Last Couple of Weeks...

I haven't blogged in a while...its been just a tiny bit crazy around here... ;) Driving to Ohio one weekend and my boyfriend in town the next. Phew! I need a vacation.

The very last weekend of September we had a three day trial in Columbus. Everyone in Ohio just raves about this place but I was not impressed with the surface at all. It was AstroTurf and slick as far as I was concerned. We ran FAST first and she didn't slip so I figured she was okay. She got the send bonus and we got every obstacle out there except for a single bar jump. She placed 1st with 79 points and finished her XF (Excellent FAST) title. Standard was up next and she ran great but slipped a bit in the weaves and then right before a jump, taking a bar. JWW she Q'd but slipped in the weaves in that ring as well.

Saturday went a little better we ran clean in Standard with one little slip on the surface. In JWW with a double Q on the line I called her as she was over a jump and she turned in air, dropped her hind feet and took the bar. UGH! Other than that her run was beautiful and I could just kick myself! Sunday Ruby was nuts in Standard. The course started tunnel to Dog Walk to the chute, she was over the DW and into the chute a lot faster than I thought and I ended up having to layer the table. Me layer?!?!?! I never layer. Then jump, teeter, I front crossed and she took off missing the tire and taking the next obstacle (tunnel). I was floored! Did she think we were doing FAST again? Then she takes three jumps to get back to me and I try to get her back on course. I was so flustered (and she was still being a brat) that I ended up not turning my shoulders enough and she took the off-course chute instead of the table. I almost walked her off then but decided I could finish the run with her. Of course she was perfect! Grrrr!

Later in JWW she was perfect again. And I'm really glad she ran it so well. As we were on the line to run, a dog crated near the ring started screaming. Apparently he got his toe stuck underneath the plastic tray pan and the wire crate as they were taking him out. The poor dog yelped and screamed for 2 minutes straight while they tried to help him. It affected a lot of dogs before they ran and the judge came up to me and told me to take my time getting ready to run. I thought that was very nice of him. I immediately got Ruby to tug with her leash and made sure she was happy and ready to play. I gave the judge the thumbs up and off we went; she was moving really nicely on this run and read my deceleration for a tight turn (most dogs headed to the off-course weaves).

This past weekend we did a trial in Manhattan with the Golden Retriever Club of Illinois. We only did Saturday and Sunday as I need to save as many vacation days as I can. =) Saturday went great: Ruby ran for 2nd place in Standard and placed 4th in JWW for QQ #6 toward MACH2. We've already got the points so we just really need the QQ's.

On Sunday we were having a great run in Standard but Ruby decided that she was done after the DW and headed toward the finish jump. I have no idea why she's been doing this lately; the only thing I can think is that she gets pattern trained very easily and at the last trial the Standard course ended DW to finish jump two days in a row. She's probably also rushing to get to the end because she wants her treat...maybe no more bonus for her??? And I will have to really look at the courses from now on and see where we may pass the finish jump so I can make sure I get a head check from her. Brat! The jumpers course I got lost. I really wasn't paying attention to how quickly the trial was moving. I walked the course twice with the general walk-thru and went over to talk to Tammy because I saw she had just run FAST with Lexi. Then I had River out and saw that Susan was doing the briefing. I put him away and went to walk the course a couple more times. I only got half-way thru it when she blew the whistle. I thought I had the course down but I didn't and turned too soon after the weaves pulling Ruby off a jump (funny how she turned tightly there, eh? damn dog). Oh well, no QQ on the line and she finished very nicely.

We have a private lesson with Dana tomorrow so I can address some issues I'm having with both dogs - mostly River's avoidance of certain obstacles (chute, broad jump & panel jump) & handling for Ruby. Only one day of trialing this coming weekend and it's the Novice Only trial for River Puppy on Sunday. Should be fun! =)

September 19 - WAG - Crystal Lake, IL

I just decided to do one day of the trial to keep my boyfriend company. ;) LOL! The JWW course was pretty tough, a lot of off-courses and handlers got lost. I even saw quite a few dogs cut behind their handlers, very strange. I had no expectations from Ruby since our luck in jumpers lately has been oddly absent. We handled the course great though and she placed 4th behind two Border Collies (one being my boyfriend's dog, Viper, who took first) and my girlfriend's really fast Golden, Rookie, placed third. I was very proud of Ruby. =)

Ruby was smoking the STD course but popped her tenth weave pole - the third obstacle from the end - she hasn't done that in a LONG time; the only thing I can think of is there was a tunnel right in her face after the poles or maybe it was because she was in 20" weave poles all last weekend. These were 24" and it adds 44" to the length of the weaves so maybe she thought she was done. Really sucks because she was 22 seconds under SCT. We really could have used the QQ and the points for ranking. Oh well...Viper placed third (Ruby was only 2 seconds slower than him and faster than the other Vizslas at the trial) and earned QQ #17 for his MACH and QQ #4 to qualify for Nationals.



