CAA November Remembrance Day Trial Review & Rant

At the beginning of the month was CAA's annual Remembrance Day Trial.

I haven't trialed a lot lately, with Lethbridge being the last big trial in September. This was such an awesome weekend, despite being part of the club putting on the trial and needing to be there from the very beginning to the very end. 2 x 12 hour days plus Friday night leads to being pretty wrung out come the end of the day on Sunday.

Baxter is not running full trials anymore and Spencer never has run full trials so it was pretty relaxed in terms of numbers of runs per day. I did enter Nike, but we're on a confidence building plan with her, so her runs don't "count."

Friends to trial and bench with make a world of difference in having a enjoyable weekend as well. This weekend was no exception. We benched with one of our training partners and having someone to video and chat with is awesome.

My boys rocked Friday night (their whole one run each) but it set me up to have a fantastic weekend. That connected feeling where your training pays off and you run as a team. It's the best feeling in the world!

All of the Masters level courses were under a judge I'd never actually trialed under before and being that she's a pretty standard fixture on various world teams, I didn't expect to love trialing under her as much as I did. Maybe it's a hold over from having the non-standard breeds, or from running my "slow" dogs. I really love it when people notice how good of a team the people in the ring are with their dogs - regardless of breed, or how fast/amazing a run was. What makes my heart happy is when a team is out having a great time and the dog is clearly understanding what the handler wants. Those pretty, fluid, connected runs.

Baxter was ON all weekend, running great except for a bobble in a Standard which was my fault, not his. He picked up 2 Jumpers, 1 Standard, 1 Snooker and ran 4/5. It felt like he wanted to do more during the day, but when we ran those last runs each day he felt a little tired/slower so I think that 2 runs a day is a good compromise for him.

With those Jumpers Q's we only need 3 more to earn his Gold Jumpers which is my big goal for him. I initially wanted to get that in 2017, but even if we hit all the Jumpers possible (locally anyway) that wouldn't be happening, so I guess it'll be in 2018 under the new "jump" heights. (And I call them "jumps" because my short, Special/Vet boys only have to jump 4" which really isn't even a jump for them.)

Spencer was on as well - he really does better with less trialing/training. He held it together for me for the weekend, minus melting in his Snooker run that might have been due to soreness. We had a bobble in his otherwise awesome Standard were he pulled off and refused the Frame right before the Snooker run, which is why I'm thinking he might have been sore. He doesn't usually pull off the Frame, just on jumps when he's feeling worried. He picked up 1 Standard, 1 Steeplechase and 1 Gamble running 3/5, but those 3 he was ON, driving to obstacles and responsive.

As much as Jumpers is Baxter's game - Standard and Gamble are Spencer's. He doesn't LOVE distance, but he understands what I want him to do and has the confidence to go out there and attempt it. It makes me so happy that my soft little margarine puddle of a dog has the confidence to try for me. His weaves and DW make those games so much easier with him than they were with Baxter.

Nike did well with our new goal of having a good time in the ring and not stressing out/disconnecting. First run was only 5 or 6 obstacles on the way to the exit to have a cookie party, and she got distracted by some smells in the back, but we got it back together and finished strong.

Our second run was a Standard, and we actually attempted everything but the table. She knows and likes the table, but the stops where she is not rewarded seem make her think she is wrong and result in her disconnecting - so right now, no stopping! I lost her worse to smells after the teeter again, but again, got her back (it was her idea to teeter again, not mine) and we finished nicely and had another cookie party.

Until I've got 100% of a dog wanting to play my game, she'll be running Specials. Right now we need confidence and happy more than anything and once those are there the skills (that we have in training) will be a *little* more apparent - because right now it looks like I have a completely untrained dog.

I'm also going to fully embrace the journey Nike and I are on here and learn the things that she's teaching me that will make me a better and stronger trainer.  It's about Nike and I. Period.

I love my dogs and I love the journey we are on together.

Graceful Retirement

Last weekend was the last trial and last run for an agility dog belonging to one of our local agility instructors/judges. (We loosely take classes with him in Trial Applications.)

I hadn't really talked to the handler about it, but overheard that some health issues were discovered last week, - not enough to have to pull, but since heart issues coupled with high drive border collies aren't such a good combination this was the dogs retirement trial. They'd still play in the backyard and just jump 6" but this was the last trial.

I think I cried more than the handler did. Thank Dog for sunglasses!

It just makes you think. I hope I get that with my guys. A definite last run. A last goal completed or something. Something that makes you say "when."

