs to "international competition status" nor to that level of obedience, or keep nose to the grindstone myself.   I'm alpha, reasonably strict, and almost always aware of my dogs' whereabouts, behaviors, and proclivities, but I'm no Nazi nor a dictator seeking to bend every aspect of their nature to my will. Even if my dogs were capable of perfect performance and I enjoyed "always on my toes" training, I can't see myself jet setting around the world with them competing. In all honesty, I can't see further than a locally earned MACH for Maxie, MX and MXJ for Lucky (unless she picks up speed), and who knows what for Winnie Pooch.  These feats will satisfy my mildly competitive spirit, and still give me the satisfaction of teaching, problem solving, "overcoming" obstacles, and heading in my favorite direction . . . . .

Upwards and onward!

Goal Setting for 2012

TEAMWORK: I'm finally on a real team!  In a real sport!  And I'm the coach.  Here's my assessment of my team's strengths and weaknesses and goals I'm setting around them:

MAXIE:  Most of Maxies NQ's were only one error short of Q's on his part, or totally my error panicking at the slightest bobble, missing the walkthrough, or getting lost on course. That's not so much of a gap to close next year, so I think with consistent weekly practice and better focus on my part, I can reasonably expect to double the number of QQs next year. This year was 5, so 10 next year seems not too outlandish a goal. 10 trials, 1 QQ per trial. At that rate it will take us 18 months for MACH.

"THINK SNOW": In Lake Charles I was talking with Chip G., a competitor who put a MACH3 on his Papillon, Snow, before retiring her.  He said they did that by trialing every other weekend for a few years, which put them into "a rhythm with a very strong connection" and they hardly ever missed.  Chip noticed that by trialing fewer times a year, the perfect rhythm was lost and QQ'ing was much more difficult.  I seriously doubt I'll EVER go to more than one trial a month, but perhaps as long as we're out on the field practicing twice a week between trials, and short sequences in my yard, I don't see why the team bond won't grow.  But that's me.  I question everything.  Sometimes it pays off, sometimes not.

But this Christmas decoration I've put on my entry table for many years has taken on a whole new meaning this year.  I added 2 Papillon pins, and all next year I'm going to THINK SNOW.

LUCKY LUCY:  My agility goals for Lucky are the same as I had for Maxie last year, her MX and MXJ, and as many QQ's as we can rack up.  She's fairly accurate, but unless a miracle happens and I break the "go slow" code, she won't rack up many MACH points even when she Q's.  But I believe in miracles, especially considering her stride is 4 times longer than Maxie's, she runs like a maniac every day when she feels like it, it's just a question of motivation.  So my underlying goal is to learn how to "transfer value" to agility for her.  (I've never had to do that with Maxie--he's always anxious to take his turn).  Susan Garrett's Puppy Peaks and Recallers courses teach that as a fundamental, and I'm enrolled in both of those, so I should be able to do it.

My other goals for Lucky include finding ways to tap into and exercise her inate "cur" talents -- hunting, herding, chasing stuff, maybe tracking.  I don't want to spread myself too thin.

MICHELE: I'll be NUMBER 1 in my own estimation if I continue taking charge of my health and performance - keep building up my knowledge, skill, stamina, muscle strength, speed, and focus, not expecting it to be given to me effortlessly. A few days ago I took a backward fall and landed hard on my back on our asphalt driveway trying to help John install our new mailbox. 2 years ago I would have been bruised and sore for days, but this time I instinctively rolled like a ball, got up immediately and kept on going. I never got sore.  That's one way I know I'm making progress. I keep running the tape in my mind of the LSU football players whose bodies take such beatings over and over, and they just bounce back uninjured.  I now know this can be trained for.

I know now I can shift from a night owl to an early morning person.  I've made a lot of progress in the latter department over the past 2 years, so much so that I often awaken around 5:30 and am up by 6, and can actually think by around 6:30.  I still don't get dressed until 10:30 or 11.  I do so love paddling around in my PJ's.  But I've proved I CAN make it to the arena by 7:15.  In one case, I was the first competitor there, not counting the course builders who got there around 6 a.m.!

