The Party is Over

Have to go back to work tomorrow. Sad, sad, day.

Did go up to AKC trial yesterday and Fin did Q in Open Jumpers and she did get her OAJ title (big smile). She is a superstar and I am inspired to be a better handler, trainer, and all around person.

For your viewing pleasure....

Grand Prix.

Jumpers

Snooker

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.

At the Airport

Kels home. He came back early. We picked him up. A nice training visit to the airport. Grandma came along for the ride. Fin was a little worried at first, but once I pulled out the empty water bottle and we played tug, she was fine. Our tugging game produced an audience. Mom said I should have put my hat out, I might have made a few bucks....always the jokster, my mom.
When Fin got in her chair and laid down, the lady sitting a couple chairs down gave us a dirty look and moved on. Move on "dirty look lady," move on. No room for dirty looks on our airport chairs. This is a happy place.
Fin carefully watched all the peoples coming down the escalator waiting for her dad. She made a few mistakes and greeted people who weren't "dad" but no one seemed to mind.

One lady came over while I was working on down stay and stopped to tie her shoe a few inches from Fin. She did EVERYTHING she could to try to distract my dog. Finally the lady asked if she could say hello and I released Fin and the girl got all she could hope for. There is nothing like a happy Fin hello.

Kel finally arrived and he got a greeting like he'd been gone a year in Iraq and barely made it back. Big smile. Glad to be home, he is.

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 Match Report

Fun times! A very small fun match at Fionas Farm. Cool, difficult courses.

Very relaxed and lots of time for walk throughs.

Fiona's farm is located in Brentwood. She does fun matches a few times a year. I see alot of newbies there and the matches seem well run, friendly, and relaxed. Here is a link to their web site: http://www.fionasfarm.net/

The harder standard course presented some interesting challenges. I had no problems at all until 7-8. What I noticed is that trying to front cross, if you didn't get there super quick, all the dogs were going wide. Fin practically took the A frame my first attempt. If you didn't do the front cross, then you were rear crossing and way behind late for the teeter. The other area of major difficulty was the closing. Timing of the rear cross had to be perfect or else dogs went into the weaves.

Here is the jumpers course. No major issues, just getting behind on 17-18-19, Fin needs to drive better.

Fin was everything I know she can be with a little chaos thrown in for good measure. I did 6 runs total (that's alot in 3 hours). I didn't do whole courses at first. Just looking for challenges and opportunities for reinforcement. Got to work rear crosses and tight turns. Contacts were GREAT! She played the entire time I was there and at the end I stood talking to a friend and she layed down in the dirt and took a nap (a very good sign of a tired dog).

Tazz just wasn't himself, I think a little stiff. Balked at the A frame and triple. Had no problem with everything else. I decided after 4 runs that was it for him (2 standard and 2 jumpers). He did lunge at a few dogs, but only half heartedly, he is sleeping in his dads lap right now, I'm sure he'll be better by Power Paws on Tues.

A "well worth the drive" kinda day. Now gotta get ready for TG!