2017 Year in Review: 2018 Goals and Focus

I figure something is better than nothing, right?!

I don't think I actually set any "goals" for 2017. 2017 was pretty much just a continuation of 2016 - still not a lot of trialing due to the economy and the fact I wanted to spend the time training my young dog instead of just focusing on trailing the boys. I've also decided that trialing in the cold isn't so nice on my dogs, so we aren't going to do a lot of winter stuff - especially for Spencer with his knees.

In 2017 we competed at the following trials;

Jan- Training Troop
Apr - Calgary Agility Association
May - Rocky Mountain Agility Club
Aug - Dog Days of Summer - Nike Trial Debut
Sep - Sundog in Lethbridge
Nov - Calgary Agility Association
Plus a couple of little Sunday Sampler trials through AB Herding Dog Rescue.

We did not compete at Regionals (or subsequently at Nationals) this year. I've decided that 2016 with both boys winning their divisions was enough for Baxter at 8 years old and he's retired from Regionals/Nationals. With Regionals being a 3 day event this year and Nike not being ready, I decided not to enter Spencer - there were just better ways to spend my time and money.

2016 was the 3rd Regional win in Baxter's career. I don't want to push my old guy for Regional competitions anymore - he's done so much more than I though we would, and will just play at little trials to do a couple runs here and there and eat some hot-dogs from now on. With that in mind, he's also retired from Gamblers. He was never really a great Gamble dog to begin with now with no more Regionals, no more reason to frustrate us both!

Nike turned 18 months old in the middle of May, so she technically would have been old enough to trial in the Regionals warm up trial put on my RMAC and possibly run at Regionals. Mentally however, she was no where near ready. We did debut at the Dog Days of Summer trial in August. Had some really great stuff and FEO runs with toys. So she was entered for the Sundog trial the following month in Lethbridge. We had a FANTASTIC Gamblers run @ 16" on Saturday morning where she got a boat load of points, held her contacts and even got the final gamble (after 3 times running past the final jump.) The next run up was Jumpers and it was a complete disaster where she left the ring completely and freaked out out the dog that was barking/ out of control at the warm up jumps. We were dismissed from the ring. I still am not sure what happened - but since then we've had some disconnect issues where she is just leaving work.

Title wise, we haven't gotten many this year. Baxter got one whole title! Finishing up his Bronze Steeplechase on 31-Dec-2017. Spencer got two titles, finishing his Bronze Gamble and earning is Versatility Bronze Award on the same run with Sundog in Lethbridge.

I don't think titles are the be all - end all of trialing, but I do have some goals for the boys this year.

AAC has the jump height change this year, so now the boys only need to jump 4" instead of 6" as veteran dogs who are less than 12 inches tall - which will be nice for Baxter I hope. Not that 6" was really a big jump.

I'd like to finish up Baxter's Gold Jumpers - he only needs 3 more for the 50. As well as his Gold Award of Merit which is only 8 Standard away. Once we complete those, I may retire him from everything but Jumpers which is "his game." Jumpers was our very first Q in agility, I like the symmetry of it being our last as well - and Jumpers is easier on his front end with no contact equipment.

With Spencer I want to obtain his Silver Award of Merit which should be even more do-able than Baxter's Gold. We only need 3 more Standard. Hopefully we have a few more Regionals before he retires from those, but I'm still not sure yet if we'll be going this year - it depends on Nike.

Which brings me to the biggest surprise of 2017.With the performance stress issues with Nike and the struggle working through those, that when the opportunity came up to get a puppy from a proven performance breeder, I couldn't say no. Sizzle joined us on the 26th of November - a Shetland Sheepdog from HyperHounds out of Syrah.

She is so much fun! Such a sassy, opinionated little dog and such a fantastic little puppy - especially as compared to how difficult Nike was. Don't get me wrong she's incredibly busy and prone to naughty - but what I love is how easy she is to live with. Those shining little black eyes just melt my heart.

So this year the focus is on the girls and building (or revisiting) foundations/ building and then proofing skills. Also focusing on cross training and conditioning the older dogs and making sure to keep them active training something too!

Justine Davenport & Jessica Patterson Seminar

This past weekend was the Justine & Jessica Agility Seminar put on by Kim/HyperHounds. 

When it was first announced I dithered, to do or not to do. I just wasn't sure. First I was like, No, thanks. Then maybe. Then I registered but had a few misgivings initially. Lots of thoughts ran through my head "It's all about "international" handling. I don't know that my dogs will work with that kind of handling/that hard of a course, what do I need all of that for?! I don't think it is right for my dogs"

Shake off those preconceived notions and lets get to work!

Let me just say that never have I ever been so glad and grateful  that I did something before! I had a working spot in the morning session and then on Saturday I audited the afternoon advanced session. Having the foundation building blocks and then seeing them put into practice in the afternoon session was a absolute light bulb moment. I think it helped that the afternoon advanced session was a little less advanced than the morning advanced session. But it was absolutely perfect for me.

The explanations from both Jessica and Justine made a whole lot of things in agility make sense, bits and pieces I've picked up from here and there and heard/tried to follow without knowing the whys. It's like a puzzle missing half the pieces and all of a sudden now I can see the final picture. OH, that's what you meant about turn my shoulders!! This handling WILL work with my dogs. It will actually HELP my dogs. I can teach the skills with nearly no equipment in my living room!

I'm so excited for the possibilities and I ended up bouncing out of there after Sunday super excited for the things I need to train instead of plodding out of the seminar with a list of things I need to work on. So awesome!

I worked Spencer (mostly) with Baxter there for backup in the Foundations/Beginner seminar. I've done work with the dogs on some of the skills they teach. We know backsides, we do multiwraps, we're working on tighter turns etc. Other things like how they train threadles and handle threadles are new.

Spencer worked for me. A little hesitant and stressed (the demo dog, Jessica's BC was eyeing him up pretty good from about 10 ft away from where we worked our little drills) but he worked through it. He was awesome! Baxter was awesome as well. I pulled him out for blind cross drills on Sunday and he did amazing. People commented that I must do a lot with him - HAHA - I don't blind cross anything but a tunnel with Baxter! Or rather, I didn't. Makes me rethink some things now, he does actually read them really nicely in the drills. Probably past time to actually put the foundation training in and see how well they might work somewhere else.