I have a long ways to go, so I can look forward to another year of progress, addressing lots more challenges:

• improve my physical game and handling skills
• improve my mental game
• avoid negatives
• accentuate the positives
• seek out more and wider learning opportunities
• improve my teaching skills, helping other students "get there quicker" than I did
• support the AKC
• learn the ins and outs of running a trial
• Rebuild my dog walk and A-frame
• find a way to afford a motor home
• master my video taking and editing skills
• build an "agility armoire" to house all my dog training/trialing paraphranalia and still look good in the den
• make some more agility friends, and be a better friend
• I plan to be less involved with dog club politics in 2012, more focused on my own training/competing.  Still, I can't help but hope the Red Stick Agility arm of our dog club whips itself into some sort of team spirit.  I've heard we had that when we first pulled the field together. We each train/compete individually but still have a lot in common, sharing a jewel of a field, fully equipped, similar goals, and showing up at many of the same trials. It's another lesson I'm learning from LSU football -- the players do much better when they pull together, which I'm also learning depends on having a great leader (coach).

The ball is rolling. On top of all that, I have to be thinking of my Mom and Dad's health and living situations (he's recently diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and is in rehab with a broken hip).  Both in their 90's and living far away, we'll see where 2012 takes us on that.

Upwards and onward!

Lake Charles Agility Trial - 2011 CKC

Maxie - 6 runs, 3 Q's (1 XJ, 2 XS), 2 1st places, 1 2nd place, 37 MACH points, 5 videos posted
Lucky Lucy - 6 runs, 1 Q (XJ),  6 videos posted

MAXIE:
Well, no QQ's for Maxie this weekend (he Q'd once per day), though I have to say I was running faster and surer, and we were mostly just 1 mistake from Q'ing on each NQ run.  He ran fast and focused, always exceeded course time by 6-22 seconds) and I know for sure now there's a MACH dog in there.  We met our goal of adding at least 35 MACH points to our tally at this trial, but didn't get that 6th QQ we were hoping for. Mistakes were as follows:

• XS Fri - no video, but he was under course time by 17 seconds, with only 1 fault, probably popped out of the weaves as I can't remember any other fault.
• XJ Sat - knocked the first bar - he hasn't knocked a bar in over a year, but I positioned him, then repositioned him at the start.  I've never done that before, so I must have broken his concentration, or else the bar was barely on there (which happens).  Then he popped out of the 10th weave, still under course time by 7 seconds.
• XS Sun - Skipped the 3rd weave. Otherwise a clean run with 10 seconds to spare, but the video shows his time could have been improved by at least 5 seconds with fewer wide turns.

SUMMARY: With Maxie's fast, reliable weaves at home, I can't figure out what to do about his less reliable weave performance at trials. Am I doing something different, like holding my breath, babysitting him, watching too hard?  As to the wide turns, we will practice more front crosses, which I tend not to do to spare my ankles, stronger pulls, and collection drills.

Lucky on the start line, intently watching a fly.

LUCKY LUCY:
Lucky's runs went like this:  "Look a fly, try to catch it".  Flies in the stands, flies at the start line, flies in the ring.  OMG, flies everywhere, and Lucky the only dog I saw constantly lunging at them!  She must have captured and swallowed 3 dozen flies.  I couldn't always get her attention on the start line, nor in the que waving her tug toy in her face, or offering her peeled shrimp, and she HAS NEVER REFUSED THOSE before.  I once had to collar grab her at the start line and push her forward to the first jump, after which she proceeded along.  It must be programmed hard into her DNA to be a fly catcher!  Major distraction work is needed here.

• XS Fri = clean run, but exceeded course time by 4.93 seconds.
• XJ Fri - trotted around 3 jumps in a row, tracking flies, about the 15th obstacle decided to run and finished fast.
• XJ Sat - Q, clean run, under course time by 1 second.
• XS Sat - clean run, but exceeded course time by 9 seconds.
• XS Sun - no faults until second to last obstacle, she leaped over the down contact on the A-frame.  Broke my heart because I failed to say "halt", tho I was pointing down.  Exceeded course time by .62 seconds anyway.
• XJ Sun - clean run, but exceeded course time by 6 seconds.

SUMMARY: Lucky's problem continues to be lack of speed in the ring.  She is mostly accurate. Outside the ring, or in practice when I'm carrying her tug toy, she runs like the wind.  We'll be going to lots of matches next year.  We'll also practice on focus, learning to ignore flies and other distractions.  I also need to discover just how to "transfer value" (which Susan Garrett assures me can happen) from her favorite toys, tugging and fetching, and just plain running for joy, to agility.

