Today, thank goodness, didn't start nearly as early. We arrived around 7:30am and spent some time hanging out until our first agility run. We went around to all the vendors, and I tried very hard not to spend money. :) I was mostly successful! I did buy a Boxer pin to use to hold my exhibitor numbers at agility trials.
I successfully avoided some very nice boxer stained glass and boxer prints. It was tough though!
Lexi got to play the perfect boxer ambassador today. There was a HUGE group of kids coming through the show, all about 8-12. She waded right in the middle and was hugging and giving kisses to about 20 children. They LOVED her. She's such an awesome girl.
Excellent B Standard
Beautiful course, open, flowing, perfectly planned for an awesome run!
Our plan for this one was to start on the left of 1, over the dog walk, pull around 3/4 and over the A-frame, rear cross at the chute. Over 7 and to the table, then front cross before the tire, over the double, then jump 13 and the left side of that tunnel. Over 15, teeter and a fast straight run into the right side of the tunnel then a straight finish. Harry Potter was on fire! He was running FAST. Our only minor trouble spot was 13 into the tunnel. I over worked it, calling his name when he was headed for the correct entrance, I almost caused a refusal! We didn't get called and finished with a Q and 18 MACH points. It was our fasted qualifying YPS in Standard ever! Yay HP!
Rally Novice A
On a lark, I decided to enter some Rally classes this weekend. I figured since it was all in the same building, why not? Turns out, we need WAY more work on our Rally (we haven't had rally classes in about a year, and other than some doodling around the house, we don't do much heel work cause I suck at it!) We have never done any Rally competitions!
WORST....MAP.....EVER! *snort*
Wow was HP distracted. We started out pretty good through the first couple stations, but then it all went downhill. He wanted to sniff the floor, his sits were far from straight, and he kept getting distracted by the people and dogs sitting around the ring. He was also ignoring me and doing quite a bit of forging. Gah! We managed to get through it, but I was sure we hadn't qualified. Turns out I was wrong, we did get an 81. While it wasn't the worst score in the class, we definitely didn't place. Oh well, lets me know what we need to work on, eh?
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Another lovely course, fast and fun.
At first I thought I would try a front cross between 2/3, but then figured I'd be in his way. I started this on the left, and used a turn command at 4 with a rear cross. Another rear between 6/7, a front between the weaves and 10, and fairly straightforward run like heck to the end. Unfortunately, I sprinted past 12 and 13, and in HP's effort to speed up, he knocked bar 13. Dumb handler! The rest of the run was lovely, but still an NQ.
Totals for the day: 1 Q, 18 MACH points.
MACH totals so far: 7 QQs and 300 MACH points!
And so our day ends like this:
No agility tomorrow, as I didn't get in. :( Sad! Guess it's all rally, all the time. Both Lexi and HP are entered in Rally Novice A. More agility on Sunday!
This weekend we're in Portland for the Rose City Classic, or RCC. It is a huge show, with conformation, agility, and obedience, all indoors at the Portland Expo Center. Rarely do we ever have indoor shows in this area, and this one gets a lot of public attention, so it's fun to show off your breed.
We arrived early, about 6:30, and had to unload in a torrential downpour. It's the Northwest, I rarely ever mind our "normal" rain, and shrug it off like most people. But the rain today was HORRIBLE. So much more than we usually get, we are actually having flooding in some low lying areas. Probably some of the worst rain I've seen since moving out here 10 years ago, but I digress.
Another aside, quick apology to those that follow my blog on a regular basis, I have been awful about blogging lately, skipping 1 show in November, 1 in December, and 1 in January. Sorry!
So after several trips in the downpour, I got everything inside. We were set up in between the obedience and agility area. I tried to find my friend Kennedy's set up, but didn't have any luck, so we just grabbed our own space.
