RV & Naughty Dogs

What is wrong with this picture?

Well, you can see Luce and Blaze.  What is wrong with that?  Well, Blaze had been locked into the back bedroom and Luce had the front area (Hugh had to leave and we didn't want Blaze sitting and watching agility from the RV)

Blaze must have wanted to come out and Luce believes in an open door policy.  No door shall remain closed!

I came out of the building and there they were!

RV & the dogs

The primary reason for getting the RV was for agility.  Which means the dogs need to travel in the RV.


Luce has become such an easy traveler!  When I think back to 2001 when we got her ... she didn't want to get into a car.  She drooled, she peed, she paced, she panted.  Turns out that when she was being brought to her rescue group, the SUV was involved in a bad accident and the car was totalled.  I found that out a year after I got her, after we had worked through her issues.  Made it all clear!!!  But now?  Settles down and is the best girl :-)  Can take her anywhere.


And then there is Blaze.  He usually LOVES getting into a car, but barks when the car is moving. The RV was something else ... maybe the all vinyl floor?  Couldn't get him in there the first day, even with using The Ball as a bribe. I finally got a big bag of treats and got him into the stairwell, and then closed the door.  He wouldn't even LOOK at me :-)


Took a bit of work and a LOT of treats, but he finally leaped onto the sofa.  And then over the arms onto the dinette seat.


He avoids the vinyl flooring as much as possible.  We will have to get some runners.  He did have to make one step on the vinyl to get to the front.  Didn't mind targetting onto the vinyl as that meant MORE treats :-)


Back to the sofa, then more treats to get him into the bedroom.  That requires at least TWO steps on the vinyl. He does like it back there and will go there voluntarily when we use the RV.


He gets quite comfortable back there :-)


He is seatbelted in the dinette while we are driving.  Very alert.  And does bark, unfortunately.


And then there is my little Luce ... curled up into a ball behind the drivers seat while we are travelling.  Such a good girl :-)

A Bye!!!

We went to the Flexi trial last weekend. I was inspired from watching the WAO live stream the weekend before, plus Blaze and I had a great class on Wed night.

First class was snooker. Start line felt a little shaky - that start line will never be totally fixed but it is getting better. Did a 1-6, 1 and "tweet" Blaze took 6a really long and I sent him over 7a instead of 6b by mistake as I was disorientated. Big 8 points.

Standard - didn't Q but was happy with the run.

Grand Prix next. Had a few spots that were tricky and required thought to figure out the handling. I had worked on some 270's the week before and knew that if I didn't go in deep, Blaze would pull through the gap. We were about 1/3 of the way down in the run order so I got to watch some of the 22" dogs and saw where there were a few trouble spots.

Good stay at the start, kept the first few bars up. Came out of the chute - it was up hill there and I was a little behind - off course jump on left, off course weaves on right, correct jump in middle. Blaze came out of the chute and started to veer towards me - oh no! Told him to go on, jump. I had set a good line of motion going into the chute, so he took the correct jump and kept it up!

Decelerate to indicate turn after tire, he turned and was a little wide towards the off course dogwalk. Redirected to far end of tunnel. Picked him up and off to the dogwalk. Then the next tricky bit - jump after dogwalk, but show collection or we were buying the aframe. Phew, that worked with right arm up, name, jump, back up past plane of aframe, rotate and hope next jump was there - yes! Again, don't show extension, send to tunnel.

Took a step backwards, got him coming out, the stepped towards jump while facing to the left. Read it perfectly, didn't even see his beloved weaves and went straight towards the teeter! Can't say there was much of a wait for release there :-), but we aren't working on that - yet:-)

Into the 270 - step into the pocket, tell him out jump, start moving to aframe when he is committed. Step away from aframe to the left when he is at bottom as some dogs had taken the off course jump straight ahead. Oh god, please don't knock the bar! Weave (please don't pop out at 10!), jump, jump, done and CLEAN.

That was how I always want to do agility - running with the dog and us being in synch. Couldn't believe we were clean for a Q! Went back to check that it was still a Q a while later - and found out that we took first for the Bye!! There were lots of good dogs after us, so I never thought a Bye was possible - but there it was!




Now he gets to have 2 additional runs at the NE Regional. As I am secretary for that, he will be there anyway.

Still makes me grin when I think of that run a week later :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It Snowed

It snowed!

Everything looks so pretty after it snows.  The jingle bells are wearing bigger snow hats than they did yesterday.

Glad I got the reindeer up before it snowed too much yesterday. They are wearing snow hats too :-)

We ended up with about 7-1/2".  Not a lot compared to the 20" in parts of Maryland, VA and NC, but a lot for around here. We usually don't have a "White Christmas", so this is exciting for us. 

And, yes, I measured it :-)

Enough with the snow, can we go in now?

More ....

Let the wrestling begin .....

I got to watch a wrestling match earlier this morning.  This was after a game of "your toy is better than mine"  They each had a toy but they were eying the other's toy.  Then, as if on a signal, they would stop, look away briefly, and then pounce on the other's toy.  Repeat for 10 minutes.

Then we had the wrestling :-)

We've had a stint outside and now all is quiet and peaceful.

For now.

