Rally and Obedience

Gracie tried some more WCRL Rally on Sat. and Gidget gave CDSP obedience another try on Sun.  It was a really good weekend!

Gracie was signed up for Level 1 A in two trials on Sat.  The course itself was nothing tricky, I just had a few things I needed to remember: talk to Gracie and get her attention before turns, keep the leash loose, and have fun!  Our first run was wonderful!  I remembered everything and we only lost one point when Gracie stopped to sniff something (a fuzzy?) on the floor.  WCRL scores runs out of 200 points with an optional bonus exercise worth 10 points, so we got a 209.  So did another team!  In the A level they don't use time as a tie-breaker, they do a run-off.  A run-off consists of the first 6 signs of the course.  I liked the nice short positive experience for Gracie in the ring.  We went second and won!  So Gracie got a first place Q!  The judge had some very nice things to say about us while handing out ribbons.  She said we were a good example for handlers with stressy dogs.  Her comments meant a lot to me, since it's still amazing to me that Gracie can even be in a building full of dogs like that!  The picture is the comments on our score sheet.

Our second run didn't start quite as smoothly.  Maybe because I didn't give her a treat at the start line before we set off.  We lost 3 points for a tight leash in the first few signs.  Oops!  Guess I forgot one of the things I was supposed to remember.  I do choke up on the leash some as we go, I know at half the signs I would pause and pull some of the leash out of my hands.  There was one point in the course that I had to stop and untangle Gracie before continuing.  I had no idea if we'd lose points for that or not (we didn't) and Gracie was good and held her down while I got the leash out from under her.  Didn't want to continue with a tangled dog.  We got a 207 and another 1st place for Gracie RL1 title!  WCRL also has an Award of Excellence for the A level.  The rule book says "Requires 1st 3 Q's of 190 or higher from 1A class."  To me that sounds like any teams first three clean runs, not 1st place runs so I think we earned that (Gracie's first Q back in Apr. was another 207 but a 2nd place).  Not sure how that looks as a title either.  Just another way to show that Gracie is awesome and I'm so proud of her!

I decided to give CDSP obedience another try with Gidget for several reasons.  One, CDSP is a fun, relaxed, small organization that would be easier for us to be calm and have fun in.  Two, they allow treats in the ring.  Three, Gidget and I have been having tons of fun in our obedience class.  Four, I wanted to try something to see how we're doing as far as trialing goes.

Gidget seemed to being doing well in our warm ups.  I was pretty darn nervous though.  I tried really hard to calm myself down.  Gidget was also wearing an Adaptil (good doggy pheromones) collar.  We got in the ring, the judge asked us if we were ready, I made extra certain that I had Gidget's attention, and then we were off.  I was in awe!  Gidget was right there with me, keeping eye contact, looking happy, and prancing!  I couldn't believe it!  The on leash heeling went wonderfully, though the judge just about ran us into the ring gate.  We lost a few points for lagging/wide heeling, but nothing horrible and nothing I care about right now.  Next was the off leash figure 8.  Our last time doing this exercise was not pretty, and even in class we've been struggling the most with this.  No problems this time!  Once again I couldn't believe that this was my dog working with me!  She did so well!  Only lost one point.  We started messing up a little after this.  The moving stand for exam started well, but Gidget spotted something on the floor just as I went to tell her to stand.  So I said used two commands and she was really crooked (lost 4 points), but she stayed perfectly for the exam as usual.  Last up was our recall, and boy was she having a good time by this point!  She was so excited that she got up and started towards me as soon as I turned around.  Oops!  NQ for the anticipated recall.  She also jumped up on me before sitting in a crooked front costing us a few more points.  Oh well, I'll take the my dog is too happy problem over our past stress issues any day!  I'm very proud of my pup and happy with how I handled the day as well.  There will definitely be more obedience in our future and hopefully we'll get back to agility again soon too!  Happy training!

 

 

 

More Soccerblast!

Gracie and I were back at Soccerblast, not this past weekend but the weekend before.  I'm getting behind on my trial reports!  We had a good time, no high stress moments, and nice runs that I messed up mostly.

The runs were in opposite order from what we're used too, JWW first.  This was Gracie's very first Masters JWW run!  It went wonderfully!  I know she can go faster than that, but that's stress related (so far as I can tell) and is improving.  Gracie earned her first 7 MACH points in this run!  Here's the video:

Exc STD was up next (no Qs here yet).  The run was lovely, but Gracie skipped the last two weave poles.  Video:

We had a third run that first day, T2B!  I love doing T2B with Gracie!  We had a nice run, though we did have to repeat the weaves.  We got a Q and 2 pts. 

