Lovely agility trial site!!!

I like any place that has plenty of shade and LOTS of areas to off leash walk the dogs. This place was GREAT!!!!! LOVED it!!

It was very wet Saturday. So wet they put shavings down on the course and heavy along each side of the weaves. I wasn't sure what Spur would think, so I grabbed a handful and brought them to the practice jump. He thought they were SO wrong and avoided that spot like the plague. On course, he was slow, but recovered and by the time we got to the weaves he did GREAT!!!!

Both DW's were perfect, good little man. First one was tunnel to DW to table. Nice set up for him. Next day was big open run to DW with a lovely tunnel staring straight at him, but the course went 90 degrees to the right ending up 180 degree different direction. Good little buggar never even looked at the tunnel and read my decel perfectly!!!! Came in second only to our current National Champion. :D


I was asked by my Nationals teammate if I thought Spur was a contender at Nationals. I said, nah, he's just not that fast. But, you know, he is consistent. This weekend if the National Champion or my teammate with Race, a blazing fast sheltie, don't Q Spur wins. This is the second trial like that. If those dogs make any mistakes, Spur wins. If they run clean, we come in third. That is becoming pretty consistent. The only thing is often we are 5-10 seconds slower than either of those dogs. :O That's a LOT slower!! LOL!! Not sure even in a big indoor crowded noisy trial he will gain that much speed. Who knows? He sure likes those kinds of trials.

His outdoor performance is just not that fast, yet. Indoors he is much more comfortable. I guess we will find out soon enough.

USDAA trial report!

We had a GREAT day on Saturday!! First Roscoe, got the gamble which had a teeter 16.5' away!! He nailed it, good little gamble dog!! But, we ran out of time because the buzzer went off and we were in horrible position on the far end of the ring, damn it!! It was a hard gamble and very few were getting it.

Then he had to run pairs after being pulled from the car during major thunder. His tail was down, ears sagged, I wasn't sure he would run. But, several turkey meatballs later and he ran fine!! Helped a friend get her championship with that run and that felt GREAT!!!! Good little Roscoe is SO consistent I told her if anyone could help her it was Roscoe and he did! She has NQ'ed with a bunch of other partners, so this felt great!!!!! YAY!!!

Now for Spur de Blur!! OMG, he was ON FIRE!! He is blossoming right in front of my eyes! First run was a SMOKIN' jumpers with one tiny refusal where I simply did not support the jump enough. He was FLYING!!!! Then got snookered in snooker, oh well, fun course! Forget the gamble with a teeter 16.5' away!!

Now for his wins! He won standard with the second fastest time of ALL the P dogs!!!! :D He looked great!!!! Love his dog walk on this run!! Just perfect.



Then he also won PGP for a voucher!! YAY!! His first PGP win!!! He wasn't impressed with the teeter third obstacle, but he managed. His time would have been sub 40 had he nailed the teeter. That wee hesitation put his time at 41.07.

GREAT weekend trial report from BARK!!

Our team Q'd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was HUGE!!! I have screwed it up twice for team, so I really wanted to pull my weight this time. Spur was ready and he LOVES the BARK site and busy trial, so it was his turn to shine and SHINE he did!! I only have one video I will post later. I really must get better at grabbing someone to video because he had some awesome runs! Nailed his contacts every time!!

We had one very frustrating NQ in team jumpers when my hand whacked one of the poles and TWEET we got an E. I didn't really understand that because later in the day a friend ran into a one of the tunnels and got a 5 point fault. So, how is that different from my hand touching the poles?

Anyway, regardless of that bobble and my team mate having two E's Spur had some extra good runs to boost our point rating and put us 12. The top 15 teams Q'd, so we pulled it off!! YAY!!! I am SO very happy. I just hated to cause an NQ AGAIN, so it felt really great to get that Team Q yesterday. Especially with Spur running SO well. He beat Blink and won his standard run on Saturday which felt incredibly good. Yes, I know he spent some time making sure Blink stayed on his contacts, but STILL on the score sheet Spur was before Blink!!! Wahooooo!!! Just to be able to say we beat Blink is HUGE!!! :D Feels really good.

Then all weekend I kept hearing people talking about Spur. "Who is that cute little black-tri dog who is doing so well??" and one person asking my friend Cindy about him and then saying......"And he's fast, too!!".......I just beamed!!!! That guy made a point to come up to me and comment about how nice a dog he is. I felt like the proudest mamma!!!! Other people who know him also made comments. And all were well deserved, he did awesome!!!

Roscoe ran first all weekend, so hearing me pull Roscoe out and run him first caused a bit of jealousy and by the time I returned and pulled him out he was so HIGH!!! Screaming to run!! He was very fun! Had a BALL!!!!

Roscoe ran great, too, but his team mate made some major bobbles and we didn't get a team Q. Roscoe never E'd, good little man!!! Got "snookered", but still got 22 points, and he got tons of points in gamble, so he sure pulled off his part of the deal!! That's OK Roscoe already has two team Q's and we really don't need a Q for anything. He's twelve, I don't have plans for him other than slowing down some and taking it easier. He ran two nice runs on Saturday, placing third in Standard and getting a lovely gamble Q. Good little old man!!! I believe he ended up top over-all 12" dog in the performance point standings!! :D It was very good weekend!!!!

Spur's gamble run. I must have lost my balance and veered off, pulling him off the a-frame, damn it! It was a pretty easy gamble we should have gotten. But, I am SO pleased with his dog walks. Especially the second one. He was going pretty fast, good little man!!! Got off the start line a little slow. You can see the plexiglass window was rattling for some reason. I think that happened when people came in the door on that side of the building. Strange and it bothered him a little as we set up, but then he recovered nicely and took off!!!

Weekend trial report!

Saturday was AKC. Spur did GREAT!! His first run was FAST and he was ON FIRE!! I love in the video when Kim says......"OMG, look at him GO!!!". He was FLYING and that caused him to jump over the finish jump and end our run without collecting enough points. Oh well, I am thrilled at how happy and fast he was and how awesome his dog walk was!!!



