Cloud 9 just started their second TDAA serial trial last night. How a serial trial works is that instead of having a whole trial over one weekend, they hold parts of the trial one Fri evening each month. Last night was part 1 of 4. Each part has a standard run and a game.
The game last night was called Run Til You Drop. It involved collecting points and ending your run on the teeter (the drop). If your dog commits to the teeter before time runs out, then your points are doubled! So Gidget and I earned 19 points before we took the teeter at about 21 seconds (we had 26 seconds) so our points were doubled and we got 38 points! We needed 24 to qualify. So Gidget got a first place Q in the game!
TDAA standard is like pretty much any organization's standard except it doesn't have to have a table. Also, refusals are only called on the contacts at the superior level. So though our run started a little messy we still got a first place Q! I'm not entirely sure she touched the yellow on her way off the dog walk, but judge said she did and that works for us.
We had a good time at the shortest trial we've ever been to (only took about an hour and a half). Lots of nice people and dogs to hang out with and cheer on. I got to hold an Alaskan Klee Kai, visit with Jack the Maltese, see a class friend who I haven't seen much recently, and one of my small dog beginner students came to watch! It was fun and I hope I can make it to the rest of the serial trial too! Happy agility!
Gidget and I tried an AKC Obedience trial again. We haven't done one in quite some time. It was badly timed being right after the holiday break from classes. Plus the class the week before the trial was canceled due to it being really freaking cold! Plus I got really sick the week before the trial. We went and gave it a try anyways.
It went well enough. Our heeling was atrocious. Gidget was definitely not in the game for our on leash heeling. She was laggy and distracted and didn't sit at our halts. The figure 8 was a tiny bit better, she sat at least.
Her stand for exam was perfect, as usual.
Gidget had a better attitude for the off leash heeling. This time she forged a little, nipped at my pants a bit, paid more attention, and even sat on the halts. We still lost a lot of points, but I was happier with her.
Gidget lost only 1 point on her recall! I was pretty excited about that. She didn't anticipate and her front was reasonably straight! Still room for improvement, but not much.
We had qualified (I was kind of surprised with how bad our heeling was) at this point so in we went for the stays. Nothing exciting for the sit stay, she was very good. We got through most of the down stay when someone set up the broad jump in the ring next to us. Well Gidget didn't like that noise and sat up. Bummer, we were so close.
We'll try again at the end of Feb. At the beginning of Feb. we're up to get Gidget's CD-C (CDSP). I hope it goes well! Happy training!
Gracie and I went to our first USDAA trial a couple weekends ago and had a good time! Gracie was in starters and tried almost all the classes plus Steeplechase.
Gamblers was up first. I had no idea how she'd handle a distance challenge as this isn't something we've worked on. She managed this challenge just fine! I timed the opening almost perfectly (would have been even better had Gracie not stopped to sniff some fuzz) so that I was ready to set her up for a nice line to the teeter which was the first part of the challenge. Then I had to layer a jump and send her to two jumps straight ahead of her. Managed that no problem too! Gracie got a 1st place Q! Off to a good start!
Standard was up next. The only issue there was Gracie went around the table before getting on (it is a big table!). Other than that the run went perfectly and Gracie got another Q!
Steeplechase was up next. That was fun! We like Steeplechase/T2B type courses. Only problem on this one was that Gracie had to weave twice (she's not the fastest weaver) and there was fuzz that had to be sniffed near the weaves. So Gracie ran clean, but was too slow to Q.
Last run of the day was Snooker. Gracie was getting pretty tired by this point and was rather pokey. Had she had more energy though, we may not have avoided off course options quite so well. We went for 7-7-7 and ran cleanly, but went over time so we didn't get the last 7 points of the closing. She still got a 2nd place Q!
Sunday was an easier day for us, though Gracie may not have been awake for her first run. It took us three tries to get the weaves! That cost us our Q (at least I'm pretty sure that's what it was). Gracie went around the table again before getting on, but this time it was a big, almost zoomy circle! At least she has a fairly quick down once she is on the table.
