Paws and Ques CPE trial

Lonya and I had 2 days of CPE agility last weekend.  She was again perfect, Q'ing in all 10 of her runs!  She does really well in CPE, and is quickly moving up through the levels!  This judge liked lots of tunnels!  I also didn't notice how often Lonya slipped, it's been so dry that I think the grass wasn't the greatest, but it didn't seem to effect her overall!

Video of her runs is here...



Her first run on Friday was Level 3 Standard.  Pretty straighforward run, about the only tricky part was keeping her out of the tunnel during the 180 and pulling her through those jumps to go to the tunnel.  She Q'd for a 1st place!

Next was Level 4 Snooker.  We did 5, 6, 7 then the close.  There were A LOT of tunnels, and Lonya ran a bit tentatively.  I think she was waiting for me to call her off the tunnels, instead of keep sending her to them!  She missed the weave entry in the close (it was a tough one!) so didn't get all the way through.  Still nice overall, and a Q for a 1st.

Level 4 Jackpot was next.  I thought this one may break her Qing streak in Jackpot (she's never NQ'd in it that I can remember!), it seemed tough.  It was traditional, with the send being the far side of a tunnel, out to a jump, wrap to a tunnel, then a final jump.  The one thing that was different about this one, is that you were allowed to do something in the gamble after the buzzer, even if it wasn't correct.  She didn't start judging until the dog went in the correct side of the tunnel (which I kind of forgot when Lonya was heading towards the wrong end of the tunnel, hence the touch of panic in my voice!).  But, once I got her going, she did it very nice (and didn't go back in the wrong tunnel!).  This was a Q for a 1st, and the last level 4 Q she needed...on to Level 5!

Level 3 Wildcard was next, it was a pretty good run, expect when Lonya almost chose the weave poles over the tunnel at the end!  I really think she thought she had been doing too many tunnels, and that it couldn't possibly be the right choice!  This was her last Level 3 Q.

The final run on Friday was FullHouse, Level 4.  She Q'd with no problem (with a first), though in this run she DID take an extra tunnel!  I was very happy with her dogwalk, the judge was really close to it and I wasn't sure if that would bother Lonya, but while she gave the judge a good look, she didn't seem to care that much.

Saturday we started with Round 1 of Level 3 Standard.  It was a pretty good course, interesting with 2 teeters instead of an Aframe.  A little bit of handling needed to get the last jump before a tunnel, but she did that very nicely.  Q for a first.

Jumpers was next, Level 3.  This was a tricky course, lots of handling needed along with several tunnels.  She made her first error of the day here (even the judge commented on it as we left...she said "that was her first mistake of the weekend wasn't it?"  Nice to know that judge saw how well she was doing!).  The error was both our faults...I overhandled the 180 a bit, the second jump in it was back further than the 1st one and  several dogs had missed it.  But, I did say tunnel...and she went to the jump, so it was on both of us!  Fortunately, we were still in Level 3, so we could Q with an offcourse!  Q for a 1st, her last level 3 Q and her CL3-F title!

The second round of Level 3 standard was next.  She ran this nicely, though she did break her stay!  I messed up handling the last two jumps, causing her to slip pretty hard as she turned away from the teeter.  (I did apologize to her!)  This was a Q for a 1st, and her last level 3 Q needed, so also her CL3-R title!

Level 3 Colors was next.  I choose the course with less tunnels, I thought it had a slightly better weave entry (both were pretty tough!).  She did miss the entry, but fixed it in plenty of time to Q with a 1st.

Our final run was Level 5 Jackpot, non traditional.  There were 3 distance challenges, you could do any or all of them, but had to do at least one.  I had wanted to try them all, but Lonya had other ideas!  It was late, had cooled off quite a bit...and Lonya was a nut!!  We did get the two easier distance challenges (one was tunnel, jump, wrap back to the tunnel.  The other was jump, far side of a tunnel, back to the jump) and got the contacts nicely.  She Q'd with 53 points for a 3rd.  But, we were only 2 points behind the first place dog, which was pretty exciting for me since we're now in the top level!  And technically, this was her first leg toward her C-ATCH!

We'll do a couple more CPE trials over the summer, all night trials.  They're all games only, so we'll need to hit a lot of Standards once fall trials start up again.  But, she could be in level 5 in most of the games by then, which will be pretty darn cool!

3 days of AKC at IPOC

Last weekend, Lonya and I did 3 days of AKC agility, out at IPOC.  I've always been treated well by this club, and like to support them.  I also like the trial site (even though some people don't!).

Overall, I was very happy with how we did.  Lonya Q'd on Friday in Novice FAST for her NF title.  She got 76 points and placed first.  I'm not sure how much more FAST we'll do, I don't think she "needs" it anymore to settle down.  On Friday, we also Q'd in Standard, for 18 MACH points.  I'm pretty sure that was her highest point run so far.  We Q'd on Sunday in Standard also, for 14 points (I think!).  In that run, I never felt like I was where I wanted to be...and Lonya did well to do what I wanted when I was always a step behind.