Some of the things we were shown, like how to use a blind cross correctly was just amazing. There were 2 jumps set in a 180 about 2 feet apart, we had to pull our dogs through that gap in the middle and every single dog, even the most novice dog who'd never seen agility equipment in his life understood the handling and came through the gap, not even looking at that second jump.

Both Justine and Jessica were SUPER nice and handled/tailored advice to people/dog teams individually and equally. Toy or food, doesn't matter. BC or a slower less motivated dog, doesn't matter. Everyone got advice to help them and no one got brushed off. 

I also loved how a lot of the stuff we were shown in the foundations class has a "Susan Garret/Say Yes Dog Training" feel to it. I've done a bunch of her stuff as well and really like it. Since the group of them worked together and trained together to come up with this handling system, there are parallels to other things I've worked on, which makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable with the whole thing.

It's also super awesome that these talented ladies live about a 3 hour drive from here and not across the country. Now to practice and teach these skills so that when they come back we can play on the hard stuff!

2013 Year in Review

Wow, I can't believe its been a year already!

Looking back at what I said I'd like to accomplish, I don't think I did too badly. Not that it really was a challenging list to accomplish.

We did train some tricks. Baxter can sit pretty now - go go gadget core strength! Spencer has a few more naughty tricks in his repertoire, like bouncing (which means he is bouncing off people at thigh height when he gets excited at home ...) Penny is good at going to her kennel (I'mma call that a trick!) Body awareness is a work in progress - I need to work on it more so we can progress! Did manage to get Spencer going backwards up the stairs, so it's a start.

Distance skills are kind of hit and miss, but hey, I did work on them! Baxter has the confidence to go out and take obstacles now, so he's trying and that's the direction I want to go in. I'd rather him try and be wrong than not have the confidence to try. Spencer has awesome distance when we train by ourselves. In a trial situation with environmental factors and strange dogs he has a whole lot less distance, so working on confidence there. I also wanted to work on a verbal "Switch" (turn away from handler/rear cross at a distance) without having to rely on body motion - we've got it on the flat, now to bring that back on the equipment.

Speaking of equipment - fixed Spencer's chute and I think I have a good handle on his weaves (both of which broke in competition.) Now it's the frame and the teeter, which are going to be a little more challenging to fix.

I don't do cute or funny in the snow. I do death glare in the snow ...

AAC Regionals and Nationals were awesome! So happy about that, and happy that I went as well. With the Nationals in the Maritimes this year I think that is out, but I'm planning on Regionals in Lethbridge for sure.

This year points for Baxter were: 448.50 at Regionals and 439.44 at Nationals while Spencer got 398.46 at Regionals and 419.25 at Nationals.

Title wise this year Baxter not only obtained his ATChC at the very first HyperHounds trial he also got his Bronze Award of Merit (with HyperHounds as well!), won Regionals at 6" Specials and came in 2nd at Nationals in 6" Specials. He also got his first legit Steeplechase Q in 2 years of trialing! Titles and ribbons aren't everything, but they do show that you're getting somewhere in your training and how you stack up to other dogs in your class.

Spencer got his ADC, AADC and finished his AGDC at 10" Regular putting him in Masters everything. He also came in 4th at Regionals and then 12th at Nationals. As of November 2013 I dropped him from 10" Regular into 6" Specials - I think he'll be happier to trial at that height.

I did actually manage to attend an agility seminar in person in May with Terry Simons on course visualization and analysis. It was a good experience and really helpful. (getting into this was a fluke - but I'm going to count it anyway!)

Last, but very definitely not least I had a lot of fun with my dogs this year. We took most of the summer off of sports aside from Regionals and Nationals and just had fun doing stuff and taking pictures of the dogs doing stuff. Camping at Farragut for a week, plus various weekends out at the Pass. Hiking, swimming, fishing (Baxter LOVES fish) it was a fantastic summer for the dogs and I! Relationship building at its finest!

Here's to another awesome year of dogs and fun!

Family Portrait Jan 1, 2014 "Sunshine spot!"

Time Flies

Today was Training Troop's Aug Wee Wed Trial. Steeplechase and Master Jumpers. 2 years ago about this time Baxter and I entered our very first AAC agility trial (first dog performance event period) and got his first Q ever in Starters Jumpers.

It would have been nice to have gone to the trial, however, agility (trialing at least) is on a bit of a hiatus at the moment.

It's certainly amazing how time flies. It certainly doesn't feel like I've been playing this game for 2 years!

2 years of learning how play with my best little fluffy buddy in a meaningful way, to teach him, motivate him and to grow my relationship with my dog to where it is now. The changes  and personal growth in the 2 years have been pretty amazing.

I was looking back on old emails, and found the one for our first dog class. 15-Jul-2009 started us on this journey. It's been an amazing 4 years so far and I'm so lucky from a "pet dog" person perspective to have found positive training and gotten onto a better track.

I couldn't have asked for a better partner to learn with either. Thanks Fluff. <3

2013 AAC National Agility Championships - Part 1 The Trip

You know the feeling. The on you get when you're in the car

on the top of the rollercoaster, tettering on the brink after that big climb, about to drop. The fluttering butterflies in your stomach, no turning back now, OMG here we go - what was I thinking!?!!? That feeling?

That's AAC Nationals. Here we go!!!

At William F. Lede Park

You jam pack everything but the kitchen sink into your little car, and answer the incredulous "You're taking that?" with a confident "Yes!" Once there is no more space, you know you're done! Or at least you'd better be done. Hopefully there is still room left for the dogs.

Then you're ready to road trip up to Casa-de-Luxury where you'll be living for the next 5 days! (or at least sleeping) On a side note, I went with a motel this time to see if the dogs are quieter. We were actually able to sleep at night, without waking up barking at noises and doors slamming - so luxury or not, staying at this place was a good plan.

