Lots of Stuff!

I haven't posted in a while because we've been SUPER busy! We had a three day trial in McCook two weekends ago. Ruby did pretty well just knocking some bars in Jumpers on Friday and I wasn't crazy about the Standard course so I didn't handle it well. Saturday she took 2nd place in Jumpers and we almost QQ *sigh* but I didn't help her with the weave entry in Standard class and that's where we blew it. Otherwise she had a very nice run. On Sunday again she knocked a bar in Jumpers, don't know why. She took off way too late for the jump which was strange for her but the rest of the run was nice. Standard was a mess again as my head just wasn't in it and I didn't give her a clear signal where we were going so she missed the weave entry. Oh well, something to work on, the mental game and helping her with her weave entries.

Tuesday night after class we left for Ann Braue's in Eau Claire, WI. River had Puppy Agility Camp for two days and he was phenomenal. I am very impressed with how smart he is and I have clicker training to thank for that. He was doing great with the tugging but at one point bit his tongue and wouldn't tug much at Ann's after that though he was still excited to play with me so I let him tug the sleeves on my sweatshirt. I will have to transfer that to a toy, though he was fine playing tug with me at home and at my parents. After doing the plunk and feed a few times he is already offering a 2o/2o position on the travel board. He's also a very natural jumper and I think after a few sessions of find the jump standards he will be great at that as well.

On Friday we spent the day at my parents; I did some fishing with my dad (caught two nice bass) and then we took the dogs to the lake. This was River's first time near a body of water and he was a little nervous but very curious when he saw how excited his big sister got and she jumped right in. He went out on his own swimming about 3 or 4 feet. He's a natural swimmer too. None of the panicked dog paddle here. :) He then followed me out about 6 feet and swam very well all on his own.

Unfortunately, Ruby was a little too tired for Dock Diving the next day and her best jump of the day was only 9' 4" So my fault that she was swimming so much the day before though my goal was just to get River in the water on his own and for Ruby to have just a little fun. I think she also really wore herself out at my parents. She really loves it there and would run full out for hours and get the excited zoomies too. River was also very excited to meet new people at the Dock Diving event and none of the noise bothered him in the slightest.

Sunday and Monday we had an agility trial in Manhattan. We stayed at my sister's house and dog & cat sat for her and her husband. Ruby had two very nice runs on Sunday. In Standard though I got a tiny bit behind her and she cut in front of me to take an off course jump instead of going out to the chute as I told her. I held my position and as she came around the jump she had this look on her face like, "oh, oops! That's what you meant." And she went right into the chute. The rest of the run was beautiful though it made me a little down as I'm getting tired of the "almost" runs. Her Jumpers run was also very nice but she knocked a bar though it wasn't something I did. Just a strange angle to the jump and she barely nicked it with her back toes.

On Monday she had a lovely run in Standard, winning her class and earning 16 MACH points. Only three 24" dogs qualified and she was 5 seconds faster than the 2nd place dog. I was very happy with her. Her Jumpers run was a bit pokey from the tunnel to the weaves as it was very hot and Jumpers was outside but she picked it up a little after that. She knocked a bar though I think it was because I cued her over the jump for a front cross. It was kind of strange to me because I set up that sequence when I got home and it didn't affect her at all. The most she did was rub the bar hard once but it didn't come down. Maybe she also didn't take the jump at the right distance and I probably won't know because I didn't have anyone tape our runs on Monday. It would have also been nice to have that first place Standard run on tape. :( Oh well.

Next weekend we are off and IF we get in, we'll be doing USDAA up in Wilmot, WI on the 13th and 14th. I'll post some pictures soon but in the meantime, there's some new video of Ruby and River on my YouTube account http://www.youtube.com/user/ruby1liz