Bellyaches And Rosettes

We went 4 for 5 on Saturday. There were only 3 event offered, and Maxwell wasn’t entered in T2B. Can you do the math…?

That’s right, Sadie triple-Q’ed! And… AND… Maxwell got his very first Q ever (in jumpers).

Sunday was great, too. Sadie got another T2B, and Maxwell got another jumpers Q!

End raving, begin long post.

Miss Sadie apparently got into something nasty between class on Friday and the trial, because she was a mess. She must have pooped 4 times on Saturday, plus a huge puke in her crate between runs. The poor girl was bloated and groaning to herself, but still wanted to play agility. I didn't realize it at first, though.

Before Jumpers, our first class of the day, I noticed that she wasn’t as interested in food as usual. She was happy to be with me, and ran the course clean but s…l…o…w. I decided something was actually wrong when I notices her grunting as she landed from each and every jump.

A kind fellow handler gave me a half dose of Metronidazole to help settle her stomach. I decided to run her in Standard, but pull her off the course if she seemed in undue discomfort. She was still grunting, but seemed a little more energetic and alert. Another slow-and-steady Q.

I would have scratched Sadie from T2B, but the bloating was somewhat reduced and she had perked up just a little bit more. Plus, she seemed to be happy on course regardless. I’d hate to drag her to a trial, let her play half the games, and then be a spoil-sport. Less grunting, more wagging, and yet another slow Q. At least she was clean!

I was worried that a tummy ache might cause Sadie to drop bars. In fact, I completely re-thought my usual handling to adapt to her reduced speed and to keep her jump approaches as straight as possible. That meant zero rear crosses and tons of early information for all the front crosses. And I didn’t charge the lines like I usually do. (Though I did resort to cheering her on in Standard, when she plodded her way through
the weaves.)

Maxwell was a bundle of nerves for his Standard run. I lost him over the very first jump. As he was in the air, I could see his posture shift – ears back, head low, carriage flat. He practically flew across the dogwalk, and the rest is a bit of a blur in my mind. Mostly me calling him, him racing around, then me thanking the judge and carrying him out. He still got half a jar of baby food as a reward for trying, of course.

Before Jumpers, I decided to try being super calm when I got Maxwell out. I realized that my own jitters probably got telegraphed to my little guy in his first run, making him more nervous. I asked for lots of high-value behaviors while we waited, kept my voice low, and kept him from interacting with other dogs. I was rewarded with a beautiful Jumpers run – one refusal, earning him a Q! Remembering how I’d scared him at the last trial when we ended a run together, I just quietly let him walk with me to his leash and gave
him a soft “good boy.” Poor thing definitely expected me to be scary again, because he flinched slightly when I called him over, but quickly realized I wasn’t going to grab him or make loud noises.

On Sunday, Sadie was feeling much better. Wiggly, grinning, and snatching treats from my hands with her shark teeth.

She should have had a nice Jumpers run, but I didn’t connect enough after a tunnel and she did an “ass pass,” or un-cued blind cross. Since that caused her to pick up a refusal and a wrong course (back-jumping to reset), I decided to just push her limits. I ran the lines hard, walked backwards for part of her weaves, and generally made her have to keep up with me. Another refusal and a knocked bar, but we couldn’t NQ more, and it was worth it to use the opportunity to proof her at a trial.

Standard ended up much the same as Jumpers, though I managed to catch her before she could back-jump, and we kept the bars up. I realized half way through, though, that Sadie was glued to my side. Now, she’s never been very good at lateral distance, but I could usually get five or six feet on a clear line of jumps. Nope. Two feet was enough to pull her off, no matter how much I supported the line. Again, since we’d NQ’ed, I proofed her weaves by walking backwards. This time she pulled out of the weaves, but we finally got it on attempt #3. And as we came around a bend for the last two jumps, I could feel her pulling in to me, so I used my body to pressure her into the correct line. She adjusted sharply, but got those jumps.

Now that I’d figured out her issues for the day, I was able to adjust my handling in T2B to baby-sit every jump. Not something I like doing, but we got our 6th Q and another 6 points towards her title.