Then you hit the trial site to set up home sweet home thanks to some awesome agility friends who were kind enough to lend it to you (as well as their wagon and more shade tarps!)

One evening before we left the site.
It got cooler so the dogs went together in the fabric x-pen with blankets and the shade tarps went into kennels so they couldn't fly away if there was a issue at night!

It was the AAC's 25th Anniversary, so there was a cool agility cake at the banquet on Friday night.

Agility Cake for AAC's 25th Anniversary

The Definition of Insanity;

Repeatedly doing the same thing, expecting a different result.

You have to change what you're doing.

Chances are if you are encountering an obstacle on your dog training journey, you are not going to be able to "work through it" by doing more of what you are currently doing.

On one hand, I know this. With Spencer I have learned that if he doesn't understand what I am asking of him to break it down and try to "explain" it in a different way. Often removing that problem behavior from context entirely to work it out. 

On the other hand, I obviously missed a couple of steps. Trying to work through shut down in the same way. The sport of agility tends to push having a toy motivated dog. Having a toy/tug motivated dog is supposed to help them work through fearful situations because they are more aroused/excited/focused on tugging with the toy. 

Which is fine. 

Until they shut down and won't play in public. Then it becomes less of a "Don't wanna, don't hafta" moment and more of a "I CAN'T because I am too worried" Pushing play just causes Spencer to disengage entirely, and because I have pushed it play isn't always fun anymore. Such a fine line between "working through" shut down and causing more of it.

So, we'll try something else and come up with a new plan.

A reward needs to be rewarding for the dog! 

Also, Penny was sad she's been left out lately in the photo department.

2013 AAC Regional Championships

I didn't post much about this leading up to it since I didn't want to stress out, over think and obsess.

Last weekend was the AB-NWT AAC Regional Championships put on by OC Agility and held in Riviere Que Barre (think North Edmonton.) This was my very first Regional event I've attended as a competitor and I ended up entering both dogs. Baxter because he was ready and Spencer because he'd be there so I figured I might as well run him and see how he did, no expectations. 2 years ago when 2x4 Agility hosted Regionals in Calgary I volunteered, but it's a little different as a competitor.

We ended up staying in a hotel which was a gong show in and of itself, but lots of friends ended up staying on site. I'm not sure which I will do in the future, the dogs aren't the best in a hotel. I'd done some work on not reacting to strange noises after the Flashing Canines trial last Sept in Medicine Hat when we stayed in a hotel for the first time but obviously not enough.

The trial was a great time, and I think I heard someone say that it is the largest Regionals as of yet in Alberta. It was crazy. Over 300 dogs running to qualify for Nationals which are also held in Edmonton this year.

Since I've never been as a competitor before, the format of Regionals surprised me a bit. I knew it was 3 rings running at once, but I didn't realize what kind of down time there was between runs or how relaxed it would be without having to work the trial and volunteer. I also figured that running order would be similar to local trials that go small to tall regulars to special/vets, so either 10" Regulars are first and 6" Specials last or vice versa and then flipped for the second day. Not so! This time it went tall to small back up to tall. Day one with Regulars starting and day 2 with Specials/Vets. So this meant that Baxter and Spencer were running with less than 10 dogs in between them!

Both boys did excellent. I am so proud of  their performances and how they both not only held up under pressure but exceeded my wildest expectations of them.

Pretty Baxter

We didn't run in the warm up trial, but did get up to the trial site around the middle of it on Friday to wander around and chill out/set up. In hindsight I think it might have been helpful for Spencer to experience the new contact equipment before we ran on it, but Baxter adapts pretty well to everything.

I LOVED the open walking of the rings. So much time to think about handling and decide/plan. I didn't stress overly much about the gamble and came up with good plans for my dogs in all the courses. The increased time to walk and think/visualize etc was awesome. I ran the courses more confident and faster than I have before in a trial. It was a great feeling. I knew what I wanted to do, marked out exactly where I'd do those crosses. I changed handling for Baxter vs Spencer (a well executed rear cross in a strategic location with Baxter gets really nice results.)

Since both boys were so close together I ended up moving one of our crates over to in front of the ring we were in and then swapping the dogs so I wasn't sprinting to and from benching at the camper! It worked out much better than I thought it would and was way less stress for me.

Baxter ran clean in 3/6 runs. Both jumpers runs were very nice and well under SCT, as was his clean standard run. Weaves were a little slow, but still clean. Second standard was a refusal on the weaves. He hit the entry and then popped the second pole. Otherwise it was also a beautiful run. He was reading my handling beautifully. In the first gamble he got the one of the mini's twice and might have gotten the main gamble if not for my handling.

Gamble 2 was our last class on Sunday. By this time the weather was doing some very odd things and little torrential down pours would blast in from the north, hit us and then blow over in 5 min. One of these hit shortly before Baxter was due to run. Since he doesn't care about the rain I didn't really think anything of it and my first clue should have been when the judge asked me if he was okay to run. The rain was driving in pretty hard and you can see on the video that Baxter is not the happiest camper to be running let alone doing distance work in the ugly driving rain. He did send out to the teeter right into the rain driving in and I am exceptionally happy with that! The next time we have the option not to run in icky weather, I'm gonna take it.

Spencer was amazing. So proud of my baby dog and how far we've come together. On Saturday I was a little stressed about him. There really was no nice field to walk the dogs in or throw their balls for them. The grass was dry and the weeds poked my feet pretty good, I didn't want my dogs tearing after a ball in that kind of lumpy field. Without playing ball it's hard to get Spencer to turn on and stop worrying about the dogs around.

I figured Saturday would be his better day because he was first and I could try to get him playing before his run. On Sunday he was 8 dogs after Baxter, so no time to play.

Saturday started with the gamble and he was a little hesitant, but did get a mini for me and he stuck with me. Jumpers was next and he still stuck with me. Got a silly refusal, but otherwise he was trying and not completely shutting down or stressed out. Standard was last and I tried giving him a couple pieces of his jackpot reward right before we ran because he was way to worried to play. That did it! He ran standard clean (no popped weaves!!) and 0.3 sec faster than Baxter!

Look, almost twins!