Then he Q'd and won his Open standard!! Yay!! One more leg and he moves up to Excellent. He did a nice teeter and again and awesome dog walk.



Then he ran clean and fast in his Excellent Jumpers. Good little Monkey Pants!!

Roscoe double q'd for number 17 I believe. He was awesome in standard and a little off in jumpers, but he did fine. Not his most favorite location.

Sunday was CPE here in town. Spur, again, was ON FIRE!!! He did the teeter nicely!!! The dog walk was a nice set up with tunnel dog walk tunnel. Great fun and he did awesome until his last standard style run. Looks like he missed all three contacts!! He was really pumped and even though the judge didn't call any of them the video (which I deleted because I don't want to look at it!!!) he clearly missed. Maybe one toe in one, darn it. It was fullhouse, so I could do it three times and I guess the tunnel dog walk tunnel was just too exciting. Or the fact that since Silvia's approval we haven't trained it at all and it was something we were training weekly. Time to do a little training, I guess. Just a wee reminder of his job. All in all, I am really pleased because the ones he got were super good. And he was SO happy!!!

He had some incredible scores. His jackpot score was 60 points. More than anyone else by nearly 20 points! He had the highest snooker score. This is the WHOLE group, Muffin Heads, all levels, all dogs, all heights. He blew everyone away!!! He was simply having a great time!!! Barking at all his fans, running his heart out, he had a great weekend!!!

I do have some of the CPE videos, but they are REALLY blurry and I haven't loaded them, yet. I was tired last night and in bed by about 8:30. I think he is ready for our team event in a couple weeks at BARK. I DO plan to get a team Q that weekend!!!

Why couldn't we be last???

Last place team got some nice gift baskets!! Darn it! We were second to last. :P

It was a GREAT trial, ran smoothly and fast, we were done by 1:00 yesterday so I managed to get home and get a nice farm walk and even my jobs done early! Yay!

My team had too many E's. They were all very simple E's, but an E is an E and that hurt us. Spur ran GREAT, though, and I am very happy. His tail was WHIPPING back and forth on the start line each run, he took off really fast, he ran his heart out this weekend. We got many comments, so I couldn't be happier, really. And my teammate was cool about not qualifying and was pleased her dog only knocked bars the first couple runs. I guess he is a bar knocker.

I feel like Spur and I are finally figuring things out. Our start line is SO much better. I just grab his little body and focus him on the first obstacle and off we go. It is working!!! I think of the years of working on a start line behavior with Roscoe and never really figuring it out. With Spur it just happened one day. He was SO wanting to go say HI to the leash runner, so I had to grab him and make him stay focused. He didn't really like it, but it essentially took his options away, keeping him focused on his job. He is such a social butterfly it is hard to tear him away from the leash runner, at times. So, this works. And has worked now for several trials and I see him bolting off the start faster every time. It's cool! We are evolving!!!

Great weekend and I can't WAIT for his next team. I SO hope we Q next time.

Here is his standard run. He managed to hold it together to do his teeter. You can see after it that he worries about the recoil, but this is a very soft landing teeter. Then for some reason he reads the turn at the jump before the dog walk as a back cross and then back jumped it to cause an E. Oh well! There were times he looked REALLY happy and he sure had super fast weaves! Love how he starts lowering his head and diving into them as he is finishing them!! Good little Monkey Pants!!! -

Spur has his groove back!

He was FLYING today!! Our Q rate wasn't great, we E in Steeplechase due to a back jump and got an E in Team Jumpers due to a tunnel suck, but the little guy was FLYING!! He looked happy and fast! My teammate even said that....."Spur is fast!!!" That just makes my heart swell!!!

Here is Steeplechase -



Here is Team Jumpers-

Spur de Blur!!!!

That's his new name! My friend Kate came up with that and it's awesome! He was a blur this weekend!!! Super pumped and happy in his jumpers runs to finish his Open title and advance to Excellent where on Sunday his time was beat only by three super fast, very experienced dogs!! Wahoooooooooo!!!

He did refuse the teeter in both standard runs, darn it. Gotta paint a new board and put my teeter together and start working on him owning that again. In the summer it is right there on our way to our walks and he charges to it every day before our walks. Now, it's taken apart because of the plank starting to rot and winter here. Time to get to the lumber yard and start the painting process ASAP. It's hurting us again at trials, poor worried buggar.

But, I can not be more pleased about his jumpers!! Jumps have always worried him. He has always jumped HUGE avoiding knocking them because oh....dear.....the sound of PVC on the floor is worth melting into a ball of mush for. That's why quiet trials worry him, he hears every knocked bar from another dog and worries and worries.

Now? He is OWNING his jumpers!!! So fun to watch him shine! He had a 29+ second run even with running over to say high to the leash runner as he came around one section!!! Mr. Social!

Open run. Starts a little slow, but then kicks in the jets! -



His first Excellent Jumpers run, good little Monkey Pants! -



Roscoe? He did fine. Not super great, but fine for two more double Q's. He may not have felt that great. Folks who know him thought he looked off. He did fine, but he may have had gas or stomach issues or sore back or who knows. He's twelve, so he is going to have some off days. He needs 3 more double Q's for his MACH. Might need a bunch of speed points, but I am not sure. He is never a fast dog. He simply isn't athletic or well built for it, but he tries and has always done well. Good little ole man!!!

I have to add that it was one of the best run AKC trials, ever. The judge was awesome! She didn't linger and kept to a tight schedule with walk throughs. You had 8 minutes and NO more, at minute 7 she would yell out....."One more minute, walk fast!!!". Her briefings were....."Know the rules, in at the tire." or whatever obstacle. That's it, that's all. No long stories about what kind of dogs she runs, where she is from, what she had for breakfast, nope just the basics. Quick, simple and efficient and everyone appreciated that. The trial was done by around 5:00 each day. Amazing for an AKC trial. I LOVE that judge!!!!

Spur FREAKIN' ROCKED!!!

