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This first one is PIII Standard. He had a tunnel sucking issue. Took the red tunnel TWICE after the table when he was supposed to do the dog walk. Nice dog walk Spurminator!!! Two strided down! WOW!! His norm is a three strided down, so it's cool he is adjusting and getting it in different strides.



I know, I know, hard to see the tiny black dot. I really must get people to zoom in. He sure looks happy, though, doesn't he? He had a GREAT time at that trial. And never tired. He would have happily done the last run on Sunday, but I was tired. He has amazing stamina!!!!

Performance Grand Prix -

We had a few bobbles, but he was having a blast!!

Performance Speed Jumping first round -

We placed second to Blink, the super fast sheltie run by John Nyes (think World Team sheltie Rush! John runs Rush).

Performance Speed Jumping finals -

I love how our fans cheer us on! Very exciting and fun!! Spur LOVED it!!! Again, he was second to Blink, BUT only by 2.5 seconds. He has been consistently 4-5 seconds slower than Blink, but not this run!!! :D Good Little Monkey Pants!

Laura! Blogger won't let me post a reply to your comment for some stupid reason. Here is my reply - Laura, I think because of the stationary start he does a three strided up. He normally does 2-3-3. So, he his last third stride on the top ramp was nearly on top of the second apex, he was farther down starting his first stride down and he second got him deep in. :D

Videos

I did not think he was super fast, but he had nice contacts here and did the "Jackpot", which was the tunnel to the back side of the jump, then a-frame and jump (for those who don't know, in a jackpot there is a line on the floor that the handler can not cross and the dogs must do the obstacles from that distance). Not many people got it, so I was pretty proud of the young guy. The crowd cheers were sweet! He is definitely a fan favorite!!! And he wracked up more points than anyone. :D



Then in standard he refused the teeter. It was a much softer landing and quieter teeter, but just being that it was different worried him. I made him do it, then he really picked up speed, good man. He missed the entry to the first set of six poles, which is SO not like him, but it was definitely a different set up with two sets of poles to discriminate and visually strange. Fun course for CPE, which can normally be quite simple. I thought he did the serpentine quite well and I managed my front crosses nicely!! (Pat, pat, pat on the back for ME! LOL!!)

We have a ROCK STAR!!

Or maybe I should call him a Trial Junkie? He SO loves a busy, loud, nutty trial!! It fuels him! His contacts were all great! I got more comments about them!! Good little guy had his Monkey Pants on, for sure!!! He isn't as fast, yet, as he is when we practice, but almost! Our practice lately has been in a place he is a bit uncomfortable and so these runs are nearly as fast. I need to figure out how to time the runs. I guess maybe just get a stop watch and time the video?



I wish I had his jumpers run, but for some reason it is all blurry. That does happen if the camera doesn't "lock" on to something at the start. It was a REALLY nice jumpers run!!!

Roscoe was out of sorts. Just not himself, for sure. Strange, because he has always like this place. I think the crate room was cold. He hated to have to wear his coat all day in the crate. I had a snuggle safe disk warmed for him, but just wearing his coat is a bummer to him. Not his favorite deal, but it was too cold without it. He did fine, though, he's such a pro.

All Dog's Trial report

I have video, but not sure it's worth loading. We did well, really. Gamblers was first and had weaves 15 feet away. Not something Spur and I have practiced lately. In fact, our weaves are not independent much at all, I know. If I am throwing a frisbee, he nails them and I can do jumping jacks while his weaves to the end, but he doesn't generalize that to other settings and won't go after his frisbee in the presence of strange dogs, so it isn't helpful at class. I may start trying his ball for the weaves, but we never seem to have time after training his dog walk and doing some obedience. And since my yard is under two feet of snow, there is no weaving at home right now. :P

Roscoe, weaves are a given, so it was do-able, but coming out of a tunnel entry that was also 15 feet away. Should have been do-able if I had held back and driven to the weaves. Instead I kept going and my motion drew him to me no matter how much flapping and yelling "WEAVE, WEAVE, WEAVE" to him. He ended up coming to me, then flipping around and getting the weaves, good little tiny dog!!! But, he crossed the refusal line and spun around, so was called for a refusal......"TWEET", whistle blew, but he got a good cheer from the crowd for going back and being a good boy!!! Then he layered a jump, which many dogs took, so he essentially got the gamble, sort of, good man!