Our other runs the first error, and in 2 of the runs, our only error was at the weaves.  Popping at pole 10, or getting distracted and coming out in the middle (this happened in the JWW ring).  We've gone back to doing some remedial weave work at home, I've been working so much on flyball stuff, that I hadn't been training agility much.  A friend who'd dealt with the 10 pole syndrome said when she had that problem, it was suggested to her to backchain the last few poles.  We've been doing that, and I think (hope!) I'm seeing progress.  I did try adding the Treat and Train, but she didn't like it in that context, so I went back to click and handing her the treats.

We have another week to work on the poles, before our next trial.  I'd really like to get them "fixed", since she's doing SO well otherwise, she's so close to Qing regularly...if we'd only get those poles!

Her Qing run video...

The girls and I had CPE agility this weekend. CPE is much less stressful on all of us, and it's a good break from all the AKC agility we've been doing. Lonya ran a full set of 5 runs each day (Sparrow only ran 3 a day). Lonya was 10 for 10 over the weekend, I was VERY proud of her. I have video of 9 of her runs, we missed one run. One thing I tried to make sure I did was have her stop on the table (you may hear me tell her to lie down...we both know she's not going to actually lie down, but it reminds her to stop!). In CPE, the table is only used to stop the clock but I don't want her to think that's okay in AKC, so I wanted her to stop on it.

On Saturday, Lonya and I ran Jackpot, WildCard, Standard, Colors and Snooker.

Jackpot was...a mudi on crack. She was crazy! And, there was the tunnel vortex... But, she settled in enough to get the distance challenge...with about .18 seconds to spare! Q and a 1st

WildCard was nice and smooth. Q with a 1st

Standard was not good. Lonya was not herself at all, she was running around things (no refusals in CPE) and just not quite right. When I checked her over after the run, she was having an allergic reaction to something, she had a rash all along her belly and chest and some hives were developing. Fortunately, someone had a benedryl (which I have since added to my bag!). When I checked her a little while later, it had almost all cleared up, whew! She still Q'd for a 1st...

Colors was next, I went in just wanting to choose the easier option to see if my dog was back or if she still felt crappy. I was fully prepared to pull her but she ran well. Q and a 3rd.

Snooker was last, it wasn't a very flowing course, but I had a decent path. I had to do a HARD call off from a tunnel, but she did it Q and a 2nd.


On Sunday, we ran Jackpot, Snooker, Standard, Jumpers and FullHouse.

Jackpot was non traditional and pretty easy. We didn't get it on video, but she Q'd with a 1st.

Snooker was fun, expect I was wearing my new (non flattering!) rain suit and Lonya didn't like the noise it made! It is fun to run a dog where I can try for 7s and not necessarily the most efficient path. She Q'd with a 1st.

Standard was pretty nice, although there was another tunnel vortex... I guess I need to work on tunnels under a dogwalk! Q for a 2nd.

Jumpers was a nice smooth course, Q for a 1st.

FullHouse was fun, again, it's nice to not have to worry about getting enough points! We had a few seconds left to get more points if I wanted...but we all knew more rain (and heavy this time) was coming so most of us were trying to get done quickly.



On Saturday, Sparrow and I ran Jackpot, Wildcard and Standard.

Jackpot was fun, good opening pattern for Sparrow to get enough points. Slight bobble on the distance challenge but she got it. Q for a 4th (over other dogs!)

WildCard was since and smooth.  She Q'd for no placement.

Standard was nice also.  A little slow, but she ran well.  Q for a 3rd.



Sunday, Sparrow and I ran Jackpot, Standard and FullHouse.

Jackpot was non-traditional, pretty easy.  You just had to do obstacles 2, 4, 6 and 8 (with a slight distance challenge on #4) at any time, in any order.  She Q'd for 4th.

FullHouse was set up nice for Sparrow.  2 Jokers near each other, though I still think the Aframe was a gift! She Q'd for no placement.

Standard was her only NQ.  She popped out of the poles, and when I asked her to do them again, she got all crazy!  But, it was a nice set of poles after.  We generally don't Q if we have to redo the poles, she's just not fast enough.  But, she had fun in the run!



Three days of AKC agility with Lonya starting tomorrow...

Day 2 of MADTA

Lonya did really well yesterday too.

She did great in Standard, but I was out of position (trying to keep her from going back to the table) and caused a refusal. But, she had one of her nicest weave performance in a trial, so I was very happy.

She Q'd in JWW, ran very nice! There was a moment when I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep up with her running down a line, but I did. This was one of her highest YPS runs too, which was also nice.

It was COLD, and Lonya was feeling it. She was shivering when I took her out to potty, and spent the down time either curled up in a ball in her crate with all her blankets, or on my lap, under my blanket!

The video...