Sunday he ran a fantastic jumpers 2 and also did very well in standard 2. Popped the weaves like Baxter did, and that would have been his only fault except I stopped handling on the last obstacle (it was dogwalk to a final jump) so he didn't take it and cost us 20 faults. Oops!

Gamble was also our nemisis on Sunday. I should have paid attention to what the ring crew was wearing because of the retarded weather and adjusted my plan, because he is still a fairly reactive dog. I didn't. So I sent him straight over the Aframe to the double jumping into a ring crew dude dressed in dark grey with a black umbrella  and sunglasses on. He may not have noticed the guy normally but he was already a little unfocused and keyed in on a lady running outside the ring in the same direction we were. So of course he has to lose his little mind, charging and alarm barking. Huge kudos to ring crew dude for not moving a muscle!

Managed to finally get Spencer back asking for a nose touch and then deking out of it at the last second to send him over the dog walk.  Buzzer goes when he has like 2 steps left to complete the one mini I was trying for, but at least he refocused and was running with me again. Sends out great to the teeter, up to the pivot point and then hops right off not even waiting for it to move. I'd hoped he'd actually stay on it, but it was a faint hope =P

After talking to Kim a little bit on Saturday about mental management etc I hadn't looked at our scores or added up anything off the scribe sheets, besides tallying our gambles to make sure that was right. I didn't know the other 6" Special dogs or how they were doing since they weren't in our group and honestly, I didn't really want to know.

It doesn't change the results in the end. Knowing you need to make X points the next day to qualify, or beat that other dog just puts more pressure on you. We were running our best. I was pushing to make sure my handling was bang on and confident. Run it like you stole it right?! Pushing the dogs a little to run faster, turn tighter and not babysitting any of my contacts. If the training held it did, if it didn't, something to fix next time. It was fun! Seriously the most fun I've had at a trial. No worrying about the Q - I'm going to bring that mindset back to "regular" trials with me!

I knew Baxter should do well, especially after how well we were running the first day. I was hoping to hit in the top 3 (the podium.) With Spencer I had no expectations what so ever, tho I figured he should at least qualify since his scribe sheets looked a awful lot like Baxter's!

So, so proud to say that Baxter won the Regional Championships for 6" Specials with 448 points! He placed in all his runs, even that last disappointing gamble.

When they got around to announcing the regular aggregate scores (they did Specials, Vets, DD Vets first) I was a little zoned out. It was a *bit* late by that time. I was a little sad when they moved right into the placement ribbons without saying our name (1-6 place got a ribbon.) Oh well, I guess we didn't qualify, I was thinking. 10" Regular is a competitive class, there are 3 world team dogs in it and a double handfull of other really good, fast, drivey small dogs. I was shocked when they read out Spencer's name as 4th place. He just missed the podium! Holy shit!

Baby dog managed not only to qualify with 398 points (the next dog was just 2 points behind us!) But he took 4th place in the division overall and a third place for our Standard 1 run. THIRD!!!!?!? This was seriously the best he has ever run for me in a trial! He has come SO FAR from that little puddle of terrified 8wk puppy trying to melt into the floor.

We Did It! Baxter Earns his ATChC!!

So, so proud of my fluffy boy this weekend. And myself I guess, I did have to do the training with my dog to get this far. It just feels more like it's his accomplishment than mine!

Baxter earned his Agility Trial Champion of Canada Title (ATChC) with his 4th Master Gamble on Sunday under Yvonne Babij, at the first ever HyperHounds trial held out at WetNoses this weekend. He also got his Masters Gamblers Dog of Canada Title (MGDC), but that's a little like a after thought when you get the ATChC!

Judge Yvonne, Baxter and I

He's my first agility dog and this is my first ATChC. I just about cried when he successfully completed the gamble.

Play by play of the Gamble:
(you may want to just skip this orange part if you're not an agility person)

The gamble itself wasn't bad, as long as your dog with a running dogwalk would call off that jump at the end of it and come into the tunnel under the dog walk. The opening though didn't have any sections with a lot of points, I was a little stressed. It was get the mini, or we wouldn't get the points to qualify. The mini was similar to the final gamble, contact with a tunnel beside it. In the mini you flip into the tunnel which was a little further away than in the final, and in the final you call around after the contact and send them into the mouth of the tunnel under the contact.

First time over the mini Baxter didn't see the tunnel so I had to step in after wasting a little time trying to get him to send. Second time over the mini he still didn't flip into the tunnel (I think I was too far back on the AFrame for him to read the switch, he needs the body motion as well as the verbal and it's hard for him to see that coming down the Frame unless I'm really ahead.) BUT he did send to the tunnel!

Buzzer went, not bad positioning. Up the dogwalk, he hit his contact (they were a little sketchy this weekend, he jumped it in the Gamble on Saturday ...) around and into the tunnel. I remembered to stay back from the gamble line a bit so I'd have the room to step in and support with motion, but I didn't need it. Straight out over the jump ahead of him and then back over the next one. Good, good dog. He got it! I didn't almost explode with happiness. It just felt awesome. Was a good run, we worked as a team, I handled my dog well, and everything just clicked.

Kim, our instructor at HyperHounds who got us into doing agility in the first place and started me on positive dog training in the first place was videoing this run. She knew it we needed it but mostly I tried to keep it quiet how close we were to getting his ATChC. A few people we've trained with knew, some others had guessed that we should be close but didn't know what we were waiting on. Gambles are mentally a little hard for me, because we struggled with them for so long, and I didn't want to put any inadvertent pressure on me/us to get this!

After we got the final gamble she yell out "Is that your ATChC?" and that's when I teared up, happy, excited, too much emotion kind of teared up. Talking to her after she said she teared up too! Hugs all around. I love the people who play this sport. So supportive.

Such an awesome feeling.

I really wanted to get that last gamble this weekend. We'd started out with agility because I thought it looked fun when I saw the SuperDogs at the Stampede, but I was never sure if Baxter was doing good in class or not. Or when we should move up to the next level. I'd always ask if we should move on and Kim always assured me he was doing great. We finally made it into the 4th level of class where we'd run actual masters courses - which is hard when you're just starting out and have no idea what you're doing! Kim who kept pushing me (after we'd been training for 2 years) to actual go out and get a AAC number and start competing. Kim who kept telling me that we were doing great and that my "slow" little dog wasn't that slow, that he liked playing the game and we'd be able to earn our ATChC.