Standard was nice from both dogs. Spur beat Roscoe by several seconds, which he SHOULD and by more than several seconds, but I am always pleased when he does beat him. Roscoe is a good boy, but hardly athletic. His time wasn't that fast because of some miss-cues. We are still working it out at trials. Our start line was OK, but I need to clean that up. He is doing well with me holding him and focusing him and then release and go, but I think I can be a little more calm and focused myself. I get all frantic and wierd and hyped and that doesn't help him any. I also need to work every SINGLE obstacle completely. I wish we had more verbals. I am trying to learn Silvia's cik and cap and am a complete failure with those verbals. I can never get them right, so those are essentially failed verbals. I did teach him "wrap" last summer and I am not sure why I couldn't use that word for cik and cap, both directions, just using my body cues to cue direction?

I know he needs more information. He guesses a lot and when he starts to guess he starts taking obstacles and making his own decisions. That's cool, in a way! But, not if we want to Q. LOL!!! I must get better about giving him his information often, early and clearly. Yesterday, we were a little off. He got his standard, good man and won his class, but it wasn't a fast time. I always check the championship times and Tiki the pap was 6 seconds faster. Tiki is a world team contender, if they can get a decent measuring. He's pretty fast. Last weekend's difference in standard = Tiki was only 2 seconds faster.

We left early after pairs. Scratched Spur from snooker and jumpers and Roscoe from snooker, so we only missed three runs. Spur ran clean in pairs, Roscoe wasn't entered. The conditions outside the facility were HORRIBLE. They used safe salt at the door, but not the parking lot and there was NO place to walk/potty the dogs. My dogs ended up SCREAMING in pain from the salt burning their paws and at one point I had a dog under each arm, totally miserable. Not sure why that wasn't happening to the other dogs!!!??? Maybe I just didn't see it. It SUCKED!!! The weather was coming in and I didn't want to drive in nasty, freezing rain. SO glad we did, it looked, sounded aweful. We ended up having time to have a nice snow shoe and the Pin Heads managed the whole time!! That was WELL worth it. The weather started shortly after we got in. I lit a fire and snuggled down, thinking of my friends who stayed and if they made it home safe. Read on facebook later about their misery traveling. Yikes!!! But, everyone home safe.

Videos of the dirt agility

Roscoe's PGP. Love how he really digs in after the wrap at 3!! He didn't read my front cross at the jump after the chute well. WAY wide there! Dog walk contact, awesome dude!!



Spur's PGP. A little slow off the start line. That's a buggar for us and something we need to work on, for sure. Not his speediest work, but confident and happy! Love how he reads the front cross at the jump after the chute. AND TOTALLY love his teeter!! The cause of many of his melt-downs is becoming a "non-issue"!!! That damn teeter hurt his trust in me and has been such a long, hard road back to trusting in me. It was a very loud teeter and it didn't seem to faze him hardly at all!! He cringed a few times outside the ring hearing another dog bang it, but doing it himself didn't seem to bother him too much!! Good Little Monkey Pants!!!

And good little Spur Man for running his contact nicely! Very pleased with both dog's contacts that day!!!

Dirt, dirt, dirt, we LOVE dirt!

What more can I say? Dirt agility is THE BEST!!! Of course, staying with the in-laws only 6 minutes away is sweet, too! I mean, with all the talk of bed bugs, staying in a nice home is just SAWEEEEEET! Even though we did spot a chipmunk running through the livingroom one morning. The dogs missed it.

