TGIF!

It’s been a pretty quiet week.  Did double box work with Vada 2 nights this week.  We made improvements.  Yesterday I took Luci to a new vet.  She is scheduled next Friday for a dental.  They will do her dental without a rabies shot.  They do not recommend any vaccinations since she is hyperthyroid.  That is a relief.  But I looked in her mouth and her gums are very swollen.  I feel terrible for waiting so long.  So I am glad they were able to get her in so quickly.  It looks like the clinic just opened in April.  But the vet use to work at another clinic.  She may have even saw Luci the 1 time we went there.  So, we’ll get that done and then I’ll get Copper scheduled for an appointment to get his labs done.  Looking at Luci’s gums made me worry for a second that the swelling was tumors (her sister died because of a jaw tumor) and I got a reminder of how short their lives are.  Having old pets is bitter sweet.  We know them so well and are so comfortable with them but yet the end is getting closer.  But all we can do is to enjoy each day that we have.  Tonight I have to focus on homework as I feel like I am getting behind.  I have much to do before the July 1st (Wednesday) deadline – 2 assignments and 2 tests.  I think I might need to get out of the house to be able to concentrate on homework.  The porch swing seems to work but the cushion is getting upholstered.  I just bought the fabric today.  It’s very cute!

Tomorrow we trial for our TR3 bright and early!  I’m looking forward to it and excited to see how Vada handles the track.

Then on Sunday we get to cut loose and run fast in agility.  Copper WILL be coming with us.  🙂  It’s suppose to be nice weather this weekend.

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Happy Birthday Narc!

Better late then never I guess.  Narc turned 6 on Friday.  The other day I was thinking about the first time Vada and Narc met as puppies.  It was at a flyball tournament.  They were both pretty young yet.  Under a year.  They did not like each other from the start.  And they still don’t!  Vada still tries to start stuff with Narc all the time.

Sevens Super Puppy class is going well.  I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be at 7:30pm.  Last I heard it was through June and then we’ll move to the Super Puppy II class at 6:30pm.  I’m not sure what will be going in the 7:30pm slot.  But I can either work Vada in the Polishing class at 7:30pm or Prozac if there is a new Super Puppy class starting.  Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Thursday night we had Bernie out to shear the sheep.  She is fast!  The sheep look so different after they are shorn.

Friday I wrapped up a few things around the house and drove to WI for a TR2 on Saturday.  The drive went well.  Checking in at the motel did not as they screwed up my reservation and over charged me.  I did like my room.  Although I did not have a microwave but I hear that others did.   I had some trouble with some boys on the street teasing Copper too.

Saturday we got up bright and early.  Vada tracked well and we passed the TR2.  She worked through some problems very well.  I was proud of her.  The 2 SchH1 dogs failed tracking.  Then the other TR2 failed tracking too!  But the SchH2 dog passed and then Vada passed.  I think all of the SchH3s passed.  One might have failed.  After that I just got to sit back and relax and enjoy the rest of the trial as a spectator.  This weekend we’ll try for our TR3.  I’m hoping we get a break in the weather so I can get in a training track or two!  Saturday I drove back from Fox Valley.  It’s about a 5 1/2 hour drive.  I got home about 10pm.

Sunday we got up bright and early to head to Burnsville for a USDAA trial.  Fringe got her last measurement for her height card!  Vada Qd in Masters Gamblers.  Her second.  The opening was not very good.  I got out of position and that totally threw me and I could not think any more.  I got stuck at the start of the closing with not much left to do.  But we got enough points and we got the closing.  We had issues on the other runs.  I back jumped her in Snooker again.  I think it’s because I was going to wrap the jump by the wall.  She read it as a rear cross and turned the wrong way.  So that was a very short run.  In Standard she knocked a bar.  At that point something snapped in me and I said screw it and just ran to go fast and push it.  It made the rest of the run alot of fun.  I got lazy at the end and tried to layer a jump and she pulled around the jump but I didn’t care and we just went on.  It was the same jump who’s bar she had knocked coming off the teeter.  I think I took my eyes off her there in order to run.  That is a bad habit I have.  In Jumpers I did the same thing – just ran.  She did well.  One jump she crashed as she misstepped.  I’m not sure why she knocked the other bar.  I may have taken my eyes off her to look where I was going.  Or there was a challenge there that I did not see.  Seven had an awesome run too but he also knocked that same bar.  I love running him.  I can now trust him to take the obstacles and not go around them.  Someday I’ll make time and train his contacts and then he can run in more then Jumpers.  Karl and Fringe Qd in Gamblers – also their 2nd Q.  They had a few issues in Jumpers.  She is a wild and crazy girl.  But by the end of that run she was starting to run with Karl as a team.  The ending looked very nice.