I know this sounds a little snooty, but it's true........CPE isn't the most competitive venue, but I still enjoy it and the people there. It was a nice show, but I have to admit there wasn't the most intense competition there. Spur won every class, beating all dogs in all levels in each class except one. He is in level 3, but I compared to all levels just for fun. The one standard class two other dogs beat him by fractions of a second, but he did refuse the teeter. No refusals in CPE, so it was a "clean" run and he was still just fractions of a second slower than the two other dogs with faster times.

He FREAKIN' ROCKED!!! This video is Fullhouse and was his first class. You basically gather as many points as possible before the buzzer then run to the table to stop the clock. Nice first class that you can design your own course. He starts off a little slow, but then quickly picks up speed. Watch his second dog walk!! YAY Spur Man!!! That was a NICE dog walk.



I got his standard run, but that's all for video. Today I'll try to get more, if possible. I didn't stay for his jumpers score, but he was SMOKIN' and if he didn't run faster than all the other dogs I would be surprised. He was ON FIRE!! Definitely has his groove back!!!!

Hopefully she is not sore any more, but I am!

All this snow has made it hard to get these little dogs exercised. And too cold on the days we make it to the snow mobile trails. But, Spur has had a few times out snow shoeing. Roscoe, nada. Just way too cold for him. Both Pin Heads made it to the back pasture gate one last week, but that was IT! Not enough time after work to get to the beach or the tide was too high. But, Rich plowed a big path to our wood pile, since we need to restock the basement and it makes for a nice ball tossing/chasing spot. Not icy, soft snow, contained to that area. I bring out Spur's Chuck-it ball and Colby's special. Roscoe just goes after a few tossed treats, but at least it's something. I toss Spur's chuck-it then toss Colby her special. Somehow I got mixed up one time and BAM! - Poor Colby got NAILED in the head with the Chuck-it ball! OUCH!!

OH, I felt SO bad!!! She comes to me for attention, looks fine, I think I just beaned her on the head and she is wanting her ball again. I mean, her special, it is SOMETHING to her. The only ball that she will chase and she LOVES that thing. Off she goes, shaking off the head beaning. Or so I think.

I bring the Pin Heads in and take Spur for a 1/2 hour snow shoe. Come back and there she is shaking on the chair, eye swollen and half closed!!!! OH, NO, what have I done??? The poor thing!!! I call the vet who thank GOODNESS can see me right away on a Friday afternoon. Phew! She looks closely into her eye, stains it for scratches, nothing, says it looks like there isn't any concerning trauma, but to watch it carefully and we give her some Meticam for the pain. Poor little thing is not happy, it HURTS.

The next morning she looks TEN times better and off we go to the dog show. Immediately I notice she has diarrhea. I am thinking from the Meticam? Bummer dude! Nothing worse than being at a dog show with a dog with the runs. It soaks into the snow, so it's miserable to clean up with a baggie. It continues all day as I worry about her in her crate and take her out like FIVE HUNDRED times. ACK!! This morning? She seems fine. She is resilient, but goodness me that was a tough day yesterday.

Now - trial report!!! OMG, The Spur-minator was ON FIRE!!! He started off a little slow first class, gamblers, but O-MY-GOD he NAILED IT!!! He sped up soon after his slow start, did great and we managed to be in the right place as the buzzer went off and off he went like a champ doing the gamble with ease!! Which completed his P-MAD!! Wahooooooooo!!! I can't believe The Spur-minator is a P-MAD dog!!!! Unfortunately, the only run we got on tape was his standard, but that was a GOOD one! Perhaps his greatest start off the line, ever. I am trying our new start line of holding him and then a slight push back and GO!!! It's kind of hard to see in the video, but watch how fast we start. I had to run with everything I had!!!! :D Then, dumb ass I am gets in his way with my blind cross after the tunnel!! I really wish I had gotten more video. It is SO helpful. But, also watch his teeter. O-MY-FREAKIN'-GOD, he ROCKED IT!!! Zoomed to the end, let it drop and charged off!!! It's always nice to have a tunnel or chute after the teeter. It causes the recoil to be forgotten and probably not heard, so that is always nice. Also, what his dog walk?? Not the fastest, but he does accelerate on the down and runs BEAUTIFULLY through the contact as I peel off!! Nicely DONE Spur Man!!!


We got snookered in snooker, but then he got another Pairs leg and WON his jumpers!!! Spur! Yes, I just said Spur WON his jumpers! This is a dog who is a little bit afraid of jumps. And it was NOT a great course for him. Lots of front crosses had to be done and I am not great with those. I think I did OK, so maybe it wasn't that bad a course. He was PUMPED!!!! What a good little Monkey Pants!!!

Roscoe? What can I say, poor Roscoe was definitely "second fiddle". He ran second all day and that just stinks for him. Spur can handle that much better, in fact it may help him to come out and run "cold", but there isn't anything I can do about the running order. Roscoe suffered a little bit, but I tried like heck to tell him how important he is for being there and trying. And he did try. He had a couple moments where he looked really good! Of course, one was during pairs and it caused an off course for us. And he looked great in Jumpers, but damn IT I forgot the course. How the fuck does that happen, I JUST ran it with Spur????? I felt like an idiot/novice/loser.

It was a long day. I am very sore. 10 runs on rubber makes me sore and with Spur I had to RUN like the wind at times!!!! I am NOT complaining, it is a lovely problem to have!!! :D He was ROCKIN' it yesterday!!!!

I'm tired. Baby Spur got into Excellent Jumpers this weekend!!

YAY!!! This trial was well run, but what they did would have been GREAT if both dogs were in Excellent. They ran both Excellent classes first, then started Open/Novice after - around 2:30 each day. Spur having only done a few AKC trials so far was still in Open, so he sat around until the afternoon to run.

