Two Dogs and an AKC Trial

This past Sat. I competed in an AKC trial with both Gidget and Gracie!  I was worried how Gracie would do at a bigger trial, but the location is so familiar to her now that it was no big deal!  She got a little upset when my mom's dog arrived and got in the kennel next to hers, but she quickly got over that.  She really got upset when my parents' neighbor and her dog came to check out the trial (she'll be learning agility soon too!).  I'm not really sure why as she's fine when other dogs walk by her kennel, I guess this one hung out too close for just too long.  Luckily she recovered quick enough.

First up was Gidget's Exc A standard run.  Those Exc A STD Q's are hard to come by, we only have one so far.  The run was going well up until the weaves.  It was a straight entry, table, wing jump, weaves.  I think I just didn't set myself up to converge as much as I needed to and she ran past the entry.  Then I'm not sure what happened at the jump before the dog walk, but she refused that at first too.  I'm relatively certain she jumped the dog walk contact too, but the judge didn't call it.  She did everything else nicely, though at her own pace.  The teeter bounced when it came down and she looked rather concerned, so we'll have to get some good easy teeter practice in before her next trial so she can forget that event.  Here's the video:

Gracie's first AKC run was up next!  Nov B STD.  We had no issues while waiting our turn and she ran quite well.  I was worried about the off course tunnel straight ahead of the A-frame and a jump, but she turned with me perfectly.  She needed a second attempt at the weaves, but then did them just fine.  I hadn't considered the dog walk as a potential off course choice (duh!) but she did!  The brilliant pup also decided to jump of the top of the up ramp before I could get to her and guide her back down.  Thankfully no harm done.  Then some quick sniffing of some tunnel bags at the side of the ring before the tunnel.  The rest of the course went really well and she got a 1st place Q!  There were a bunch of obstacles she hadn't seen at a trial before: chute, weaves, broad jump, table, and teeter!  She did them all without issue!  Here's the video:

Next was Gidget's first Exc B JWW run.  Not much to say about it besides it was a lovely run.  Still need to work on speed but otherwise it couldn't have gone better.  No placement ribbon, but a Q and 3 whole MACH points!  Gotta start somewhere!  Here's the video:

Last was Gracie's Nov B JWW run.  She went around the first jump for some reason.  I guess a bit of a "C" set is better for her for now, that or I needed to be ahead of the wing jump before releasing her.  We fixed that glitch and the rest of the course was perfect!  She even got her weaves on the first attempt!  She got a 2nd place Q!  Here's the video:

I'm very proud of my girlies.  Gracie's stress is decreasing with every trial.  There's an A match in the area in July that I think I might try Gracie in.  It will be smaller so it'll be a good chance to see how Gracie will do in a new location.  I don't know if I'll ever completely figure out Gidget, mostly when it comes to speed.  As long as she seems happy to run with me I'll be happy with her!  Happy agility!

Grace O'Malley CL1-R

Gracie and I competed in another CPE trial on Sat.  Gracie was awesome!  Adding tricks while waiting and at the start line changed her start line attitude completely!  She sat, watched me, and was ready to go.  The stress she used to display at the start line at trials (and sometimes at class) was almost all gone!  Wildcard was up first.  I didn't get a course map until after I walked it so I was rather confused about what was A and what was B.  At least I knew we needed two A's and a B.  The first choice was the dog walk (B) or a tunnel and a tire (A).  It was a contact/tunnel discrimination and I wasn't sure if Gracie would do it, but she did!  She followed me perfectly to the tunnel.  The next choice was a double jump that was nicely lined up in the curve of jumps (B) or a single jump that would have involved a front cross or pull to get to (A).  I had Gracie do the B jump thinking it was an A (you would think the easier path would be an A right? nope).  Actually all the A's were more difficult than the B's, that doesn't make sense to me.  Anyways, after that choice Gracie went around a jump to go take the A-frame which was the B option of the last choice (A was a tunnel parallel to the A-frame).  I called her back to do the jump she missed and continued over the A-frame and over the last couple jumps.  She ran wonderfully and would have Q'd had I gotten another A obstacle in there, even with the wrong course.  I was still really happy with her run!  My videographer (my mom) was having an early morning brain fart and couldn't remember how to work my camera, so no video of that run, oh well.

Next up was standard.  Once again nice happy behavior at the start line!  This run was pretty much perfect!  I almost sent her around a jump again, but stopped my motion just enough that she went "Oh, I should take that jump!"  We ended up with a 1st place (she was the only 20" level 1 dog but that doesn't matter) Q and Gracie's very first title!  Here's the video:

Last was jumpers.  Last time we tried jumpers Gracie got the zoomies and that was that.  Gracie stayed right with me this time, for most of it anyways.  She took a wide turn at a pinwheel and hit the standard of a jump, knocking the bar.  She totally had this "Oh crap!" look in her eyes as she was going over that jump.  We pulled it back together for a minute, but a bar setter was sitting right in line with the tunnel so Gracie had to go say hi.  She quickly came back to me to finish the course for another 1st place Q!  Video:

I was worried that our weekend wouldn't go very well since our weekend started with a very close call.  I got to my parents' house where Gidget is allowed to be off leash pretty much all the time.  I put Gracie on our Flexi leash so she'd have some room to run and go potty.  That's when the neighbor dog made an appearance.  She was in her own yard focused on playing with her owner, but Gidget considered both dog and owner friends and wanted to go say hi.  Gracie got worked up and felt she needed to follow.  She ran around a tree and the Flexi snapped!  I don't know why she did it, but I'm very grateful that she didn't go straight towards the other dog.  She turned between the cars and the neighbor was able to put his foot on what was left of the Flexi.  I caught up, apologized (he was very understanding), took the leash and headed inside.  Gracie calmed down enough that the next day went well.  After the trial (and a nap) Gracie even went on a walk with me, my mom, Gidget, and one of my parents' dogs.  That went well and the dogs all had a good time.  Just have to keep an eye out for those close calls and do my best to prevent them.  Happy agility!

Running Contacts

Gidget and I had a chance to practice what I learned at the Daisy Peel seminar on running contacts on Wed. night.  We started on a carpet.  It's tricky to watch for the proper gait, so I videoed our turns so I could practice looking for Gidget's back feet split apart at the end of the carpet.  She does jump over the end of the carpet a couple times, but it's cool to see how often she gets it right on!

Next we moved on to practicing on a plank up on a table.  Gidget again caught on pretty quickly.  She did do a funky hop with her back feet over the yellow zone while still getting one or two front paws in the yellow.  She was too quick to see it during practice, didn't notice until I watched the video!  Gidget was pretty excited about the Manners Minder, but I did have a little bit of trouble sending her to it now and then.  The instructor had me add a target cue.  Saying "go touch" worked but we'll have to phase it out at some point.

We have another running contacts class next Wed.  Might not video that one, but I'll give a good update.  Happy agility!