The plan for the weekend is as follows:
Thursday - Harry Potter is entered in agility, both Standard and JWW
Friday - Harry Potter is entered in agility, both Standard and JWW, and he is also entered in Rally Novice
Saturday - Harry Potter and Lexi are both entered in Rally Novice
Sunday - Harry Potter is entered in agility, both Standard and JWW, Lexi is entered in Rally Novice
Whew! Crazy! We are not doing agility on Saturday because we didn't get in, so I figured we'd toss in some Rally. At this show obedience and agility are very close together, making it easier to manage entries in both. And yes, I entered the baby dog! I know, am I insane?? I haven't done Rally in over a year, and never in competition! We'll see how it goes. I'm expecting Harry Potter to at least pick up a leg or two, with Lexi, I just want some attention and good work attitude, I am not expecting qualifying scores. If we get them, awesome. If not, oh well. :) She's only 22 months, so I need to be realistic and just try to set her up for a good ring experience!
Excellent B Standard
So today was an all agility day. Our first course was Excellent Standard with David Hirsch. Can I just say how much I LOVE his courses? So big dog friendly. He always puts in a few tricks, but overall is very fair and really pleasant to run under.
While walking this, there were only a few places that were a little tricky. The plan was in to the tunnel, front cross between 2/3, then be sure not to push out too hard at the 180 (3/4). There was a real chance that you would get that off course jump with the big dogs. Rear cross between 4/5 to the table, around the loop (7/8/9/10/11/12), into the weaves, panel, tunnel, dogwalk. There was the potential to miss the #12 if you pulled in too tight after the dogwalk, so I ran it out a few steps then pivoted for #12. Then a fairly straight line to the finish after the push out to the triple.
HP performed well, on the 3/4 180 I ended up calling his name and he came in nicely. After the number 12 jump, he looked at the off-course option but another name call worked well and we finished with a nice Q. MX2 leg #6 and 17 MACH points!
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Next up is jumpers. Judge is Tim Pinneri. We were lucky this weekend to have two great judges that are very big dog friendly.
Fun course! I walked this course several different ways, with both front crosses and rear crosses. What I ended up with was this: We started on the left side, 1/2/3 and into the right side of the number 4 tunnel. I stayed on the left over 5, and into the right side of the #6 tunnel, weaves, with a pivot around to 8, over #9 (on the right), serpentine and a send over 10, rear crossing between 9/10, then another RC between 10/11, and another at 11/12. Front cross between 14/15, and another rear between 17/18. It was a very nice run. We Q'd for MXJ2 leg #3 and 7 MACH points.
Mt. Hood Doberman Club AKC trial, 11/19/11-11/21/11
This weekend we attended the Mt. Hood Doberman Club AKC trial in Ridgefield, WA. My initial plan was to drive up Saturday morning, but Mr. Weatherman was calling for a possibility of ice on Saturday morning. Plan change meant driving up Friday evening, and checking in early at the La Quinta. What a great dog-friendly hotel! They don't charge a pet fee, don't care how big your dogs are, and our "Executive King Suite" was huge! I would definitely stay there again.
Saturday, November 19th
We arrived bright and early to grab some crate space. Unfortunately it was a small to tall day, so our first run wasn't even until mid-afternoon! I decided to work a class to help out, and they needed a gate due to the person that signed up being late. Boy was working an experience I won't repeat. I normally try to work at most of the clubs we run, I feel like we, as exhibitors, should all help out when we can. All I will say about this experience is: Note to trial secretaries and clubs, if you yell at your workers for doing their job, they will not want to work for you again. There are a few clubs I will not work for due to being berated about working, how the job is done, etc. This is not fair to your workers, they are VOLUNTEERING. There is no incentive to volunteer if you're going to be yelled at. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Excellent B Standard
Our judge for Standard was Beverly Morgan Lewis. I've met her before at trials when she's running her own dogs and always found her to be a pleasant person, but never run under her as a judge. Turns out, her courses were nice, open, and very large dog friendly.