This was his first time trialing at this location since last winter and I was nervous. It is TIGHT quarters in there and a difficult crate room area and not much room getting to the in gate. As always with little Spur I turn into mush, a nervous Nellie, worried that he will have some sort of melt down and I won't be able to support him properly. We did pretty well, I have to say!!!! :D

His standard run Saturday he was worried. My start line behavior is non-existent at this point still, so he didn't get going that well. But, he wasn't THAT bad. And he got going after a bit and I managed to pull it together. He refused a few things (stress) and I decided to insist. There are times that might not be right, but I felt that he needed to wear his big boy pants and OWN IT, so I insisted. I think it did him good. He had moments of brilliance and we even got some really nice comments. We had many refusals, so certainly didn't qualify, but I was very pleased as he looked pretty proud of himself as we left the ring and that's BIG!

Jumpers I really tried to relax. Breath. I opted to try a start line behavior......I held him around the chest with a "Ready? Ready? READY! GO" release and it seemed to work. I have only ever done that once before and on film it looked pretty good!!! I did it that first time because he was wanting to go say high to the leash runner and ring crew and leave me. I simply held him and MADE him stay with me, then released. On film he left the start line really well. So, I tried it again in Jumpers. It WORKED!!! He was still a little worried, but we did fine and he recovered really nicely and ran clean!

Sunday I decided to try that start both runs. And to really relax as much as possible. The start went well both runs, but I can't say I was too relaxed. Better, but still a bit uptight and weird. He did better!!! No Q in standard, but he did better and again had moments of brilliance! Jumpers was PRETTY!!!! He ran happy, pretty fast and clean!!! It looked nice, except for one late front cross, but the rest was awesome and the crowd really cheered us on and he LOVES that!!!! He did GREAT!!

It was a long weekend having to be there first thing in the morning to run Roscoe (he did fine, not great, but fine for a double Q Sunday and a Jumpers Q Saturday) and then waiting to the end of the day to run Spur in Open. But, it was worth it because at least now he is in Excellent Jumpers!!! Phew!!! Still needs two Open Standard legs, but at least he is now in Jumpers.

Roscoe had a little trouble adjusting to the rubber footing. He slipped first run and that bummed him out. All the running he has done on field turf or dirt has spoiled him. He isn't an athletic dog, so good footing is important to him. More than I thought. He did fine, but not his crazy little dirt running Roscoe. It is a tough place to trial with the crate room SO packed and small, crates stacked on top of crates and barely enough room to get dogs in and out, but they did fine!!!! I now wish I had entered some of the other AKC trials there this winter. Spur simply needs as much time as possible at locations. He always gets more and more comfortable as time goes on and it's a slow process. He needs a LOT of time. But, I am so pleased that he does better and better. And we got a lot of nice comments as we left the ring yesterday after Jumpers. Lots of people who had never seen him before commented on how nice a dog he was and how well he ran. That felt good! AND he was the ONLY mixed breed at this AKC trial. Wahooooooooooo!!!!

BARK trial report when Spur WON PGP!!

Not only did he win PGP, but he also won PSJ!!! We had a great weekend! Saturday had ups and downs as we are definitely still figuring things out. I decided not to have my friend Cindy hold one of the boys between their runs and that was decidedly an up!! I often have her hold one since there are sometimes just a few dogs between them. This time I set up their crates as close as I felt comfortable to the Masters ring gate. That way I could get one out, pre-load that empty crate with treats, run that dog, bring him back to the treated crate, grab the other. It worked pretty well, I think and they seemed to like it better than being held. Even by Cindy, who they both like pretty well. And I am quite sure Cindy is very happy not to have to hold one. She never complained, but damn they could be a pain, especially SCREAMING Spur as he watched me head off with Roscoe!

And it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be!! The dogs dealt with it better and it's now the way it will be.

OK, so all my non-agility friends - PGP is Performance Grand Prix. PSJ is Performance Speed Jumping. In PGP there is nearly a full agility course of obstacles. The only thing missing is the table, so it's fun, fast and full of obstacles. PSJ is a course that includes doing the weaves twice or the a-frame twice, but has no dog walk or teeter or table. There can be tunnels and there are lots of jumps. It's FAST and fun and usually has a nice flow to it. These are essential qualifiers for bigger events. So, by winning the PGP Spur now has a "bye" for next year's Regional. We got a big ribbon and an official looking pink sheet confirming our "bye". What the heck? OK, I guess that means he can skip the first round and go straight to the second round at a regional. COOL!!! As if we have such big plans.

It was nice to get these wins and Spur ran really well. Roscoe was a close second in both runs. He ran well all weekend and showed no sign of his crash with the patio furniture last week. Phew!! He's a tough little buggar!!

One disturbing occurance during the weekend was Spur aggressed at two dogs. :O OK, so I kind of thought I had done my time with aggression in dogs. *Roscoe*. I guess not. I am still being tested, still paying my dues, still going to have to put in the time with a reactive dog? My consolation? He is not people aggressive at all. I think what is happening is he is feeling pretty good about himself now that he has had some BIG FAT RIBBONS and his all important "bye" and is pounding his chest some!! DAMN! I am glad he feels so pumped up and BIG, but aggressing at the giant shepherd as we entered the building was perhaps not the right choice? Time for some strict management at trials now. "WATCH OUT, HERE COMES THAT IDIOT LADY WITH HER TINY BLACK TERROR DOGS!!!" I thought I was over that. Roscoe is awesome with other dogs now.

Damn...........it!

Enough of that, I will deal. These dogs come to us for a reason, right? I will deal. Spur will be managed. Better. No letting the dumb cocker come sniff the left over salmon Spur is eating as we warm up ring side. OK, so really that was DUMB on the owner's part, but her dog has met Spur before and done fine. Still, when a dog is being fed.......well.....anything really, but especially yummy, stinky, slimey, smelly left-over salmon, don't let your dog come up and get in that dog's face!!!! Just don't do it! Not a good plan.

The shepherd incident? Totally unprovoked. The Spurminator just LAUNCHED into a snarling, explosion of teeth and spit. Luckily, I had a tight leash and grabbed hold firmly and pulled him away. Still, it freaked me out and is a bummer.

Oh well, see, like I said we had out ups and downs.

Here are the videos. PGP first, PSJ finals below that. What a good little Monkey Pants!

Some things I learned and maybe learned a long time ago, but maybe didn't want to learn?