It was just such a HUGE contrast to another dog I've seen running at a different trial. That dog is broken. Eye sight is going now, but more than that, the dog was running on Metcam. It slipped badly in a tunnel, but wasn't pulled. It was visiting chiro and massage after each run. It's back end/back looked so bad. It was to the point where I couldn't watch that dog run. It would stop dead as soon as it crossed the finish line and the handler stopped moving. Not looking at the handler. Not dancing around in happy anticipation of a reward. Just. Stopped. Dead.

I'll be honest. I cried then too. How do you do that to your dog? They do this for us. How do you repay that by giving them painkillers so that they CAN/WILL run?

Then you see the run this weekend. This old dog still has it. They were retired from Regionals and Nationals after 2014. They still ran a few runs in local trials. The handler would shape turns and angles so that they'd be loose and  loopy so the dog doesn't turn too tight with an old body and hurt themselves - because while the spirit is willing, the body is wearing out and the dog has no self preservation.

They played agility because she loved it. Not always full trials. No running at Regionals this year.

With Baxter slowing down a little this is on my mind more and more. We may never compete at Nationals again since we're not going to Burnaby this year. Next year is Quebec. By the time Nationals are back in the West he'll be 9.

So. We'll play because he likes it. Maybe we'll go for 6 runs a weekend like Spencer does instead of full trials.

My Fluff 08-Aug-2015, 7.5 years

When the day comes, my dog owes me nothing. He's played this game for me. He's taught me how to be a better trainer, handler and person. He has suffered though all those mistakes I made because he is my first sport dog.

When the day comes, I'm the one who owes HIM. I will retire him before he is broken and in constant pain from injuries. I will keep him happy and active doing things that aren't agility and I will love him to pieces for being my first! I owe that to him.

Top Spot Agility - Indus July Trial

Last weekend we had a "first" trial in the area for a new agility club that started up. I guess technically they did have a trial this winter as well, but another club donated ribbons. So this was the first time you could get a Top Spot title ribbon!

I have this thing. I like collecting (title) ribbons for agility clubs in the area.

We've got;
2x4 Agility
Paws'N'Effect (old ribbons, need the new)
Calgary Agility Association (old ribbons, need the new)
Fionavar K9 (old and new)
Training Troop
Flashing Canines (old and new)
Hyper Hounds
Go Dogs Go (only a Q ribbon with them, not a title)
Dynamo Dog Sports (only a Q, not a title)

Baxter actually earned his Expert Jumpers Silver title at Top Spot's last trial, but since it was sponsored by Fionavar, no new ribbon.

Not only was I excited about the venue (super close to my house with a stand of mature poplar trees with a carrigana hedge for shade to bench under) but both boys could also be up for titles! (Thus, ribbons from the new club!!)

Both boys ran really well this weekend and despite the massive hail storm at the end of the day on Saturday, weather was great. I had an absolutely fantastic time at this trial. I'm super happy with how consistent my dogs are performing and how much Spencer and I have come together as a team.

Baxter is loving Veteran's. It's taken a lot of the challenge out of qualifying since sometimes he'd be over time by a couple of seconds since he's "energy efficient" especially in the heat. He Q'd 7/8, with that one NQ (actually an E) my fault for not handling like I walked on Challenge. He did however get the Gamble, and also threadled on a part in Snooker that I was testing to see if we could do. What a good Fluff!

He was loving the 2 Jumpers runs we finished up with on Sunday. That last run was ALL about collection. I think I did 8 front crosses and a reverse spin? So much fun!! Jumpers is totally Baxter's game We've got 30 Q's in Jumpers alone now.

Spencer was the best baby black dog in the world this weekend going 5/6. Back to his "usual" 3 runs each day since he doesn't seem to do well with more than that. Sat he was happy and fast on his first run in Gamble - got the points but not the main, I think my handling may have been ambiguous. Then he Q'd in both Standard courses. Not super fast, but it was a little warm by that point in time and Spencer doesn't do heat. What Spencer did do though, was chutes. Without worrying! No chute refusals, yay.

Sunday he was smoking in Steeplechase. Little off on his Challenge, but was 1 of only 3 dogs out of 20 or 25 dogs to qualify! Then last run of the day he was back and had a fantastic Jumpers run where he was actually driving to the obstacles again and was a couple of seconds faster than Baxter giving me 4.6 yps!

With the 2 Standards on Saturday with the bonus of an actual Challenge Q on Sunday my baby bug pulled off his Expert Bronze Standard title. That finished his Bronze Award of Merit with a Q to spare!

Funny Story:

In 2013 a good friend of mine left Regionals early, or at least before the completion of the awards. I stayed for ribbons and *thought* she was called as qualifying for Nationals so picked up a Q ribbon for her. Either I didn't hear right, or they were called when they shouldn't have been, but after checking results the next day turns out they didn't qualify. I felt terrible.

