November in La Crosse

Gracie and I were at a trial in La Crosse one last time... almost a month ago now.  Yup, very behind on my trial updates.  There have been a couple challenges in class I've wanted to write about too, just too busy!

T2B was up first again.  Gracie wasn't at her top speed by any means, but she was solid.  She qualified and no one else did!  The dogs that NQ'd were all slower than Gracie too.  So our very first 10 point T2B Q!  Gracie is halfway to having all the T2B Qs she needs for her title, but is quite a ways off from the 150 points needed.  She has 36 points so far.  Not worried about getting there eventually!

STD was up next.  All was looking good until the last two poles of the weaves.  Went back and repeated them successfully (after taking a bonus jump on the way back around).  The table was right after the weaves.  A dog shortly before us had peed on the table and they cleaned it up with stinky cleaner.  Just what Gracie needed when she's already having table trouble!  Needless to say, she refused to get on the table so we moved on.  That last stretch of the run was really pretty, made up for the not so good stuff.  I like the beginning of this video.  Gracie and I ended up having to wait for quite a bit for adjusting timers and something else.  At first you can see how stressed Gracie is, lots of tongue flicks (calming signals!) and just not wanting to focus on me.  I keep working with her though, and by the time we're just about ready to start I have her focused and playing with me (without treats!)  Yet when we lined back up, she didn't want to sit for some reason.  Oh well, it's fun to see all the same.

Last but not least, JWW.  I messed up Gracie on this one.  I took a tunnel entrance for granted and she took the other end.  Bad handler!  I don't know for sure what I did or didn't do, you can't see me on the video.  (My dad, the guy who's worked in the TV industry for years now, can't seem to film an agility run properly and has trouble with my camera.)  It turned out though that Gracie was accidently entered in Exc instead of Mas and I missed it on our confirmations!  So I'm saying I subconsciously new this and messed her up on purpose so we wouldn't get in trouble.  Besides that one little blip it was a lovely run!

So now that I'm caught up, Gidget has her first agility trial since May this weekend.  We're also moving this weekend so who knows how the trial will go.  Our goal is definitely fun!  Though it'd be nice not to have any obstacle issues either.  The following weekend is Gracie's next trial.  We've had a little time to work on our table troubles, but we could use a little more.  I would really like to qualify in Exc Std sometime soon!  We're switching trial locations again though so I'll have to focus on low stress.  I'll be pretty happy if she completes the weaves, holds her A-frame bottom, and we don't get into any trouble while waiting our turn.  Happy agility!

Gracie Agility and Gidget Obedience

Gracie

We were back in La Crosse last weekend for another agility trial (and some Halloween celebrating)!  Gracie and I had 3 runs again: T2B, STD, and JWW.

T2B was up first.  We had to restart the weaves and Gracie had a moment of zoomies, but we were able to Q with that and earn 5 points!  I love Gracie's energy at the beginning of a trial day!

STD was second.  It was such a pretty run and the second half had some really nice speed.  Unfortunately Gracie had to stop and sniff the table before she could get all 4 feet on.  But so pretty!

JWW was last.  Gracie seems to be a bit tired by her third run, nothing horrible she's just noticeably slower.  I think I changed what I had walked a couple of times in an effort to speed her up.  She was also slow enough in the weaves to notice some tape and pop out to investigate, so we redid that and finished 10 sec over time.

So it was a one-little-thing kind of day for us.  That just means we're one little thing away from qualifying every time!  One more trial in La Crosse in a couple weeks.

Gidget

Gidget was in a CDSP obedience trial a couple of weeks ago.  It was a new location for us.  It had a turf-like covering instead of the mats we're used too.  That didn't seem to be too big of an issue though.  Our heeling was messy, Gidget was distracted and I was a bit nervous.  She missed the first sit and I forgot I could have said sit as we were halting.  Gidget finally tuned in for the second half of our figure 8, she looks so happy and pretty when she's on!  She didn't want to start heeling with me and I had to repeat the cue for both the figure 8 and the moving stand and exam.  No big issues on the recall, probably a crooked front, I know we lost a point or two for something on it.  The honor stay was no big deal.  It was messy and not as happy as our last attempt, but we managed to qualify in third place!  It seems there's not another CDSP trial until Feb, so that is when we will attempt to get Gidget's CD-C!

Monthly Update

Back in the beginning of September, the hubby, dogs, and I headed for La Crosse for some time with family and friends and an agility trial!  The fall La Crosse AKC agility season has started!  We had a really good time, lots of good things happened in every run even if we didn't Q in any of them.