#1 - Must stop squeaking at my dogs. It's SO bad that I am irritating myself to NO end. It's a family thing. At our reunion the aunts (there are four) do this squeaky giggly high pitched strange noise that the cousins (there are many) tease them about. Unfortunately, I got the squeaky gene. DAMN IT! When things start to go bad or we have some little bobble on the agility course, my voice starts to get higher and higher. The poor dogs! Doesn't do them any good. Surely doesn't make them go faster or try harder. They just think...."Oh boy, here she goes again, must have done something wrong".... and they manage to pull it together as best they can. The squeaking isn't productive. Why do I DO it???? I am determined and will start a pre-run mantra....."No squeaking, No squeaking, No squeaking!!!". Nice, soft encouraging voice. Yeah, like that, like Karen Gorman. She has a nice soft voice all the time.

I told my instructor we could maybe put a citronella collar on my and she could spritz me every time I squeak. She said she didn't think there was enough citronella. :O

#2 - Roscoe will not be doing ANY more outdoor trials. I know, I said this before, but after that decision was made I decided to try one or two runs. Last weekend, he ran OK. Just OK. Yesterday? He was off. Way off. I scratched his second run and am now going to stick to NO outdoor trials.

#3 - Running two 12" Performance dogs in USDAA is WAY hard. Yesterday there were only two dogs between Spur and Roscoe. That meant I had to have someone hold them while I ran the other. That's limiting as there are only so many people who can hold Roscoe. And for both dogs it really isn't fair. The first one gets maybe 60 seconds of reward, then the second dog gets NO warm up? It's too hard and they run so differently I have trouble adjusting and trouble dealing, it's just trouble. I have both boys entered in many runs at BARK the end of the month, but hopefully that will be a bigger trial and there will be more dogs between us. But, that may be one of the last trials I run the two dogs together. Sucks, but it's just too hard. Or I can put them in seperate classes. I'll have to make plans and think hard about how I enter the two together.

It was/is easier in AKC only because the 12" class is WAY bigger. Sometimes it is even the biggest class!!! It's just the way it goes. USDAA doesn't favor little dogs, plain and simple, it's just the way it goes. The 12" class is small in USDAA.

Roscoe is 11, so even though he is in great shape, mentally he just struggles and we may have to settle with a slightly lesser agility schedule to let young Spur dominate. I wish I had more time so I could focus on Rally with Roscoe. It's his absolute favorite thing to do. We will get back into it come winter, but right now agility is my first love, so with Spur coming along so nicely that's what we are doing.

Spur found a team for the first weekend in October. Spur and Jace will be "Jace Gets Spurred On". LOL!! YAY!! Spur's first team! I hope we can pull our weight. Jace is seasoned, Spur is not. Sheila seemed OK about that.

Stop squeaking, stop squeaking, stop squeaking...............

Videos are SO helpful!

This is his Steeplechase run. Instead of my usual - push on his shoulder for opposition reflex start line stuff - I look like I kind of whack him in the head!!! :O Poor little guy!

In the heat of the moment some things just fly right out of one's head and we do things we are hardly even aware of. It's weird. Like aliens take over our bodies. I say that in the collective as if it happens to other people. It does, doesn't it? I know it does, I see it. I see it loud and clear when watching others, but when I do it I don't see it so clearly. Odd how that happens.



So, after that nice whack in the head he doesn't start off all that fast, but then starts to pick up speed. Does one of his awesome A-frames and then we are moving!! My front cross doesn't look SO bad, but obviously he didn't read it that well and lands somewhat behind me, which slows him down. Darn. But, then he gets into his weaves and is REALLY moving along, so I peel off thinking I can since he is SO super fast and SO super awesome.......he does a 10th pole pop out, darn it!! But, look at him go, he looks so happy and good and having fun and flying along and doing a nice A-frame and racing me to the finish. Full little Monkey Pants!!!

This one is our standard run. Or most of it. Look at that AWESOME teeter!!! Yay for Spur!!! He was clean except for another 10th pole pop out. And I converged into him, thinking I could keep him in there, but out he came. Oh well, an issue we have to work on. I heard it said this is a common green dog issue, so something we will work on. He sure looks happy and fast and doing a great job!! I am SO proud!!!

Spur's Performance Grand Prix!

I know, it's a little hard to watch because of the shaking. Skinny Lisa was low on blood sugar. Probably had not had breakfast. Can you imagine?? Somehow that's just not in my imagination. No breakfast. I have breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, after lunch snack, mid-afternoon snack, appetizer snack, dinner, dessert, snack before bed. Hahahahaha, I may be skinny, too, but I don't ever let breakfast go! Especially on a dog show morning.

Anyway, if you can watch it I am SO proud of The Spur Man!! Not sure it was all my fault his wide turn at my front cross to jump #3? I think he was simply focused on the big green tunnel opening looking at him straight away. My favorite part? Watch his A-frame!!! At first I thought the video sped up!! Seriously, it kind of looks that way! :D He FREAKIN' FLIES over that A-frame!!! Adorable!! He loves his A-frames and with really no training at all does them perfectly, I think. I love that! I love things that train so easily. Or essentially just train themselves. Can I peel off the A-frame and leave him to do the whole thing himself without me there? Not sure. I can at home, but not sure in a trial.

He does miss his dog walk contact, though, in this run. Damn. Not sure why, it does look like I am running pretty hard? Although you can't see me that well, so maybe I slowed down. Regardless, his dog walk is in need or work. He is enjoying it, but I need to get that going for us. That is perhaps the greatest training challenge I have ever encountered. If I can get that going, boy I will be SOME proud of myself. I am determined.

Hey! I think I have an agility dog!

The Spurminator ROCKED his agility trial this weekend. Again! We are on a roll!! OK, so this time, though, not as many Q's. But, our NQ runs were AWESOME!! He was faster, happier, more confident than before and that is SO cool!

We do seem to be having a 10th pole pop out issue at the moment. Three of four pole attempts had a 10th pole pop out. Huh. That we can work on, so we will. He enjoys his poles, so off to work we go on finishing his poles.