Getting his ATChC is special, but getting it at the first ever HyperHounds trial was even more special. Thanks Kim! We wouldn't have made it without you! =D

As a side note: If he was registered with the AAC as a Tibetan Spaniel (he's registered as a All Canadian, since he didn't have a CKC number and I didn't know any better at the time) he would be the FIRST Tibetan Spaniel to earn his ATChC in Canada)

All Grown Up

One of the local competitors from our area is on the WAO World Team for  Spain 2013 and there was a 1 day agility trial to help raise money to finance the trip. Another of the competitors created this awesome video of the even, which I loved even if neither of my dogs made a appearance in it. I always find these agility videos fun, but they're even more fun when you actually know the dogs and people in it!

Anyway. The boys and I had a great time even if benching was the tightest I've ever experienced at Wet Creek (anywhere - really.)

Baxter was amped to play. So amped that contact performance deteriorated a little. Steeplechase was 2x 12 weaves, so that was a automatic write off - even without the crazy tight standard course times that had many people who usually qualify not making time. I honestly didn't even look to see how far over time we were!

Baxter and I had a decent Gamblers run, but missed a fairly hard final Gamble (only 8 dogs got it.) Standard turned into a good training round, and Steeplechase was the usual "donation" run. We redeemed ourselves in Jumpers though where he read what I wanted very well despite me not knowing quite how I wanted to handle things. Such a happy, good dog. He seems a bit faster now that he is a little leaner and hopefully that continues to improve with the nice weather.

Winter is hard for me to keep the dogs in good trialing condition, bring on the spring!! Everyone is ready for a new excercise regime!

Spencer had a great day as well. Still some baby dog confusion with the weaves initially. And he was having such a good time out there that he blew right across the table in standard without even attempting to stop (in his defense, I  cue'd it late.) The highlight though, he took the chute without any hesitation at all!

Spencer would have got his second advanced Jumpers had I not used the wrong cue and pulled him off a jump 3 obstacles from the finish.  He did get his 3rd advanced Gamble, putting him into Masters Gamblers. I can't believe it. My little guy in in a Masters class already, and Gamblers at that - the "hard" one.

All grown up now - sort of ...

Good Boys - Good Weekend

I love trialing with Baxter.

The ultra competitive people way out of our proverbial agility weight class don't say a lot, but the other people have such nice things to say about my steady little dog, which makes me so happy. We will never be that team on the course with the amazingly fast and crazy dog, but that's okay. We're working on ending up one of those teams that flow around the course and make it look easy. Of course, I hope by then to be able to get our gambles ... and have permanently patched up those holes in our training that have once again become apparent.

This weekend was the Dec 2x4 Agility trial. 

Baxter got another Master Snooker Q, that I am very happy for. We were having a great snooker run, and had "practiced" the #6 obstacle jump, jump, tunnel combo in the opening - so why I lost my mind and almost send him over the wrong side of the second jump, then pushed him way off the jump into empty, time wasting space in the closing is beyond me. I wish had video of the run. As soon as I flubbed up the handling and he stopped, turned and looked at me like WTF lady I think my heart stopped. OMG we needed to finish 7 before the buzzer for enough points!!! I spun around and I don't think I've ever been that frantic on a course before. He pulled it off though, with a couple seconds to spare. Managing to salvage that one merited us some applause, though really, I'd rather get it for a good run without the drama!

We had little issues with his other runs, and a steeplechase that he did very well and still ended up 2 seconds over time but had 2 very nice jumpers runs to finish up the weekend with our Expert Jumpers Bronze title.

Spencer was very good, but ever the sensitive baby dog. Something about the weaves threw him and he kept popping or avoiding. Maybe the wide base without much dirt on it, maybe the different poles, who knows? I thought I had chute issues fixed in the last few days of practice before the trial, but apparently not. However, he continued to do it after the first refusal.

After great days of teeter and chute practice I was hoping he would rock on the only standard run he was entered in (otherwise he just plays the games right now.) Now I'm glad that I went with my initial feeling and just put him in 1.

After the refusal on the chute, which at least wasn't a complete deke around it - we hit the teeter. He had a great teeter, but it dropped fast and the surface was packed, so it slammed into the ground hard and fast, despite that - he held and waited for his release, but the noise and the motion worried him.

Teeter drama (likely over the noise more than anything) carried on through the weaves where I got half-hearted performance at best and then to the dog walk where he bailed half way up. By that time I was worried about my little guy. I spent a lot of time and effort working on the dog walk and having vastly different (run it vs teeter) cues to avoid this very issue. He did take the dog walk the second time, but very hesitant on the way up and I had to stand and encourage it, not just cue it and run. He did it on his own though, which I think speaks volumes to his trust in me and our training.

In hindsight, what I should have done after that teeter hit the ground and he looked worried was to play for a few seconds in the ring, do a couple of decent nose touches if I could get them and play push back and run over a couple obstacles on the way out to stuff him full of cookies and play ball. Scary thing = party!

Standard was our last run of the day on Sat, while Gamblers was our first for Sunday. I went back to my game plan of spending 40 seconds playing with the dog on course and not even worrying about points or the gamble. I just wanted my happy running dog walk performance back.

I needn't have worried. He blasted off of his start line and blew past me standing mostly still at the bottom of the dog walk (to support the performance and prevent another bail off) Did 2 of those and I went for broke to see if we could do the weaves that were plaguing us all trial. After missing them on the first entry he hit it and I had my good weaves back too. We missed on the final gamble, but the run was a success in spite of it! Sometimes I think with sensitive dogs that we as the humans worry a little too much where the dog really doesn't care, as Spencer proved!

Snooker and Jumpers were our last 2 runs of the day, and like Baxter, he nailed em. Little bit of a bobble in Snooker with a tunnel refusal on a bi-directional tunnel, but those aren't faulted in Starter Snooker, so I didn't send to the other tunnel mouth.

