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....

A Madera Weekend

Madera is always one of my favorite venues. This weekend, the entries were small and we finished in time to get home, take showers and have dinner with the husbands. We did have to get up at 4:50am to drive back, but dinner with Kel was worth it (and sleeping in my own bed).

I really liked our judge. His courses were challenging without being over the top.

First up on Sat was pairs. Usually one of my least favorite classes, this pairs was fun. It was so long that it felt like a mini standard run. Not very many clean runs, but Tazz got through clean and his parter got through with a couple faults, but still under course time so "Q Baby!"

Next we did standard. I thought it was doable. Tazz was first of the day, he was perfect, just slow:


Havoc was next. A couple close calls, but miracle of all miracles, he didn't call any refusals....until 3rd jump from the end she went around it, great time, just no "Q."



The rest of the day was like that. Laura asked that I work contacts in gamble, so I did and Havoc was a good girl. Just didn't want to go out to the Teeter. It was a repeat performance for Tazz, good in the opening, no gamble.

Grand Prix was a pretty tough course. Was fun though. Tazz was a good boy and ran for Laura. He stopped at the 4th jump and looked confused (I think he was looking for me) and got a refusal. But the rest of the course he stayed with Laura and was a good boy. Havoc was almost too good at the beginning. There was some nice parts...then there was the part that she went around the teeter :)

Havoc Standard on Sunday


Tazz on Sunday was a story of slow. He just didn't have the speed needed. His standard was his best run of the day, but he missed the dogwalk contact. Otherwise a pretty good run.

The trial was over by 1:00pm! Came home, greeted everyone, played ball, then went over the gym and did 45 minutes of cardio. I felt that even though I had an active weekend, it was probably good for me to do some extended cardio since everything I did was in short burst.

Came home, had dinner and fell asleep on the sofa.

Team Slow Dog

Today found Laura and her three and me and my one on the lonely stretches of highway heading to the wonderful land of Woodland about 2.25 hours north of Morgan Hill.

Tazzie's heart was not in it today. He was out there supporting the team, but he was hot and tired and just couldn't get outta 2nd gear. The first run was pretty good. It was still in the low 80's at that point. Later, no speed. I did what I could, but it wasn't his day. He did nothing wrong, just did everything at low speed. I really think it was the heat.

Laura had some really nice runs. A couple bobbles, but all in all a good day for Team Pryse.

Havoc and I had a GREAT run in Standard. If only she had stayed on the table, we would have Q'd for sure.

No video today, I left the house at 5am and the video camera was forgotten on my desk.

No shows tomorrow. Just a little fun match close by. Tazz may get to stay home if he is still has the mopes.

Ahhh...it is time for the Regionals

Here in the bay area, we have the USDAA Regionals every Labor day weekend. This year we are having 4 days of agility with more that 3900 runs.

Now granted, Friday starts at 6:00pm, with only a pairs run, but there are so many dogs, they are splitting the pairs into two rings!

Saturday is team and I put Tazz in Performance for all the tournament classes and Championship for everything else. He is teamed up with Beau the poodle and the "boyz" should have fun together.

I volunteered at this trial as the "vendor" person. This means that before the trial I coordinate all the vendors who are coming. Then day of the trial, I set out where they will be. We'll have 14 vendors at this trial (this is a large number of vendors).

There are alot of secret benefits to volunteering. If you are considering being a volunteer, I highly recommend it. One of the benefits is I'm on the trial committee. This means I am part of a group of people that get the emails about the organization of the trial and make all the decisions. We get to talk about such exciting things as porta potties - how many and where they should be, toilet paper - how many rolls (turns out we are talking ALOT of toilet paper), recycling and garbage.

There are other benefits of volunteering, but the truth of the matter is I do it because we wouldn't have a trial if people don't step up.

So, I will not let my vending duties get in the way of my "agility run" duties. I'll pull myself away from the shiny objects long enough to run a few good runs. It will be hot, so we'll see how it goes..my tazzie loves his cool mornings so we'll see what the weekend brings.

Jump Exercise

In this exercise I am working on Fin understanding that sometimes I want a pin wheel, and sometimes I want her to not take the jump. Certainly there is alot of other training going on, but this is a simple exercise and she did really well. The following 4 videos were one video I broke up into 4 to make uploading easier.

1- pin wheel

2- pin wheel

3- taking the jump without the pin wheel

4- taking the jump without the pin wheel

More A frame training on You tube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/maddierocky

Use the subscribe feature in YouTube if you want to be notified of new videos when I post them.

Lots of Milestones Today

Today a number of milestones have been achieved. First of all I must say that Kel and I have been married 20 years! The time just flys by. We are looking forward to another 20 for sure.

In addition, our little Fin "HiMarks Holy Mackerel!" turns one year old today. We can't believe our little baby is a young lady.

And lastly, our cruise tickets arrived today. We are really going!

It has been a busy week. Sat Kel and I took the pups for a walk and then headed down to Monterey for the day. I originally had imagined going down and taking the pups for a walk along the ocean and Kel imagined a romantic outing just the two of us...we did what he wanted to do. In the end I really enjoyed the time with Kel. It was fun to "practice" our upcoming vacation. I even "dressed up" and wore makeup. Imagine that...maybe I should add "wearing makeup" to the milestone list.

Fins training is going well. We went up to powerpaws for our regular privates with Nancy Gyes. Fin was amazing. She was a good girly and did EVERYTHING asked for. We started her on the A frame and she was AMAZING. She really enjoys flying through the air. I'll get some video up later in the week. She is ONE amazing dog.

Our milestones are fun, but they are just stepping stones in life. I truly enjoy this journey I'm on and every stone I step upon is a memory.

Happy 11 months - 1 month shy of a year!

The girl is 11 months. I can hardly believe it myself. She is getting so mature.

She looks like one of the guys when she is out running. Yesterday evening we were sitting watching TV, and Kel asked me, is that Maddie or Fin curled up on the bed under the fireplace. He is having trouble telling the difference between the black dogs :)
She is such a pretty girly. Her training is going well and I hope to show her around 20 months or so. Just in a few jumpers type courses. Mostly we'll just show in fun matches until she is ready.

I remember bringing her home last July. Flying to Florida was the best thing I've done in a long while as I came home with a wonderful team mate, and a life long buddy.