For this course, the plan was to start on the right, over the first two jumps and into the tunnel, over #4 and a swing through the "three sided box" and over 5 (the triple). A pull back to the dogwalk, then a pull to the double (#8), teeter, then a front cross before #10. A hard pull around and into the weaves. Over the A-frame and on to the table. Front cross before the pinwheel (14/15/16/17) and a front cross between 17 and the chute. Then run for the finish.
Worked out very well for us. We ended with a Q and 14 MACH points.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Nancy Davis set this course up. Again lined up on the right, with a fairly straight shot into the tunnel. Front cross between #5 and the weave poles. FC between #8/9, another between #12/13. I intended to do another FC between 13/14, but forgot and ended up doing a rear to swing him around to 15. From there it was a straight shot into the tunnel and then over the final jump.
Another Q and 7 MACH points.
Total for the day, QQ and 21 MACH points!
Back to the hotel for a relaxing night of the boxers hogging the king bed. :P
Sunday, November 20th
Tall to small today, so we knew we'd be done early!
Excellent B Standard
Nice course by Nancy Davis. Our plan was to start on the right, decel cue for the 180 (#3-#4), rear cross between 5/6, over the dogwalk, weaves, then tunnel. Stay to the left of the A-frame with a strong pull 11-12 to avoid the off-course chute. Teeter to table, moving out towards the triple to avoid an off-course, then FC between 17/18 to get the sharp right to the finish (#19).
Plan worked well, another Q and 13 MACH points.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Looked to be a pretty jumpers course, smooth and flowing. When I was planning our course, I noticed that there were several nice places for rear crosses. We'd been having trouble with rear crosses lately, my cruddy timing was causing HP to pull off, earning us a refusal. We'd been working a lot on his "go on" command, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and do mostly rear crosses with this course.
The plan was to line up on the left side, rear cross between 3/4, rear cross between 8/9, front cross after the weaves, then another rear between 15/16. It worked! He was driving ahead well, moving nicely, even when I almost forgot the course at number 6! (You'll notice a slight pause on the video). I was stoked. It earned us a Q and 11 MACH points.
Total for the day: QQ and 24 MACH points.
Total for the weekend: 2 QQs and 45 MACH points.
MACH totals so far: 6 QQs and 223 MACH points!
We stayed to grab a couple of the photos taken by Joe Camp. He had captured a cute "out of chute" series from one of the runs. It's nice to see my boy looking so happy as he runs. :)
WAG CPE trial, Benton County Fairgrounds, 11/13/11
Because I had to work Saturday, I could only enter 1 day of the WAG CPE trial. We left early Sunday morning, at 6am, to drive to Corvallis, OR, about an hour away. We arrived at 7am, grabbed some crate space, and set up for the day.
This weekend's judge was Barrett (Todd) Benson. Never having run under him before, I wasn't sure what to expect. What a nice guy, and super great courses is what we got. :)
Fullhouse, Level 5
Above is the map. We are in level 5, so we needed 25 points (jumps are 1pt, circles 3pts, contacts/weaves 5pts), AND we are required to have 3 jumps, 2 circles, and 1 contact/weave minimum.
Above is my plan for the course. Starting at the tire, into the tunnel, turn back to the A-frame, jump with a wrap back to the A-frame (again), then jump, dog walk, jump, tunnel, jump, tunnel, weaves. We would have enough points if we made it through #9, but it's always good to go for a little extra in Fullhouse. We made it through everything but the weaves, with the buzzer buzzing before we finished them, requiring us to go to the table. No problem though, we met all the requirements and ended up with 31 points and a Q.
Colors, Level 5
Next up was Colors. Rules are that you pick one of two mini/nested courses. I walked both squares and circles, but ended up choosing circles due to the fact that it was smoother and more flowing. Pretty straight forward, with a front cross between 4/5, a rear cross between 5/6, and a front cross between 6/7. We ran it cleanly, ending with a Q and completing our Level 5 Colors requirements.