No video this weekend as the batteries for my camera were both dead. Maybe I'll get some tape next weekend in Ohio. I'm hoping we have a great weekend down there and I'm hoping we finish our XF title too. It'll be nice to trial away from this area as things have felt strange lately.

Jari and Frodo - Winners of the European Open - Midi Dogs

Clearly, I need to run...

Fox Valley DTC - September 12 & 13, 2009

I was very excited to trial again and to make it even more fun...River Puppy made his debut on Saturday. So I'll start with him:

First we had Jumpers with Weaves, Novice B Class. He was awesome! He got his weaves on the very first try and finished them. =) Only a quick visit to one of the ring crew then right back to me and we finished the course. He was great and very happy! I did one FC with him that was pretty late; I think I was surprised that he'd be moving that fast. So next time I will be running and trust him to do what he was trained to do. :) He had a perfect score and won the class!



Then Standard Agility, Novice B Class. He was a very good boy letting me take a two jump lead out & reading that very well. :) He has just never been on rubberized contacts and slowed to smell the top of the DW. I did a quick release with him into the tunnel, a-frame, chute...Oops! He's never been in a 12 foot closed chute before so he came right out & we moved on to the table. Perfect! To the weaves...slight detour to say "hi" to the judge, perfect weaves, skipped the broad jump, jump to teeter, perfect 2o/2o to tire, skipped the panel jump and a big finish at the double! Yay River! Quick note: River's only seen the panel jump, broad jump and chute one or two times so I didn't expect him to do them anyway.

Ruby...a completely different story. First off, the courses were kinda weird. Both of the judges were "new" judges and need some lessons in course design. She was the pinwheel queen (though she had a higher Q rate) and he put two jumps very close together right before the finish jump in both of his courses as one of many challenges. Not very many Q's this weekend in the Excellent classes, at least for the big dogs, except for Sunday's JWW course. It was tricky but doable. Now I'm not saying that everyone should qualify & the courses should be easy, but when only 4 out of almost 50 dogs qualify and it's an exceptional running surface there's a problem.

I screwed up both days in JWW & my handling was off, though on Saturday I think Ruby was a little full of herself & took the off-course backwards triple just because she didn't feel like listening to me; I DID call her, maybe just not soon enough or loud enough & when we got to the end I really didn't give a crap because the course sucked. Like I said only four dogs Q'd in my class. Sunday's JWW run was going nicely but as I sent her out & over a jump to get into position for a FC, I checked back a second time with her because didn't trust her. That made me late getting where I needed to be for the FC to be smooth so it wasn't in the right spot, it wasn't deep enough and I ended up sending her off-course. She did have a nice ending on that course; where most of the other dogs NQ'd, she read it beautifully & made it look easy.

The Standard courses we handled great & I'd say that she rocked them! She did miss her A-frame contact on Saturday but we got a "gift" that we were "owed" as the judge didn't see it. Too bad it really didn't matter as there wasn't a QQ on the line. Unfortunately she missed her DW contact on Sunday & this time the judge didn't miss it. That really sucked because the rest of the course she ran awesomely. She didn't take the wrong side of the tunnel, she got her weave entrance & read the rear cross at the end really well not taking the wrong jump before the finish. That really bummed me out because she would have been 3rd on a course where only 6 dogs Q'd. =(

Notice the song choice for Ruby's video. Yes, it's Britney's 'If You Seek Amy' that allegedly has a double entendre but no it's not about sex at all if you listen to the words. It's about the people that watch her every move & everything she does & Brit-brit is pretty much giving them the finger! I know the feeling girlfriend! ;^) Which is why I can't wait to trial in Ohio at the end of the month. LOL!

ICF at McCook - August 29 & 30, 2009

I really don't like this facility and have no idea why I keep going back. Granted it's a nice facility but when you get there early enough to get crating space down in the rings and it's already gone because people have "saved" spots for all their friends...let's just say I don't like crating upstairs. The floor is slick and dangerous and some dogs don't like the heights as they can see over the balcony. River totally freaked out when I brought him in, poor kid, and planted himself on his belly, not wanting to move forward. I ended up having to carry him to his crate.

Not a good way to start the weekend off and to add to that I got a migraine Saturday morning and could barely see straight, I haven't had a hot shower since Wednesday morning and my boyfriend is in town trying to get QQ's to qualify for Nationals. We had equipment to deliver and put together so I was a little stressed out and edgy. Ruby had a gorgeous run in Standard and placed 3rd. So a Double Q on the line and we blew it in Jumpers. It was my fault, the course was tight and she took an off-course because I didn't stop & make sure that I got her head; I kept moving forward. After that run someone that I JUST met that day (a couple from Ohio that know my boyfriend) came up and told me what I did wrong...did I ask for their opinion??? Do I pay them for lessons and/or train with them??? NO!