This weekend she and her boy earned their ATChC! I asked her if she knew if he had gotten any of the Awards of Merit as well, since I  did not know when Baxter earned his until someone else told me. So I looked at the AAC dog stats page for her and yep, he did have his 10 Standard. I really didn't look at his Games though, since I was busy thinking about Baxter needing Standards to finish his Merit titles. I assured her he had his Bronze Award of Merit as well, so she hauled home 4 big, pretty ribbons.

Then I started second guessing myself on the way home when I couldn't check the AAC site. Her boy had to finish his MGDC (Masters Gamble title) and MSDC (Masters Snooker title) to earn the ATChC, so he only had 8 of those games. OMG did he have enough of the other games (you need 25) to earn the Merit title?! Did I just do it again?!? - Nope I get home, check and breath a sigh of relief. Thank doG!

Then on Sunday, I do it again, but with my own dog this time. Again, thinking about how Baxter just needs one more Standard for his Silver Merit, I knew Spencer needed 2 standards and was entered in 3. So when he got the Standards I put his name down and picked the ribbon up. Perfect! ... except then I was remembering how I was talking about how Spencer doesn't do full trials, how I pick and choose what to enter him in based on the titles I'm aiming for. So unlike Baxter, he doesn't have a slew of extraneous Games titles/legs, and he just finished his ATChC in Nov. OH. MY. GOD. Did my own dog actually have enough games titles to finish his Bronze?! Yes. He did. Barely! 28 Games Q's before this trial - 30 with the 2 Games Q's he picked up at it. Wow. Just wow.

That's what I get for not counting.

All about that "Baby" Black Dog! Spencer earns his ATChC!!

After all the work with fear issues, then training and trialing and more fear and confidence issues, Spencer earned his ATChC (Agility Trial Champion of Canada) and MGDC (Master Gambler Dog of Canada) titles at the November Calgary Agility Association Trial under Judge Darcy Bennett on 9-Nov. Such a good little black dog!

I had decided this year to focus on getting some "life things" sorted out and dealt with, so trialing was to take a back seat this year, priority wise. Then I decided that I'd enter the outdoor Flashing Canines trial in September just to give it one last shot at finishing up some of the boys' titles this year and then give it a rest for the remainder of this year.

Spencer could have finished his ATChC that weekend if he Q'd his Gamblers and Snooker runs, but some bone-head handler messed up his Gamble and shot that down. It would have let us finish his ATChC at the trial and with the club he first started trialing with in Sept 2012, but that was not to be.

I wasn't sure I wanted to enter this trial. I hummed and hawwed and waited until about a week before the closing date to actually bite the bullet and send in the entry form. The huge deciding factor was that there were 2 gambles, one Sat and one Sun. But because I waited so long, we were wait listed with probably 15 dogs ahead of us which was okay with me, since I figured I would just leave it to fate if we got in.

A week before the trail, I get an email, did I want to play still? Holy cow, they got through the wait list! I guess fate said yes!

On Saturday the dogs and I were having a rough day, just a little out of sync and not connected. Out of my 6 runs (2 dogs, 3 events each) we didn't manage to qualify in anything. Baxter forgot how to weave, Spencer took random backsides, I lost all sense of timing on course. It was a gong show, a happy one, but a gong show none the less! The gamble on Saturday was geared to wider turning, larger striding  dogs, my guys didn't even see the distance obstacle. Strike 1.

On Sunday, I manged to pull it together a bit, just in time to panic about being able to get enough points in the Gamble run to qualify. The mini wasn't bad, but arguing with a confused dog to take the mini is demotivating, so unless it's something pretty easy I don't often try them. I try to get my 28 points in 11 or 12 obstacles, well, that wasn't happening this time. I'd need to finish 15 obstacles on my planned path for those points - or try to get that mini and maybe shut my dog down for the final gamble.

I opted to run it. The yardage wasn't bad, I figured I'd be in a good spot when the buzzer went and this gamble was geared to smaller striding dogs (although it did have a mostly independent AFrame in it.)

Baxter was up first and Spencer was the 3rd dog in the event. I thought about switching their order, but decided against it. Baxter did well and got his only Q of the entire weekend. The buzzer didn't go when I thought it would, we did 3 more obstacles after it so hopefully Spencer would be good time wise. Spencer also will send out to a tunnel better than Baxter has in the past, so the gamble is totally do-able. But man, running the second dog when on the adrenaline high for the first one is rough!

Spencer rocked it even after some silly (unclear) handling on my part right before the buzzer went.

Thrilled with my little guy. Who would have thought that the 8 week old puddle of terrified trying to melt into the floor would be able to get a championship performance title?

Sunday was all about Spencer. With his new (and lucky!) neon green agility leash from our friend Christina at Silvarado Dog Gear. He qualified in all 3 of his Sunday runs as well!