And the dirt. OH the dirt!!! I think Spur would say that field turf is just as nice and I will agree with him cuz it's not dirty, but Roscoe? DIRT!! Muffin Heads, it's just HIS FAVORITE!!! He gets all squeaky and pumped up and runs like the manic MinPin I know he is. He LOVES it!! I love it. It's grippy and soft. I read on facebook one competitor complaining it was hard packed dirt. Huh? I didn't think so at all. I thought it was LOVELY!!! Yes, there were some areas more packed then others, but far nicer than running on rubber. And Spur liked the big trial and busy scene. He feeds of that, for sure. The one down run we had was when they stopped to change the table height and it was all quiet just before his run. I have to try to keep his energy up and the atmosphere charged for him before his run. He definitely likes the busy, loud atmosphere!! Funny little guy!

We had a great time and I only wish we had done both day. Lisa had to get back to grade papers. Next time? Both days. I LOVE that site!! My dogs LOVE that site!! It's dirty, yes. And it was a little cold, but I dressed right. Roscoe did fine. I had his coat and took it off at the last minute. He was happy as could be!

Spur beat him in PGP, which he SHOULD, but I am still happy about that. He should always beat Roscoe, but his worries sometimes prevents that speed at trials. He beat Roscoe by over a second, so that was nice. His turns were tighter, that's all, really. Roscoe was maybe running with more intensity, but because he was he went wide several times. Both boys nailed their contact even though it was the second to last obstacle heading straight for the outgate. Always a risky one. That yeehaw as we finish up can often produce a leap. Nope, both boys ran beautifully right through the contact with perfect hits!! I was very pleased!! I'll post the videos when I get time.

This week, YIKES..........one very busy week for me!

Glastonbury CT horse barn you are in our future!! I won't be doing the November trial there.......brrrrrrrrr.......but, next April that trial site is a DEFINITE in our future!! Dirt, the boys LOVE dirt!

Weekend AKC trial report!

Wow, The Spurminator was a ROCK STAR!!!! He got more and more comfortable as the trial went on. We both did. I started to relax and feel like it wasn't such a worry for either of us. He NAILED his contacts, until his last Open standard run where it was down hill and he hit it with his back feet only. Funny, that's the only contact I worried about all the others I simply ran with confidence and he ran all the way down. Good little Monkey Pants!!!!

We set up ring side and he could watch me run Roscoe and Colby and he SCREAMED each time. I think that was good for him......sorry neighbors......he watched it all, all weekend.

Roscoe he was pretty good for outdoors, I have to say. Not great, but pretty good. I took him off only one time for being shut down. The other runs were OK. He actually placed second in two runs, so he wasn't THAT down. Colby had a GREAT time, her first time running since I decided to retire her. The sun was high enough in the sky and the lighting obviously OK for her and she was happy to run. We just did jumpers and she placed second each time.

Spur won every class he qualified in, except for Nov. FAST one day where Mo the freakin' awesome terrier got more points. He NQ'd on one Nov. FAST with the wrong tunnel opening and he NQ'd on his first Open Jumpers run with an off course tunnel. HE didn't know he was wrong on that one and ran like a champ, good little "cutest dog ever!!". The judge LOVED him and commented during his measuring about how cute he is. Then his first run we get to the start line and the she says....."OH, here comes that CUTE dog!!!". Then his last run on Sunday, as we finished she yells out......."If that puppy goes missing, don't look in MY suitcase!!!!" :D I think my heart swelled and was about to burst out of my chest right there!!! What a great feeling, especially since Spur was one of only two mix breed dogs at this AKC trial.