Maxwell’s Standard run was nearly a repeat of Saturday, with a few important differences. I made sure to keep quiet and calm as we waited, despite the screaming border collie in the room. We got through nearly 5 obstacles before I lost him, and the first 4 were very thoughtfully performed. He gave me perfect contacts on the dogwalk and teeter, looking to me for the next cue. He first took off at the weave entrance, somehow finding the tunnel that was facing away from us before returning to me. His weaves were manic, but wow can he move. I barely got him over the next jump as he careened by, and then he almost fell off the table due to momentum. Puppy-brain was gone after that. He flew over two jumps simply because they were in his way, took a right turn to skip the tunnel in favor of the A-frame, flew past the chute, over the final jump, and right out the gate.

As one person said, “Well, he definitely has the speed.”

I took my quiet and calm demeanor to the next level before Jumpers. I only asked for his absolute favorite behaviors (like TOUCH and DOWN), and we played a ton of the ‘Look at That’ game. He got nearly a full stick of string cheese before the run just for looking at other dogs. I made sure his leash was super loose before we walked in the ring so that it would come off easily. After I set him up, I used slow movements to unleash him, toss it aside, and take one small step ahead. My OK release was hardly more than a soft-spoken word. It all paid off. I managed to call him back from the refusal plane of one jump, then we had a run-by on another. The weaves needed two attempts, as he stepped out to alert to something half way through the first try. They were hardly fast, but they were nice. I used all front crosses to keep us connected, and he honored my cues beautifully. The very best part? At the end of the run I walked to the leash, opened it wide, and let him come to me. He continued to be calm, and showed no hesitation at being leashed.

Our second Jumpers Q.

Part of me is thrilled that he's doing so well in Jumpers. But the trainer in me knows that he’s really not ready for Open yet, so it’s probably best that he's mostly entered in Standard and T2B for a while. He can continue to mature in the ring before we get that NAJ title.

I am so proud of my pups.

Vacation! The Road Less Traveled

We had one absolutely gorgeous day of warm sunshine and zero rain. We drove the pups about a mile down the main road to a trail. It was an easy three-mile hike to Little Woodhull Lake, not too hot and not too buggy. Both dogs wore their collars, just in case we ran across other people on the trail, and Maxwell dragged his long-line. He didn't really need it, though. They were incredibly well-behaved. They chased each other through the forest, sniffed stuff, raced circles around us, and only went out of sight a handful of times.

The pups were happy to see the lake. I unclipped Maxwell so he could roam more freely, and Sadie ended up chasing him through the tall grass. It was over her head, so we caught her jumping up every few seconds to peer around for her target.

They came racing back covered in mud and grinning like maniacs.

My fiance convinced Sadie to do a few tricks in the water. It helped clean her off, and was mighty entertaining!

The rest of the trip was just as much fun. The dogs got to have their adventures, we got to play with them and relax. There were more short walks along the lake, generally ending with the dogs beating each other up along the shore. Sadie even made a new friend!

Ah, we will miss those lazy days. Sleep, eat, play. The hardest decisions were what to eat and where to play.

We were sad to leave, but look forward to the next trip north.

Vacation! Making A Splash

We drove up to my parents’ cabin in the Adirondack Park the day after the trial. I swear it takes the dogs about 5 seconds, from the time we release them from the car, to end up play-fighting in the lake. They were happy and full of the wiggles to see my parents. They investigated every room in the house. And, finally, they settled down with us on the deck for a late lunch.

We probably spent several hours every day playing by the lake. With the water level waaaay down, there was plenty of rocky shore for them to race along. It also meant an easy entry to the lake, all the better for fetching sticks and tennis balls.

Maxwell seems to have remembered his swimming skills from Maine, and was happy to plunge through the water in pursuit of a ball. And when he dropped it back at my feet, he’d dash back in to chest height in anticipation of the next throw. He ignored a loon in the middle of the lake, he ignored Sadie’s sticks, and he wasn’t bothered by the occasional boat passing by.
Sadie split her lake time between fetching sticks (then trying to eat them on shore) and stalking Maxwell.