Love my bad little black dog!

Out Takes - Pictures are hard stuff, and so is posing with the pole!

And We're Back

Life, 2 jobs and 3 dogs can get a little crazy and stressful, so blogging falls a little by the wayside.

But, we're back.

It's been some interesting times.

Our awesome trainer Kim & HyperHounds moved to Kelowna in April. So we're working on finding a new agility alternative.

Baxter's been in to the emergency vet twice in 2 months. In March we went in after he was vomiting for a little over 24 hours after stealing a lick of salsa off the coffee table. Not sure if the salsa was the culprit or what the deal was, but it ended up not being the obstruction that I was afraid it might have been.

Then 2 weeks ago it was for the eyes. They were watery and sore looking for the Olds Trial, little bit of green discharge but super sore looking where the whites were all red and bothering him a lot. Again, nothing really conclusive as the culprit. His eyes were good, no scratches etc. but ears were hot irritated as well. Maybe seasonal allergies or just allergies period, so some eye drops to help with the irritation and some benadryl for 5 days.

Baxter also came up lame on Saturday at the Olds trial, April 19 & 20. Knocked the first bar in the first run (Jumpers) and then when we were walking after the run I noticed him limping a little on his front left. So that was it for him for the day. Seems to be a shoulder/muscle thing, not a foot thing. So we're going in to physio to get that looked at. (Same/similar issue that I took him to a chiro vet to have looked at last May and was told his front end was fine, uh huh.) Sunday he seemed fine, so I let him run and he still looked fine at the end of the day.

Spencer's first day at Olds was great, he was happy and a little more confident. Fun times - which is what I am working on with him. Confidence.

On Sunday however they turned Steeplechase into a fund raiser for an agility friend who was doing Shave for the Brave. Which is totally awesome. However, the runs were to music and while setting up the PA system for it there was a lot of really loud popping noises. I didn't notice quick enough that it was upsetting Spencer since he was in his kennel. He wouldn't come out of the kennel, so I had to pull him out and carry him out and bench him in the car. He wouldn't even walk once we were in the parking lot, just was a puddle of terrified on the ground. Completely shut down.

I pulled Spencer from Steeplechase (Baxter ran fine and he's the one who has some mild noise issues at home with fireworks and thunder) but for his remaining 2 runs Spencer was distracted, stressed and not into playing the game at all. Couldn't get him to do his bounce or bark tricks that help improve his attitude. Nothing. He looked bad enough in the final Jumpers run that the Judge actually came over after the run to talk to me about his skipping/knee issue.

This sums up how life feels right now.
Mostly right, some extra junk cluttering stuff up and something always going wrong.

So lately agility has been all about the stress and not so much about the fun. Or at least I'm struggling with focusing on the fun stuff.

Baxter forgot how to weave in Olds. After working on his contacts all winter he LAUNCHED his DW contact from about 1/2 way down the plank on Sunday (yep, that'll definitely help those front end issues ...) Wet Creek flooded for 2 months, so no practice there. Snow JUST quit falling (it's May and there was snow on the ground last week) to open up Wet Noses for practice. No agility classes until I find another trainer/group I want to work with. Worried about Spencer's knee more now after the last trial. Spencer's behavioral issues have been problematic lately, so worried about him and his fearfulness - which doesn't help his stress and fear either I'm sure.

Yep. Just a little stressed about the dogs and dog sports in general lately.

Not really a play bow - captured mid "bark" trick. This is my little dog!
My happy, sassy, bad little black dog, not all cringing and terrified =(

Positive first post back after a hiatus right?!? But on the bright side, it can only get better from here.

Generalization in Training

 aka what they learned isn't always what we taught (or thought we taught.) Look what I found! Or in this case, remembered. More things I was going to blog about and then completely forgot.

Oh weave poles. Where to begin?

Since weaves were very difficult for me to teach Baxter, they were actually the first obstacle that Spencer learned. I figured if he could learn that, he could learn anything and possibly actually play agility - he LOVED them, and the rest as they say is history.

By that time I had 2 sets of 6 weaves, 1 set of 3 2x2's and 1 set of just 6 weaves, making 12 poles altogether. They have the thin little bases (about a inch across?) not heavy duty weaves by any means. Heavy duty weaves are the ones you will sometimes see in trials, depending on how much money the club has sunk into their equipment. Most of the clubs around here (2x4, Training Troop and Calgary Agility Association) have heavy duty weaves. The bases are a couple (3?) inches wide and the metal is way thicker, so that when the big dogs go through the weaves they don't bend all over the place and rip the stakes out
of the ground.

After I started trialing with Spencer I noticed that he was often very worried about the weaves, to the point where they are a least favorite obstacle (teeter and chute rank right up there too.) Which I found odd, as he LOVES them at home, and in the different green spaces I go practice at.