Spur's Novice Standard -


Spur Open Jumpers -


Spur Novice Standard -


Spur Open Standard, back feet only in that contact...yikes! -


Roscoe Excellent Rally routine that we RAN to do and barely made it. They had JUST finished the last Excellent dog and I had to do the course by just reading the map. I couldn't walk it and barely knew where I was going. Roscoe did GREAT!! We got a 96 and the 4 points off were for crocked sits and I think, two double commands? It was our worst performance to date, but I have to give him extra credit. We haven't practiced in...what?...over a month and went in without me walking the course or knowing my way. Good little obedience dog did GREAT, regardless!!! Poor guy he had just run his standard and not very well and I pulled him out of the ring because he was looking down. He simply isn't doing well at outdoor agility trials, but obedience on dirt seems to be his thing!! Go figure? -


Colby's Excellent Jumpers. Second place and one of only 4 dogs in her jump height to run clean. Good little girlie!!! She's so consistent and easy to run. Not at all complicated. -


It was a very fun weekend, really. Roscoe had some pretty good runs, which unfortunately we didn't get filmed. The weather was great, the company was awesome, it ran well for an AKC trial. No dreadful long walk throughs or hold ups like AKC can sometimes have. It was a nice trial. And the Spur Man ROCKED!! I am SO happy with him, he is getting more and more confident!!! YAY!!!! His teeter was awesome. He put his big boy pants on and was a STAR!!! He is always a big hit walking around the grounds, everyone wants to know what kind of dog he is and we get so many comments......"What a CUTE dog". He has a HUGE fan club!!!

Three days of AKC agility starting tomorrow!!!!

So, you may not see me here over the weekend. All three dogs are running athe Cumberland Fairgrounds AKC trial!!!! Colby is only doing two jumpers runs, but I think the sun should be good for her to see well and she will enjoy that! She always loved jumpers!!

We have a ROCK STAR in our midst!

The SPURMINATOR ROCKED!!!!! He went 7 for 8, and his last NQ run was his BEST!! LOL! He was ON FIRE!!! He got better and better and faster and more confident each run. He was STRAINING to get into the building!!! He LOVED it there, he LOVED the energy, he LOVED the whole trial scene!!! He was ready, there is no doubt, he was ready. And, yes, I have some videos. Wish I had more, but in the Starters ring there are very few people and few I knew. I supposed I could do what some folks do and just shove my camera in their hands to film us. Maybe I will do that next time, it happens to me, I filmed several folks I didn't know over the two days. It's like that old trial rule........any unoccupied chair is yours until the owner comes along and anyone standing around looking bored is a potential filmer! It's a rule! :D

Anyway, this was his gamble on Saturday. He also got the gamble on Sunday, so this was his starter's gamble title. On to advanced gamblers now!! In this gamble I tried to practice what was going to be the course in his standard, which was A-frame, jump, dog walk....NOT the off tunnel, but little guy was going too fast and LOVES his tunnels. Tunnels are so low stress. Dog walks = stress. So, into the tunnel he went, but LOOK how happy he was!!! YAY!

OK, for some reason youtube is doing maintenance and will be up and running "soon", so for now this is all you get! Be cool, four more videos to come!

Oh and Roscoe? We sucked. I have to say we just sucked. And it happens that way with him. I don't know why, because each time I felt like we were "on" at the start and I have been working on doing better start line behavior. He looked pretty good at the start line, each time. Happy, silly, whining, ready to GO. Then we just fell apart. And when he starts to slow, I know it's happening, he's melting........he's worrying.....he and I fall apart. I am not good after that. I just mentally can't hang on and it's like a rock falling down a steep hill, it gains momentum. I melt, he melts, we become a mix match of stress and worry and he might finish up OK, but just OK. I give him his cookies anyway, because it makes me feel better and I KNOW it makes him feel better, but ultimately it sucks. All our hard work and we just can't hang on in the ring. ACK! He did get a jumper's Q and the Master's Gamble yesterday, which was really hard and really fun for him to get......wooohoooooo.......it was freakin' cool! Very hard gamble that many people could not get. Tiny 12" Roscoe did it with ease, good little man! Wish I had THAT run on film, darn it. I didn't bother filming him because we were so out of sorts and I don't like watching "out of sorts", but I shouldn't be that way, I should think more positively, give off better vibes to him, have better mojo.........what ever. It is what it is and it is hard to change my ways. I started to wonder if he was simply not happy with sharing the spot light with Spur Man? I am SURE that is part of it. I mean, he knows I am on cloud nine about Spur. He knows Spur is taking over the spot light. There isn't anything I can do about that, except recognize it, try to tell him he is as brilliant and awesome and my littlest Rock Star. I will try like heck to help him out. I know he doesn't like to share, but it is what it is. It was tough because several times my runs were at the SAME time, so I had to run one and run over and run the other right away. That is never good for me or the dogs. Plus, it was raining off and on and Roscoe hates dealing with the rain. He was cold, he's always cold. I kept running the truck, keeping it as warm as could be, but his legs and feet get wet in the wet grass and he gets cold. That is never good for him, even though inside it was dry. Still, once he gets wet the cold stays with him. Not his best trail, but he still managed to pull it together for that gamble, last run of the day yesterday. Good little gamble dog!!!!