Snow & Such

Wow, two blog posts in a month!  Is this possible?  LOL

Bought the dogs each a coat and they arrived on Friday.  Luce accepted her coat without qualm, but Blaze was paralyzed in his.  Just stood there and would barely move.  Had to drag him outside while Luce was bouncing all around him.  The next time I brought The Ball out with me ... that took his mind off of the jacket  :-)

Common picture here when The Ball is out.  Luce waiting for Blaze who is waiting for The Ball to move.

Today is Saturday and it is snowing.  The states further south of us are getting dumped upon but we only have maybe an inch so far.

The Koi are hibernating

Blaze is getting used to his coat ... he still thinks he is going to die when I first put it on, but getting used to quicker and quicker now.

Catching Up

Been a long time since I updated. I read on someone's blog somewhere that they won't read a blog if it doesn't have pictures. I haven't been taking a lot of pictures, so I'm not posting ....

USDAA NE Regional - that went well and thank goodness it is over :-) We got decent weather with only some rain on Saturday afternoon. I tend to obsess on the things that didn't go well, but, really, it went smoothly - people keep telling me that, so I'll believe them :-)

Luce was entered only in the 3 P3 Titling classes ... and only ran one. And got a refusal at the weaves, so no Q in Standard. Oh well. Blaze was entered in one class per day. First day was Gamblers and we knocked every single bar in the gamble :-) AND broke a weave pole!! A first! Second day was snooker ... my first 0 point snooker!! He knocked the first red and was over the #3 jump before I could redirect - whistle and out in 4.something seconds! LOL

Gamblers was the 3rd day - he Q'd for his Starters Gamblers title!!!

Blaze held his start all 3 days and got all of his contacts. Missed a set of weave poles ... did that at Saratoga and Flexi as well. All 3 times it was the doing back to back weaves, him on my right. Hmm. I can't reproduce it here at home.

Had a some stress getting him measured and didn't get his final measurement until Saturday. He was measured at 21" on the nose at Saratoga by the CMJ. I was hoping to get two measurements there as it was a 3 days trial, but the other judges said to leave well enough alone, so I did. Got 20-3/4" at Flexi. First day at the Regional, I was stressed, rushed etc etc and Blaze did not cooperate, so we didn't get a measurement. As soon as the junior judge got there on Saturday morning, which was before a lot of people got there, I got Blaze measured and got his 3rd measurement at 20-3/4" YAY, done and officially a 22" jumping dog which is what I wanted! Sent in the card and he is now showing as permanently carded on the USDAA site ... just have to wait for the actual card to come in the mail.

Now going to enter Blaze in more than one run per day ... we'll leave Jumpers and Pairs alone for now and just add in Standard.

FINALLY going to go to class tonight after 3 weeks!! Should have gone to Luce's class last night, but there was threat of thunder. Won't drive for an hour just for her to sit in the car shaking. Blaze doesn't seem to care about the thunder, so we'll go. I'll take Luce in case there is an opening in his class, just to get her on equipment.

Luce, APD and Blaze's USDAA debut!

We had a WONDERFUL weekend at YAgility's USDAA trial in Saratoga Springs, NY

First ... Luce finished her APD (Performance ADCH)!!!! We have needed two gamble legs for quite a while and our history shows that we get one gamble per year. Was hoping to get one as we have been "this close" at several trials.

Well, we got not one ... but TWO!!!! Unbelievable!! It was two weeks ago and I am still smiling

The weather was gorgeous the entire weekend which was a bonus. This was the first time I had been to this site and I like it. Rosemarie and I got a good spot when we arrived on Friday and helped with set up. Our tent was between some pine trees, so the dogs were shaded all day long .. plus it smelled nice too :-)

On Luce's first gamble on Sunday I was nervous. It was a gamble she could do and has done before - I just needed to make sure I really drove towards the tunnel so that she would get it. Then the teeter was right in line with the exit and so was the final jump. She got it and I knew we had enough opening points!! But ... timer malfunction. It had started and stopped. Judge asked the timer/scribe what happened, thought about it and then asked me if I wanted to run it again or to just take SCT (Standard Course Time) I took the SCT (and still placed!) for the Q!

Next day had gamblers again and I didn't feel confident about this one. Jump to tunnel that was on the other side of the aframe, then two jumps. Wasn't sure she would bypass the aframe to the tunnel. I ended up having to walk both Luce's Gamblers course and Blaze's Gamblers course at the same time. They were similar ... dogwalk along the left side of the ring with a yellow tunnel in a U Shape under the middle. Weave poles towards the back edge, aframe over to the right, gamble over to the right. Jumps and stuff in the middle :-) Had a similar plan except Blaze's included the weave poles and Luce's didn't as she is too slow in the weaves.

Blaze's run was first. I had been working the score table in the 3rd ring, so finished there, went and got Blaze and threw the ball a few times, then we were right up. Good boy, held his stay at the start and worked nicely. We did the dogwalk and he held his contact, good boy! Tunnel, weaves, jump, back to the weaves .. hmm, had to restart them, okay, tunnel, jumps, go to the tunnel under the aframe ... where is the tunnel under the aframe?!?!? Isn't there, go back and do other stuff ... horn goes and we get the gamble for his second gamble Q and 1st place!!