THE WEEKEND:
Apparently I wasn't the only one whose entry got screwed up (last post).  Various CKC members proclaimed the situation "intolerable", "unacceptable", etc.  On Sunday they couldn't provide Q'ing ribbons, either, because they were left out on the scoring table and had gotten wet in the driving rain.  They offered to mail them out to us, which got a few serious competitors PO'd.  The trial secretary is going to catch some flack.  But my question is . . . . . has the club bothered to train her to take over when their usual trial secretary became unavailable?????  Here's a perfect example of my oft repeated concern -- clubs ought to be mentoring members for every job.  Never know when some key person will leave in a huff, move, die, have an emergency, etc.  Part of belonging to any club is being in a sharing environment.  One gets to learn things free of charge, or far, far cheaper than taking private lessons or paying school tuition.  Clubs are a natural outgrowth of people wanting to share what they know, meet and do things with others who enjoy common interests.  Sailing clubs, sewing circles, reading and/or writing groups -- all great social inventions that only work well with enthusiastic sharing, teaching, mentoring.

Audrey drove over from Baton Rouge on Saturday, stayed from 10:30 to 3:30, and it was real nice having a family member/best friend around. She brought me some of her famous sweet potato casserole, helped me manage the dogs and gave encouragement, but unfortunately she only saw the last 2 runs, neither of them Q's.

Saturday's Horrific Storm:  The weather was typical Gulf Coast once again -- cold, wet, and windy.  On Saturday about 4 p.m., in blew a horrible storm. The sky turned black, with north winds whipping thru at hurricane force, with trees bent over and heavy rain going sideways.  The dogs and I were tucked into the camper, and within 30 minutes of Audrey leaving the awning envelope was flapping and banging hard and relentlessly against the roof, the canvas walls were bowing in about 15".  Afraid my camper was going to blow over or the telescoping uprights that hold up the roof would snap, I made a command decision that it was better to be wet than crushed or broken, so I cleared the middle area, unzipped the clear vinyl window coverings on either side, draped them down over the couch cushions, and let the wind and rain blow right thru the camper.  I also unzipped the side windows a crack to let some air thru. This relieved enough pressure on the canvas walls, and they held.  We all sat out of the way, dry, on one bed, with all our belongings stacked on the other bed, for about 40 minutes, watching the water pour off the vinyl onto the floor.  Afterwards, I dried everything off with a beach towel, then swept about an inch of water out the door.  I don't know if Fleetwood designed this intentionally, but it was neat that the side windows had a rain flap, and the main window vinyl unfurls down when unzipped so it covered the couch cushions, which stayed mostly dry.  No damage was done, and the floor needed a good mopping anyway!

RV'ers Social: By 5:30, still raining on and off, about 30 RV'ers filtered into the concessions area of the arena and outdid themselves with a huge spread of food.  Each brought a dish, from home-made boar sausage, to shrimp scampi, rasberry salad, merlerton pie, and lots of desserts.  Judge Gerald Marotta attended. The boudin balls I brought from the King's Truck Plaze in Iowa were appreciated.  Tall agility tales were flying around, laughter abounded, I got acquainted with a few more folks.  Very colorful folks. So much talk, I didn't get to tell my harrowing tale about surviving the storm.

My new video camera rocks.  I was able to get vivid pictures, clear videos, and I can't wait to post a composite of all the closeup videos I took of Time2Beat dogs going thru the weaves. I hope to do that later this week, but with our mailbox down, a friend's funeral, weeding and decorating for Christmas needing doing, and this new laptop I'm still getting used to, it may be awhile.

My new laptop ROCKS! I was able to watch HD quality DVD movies Friday and Saturday night while tucked in the camper. Saw the first 2 seasons of Dallas!  Picture quality was great!  The built in speakers are adequate. I can import videos from my camera using Windows Live Photo Gallery, bypassing Sony's Picture Motion Browser, which I despise. 

RAFFLE: I managed to win 2 raffle items again. Paid $10 for 12 tickets, same as usual, and I'm guessing I came home with over $100 worth of loot.  What fun!

1. 

   

   Huge basket was full of LSU paraphranalia,
   including a few more items not shown.

   First, a huge basket full of LSU paraphranalia. I only put 2 tickets in the LSU drawing bag, and only because I liked the blue basket (matches my kitchen decor) for picking garden vegetables, and because Audrey called my attention to the potential Christmas gifts I could give my LSU-loving friends. I find it odd that I start liking football only 2 weeks ago, and the Universe immediately presents me with a huge LSU Flag, mug, dog collar, bracelet, blanket, back scratcher, piggy bank, LSU dog sweater that fits Willow perfectly, and other assorted LSU paraphranalia. That's how it works when one opens doors, (according to various scriptures, as well as my own pagan experience).
2. 
   I also scored 4 christmas hot chocolate mugs we'll surely use, with a Christmas vinyl tablecloth and rawhide chew wreath.  