We also had two of three dog walk contacts missed. That I wasn't surprised about. His contact must be maintained a LOT and we haven't done much at all for over a month. I just can't get out there and run may ass off when it's 90+ degrees and humid. I just can't. So, this week, we will be running.....lots of running dog walks. I also know that I didn't run full out while he was on his dog walk and my slowing down is not a good thing. I worry and then he slows down and ends up leaping the end. If I can just stay at top speed the whole way he has a much greater chance of hitting the contact. We are having a bit of a learning curve here.

I had some gigantuan handling errors that messed him up big time here and there, but the good little buggar recovered and put his big boy pants on and looked sharp and happy again. His last run was standard and he had the most AWESOME, super fast A-frame. I beat him to the other side of it and was amazed to see his tiny body leaping the apex!! Wahoooooooooooo.......Spur Man!!!

And, this was his first trial completely in PIII (Masters) level!! YAY!!! We had a really nice snooker run for a Super Q!! Hah! His first ever PIII snooker and he gets a Super Q!

He just keeps getting faster and more and more comfortable with the whole scene. I could not BE more proud!

Roscoe did one run, just to test his outdoor agility trial status. It was OK. Pretty OK. Almost really good. I had stupid handling errors, but he looked pretty good.

**Video of his last run, Standard. He comes off the start line pretty nicely, with some good speed, you can see I start to slow down toward the end of the dog walk. It is going into "no where" and we have that kind of nasty weave entry after it, so I definitely am slowing down to get my front cross in there. My thoughts are that I should have RUN wicked fast, then just gathered him up and regrouped for the weave entry. Might have hit the contact, then. I look back at my other videos and the good hits I do keep running. I notice Angie Benaquisto does that, she RUNS like the WIND when Dylan is on his dog walk. And SHE can RUN!

You will also notice the second to last jump where I do a not so well executed rear cross, he knocks the bar and it scares him so he scoots around the last jump. Poor little buggar. I left the ring with him like he was a ROCK STAR! There were moments of brilliance out there and I didn't want him to think otherwise at this early stage in his career. He needs all the support he can get!! I mean, really, that was one of his nicest A-frames! Just how I want it done, perfect!



And just to compare, because I think that is very helpful with a dog like him, so I don't forget how far we have come. This video is from last June, 09 at class. Not too long after his teeter "crash".

BARK weekend trial report!

I know, a little late, but you have to understand how I feel in the heat...........I HATE IT!!!!

OK, so this was a slightly rugged trial. First, it is a three hour drive there. Second, the heat outside was BRUTAL. Yes, we stayed in an AC hotel, we ran agility in an AC sports arena, but STILL we had to walk and potty the dogs and get our stuff in and out. It was HOT! Third, it was not a good weekend for dad's.

Friday we arrive and set up and have dinner. We leave the dogs in the truck with it wide open. We can watch it from the restaurant. At some point we all notice something strange. Our friend Nicole is sitting on the pavement next to the truck. Her car is there, too, but it's strange that she and her friend are sitting there. Turns out her dad had just died unexpectedly. Poor Nicole, it was very sad and very hard. She just lost her mom three months earlier. I guess he couldn't live without her. Nicole stayed for the trial, but the poor thing, it was so hard.

The next morning we arrive and are getting going and I get a call that MY dad had a heart attack. MY DAD? He is a hard working organic farmer? But, he is 73 and these things happen when you are that age. He is fine, but that call was FREAKY!!!! It was pretty crazy. Stress, stress, stress.........

We set the dogs up in an x-pen. First time doing that. Douce (shih tzu), Roscoe, Colby and Spur. We line the pen with covering so it's only open on top. It seems more comfortable, they can move around more and stretch out. Easier for us than bringing in four crates. Howeverrrr.............The Spurminator had other plans. By the end of the first day he figured out how to escape. It happened once while I was there organizing my treats. Next thing I know I have a dog in my arms. Guy next to us says....."Nice catch!". Um, thanks, but dude that's not a catch I wanted. BAD Spur, back in your pen!!!

About a half hour later I am watching the Master's ring and Pam comes along with the Spurminator in her arms. This is a THREE foot tall x-pen! Little buddy, that's a BIG jump!! Crate time for The Spur Man!!! >:/

The next day Douce escapes! DOUCE! He's an 11" tall shih tzu. Surely he didn't jump it???? We are thinking he climbed it. Crate time for The Douce Man!!!! >:/

Roscoe ran great for a few runs, then looks a little sore. I am thinking he "pogo-sticked" too much at the x-pen. That would be jumping up and down each time I came over, in hopes I would pick him up. He can't do that in a crate, so we'll see next time. He just seemed a little sore by day two.

OK, so the x-pen was a good idea. In theory. In practice - NO! Crates all around, next time!!

It seems it was a "run-a-way" weekend. This was Spur's last run, jumpers and he takes a WEE detour to say HI to the judge. "Hey there judge, watch ME run!!!! YAY for ME!!", she just stood still. I squeek out "SssspuRRRRR" and we continue. Yeesh! I knew that would happen one day. He's SO loves his fan club!



Even with all these strange events this was a VERY fun trial. AC worked great inside this place. In fact, at one point I had to put a coat on Colby!!! The hotel was LOVELY and relaxing. The trial ran very smoothly as BARK trials always do. Spur finished his PII title, so he is now in PIII completely. Those are MASTER'S classes!!! :O OMG, Baby Spur in Master's classes?? He ran his first two standard PIII, with a nice Q in his Sunday run. Saturday we had some issues. It's harder. The in-gate is WAY busier. The courses obviously harder. It will be an adjustment for us.

Spur - PII dog! We still need to get more speed and confidence, but I see that coming.........slowly and methodically, it will come. As with everything Spur-like, these things will take time. He did have two iffy dog walk contacts. One was called the other was not. I need to re-group and go back a little in my dog walk training with him. As with all things Spur-like, this will take time. We take August off from trialing, so I have time to get some good work done with it.