But where was the tunnel under the aframe?? Walk past the ring where Luce's gamble is going to be ... oh there it is!! I had run Luce's course in Blaze's ring

Luce's turn next. We were the 4th last dog. Dog ahead of us poops on the dogwalk. Handler is ashamed and apologetic ... I had seen her walking her dog but he just hadn't produced :-) He wasn't running right and we all now knew why :-) They clean it up, no problem. Luce's turn ... we do the dogwalk fine and she even gets her contact YAY. We usually can do about 10 obstacles in 30 seconds, sometimes more depending on what they are. We get to the 10 obstacle (jump after the tunnel under the aframe which was now where it was supposed to be!), no horn, okay, keep going. I always have some obstacles in reserve to loiter on .. use them all up, start going further away from the start of the gamble ... no horn!!! Finally, I stopped and said the horn should have gone because we can't DO that many in 30 seconds. Timer had stopped ages ago.

Have to rerun. Yikes. My instructor was there and asked about the dogwalk ... what if we do it again and don't get the contact .. we got it the first time? Judge says, I'll give it to her once as we did it once. We wait for the rest of the dogs to go, then it is our turn again. I did the same opening (but better this time) and Luce MISSES her dogwalk! But we get the points, horn goes and WE GET THE GAMBLE OHMIGOSH!!!!!!!

Luce's APD - I was crying I was so happy :-)

We also finished second in Team (PVP) Charlie's Luce in the Chocolate Factory was in the running the whole time. That finished up Luce's Bronze Tournament title and we are now done with Tournaments. She is losing speed and having trouble Q'ing in Steeplechase(she will be 10 in September and some of the hot shot Ch22" dogs are now in P16" in our area) and Blaze is starting to show, so will save some money.

Blaze ran in one class per day. I was worried about the #6 teeter for Snooker on the first day, plus, I was nervous about him :-) Called out too soon at the #5 jump in the closing and down came the bar. No Q. But ... he Q'd on Sunday and Monday in Gamblers!!! He held his stay at the start all 3 days, got his contacts and went where I wanted him to go. Can't ask for more than that :-) It is SO MUCH EASIER to handle him outside than in a building!!!!!

What a weekend!!

View

View from my end of the leash

I used to be able to post to the blog from my blackberry. Hmm, doesn't work any more.

Great class

Blaze and I had a great class last week and I hope we can have another one tomorrow.

We ran two sequences and the first one just felt SO GOOD. A glimmer of what it will be like when we are more in synch! It didn't start out so hot ... jump, teeter WEEEEEE. Oops, that would be a fly off and certainly not part of our criteria :-)

Start again and we got through the whole thing, including the table, nice turns and the weaves. YEAH!!

Second sequence .... well, good thing we had the run before :-) Could not get the weaves. I could see his face ... it was almost like ... crap, can't slow down, okay, I'll just run by. Hmmm.

I have been working on Blaze's stay at the start the last few weeks. Have been doing Rachel Sanders "Bridging the Gap" without any obstacles and just doing it a few minutes here, a few minutes there. I am seeing an improvement in class. He had his toes splayed out and gripping the sprint turf :-)

Spring!

Wow, a month since I posted last. It's just been crazy. Yeah, normal :-)

The picture is from the many forsythia that have been in bloom for the last couple of weeks. I do like this time of year with all the flowering trees and bushes. So pretty, but too bad it doesn't last.

Just had a very nice jumping session outside. Blaze is really reading my deceleration now, so much so, that if I don't say "jump", he shears off the jump. Which is way better than just taking each jump in full extension!!

He is also reading the rear crosses more than half the time now which is wonderful.

Of course, once we get to class tomorrow night, most of that will fade away, but hopefully some of it will stick.

Have been using one of the Bad Cuz balls outside. It doesn't get soggy, it can be washed off when it gets dirty and I can hold on to it by the feet, so my hands stay relatively clean. Plus, it bounces in all sorts of weird ways which keeps Blaze on his toes :-)

It's still February

I should be driving home from Luce's class right now ... but am really feeling yucky right now. Fighting a cold and it feels like it is winning. I want to go tomorrow night for Blaze's class as he needs it more so I stayed home tonight.

The Keystone trial was 2 weekends ago. It went well. I was happy with most of my runs with Luce even though we only Q'd once (GP!) Should have gotten the gamble ... it was a jump, tunnel, redirect to the teeter then on to a jump. I wasn't sure Luce would go to the tunnel, but she did. She came out wide and I told her teeter ... she was so wide that I thought she was going to go past the plane and go on sideways, but she veered over enough ... had I just said "teeter" one more time .... but she sheered off at the last minute!

Grand Prix was next and we got it all ... I was very pleased with her weave poles ... fast straight on entrance. Standard after that ... and could she get the stinkin' weaves? No! And it was one of those runs that I did not feel good about. I felt like I was "saving" every other obstacle. However, she got all of her contacts in all 3 runs which was good. Even gave me a 2on/2off in gamblers which pleasantly surprised the heck out of me :-)

Monday was Snooker first ... I still don't know what I did to get whistled off :-) Gotta love Snooker :-) Jumpers ... ack, I went straight when I should have turned and so did Luce. My fault! We did a Mulligan Run after the trial was over and Luce and I got it that time.

She is such a good girl. So easy to travel with, so easy to have by ringside. She wasn't always like this, but she sure is now!

Didn't bring Blaze ... indoors at such a big trial would be too much and we still have a LOT of work to do before we should be thinking of entering any trials.