Snooker and Jumpers finished off his Starter Games Dog of Canada title! He's not quite sure what that pretty ribbon is for nor why I wanted him to sit with it, but hey, it got him lots of cookies so that's cool! Such a good baby.

First Trial

Spencer's first agility trial was a success!

Flashing Canines was a awesome trial because it was a little quieter and benching was pretty spread out. I LOVE the venue because of the other fenced baseball diamonds though. It is awesome beyond belief to be able to take your entire group of dogs for a offleash walk/run/game of fetch during the trial within sight of it! It makes pottying after staying in the hotel overnight a cinch and if you happen to have dogs with you not in the trial they don't spend a mind numbing day sitting in a crate with only potty breaks!

My goal was just to get my baby dog out to experience a trial environment, run around the ring and have a good time. Anything else is just a bonus. I was also really trying not care how he did, except that he would have fun and be enthusiastic. I think I succeeded.

We were just in starter jumpers (because it is easy) and gamblers so that I could run him over "strange" contact equipment a few times and then have a party. Mentally I was making a huge effort not to care about qualifying and not to let anything in my mind change my behavior. No pressure on the dog!

Spencer was a little unsure of agility. Watching the videos of our runs I can't really "see" the difference,  but in our first gamblers and jumpers run he was unsure. He stuck with me, but I didn't have my happy little dog from practice. He noticed the ring crew (but didn't bark at them!) and was sniffy with the chute, but I think that was more curiosity than stress behaviors.

Our third run, the second gamblers run was awesome. We hit the dogwalk and the Aframe, and he was with me the way he'll run in practice! It doesn't look faster/drivier/different on video though, which I found odd. It almost feels like he actually needs contact obstacles/weaves/table so that he is confident of what I am asking him to do, jumps/tunnels are not valuable enough and his enthusiasm and speed wanes as we do more of them without a reward - he thinks he is wrong maybe? I do reward mistakes in training with him so hopefully not! He's just so soft.

With Spencer, our pre-run routine still needs to be established. I have to pump him up and then cheerlead through the course. 110% of my attention is on my little guy so that he doesn't have a bad experience and shut down. He is very toy driven/ball obsessive, so I wanted to use a toy to motivate him instead of just food. But it's hard to bring that toy with you to the ring before you run and it's distracting for the other dogs or they focus on it and scare Spencer. He'll tug, but not with all the dogs around the gates at a trial. He jumps into my arms, but he doesn't do the personal play thing yet, there have always been toys or treats involved too, so definitely something to work on.

I wasn't sure what kind of "exit strategy" I wanted to use with Spencer either. Baxter gets a jackpot of treats at the end of his run, but it's kind of a pain to prep them. I wasn't sure I wanted to double that, but I think I will. Spencer was a little surprised the first time he got it, but after that "Where are your cookies? Good boy, lets go get the cookies" got lots of enthusiasm. Then we can play ball or tug, or whatever.

I think the hardest part is wanting for him to be successful. I just don't know if what I am doing is going to enable that. He doesn't have the most confidence and is really soft so I am trying to be proactive and avoid things I know can shake it. No start line stays yet, and any wrong obstacles or incorrectly done ones are my fault, not his. No major obstacle call offs of yelling his name either. If we look silly but have fun, so be it.

Baby dogs are fun, but stressful!

Just about a Year

Or it would have been had I posted this on time! So it's like a year and a month - whatever!!

Baxter started trialing and got his first Q last year on 31-Aug.

I am SO happy with how far he has come and how we've grown as a team. I'm pretty happy with me for sticking with the sport as well and growing as a person/trainer. Granted, Baxter isn't as difficult a starter dog as some people have had, but it's easy to start out with something and then decide that it really isn't for you.

I love it when there are photographers at the trials! I got one of each of the boys @ Medicine Hat! Photographers Album

Aside from guarding the hotel room, he was fantastic at the Flashing Canines trial last weekend. We came home with 2 Q's; his first master standard and his first master snooker. But, he tried in all his runs AND he hit all his weave pole entries and didn't pop out. I also got fast weave poles (we can get single stride weaves at home and are working on transferring that to other venues) in his qualifying master standard run. The things we've been working on are improving!

We had a couple little bobbles here and there, what I'll refer to as "baby dog" (and possibly baby handler) mistakes. I front crossed on the flat to push him onto the dogwalk and instead of going up the dogwalk plank he went beside it in a standard run. He missed a jump because I drifted a little bit laterally away from it in one jumpers. Then we both buggered up a backside of a jump in the other jumpers. But we're getting there. I have a happy dog who wants to work for me in a trial. THAT is what I care about, the rest will come with polishing. I didn't get lost on course either, which I am happy about!

Notice I don't mention either of our gamblers runs though. Those were just sad. First run I tried the mini's on, and he wasn't terribly successful. Not only did he not want to work away for the mini, we also didn't get the super awesome main gamble either. 3 jumps, 2 tunnels, 4 multi directional obstacles. It was like a gift!

So. I changed my plan after some advice. Stop worrying about the mini's. Plan a nice speedy path to wind him up instead of struggling in the first 40 sec which is going to pretty much guarantee me a melt down in the final gamble. Ok. Makes sense. I think we did better in the second gamblers run - except for Mr Excitement jumping a dogwalk contact >< That final gamble was hard though, out to 6 weaves, twice and some jumps, only a handful of dogs even got to the weaves, only one did the gamble correct but over time. We weren't any of those dogs!

So I need to break down distance work to not such a distance I think, and get it solid there. In our distance class we took I usually had to step over the line to get Baxter to read the handling right. If that's what it takes in a trial, that's what it takes. I'd rather step over the line and help him get it right than for my handling to be unclear and teach him not to trust it. That's the plan for now anyway. Gamblers is going to be the hardest thing for us to master, but I knew that right from the beginning when it took forever to even get our first gamblers Q's.