OOoooh, I may have figured out how to capture the embed for the videos even though youtube is down.......This is the standard after the gamble. I just wasn't clear enough, dumb ass I am and he STILL took the off tunnel. He almost fell off the teeter, and I made NO big deal he missed that one jump on the closing. He was FLYING!!! I think the missed weave entry was the yellow cone. He just focused on it!! The white walls sort of blurred the weaves as he came over that jump and the yellow cone "spoke" to him. Watch his FREAKIN' AWESOME A-frame!!! Certainly his fastest in a trial! His dog walk contact got more and more "bouncy" as he got faster, but you will see his most AWESOME dog walk in his Friday's standard.


Friday's standard. You can see, not as fast, he improved each run and got more confident with each run! But, what an AWESOME dog walk!!!! WOW! Going so fast he almost over shot the weaves, but good little weaver hung on and nailed them!!! I can not BE more proud!!! -


Friday's jumpers I decided to practice two back crosses. Not our strongest move. We did fine. Back crossed jump before first tunnel and back crossed last tunnel. Good little Rock STAR!!! -


The facility is really nice. The grounds, um....not so much. Although, with a short hike down a very steep embankment, there is a lovely huge field to play with the dogs. And a pond, with a mean swan, but the pond has a "no" sign. No swimming, no boating, no fishing. It looks to be part of a small ice cream stand or vegetable stand that was closed now.
The drive sucked. Big time sucked. Less than three hours, but there is no easy way to get there. Going down was OK even with rush hour traffic around 495, but coming back my GPS took me about 12 miles through crappy little towns that gave me a headache. I don't know if another way would have been faster. Easy, probably. Plus, it was raining and that's always harder to drive in. And I didn't have a partner to drive with, so it was a long drive home. Got home just after 8 and we were all relieved to get out of the car! Phew!

Colby - she ran her pairs run well and looked great! She didn't have to do a teeter, which was awesome. The field turf and lighting was fine for her, yay!!! Jones had one little bobble/refusal, so we didn't q, but I am so happy she ran well and she seemed happy to do half a course. We will keep trying for that MAD. I want it with Jones. It means more to me, so if we keep trying and never get it, so be it. She was happy doing half a course, so I am going to keep doing that for a while. I sure miss running her! She's so smooth and easy. No worries, other than teeter and her sight, but really she is so smooth and easy to run. We are a team.

There was one major bummer about the event. Saturday morning I get a call that my dad's horse, Bob, was found dead in his paddock. Blood everywhere from his mouth, they think some sort of aneurysm? Freak thing. The vet had been there for spring check just a week before and they were all fine. Bob was only 7, one of his young Fjords he used on the farm. It's a total bummer. My dad is not a "spring chicken" and now only has the one other youngster for working the farm. It's a huge loss. It made me tired and sad for my dad. He sounded really tired. He had just finished burying him when I spoke with him. He said the hardest was letting Tim "pay his last respects". Tim was Bob's partner. They were a team. Very sad. This photo was taken a few years ago -

Trial report and this morning's vet visit that didn't happen.