Not quite this amount of drive for weaves at a trial ...

Sometimes at practice or in trials he would be fine and other times not so much. I couldn't narrow it down to figure out the issue. Is it his leg/knee causing the issue? The angle of entry? Onside, offside, indoor venue, outdoor venue? What?!

Then Regionals. We'd done a few lessons prior to them and I had some good suggestions that were working well on improving his weaves in practice. At Regionals he was fine - however, that was the first time I noticed a correlation in between the weave bases and his performance. All 3 rings at Regionals were running thin weaves.

Fast forward to Nationals, or specifically the warm up ring at Nationals. The weaves had thick bases. My baby dog acted like he'd never seen a set of poles before in his life. At the time I didn't realize that toys are okay in the warm up ring, so I had nothing with me to use as a reward. Tried a few obstacles, then the weaves. Nope. Not weaving on those to save his life. We spent the entire time in the ring trying obstacles - weaves - more obstacles - more weaves. Nope, nope, nope.

Weaves? What weaves? I've never seen these before

After the debacle in the warm up ring I also had Steeplechase, just to warm both dogs up to actually running at the venue. Spencer's ring had thin weave bases, so I thought we'd be alright even if the course was 2 x12 weaves. Nope! Since the last time I tried to get him to weave was on those weaves with the bases that were apparently going to kill him, he refused twice on the poles the first time through until he realized that they were thin bases and then all was well. 2nd time through the weaves, not even a moment of hesitation since he knew they were "safe."

So, on to making the weaves at home harder and the bases more noticeable so that the don't phase him in a trial - and then to take that show on the road!

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 Championships - Part 2 The Trial and Results

Since this year was my first Regionals, it only follows that this was my first Nationals as well!

I was supposed to share hotel and benching with our friend and trainer Kim, but that plan changed when Spryte went into heat a couple of months earlier than anticipated. So now I was on my own - but agility is about you and your dog right? So I hoped it would be okay. Besides, there would be other people up there I would know and could hang out with - just no other people I had really trained with before.

Baxter making sure we're organized with the catalog

I also a little concerned about the layout, being able to find everything and about conflicts running Spencer in Regulars and then Baxter in Specials. This was a bit of an issue at Regionals, but since I sort of knew how to deal with it from Regionals I wasn't too worried about it for Nationals.

The trial venue was awesome. Really nice grass to run and exercise/play ball on. There was also a lake to swim in less than a 10 min walk away and some lovely pathways to walk the dogs on. Swimming at the lake was a hit until I accidentally threw Spencer's bumper into the cattails on Saturday and then wouldn't let him try to get it back (I couldn't see it and I didn't want him to drown if he got stuck in the plants.)

Nationals was an absolutely amazing experience.

Ribbons, ribbons everywhere!
L - Individual round placements 1-10th     R- Aggregate placement ribbons for each class 1-10th

We made some new agility friends with local and out of town people. From people going out to grab takeout supper to eat at the trial site, to joining buddies at the banquet, to random helpful strangers (who turned out to be running in 6" specials with Baxter) helping set up the shade tent.

The energy and tension during some events was just crazy. During the last day running the final 26" regular dogs there must have been over 100 spectators surrounding that ring - and when the top 10 dogs were running it got progressively quieter, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop for the final 2 dogs (who were 1st and 2nd place for that height.) The crowd cheering on the dogs with silent tension was crazy, like we were worried about distracting from a clean run.

Steeplechase Finals were just the opposite, same energy but now that energy was given sound. The fighter jet flyover (convenient timing!) doing The Wave around the ring waiting for the event to begin, watching some truly amazing dogs with fabulous handling and training.

Baxter - 2nd Overall in 6" Specials

I am so proud with how well my boys did at Nationals! We struggled through some things, realized others and grew as a team. Both dogs really tried for me and ran well in some pretty warm conditions. Both had moments of brilliance that will only get better! I figured out some more of the mental management side of things that I have taken for granted before, and like the dogs, will only get better!

After Regionals with Baxter and having no expectations, I did have some going into Nationals I won't lie. I wanted to hit the podium with him (like in the Olympics -  you get Gold, Silver or Bronze so I wanted 1-3 place.)

We did succeed.  Baxter placed 2nd overall in 6" Specials with 439.44 points. He was a good little Fluffy, but if bad luck had not befallen a fellow competitor in one of their rounds we would have been third. Still a very good placement in my mind, especially for our first Nationals with only 2 clean runs. We had a couple of little bobbles here and there, due to some handler nerves and some stress when Baxter wouldn't work away AT ALL in Gamble 1. Then towards the end of the weekend, more moments of brilliance, his Standards were lovely, weaves were great and he almost managed to get Gamble #2 just ran out of time (and then flew off the teeter ...)