What do I learn from these trials? That no matter how well or how crappy we do, I think my dogs appreciate our teamwork and that I do this super fun sport with them. They may leap out of x-pens and pogo-stick themselves sore, but they are not bored, they are not home living sedate lives curled up on the couch, they are mentally and physically involved in my life to the fullest and they work for me and with me and we work as a team and I think they appreciate all of it. I think they enjoy it and are fulfilled and certainly NOT bored. Maybe I am seeing my world through Rose Colored Glasses, but I LOVE those glasses, they fit me well and don't hurt the bridge of my nose!

And besides, they get tons of turkey and chicken and cheese and I KNOW that's really, REALLY important to ME!! I think it's the same for them! Especially the cheese! I love cheese! Turkey, chicken, cheese, baked potatoe, pizza crust, waffles, meatballs, egg sandwich, cheese covered enchilladas........Roscoe even likes his radishes! Yeah, we eat well at dog trials! I didn't bring radishes.

Wow, what a week!

OK, I could have had some nicer weather. HOT isn't MY favorite. Um, let me rephrase that.....HOT SUCKS!!! I was so unhappy to see such heat coming for my week off. Three days at BARK camp with 99 degree weather and nearly 100% humidity wasn't fun. I wanted to work Spur some, but working that little paw wringer when I am not at the top of my game isn't a good idea. I only brought him out a few times when I could make an easy course for him. Roscoe worked his heart out, good little bad dog!

Then over the weekend we did the Riverside USDAA trial. Spur FREAKIN' ROCKED!!! I am SO high from his last two runs!! We did have some down runs, too, though. I can't just forget those, he melted down a couple of times. Running fine, but not with his Monkey Pants on. Who knows what gets him, but my gut says it's all me and he reads my mind/emotions so keenly. His down runs were Gamble (I am not good at handling gambles, it took a long time for Roscoe to be good at gambles) and pairs, which I usually like OK, but I was worried about it a little because it was his first run of the day after looking pretty scared about the teeter the day before. I realised later, as you will see in these runs, that I had nothing to worry about!! :D

Colby finished her MAD with Jones - YAY!!! I haven't had a chance to load that run. It wasn't pretty, I wanted it CLEAN so she wouldn't have to keep trying. I wanted it with Jones and it took us five tries to get it, so this was really sweet!!!

This is Spur's Standard run yesterday to win his class and be the fourth fastest of all the heights of dogs in that division!! He ROCKED!!! His dog walk was perfect and we could have taken a couple seconds off his time had he gone down faster on his table. My table at home needs replacing, so I can't use it. Rich just cut me a new board, but it still needs paint. Gotta get that done!!! -



This was his Grand Prix fun. LOVE his teeter in this run!! Just perfect and the teeters at this trial were very loud and scary, but he just got more and more comfortable!!! GOOD LITTLE MONKEY PANTS!!!! -

It could have gone a lot worse and it could have gone a lot better.

Spur's first AKC trial. Measuring judge measures him, BARELY, at 14". He hesitated, made some mumbly comment......."hmm, pretty close.....hmmm...." and I almost piped up......"Come on asshole, don't make my dog jump 16"!!", but I didn't and he put down 14". Phew. 14.1" and he would have to jump 16, not 12 and 12 is comfortable for him. We want comfortable for Spur!!

He was weirded out by stuff in the morning and I had this sinking feeling we were doomed with this outdoor trial. Weather was threatening, the measuring issue worried him.......I was worried. I don't want him to jump 16"!!! I was worried about his measuring. The yellow caution tape around the place, flapping in the breeze worried him, the lady dragging the luggage on wheels worried him, it was kind of freaky in the morning. But, our first run was A-OK. No major meltdowns, he actually looked pretty happy! Trotted into his weaves, but that was the only place that looked kind of down. The rest of it was A-OK.



He won three of his four classes (there were not many in his class, but still!!). Saturday's standard I mis-qed his dog walk, so we had an F for that, but otherwise it was a nice run. I haven't loaded that one, yet. All in all, he did great!!! I see improvement and I know it is going to be a long, slow process, but he isn't getting worse at trials. He's learning they are pretty fun, not so scary, and not so worrisome. YAY!

Roscoe - he's another story. We just seem to be in a toilet flush. Spiraling into a shit hole. I made the decision he is not going to do outdoor trials any more. Well, after the Cumberland trials because I can't scratch those now since it has already closed. He runs fine, double q'ed Saturday and q'd on Sunday morning. I pulled him from his jumpers because of the rain. NO running in rain, ever again for him and now I have decided no running outdoors. He doesn't like outdoor trials, it doesn't feel good to me or him, so sad as it is (I enjoy outdoors!!) he will not be entering outdoor trials from now on. It just isn't fun for us and they are too expensive just to do it for the q's. It's not about that to me.

I sure did miss running Miss Colby this weekend. This was her favorite trial site. She had her best runs at this site. She and I were such a nice, comfortable team. We ran well together, we didn't worry, I knew I had a dog out there enjoying herself. It was easy. Spur and Roscoe - not so easy. They are a lot of work.

I look forward to running Colby in the two jumpers runs at Cumberland. I think her eyes can handle that. The sun should be high in the sky, which is a better deal for her. The low shadows, with the low sun gets her. I have run her some in my yard lately and she has done great!

It was very fun running a "Canine Partner" at an AKC trial. There were not many of us, but we all are very proud of our mutts. God forbid they call them mutts, A? They are "Canine Partners". LOL!! Whatevahhhhhhh..........I love that mutts can now do AKC agility. I LOVE it! Of course, Spur is such a big hit being SO FREAKIN' cute. We got a lot of comments about his cuteness. :D And this little mutt beat all his competition. I know there were not many in his class, but still he beat all the breed dogs!!! :D Does that make me a mutt snob? Maybe. I do love my mutts!