We have CPE in two weeks, then AKC the week after that.

Day one of MADTA

Look at that, 2 posts in one day!

Today's agility trial was fun! We didn't Q, but she had some REALLY nice parts. Standard she missed the weave entry (she really wanted to take the Aframe and I had to call her off it). And she slid off the table, though she made a really valiant effort to stay on, and has the scrape on her leg to show for it!

JWW was FUN! The opening felt fast, several crosses which she handled well. She popped out at pole 10 (again! I need to figure out how to fix that!) and then I was out of position and sent her on a wrong course.

But, Q's or not...she is a fun fun dog to play with. She loves this sport and I'm lucky to have such a willing partner!

Back tomorrow for one more day (and who knows, maybe another blog post!)

Catching up again!

I have been very bad about keeping up with the blog...I guess posting on Facebook is enough for me!

We've been doing a couple of weekends of agility a month. Our two January trials went pretty well. One weekend, she Q'd in both Standard rounds for legs 3 and 4 for her MX. She was close in one JWW too (I pulled her off a jump).

Our second weekend she only Q'd in one Standard, but had a couple of nice other runs too. Weave woes continue to plague us, that darn pole 10 problem! She also got spooked in her FAST run that weekend by some people loading equipment in a trailer. I was a bit surprised, I thought she was over that, but I guess not!

We've also been working on learning flyball. Lonya is really coming along, and I'd love for her to be ready to compete in the next few months. I hope she's on the same wavelength! Her box turn is really getting pretty solid, now we need to work on running the entire pattern and working with other dogs working.

Still trying to plan for her first litter...stay tuned!

AKC Agility Invitational wrap up

Lonya and I were invited to the AKC Agility Invitational, and we went Dec 16-18. It was the first “big” event that either of us had been to (UKC’s Premier wasn’t nearly this big!). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I knew that Lonya would be one of the youngest dogs there, and one of the more inexperienced ones too. To get Lonya qualified this year, we only needed a single MACH point, due to there not being many Mudi running at that level. But, I had to get Lonya from Novice to Ex B in about 9 months, which was no easy feat…especially since I didn’t want to do anything to place too much stress or pressure on her.

Friday, our warmup run was FAST, but we (like 95% of the other teams) didn't attempt to do the send, but instead, just ran it with our dogs. I was VERY happy with how Lonya ran. There was an issue at the start gate, that had them calling for me to go in next, then wait, then go, then not...which stressed me out. Lonya was already stressed as she doesn't care for all the commotion around the gate. She was actually shaking when I carried her into the ring...so I wasn't sure what to expect! But, once we got in and I set her up on the line, she went to work and did her job! We did have a bobble on the weaves, she missed the entry and I fixed that, but I didn't fix it when she popped out at pole 10. I didn't want to stress her out. The rest of the run was beautiful (though she did cut behind me at the end, but did take the jump I wanted!). I was glad to see that she recovered from her stress so quickly!

Saturday was an EARLY day. We started at 6AM, and they were still running at 5PM when I left. We started with Standard. We had a few bobbles, at the weaves and she ran around a couple of jumps (though I did fix them, so we would at least get a score). She was a little stressed going into the ring, but not quite as bad as yesterday. Some shaking, but not as much.

JWW was a tough course (I had thought STD was pretty straight forward). Lonya was much better as we waited to go into the ring, no shaking. She seemed to be getting used to it. Lonya was clean this run, and she really had to work at it, since my handling left a lot to be desired!! I almost ran into the double...but she fixed my errors. I was so very very proud of my little girl after this run, she's running clean in the "big time".

Sunday was a LONG day, after another early start.. We stayed to watch the agility finals, which were fantastic (such energy!).

Lonya seemed a bit out of sorts Sunday AM, not sick, just a bit mopey. So, I wasn't quite sure what we'd do that day. She was more relaxed around the rings though, while waiting our turn to go (no shaking at all). JWW was a nice course and Lonya ran clean again. She almost came out of the weaves, but stayed in and ran the rest of the course well, even though I didn't run it at all like I walked it!

During Standard, it was LOUD in the area. The dock diving dogs were blaring music and the agility loudspeakers were competing with that. When I had Lonya on the line, I don't think she heard my release and ran with me instead of doing the jump. I really felt like I was having to shout for her to hear me at all, and we had a couple of more bobbles. But, again, I was very happy that she worked through it and she ran the ending fast and happy.

We ended up 72 out of 130 16" teams, not bad for the first big competition for either of us. Lonya didn't knock a bar, miss a contact or take an off course all weekend. I'm so very happy with how well she did, it was a great weekend for us! The support from all of our friends, both in person and those watching the results come in from the computer meant a lot to me.

I hope to attend the Invitationals again next year, and I hope that we have a full slate of Mudi there running! The site was nice, and I know that they’re looking at what improvements can be made for next year (hopefully they’ll move those dock diving dogs!!)