Stick-wise, she seemed to especially love one that was as long as her own body. She snatched it from the water by one end, then swam ashore with it held forward like a cigar. Predictably, it caught on the ground when she reached the shallows and she was forced to adjust.

When she decided that chasing Maxwell was more fun, Sadie practically turned into a cat. She would adopt a hard stare, ears forward, tail out stiff, body slightly crouched. If Maxwell noticed her attention, she would crouch even more, and sometimes begin to creep forwards. As soon as Maxwell made a sudden move, it was on. They would fly along the waterline at top speed, leaping over boulders, ducking under the dock, sliding through the shallows to make 180-degree turns. Sometimes Maxwell would lead her up into the woods, and we’d hear them crashing through the underbrush. We could tell when Maxwell was done being chased by the snarls. Not bad snarls. Just the horrible-sounding noises of two dogs chest-bumping, tooth-clashing, and face-bopping in a sibling tussle.

If we were already up by the house when a chase started, they usually ended up doing laps around the place. We would either go up on the deck where it was safe, or watch out for our own legs as they whipped past. On each lap, we could first hear a rumble, then panting, then the actual footfalls as they blasted by. The heavy breathing would fade until they came around again. It made me dizzy just to watch!

They only raced off too far a few times. They would end up a few docks down the shore, or at a neighbor’s driveway down the road. Generally, we could just call them to COME. Sadie would come crashing back first with a sloppy grin. Maxwell would follow a minute or two later and ask for a tennis ball. Overall, we were very pleased with their attention to where they were and whether they had gone too far from us.

With all this running and swimming, the dogs slept very well.

Sorry for the poor quality.

It was dark, and Maxwell was under a couch.

Vacation! An “Excellent” Trial

Saturday, August 11, 2012 was the date of the best trial I’ve ever run with my dogs.

Sadie just finished her Open Agility title on the 5th with a very messy run. Wrong course? Check! Refusal? Check! Agility gods in your favor? Double-check! She missed her Open Agility Jumpers title that day due to being a complete goof, and missed Time 2 Beat because she dropped a bar.

But on the 11th, she was a machine.

We started the day with our first ever Excellent run on a very nice standard course. We were the first dog on the line, so I didn’t get to see anyone else run. It was beautiful. She moved like she was an extension of me, taking tight turns, crossing smoothly, and nailing her weave-pole entry at high speed. She actually carried on past pole 2 and into pole 3, but she clearly intended to stick the weaves. I called her out to fix it, and we completed the course to a round of applause. If you’re going to NQ, that is the way to do it.

See the fabulous Excellent A NQ here!

Next up was a nice T2B course for Sadie. Once again she had her head in the game, and we sailed through it for a 6-point finish. No hesitations, no disconnects, just a fast and smooth run.

Maxwell was up next for his re-introduction to trialing with a Novice Standard course. He has been an amazing little trooper at all the trials recently, giving me attention and not pestering all the potential four-legged friends. He didn’t disappoint me in the ring, either. I chose not to lead out, and asked him to hold all his contacts for a few seconds – both as a means of keeping connection. He was still certainly distracted by everything, and definitely a bit stressed, but he came back to me every time I called him. And if the A-frame was between us? Bonus! (He loves contact obstacles) I was busy keeping his attention, so I definitely lost track of the course a few times, but he ran nicely anyway. If it weren’t for the extra time on his little ‘detours’ it would have been a Q!

I feel a bad, though, about our ending. I’m so used to Sadie’s bouncy-happy-wound-up enthusiasm that I tried to celebrate the course with Maxwell a bit too much. I threw my hands up and said “Yay!” or some such, and asked him to jump up on me to be leashed. He flattened himself to the ground in response. Oops...

My little boy is growing up!

Sadie’s final run for the day was a very nice jumpers course. It had a tight section with several turns quickly followed by an open section for speed, but the whole course flowed. Apparently Sadie really liked it, too, because she finished clean in 28.8 seconds! For first place! For her Open Agility Jumpers title! There were two teeny tiny spots that I thought could have been better, but both were handling issues, not dog issues. Too much of a pull-up for a tight turn and a slightly late rear-cross cue.