AKC trial yesterday. Roscoe ran great to finish his FAST novice title, then ran just OK in standard and OK in jumpers for a double Q. I mis-managed his startline in standard. I had a plan. I discussed it at class, I swore I would implement it and did I? Noooooooo..........I was a flapping, weirdo, idiot and he doesn't like that. My plan? I am figuring out that he really kind of LIKES to be out waiting on the start line. He gets all squeaky, growly, uptight and reved up? My little aggression case feeds off that waiting, that situation IN the ring where there is nothing going on. Why? Beats the heck out of me, but I have come to notice he LOVES to run pairs second. He likes it in class when we stop mid-course, chat about what was wrong or what we should try next, then start again, so I decided to use that. Did I? NO, damn IT!!

Jumpers, yes, I REMEMBERED thank YOU GOD! He got all squeaky, whiny, worked up and took OFF, yay, my little crazy man was with me this time. Then he comes out of the second tunnel and I thought at first he was lame, but I think what happened was a burp or what we call in training......a "re-treat". He burped up a treat that hadn't quite settled and swallowed it again. All that without stopping his forward motion, so no refusal, but he barely made it over the next jump then ran fine and finished well!

Ran Douce, the shih tzu. He ROCKED!! I think he would have placed in standard except that we were going to fast to the table and he slid off. He just couldn't STICK it. Nails gripped, muscles tensed, but off he went over the other side. Darn IT!! He ran great, though, on the rest of the course, looking really awesome. Then he got his first Ex. Jumpers Q. Good little shih tzu!!

Stella - poor little girlie at the end of the day ran jumpers, barely. She had a bit of a melt down, but managed to keep it together for her course, barely. Poor little thing. Good for her for keeping it together, indoors, with metal chairs banging, she managed.

This morning all three dogs were off to the vet for heartworm tests and Roscoe's rabies shot. Bring my obnoxious, barking, worried, barking, crazy, BARKING, nutty dogs into the clinic this morning. Not an easy feat, but in we come, BARKING, and make our way into the exam room - BARKING!

And then there is Colby, sweet as pie, quiet and perfect, just wanting to be patted……… The boys, BARKING!

Finally get them settled and wait for Lynda……..in walks Stacy, the other vet. WTF????? This is for routine vet care and I am NOT paying for her unless I ABSOLUTELY have to and I KNOW I called and said……..”I need to make an appointment with DR. BOND”. Damn IT!

Stacy tells me Lynda isn’t in on Monday’s. Well, sucks for them (and me and my BARKING dogs!)……….I have to tell her I made the appointment for Lynda and I want Lynda, sorry. So sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry I disrupted the office and hauled my dogs in, making them crazy and barky and worried and I am sorry I don't want YOU! I am sorry, I see Lynda, get it?? I hated that and didn't want to come off as rude, I don’t dislike Stacy, personally, she is always pleasant to me, but I don’t want her as my vet. Not for routine stuff and because Lynda is all we have now that sweet assistant Shelby is gone. Shelby and I could take Roscoe's blood. She understood him. She was good. Lynda and I can do it, too, so I need Lynda. I need someone familiar with Roscoe. Lynda and I go way back. I used to work for her, she knows me, she KNOWS my dogs. She understands them and all we have been through. I see her and only her and it is ON MY RECORDS! Hellooooo????? Unless it is some emergency and I have no choice, I see LYNDA! Stacy was very nice and I am sure she understood, or, she looked like she did (or was that relief on her face?). Not that I care THAT much, because it's just the way it is. I see Lynda, only, ever and it has always been that way.

Haul my BARKING dogs out after making a new appointment for next week with LYNDA! Oh - MY - GOD!

I bet Stacy was breathing a sigh of relief as we headed out the door........

Busy!!

We have visitors! Douce and Stella are here while their mom is at a conference. She broke her toe two weeks ago, so, along with all the rain we had these two haven't had a decent walk in a while. We took them on a farm walk yesterday morning. They were tired puppers.......
I didn't wake Douce, even though I was right there adjusting my camera, clicking open the flash - he was ZONKED.........

