GABOC & Cream City - July 19 & 20

Ruby had a very nice weekend despite all the rain. Her mom, on the other hand, got a lovely cold & sinus infection.

We had a Sanction A Match at Gary & Cindy's place on Saturday in the pouring rain -which may have contributed to my cold - for the Glenbard All Breed Obedience Club. I think they had enough dogs come to the line to get approved to hold AKC agility trials (yea!) now they have six months to get that worked out and hopefully host their first trial. They think that Naperville will be their trial site. :)

On Sunday we drove to Wilmot, WI for a day of agility with Cream City Canines. Despite the flooding that occurred in the rings on Saturday due to all the rain, the conditions weren't too bad and the club did a great job of filling in the mud holes with mulch and shavings. Ruby's Standard run was crazy but we were one of only three Excellent B 24" dogs that qualified on this course. Bars were dropping everywhere and there was a lot of potential for off-courses. Here is her run in the mud:

She was a very good girl, took 3rd place for her first MX leg and her jumpers run wasn't so bad either. She just dropped a bar turning for the finish and then I was VERY late on a front cross because suddenly Alissa was there with her camera and I was headed right for her. It kind of freaked me out and I'm sure the cold medicine made my depth perception a little off. Oh well, we had NQ'd by that point but she was a very good girl and tried her hardest. So we missed that first QQ by a dropped bar. Maybe Plano will be kind to us and I hear they pass out QQ pins! :)

Ruby will get a two week break from agility as I am leaving for Sweden to pick up her new little brother next Sunday. I'll be back on August 3rd with tons of pictures of the new pup. I'm really excited about seeing another country and bringing home this adorable little guy.

WAG Agility Trial - July 11th - 13th

We had some beautiful courses this weekend and very nice judges. :) I'd have to say that ALL of the Standard courses were fast and fun. The Jumpers courses this weekend were a little tricky though. I can see that the judges are going to make us work for those Q's now, especially if you have a fast dog.

On Friday Ruby qualified in Jumpers for her 6th MXJ leg, earning 9 Mach points and also took 2nd place in Standard earning her 2nd AX leg. So we had a "mock" Double Q, not a MACH Double Q. LOL!

Saturday's Jumpers course was a bunch of messy grids and 90 degree angles. Not easy. We NQ'd but it was because I couldn't get where I needed to be and not Ruby's fault at all. She tried but didn't know what I wanted. Quite a few people got lost on that course. The Standard course on Saturday was beautiful and Ruby won her class to finish her AX title.

Sunday's Jumpers course was tricky as well and if I had handled it differently it was definitely doable. I didn't think out our plan of attack very well and it was my fault that we got into trouble at the weave poles. I think I either blocked her entry or over-rotated and she wasn't sure where she was supposed to go. It was all down hill from there...The Standard course was another very nice course and Ruby ran it wonderfully except she missed her weave entry, probably my fault again. Other than that little bobble we had a very nice run and a couple people came up to me and told me how nice our run was. I guess even the NQ's can look good! :)

Next weekend we have one day of trialing up in Wilmot, WI on Sunday and I hope to get at least one leg of something up there though a Double Q would be nice. Then Ruby gets two weeks off as I'm leaving for Sweden to pick up her little brother. Shhh!!!! I haven't told her yet. :)

July 6th - Stone City KC Agility Trial

A warm Sunday morning and a beautiful place to trial. It was a little slope-y (is that a word?) but Ruby handled the terrain beautifully. We ran Open FAST class first and she took 3rd place to finish her title.

Jumpers with Weaves was next. It was a wonderful, fun, fast course and she took 3rd place. We had a little problem with the timer however; it didn't stop when she crossed the finish jump so the man timing hit it manually when he realized it didn't stop. Unfortunately, I think we got robbed of 2nd place, which would have meant multipliers for MACH points. I know we were faster than the fluffy terv that took 2nd and we had a time only 4 tenths of a second behind them. How fast do you think Ruby ran the course? I think it was 30 seconds flat! :)

Standard was a funny mess, first I think I got her out too early and then Steve was taping our run downwind of us. She smelled him and came flying over the aframe to go say "hi." Oh well, two out of three ain't bad! :)

July 4th & 5th - Chicagoland DockDogs

Dock Dogs everyone! FINALLY!!! Ruby was so excited that her first jump was her personal best of 12' 11''. She finished both her Novice and Junior Regional Jumper titles. She had two first place Novice jumps and one 4th place Junior jump. I believe she made the Novice Finals but we were doing agility on Sunday and we couldn't make it up there in time.

