Dog Days of Summer - Trial Review

Aug 8 & 9 was a big agility trial put on by 2 agility clubs/schools in the area. Hosted at Wet Noses, they ran 2 rings. One ran Masters all day, the other Starters/Advanced.

It was a really nice trial despite the swarms of mosquitoes and the 30°C heat both days.

Tired beasties after the trial during pack up (otherwise the 3 don't share a "kennel"

Very happy with my boys. Baxter only needed one more Standard to finish off his Expert Silver Standard to achieve his Silver Award of Merit after the Top Spot trial in Indus, so we finished those titles this weekend.

Smug Fluff

Due to the setup, they actually ran 10 Masters runs for the full weekend. 11 if you entered both Steeplechase! I thought that 11 might be a bit much to ask of Baxter, but did enter him in 9 runs - 4 on Saturday and then 5 on Sunday. What I should have done was flipped that - 5 on Sat and then 4 Sun. I could tell he was tired from the start on Sunday, which had the most runs.

I think I'll stick with my designation of Veterans being "EZMode" agility. Even being slow on Sunday AND knocking a bar in Steeplechase Baxter finished about 5 seconds under time and Q'd.

In fact, he qualified in 6/9 runs this weekend - where 2 of those NQ's were Gambles that nearly no one got. I am also sticking with my disgust with Gambles for "ruining" our Q rate. We'll keep entering them to stay in practice for Regionals, but ugh, donation runs! His only other mistake was really mine due to handling where I pushed him into a tunnel instead of up the DW on a discrimination in a Standard run.

Spencer ran really well in the heat all things considered. He ended up 3/7 runs. One of those runs was the most beautiful Standard. I wish I had video of it. We didn't Q, but I couldn't have been happier with my little dog!

Most people ran this and with DOL wrapped them around 19, either post turning or as a FC. I don't like wrapping my dogs. They do better in extension, and I actually liked the line better 19 to 20 on the path I drew on the course map above. The problem is it felt horrible awkward sending 19 as a throw back threadle. So I ran DOL 17-18-19 then sent the dogs over 19 from the take off side (at the X) and picked them up on a front cross so they stayed DOL to finish.

Both dogs read it nice, but Spencer was spot on perfect. It felt so good, despite the fact I had already messed him up and we E'd when he went back up the DW instead of into tunnel 14. Most beautiful E run ever! I actually want to set this up sometime where I can video and time it. I feel it's faster to stay in extension, and my dogs run my speed, so I think my handling was appropriate - but I wonder about other ways. It would be interesting to test!

Break!

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.

Training Troop - March St. Paddy's Day Trial

It has been a LONG, LONG time since I've done a Training Troop Trial. Over 2 years I think!

Last weekend the boys and I did their March Trial. So happy with the dogs. Less happy with my own mental game and connection with the dogs. As always, things to work on. But then, when aren't there?!?

Trialing is exhausting ...

Baxter ran full time, 8 runs for the 2 days. I completely forgot that I intended to drop him into Veterans starting this year, so he ran Specials. I'm also questioning dropping him and then questioning my questioning of it.

I just need to send the papers in and stop thinking too much. Really it isn't making that much of a difference, it'll just improve his Q rate. If it dropped him a jump height it would be a no brainer, but since it just buys us some extra time I'm not sure of how much of a point it is?

Spencer ran 7 out of 8 runs, so in everything but Challenge. Which almost doesn't make sense. He LIKES international stuff that involve a lot of handling, but sometimes the environment shuts him down, so I don't want to drag him around the course.

Baxter was running pretty good, but 2x 12 weaves put us overtime by a couple seconds on Sunday Steeplechase. He made a few funny little mistakes on runs. Took a couple front sides of jumps blatantly blind crossing me when handling clearly indicated backside/throwback threadle. So not sure with BC's and the Fluff, some proofing to do. I might have disconnected a bit? Assuming that my dog, who has this behavior cold would do it, so naturally he does not. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Next time!

We ended up Q'ing 3/8, which is about our usual ratio. Timed out in Snooker, Overtime in Steeplechase which would have both been Q's if we were Vets instead of Specials. He did get 2 mini's in Gamblers but the main was a teeter directly away from the handler not even parallel, so I was pretty sure that one wasn't going to happen (and it sure didn't.)

We did get 2x Standard though, which is exciting, since he just needs the Standard's for his Silver Merit now and we're getting closer! We also picked up another Jumpers. He loves his Jumpers =)

Baxter's EXJ Silver Title Ribbon from Dec

What I need though, is more "presence" on course. I tend to run quietly, but in practice I notice I talk more to the dogs. At the trail I don't think I did, and that might have been why Baxter did strange things. More energy. So I think I'm bringing a iPod next time and during walk throughs I need to tune everything out, concentrate on my dogs, their courses and what I am saying/cueing when. Memorize, visualize and then execute. Because we've TRAINED this. We KNOW this. We CAN SO DO this!