It’s looking like agility class may be cancelled tonight as the head index is currently at 97!

Happy Birthday Prozac!

Yesterday was Prozac’s birthday.  She is now 8 years old!

I don’t think I have recovered yet from our overnight trip for Karl’s last gig.  I am still exhausted!  I have not tracked since my last blog post.  Vada knows how to track and is great at it.  But I should still try to get another track in before the trial on Saturday.

Saturday we went to the Joyful Noise Family Festival.  It was an outdoor Christian music festival.  Joe, Julie, Dad and Dianna joined us there.  It was alot of fun and the music was good.  Unfortunately at the beginning of the day I heard about some rumor going around about me and I let that put a damper on my day.  The last band finished just shortly after 10pm.

Sunday I had to get up bright and early to drive to the Washington County Fairgrounds for the ACTS CPE trial.  I had Copper, Vada and Seven entered.  Copper and Vada were entered in everything.  Seven was entered in Snooker and Jumpers.  It was very hot and humid.  The dogs are not use to it yet.  Copper did not have fun at all.  He hit a few jumps which shuts him down too.  He did Q in Standard which finished up his Level 3 title in that class.  He almost Q’d in Snooker but came around a jump just as the whistle blew.  I think he Q’d in Wildcard but I can’t remember.  If so, then he’s done with Level 3 Wildcard.  And I scratched him from Level 4 Jumpers as it was the last class and it was too depressing to run him.  My plan is to wrap up the remaining Qs he needs for his total Level 3 title and then retire him.  Maybe it was just hot but it seems like he hasn’t had fun at the last few agility trials.  He’s more then happy to come with and hang out in the tent with me.  It’s a sad milestone but at least I can ease into it with a few more runs.  And the next CPE trials we can do are in the winter and indoors so maybe that will make a difference.  Vada frustrated me all day.  I was tired and crabby from the heat and she will not hold her start line and she knocks so many bars.  In just the first 2 runs she had knocked 5 bars.  Then in Snooker she knocked the first bar and ran through the weaves and we were done.  I don’t even remember how many she had down in Jumpers.  We did have a few good things in each run – well except Snooker.  She had some nice serps and listened to my change of arm well.  And at the end of Jumpers it was the tunnel and then 3 jumps out.  One was a double or triple.  I sent her in the tunnel and then RAN.  She kept all of those bars up and she was behind me.  The course ended a ways from the ring barrier too so I could keep running to the leash bucket.  In our first run of the day at least 2 of the bars down were because I was behind her on the straight away at the end of the course and she was looking at me over the jumps.  I was out of position for the serp and that put me behind.  I’ve been challenging her more in crate games but I have not worked SLSs at all.  So I should not be upset that nothing has changed.  Seven ran well.  We ran out of time in Snooker.  I think it was VERY short time as he handled well and we were moving fast.  But he got through 5 on the closing.  6 was the aframe and he ran down it nicely.  He had a beautiful Jumpers run.  Went under the tire but the rest was very nice.

Monday night we put hay away in the barn.  What a workout!  But it went pretty fast with Karl and I working together.

Tracking

Our main focus this last week has been tracking.  Vada and I are trialing for our TR2 on the 20th in WI.  Then our TR3 the following Saturday locally.

I have switched to tracking with them in a harness.  I’m not sure how much I like that though after our track Sunday night.  She seemed to be pulling hard and it was pulling her feet out wide.  But there is less jerking on her neck when I don’t handle the line properly.  So I’m still on the fence.

Last Tuesday we tracked at the Washington County Fairgrounds down past the horse arena.  We have not tracked there before.  The ground was very dusty and cars driving by were adding more layers of dust.  I did 6 corners on that track so it was a bit longer.  She struggled but got to the end.  Narc had a straight line track with food in every step.  He spazzed when I got him out.  He is crazy about tracking.  Drags me down the track.

Thursday I laid just a straight line track at home by the pond.  I had an article every 15 or 20 paces.  She did well.  She wasn’t very driven but it’s hard to get going when you’re stopping alot.  We have not tracked on taller grass in awhile either.

Friday  I had Karl lay a straight line track on the other side of the pond.  She did very well.  She searched around a bit on the end of the leg but then got the scent and finished on the “article.”  I put canned cat food at the end too.

We stopped on Sunday at the Blaine Soccer Complex on the way home from the temperament test.  A few of the fields did not have games going on them.  So I laid a track on one for Vada and another for Narc.  On Vada’s track we had 6 corners.  This time I put the food on the first 4 steps after the turn.  I don’t want the food to cue  the turn but I want tighter turns.  By the last turn she was tighter.  One part was almost under water.  She had to work really hard in some places that were pretty dead but she did a great job.  With Narc I laid a 2 leg track with food in every step.  He wasn’t as crazy and he settled in as we went on and was much more thoughtful.