Sunday we had another nice run in Standard and she placed 4th. Tee up for Jumpers...very near the end of the run, and of course after all the hard parts, she came flying out of the tunnel and over a jump and kept going...partly due to her big stride. I had turned and called her and was almost two jumps away heading toward the finish, she just didn't read it or read it late and missed the jump completely. I was really annoyed with her and as I went to get her leash on said, "Ruby, you're a real jerk!" Apparently that makes me a bad sport and "someone needs to talk to me about the way I treat my dog..." Whatever. She still got her treats and her GoDog! she just didn't get her special Q treat. She didn't get punished, hit, kicked or anything else. We went home later and she & I snuggled up for a nap like always after a trial.

I always cheer everyone on and I worked my ass off on Saturday. I chute straightened for the 8" & 12" class and scribed for the 20" STD class. Made sure that the club knew that a friend was running for her MACH; they didn't have anything ready. And not to mention that I cheer everyone on no matter how bad their runs are. Sometimes people need to take a good hard look at themselves before they pass judgement. Honestly, if I was really mean to my dog, a soft vizsla, she would never run for me nor would she be as fast as she is or the top agility dog. Every once in a while people just have bad days.

The End of Wild Weavers???...and the Judge that Made My List

First I do want to start by saying that when the Wild Weavers equipment trailer was stolen Friday before the trial, I felt bad for them. I also felt bad for them that the Buckeye Equestrian Center changed the surface at this trial location and it wasn't up to par (3 to 4 inches of very loose sand/dirt mix). The incidents that happened at the trial were very bad judgement calls made by an AKC judge in regards to equipment safety and not taking the surface into consideration. To add salt to the wound she made a very inappropriate comment to all of us at the briefing for the RAD demo. She's made my list as a judge I will never trial under again. It would have been a better decision to cancel the trial altogether as they thought they'd originally have to do.

Even with all the problems Ruby ran her heart out, qualifying 3 out of 4 times. The problem with the equipment was what caused her to NQ on our very first run. Someone had the brilliant idea to put tape on the teeter (it was a USDAA teeter and has shorter contact zones) after the 16" class ran. I didn't watch many of the 20" dogs but right before we were to walk I noticed some odd obstacle performance on the teeter; the dogs looked like they were very surprised when the teeter fell out underneath them and the judge called them for fly-offs.

After the walk-thru our class started and dog after dog flew off (fell off) the teeter and I remember telling a friend that I didn't feel comfortable with it. We ran the course cleanly until the teeter, I told Ruby "easy" but she still took the teeter full speed, not slowing at all for the drop. Later Susan Crank said that she thought that the tape made the teeter look like the DW to a lot of dogs, the tape resembling the slats. Really uncool of the club to allow this and after the Excellent class finished they took the teeter off the course to paint new contact zones on it. I hardly think that was fair to the 20" and 24" Excellent dogs. Only four dogs in our class ended up qualifying and two just made time.

My issue was the judge did nothing about the obvious problem with the teeter. 9 out of 10 dogs got called for teeter fly-offs & she does NOTHING. Then in the RAD briefing she's telling us there's no 4 paw safety rule. If your dog jumps off before the teeter tips past horizontal you can re-attempt it. She then says it's a good thing 'cuz some of you need to work on that. WHAT!?!?! @#$%^&*! A LONG, hot day and I should've scratched her but we ran it anyway and she took an obvious off-course. No big deal as it didn't count for anything. Then we debated about coming back and running on Sunday as the club promised to roll and wet the surface down. Ruby placed 2nd in JWW; a nice course which would have been a lot more fun to run on a different surface.

Sunday: Ruby ran as best she could on the surface which was only marginally better but it was wet and heavy instead of just loose. She placed 1st in STD and 3rd in JWW. Here's the kicker: We got 1 - ONE - MACH point in JWW and the surface in that ring was worse. The other judge (not the one on my sh*t list) said that he had trouble wheeling the course, that the wheel wouldn't turn in the sand. I'll bet that's what happened to the stupid woman judge but she either didn't notice or didn't care to do anything about it. There is NO WAY that course was 139 yards (which made SCT 37 seconds). Too bad I didn't have my pedometer with me...

I had made an appointment for Ruby to get adjusted on Tuesday after the trial. I don't know why but I had this feeling that the surface would be horrible and I was right. I just remember the 2008 Kewanee trial and how it took two adjustments to get her right.