Blaze had class the last two weeks. Blaze's Aframe two weeks ago. Can we say "flying dog"? Well, he did touch yellow going up and going down. Needs to work on contacts when someone is there in judging position apparently.

Last week I discovered that he can't do the tire if it is the first obstacle. Add that to the ever growing list of stuff to work on. Also have to work on recall to heel stuff as he apparently has forgotten most of it. Sigh.

Went to a Sends & Recalls seminar this past weekend ... same one that I audited back in December. Didn't get a working spot, so audited 2 of the 3 days so that I can fix this stuff in my head a little better. It was a good seminar but I would have liked to have tried this all with Blaze as I learn better by doing. I didn't get a chance to go on Friday which was the basic foundation recalls and sends, so I'm sure how much that changed. I heard a little of it did ... I wish I could have gone just to get that part fixed in my head as well.

I wanted to get to the Kruisin barn this week, but that isn't going to happen. We were supposed to have carpet people here today to measure ... now they aren't coming until Friday and won't be installing until next week sometime. However, Rosemarie did invite me for Sunday, so we will get a chance to work again. We have a trial the weekend of the 14th, so it would be nice for Luce and I to get some practice in. I do have to say that I think we are running better as a team lately ... practicing with Blaze has improved my handling of Luce. But that isn't going to get us those two remaining gamble legs!

I've been looking over the agility calendar - would have liked to go up to New York for two different 3 day trials (double gamblers at each!) but just can't do the first one. Evan is coming home from Duquesne the day I would need to leave and I just found out that Hugh will be doing a drivers ed event then too. So, I'll just go to Saratoga. I'll need to find a team for Luce to make it worth while - if we get the Team Q, that will be her Bronze Accomplished Tournament Dog title! I didn't like the site 2 years ago at Saratoga but the new one is supposed to be WAY better. Before I got Blaze it wouldn't have mattered, but that boy needs room for playing with the ball!

Evan and I will be driving up to Canada on Wednesday for Dad's surgery so I might not even see it until I get back late Sunday night. Which means the furniture might not be put back where it belongs either .... I just hope this carpet is the right color because the "surprise" dining room carpet is definitely wrong :-(

Okay, gonna go and drink more fluids and get some sleep.

Agility Class & Training Session

Got back from almost 2 weeks in Canada last weekend. Then catch up on work, laundry ... you know, the usual.

Luce's agility class on Wednesday night was cancelled due to ice, however, Blaze's class on Thursday night was a go. And then on Saturday I met up at Rosemarie's with a couple of people for a training session. I really envy Rosemarie her indoor :-)

Oh, there are SO MANY THINGS WE NEED TO WORK ON!!

Thursday night we had Mary Ellen and Alaina. I REALLY NEED to work on Blaze's start line stay. Okay, I can do that. He was releasing when I raise my hand. I worked on that on Saturday and I can see some improvement. That is something I can work on in the house. It is supposed to warm up above freezing for today only, so hopefully I can pry one of the jumps out of the ground, or even get the shed doors open, and bring a jump inside.

Blaze is dropping bars. One jump work. So, more use for a jump inside. He tends to do it when jumping very extended or very collected. I can work on the collected part in the house, but not the extended. I also noticed on Saturday, that if I can be very, very calm and quiet, he drops fewer bars. However, and Jean had the same problem with T, also a "baby dog", when I am trying to move into position to handle the next bit, then the bars go flying.

I also noticed, that whereas Blaze can find obstacles here in the yard or up at the Kruisin barn, he had problems the first sequence in class and then on Saturday. He isn't used to looking for obstacles so he ends up running by them. So, that will mean going to run throughs etc. But now now ... there is more training to be done.

While dogs did Mary Ellen's sequence, others went over to Alaina to work on dogwalk contacts. Alaina gave me some good pointers, the most important being to visualize what I want in the end contact behaviour. What I want Most important. I am willing to accept a foot or two off of the plank. I am not good enough (or let's face it, patient enough!!) to enforce all paws on. What I really want out of the dogwalk and teeter, is Blaze in a down and one elbow on the plank and at least one back leg. I need to train myself to see it as soon as it happens and give him a verbal marker, which will be "yes" Then ping pong the duration. So, I also need to pry either the teeter board or travel plank out of the ice and bring that inside also.

We also worked on the aframe on Saturday where I realized that I will accept a different performance. There, I want a down, but I don't care if his elbows are off the board ... I want the back feet ON, but given the steepness, I can accept that he might not be able to stop with elbows on. If they ARE on, fine, but he has to have his elbows touching a surface.

I was very please that he is landing ON the aframe very softly and running up. I hope he keeps that!

Luce was happy to do some agility again and running with her is so comfortable! She doesn't have the distance that Blaze does and doesn't have the "twitchiness" either. But she also understands more. One of the sequences was much easier for Luce and Zen than it was for Blaze and T due to their experience. However, Blaze can get weave pole entries that Luce can't.

It was nice to get into "agility mode" again!

Blaze's First Agility Class

Blaze had his first agility class this past week. He had been in a few beginner classes over a year ago, but got so high, that he couldn't function.

We've worked through some of that and, plus, he is older now.