Tonight we will track again at the Washington County Fairgrounds.  They have a dirt outdoor horse arena that I want to track them both in for something different.  Hopefully the rain stays away or we’ll be tracking in mud.

I should start articles with Narc very soon.  Dumbbell work too.

Saturday Karl played his last gig with Pastel Black.  I went with.  I have not gone with in a long time since the drive is so long and it makes for a very long night for the dogs.  It was fun.  I enjoyed it.  I enjoy seeing how happy Karl is when he plays too.  I got about 4 or so hours of sleep and then got up and took Vada to a ATTS temperament test.  She passed but barely.  The people at some of the stations were hiding in Schutzhund blinds.  Vada has not done bitework in a few weeks and she was SO excited when she saw the blinds and knew that it was a trial type situation that we were in.  I thought she was very cute.  However, the test is suppose to test their genetics and I don’t think it properly does when the dogs has a trained association to some of the equipment.  On Saturday we only did obedience as we did not have any helpers at training.  Now we won’t be at training for another month.  She is going to be nuts for bitework by the time we can do it again.

Last night I had dinner at the Park Tavern with Gina, Tanya and Cortney.  As usual, it was fun to get caught up.  My chicken sandwich was super yummy too!

MAC Spring USDAA Trial

 Last weekend was the Minnesota Agility Club’s spring USDAA trial.  We had nice weather all weekend.  A bit windy but not too hot and not too cold.  Vada earned her first Master’s Q in Gamblers.  She tied for 1st on points with 2 other teams and came in second based on time.  That was exciting!  The rest of the weekend I feel like I made poor handling choices or was out of position.  I’m having a hard time remembering what the rules are and where I should be and what I shouldn’t do and what I should do.  When I know those things then I can handle well and just work on timing my crosses and such.  Vada’s first run was Pairs and she had a beautiful start line stay.  It totally went to crap after that.  So my goal for the next few weeks is a start line stay boot camp.  I’m sick of it.  I’ve had enough.  When we don’t start out as a team I am angry and flustered and it makes the rest of the run harder to handle.  It really sets the mood for the whole course.  I’m proud of her when she holds her stay and embarrassed when she does not.  So we will start there and that is our main goal for the next trial.  Seven could use some work on a start line stay too.  Crate Games is giving him a little bit of a start and doing stays in obedience class.  But it’s slow going.  They are so very hard for him.  When I move, he wants to move.  We’ll get there.  At least he is little so doing running starts isn’t as hard.  I learned alot over the weekend.  But any mistake on my part causes NQ level failures on our runs so it gets very demotivating by the end of the weekend.  Having Seven and Vada in the same level Jumpers class is fun.  I learn from whoever I run first and I do not make the same mistakes with the second run.

Pictures of Vada

Picture of Seven

Karl and Fringe ran on Sunday.  Fringe Q’d in Starters Gamblers!  Her first USDAA Q!  She is quite wild still.  Karl is going to work hard on her contact behavior until the next trial.  It was fun having him there.  We had to work hard but I think we were able to see most of each others runs.  Mostly we were either working the other ring or running in the other ring.  So we didn’t get any runs taped like I had hoped.

My next trial is  ACTS CPE on June 14th.  I have Copper, Vada and Seven entered.

June is Here Already!

We have really been blessed with great weather these past many weeks.  We could use some rain but it’s been a nice temperature.

Not much new going on.  Met with Mom for dinner.   It was fun.  We were out way too late.  But we lost track of time.  Copper went to see Dr. Heather again.  His sternum was out and a spot near his tail.  His shoulders are still warm to me but he is acting much better and has his spring back.  We’ll see how he does at the CPE trial in less then 2 weeks.  If he continues to not have fun then it’s time to retire him.  But I hope he’s feeling back to his old self now that he’s been adjusted.  And hopefully there won’t be any situations to put him out of wack again for awhile.  Seven is still in Super Puppy I class.  The class will go at least through the end of June.  Last night I had orientation for the XHTML class I am taking.  The start time was 6:30pm.  Yesterday morning the website said 7pm.  So I killed time down here and got there about 10 to 7pm.  Turns out it had started at 6:30pm and they were just finishing up.  Sigh.  But the rest of the class is online so I don’t have to go in again.  Tonight Vada has agility class and then we’ll be tracking.  I’m thinking of bringing Narc too since he has been kind of ignored lately.  I’m going to switch to tracking with them in a harness if I can find my harnesses.  I’m trialing Vada for her TR2 in less then 3 weeks so it’s time to focus on tracking.

On the 28th Karl and I celebrated 5 years that we have been together.  That is the day he finally got up the nerve to kiss me.  🙂