Major E Ticket Rides this Weekend

Fun times. Headed to the land of Angels called Irwindale. Little over a 5 hour drive Friday afternoon in the Ford 350 van. 3 dogs, a puppy with the runs, ice chest full of chicken/ rice/ cottage cheese & diet cokes, bunch of agility crap, and a best friend. Arrive around 8:30pm to the residence inn Arcadia.

Dog walks, one bed, and a pull out sofa later, we settle in for the night.

Up at 5:30, arrive at a lovely location where the temperatures are perfect for dog agility.

I'm feeling good. Laura is feeling good. Fin is anxious to run. Brazen is snoozing. SpaceMonkey is just woo wooing and enjoying life. And finally Tazzie is around back smoking cigarettes and drinking tequila shots.

Almosts and a few Q's reigned. Fin ran well. She got a standard and snooker Q. All of the no q's were close and still tons of fun. Just silly babydog and baby handler stuff. Laura did excellent with Brazen who brought home a bunch of Q's and a number of 1st places. Tazzie ran well and was happy the whole weekend...just didn't q.

My goal this weekend was enter and run in a full load of USDAA classes with Fin. Personally I wanted to run smart, calm, and work on my position to indicate turns. I feel like the weekend was a success. Was I perfect, no. Was Fin perfect, no. Did we have the most awesome time. Huh...Yep.

Left 12:30 on Sunday so missed a few classes to get home. 5:40 arrived in Morgan hill. A little tired, but that smile ... can't wipe if from my face.

Dynamic dog photos was there and Trista took some GREAT photos of Fin (will be posted later). No video. So sorry.

A Sign of the Times

Tazz found a dead rat in my back yard yesterday. (I live on an acre so we have "creatures" on the property...I would rather deny their existance, but what can you do...it was there). It must have been dropped by a bird or cat as It was partially eatten. Tazz and Fin wanted to play tug with the new toy. I quickly ran away calling them and reluctantly they came running without any extra body parts.

This is what I would call "a husband job." With Kel home, he gets dead rat duty. He was thrilled.

I worked on Fins weaves. Ran as fast as I could.

Good news: I can replicate the weave faultering behavior.
Bad news: I can replicate the weave faultering behavior.

I started working on a systematic approach to find where it is that she has confusion.

• Running about 3 feet to the side and just infront of her without excllerating she is fine.
• Accellerating past her too fast will result in her popping the last 3 poles.
• Running close will result in popped poles
• Running past her will also see the stopping "Confunded" state

My plan is to pull out my clean run and Susan Garrets weave pole tests and to work on this over the next month to see improvement. Interestingly enough, I'm not real worried. I'm NOT happy, but I have to accept that Fin is 21 months old and these things happen.

Once I get my video camera fixed, I'll work on a series to show improvement.

This weekend we are off to a USDAA show in LA. Trial report will be on Monday.

Trial Report

Mount Diablo put on a great show. My complements to the trial committee and all the volunteers.

Saturday the skys were clear and our runs fun. Sunday it was pouring and I ended up leaving after one run. Came home and took a nap. Sorta weird driving over 4.5 hours for a run that lasted 60 seconds.

Tazz 2 out of 3 runs (both Standard Q's and has an OA after his name now).

Fin 1 out of 2 runs (her NQ in standard, me...not her ).

Saturday:

Tazzies Open standard course was hard. Sorta the Excellent course with a few minor modifications. He was slow and steady and Q'd. He was the only dog in the class that Q'd so he got 1st and a cute toy. Next Tazzie ran jumpers. Lot's of people were having off courses, but it was a good course for Tazz. He started out slow but speeded up the last half. He was clean, but not fast so NQ...1 second over.

Fin. First run was jumpers. I felt the course was very straight forward with some difficulty at the end as jumps were really close together. She did a really great job but checked in with me at the end which slowed her up a bit. It was enough for a Q and first place. She really looked good. I was actually surprised as she wasn't her usual manic self. Her run wasn't until 2 in the afternoon and I had walked her alot, played ball, and just before her run did circle and one jump work. All the exercise helped get her mind into it. I feel she wasn't as fast as I've seen her, but despite me not being where I wanted to be, she was a good dog.

Second run was standard. My expectation was she wasn't going to do her contacts. My plan was to exit the ring if she didn't hold her contact. I walked the course with that in mind. She held her contacts. :) I, unfortunately mis-cued her at the weaves and she took an off course tunnel...then after the teeter, I handled poorly and she ended up missing the tunnel entrance. This was totally my fault. I consider the run a success as she did her contacts in competition. For me, my improvement needs to be in the game and not dwell on my mistakes (after I mis-cued her, I kept thinking about what I did wrong and that resulted in the mis-cue at the tunnel).

All in all, a good first AKC trial. AKC is definitely different. I was really worried about the new leash rule, but Tazz was excellent and did not leave the ring until I had him leashed. Fin was very good and jumped into my arms at the end of both of her runs so the judge did not have to yell at me. As AKC trials go, this one was really relaxed. I knew quite a few people there and it was fun to meet new people.

Next trial March 14. USDAA. Pray for contacts.