Working in the building is hard though .... he needs to stay in the car until it almost his turn. Otherwise he barks like a maniac .. or we have to tug. I think my arms are longer now :-)

This class actually splits into two sections with both sections working the floor at the same time. Well, we learned that Blaze needs to be the only dog on the floor. Sigh. Not going to worry about it yet ... hopefully by the time he ever goes to a trial outside with two rings running at the same time, he will be even better in the focus department.

We worked on his start line stay .. Jean gave me some good tips. I haven't really worked on it, so I'm not worried about that either.

The second half had a dogwalk and he FLEW off of it twice. Ended up scraping his knee up, but isn't limping. And I mean FLEW. I don't want to slow him down, but I somehow need to figure out how to get him to THINK about what he is doing. He was fine both times at the Match this weekend, but it was in a different location and I came up with a sequence in the opening portion of the gamblers to bleed off a little speed first.

I was pleased over all ... he is responsive to what I am doing so it will be a matter of him learning what my cues mean and me learning how to give him the information HE needs properly. He doesn't handle like Luce and that will take me time to figure out how to handle him properly. I didn't enter him in Jumpers at the Match for that very reason as I have no idea right now how to handle all jumps with no places to slow down or catch a breath like at a contact or weaves.

It will come ... but now it is on hold for 2 weeks. Eventually we'll get to class ... I hope :-) I didn't plan to have him entered in a USDAA trial until September Blackthorne at the earliest ... and now I have to wonder if there is going to BE a September Blackthorne ... ack, always something!

Sanctioned Match

We got through the Lehigh Valley Dream Weavers Sanctioned Match!

There was a huge threat of major snow and we discussed if we should cancel or ... what could we do.

We decided to start the day and see if we could get enough classes in. And it really worked out well with the snow holding off! A lot of people didn't make it, which was understandable. But enough die hards, more than half!, came out and we had a good time. Agility people are crazy :-)

Lehigh Valley Dream Weavers is a nice club to work with. Most of the members were prepared and had really thought things through. It won't be a problem when it is time to hold a "real" trial ... finding a date will be the toughest :-)

I didn't bring Luce with me as I'm still not sure about her foot/toe. Doesn't seem 100% yet, so I just brought Blaze. He was just entered in Gamblers and Snooker so that I could try to maintain my contact criteria. He did a good job for the most part. He didn't get the gamble because he went WAY out and took something even further away! But got and stuck both of his dogwalks and the teeter. Did one set of weaves and he nailed that too.

He had a fantastic snooker run!! 47 points and 1st place! I told myself to just stay calm and I did and just tried to stay in tune with him. I walked one plan that I had and it would have required too much "snookering" with him right now. We don't have those kind of skillz yet :-) Came up with another one and it was perfect for him. He didn't drop any bars (it looks like if I slow down or stop as he is in the air he will drop a bar, so I have to keep moving and let him know before he takes off that we are going to turn or go straight or whatever), responded well, and got his teeter contacts both times. Very, very pleased. And what a rush to run him!

But now, we have to take 2 weeks off. I need to get up to Mom & Dad's and need to leave on Tuesday for almost 2 weeks. Leaving the dogs at home as Mom's leg is still too fragile to risk one of the dogs possibly bumping into her.

So, now gotta get a bunch of stuff done so that I CAN leave!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

First, Happy New Year!

And so I start 2009 ... being very, very tired because we stayed up way past midnight. New Years Eve is hard for someone who usually falls asleep by 10pm :-)

I'm waiting for the rest of the household to wake up, so I hopped on to the blog.

Last week was a PIP. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly all rolled into one week!

Let's start with The Bad & The Ugly and get that over with. Where to start? Mom fell off a stepladder 2 weeks before Christmas while decorating the Christmas tree and shattered her left knee. Had to have surgery with pins or screws and she is still in the hospital. It will be weeks before she can put weight on that leg and then months and months of rehab. She told me yesterday that the doctor said she had "destroyed" her knee.

The Sunday before Christmas had everything all covered with ice. Luce ran out on to the yard and couldn't stop and bent her outside toenail on her back right paw. Took her in on Tuesday as she was still not putting weight on it and she had to have her toenail removed. However, she is now fine and not limping at all.


Looking pitiful on Christmas Day with her bandaged foot.

Something went wrong with the hot water heater on Christmas Eve, so we only had a bit of hot water every few hours. Which really sucks when you are trying to clean up after a prime rib roast on Christmas Eve, a turkey on Christmas Day and about to have company. It was still under warranty and the company sent out a new part (a control board I think)

Then there was the fiasco in the master bathroom the day after Christmas ... pipe came apart or something and flooded the cabinet and into the kitchen ceiling and the kitchen window seat ceiling.



Enough of that and on to The Good! Well, it was Christmas :-) And, wheee!! I got a Wii! Didn't get a Wii Fit yet though ... they are hard to come by and I don't want one badly enough to pay double for it. The boys laughed when I said I wanted one and Hugh said he wouldn't use it, but, gee, guess what has received a LOT of use since Christmas? :-)



Blaze was in heaven on Christmas - he got a new can of tennis balls! Which one to play with first, oh, the decisions!