Standard, Level 5
I was really happy about this course. The plan was lead out for a front cross between 1/2, tight turn into #3 tunnel, around and over the teeter, into the tunnel with a sharp wrap on to the dog walk, over 10/11, with a rear cross between 11/12, and around to the weaves. This is where it all went to pieces. HP popped his weaves twice.....no idea why. He got them on the third try, but we had already NQ'd. :( We finished the course (he ran by the A-frame after a too strong call off, but we circled around and did it again). Darn, we could have used that Standard Q. Oh well.
Wildcard, Level 5
Last run of the day: Wildcard. Rules are that within the course there are three areas where a choice is offered. In level 5, you have to take two "B" choices, and one "A" choice. My choices for this run were #2 - B, #5 - B, #9 - A. Worked out well, short and sweet run, ending with a Q that fulfills our Level 5 Wildcard requirements and earned us our CL5-H title.
We were back down to Medford this weekend for another RCA agility trial. Kennedy and I had decided to carpool for this trial. Thank goodness for roof racks and roof boxes! We would never have otherwise fit all the stuff. Poor Lexi had to stay home this weekend due to still being in heat. Off to Medford with a boxer, a great dane, and 2 poms! We arrived late, around 10:30, and quickly hit the sack to be ready for the next morning.
Saturday, October 29th
This weekend we were running under judges we were familiar with, and had been very pleased with their courses before. This weekend was no exception. First up standard.
Excellent B Standard
Nice course by Debbie Wheeler. We started on the left in order to the get line 1-4, nice 180, then back along the length of the ring. Front cross between 8/9, another between 14/15, rear cross at tunnel 18, and this is where I messed us up. I tried to front between 18/19, got in his way, and he missed his weave entry. Bleh, all my fault. NQ for that run, even though HP ran well.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Another nice course. Pinwheel out to a FC between 4/5, another pinwheel, then a rear cross between 9/10 (I was thrilled we got this, he needed a little encouragement to move forward ahead of me but he did it!), then we had a weave problem again. He missed the entry, then began popping again after the first pole. Odd for him, he doesn't usually pop the weaves. We decided to move on and just finish the run, since we already NQ'd. He knocked a bar at 16, we rearcrossed 19/20 and were done.
Due to his weirdness with the weavepoles, I decided to have him adjusted by a chiropractor at the end of the day. I also gave him a good rubdown and stretch at the hotel. Maybe tomorrow would be better.
Sunday, October 30
Excellent B Standard
We were hoping day 2 would be better than day 1.
First area of concern was 2-3, when they are going through a chute, they can't see where they are going and I was concerned that HP would come out of the chute and take the off-course jump right in front of it. To counteract that, I peeled off as soon as he entered the chute, did a landing side front cross on #3, calling his name as soon as I saw his head exit the chute. This worked really well, resulting in a nice turn to #3. The next area of concern was getting the proper end of the tunnel after the teeter. I used a threadle arm, called him, and though he looked at the other end, came in and took the proper side. #10 to the weaves was another area that was getting a lot of dogs, I decided to handle it with a deceleration cue, and calling his name, to get the tight turn. I didn't cue him early enough and he almost took the off-course jump, but we managed to save it. A FC between 11/12 and I thought we were home free. Unfortunately, the person prepping the ring that weekend had dragged it so that the corners were deep, loose dirt. As he took off for jump 16, he slipped a little and knocked a bar. :( Another NQ on an otherwise beautiful run.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Well, maybe we could salvage our weekend with the last run. I started on the right, then front crossed between #2/3, around the pinwheel, with a rear cross between 6/7 (Yay successful rear cross!!), swing around into the weaves, then a FC after the weaves. I was a little worried about 1415/16, but using a deceleration cue and calling him to me worked really well to get him into #15 tunnel. Rear cross at 18/19 and a Q. MXJ leg #8 and 5 MACH points. Well, at least the weekend wasn't a total bust.
