Lonya is Excellent now

Missed updates for 2 trials, but Lonya is now in Excellent A in both classes in AKC!  


We showed Vero Beach again at the end of February.  She was much more comfortable in the hotel this time, which was good.  She ran much better there also!  Had some good runs on dirt for the first time.  She Q'd in Standard on Friday, only ran around the table for her one refusal.  Her Jumpers run on Saturday was really nice also, I didn't support a jump enough and she ran around it and took another for an off course.  No videos from that weekend unfortunatley.  


Last weekend, we showed in Mulberry for 3 days.  I did email updates for that trial, so here they are!  (Cheating I know!)


Friday...
Lonya started out day 1 of our 3 days of agility meeting my goal for the weekend!  She Q'd in JWW today, for the 3rd leg needed for her OAJ!  Her standard run was nice, but she dropped a bar (only the second I can recall since we started showing) and did the table an extra time.  But, she had great contacts and weaves, and did go to the table when I sent her without running around it first.  In the last two weekends, she's really come into her own, and wow, is it fun!  


Sat...
Day two of the trial also went well.  Lonya qualified in Open Standard, for her 3rd Q, so she now has her OA!  She had 1 refusal, I need to get up in front of her better to direct her sooner.  Her contacts were good.  The teeter and dogwalk were great, the Aframe was good.  She can't quite seem to stop in the 2 on 2 off, but is stopping right when she gets off..which means that at least she's thinking about stopping! (much better than launching from 3 slats above the yellow!)


Her Excellent JWW debut was really good.  She didn't Q, but only had 1 refusal (I thought I could beat her down a line of jumps, I was wrong!).  When I fixed it, she knocked the bar (wasn't a great set up).  The course was TOUCH, not many dogs Q'd at all, across all of Excellent.  She did really well with all of the "handling" areas, except the first time I had to wrap her...I think she thought we were done already!


Sun...
Lonya didn't Q today, but that's okay!  She still had a great weekend.  Her standard run was a bit of a mess, it was a tough, twisty course and it was just a little too much for her (and a lot of other dogs).  I need to work on tunnel/dogwalk discriminations!  JWW had some really good parts.  She held a 2 jump lead out wonderfully, than ran behind me instead of turning, silly girl!  But, she hit a weave entry that easily half the dogs missed...it didn't seem that difficult, but it was (it wasn't quite a 180 into the weaves, but it was close).  She ran around the last jump also.  We need to work on collection and turning too!

Here are a few videos from the IPOC weekend

Last weekend's trial

I did one day of CPE last weekend, Saturday only (Sunday I went to the Daytona 500, great race, great time!!)

I entered Lonya in 3 runs, just for more exposure.  She Q'd in Jackpot, where she got the "harder" distance challenge (even though I tried to send her to the easy one...I ended up quite far away from her at the end).  She worked with me okay after that, and did a nice dogwalk contact.  Her first Standard run was pretty good.  Good DW and Aframe, but bailed on the teeter.  Some baby dog errors too.  Second Standard was okay, until the end.  She just wouldn't take the Aframe, she was stuck in the tunnel vortex.  I ended up downing her and taking her out...

Sparrow did great again!  She Q'd 4 out of 5, and now only needs 11 legs for her C-ATCH.  Her only NQ was in Jackpot, she was VERY close though.  She got the distance no problem, but it was a hard course for use to get enough points on.  She missed the down contact on her Dogwalk, and we ended up 3 points short.  She Q'd in both Standard runs, even though she was slow.  It was hot (for her) and she was pokey.  Especially in the weaves!  And, she did look at the judge a few times (she's a friend of ours!).  Wildcard was okay, I had to ask her to weave twice, since I didn't like the 3rd #2 option.  I normally wouldn't ask her for 2 sets of poles.  And her snooker run was very nice.  I was able to plan a pretty smooth course for her, and we needed to get through #6 in the ending to Q.  She got all the way through though, so Q'd no problem.

Here's the video!



Here's what she needs for her C-ATCH...

3 Jackpot
3 Jumpers
2 Standard
1 Colors
1 Snooker
1 FullHouse

There are 2 trials in April...I can't do all the days of both (silly work gets in the way).   But, if she runs perfect (in Jackpot and Jumpers at least), she could C-ATCH at the second one.  Very exciting.  I know I'll cry when she does it...and I hope that Kal will be watching.

