Lots of New Agility
On Saturday the 14th we participated in the UMASC ASCA agility trial that was a fundraiser for the National Canine Cancer Foundation. The trial filled! The judge allowed the club to continue to take entries on Saturday since it was for a fundraiser. We knew it was going to be a long day so we brought all of the dogs. And since they were going to be there, I entered Narc and Prozac in a few runs. So that put me up to having 5 dogs entered in at least 1 class each. Vada ran in everything – 2 Regular, 2 Gamblers and 1 Jumpers. She Qd in both Regular, 1 Gamblers and Jumpers. She also did the first Gamble but I had to work it for awhile til she finally got it so we were over time. I was kind of surprised that she did so well as the distances between the jumps are pretty far and that use to cause her to flatten out and knock bars (and plow thru them). Seven was entered in Gamblers (unfortunately the hard one) and Jumpers. I just wanted to get him out to run and have fun and not worry about weaving. He Qd in Jumpers. Letty was in 1 of each class. We were having start line issues. She was over time in Standard as she broke her stay and took the tire and then came and jumped on me to snuggle. Lots of stress at the start line it seems. I resat her and started from the 2nd jump. She was also in the goofy Gamblers run (layer a dogwalk???) but I just ran it and didn’t even try to do it behind the line. She ran it well. She was running Jumpers really well too until she came out of the tunnel, took the next jump and then assumed position and pooped. After she finished she got the zoomies and ran around all over and thru the tunnel like she was so much lighter. She had already pooped twice outside. Stress??? Narc ran well. He had fun. A few off courses in Standard but a nice run in Jumpers for a Q. Prozac only ran in Jumpers but it was a brilliant run and a Q. She didn’t even think about running off. I was so proud of her. Sonic also only ran in Jumpers and Qd. It was a great course for all the dogs to open up and just run. Fringe was entered in everything. She Qd in Standard, Gamblers and Jumpers. We some really goofy issues with measuring. I had arrived at 7:10am so I could be there in lots of time to get the dogs measured. They didn’t start measuring til 7:30am which was advertised but there were alot of new to ASCA dogs to be measured. We stood in line for 20 minutes to get measured and then they cut us off at the dog right before us. There was a LONG line behind us too. We were told that we did not need to be measured? Which did not sit right with me for many reasons. So at the end of the day I asked again. I really never got a definite answer. I did show Pro and Seven’s NADAC height cards so that is on file. Karl went out to get Sonic and Fringe to have them measured as a few other dogs were getting measured but the judge refused to measure them. So the trial chair did. The Dutch Shepherds jumped the highest heights so they did not need measurements. Outside of that, which did NOT start my day off well, and some NADAC baggage that I seem to have – we had a fun day. The dogs really enjoyed the courses and the people there are lots of fun. And the best thing about the day – the trial raised $5000 for the NCCF!
Sunday I went to Schutzhund/Mondio training. Then home to drop the dogs off and go out and do homework. I went to Panara for awhile and then Perkins. I spent hours on my homework but I got it completed and submitted by 8pm or 9pm – not midnight. Thank goodness cuz I was exhausted!
Monday was Systems Analysis class. It went by quickly and no group exercises. 🙂 We are doing one in the next class though. I have 4 chapters to read and 4 homework projects to do, 2 tests and 2 classes and then I am done with the class. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! He graded my last paper even though I asked him not too and said that I would resubmit it. I got 60/100 so at least that is some points. And I can redo it and resubmit it to get back some of the points that I lost.
Tuesday Copper and Vada went to see Dr Heather. She was impressed at how much better he looked than the last time he was there. He’s been doing really well. Thank goodness! He felt better after he left there. She mostly did cold laser on his acupuncture points. She did some B12 injections in points and did a little bit of adjusting. She worked on Vada too. Vada had been there 6 weeks earlier I think. She was much better than last time so she’s holding her adjustments. She was a mess last time. Copper sees her again on the 15th. I tell him when we get close so he has something to look forward too. 🙂 Letty came in and did really well too. Dr Heather was petting her.
Wednesday was IPO/MR training. Things went ok but I really need to work on my obedience with both girls. Vada needs to learn to do mondio defense of handler heeling touching my leg and heeling backwards. And I need Letty to be able to find heel position with distractions (eventually the helper) around. Letty is giving me good attention in heel position until I release her to go into the blind. But Warren’s “SIT, SIT” is wearing off and she’s punching him again. He wants to me pop her collar. On a flat. It’s not a pinch but it’s still a correction and taking away her choice and taking away from teaching her what is the correct behavior. So I said I needed to think about it. I have not been working it on my own with a toy. So, after writing this I’m thinking that I might spend Wednesday working on homework and skip training. I need to get my homework done so I can focus on training again. I have lots of plans for alot of the dogs but just need the time and energy to get into a routine.