I was so super proud of my baby Black Dog! He was so BRAVE. All weekend. Moments of worry. More moments of irritating residual reactive behaviors from the issues with the prospective new dog that didn't work out. But SO MUCH brave. Enough so that I had a dog to run for all 4 runs on Sunday.

We had teeters! We had a DW breakthough!! Where he was worried it was the teeter one run and paused on the up ramp and the next he JUST DID IT. Even though we had done the teeter first. I was slowing down to support him on it and he just blew past me and nailed his contact. SUCH a brave little black dog! We had so much awesome!!

I did this trail with him waiting/hiding in his kennel at the start line until the last second before we went into the ring. We played crate game, nose touching, even got some barking at me before the run (while hiding in his crate, but still!) He needs to feel safe to be happy and with all the environmental sensitivities and crowding at the gate he just doesn't. The crate helps so much! So we'll see.

Spencer Q'd in everything that Baxter did, picking up 2 Standard and a Jumpers to finish his Expert Bronze Jumpers title.

EXJ Bronze

I lost him on a jumpers course on the easy part, where of course he did the part Baxter did wrong flawlessly. If it's not a straight away, Spencer can't drive a line at a trial because I am not handling "enough" in his mind.

Pinwheels are his worst enemy (Baxter's too now that I think about it.) Spencer worries that he is wrong and will pull off a jump somewhere, or just creep around the pinwheel at a walk. Now that I think about it, this bit us in the butt big time at Nationals in 2013 when it knocked us out of the ribbons due to some silly refusals on a pinwheel in Standard 2.

So. We're working this pattern at home and when I can at classes, but I'm also adjusting my handling for the little black dog. He needs more "me," I can do that! Not the most orthodox handling, and not necessarily what I would suggest for another team, but Spencer is special and sometimes you need special handling for that!

Top Spot Agility Fundraiser

What to say when there isn't much you want to actually put out there for the world to read?

Contrary to what the blog looks like, we've actually been doing things the past few months. It hasn't even been so crazy that I couldn't blog.

But I'll leave that for the next post.

This weekend was the first trial for a new agility group in our area as well as a fundraiser for one of our local competitors going to the WAO.

I was totally excited to enter this trial since both dogs were in a position to get new title ribbons from a new club if the stars had aligned for us.

It was a great weekend (Sunday?) for us, and an awesome way to end the holiday week. Both boys did wonderful. I think it has really helped that we've been working some drills and skills at an arena rental on the weekend as well as our usual running the course and working the rough stuff in class.

Spencer has lots of moments of brilliance and gave me some enthusiasm after nearly shutting down several times, so progress. He did have a moment in his almost clean and lovely standard run where the dog walk was too scary, but I'm attributing that to teeter issues.

We didn't get a refusal on the jump wrapping back to the A-Frame and the K-Turn over the wing into the weaves wasn't terrible (it's better in training than in competition) AND I still had a dog left after we conquered the scary DW. I'm also proud of how I handled him missing that last jump (not caring.) We're going for confidence and enthusiasm! I do need to stop flapping my hand to "throw" him over the jumps though. Out and forward, no flapping!

He managed 4 runs, 2 standard and 2 jumpers. In his first jumpers I didn't have a lot of enthusiastic Spencer to work with, and we were a little over time. However he pulled it back together for the last jumpers run of the day and not only ran with some enthusiasm, he also qualified!

Baxter was a furry little rock star this weekend going 3/4 and placing first in his runs. He jumped a DW contact in his second standard, reminding me that if I'm going to get his contacts by managing them (since he just is not understanding when he is wrong during retraining) I'd better actually MANAGE them, not just flake out!

Baxter managed one more title in 2014, finishing his Expert Jumpers Silver (25 Master Jumpers Q's) this trial. Sadly, we didn't get a title ribbon from a new club yet, Fionavar K9 sponsored the ribbons for this trial, but it was still awesome! Love my little Fluff! Love both of my agility boys really, they're very different dogs but good little dogs!

 It's amazing how together we can look when I actually practice handling drills with my dogs!

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!

Last Outdoor Trial of the Season

This weekend was gorgeous! We hit the Flashing Canines trial down in Redcliff for the last outdoor trial of the season.

There was a local trial this weekend as well, but it was an indoor venue and the last time we trialed at that particular location Spencer sensitized to some noises (clapping and crinkling/snapping of cheap plastic water bottles) and ended up shutting down - so I wanted our next trial to be a little bit less stressful for him and he likes outside better.

Instead of hoteling it, I was able to borrow the parent's truck and trailer and camp at the trial site, which was awesome! So nice to not have to plan/pack lunch or snacks etc, if you're hungry, just wander back to the trailer and make something!

The boys both did very well, each coming home with a new title and I'm very happy with them!