Totals for the weekend 1 Q, and 5 MACH points.
MACH totals: 178/750 points and 4 QQ's, almost 1/4th of the way to our MACH!
This weekend was a trip over the Cascades, up to the high desert! We were trialling in Prineville, OR, a venue I'd never been to before. I had gotten everything ready for our weekend the night before, and luckily, we had a very abnormally slow Friday afternoon. My boss was nice and let me leave early, so I got home around 3pm, loaded up, and started my 3 hr drive. It was a gorgeous trip, the high desert does have a strange beauty to it, especially with the contrast of the mountains in the distance.
We arrived at our hotel around 6pm and got settled in. My friend Kennedy and her two dogs arrived around 9:30. I was a bit concerned that our hotel room faced a bar with an outdoor deck and it turns out I was right to be concerned. There was a lot of drinking and shouting all night (and Vegas, Kennedy's dog, had itchy ears which led to lots of shaking), leading us to have a less than stellar sleep night. I think this contributed to our less than stellar showing on Saturday.
Saturday, October 1
New judge, new venue for us. We arrived early (around 6:30) to get some crating space. Crating was tight at this venue, as a result we ended up in an aisle way. I will say though, that the grounds (Crook County Fairgrounds) were gorgeous though, lots of space, nice areas to camp. I do think I'll probably camp next time, as the camping area was nicer than our hotel!
Excellent B Standard
As this was a new judge, we were curious as to what types of courses she would put up. She runs Border Collies, and sometimes Border Collie judges can put up some challenging courses for big dogs.
When I walked this course, I liked it a lot, turns out though, this was not to be a great day for us. We got through the pinwheel opening to the dogwalk with ease, albeit a little slowly. Had to work the dogwalk/tunnel quite a bit (there were some barky dogs in that corner right next to it), luckily the judge was generous to everyone, not calling refusals unless they were blatent. I front crossed before 9, then tried to get one in between 10/11 to avoid the off course table. This is where it all fell apart. I'm not sure if my cross was a little early, or if HP was tired due to the long night of noise, but he knocked the double. This threw me off, so when I tried pulling him from 12 to 13 I didn't pay enough attention and he took the off course number 5. As if things could get any worse, when we arrived at the weaves, there were MORE barking dogs right next to the ring, causing HP to miss his weaves. Bah, what crappy run! NQ. Big time. We both needed to get our game back together.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
Well, on to the next course.
I was stoked about this course. It looked and walked very nicely. We started with me on the right, around the pinwheel with a front cross between 4/5. He read it well, pulled around 5 nicely, back to 6, and for some reason, knocked a bar on #7. :( He knocked it with his front feet, so I'm not sure if he took off too soon or just didn't have enough lift. He ran like he was really tired all day, so I guess this is just one of those things. On watching a video, I was trying to get a front cross in there, but I think the bar was down before I started my cross. So anyway, FC between 7/8 and another between 9/10. Over the double with a nice weave entry, then we were home free. Another NQ for the day though. :(
We stayed through the end of the day to film Kennedy and Leo (his first AKC trial!) which made for a very long day (he didn't run until 5 or 6), then headed back to the hotel to hopefully get some rest.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Luckily night 2 was much more restful, I guess people drink less on Saturday in Prineville? We got to the grounds around 7ish and took a little walk to warm up for our courses.
Excellent B Standard
Wow, what a course, this one has some tricks to it. I walked it with a tunnel/front cross/dogwalk, then over 3 (while being careful to avoid the off course #8 chute), through another tunnel, then over 5, with a pull to the right to get the teeter/jump/chute. Front cross after the chute to get past that tricky center area and get the 9/table. Around 11/12, really work the weave entry, because it's near the corner with the barking dogs. This is where it got complicated. Kennedy and I walked the portion over and over and over and over. The major choices were:
Front cross after the weaves, over 14, try to get 15 while avoiding the teeter off course, then either front or rear cross between 15/16
Over 14, rear cross, over 15, rear cross, then onward
Try to get in a front cross between 14/15, then a front or rear between 15/16
Actually, the list goes on and on.