Baxter with all his ribbons.
We were trying to do it like Pokemon and collect one of each placement.
We did get a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th! but then a 7th and 8th to ruined our chance to get a flush!

He also took 2nd in the Steeplechase #2 qualifier round, earning his first legit steeplechase Q on a course with 2x 12 weaves 3 seconds under SCT!

Spencer did amazing. He missed ending up in the aggregate placement ribbons by less than 6 points, placing 12th overall in 10" Regulars with 419.25 points, which is more than he earned at Regionals!  He did however earn a couple placements in individual runs, placing 7th in both his Jumpers runs and 4th in Standard 1!

For the dog that I thought was not going to weave at all at Nationals (a story for another time) to actually run and run well was enough of a achievement in and of itself. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I am so happy with my baby dog.

Spencer ran 3 clean rounds, and did better in Gamblers than he has before. I knew he was in 10th place going into the final Standard on Sunday and I am sure that I inadvertently screwed up his run with handler nerves too. So things to learn and work on for sure, but some great successes as well.

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

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)

Caution, High Voltage

Agility trials can be long (sometimes stressed out) days, espeically in the winter when you're spending anywhere from 9 to 12+ hours in a cold barn having gotten up at a unholy hour to be there and may be doing the same thing the next day (or alternatively, have done the same thing the day before.)

This post at The Other End of the Leash  blog was particularly interesting and insightful. It's not just the dogs getting tired and worn out by the long days at a trial, their handlers can be as well. Something that is important to keep in mind.

Trialing with a reactive/scared dog is it's very own unique experience. Spencer is still very much a reactive dog who has some issues with perceived personal space. He absolutely does not care if another dog is near by and is ignoring him completely, but it's when they stare or are interested in him that it is a problem. 

 

It's supposed to be just fun and games!

Since there are generally a significant number of herding breeds that are motion triggered to stare at fast moving things in agility, this can be a recipe for reactivity. He is small, so he mostly only poses a danger to himself, but that doesn't lessen my obligation to other competitors and their dogs to manage MY dog, so that we all have a good time.

Agility is about the fun of playing with your dog. No one needs the stress of a unwanted encounter or your dog getting stressed out and upset by another while waiting to run to overshadow that fun. Especially in a already potentially tense atmosphere. Be kind and courteous to your fellow competitors. Give everyone some space and go have fun with your dog!

Trial Weekend Review

Feb 16 & 17 was the the Calgary Agility Association's trial. We love this venue! CAA's trials are held at the Fez Dome. It's bright, warm and the footing is packed not loose, deep, dusty dirt. Benching is a little tight, but people tend to sit by their crates instead of hanging out upstairs away from the dogs and I like that better. Especially since Penny came both days to keep the boys company.

This weekend definitely started out a little rough. I blame the week of 10 hour days followed up with a 12 hour Friday for it. Hitting the agility trial with only 5 hours of sleep with a headache brought on by exhaustion is not a recipe for success.

I had such a hard time getting that feeling of connection with Baxter on Saturday. Lots of little things going just slightly wrong. Sloppy front crosses coupled with a dog fully intending to blind cross on you does not lead to pretty looking runs. We did have some lovely moments too though, his weaves were beautiful. I was able to plan good gamble paths to get the points we'd need to qualify if he got the final gamble (unlike the last trial where we got the final and didn't have enough points to Q.)

Baxter ended up with 3/8 Q's which seems to be our usual ratio. We got another Master Gamble on Sunday, which made the whole weekend worth while. He did an awesome job. So much in fact that I had to ad lib some obstacles on to the end of our opening because he finished 13 obstacles and the buzzer still hadn't gone! He was visibly tired (to me anyway) for the final Jumpers run on Sunday and still managed a very quick (for him) 4 yps. Very proud of my fuzzy one.

Spencer had a great weekend as well. He wasn't in for the full weekend, just 3 runs a day. He was looking quite sore the second day of the Jan trial so he won't be running full time in a trial for a while.

First run of the day was Jumpers. He was speedy and happy except for refusing the chute. I can't say that came as a surprise. After all of our work with strange chutes at Dignified Dogs and in class I was hoping would carry over to trialing but that was okay. As "usual" he did it after a refusal.

Our second run was Gamblers. He did awesome and qualified, giving him 2/3 Advanced Gambles, which is crazy - one more and he's in Masters Gamblers while still in Starter Standard! He also qualified in Advanced Snooker. Completing the teeter with the #7 flag sticking up right beside the pivot point which was worrying some dogs in starters and advanced.