Even though he is doing good in agility, I'm thinking about dropping him into veterans once he turns 5 in January. It still feels like a little bit of a cop-out right now, but if he needs a couple extra seconds to qualify when he's trying I don't think I'm going to stay in specials until he's 7 just to make the a point of doing it "the hard way." I guess I'll see in Jan. We're in Steeplechase this Wed and I'm curious to see if he will make time or if he'll still be over.

Tibby or not Tibby?!

That was the question. However, the CKC agrees with Tibby and I've finally gotten Baxter's PEN!

C'mon easy agility! Erm, did I say that out loud?! Excellent may not actually be easier, but at least to get there is quicker than moving up to Masters in AAC. Fewer skills to master as well. No distance skills (Gamblers) or crazy handling (Snooker) needed. Just Standard and Jumpers with Weaves.

Last night at Wet Creek was not so easy agility. I struggled with all sends in Gamblers. Obviously I'm doing something he doesn't understand in a trial. Or maybe he was just hyped and thrown off by the venue. We've also gotten to point where Baxter's 12(ish) obstacles in the opening is going to be really close for qualifying points in masters and I need to work on being able to send to mini's, which he also struggled with. When working on our distance skills I'm also going to work on obstacle value.

On the positive side though, his weaves in gamblers and in relay were good, and quicker! Not quite single striding but not plodding through the poles either. I'll absolutely take that over a Q!

He was doing very nice in Snooker too, until my brain melted and I didn't think on the fly. I didn't try to pull him off a wrong obstacle with motion (ie serp arm) as well as a verbal. He might have pulled off of the wrong tunnel if I had thought to stop forward motion and pull him away from that entrance with a serp. I'll have to try to set that up again out in practice sometime. I find I'm also a little hesitant and look sort of lost in videos, which doesn't help him be confident of what I'm telling him to do.

I also discovered I use Baxter's nick name more than I thought.

I was talking to some people at the trial who were in town from Vancouver. One of them was a younger girl and she introduced her Sheltie, Bonny and then said "And this is Snickers, right?" Close and a cute name, but not quite! The thing is, I seem to be calling Baxter "Snackers" a lot.

In my defense, he came to live with me with that nick name, thanks to the rest my family and his fondness for food. It also starts with a S ... so when I screw up on course and call the wrong dog name Snack and Spence aren't terribly dissimilar, right?!? Maybe they don't notice! (yeah right!)

My boys! <3

Dog-gone Long Weekend

Am I ever late in posting this, but better late than never! Without further adue ...

If I would have planned it right, I would have sent the paperwork in for Baxter's CKC PEN a long time ago and entered the AKC (Alberta Kennel Club) show that was at Spruce Meadows this weekend. As it was, I still went and visited/watched but the dogs weren't entered in anything. I wish I would have been though. Nothing like watching agility to make you want to do it more - or to comment in your head how your dog could absolutely do that course! Plus it was a gorgeous venue.

CKC agility starts off a lot easier than AAC agility not having weave poles in novice standard. It makes me a little jealous. Jump heights are a little different though, so Baxter is likely going to have to be jumping 8" instead of the 6" he jumps in AAC. It was interesting seeing some of the people who are regular fixtures at AAC trials in a different environment as well as all the different people and breeds.

Saturday evening I took Spencer out solo for some urban training on the boardwalk by the lake. He did fantastic. Even when a small dog was growling and barking at him from about 10 ft away as its people dragged it along he just sat beside me and alternated eye contact/watching the dog. We also practiced some impulse control games that we do with yellow ball on the off leash portion of the path.

The part I was happiest about though was when a crowd of people walked by. I had put Spencer into a sit off to the side of the path through the off leash area because sometimes he is weird with strangers, especially if the strangers aren't dog people. He had his leash on and I was standing on the end of it just in case he reacted badly. But he didn't move, just glanced at them and then back to me. The people commented on how well my little guy was trained. Woo hoo! I'm not just imagining progress!

To top it off, since it was late and the boat launch was deserted, I took him over to see if he would swim. I didn't have to encourage him at all, just waded out with his ball and he was right there paddling away. You could have knocked me over with a feather - and not just because of the super slippery algae covered cement ramp I was standing on! Good dog!! Out of my immediate family's 8 small dogs, I have the only 2 that will swim without being put in the water.

As I commented to one of the vendors at the AKC show, I have chihuahua's but they're not the Paris-Hilton type dress-me-up-and-put-me-in-a-handbag-landsharks. They're real dogs, just shrunk!

With that in mind, Penny came out to agility practice at Wet Noses on Monday. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I spend a lot of time and effort training the boys while she gets less attention. I make a effort to do one on one things with her and have little Penny-adventures, but she doesn't play like they do or come to agility things like they do. For having never seen full size contact equipment or a 12 foot chute - she did really well. She was sniffy, which is her norm, but she actually ran with me and had a good time getting cookies.

All in all it was a dog-tastic dog-gone long weekend! Way too hot, but still a lovely 3 days off.

Advanced Games Dog Title

It was a exhausting weekend but we did it! Baxter finished his Advanced Games Dog of Canada title on Sunday.

Baxter thinks it was a exhausting weekend too, but he still likes agility.

Yes, that is a collapsed tunnel that he is sleeping in.

He might have gotten the gamble on Sat if I had trusted my dog and his training. The gamble was a teeter, jump out to a tunnel under the A frame, back in over the jump and then out to the chute on the other side of the teeter. Baxter did the teeter and jump fine, but I sent out to the tunnel off of the jump instead of calling him in and then sending him out to the tunnel with a straighter line. He went out but I second guessed him and thought he might go for the wrong end, so I called him resulting in a spin in front of the correct end of the tunnel and a refusal. Oops! I didn't realize that it was a refusal either, so I was really confused when the whistle blew and I thought I stepped over the line.


Baxter ran really good all weekend, but that was our only Q in 7 runs.