My problem was that HP has been having trouble with moving ahead of me (confidence issues?) so our rear crosses of late have been earning us refusals. I still wasn't any closer to deciding. The last conundrum came in the closing sequence. I walked both a front cross between 17/18, and a rear between 18/19.
We came out on course, and I still wasn't 100% sure how I was running. Then HP blasted off the start line. CRAP! Who is this dog? He's moving forward with confidence, he's running fast, WOW. Ok, plan changes to rear crosses, because as we run the course he's getting faster and faster and moving ahead of me really nicely. I feel like I'm back seat driving, running behind him yelling "Go!" and "Turn!". We ended up choosing to do the set of rear crosses at the 14/15/16 and a rear at 18/19. So so so thrilled with my boy, it was one of those runs that just FEELS completely right. We Q'd, with 16 MACH points. It was our second fastest yards-per-second qualifying standard leg ever, and only by 0.05. I also take pride in the fact that this course ate the border collies alive, with somewhere around a 20ish% Q rate. ;)
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
After our awesome standard run I was ready to tackle JWW.
The plan for this one was pinwheel to a front cross between 3/4, the rest runs as a spiral to the tunnel. Rear cross after he enters the tunnel. Call him to get him out of the tunnel in the right direction. Front cross after the weaves then a run for home. All went as planned until jump 6. He came SO close to taking the off course #11, I YELLED his name and he pulled off. My fault for not anticipating the off course (I was more worried about the tunnel beside #8 and completely didn't work the #6/7). We didn't get an off course and were still in the running for a QQ. We finished the course quite nicely, it was fun, and while he wasn't as fast as in the morning, we did get some MACH points out of it. Q and 4 MACH points.
Totals for the day 1 QQ, 20 MACH points
Totals for the weekend 1 QQ, and 20 MACH points.
MACH totals: 173/750 points and 4 QQ's, almost 1/4th of the way to our MACH!
And a huge congrats to my friend Kennedy and her Pom, Leo, on his first Q in AKC!!!!
Portland Agility Club AKC Trial, September 25th 2011
After work on Saturday, the boxers and I jetted up to Portland to run one day at the PAC AKC trial. I spent the night at my friend Kennedy's house so that we would be ready to go Sunday morning.
Excellent B Standard
The judges this weekend were Lori Sage and David Hirsch. I've run under David before, his courses are fun and fair. I've also heard good things about Lori and from this trial, it seems that she's also a great judge.
First up was standard. I debated the opening for this course quite a bit. I couldn't decide where to put in my cross to get the teeter and not the number 16 jump. After walking several options, I started on the left and front crossed between 2 and 3. I was a little late and got in his way a bit but it did work ok. On to the teeter, a couple jumps, and then a front cross before the A-frame. Jump, chute, table, then an odd jump with a wrap back around to the left hand side of a tunnel. Dog walk, jump, weaves (he nailed the entry, and we've had issues with outside weave entries before, so I was happy). The end provided a challenge, but my plan to front cross after the weaves, then a wrap (front cross) after 17 worked well. We Q'd for our #10 MX leg, giving us our MX title and 10 MACH points.
Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves
I walked this course and the only place I was worried about was the opening. After trying a few different combos, I decided to start on the left, and front cross between 2/3. In hindsight, I should have tried a rear between 2/3 as my front was slightly early and caused a knocked bar. :(. NQ on this run, but the rest of it was very pretty. Over 3/4, front cross between 5/6, another between 9/10. I had a bobble when I forgot my front cross after the weaves. I tried sending him over 14 but I was late on the cue and earned us a refusal as well. No QQ for us today. Bleh. :( Sorry, no video for this run.
Totals for the day 1 Q (MX leg), MX title, and 10 MACH points.