Maxwell’s second and final run was a jumpers course. Remembering to temper my enthusiasm, and how well he responded to recalls in Standard, I tried to handle him firmly but quietly. He still went off on his own a few times. I’m pretty sure it was a sign of stress, not simply distraction. I could see him lower his carriage a bit and hold his ears back. But he was still willing, and he kept himself in the game. I was absolutely ready to end the run if and when he seemed too uncomfortable, but he was a trooper. We finished the course clean enough, with about 13 seconds of time faults. Not a Q, but a hell of a good run for my little guy!

To review:

• Sadie had a fabulous first run in Excellent
• Sadie flew through another T2B Q
• Sadie earned her OAJ title
• Maxwell was willing to play the agility game for a whole standard course for a near-Q
• Maxwell was able to stay focused through a whole jumpers course for a near-Q

I can’t help grinning every time I think about the trial. And I’m pretty sure my fiancé is sick of hearing how proud I am of both my dogs!

Vacation!

We just got back from a week off-leash, and are trying to adjust back to 'civilized' life. The dogs are still exhausted. They flop around the apartment, stretch every time they move, and don't really want to play.

Until I have time to write a real series of posts, let these fun photos hold you over!

Goin' after the ball

Hm... There seem to be treats up there...

An (Almost) Adoption

I took the pups on one of our usual morning routs today, armed with treats and poop bags. It's a nice loop. There are a few big grassy areas to sniff and 'go' on, some residential sections with lots of pee-mail, and commercial areas where they can pay better attention to me.

One stretch along a grassy spot has a plastic split-rail fence on one side, some flat grass beyond it for maybe 10 feet, then a hedge. Today, Maxwell suddenly dove under the fence and wouldn't budge. I stepped back a bit to give him slack, thinking he was pooping. He wasn't.

Maxwell had found a nearly-new tennis ball, bright green and electric orange, and he was damned if he wasn't going to have it. I let him grab it, and he happily carried it back under the fence to continue our walk. And he hung on to it. And he peed while carrying it it. And he looked around while carrying it. And he panted while carrying it. He was beyond cute.

The rare times he dropped it were for a vertical marking on a wall or to watch another dog. I just had to tell him to "go get your ball" and he'd snatch it right back up.

I think I've secretly wanted one of those dogs who happily brings a toy along on walks.

After a half mile or so he began to drop it more frequently. Then I had to encourage him to go get it again. After a few blocks of that, it was at the point where I had to kick the ball along for him to chase, grab, trot a few yards, and drop the ball. Finally, I decided it wasn't worth my effort, and I let the ball roll off next to the sidewalk.

Maybe some other dog will adopt it.

Posted with Blogsy

Agility At The Olympics

My company has given its employees the ability to watch a live news feed of the Olympics on our computers. I’ve been enjoying watching the water polo, swimming, and other such sports of personal interest while I work.

I’ve also learned about some of the lesser-known sports. Did you know that pairs white-water canoeing is a sport? Neither did I. But it was incredible to watch. Fast-paced motion down the rapids, following a numbered course, threading themselves between posts, struggling to complete obstacles (“gates”) in both up- and down-stream directions… Wait a minute, this sounds like agility!

Source

 Source

As I watched the teams power through the course, I felt more and more strongly that I was watching some long-lost step-sister of agility. Imagine how in-tune the two paddlers must be? How instinctively they need to be able to read each others’ cues, mostly non-verbal?

The people in the canoe must be attuned to the movements of each other. The person in back has to read the slightest cues from their partner, like a head-turn, much like a dog read their handler (and visa versa!). While the two humans don’t actually make all the same motions, they need to work together towards a common goal. An agility dog and handler also need that strong working relationship and drive through the course. What happens if something goes wrong? Well, in both cases the team must adjust on the fly without losing connection, momentum, or drive.

Who knew the Olympics had agility?!