On the Road Again!

Well we are off for another agility adventure. This weekend we get to visit lovely Turlock.

Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 55810. It is very flat and is the home to "Nunes Agility Field" where we attend many agility trials.

Turlock is also the home of the "Bistro" where you can find some of the most amazing food. I had a ahi tuna sashimi there once that knocked my socks off. I actually wanted to send my main course back and get another tuna appetizer. Unfortunately, that is not a regular menu item but was a special for that day.

I am looking forward to the trial. Yes I am. It will be fun. But what is my main motivation for driving 93.8 miles to Turlock is my salivary glands.

Murphy's Law of Position Cues "The Threadle"

Threadle: You have taught your 180s and 270s perfectly and you get on a course and there it is...the dreaded threadle. Sending your dog over 1 you scream the dogs name whilst lifting your opposite hand in the air, stopping momentum and turning into your dog...then watch your dog ignore you and do a perfect 180 taking the backside of 2. The dog of course is having the time of his life. The correct handler position after this happens is to crumple to the ground and cry.

Right now I'm working on teaching Fin "the Fish" Whisner to threadle. Somehow I forgot about this most wonderful cue until Laura set up a small course and asked me to do it. "Ahhhh," I said, "I forgot about threadles but doesn't she do a nice 180!" Laura frowned of course and shook her head and said, "Since you never taught Tazz to threadle, I figured you'd forget with Fin." This is why we call her Laura "The Wise One" Pryse.

Actually it is fairly easy to teach. You just have to practice ALOT! I do ground work (either circle or straight), raise my opposite hand running backwards and feed. Fin got it right away. Then I did it on 180 jumps where first I did a bunch where she had to take both jumps of the 180 and then I called her through using my threadle arm. She is doing them like she was born to it. We'll see what happens when I put a few jumps together and she is speeding along :)

Next Murphy's law will be Serpentines! Why, when you use the same arm on a Serp it is totally different than a threadle...position woman! position! (aren't you excited for the next installment)

100%

The fire is 100% contained and now only the hot spots need to be put out. Whoopppeee! People are going home (those that still have homes!). Horses, dogs, cats, and all the critters are on their way if not already there.

The virus is not contained. Trish also caught the cold from Kel (put an "h" sound in front of his name)! And it has now spread to San Mateo. Hopefully containment isn't far off.

I decided to start a new "working name" for Fin. Fin is too much like Wynn and when I am at Laura's working and I say "Fin" I get a big slobbery 45 pound dog leaping in the air and slamming into me with enthusisum. With a tongue as long as my arm I usually come away from these encounters totally slimed. I will now use "Fish." Fish sounds NOTHING like any of Laura's dogs names so slobber containment has begun. Hopefully when Fin learns her new call name, we'll be at 100% slobber containment.

Here is a picture of Wynn before he became a slobbery goober.

Containment, contamination, and a movie review

The fire is 50%+ contained. Looks like they are letting it burn itself out. The smoke is blowing in a different direction and today is a beautiful day. The sky is a wonderful shade of blue and our garden is breathtaking. The helicopters and airplanes seem to be taking a different route rather than over my head so we can hear the birds chirping. So nice.

Amidst all this wonder, a poor gopher gave up his life last night. Currently he is down at the bottom of the pool but I'm hoping that Kel will remedy this situation soon.

Kel came home with a cold last week. I was convinced it was his allergies due to the smoke. I was wrong. Just 5 weeks ago I had the flu. Now I have a cold. It is a miserable thing and my sympathy for what Kel went through has reached an all time high. I waver back and forth from being mad that he brought home some strange bacteria to telling him I'm so sorry he felt this bad.

This was a good weekend. Even with the cold. I started cleaning and reorganizing, did a little gardening, spent time with Trish, and played with the dogs. We also saw the new Indiana Jones flick and I've got to say it was fun. There could have been more plot and I felt that the cutting of the film made some leaps that needed more content. A few things in the plot sorta were there for no explained reason...just for the action. But I would definately recommend it. Go with no expectations and you'll enjoy yourself.

Jumping with Road Kill

Fins new favorite toy is a disemboweled squirrel. You will see me using it as our tug toy. Forget the expensive riot sticks and rope tugs, just give her a 10 year old toy that the dogs have pulled all the stuffing out of and we've got ourselves a motivational toy!

Well we've started a few sequences. We still have alot of one jump work to do and LOTS of circle work, but we are having fun and that's what counts.

I'd like to improve on the number of steps she is taking between jumps and get her focus on the jumps rather than me...but that will come in time. She is still pretty intense on wanting to focus on me so I have my work cut out for me.

The fire is still going in the hills. In the first video you can hear the helicopers above us taking water to be dumped. The wind seems to be blowing the smoke away from us so we took advantage and spent time outside. It is 35% contained so that is really good. Lots of people still waiting to get back to their homes.

We Interupt Our Agility Coverage...

...for a Brief Fire Update

We are all smiling here. Rain is in the forcast so that is wonderful news. All the best to the fire people out working the lines!

Fire and training update

Well the winds have died down, but shifted. Yesterday the winds were headed east so the fire was going south east towards Santa Cruz/Watsonville. Today the winds shifted first north and then west. At about 3:00 pm I looked out my office window and could not see my back fence. I actually panicked a little as my first thought was the fire was upon us.

I ran outside and the smoke was heavy and thick. I could not see anything beyond 100 feet. I came back in and turned on the TV and checked the internet. Basically within an hour, the smoked mostly cleared and I felt silly for feeling nervous.

Here is a map of where the fire is right now. We are still 3-4 miles from the fire and there are LOTS of homes between the fire and us. I can't even image that it would go this far since the wind has died down.

Alot of people have lost their homes. The fire is raging on, but they seem to have it more under control now that the winds have died down. We might even have some rain this weekend!

I did train today...a little smoke does not stop training! We trained at Lauras and Fin did well but stressed a little. I think that she was nervous as the dogs were barking, but she did some nice combo drills and lots of footwork.

This afternoon I set up some boxwork in the back and started her on some simple front crosses. she is working really nicely and seemed to enjoy the jumping. She is getting better about coming into me when I run fast and each day I see improvement.

I'll get some video up this weekend of the amazing Finmiester!