I ran Lisa's shih tzus, since her broken toe is still not healed. Douce had mamma concerns and looked for her a few times, but then had moments of BRILLIANCE!! He is really fun to run, he is fast and loved some of the things we did out there and had some awesome moves. Awesome tight back cross to a tunnel that had people commenting about it after......"oooh, you did that nice back cross, we thought about it, but chickened out"........"Wow, nice back cross with that shih tzu"........and other things that made me smile. No q's for him, but some run moments out there. He was worried. Unsure why mamma wasn't running him. It's a weird thing and I'm pleased he finished the courses with me! His sister Stella only did one jumpers run. We had no idea how she would do, she has major meltdowns indoors. She ROCKED!! She isn't very well put together and doesn't jump well at all, so she was only jumping 4" jumps and she LOVED it!! She huffed and huffed and scooted around the course with GLEE!!! OMG, she was TOO freakin' cute!!! Not sure if we have video of that. She missed a couple jumps, so excited doing it she just didn't even "see" them? I brought her around and made her do them since she was SO happy. She was adorable. Won her class. OK - so she was the ONLY dog IN her class, but STILL!!! :D Cute little thing!!

Spur has his AKC agility trial debut this weekend!!

And I am feeling a little tentative. He is in one of his funks. I put way too much pressure on the poor little paw wringer and it's showing. I need to lighten up and get him working for me with more enthusiasm. He worries so and I am not helping him much, lately. He is such a project and if I can get things going well with him, I will stick a great big, giant eagle feather in my cap. Or maybe an ostrich feather. Something HUGE! For the world to see, my success with The Spurminator flagging high in the sky for everyone to see. Wait - that would be bragging, right? What's to brag about? He's melting down right now because of ME! That's nothing to brag about. And it's not like I have World Team aspirations. I can barely leave New England without medical assistance. (Remember the Invitational with Colby going to Long Beach CA??? Valium - take me there!!! It did!) But, I do this because it's fun for me and the dogs. We are a team and we work together and we get through difficult events and we are proud. Spur, he's proud. He's proud of himself for catching his ball or frisbee. He's proud when he rolls in some shit in the woods. He's proud when he runs his dog walk. He's proud when he does his scary teeter. He worries when I ask him to run a full course and if I happen to get in his way, he worries. Sometimes I am not in the best position and I do get in his way. It happens.

This morning on our walk Rich commented on that. How the Pin Heads will scoot off in front of us if they suddenly find themselves in our path. They scoot away and race ahead. Spur? He worries and ducks back behind us. They are so different. Is it the papillon in him that makes him worry? Is it the aussie in him that makes him need to be behind us? I don't know, it really doesn't matter, he is who he is and I need to consider all of that. He has SO much potential. He tries with everything he has. He works hard and enjoys the work and wants to work, HE BARKS HIS FOOL HEAD OFF WHEN I WORK THE PIN HEADS, but then sometimes he wrings his little paws. It's in him, I know it, I see it and we will work through this funk.

The MinPins were easier, if I remember right. Even Recalcitrant Roscoe, was driven and motivated and WANTED to do the work, no matter what. Yes, his aggressive tendencies had to be dealt with. His trial stress, dealt with. It was easier with Roscoe maybe because I never trialed him ever thinking he would REALLY make a good agility dog. He's hardly athletic, after all. He doesn't really have the conformation that says SPEED or AGILITY. Roscoe runs like he's always about to topple over. It's not pretty, he tries, but he's like the pudgy little funny kid in gym class. No grace, no speed, no smooth moves, but he does try. I laugh at him sometimes, he does try with all he has. Spur, he's athletic. He CAN do it, he runs like the wind sometimes, smooth and fast and accurate. I just have to bring that out of him. I will. I promise. He will teach me so much, I know. Right now, though, I am feeling a little down. We are in a funk. We WILL work through this funk............

So, to make me feel better I am going to repost my posts of Spur doing pretty well -

http://amysanimalcare.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-weekend-away-here-at-home.html

http://amysanimalcare.blogspot.com/2010/04/we-have-rock-star-in-our-midst.html

Spur's big OUTDOOR agility trial debut!!

This may be a first - it wore him out!!! He put himself to bed early last night.

I think it went well, but it started out slow! Poor buggar was a little over-whelmed and started out really pokey and slow and worried. I was bummed. My bubble was burst after being so full from the BARK trial, or the air let out just a little let's say. But, I must remember he is one who needs a TON of time to adjust and learn things. Nothing happens fast with Spur. Saturday he actually started out OK, just OK, for a win in his snooker class. We are up to PII (advanced level) now, so courses are harder. He qualified in his Steeplechase, but it was slow. Not many other dogs in his class, so it was pretty easy to qualify. That meant yesterday he got to run FIVE runs!! That's a LOT for a weenie dog.

He ran better. Each run he got more comfortable and better. Placed third in Steeplechase to win $10. Won his jumpers class as his last run of the day, so we improved with each run. He got more and more comfortable.

Roscoe - I only entered him in two runs each day and good thing. Saturday he got into reverse sneezes and he couldn't stop!! Like ALL FREAKIN' day, poor little thing. He was cramped and uncomfortable. I gave him a xanax, which snapped him out of it and relaxed his muscles enough, I guess. Saturday, a much happier dog, but I messed him up in Standard. Then in Grand Prix he just was tired, I guess. Not his usually and he fell off the teeter. He was fine, but obviously not himself. Outdoors is not his favorite place for agility. Especially after asking him to run in rain like ALL summer last year. That hurt us. I hope I can get him back. He has never run well outdoors. We may have to search for indoor trials as much as possible. Means more driving, but maybe I just have to suck it up.

I think there was a very low q rate at this trial. First outdoor trial for many dogs and that means a lot of distracted dogs. I think some classes no one qualified in. How crazy is that? It happens. It was a lovely trial, though. Beautiful weather!! GREAT site, lots of field and a pond and wooded trails for walking the dogs. Colby got to hunt frogs at the pond, which is about her favorite thing to do. I don't think she has ever caught one, but she LOVES to hunt them! It's like an obsession!!

So, no q's for Roscoe. Four q's for Spur = a Snooker, a Standard, a Jumpers and a Steeplechase. Good little Monkey Pants!!!