And 3 days before Christmas, I got a new car - a Honda Element! Hugh had driven out to Pittsburgh to pick up Evan for Christmas break and said the transmission was slipping in my Envoy. It had a lot of miles on it, so he started looking for a new car for me. Now that I don't have to car pool for middle or high school, I could expand my list of cars. The primary purpose will be for driving the dogs around and the Honda Element is considered one of the ultimate dog cars as it is easy to clean out and it is very boxy in shape which makes it easier for dog crates. It also gets better gas mileage than the Envoy. Oh, and it has an outlet for my iPod with volume controls in the steering wheel - a huge selling feature for me right there :-)



The bumble bee in the inset is an antenna topper that I got for Christmas ... helps me find my car in the sea of silver SUV's in the parking lot :-) My choices of colors were silver, silver and silver. I really like the Element - it is fun and peppy to drive. And surprisingly peppy on the highway as well. Hugh will build a shelf for the crates to sit on in the back and that will give me storage underneath them. We will take out the back seats as well.

Oh, just before Christmas we also bought two chairs for the living room at a company that is going out of business. I really like them. Next will be a footstool or ottoman, but that will wait until I find what I like. Unfortunately, I hate furniture shopping (almost as much as I dislike clothes shopping!) and there doesn't seem to be an Ottomans R Us store around here, so it might be a while :-)



We have had two sets of company this past week, so the house is cleaner than it was. Note, that I didn't say "clean" But it is getting there.

So, I think that is about it. We don't have snow even though it sounds like the rest of the country does ... even places like Seattle, Vancouver and Arizona. We just have either 60 degrees and mud or freezing cold and ice.

Happy New Year!

DOCNA Weekend Continued

Overall, I am very pleased with this weekend. DOCNA is such a feel-good venue and I am usually much more relaxed and do well.

Luce finished up some titles and was running really well. Weather was cool which she prefers. Plus, this was at the building where we train, so it was on home turf. She had 12 runs over the weekend and Q'd in 10 of them ... sure wish that was the case each trial ;-) Too many bobbles, all my fault, for my liking. Some would have been refusals in USDAA, so they wouldn't have been Q's. Only 2 bars down the whole weekend ... unfortunately one in the second jumpers today which meant no Jumpers title this year. My fault though ... I should have put in a front cross, I was indecisive and down it came. Need to be more assertive and stop chickening out! :-)

Blaze did 2 runs per day. Saturday started off with Standard and no stay at the start at all ... first obstacle was a chute and apparently that is just too much :-) I haven't really trained or worked at the start line stay, so when he was vibrating and just staring at the chute, I decided to just let him go. And, boy, did he GO! :-) It was chute, jump, aframe in a line and he stopped at the aframe down contact, so I was able to catch up. I was concerned about the next bit ... jump, jump, then 90 degree turn to the weaves. But, there was another jump beyond the second one with huge off course potential. I don't know how to "turn" him yet and I didn't want to give him a cue to turn and have him just take off and ignore me. I was able to leave him on the aframe (thank goodness for stopped contacts!!) and was able to stand at the next jump and release. Then just one step for him to take the next jump while I then pulled to the weaves and told him to weave. Which he did :-) I crossed behind and got up to the next jump.

The rest was lovely ... from what I remember ... it is all a blur. I know I had to do a blind cross at a curved tunnel as there was no way I was getting there for a front. And he doesn't rear cross yet ;-) Anyway, he was great, he got his first Q ever and a 1st place to boot! I cried :-)

Next run, traditional gamblers, was next for him. He got most of the opening okay ... the gamble was jump, tunnel, back over the jump, then bring them around for another jump. The problem was when they were to come back over the jump, the aframe was right there too and I was worried he would keep going for an off course. I guess I was too close to the jump and he took the bar. Oh well :-)

Today was Snakes N Ladders. It was beautiful ... he only ran by one set of weaves because I was blocking them when he came out of the tunnel and he came with me when I stepped aside. No problem ... turned us both around and he got them for a Q and a 2nd place and his first title!

Last run today was what I was expecting Friday night. Young, green dog running amok! I was debating running either of them in Strategic Gamblers as I was just too tired to come up with a plan. I should have listened to my instincts and just bagged it and gone home. Luce's run was first and it was horrible ... she missed both dogwalk contacts (first of the weekend) and I misjudged the closing and we were over time. I got Blaze out too early and he was WAY too high. No stay at the start and he just WENT. I tried to call him back but he was WAY gone. I am also really mad at myself for NOT holding his contacts as they were NOT what I had the rest of the weekend.

But, overall, good weekend ... for the most part, Blaze can hold his contacts (I REALLY need to work on myself to make sure he DOES hold them!! Definitely no USDAA trials before September!! DOCNA or matches ONLY) If he sees the weaves, he gets in them and does them all. But we need to learn how to turn and to handle ... which I knew. Also, outside trials will be a little easier as I will be able to go behind the tents and watch what is going on. At the building, I had to keep going up the building and peer through the windows to see what was going on. Plus, the very act of going through the door makes him crazy and all the competitors and dogs are all in one spot instead of spread out.

Blaze's Agility Debut

This weekend is a DOCNA trial at our training building and there are usually two classes on Friday night. There typically aren't a lot of runs and not a lot of dogs or people, so I thought it would be a good place for Blaze to actually be in a trial.

He was manageable in the building ... as long as I had his tug. But he was listening even when I didn't have it ... would sit, give me his paw, nose touches in between the yelping. I need to teach some more tricks though ... calm tricks.