A very sad thing happened though, Ruby's good friend Bindi got attacked by a lab. The lab got away from it's owner and bit her in both back legs and her beautiful tail. She suffered some bruising and a puncture wound. She did manage to pull off two Junior qualifying jumps of 12' 3" and 10' 6" We are very proud of her and wish her a speedy recovery. Bindi's aunt is the famous Pico, who won the Dock Dogs World Championships last year. I am sure she will follow in Pico's footsteps.

Cudahy Trial - June 21 & 22

Well, there was some conflicts, some confrontations and some resolve but I really wish I could just have fun running my dog without all the B.S. We did get to hang out with Kris and all her pups on Saturday and we had a good time. Thanks Kris! We also got to know some acquaintances a little better :) and make some new friends!

Saturday was interesting, I wasn't really mentally there for Ruby in our Standard run and sent her up the dogwalk by accident, then she popped her weaves and got a little crazy. I got her back and focused and the rest of her run was very nice. She had very nice contacts on her dogwalk and Alissa got a great picture of her on the teeter and going through the tire jump. Our Jumpers run was nice though I felt like I was running really far ahead of her and with the exception of her popping the weaves again (though this time between 10 & 11) it was a very nice run. After the trial we went home and she was even popping the weaves in the yard which is not like her so I'm trying to get her in for an adjustment with Dr. Mayer to see if that helps.

Sunday was a little better though we've been having problems with our start line. Luckily, she broke before I got a lead out and I was able to reset her in Standard. She ran very well though it felt awkward to me and we FINALLY got an Excellent Standard leg. She took 2nd place and I am very happy. In Jumpers she broke her start line again. This time I was too far away to reset her and didn't get the lead out that I wanted. Because of that, I wasn't where I needed to be for the next front cross and caused her to miss a jump. We continued and she nailed her weave entry but popped again at 11 - something is amiss with Miss Ruby - the ending was a serpentine and she read it beautifully, so I was happy with that.


Congrats to Tammy & Lexi and Wendy & Jack for their beautiful Jumpers runs on Sunday! Way to go girls! :)

Sunday, June 15th

The second day of the Car-Dun-Al trial was pretty scary. We had a lightning storm come up as we were walking the course and we were ordered to go inside or take cover. After it blew over the grass was pretty wet and by the time Ruby and I ran, the Jumpers course was pretty slippery. She was a very good girl though and kept all the bars up earning her 4th MXJ leg and 9 MACH points. I couldn't be happier with her progress after her horrible set back. Here's the video:

She wasn't so good in her Standard class later however. I had trouble with her in that ring all weekend with her focusing on something at or around the exit gate. She stopped right in front of the first jump and ignored me to miss the second obstacle altogether. I stopped, called her to me, picked her up and excused us from the ring. I have no idea what had gotten into her though we had a long wait at the entrance when the wind came up and they had to reset and sandbag a few jumps. Ruby doesn't have much patience, especially when I run out of cheese unexpectedly.

Cindy and Madison also had a very nice qualifying run in Standard. Only two more to go you guys! Good job!


After the trial we left for Romeoville to visit with my sister Toni and cousin Sable.

Sable and Ruby

"Seriously, why are we sitting here getting our picture taken? There was no mention of cookies!"

"Oh, wait! Sable??? Did you see that!?!?!?"

"It's a B. I. R. D.!"

"Cool!!!"

Saturday, June 14th

Ruby's first full trial back was this weekend at the Car-Dun-Al Agility Trial in Belvidere, IL. She had two very nice runs on Saturday but dropped a bar in each class. Overall she was a very good girl.

Madison at the trial

Cindy and Madison had two very nice runs on Saturday with a qualifying run in Jumpers. After the trial, we took Ruby and Zoey over to play with Jake.

Jake, the man.

Ruby, Jake and Zoey played for a bit, but Ruby mostly wanted to roll in the grass and obsess over the gnats landing on her.

Silly Ruby and Zoey