Sun. had the same run order.  Gracie was pumped for her first run which made it easy for me to push her around a jump.  That and repeating the weaves threw me off and the rest of the run was just messy.  We completed the course but got a few R's.  That first part of the run was really nice though and I was happy with her attitude.

Last but not least, Sun. Exc STD.  I went and messed up Gracie on this one, she did everything perfectly, including her weaves!  There was a serpentine and I tried to do a backy-uppy at the third jump for a tighter turn toward the A-frame, but forgot to say jump.  She came into me instead of taking the jump.  Really I don't need to be trying to be all fancy in trials like that (especially in STD) until Gracie's confidence is way up.  Sorry I messed you up Gracie!

Gracie seems to be following Gidget's footsteps when it comes to Exc STD, which of course makes me think it's something I'm doing, but I don't know what.  Probably some sort of mental block.  I've got to figure something out to keep Gracie's Exc/Mas career from being a repeat of Gidget's.  Then I need to get Gidget back and get her moving forward.  Not thinking about it too much may be a good place to start.  Happy agility, remember!

Soccerblast Weekend

Gracie and I were back at Soccerblast last weekend for two whole days of agility!  I've never done two days of an AKC agility trial in one weekend like that (Gidget did two days of the TDAA trial in May but otherwise it's always been one day).  It was nice to think, "There's always tomorrow!" after my runs on Sat.

I didn't plan well for the gate area for our first run.  It was our first try at Exc STD.  I saw a dog free spot in the chairs so we went and sat down, but we were soon surrounded by dogs.  One in front of us play growling with it's handler, one wanting to walk right past us, one next to us, and one or two behind us.  Ugh!  We sat there for a lot longer than I thought we would with the stress building.  When it got close to our turn I ask Gracie to jump into my arms so I could carry her past another dog.  Of course Miss Dramatic decided I was carrying her wrong and yelped just before I was going to set her down.  Once we were actually in line, a dog ahead of us came running out of the ring!  More ugh!  We finally made it out to the ring, phew!  Considering the stress Gracie did pretty well.  She touched the contact zone on the A-frame but didn't stick her "bottom," didn't complete the weaves, and ran past the last jump.  The first two I blame on stress and lack of proofing for stress, the last one was mostly my handling.

 

 

Exc JWW was up next.  I planned the gate area much better.  I had my mom right with me as a helper and waited until much closer to Gracie's turn to get her out.  We just had to hop right into line along the wall, wait a run or two, and then we were up!  I think I got to close to her while she was weaving and she popped out near the end, so NQ.  I did have to call her off the triple and she seemed to be in the second tunnel a lot longer than she should have been, then she almost ran out of the ring at the end (thank goodness for a strong recall!).  Minor issues in an otherwise very nice run.  I even got a blind cross in there!



 

 

So no Qs on Sat. but if you could get Qs for the gate area, we got one before JWW.

 

Sun. started with STD again and I implemented the same plan in the gate area and it went very smoothly.  Unfortunately I almost set us up wrong at the start line which threw me off so I ended up pulling her off the second jump.  Oops!  The rest of the course went great!  She almost did "bottom" with the help of a front cross after the A-frame, she sat on the table (normally she prefers to stay standing), she got all her weaves on her second try, and she took a glance at the judge but came right back and finished the course with me.  Another nice, almost there, run.  The video is in black and white because I forgot to change my camera settings back after taking pictures of the score sheets.



 

 

Last run of the weekend was beautiful!  It felt so good and people said it looked good too!  Unfortunately my camera batteries died in the middle of it!  It was perfect and earned Gracie her AXJ!  Made the whole weekend worth it!  Can't wait to go back in a couple weeks.

 

Things to work on: figure out how to proof for stress for 2o2o on the A-frame and the weaves.

 

The other day I sent in registrations for AKC agility at Soccerblast in Aug. and La Crosse in Sept. (we'll be in La Crosse in Oct. and Nov. too).  Gracie is going to take two tries at Rally (WCRL) at the end of the month and hopefully get her RL1 title.  Gidget is going to take one try at CDSP obedience to see how we're coming along.  (Gracie Rally on Sat. and Gidget obedience on Sun.)  Lots of fun coming up!