Sunday the boys and I just clicked, Baxter got all 3 of his Q's on Sunday. But the shining moment was Spencer's Standard run. He was awesome and wanted to play. I was getting the dog I get at practice (not quite as fast and as unconcerned as when we practice in the yard, but he was actually driving to the obstacles.)

The chute was our first obstacle and he was worried about it. After a refusal he did it, but slowly. By the 3rd obstacle at the DW he was on! No more worries. His table was beautiful. On the way past the DW the second time to a tunnel under it he did flick away to take the DW, so I'll have to work on proofing that. Almost to the end of the run - just a jump left and I rear crossed to send him back into number 1 - the chute again. Not only did he read the cross nice, he hit the chute like he meant it and zipped right through it. We left to have a cookie party for the awesome chute.

I wasn't paying attention to the ring crew or judge at all but apparently they were very confused. He knows the chute, he isn't afraid of it. Rewarding directly after performing the obstacle the way I would like is the only way I can see to reward him for doing that obstacle. Right now ball and food rank higher than more agility obstacles so that's what I'm using! It was really awesome to have a couple of seasoned competitors tell me that doing the chute again and leaving was a great way to end the run.

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.

Oh baby dog

Spencer is so very much the baby dog. I find it cute. He'll get there eventually, but right now I have no expectations of him.

It's odd, I'd think I would? I did with Baxter. Maybe it's that Baxter had been training for a lot longer and I after hearing/deciding that we were ready I expected for us to do really good? Maybe it's just the difference in the boys and the fact I would have never thought that Spencer could do this? Or the fact I did it with Baxter and I'm not worried about it anymore. Who knows. It's a neat place to be though.

Spencer did well for how long we've been practicing. Most of our difficulties are a combination of him being a baby dog and not having the obstacle commitment that I think he should have. I just need to support Spencer a little bit more than I do. He's also learning to "read" what my hands are doing vs what my body is doing, so I need to be aware that lateral distance will likely pull him off of a obstacle regardless of what I am indicating with my hand. This is what makes jumpers challenging for us.

The rest is coming along.

The interesting part though, is the people at the CAA trial. Spencer was so scared I had people give him treats when he first started coming to trials with Baxter and I. What I neglected was to first tell him to go visit to get those treats, so he was the one initiating the visiting. I have said on a few occasions I would rather a dog that wants to go visit people rather than one who is scared of them, and apparently Spencer heard that!

He went visiting ring crew and judges in pretty much every run, or thought about it. In fact, in one of his gamblers once I got his attention over the second jump in the gamble, you can see him notice the timer/scribe right on the other side of the jump and go see them, not even looking at me for any further handling commands.

Oops!

The other thing I need to keep in mind is that this is Spencer, not Baxter and I need to work on tugging in/around the arenas as a reward. He loves it, but since I dropped the ball a little on his early training I get a lot of don't wanna, don't hafta moments. If I want the toy to be rewarding in agility, I need to keep using the toy in agility and not just go with food because it's easier.

In the Nov Whee Wed trial yesterday Spencer ran in his first advanced Gamble and then in Steeplechase for fun.

We've made some headway with running off to visit. He had a really good line to go visit a couple of times but was a good little dog and stuck with me.

I do very much need to work on his distance skills and my distance handling skills. Advanced gambles are a whole lot less easy than the starter ones! Round obstacles are also a focus for the next little bit. He keeps dekeing off of the chute at the last second, but will go through once I send him again, which not quite the chute performance I want to be rehersing. Rear crosses into tunnels and tunnels in general are also going to be a big thing. Most small dogs love tunnels, so we'll work on tunnel love and speed through them.

So many things to do! But he's a fun little dog, it'll be a blast when he really gets it and it's the journey that's fun!

Getting there

Baxter and I are starting to get there as a team. I've got a fairly good idea of what he understands well and what I have done a less than stellar job of teaching/proofing - like his running dog walk or independent contact obstacle performance. Since Baxter is a small dog, as a handler I am forgiven a multitude of sins - but we have a different set of struggles that large or drivey dogs don't see.(I suppose the word is actually driven, but I like my word better!) 

Yep - this is another gamble post!

Gamblers is likely my least favorite game. Ranks right up there with Steeplechase. Mostly because my dog and I struggle with it.

It took 6 months for Baxter to get his first Starters Gamblers Q. I try not to think about that often, but as we're moving up getting closer to that big title it's on my mind a little. There is always that one last thing you're stuck on to get your ATChC - usually a game since you play fewer of those and it's just a numbers thing. With Baxter I'm fairly sure it's going to be Gamblers and not just because it's a numbers thing.

Since I know distance is a weakness it is something I'm working on. I've done several distance work classes and it's something I try to practice each time I'm out with the dogs. Happily, there are a lot of failed gambles in my little collection of course maps that I can draw from!