Update: Dr. Herlihy said most of her adjustments were routine maintenance. The ones that puzzled her were a very tender and tight shoulder muscle strain that made it hard to adjust her right shoulder, which was out. Her elbow was also out and that’s never been an issue. She thought that the pulled shoulder muscle was due to pulling her front legs up out of heavy sand to lift for jumping. Since the elbow was a new thing she said she would blame that on the sand as well though I'd have to say she probably jammed it when she flew/fell off the teeter. Poor Ruby. =(

New AKC Agility Class - Run and Done (RAD)

Run and Done

RAD

The goal of this class is to present a fun and flowing run. It is a single course open to all dogs. This is a hybrid class; a combination of the Standard and JWW classes.

Seventeen to nineteen obstacles will be used on the course. A combination of contacts (excluding the dog-walk) and weave poles equaling three will be required. At least one contact and one set of 12 weave poles will make up this combination. One set of 12 weave poles or one contact may be taken twice to meet this requirement. Only one spread jump can be used, but it may be used twice to encourage flow in the course design. One to two open tunnels can be used on course but may only be taken a maximum of two times. Tunnels are optional. The rest of the obstacles are bar jumps, single bar jumps and the tire. Jumps need to be at least 50% winged. No dog-walk, table, chute, panel jumps or dummy tunnels will be allowed. The minimum useable course area must be at least 7,000 square feet.

Scoring: The course must be completed within 55 seconds for the 20, 24 & 26 inch heights, 60 seconds for 16 inch height and 65 seconds for 8 & 12 inch dogs (might be too much time for some heights, but testing will help verify). Add 3 seconds for each height in the Preferred class. No wrong course faults will be allowed. A wrong course will result in an NQ. No refusals/run-outs will be called. Dogs will have three (3) chances to complete the weave poles, after that the dog must go onto the next obstacle and will receive an NQ for the run. If the weave pole sequence is broken before the weaves are completed, the weaves will need to be restarted at the first weave pole. Mandatory Eliminations (Failures) and Excusals will apply. Recording time: Round down if it is .499 of a second and if it is.500 of a second round up. Example: a time 33.499 seconds will be recorded as 33.00 seconds, and a time of 33.500 seconds will be recorded as 34.00 seconds.

Course design should encourage a smooth flow. Only three turns of 180 degrees on a course will allowed. All spacing of obstacles must meet the requirements of a Standard AKC course.

Overall challenge level will be a minimum of 5 challenges and minimum 3 side switches.

To earn a RAD title a dog will need 15 Qs and one hundred points (Points and Qs may change after data has been reviewed). Points are awarded as follows: First place dog will earn 10 points, all dogs under SCT* and within 10% of the time of the first place dog will get 9 points, 20% will earn 8 points and so on all the way down to 10% and less will earn 1 point. Points and Qs start over after each title is earned with multiplier titles indicated by number following RAD, i.e. RAD2, RAD3 etc. The following chart is an example that illustrates the points that would be earned for the 16 inch jump height with first place dog having a time of 30 seconds.

Example:

*Note: Points are only available for dogs that run at or under SCT. It may be that lower points are not available with mathematical increments of 10% over time until SCT is reached. If in the 16″ example above, the winning time was 40 seconds, then 5 points would be lowest point total available (from 56-60 seconds).

Since spacing of obstacles must meet the requirements of a Standard AKC course the course will not have to be measured by the judge.

RAD

Run and Done

Judges briefing:

RAD is a hybrid course, a combination of Standard and JWW’s classes. One course will be open to all levels in AKC agility. Fast, fun and flowing courses are key elements in this class.

Judging; Dogs will be judged by jump height not by class.

Refusals, There will be no refusals or run-outs (R) in RAD.

Wrong courses will be called and will result in a non-qualifying score (NQ). The hand signal for the wrong course will be an open hand as it is in the Standard and JWW’s classes.

Weave poles need to be completed in three (3) attempts or less, or a failure to perform fault (F) will be called. An attempt is when all four of the dog’s paws cross between the first and second weave pole. If the weave pole sequence is broken (skipping a pole) before the dog completes the weave poles the dog must start the weave poles over at the first pole.

Mandatory Eliminations and Excusals will apply In RAD as they do in the Standard and JWW’s classes.

Time: The course must be completed within 55 seconds for the 20, 24 & 26 inch heights, 60 seconds for 16 inch height and 65 seconds for 8 & 12 inch. These times are both the standard course times and the maximum course times for RAD. These times may change as the data is collected and analyzed.

*Note: during the first stage of RAD both the 12 inch and the 20 inch dog’s path needs to be wheeled and recorded on the spread sheet provided.

This new AKC Agility Class focuses on speed and trial runs are being held across the country. Ruby and I may give it a try this weekend. :D