We did the jump and the weave poles in the practice area and he totally was focused on me and not on the dog in the ring. Very good!! He couldn't do that the first year I had him.

First was Strategic Gamblers. He held his stay at the start. He did NOT knock every bar Yes, he knocked a couple, but left most of them up. Most important ... he STUCK his aframe (twice!!) and teeter. I mean 2on/2off and didn't leave until I said OK!!!! He was going so fast that he ended up falling off of the dogwalk. And he got his weaves and FAST! We didn't Q because we crossed the finish line way too early .... like 2 seconds too early. I haven't run him before so I had no idea how many obstacles he could do .... looks like I need to plan for a LOT more with Blaze than I do with Luce :-)

Second was Snakes & Ladders. Did NOT stay at the start. I couldn't find the smaller tug, so he was ramped up too much coming into the ring. Lesson learned. BUT ... again, he STUCK all 3 contacts ... 2on/2off until the OK. And got all 3 sets of weaves!! But we didn't Q .... I wasn't fast enough and direct enough so my pull to the finish line was weak, so he turned and put his paws on the aframe again for an "E". Oh well :-) I need to be quicker with this boy :-)

So, I was ecstatic with his contacts and weaves. I had decided to put him in this trial to see if he could do them in this situation and he can!! But .... as I suspected, it isn't the obstacles themselves, it is everything in between! One small forward cue too many, and off he goes. And I am SO used to giving lots of forward cues for Luce .... this will take some time. It didn't matter with the Strategic Gamblers as he just racked up more points. He took the wrong tunnel after one of the sets of weaves in Snakes and Ladders which altered my plan .... I put one step forward and off he went!

That was the purpose with this trial ... to see where we are. He hasn't even attended a class yet, so I'm not upset. He has two classes tomorrow as well, but for some reason, I didn't sign him up on Sunday.

I also got Blaze measured ... the judge was Bud Houston who has been judging for quite a while for various venues, so I think it is a good measurement. 20-7/8" Woohooo, under 21!! Doesn't matter for DOCNA as 22" is the cutoff for the next jump height, but he needs to be 21" or under for USDAA. He didn't snap at the judge and was fairly calm for the measurement which was good too ;-) I always expect the worst LOL Unfortunately, he will need another measurement as he isn't 3 years old yet, but he is good for the weekend. I think Darryl said he didn't need another measurement now until he is 3, but there are 3 spaces on the form ... guess I should read the rules again.

Oh yeah, I also phoned the vet today and Blaze is officially heartworm free now! So the treatment in the summer worked and we don't have to worry any more.

Luce did well ... she Q'd in Strategic Gamblers for her Specialist Gamblers Title and also Q'd in Snakes & Ladders .. that is her first Q at the Specialist level as we had to start at Beginners for that class. She was moving too, I didn't have to drag her around the ring. And she got all of her contacts - not 2on/2off at a trial like Blaze gave me, but in the yellow without leaping off.

Luce is entered in everything this weekend but I might not go on Sunday morning ... other stuff to do.

I'd been apprehensive about this trial, but it went pretty much as should have been expected. I need to manage him BIG time outside the ring. I need to work on his start line stays. He has good contacts and weaves. And we need to work on handling BIG time.

But, I was able to manage him for the most part - so I am feeling better about getting him into a class situation now. I need to figure out which class and when and how I am going to manage that. He would be eligible for a class on Thursday night at Keystone ... Luce's class is Wednesday night. Two nights in a row ... eeek. But I need to keep going to class with Luce for those 2 elusive gambler legs for her APD (Performance ADCH). We are also working towards the Silver Snooker and Bronze Standard titles as well ....

Off to bed ... we are going back tomorrow and the first dog is at 7:15am ... EARLY!!

Thursday morning practice

I had reserved the Kruisin barn for Thursday morning, so off we went. Blaze barked the whole way there which was very unnerving.

There was a whole course set up - Thursday morning is a good time to go :-)

I took Blaze out first. We worked on the opening quite a bit as it was tricky. Sort of a loop coming back, extending out a bit, then looping back then switching.

We needed to work on when I need to slow down or move laterally, or both, so that Blaze reads it and collects. His inclination is to YEE HAW down a line of jumps :-) However, I have been working on some jumping stuff at home where he needs to collect and come to me and work close and it seems to be paying off.

He did get it after a while. If he got the handling cues about turning, then he dropped a bar, so we still don't have it right. Sigh. At least he was doing 20" the whole time (Kruisin has AKC/NADAC jump cups, so no 22") and didn't duck under any of the jump bars like he did in September. I have to NOT get obsessed with the dropped bars and create a problem where none exists right now. It is most likely just a green dog thing.

He got all of his contacts which was good. I was very pleased with that. He wants to leave SO badly though .... I will need to continue to reinforce the contact behavior so that it doesn't become a problem. And remember that the DOCNA trial in December is for the training!!! Maybe if I tell myself that enough between now and then I'll actually DO it :-)

There were tricky sections on that 23 obstacle course, so I broke it down and we worked on parts.