The other thing I find a struggle with gamblers is planning a path and getting enough points. It's bad enough that the gamble itself is hard, but getting enough points for the run to qualify IF you manage to get the gamble is a stress in and of itself. I find my biggest quandary is the mini gambles. They're the quickest way to get the points, but if your dog struggles with the mini's they're a huge time suck and a motivation suck for your dog as well if they become frustrated or confused about your handling and then disconnect just in time for that buzzer to go. But, not enough points and it doesn't matter if you get the final gamble. It's catch 22 type situation.

However, I had a great time with both Gambles runs at CAA's Remembrance Weekend Trial (my name for the trial, not theirs!)  Come to think of it now, I've had good luck with CAA's trials and gamblers runs. Baxter actually got his first 2 Starters Gambles to get his SGDC title at their trial in Feb!

Our first gamblers run was good. I found a good path, tried a mini that I didn't need to get as a actual mini for enough points and was even able to "practice" the weaves for the Standard run following Gamblers. As if that wasn't enough, I not only got to have my cake I got to eat it too, when he actually got the final gamble. Walking the course and looking at the map I thought the final would be harder for the small dogs than the large ones, but the off course teeter/jump discrimination on the gamble actually favored the little guys.

The gamble on the second day was much more challenging for us. The mini gambles were both tough independent contact obstacles (Aframe and dogwalk) and I was beginning to panic about a plan. So I talked to a friend, actually, the same friend I talked to this time, in the summer when I was struggling. She didn't point out a plan, just talked about hers, but she wasn't worried that her dog couldn't do the mini's either. I stopped freaking out in my mind and built a nice little path for my dog to get his points once I wasn't blinded by panic/worry.

No, really no one else would be walking "my" path, but the whole point in agility is to know and run YOUR dog. So I did. I even had a sneaky "cheater" part to my plan to show him the hard pieces of the gamble in a legal manner.

Long story short, we did a good opening path. He had enough points. We were in a good position when the buzzer went. We didn't get the gamble, but that was okay. On our way off the course the judge told us it was a good opening. I was happy with that. Heck, I was more than happy, I was ecstatic with that! I'm moving in the right direction. I honestly was thought I'd need to put him into veterans for more time/fewer points needed because we just weren't making enough points in the time. Now, it's a maybe, not a for sure thing.

And I'm slowly learning the mental management side of the game. I didn't screw up either of our jumpers runs, which are usually the hardest to memorize because of how twisty they are! There is still much more work to be done as I messed up the easy part on Team and totally gave him the wrong handling directions in Challenge, but it doesn't feel like a insurmountable challenge anymore!

Fantabulous ...

... and late. This cold, dark winter stuff is not helping me stay up and write blog posts!

The weather Nov 10 & 11 might have been brutal (-20*C is not good for dog feet) but the weekend itself was awesome!

Spencer's vet appt on Thurs yielded favorable news. I was mentally prepared to hear he had  a grade 3/4 luxating patella, needed surgery and that any strenuous physical activity was out for the foreseeable future. The vet couldn't actually get his knee to pop out, since Spencer was pretty tense. There was more movement in his right vs his left so we went home with some glucosamine supplements and exercises to help strengthen his leg muscles and allow them to help hold his knee in place. As for activity, his behavior/performance should be a guide. For now we'll try the exercises and some rehab/physical therapy and hopefully hold the deterioration off and prevent the need for surgery.

The trial was almost as awesome as the news from the vet. I didn't get any pictures, but I did get video once I have a few free minutes to edit it!

The boys were fantastic. Baxter was so hyped to be playing agility again. He did very well and was very enthusiastic. He came home with 2 Master Jumpers, 1 Master Standard and 1 Master Gamblers Q's, so 4/8 runs, which is a whole lot better than we've been doing in the Q department recently! My performance with Baxter is a little hit and miss - "his mistakes" were really mostly all handler error, but I think I am getting a bit better?

Spencer was a awesome little dog for being in a new venue. He was a little nervous about the venue and had issues with pottying on Sat night/ Sun morning until our awesome agility friend let us borrow some of her fantastic dog booties so he could go poop in the snow. He was quite the baby dog with some silly little moments, but all in all I think he did fantastic. Looking back I realize that I should have done a lot more playing with him between/before runs, and getting him to tug, but he did very well.

Since I'm still working on his teeter, he was just entered in the games where I can avoid that obstacle without just running him past it. He ended up coming home with 2 Q's in Starter Gamblers and 1 Starter Snooker, Qing in 3/5 runs. So different from Baxter who didn't get a gamble for 6 months (I'm sure it helps that I know a little better what I am doing now!) In the exact opposite though, Jumpers is much harder with Spencer than it was with Baxter.