Thursday night was our first Thursday night of not having agility class in a long time. We met Dad and Dianna for dinner. I was really tired and feeling pretty bummed since I had found out earlier in the day that a guy who I used to do Schutzhund with had passed away. I knew he had cancer and it was aggressive but you just think everyone will live forever and keep fighting. He was a good man and loved his family and his dogs very much. So mostly Karl and Dianna talked. When we were starting to wrap things up Dianna decided it was time to attack me and tell me how she felt disrespected that we did not tell her that the birthday party was also for my Mom. It’s pretty sad that she has probably made the party all about her and how she was betrayed and has totally ruined the best day of my Dad’s life for him. Also, her need to “stick up for herself” and the way she went about it pretty much put the nail in the coffin for our relationship. Every time we get together there is a negative story about me or something and I leave feeling crummy. Why bother? Family? Is family so important that you disregard your own emotional well being to fulfill obligations? I’m starting to think not. And I’m starting to think that I have some confidence issues and some “independence” issues because of them. Dad did make some comments about me being smart and that is why I got in trouble in high school. That floored me. He has never said anything positive about me specifically and he’s never said anything positive about me from when I was a teen. He’s said he’s proud of me and proud of how all of us kids turned out. He’s admitted that he’s been a bad father. I’m done with the package deal. I may choose to have lunch with him in the future but I am done with her and her insecurities and negative digs all the time. What a waste of my precious time and energy. Our dogs sat at home in their crates so we could have dinner with them and it was all a setup so she could tell me how disrespected she felt at a party that was not even about her.
Friday I loaded up all the NON-Border Collies and went to TCO for run thrus on the UKC equipment. The 2 minutes per dog felt REALLY short. I was not able to get on all the equipment nor really train anything. But it was some sort of exposure for the dogs.
Saturday the agility trial didn’t start til 10am but I had entered Rally Level 2 so I had to be there at 8am. I had quick read the new signs the night before and reviewed the Level 1 signs. The walk thru went well and I felt pretty good about how it would go. During our run I was doing pretty good. We got to 1 of the new signs and the judge called a fault since Vada did not stay where I left her – the only help he said he would give us. I went back to do it again as you can have a redo and just lose points. My heart started racing. I had to remind myself to calm down and read the sign and think about it and be clear to my dog on what to do. Our redo went well and we made it thru to the end even though I was ready to die of a heart attack. We ended up with a 97 (only lost the redo points) and our first UR02 leg! And we were done before agility started so I didn’t have to worry about 2 rings. I did onleash course familiarization with Pro, Letty and Narc. It was so full in there and there was so much going on that I was getting stressed and Letty was stressed too. It was not good. But we got thru it just fine and the dogs did well. Being in the ring was nice since it was quiet and not crowded out there. The agility courses were basically straight lines down and up. Prozac was the only dog that I could race. The others smoked me so we had a few moments of them coming back to me or body slamming me. All dogs (Pro, Letty, Narc and Vada) were in AGI and only Vada was in AGII. I decided to not enter Seven as we had stress on the weaves and in the box. It was a good decision as every AGII course had a box and no platform jump. 😦 Pro was running like a rockstar again and got 2 Qs with 2 perfect scores and 2 first placements. Letty and Narc both had a bar down on their first run but Qd on their second runs. Vada kept her bars up on her first run but popped out of the hoop tunnel so got a 5 point fault – a Q but not UACH points. She dropped a bar in the 2nd run. But she smoked both AGII runs with 2 perfect scores and 2 first placements.
Sunday was the same thing. Vada did well in Rally and we would have scored a 100 but I forgot to have her sit in heel position on one of the signs. I wondered as I was doing it but the sign was behind me so I couldn’t double check. We NQd. Such a bummer! But I know she can do it and rally is early enough that we might be able to squeeze it in before training at the next trial. Level 3 looks totally do able too. I’m sure she could do AKC rally too. For agility we started with AGII then AGIII. It was so nice to start with less people there. A nice quiet start. 🙂 Vada had 2 faults. She hopped in and then out the backside of the box and also jumped over the swing plank. She was quite high. So it was a Q but no points. Before the 2nd run I fed her some cookies in the hopes of calming her. She smoked it and got a perfect 200 and first. We reversed the height order too so I ran the DS first in AGI. Letty was first in which was nice as I could bring her in right away and let her be there for a minute or two before we went in the ring. She Qd with a perfect 200! Her 2nd! Then Narc ran. He dropped 1 bar so no title possible for him for the weekend. 😦 Then Vada ran and also dropped 1 bar but a different bar than Narc. 😦 Then Pro ran and pulled out another perfect score which completed her UAGI title! Then we switched to Trial 2. Letty Qd again with a 199 which completed her UAGI title! Narc Qd with a 200 and a first place! And Vada Qd with a 200 also! Vada started the weekend with 30 UACH points. She earned 40 points over the weekend. So now she needs 30 more to finish the title. She has all of her AGII points but still needs 20 AGI points and then 10 from either. Not sure when our next trial will be though. I was very proud of how well all of the dogs did. Especially with my not physically being able to get to where I needed to get to. I got alot of exercise too! Crating was tight so I worked out of the van parked at the top of the hill so I did ALOT of stairs over the course of the weekend.
No video from this weekend. I had the camera but it’s hard to ask people to film when you’re running so many dogs. I’m not sure that I’d want people to see the runs anyways. LOL