After that run the horrible, evil death cold started catching up with me. I felt worse and worse as the day went on. I was gate steward a couple times, it got very uncomfortable yelling names by the end, and I was scheduled to work the very last class of the day. I thought about going home, but I really wanted to stick around for Gracie's jumpers run and I knew it'd be hard to replace a worker (I was timing) for the last class of the day. So I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did... for Gracie's run at least.
Jumpers was a fun course with no weaves. Gracie was much more awake this time and was running fairly quickly, near her top speeds for jumpers courses. It was a fun course and I'm bummed I don't have video of it. She got a 3rd place Q and I nearly keeled over with a coughing fit when we got back to her kennel.
There were a couple things I didn't like about the trial. The large dogs were almost all Border Collies, Gracie stuck out like a sore thumb. That's no deal breaker, but a little variety is nice. A lot of the Border Collie handlers did spend a lot of time yelling, that was less pleasant to watch, but if I ran a crazy fast BC I'd probably understand better. There were also some really awesome Border Collie teams, including a couple world team members which were very fun to watch! The other thing I didn't like was how many height changes there were! I was a bar setter a couple times on Sat. First they go up, and then down, then up again, and down some more. I got to thinking, "When will it end?!" Even more confusing were all the A-frame changes (there had to have been at least 3 different heights) and the doubles. Some heights had parallel doubles, some had ascending doubles, performance didn't get doubles at all, there were some classes with two doubles where one was ascending and one wasn't. So confusing! Not to mention, USDAA's non traditional jump heights meant you couldn't use the preset double, you had to set up 2 single jumps and make sure they were the right distance apart and make sure the messed up wing wasn't used because it just didn't work for the double! Considering how confusing it was, everything really went fairly smoothly. I'll volunteer again, but may avoid bar setting for Masters!
There's another USDAA trial at the end of March that we may try. Depends on what AKC trials we can get into. And I think Gidget and I are ready to try an AKC agility trial again! Happy agility!
The girls and I have been working on nosework training for a while now. Gracie started over the summer with a local search and rescue group. Then in the fall, one of the top nosework trainers in the country started teaching at Cloud 9 so I signed Gidget up for level 1 and Gracie for the advanced class. Both girls are doing really well and really seem to love searching for these new scents!
Nosework isn't big in MN yet. It's hard to find any odor recognition tests (ORT, has to be passed before entering a trial), much less any trials. The sport is growing, though, and those will be much easier to find soon!
Through a classmate's Facebook post I found a nosework fun day. They called it a nose rush, or gold rush, or something like that, because you'd earn gold coins for all the hides you and your dog found! I signed the girls up and we headed to the other side of the cities the afternoon of New Year's Day.
We waited in the car for our turns. Gidget was up first. There were two rooms to search each with 8 hides and you had 4 minutes to search in each room. The hides were somewhat blind, as you didn't know where they were when you walked in, but you could see some of the tins and there was someone helping you a little too.
Gidget found the super obvious hide first (at least obvious to the people who could easily see it with no extra effort). She then found 3 other hides in the first room, I could see them all fairly easily so it was easy to mark and reward her finds. She found 4 in the second room as well, again most that I could at least see a little. After our turn was over though, the coach pointed out a spot that Gidget had checked out and likely noted to herself that there was a hide there (I couldn't see it), she just forgot to tell me. We're working on that part in class now. So she earned 8 gold $1 coins.
Gracie, being more experienced, one upped Gidget in each room. She even pointed out a couple I couldn't see. Her communication wasn't perfectly obvious to me, but the coach helped me out a little. My favorite find of hers was one that was up on the counter above a metal in-ground scale (this event was held at a vet clinic). She did not want to step on the scale, so she got up on her hind legs and stretched her head around the bit of wall the hide was against so she could reach it. Once I rewarded her she also tried to reach the jar of treats that was also on the counter. She had several other good finds, and even a spot I had made a mental note to go back to but we ran out of time. So the coach pointed that hide out to us so I could reward Gracie for it since she'd been so close.
Now just back to nosework classes and practicing at home some. Someday we'll get to trial! Happy sniffing!