Note: A big thanks to Susan and Kraig for videoing my Fin runs. This allows me to see what I'm doing wrong and improve my handling.

The Weekend Was Fun

Three videos to wet your whistle. I'm too busy for all the dirty details. Suffice to say, the weekend was "da bomb!" Tazzie got a grand prix and Super Q! He is now a SCH-br (snooker bronze). Fin was amazing. 3 out of 6 q's ...two of them a little dirty, but the one that Laura ran her in jumpers....simply amazing!

Stories to tell about our hotel, and all the weird things that happened. But the weekend results should keep me happy for at least a week.

Still have a ton of training to do with Fin. Contacts...really not good. Jumping...oh yeah baby! Directional cues...good for the most part. Start line stay...perfection. Weaves...speedy and beautiful. Me...needs improvement.

Tazz n I super Steeplechase. Fastest weaves he's done in competition in a year!

One last one....me running Fin in Jumpers:

Tomorrow is a big day

VAST. Agility. Excitment. Joy.

Little Fin is going to the "Show." Called up from the minor leagues, she'll be starting for her team. Let's hope she does good and doesn't have to go back to the minors.

Things we'll be looking for:

• clear calm body language from mom
• strength, speed, from the fish
• zen like mind control from mom
• smooth transitions from the fish
• mom will remember the course
• Fin will not bite the mom
• mom will not celebrate early
• Fin will drive towards the end
• mom will not trip over her own feet
• Fin will not run between moms legs
• mom will not toss her cookies before the run
• Fin gets cookies before and after her run
• mom will get a good nights sleep
• Fin will not bark all night in the hotel

These are the rules. They are simple. Walk the course, run the course. Simple. No stress. Easy. Just like in practice. Just like my diet. Just do it.

Back to Basics

Fin and I headed up to PowerPaws today for a lesson. The wonderful Nancy Gyes was there to see where Fin and I were.

First of all, complements to all of the people who have helped me get this far. Fin is doing well. That said, there is lots of areas of improvement (wouldn't want a perfect dog would we?).

The first thing we talked about is dog walk. She has had some really GREAT dog walk speed. But lately I've noticed that she is slowing down as she ends her dog walk. She is stopping before the 2o2o area and the nose touch is non existent. When I do ask for a nose touch, she is bobbing her head. After a few demos, I got home work:

Lots and lots of nose touches. Nose touch and quick release. The bottom line is I've let the criteria slide down a slippery slope. It is my goal to get it back...so no contacts in class until I back chain it.

Same for the A frame. I'm lowering the A frame and making it easy.

This is really hard for me. I wanted to start to show her, but I know that the long term goal is more important than the short term..... AND I can still show her in jumpers (which is a great place to start).

Her teeter was splendid and will only improve as the nose touch comes back.

Then we looked at weaves. Her weaves were really nice and Nancy gave me a few drills to work on for entrances. Basically use only 4 or 6 weave poles, put her in a sit and send her through (human stands still) and reward. She then goes into the same starting position, but human moves to a different location. Continue this for 5 minutes. So basically she is working on the same entrance for 5 minutes, but human position is moving (her performance is not dependent on where I am).

We looked at jumping and handling. What Nancy noticed during our contact drills is that Fin is going wide (I knew this was an area we really need work on). When I did my jumping drills, Fin seemed to do fine. Nancy felt it was when I sent her to jumps that she was making a wide arch. The drills below are what I'll work on for the next month (in addition to everything else).

Lastly, I need to work on her coming to my side....let's see...Rob told me I need to work on her coming to my side. Laura said, "You really need to work on her coming to your side." Jim mentioned, those wide turns will help if she comes to your side more....ok, ok, I get it. Lots of reward for coming to my side...you don't need to hit me with a brick! (ok, maybe you do). I'm going to be doing some flatwork drills of rewarding by my side.

Some Fin Vids

Don't read this unless you are sitting down.

I have FINALLY gotten all of the parts I need and can once again download video to my computer.

The world is applauding! I can hear you!

These videos are from early November. We are at an agility class in Hollister. I haven't edited these videos so you can see the mistakes and what we do about the mistakes. It is the reality of running a baby dog on some difficult courses. You get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly.

These courses are devised by Rob Michalski. He is a devious sort that likes to test our skills in the most sinister of ways. Serps, threadles, impossible weave entrances, 270's, 180's, his courses have it all.

WE LOVE IT!

At Robs, I run Laura's dog Havoc and she runs Fin. We sometimes switch off, but most of the videos I have are with Laura running Fin.

First one:

Second one:

Third one (with me - last run of the night....we are both tired):

That's all for now. I'll upload more to youtube tomorrow....

Fun Class Tonight

Fin's teeter is ROCKIN! Fin had the nicest teeters tonight. She "flew" to the end, waited till it hit and pounced into position. Very cool indeed.

Dog walk. Awesome!

Mom...well, I did great on the contact drills. I'm still needing work on my handling during our jumping drills. Fins doing great, I'm just needing to have more confidence in her ability to do the things I taught her.

Everyone else got to stay home and relax.