Their home is sedate. Mine? Not so much! I would hardly call our house sedate, except maybe after 9:00 PM. It's busy around here! These two sleep well at night here!! :D

Douce even got to do agility with me at class last night. He ROCKED!! He gets really pumped!! Fun, fast little dog! Not much into collecting, his long body doesn't like to bend, but he LOVES to run agility!

Roscoe and Spur each have one standard run at the CPE trial this afternoon. What was I thinking?

Weekend USDAA Team trial report

Oi, it was a long weekend. It really wasn't THAT long, but it felt like it. I don't know why, maybe because All Dog's is just one ring and there is no place to "detox" and walk the dogs and it was WICKED nice out Saturday and I am claustrophobic and All Dog's isn't my favorite place and, well, it just felt like a long weekend. My dogs all hate pottying around the parking lot and there isn't really any place else to go. Both me and my dogs like to take walks to clear our minds of the crowds and claustrophobia. Or, at least, I KNOW I DO!
Roscoe had his ups and downs. He actually ran perfectly clean the whole weekend, but clean isn't always his best. I know, I know, if I had a dog who ran it's heart out every time and NQ'ed because of off courses or knocked bars I would feel differently, but I do like it when Roscoe is all crazy and high like he is on dirt. On rubber, not so much. He did qualify in Steeplechase (PSJ for him) and ended up second in the finals with a nice run. He was 40 seconds and 1st place was 32, but still for Roscoe that was not a bad run. He isn't very athletic, AT ALL.
He and his team, tiny Divot the papillon, ended up 4th place in Team Versatility. They were very consistent. By the last two runs Roscoe was pretty much just going through the motions. He was tired, mentally.
Spur!!?? He ROCKED! I put him in Steeplechase (PSJ for him) and we started out with a really psyched dog, then something got him at the start line. He tried to leave, was blocked by the next dog up, then got him going and he refused the first jump and A-frame. Since at this point he was just trotting I didn't try putting him on the A-frame and just keep going. He did the next three jumps and tunnel and then refused the weaves. I said...."Come on, little buddy, DO your weaves!!" and he did, super! That got him going and he kick in the jets and had an AWESOME finish!! Good little Monkey Pants looked great! It's in there, I know it, we can do this!!!
Videos later.........

Collie Club Rally O trial report!

Well..........what can I say, Roscoe didn't continue his perfect score card. Nope, not HARDLY, the little monster!! He was way more comfortable there then I thought he would be. It is, after all, a hotel. Strange place for an obedience trial. They put down plastic in the seating and crate area, over the rug. It made warm up slippery and strange. But, he did fine. Fine enough that he was kind of a brat! We failed the three steps back. Gotta say, that didn't surprise me. I had to regroup on that exercise when I realised I trained his backwards weaving around my legs with the same cue word I use for the back up three steps. Dumb ass, I am.

So, failed that = 10 points off. I should have started the exercise over and tried it again, but I didn't. That would have been only 3 points off. Then as we come around by the crowd the little buggar takes a DETOUR!!! Detour, detour, someone in the crowd might have something good to eat!!! Alert, alert, here comes Roscoe!!! Um, NO, little shit, thankfully came running back to heel position, so actually no points off for that. Good GRIEF, DUDE, what WERE you thinking???? NO, you are not going to go steal food from the nice old lady in the skirt smiling at you thinking you are so cute with your high stepping Hackney Pony prance! NOT!!!!

Then, he pulls off the rest of it pretty well, but his honor stay..........OI! He whined and cried and complained the WHOLE time!! He was supposed to sit while the next dog went, but NO, little shit has to go down, sit up, go down, whine, whine, whine!!!! I was ready to roast him on a spit and feed him to the crows! >:/ Of course, everyone watching says he did "Such a super job! Great little dog", and on and on it went. I asked them if they SAW his stay??????? They were all like.....Oh yeah, but his routine was so cute! Um, cute, doesn't get a good score and he got an 80! ACK! NOT a good score.

