July 2014
The CPE trial in Rochester went well! All of the dogs ran really well. Saturday we had a very high Q rate. Sunday, not so much. But I felt like I was off on Sunday. Plus, the classes may have been classes that are harder to Q in. We ended Saturday with all 4 dogs NQing in Wildcard. All 4 dogs were entered in Wildcard because they all need Wildcard Qs. Letty and Narc each needed 1 more to finish the level they were at. So it was fitting that all 4 dogs NQd. And for a variety of reasons. But Sunday ended with all 4 dogs entered in Wildcard and all 4 dogs Qd! 🙂 My goal with Seven for the weekend was to not make him redo any weaves. I was mostly good. On one he popped at the end and I tried to fix it quick but we made a mess. And then I was out of position for the rest of the course and he was handler focused. I tried to rear cross on the tire and he stopped right in front of me and I stumbled as I tried to not step or fall on him. I went down hard! Luckily, if I am going to fall, it was on turf. So, that was his punishment to me for breaking my promise. The dogs were all pretty good at the hotel. I did not sleep very well. First night in a hotel room is always hard. But it saved me 5 hours of driving. They have almost no grass there now. And my non-smoking room smelled like smoke. Gross! But I still like the suite feature with the 2 rooms. The dogs have room to stretch out then.
Last week I worked from home taking an online SQL querying class. It was nice not having to do the commute each day. And I spent some of the lecture time out on the porch swing with the girls.
Tuesday was our last Confidence Building class at TCOTC. I really like the class. We have this week off from class and then we start a second session of classes to continue to build ring confidence. Last week I worked on reporting in. It’s nice that I can modify it for my IPO trialing challenges.
Saturday I drove up to Duluth to the ADAA USDAA trial. Gorgeous day weather wise. Uneventful trips there and back. I wasn’t horribly tired. I just entered the first 3 class. I still wasn’t done til 3pm. And not packed up and hitting the road til 4pm. It was a smart decision to not enter all classes. And it got up to 86 degrees! The dogs were not use to it. I ran 5 dogs but only Letty and Vada were entered in all 3 classes. It worked out really well with the classes and dogs and I was never rushed to have to run dogs back to back or worry about moving them.
Letty’s classes were all P2 – Gamblers, Standard and Pairs. We had no Qs. She ran Gamblers really well. She did the gamble but just barely missed hitting yellow on the aframe. But she came straight down and not off the side. And the distance was pretty far. She ran pretty well in Standard. We had a bobble in the middle – I should have handled a tunnel/dogwalk discrimination better. I knew it but didn’t make a point of focusing on it during the walk thru. She slowed down a little after that but not terribly. But by Pairs her brain was MIA. She did 2 jumps but then didn’t turn. She was heading out of the ring and looking at something that was not there. It was weird. We had to redo our weave entry too. And so did our partner. We missed making time by 1 second! HOWEVER, she ran first and she ran right to her leash while I passed the baton and she could have cared less about the other dog in the ring. A much better experience than last time with the Siberian Husky. 🙂 And actually, the husky was coming out of the ring as we were going in so I rushed her out and tugged with her. That might have set the stage for us not being connected well for that run. Maybe she smelled him and was looking for him. Who knows. I’ve been marking her and rewarding any time she she’s him and she’s gotten more comfortable with him. She’s so weird sometimes!
Vada had an awesome day. She nailed her gamble in P3 Gamblers for a Q. In Standard we had a smooth pretty run. Heartbreakingly, she dropped 1 bar. So no Q there. It seemed like her back was getting sore as the day went on. I’d pet her back and she’d sit down right away. I’m so paranoid about entering Pairs in case she comes up lame right before. So we ran Pairs and she dropped 2 bars and got called on her dogwalk contact. She only had to run 8 obstacles. 😦 Amazingly we still Qd. Her partner is fast enough and very consistent. We Qd by only 1 second! After she ran I had Carol M massage her. She worked on her shoulders a lot. And she found some knots in her ham strings. She checked her back before we were done and her pelvis was square. Once she touched her back she sat down. But then Carol found a ligament or something that was tight. She worked it and suddenly Vada popped into a stand again. Whew! And now she gets a break next weekend too.
Narc ran P1 Gamblers and Pairs. We had a few bobbles in the opening. I was babying him too much and I didn’t do a warm up jump so he wasn’t prepared for the surface. Bad handler/trainer! But he nailed the gamble and we had enough points in the opening. His 2nd Q towards that title. He also Qd in Pairs with his partner for his 2nd Pairs Q. We had 10 faults – a bar and maybe his dogwalk contact. I think we got lucky with a good partner!
Seven ran P3 Standard. I knew he wouldn’t weave and I was ok with that. But the judge was standing right by us and she blew the whistle and it freaked him out. Poor guy. I’m not sure what I am going to do with him. Maybe just CPE?
I also ran Fringe in Masters Gamblers and Standard. We had to redo the weaves in the opening which threw off my timing for the gamble horn. So it was a mess getting to the gamble and she was too handler focused by then. But we had good parts. She ran awesome in Standard and we Qd! Her first Masters Q. It was nice to run a dog with a start line stay and stopped contacts and a nice table down. 🙂
Sunday was IPO training. We had a good turn out. Letty did really well with her obedience in obedience and protection. Lots to work on before her BH in a month though! I’m a little nervous and anxious and excited.