I tell you, I really need to get into shape for this dog! After the aframe, it was a jump, jump, weaves, all in a straight line. Then a curved tunnel beyond the weaves but they had to take the far end of the tunnel. A front cross at the end of the weaves worked the best to get Blaze into the correct end of the tunnel, but to get to the end of the weaves to actually DO it was hard work! I didn't have the right shoes on which didn't help. So, note to self, ALWAYS weave running shoes when running Blaze!! And it was still humid in the barn! My jeans felt like I was wearing lead which didn't help matters any! And thank goodness Blaze has stopped contacts, because I couldn't get to the end of the dogwalk before he did and it was a flip away to a tunnel.



One problem we had at that section was there was a dummy chute even and to the left of the weaves. I was on Blazes left, and he took the chute the first 3 times ... if he was ahead of me, he crossed in front of me to take it and once I was ahead of him and he crossed behind me to take it. Not sure what was up with that - I need to bring the video camera. Maybe a tunnel is more of a draw than weave poles are? More visible? I was on that side? I somehow cued it? I don't know. Once he knew where the weave poles were he was fine, but we aren't going to get a second chance in a trial situation!

I was very winded after Blaze's session. I rested a bit, then it was Luce's turn. It would be SO much easier if they jumped the same height! Luce would have gotten a Q our first time around :-) Good little girl :-) We redid some parts to tighten turns etc ... actually got a flyoff the aframe, yikes! Got to correct that and I went back to reinforcing all of the contacts. She got the weave pole entrance, the little monkey ... why not at trials!!! Again, need to bring the video camera to see just what the heck I am doing differently!! I would love it if she had independent weave poles, but she doesn't and at age 9, I don't know that she ever will have. I am certainly aiming for that with Blaze!

We had a little break, then I brought Blaze back for another go at the first half which was the trickiest. I had noticed with Luce that if I moved even more laterally AND slowed down, it cued a certain turn much better than the way I had done it with Blaze. It did work better and he really collected and knew that he was going to turn. I should have thrown in some going straight at that point ... just thought of that now. He is smart enough that he knew what the course was by that point :-) Anyway, more bar problems. Hopefully this will resolve itself eventually.

We didn't get to work on rear crosses, but the extension/collection stuff was good. Didn't do any distance stuff with Luce either. I need to go with a plan in my head for her.

Unfortunately, Blaze must have very tender feet because he has some very tender spots on his pads, and two of them are slipped. I think due to the combination of doing the contacts and the mulch. So, that is it for agility for a week until his pads are better. He did this once before at the barn and I totally had forgotten about it. I will have to be more careful in the future if the contacts are out. It is only on the contacts ... when it is just jumps, he is fine.

All in all, a good session. Blaze wasn't crazy wild like he was in class that one night. He was "listening" more and I'm trying to handle more. The first time through the sequence, I was too afraid to get up to one point for a front cross as I was afraid it would push him even further out. Gave myself a stern talking to, and got up there all the other times.

Got to work on stay at the start and the first obstacle was a tunnel that Blaze VERY much wanted to take :-)

Blaze rode in the back of the car in the crate on the way home. I figured, if he was going to bark non stop, he might as well do it back there rather than right behind me in the car. He was POOPED, so other than his usual barking as the car starts up, he was quite almost the whole time home :-)

Wednesday night class

We got to class on Wednesday night. Missed last week due to not having a car, so it was good to be able to go back. My usual ambivalence - usually tired by that time so that I don't want to go, but I enjoy it when I get there.

Brought Blaze along as well and he was horrible in the car. He had been settling in riding in the back seat, but that night it was non stop barking like he used to do when he rode in the crate in the back of the car. This barking makes me CRAZY!!

Our sequences were short which was fine. I like a mix over time of small drills, short sequences and full blown courses. The floor was divided into two sections with a short self serve sequence on the other side.

We got there early, so the early class was still going on (traffic is always a crap shoot, so sometimes we are on time, sometimes we are early) I brought Blaze into the building as I figured that Luce would have her time in there for the actual class. I brought a tug with me, approached the door, and expected the worst. And was very pleasantly surprised! Blaze was interested in his tugging and didn't even notice that a dog was running at first. Then he noticed and went for his tug. There was a jump and a set of 6 weave poles out on the mat and he dragged me over to that. So ... I took a chance, took off his leash and we did some jump, weave, jump combos with a reward of his tug and he never gave the actual ring a glance!!

We were even able to get up to where people were watching ... and Blaze was wonderful. He was fearsome on the tug :-) but if it means he can be managed and divert his excitement away from barking and screaming, I'm all for it! Some people didn't even realize I had Blaze there ... the most noise he made was when I stepped on his foot accidently.... ooops!

So, I was very, very pleased and have some hope that we will actually be able to attempt some runs at the DOCNA trial in December. There weren't a lot of people in class, so it wasn't crazy and there typically aren't a lot of people there on Friday night of the DOCNA trial.

Luce had a good night, especially the first sequence. We tried different ways of handling it with pushes and pulls and crossing here and then there. It was all good and I am going to try and trust Luce more on certain types of jump combinations.

I "lost" Luce a little on the second sequence. It was drizzling outside and was windy, so inside the building, it sounded like a torrential downpour! Luce, of course, equates that with thunder and she was getting apprehensive, especially when there were huge gusts of wind. She got through the second sequence okay, but not at the speed she had for the first one.

We also did the self serve part once ... it had a teeter and weaves and she got her weave poles, the little monkey :-)