And to top it off somehow we got put into the A class. We are supposed to be in B, since both dogs have CD's. So, the runs won't count. Just as well, I don't want an 80 score on his record! Let's just pretend it never happened - K?

Colby, she did good. Good little girlie, she is. She stayed in her sit with only a little whining. What's with this whining Pin Heads? She had two points off for going to sniff the wall. The wall??? Um, OK, whatevah? Then two points off for a crocked sit and double command I think in the corner, or something, but it was not bad for a 96. She was distracted, but not terribly bad.

My friend Lisa and her Shih Tzu's?? They ROCKED!!! Her first time doing Rally and her tiny Stella won her class with a 98. And Douce would have a near perfect score, but she messed up a couple of the exercises. They looked AWESOME!! Stella beat a doberman, a golden, a german shepherd and a collie!! How cool is THAT????

Roscoe's routine -

Colby's routine -

Douce, the shih tzu's routine. In Novice they don't have to do stays and are on leash -

Stella's routine -

More trial report, this trial really got me thinking, didn't it?

I know, all you non-agility friends are wondering, what the heck? She is obsessing about this trial! Well, it taught me a lot, so it's worth obsessing, I think.
I am posting the standard course from Sunday here. I think you can click on it and it will come up larger.

Here's my take on it -

The course. The trouble. Was 13, 14, 15. Little dogs were ending up jumping big and landing behind the handlers after 14. Folks were sending into the tunnel and quickly getting themselves to the landing side of 14. It caused the dogs to come out of the tunnel WAY wide, then taking 14 too big and wide, even though the handlers were facing the dogs and feet were facing 15, whatever..........., the dogs were taking 14 without collection and landing behind the handlers regardless. Colby NQ'ed because she missed 15 all together. She came SHOOTING out of the tunnel, then came too fast at 14 landing behind me and I never got her head in time for 15 so we just ran past it and kept going. Those who picked up dogs from the tunnel and ran with them, then front crossed after 14 somewhere between 14 and 15 giving the dogs the room they needed were fine, but very few little dog handlers did that and I think only 3 Q'ed out of 20+ dogs in 12". Most of the big dog people did that and the dogs did land wide after 14, but it was simply not a big deal. They then set themselves up just fine for 15. It was SO interesting! Plenty of big dogs Q'ed.

Mary and Bug were perhaps the only ones who did that section really well and tight, but Mary did give Bug plenty of room after 14, but Bug just handled it fine and turned really tight. It was lovely!! I think Bug jumps 16".

Helen basically leaned over 14, faced off Diva and MADE her collect over 14, jumping essentially into Helen, but it did work - OK. Not pretty, but it worked. As we saw later, she really didn't have to do that, plenty of big dogs, given the space they needed after 14 handled it just fine. Go figure?

I think what happened at 14, 15, 16 was us little dog people thought our small dogs should be able to turn really tight over 14, I mean, really they SHOULD, right? But, coming out of that tunnel, seeing a WHOLE ROOM full of options, they were not making a sharp right turn out of it and going wide, then that made them wide over 14. And really, there was no reason to assume they should take all that tight. Had we just let them do it and not worried about tightening it up, they would have been fine. The big dog people knew they HAD to allow their dogs the room to land over 14 and gave them the room they needed and off they went, no biggie. So interesting!

The opening was a buggar for many, but not as interesting. Typical tire issues, then discrimination from 6 to 7 some dogs were taking the tunnel. SOME folks turned away, back crossed 6 and had the dogs turn right towards the wall, but really that didn't work well for many. Kept them off the tunnel if they did it right, but some flicked to the off course tunnel (13).

It was really a fascinating course! Roscoe ran it clean, but he was down that day, slow and accurate, which really isn't what I want. He was having a melt-down run and it may have been clean, but it wasn't what I want from him. At this point I am happier with an NQ, but fast and happy, than a Q with down and slow.