It's all about the stick!

AKC trial in Dixon. There were a few MACH runs and people walking around with their sticks. I'm looking forward to mine. I'm going to really appreciate it...I promise!

Sat arrived at 7:15. Expected rain in the afternoon. Did not expect freak'in freezing wind in the morning. Did NOT dress properly. Spent a bit of time in the car instead of watching agility. Tazz liked the cold weather. Fin doesn't care.

Tazz, no Q's. Hey, anyone can teach their dog to go in and out of the weaves.. it takes real skill to teach a dog to go in one, skip two, go in one, skip two....

Tazzie is the little jokester. He likes to keep me guessing. Jumpers, good speed with no weaves = no Q. Tazz stayed home on Sunday. I was done with the jokes.

Fin was super both days. Sat. I walked her, played chuck-it, walked her, did circle work, walked her and about 2:30 it was her turn. Jumpers was first. I did a lead out. She missed #3, took #4 and then #10. I was thinking about the jump she missed and didn't front cross so she just kept going and once I calmed her down, we had a really nice finish. Those last 10 obstacles were fun! It was the first 4 that screwed us up.

Standard was a fun course. Despite me sending her off course (TOTALLY my fault) she q'd. I'm not looking back except to say what can I learn from it. I'll take the Q and move on.

Sunday drove up and arrived at 10am. A Fintastic day.

Standard was first on Sunday. My lead out pivot didn't work and she, in a zoomie moment, ran past the A frame (#3) and went into the tunnel (20 feet away)...came back out and I was able to get her back on course for a Q. Those tunnels!

Jumpers was perfect (except I had to put her back in the weaves). The course had a jump and then run about 15 feet to the weave entrance. She just didn't decell and hit the weaves so hard she sorta bounced out of them. No worries I just wrapped her around and into the weaves she went for a Q.

The best part of the whole weekend was the "craft" booth. They had a special "make your own toy" craft day. I learned how to make the "4 braid" toys and found it very relaxing to sit and weave the strands of soft fabric together to make a cool toy. Fin really liked the toy I mad for her and played with it alot.

If I decel on course and you don't care...

...was it really a turn cue?

Last night. Loads of fun. Bark night. Amazing weather. Just perfect for dog agility.

In amoungst the barking, we did a little agility. Rob was in a fine mood. He wanted to see us run. Lets do a pin wheel, ask for an ackward entrance to a jump and then run as fast as you can for 6 jumps in a straight line, have another pin wheel, and then just because that wasn't enough running, a difficult entrance to a set of weaves, then run 35 feet to a pin wheel requiring a rear cross to the dog walk. Why not.

Sue we missed you. Laura, Janet, and Carol were taking bets as to whether I could get there AND my dog finish her weaves...yep. A little wide on the left turn rear cross cue, but I could have been late...I wouldn't know, my entire thought process was all about the sprinting.

Lots of good runs. But that last one, well let's just say I had trouble remembering where we were going.

Always fun going to Robs. Thanks Rob for the fun times.

Weather

Hmmm. It is amazing here today. My flowers are exploding with color. The grass is a deep green. My trees are in bloom. A day to spend out doors.


Tomorrow is expected the same. Sat. I'll be in Dixon for AKC. It is gonna rain.


What's a girl gonna do. I can't complain. It isn't snowing. There is no ice. We need the rain.

Fin is a fish after all. We'll just swim through standard and fly through jumpers.

AKC National Championships!

March 27-29 - AKC National Championships in North Carolina

Live coverage: Dog Agility Video Service

To be eligible, for this competition, dogs must have earned 6 Double Q's and 400 Points during the qualifying dates of 12/01/07 - 11/30/08.

Very exciting that the runs will be covered by Eric.

Photos from this weekend

Starters Pairs:
start here and click the next button to see six photos

Starters Snooker:
start here and click the next button to see three. This is the jump she crashed...you can see she jumped too early and she really tried to make it.

Starters Standard:
start here and click the next button to see 12. Really nice series of dog walk, weave, then collapse tunnel.

Steeplechase:
start here and click the next button to see 4. My friend Laura ran her and a cute one of them playing before the run.

I think there are more she took on Sunday, but they aren't loaded yet.

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.