Baxter and I had a couple of bobbles all centering around the dogwalk and tunnels under it. He got sucked into a tunnel vortex 3 times on a gamble he would have gotten - having some pretty fantastic issues with that discrimination! Then in team he pulled off the tunnel he looked like he was committed to (bad handler?) to try to take the dogwalk instead. And finally on Sunday morning when my brain apparently couldn't engage  and I tried to rear cross a tunnel under the dogwalk (instead of the front cross that I walked) he pulled out of it instead of continuing through. So apparently we need to practice a little bit more!

He did however, get his last Steeplechase Q for his MSCDC title that has been over 3 years in the making! So proud of my Fluff, and very happy we were able to finish this title as Specials instead of after moving to Vets where qualifying is easier due to the added time they get.

He ended up qualifying 4/8 runs. 2x Jumpers, Steeplechase and a Snooker, but none of the faults in the other runs were due to weaves or DW contacts, so that's good!

Spencer did very well this weekend as well. Not as driven as he can be, but still happy enough to play despite the heat. I also got some tugging by where we were benched - which is huge for us.

As we've focused on in Trial Applications, I'm trying to handle with more intensity and connect with him and make sure I'm cueing early so he knows where he is going next. We had a little bobble in Jumpers where I didn't support quite enough and he pulled off, as well as a jumped DW contact in Gamblers where I was too far ahead of him.

Spencer ended up finishing his Master Snooker Dog of Canada (MSDC) title leaving us with just one more title to finish for his ATChC! It would have been really cool to finish it with the club that he started trialing with, but that just wasn't meant to be it seems.

He qualified in 4/6 runs (he doesn't do full trials because of his patella issues, 3 runs a day only) Getting Q's in; Jumpers, Steeplechase, Standard and the Snooker. His times are pretty consistent with Baxter's, even though he could be much faster. We didn't have too many stressed out moments at this trial, but I made a point of having him in his kennel near the ring gate until the last minute.

All in all a fantastic weekend! And 2 new ribbons to add to my title ribbon from different clubs collection! (Baxter's is the old style/colors and Spencer's is their new style/colors)

Bronze Award of Merit & Trial Review

Oh wow, so this is 2 months late but, better late than never, right?!

Baxter earned his first post ATChC title, the Bronze Award of Merit at the Nationals warm up trial on 20-July before we left for vacation and I didn't even realize it. He also finished his ExSt Bronze at the same time. I might not have even realized it now, except someone told me at Nationals!

In my defense though, I didn't realize that Challenge Q's can count towards Standard runs once you are into post-ATChC titles. I knew he only had a few more standards to go, but I thought we still needed 3 to finish both those titles. Hyper Hounds trials are good luck apparently.

 I guess it's good that we got something out of his 1 qualifying round out of the 6 we were entered in.

They were nice courses. There are some judges out there who just make some really nice courses, there is still a challenge, don't get me wrong, but some courses are just more fun than others. These were nice courses. Baxter ran well and should really have come away with 3/6, but he was called on a dog walk contact that I thought was alright and then he was over time on a jumpers course. Either way there were some nice moments in all of them, some good distance on gambles (just not on the main gamble of course) good weaves on the standards.

This is the second time that he has been over time on Jumpers and it concerns me a little. There were no obvious bobbles or sloppy, loopy lines/handling. Maybe I could have been faster, I'm not sure? Maybe it was just that he was a little tired coupled with how crazy hot it was. Maybe I'll have to make the move into vets sooner rather than later. Hopefully it was just too hot for him.

I had also entered Spencer in the 6 runs, which I should have known better. He doesn't have very good heat tolerance and I usually only run him in 3 a day at a regular trial. Why I thought 6 was a good idea is beyond me looking back it it. I also didn't fully realize how bad he is in the heat, so at least this showed me exactly how little heat tolerance he has when working (as opposed to chasing a ball in a field) before we went to Nationals. I ended up pulling Spencer from his last 2 Jumpers runs because he was not looking happy at all. I know I can probably drag my unwilling dog around the course, but I want him to run with enthusiasm and be happy out there!

So we pulled. But I learned a few things. That's what it's all about right? The journey. Slowly we're getting there, my baby dog and I. He's getting more confident as time goes on. Kind of reminds me of this article I recently saw posted on Facebook. No we're not perfect, but we're learning as we go.

We also had fun hanging out at the BBQ after the trial. Spencer got to play, or at the very least interact appropriately off leash with 6 Shelties. Baxter was okay with it until we went in the house and he was supposed to stay outside, and Penny didn't get lost (she's tiny, it's often a concern!)

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)

Worth 1000 Words: II

This weekend was Training Troop's St. Pawddy's Day March Trial. 

My boys did very well. 

More trial review later!

 

Baxter: MSDC (Masters Snooker Dog of Canada)

 

Spencer: ADC (Agility Dog of Canada)

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.

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.

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