I was actually not the last person to leave the campgrounds this time. Having figured how to shave off about 45 minutes and several buckets of sweat to camper set-up and take-down. Mostly, I store the shelving boards out on the floor instead of tucking them under the mattresses, I store the awning poles outside under the tongue end rather than the back end of the trailer (saving many steps), and I don't put out any decorative items. Also, by parking the camper with the door facing north, the sun hits the south side of the camper and gives afternoon shade where the table is -- so I don't need to put up the awning for shade purposes (in winter) -- a huge time savings.

Interstate Nightmare: The drive home was strange and stressful!  I left Lake Charkes at 2:30 Sunday with half a tank of gas, expecting a 2.5 hour, 140 mile drive, and didn't get home til 5 hours later, 7:30, because traffic on the interstate came to an idling standstill for 2.5 hours.  There was no news on the radio, so I called John and he couldn't find anything either.  I was watching my gas needle go down and had no idea where I was or where the nearest gas station was, so I eventually called 911 with my mile marker, and she said the Tiger Truck Stop was 2 miles ahead.  I reached it about 20 minutes later with less than half-a-gallon left in my tank - 9 miles worth.  It took another 15 minutes to pull up to the pump because the place was jam packed with people pulling off for gas, bathroom, food, and nobody was directing traffic.  The clerk said they had to call in another gas truck.  Oh, did I mention it was cold, windy, and drizzling? We found out that a cucumber truck had overturned at the Gross Tete exit at 10 a.m. and they expected it to take until 8 p.m. to get the interstate cleared.  I managed to park us in a safe spot, pottie the dogs in a grassy area, and prepared to stay put several hours if necessary.  About 6, though, I could see traffic moving on the overpass, got going, and made it home slowly but without further incident.  We had gas, plus a dry spot, food, water, money, my cell phone, nearby bathrooms, and each other, so I was calm.  The dogs mostly slept thru it all.

I always have done pretty well in a crisis.  I get practical. It was real funny watching numerous men jump out of their idling cars on the interstate, run across 40 yards of ditch, in the dark, to the woods, to pee.  Don't know what I would have done if I had had to pee. Certainly not cross a dark ditch! Probably just maneuver to the left lane, open both car doors on the drivers side, hold up a towel or sweater between them, squat, and pee on the road.

Motor Home Fever:  Of course, all those hours on the interstate and I'm thinking how I have to set the camper up to dry out the next day and what a pain that will be.   And all that while, in the next lane over, I'm idling alongside this beautiful BTCruizer motor home.  It looked small, about 24', with only 1 slideout, and seemed to be saying "Check me out! I'm perfect for you."  I called John and had him Google it, he printed out several sheets, and I Googled it the next day but we couldn't find one smaller than 27' with less than 2 slideouts or under $40,000.  I'm sure this one was shorter.  I'm now following a few E-bay bids.  Yes, okay, hell yes, I still want a motor home.  I can't see me setting up this camper when I'm 70, but I intend to do agility til I'm at least 75.  I want to stay packed and ready.

"The right motor home, at the right price, is on its way to me."

This basket is 15" across,
these grapefruits are 4" across,
a lot bigger than they look in this photo.

Monday evening John heard it was supposed to freeze overnight, so we picked about half the grapefruits (40) off our tree.  My new blue basket came in real handy!  John will take some to work, I'll take some to class and some to neighbors, and we'll be eating a grapefruit a day all thru December.  Mostly, I peel them like an orange, divide into segments, then peel back the thin bitter membrane on either side of each segment to get to the juicy pulp. Monday night got out the electric juicer and tried guessing how much juice was in one of the large ones, John saying 6 oz and me saying 5 oz.  He won.  Mixed half-n-half with Sprite, it makes a sweet dinner drink. Yum, yum!

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Always gas up on the way there AND on the way back to any trial.  You never know when you'll get stuck idling on the interstate for half-a-tank's worth of going nowhere.
• Pee before you leave, and every time you stop.
• Have your car stocked with food and drink.
• Don't bring the camper to Lake Charles ever again!  As someone said last year, you can always count on it being "cold, wet and windy in Lake Charles" in November.
• Camping experience matters.
• Backup Accommodations: The LaQuinta Inn in Sulphur had my reservation, and allowed me to cancel by 6 p.m. on arrival day.  The cost was about $50/night. Red Roof Inn offered some kind of 24 hour special that was about the same price.
• Practice positioning and re-positioning my dogs at the start line. 

Now, with the weather cold and me staying in, I'm on to fooling with the 1st trial videos taken with my new camera.  I'm thinking of putting all of Maxie's videos together into 1 video per trial, with my audio commentary.  Same with Lucky.  Maybe a slow motion evaluation of good and bad points. We'll see how long it takes me to learn how to do that.

Upwards and onward!