Time 2 Beat was up first.  Man was this run pretty!  She was energetic and happy!  She held her 2o2o on the A-frame too!  She took an extra jump when we went back to repeat the weaves (which she did perfectly on the 2nd attempt) giving us a wrong course and a NQ... but it was so pretty!  She did leave the ring when we were done, but quickly realized it wasn't safe out there without me and came right back.

Next was standard.  I think I started her a little too close to the first jump, not sure what else would cause her to drop that first bar.  She was a lot slower this run and should have gotten a refusal at the table as she almost climbed underneath it.  Good things: she got her weaves on the first try!  And she held her "bottom" on the A-frame and otherwise ran clean!  She also did not leave the ring this time, though she thought about it.

Last up was jumpers.  It was an almost perfectly clean (though a little slow) run!  We had no actual faults, but she went to say hi to a ring steward which took the 2 seconds we needed to Q.  We were something like 1.9 seconds over time.  She got all her weaves on the first try again!  We just need to work on keeping her energy up for the whole day. 

I do love trialing in La Crosse, such nice small trials!  I also think Gracie is going to do better at the smaller venues over the winter than she did at Soccerblast this summer.  Less stressful for both of us!

In Other News:

Gracie had a rough time in an obedience class recently.  There were 5 dogs in the class and I thought all were pretty trustworthy.  We lined up for stays.  Gracie was on the end.  I left her leash on and didn't go very far away so that I could back to her quickly if needed.  Unfortunately it was needed.  The dog next to her got up and went to say hi to the dog in the middle.  That dog is rather skiddish about other dogs and went running off in Gracie's direction with the first one following.  I had gone back to reward Gracie for staying the second the first dog had gotten up.  When the two dogs came in her direction she started reacting.  At this point the BC at the opposite end of the line, ran over to get everyone back in line.  She came towards Gracie, so I picked Gracie up and kept turning away from the other dog until she was collected.  Gracie did calm down in my arms and was happy to go back to her kennel when it was all over.  I didn't make Gracie get back in the stay line-up.  We did go back out and do some short, easy, fun stuff in sight of the other dogs, just not close to them.  I felt bad that I couldn't have gotten her out of there faster, but am glad Gracie is so forgiving. 

Gidget Update:

Gidget has another CDSP obedience trial this weekend.  I'm mostly looking for a great attitude in the ring like her last trial.  I'd like it if she didn't anticipate the recall this time though.  Everything else can be messy as long as she is happy about it!  She was sick this past week, but is feeling all better now.  I'm not sure that we're as prepared as we were last time, but we'll just have to go in and do our best!  I'm still thinking about getting her into a CPE agility trial to see how we're doing there.  Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Happy Training!

Late Trial Update

Gracie and I had our last two trial days at Soccerblast for the year a couple weeks ago.  It was a 0/4 weekend, but had some good things.

Our standard run on Sat was really nice, minus the weaves.  She had the entry but popped out near the end.  I was worried at the start because Gracie had fixated on the husky that ran before us.  It took a minute, but her attention turned back to me for the run.

Sat jumpers wasn't so nice.  She skipped a jump to go check out a tunnel, then took a wrong jump after the tunnel (this was a really tricky part that a lot of teams missed), and popped out of the weaves.  After the weaves the run ended nicely.

Sun wasn't much better than Sat.  The husky was before us in standard again, though I got Gracie's attention back quicker this time.  Gracie did something this run that she hasn't done in quite a while, she got the zoomies!  It was really rather entertaining for me, to see her running full out just being goofy.  It was probably stress related, but I'd say she zoomed that stress right out of her!  She even got her 2o2o on the A-frame for the first time at Soccerblast!  Do enjoy this entertaining video:

Of course getting the zoomies wore Gracie out.  She was rather pokey for her jumpers run.  She popped out of the weaves again.  Then I went and got distracted by the loudly barking black lab at the start line (Gracie didn't even see him) and pulled Gracie off the last jump.  Otherwise it was a decent run.

So not a great weekend Q-wise, but I kind of enjoyed it.  We just have to figure out this weave issue.  I was talking with a classmate about weave issues and came up with a couple thoughts.  One, maybe I don't treat the weaves in trials the same way I treat them in class.  If we're just practicing weaves, I often run way ahead as a way of proofing and building speed.  Though I've paid attention in the last couple full course classes and I usually do stick with her to the end of the weaves depending on the course.  Two, my classmate had read something about dogs not seeing the last two poles in a set of weaves because there's nothing past them to show them that the weaves keep going.  The white walls of Soccerblast wouldn't help with that either.  So I set up 14 poles in practice with the last two poles being all white (no colored stripes) and aiming directly at the white walls.  She weaved the whole thing every time!  I couldn't (easily) mess her up!  So I'm hoping her weave issue is just nerves at such a big venue.  We're headed to La Crosse next weekend for the start of their trial season.  We'll see if there's any improvement there.

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!