Saturday had me pretty frazzled. First Jumpers run was really twisty with a lot of backsides/serpy (yes, that is a word!) stuff I was worried about handling a specific sequence right and didn't want to mess it up. So when running, when I got to that part of the course I forgot that there was a jump in front of the challenging sequence and ended up taking a decoy jump that wasn't really a decoy for the dogs, but more for the handlers. The judge later commented that she didn't think anyone would have taken that decoy - never say never, lol. He was smoking though, running at 4.15 yps! I realize for sport dog people that isn't fast, but this is a heavy boned/bodied short legged breed and it's pretty zippy for him  =P

Our second Jumpers run was clean and fast until the last obstacle. The final 3 obstacles were a actual serpentine, Baxter read the rear cross perfectly off the first jump, read the serp cue back over the second but instead of just pushing him over the final jump the way I walked it, I rear crossed again with bad timing and he went wide around the final jump.

I'm honestly not sure what happened to his master standard runs. He has been running them well, except for hitting his weave entries with speed, which is almost always my fault for not telling him to weave soon enough. So we'll have faults on our masters runs but we've never had time faults, even when having to fix weaves. This weekend, course times were super tight. Baxter was running really well and not overly wide on turns, no obstacles obviously slow and creepy but both runs were over time. His clean run was over by 1.53 seconds and the other run where it was only 6 poles (x2) he only missed one weave entry and was still over by 1.19 sec.

Weekend observations

• Work serpentines and pull/push through handling drills. I pulled Baxter off of a jump on 3 separate courses by not having practiced this enough. Either I am not holding position long enough for commitment, or he isn't experienced enough to read and understand it clearly. Likely it's a combo of the 2.
• Still work on rear cross drills - yeah I don't do them often because they demotivate him but when they are the only handling option that isn't a messy disaster it helps if the dog still can read and understand them ...
• Directionals. Left and right, not just a switch. Master gambles are HARD, the more tools in the tool box the better your chances are.

Summer fun

aka a outdoor agility trial in 30 degree heat (with no breeze) and mosquitoes. But no, really, it was a lot of fun and a great time!

This weekend was Fionavar K9's "Woofstock at the Beach" trial out in Olds. We were only entered in one day - but it was a most awesome day.

On his cooling mat under my desk. Too hot in the house for him to sleep after we got home

1) Baxter worked for me. In that heat. He was fantastic! It's always kind of a concern of mine how he would handle the heat because of his coat. He had his cooling mat to lay on but I haven't gotten one of the metallic shade tarps (you know the woven metal ones that block more sun and keep the tent cooler and still let in the breeze.) I brought lots of water to soak him down before and after runs too. I think it also helped that the tent was pitched in a soggy spot, so the ground was nice and cool.

2) Did I mention that he worked for me in the heat?! So happy with my little guy. Not only did he work in the heat, but Jumpers was the last run of the day and he ran his little legs off in the omg-so-hot-I-think-my-brain-melted to Q in Jumpers at 4.03 yards per second (which is really fast for him.)

3) Technically we only Q'd in 1/3 of our runs. However, he did SO GOOD that I don't care, it was a huge success.

Standard went well. There were only 6 poles (done twice) but he likes that better than 12 poles anyway. He missed the first weave entry, initially I thought it was because I didn't babysit it - but now I think I was also late telling him to weave. I didn't hold position on a front cross into a tunnel long enough for him to commit, resulting in a refusal for that one. I need to work on this with him in drills, seems to be a weakness of ours. I either need to support better or build in a little more value for tunnels. Other than those 10 faults we did good, and under time. More importantly, I handled it the way I walked it, for the most part it worked and I didn't get lost!

I thought that Advanced Gamble was going to be a donation run once I saw the course map. It was a tough final gamble.

It doesn't help that I've never sent him to the backside of a tunnel to find a entrance either. One of the other competitors was a huge help suggesting I send him into a tunnel in the opening to show him that there is a tunnel entrance there. I was only a little in front of the gamble line sending him through the gap in the tunnels to the right entrance of 2 and he took it like a pro, no hesitation whatsoever! The rest of my opening was a little helter skelter, but we were mostly in place when the buzzer went to start the final.

The blue line is the path he took. HE DID THE FINAL GAMBLE!! Staying out, and not coming back in around the back of 2! Sadly, the buzzer went while he was in the tunnel 3, and we missed qualifying by 0.09 of a second ... story of our agility career, lol.

It's bloody difficult to do these gambles with a short dog who doesn't move the tunnel much, I couldn't see him once he was near the tunnel mouths so I didn't know when he went into 3 or if he was looking but not in etc. I don't even care that we "didn't" qualify. I think the only other Adv dog to get this gamble was Flash, who isn't handled or trained by someone new to agility. Distance skills class is working (and in more ways than one, the small drills and good rewards are building drive really well too.)

He's a big dog now

Well, we did it. Baxter finally got a Masters AAC title. He's all grown up and is a big agility dog now! We got our Master Jumpers Dog of Canada (MJDC) title on the weekend.

Why do you pose me with these things?!

I'm very happy with the weekend. Regardless of Q's etc, it was a success. He did great in his masters standard runs. He was happy to be out there with me, which is what I wanted! They were LONG courses too, 200+ yards for the 4 standard courses but he was coming in under SCT. Maybe 200+ is normal for master standard courses (I'm not quite sure?) but he's not really built for speed over a distance and he was doing very good.

Flippy ears! Photo by Jay Collins

His handler on the other hand was a complete noob and mis-handled some (maybe more than some) stuff. But we were happy and positive and I think that's what counts. It's different handling a course in training vs in a trial situation, and I just need to relax and make sure that I handle the course how I walked it (and not forget those pesky crosses where I was going to do them!) I'm slowly learning how to fix things on the fly, which is a steep learning curve.

It was a really nice relaxed trial, which I wasn't expecting. I'm so glad it was, it makes it a little easier when you're out there walking the masters courses with the masses of "big kids" for the first time.

This was a incredible trial for people just being positive. Being supportive of each other and just saying something about a good run, finding something positive in a run that didn't go as planned,  how well a dog is doing or just how much something has improved. We all have to work pretty hard to "fix" things, it's really nice when someone other than you notices or comments on the success of all your hard work. So many people who have been struggling a little with their dogs got titles, or had other successes that honestly feel as big or bigger than that title run.

It was a fantastic long weekend and makes me really enjoy the sport =D

Handsome Baxter, Photo by Jay Collins