Agility this weekend

Lonya and I had 2 days of agility in Vero Beach this weekend.  It was a new trial site for both of us, under cover on dirt.  She hasn't run well on dirt so far, but did somewhat better this weekend.

Friday her JWW run had a REALLY nice ending but she had a couple of refusals and didn't get her weaves.  She ran with me for the most part though, which was good.  (She did have to go sniff the judge once).

Sat JWW was also pretty nice, she had some refusals, but did her weaves.  No visiting though.

Friday Standard was a mess.  She was not focussed at all.  I struggled through it, but at some point I need to decide if pulling her should be an option...she never really settled in to work for this run.

Sat Standard was better, a little bit a least.  I got a little more harsh with my voice when she started acting squirrely, and she settled a bit.  She did her Aframe contact (both days actually), but totally flew off the teeter (coming out a tunnel to it).

I was a little frustrated on Friday after Standard.  I know she can do this stuff, and that she just needs more exposure to trials, but I do wonder if I'm pushing too hard.  She doesn't seem to be stressing, more just doing her own thing.  I am interested in seeing if it's just the dirt or more than that...our next trial is on dirt, then a couple on grass.

We had our first motel stay, and she did pretty well.  She was pretty clingy in the room, wanting to sleep ON me instead of just near me.  But, Sparrow and Cheyenne are both pretty good travelers so I'm sure that helped.

Catching up

I haven't been updating the blog very well!  Things have been busy, which is good.  This has been one of my only weekends where I don't have dog stuff...and I find myself torturing myself by re-reading all the stuff I wrote about Kal.  I still miss that dog every single day...  It will get easier at some point, I know.  It has too.  But, it still hurts a lot, and I feel gypped that I lost out on so much time with him, he was taken from me far too young.  I still feel a pain when I see a male GSD...of any color.  I really miss having one.

I'm waiting on Lonya's OFAs to come back.  I'll call them again next week to see if her results are in.  I hope it's my turn to have some good luck.  I really want to have a litter.  She's progressing in agility.  She hasn't Qd in a couple of trials, but some of her runs have been close.  She stands at 2 OAJ legs and 1 OA leg.  We do our first overnight trial next weekend, where we'll stay in a hotel for a night.  Not sure what she'll think of that!  I plan to have a crate ready in case she can't settle!

Sparrow got her NA a couple of weeks ago.   She needs one leg for her NAJ.  Not sure I'll do much more AKC with her after that.  I think she'll stick with CPE.  She's doing great there, we did 1 day of CPE last weekend and she Qd 4 out of 5, running really well!  Lots of fun for her.  We need 15 more legs for her C-ATCH, then I think I'll just stay in level 5 with her and go for her C-ATCH 2 (or not, just let her play around).

Here's the video from that day...




I need to be better about keeping up with this...fingers crossed that I do it!

TBGSDC Trial

This weekend, Lonya and I had 2 days of AKC agility.

It was at a new trial site, which has potential to be a nice site (and pretty close to home).  The permanent rings aren't set up quite yet, and the footing in the rings we used was sketchy in some places.  But there were lots of shade trees and lots of pretty close parking.

The first thing we had to take care of was getting Lonya's permanent height card.  There were two "official" measuring people there on Saturday, so we could take care of it all in one day.  I had bought some chicken lunch meat to use for the measuring, hoping the chicken would trump having to be measured.  The woman judge (Rhonda Carter) measured us first.  Lonya took chicken from her and settled pretty quickly.  She was able to get a measurement pretty quickly, at 17.75".  The male AKC rep (don't know his name right off) took a little more time for her to settle, she's not around men very much.  She wouldn't take chicken from me with him there...but she did stop leaning in to me after a couple of minutes.  He measured her at 16.625, which is short...don't know if he read the wicket wrong or what.  I'm not sure if I should have questioned him or not...  I think the first measurement is closer to her true one (I have her at about 17.5).  But, both place her in the 16" height, so I was happy!!

Her first run (after a LONG wait) was in Jumpers With Weaves.  She ran SO well!  She's been popping out of the poles, so I wasn't sure what she'd do this weekend.  It was a nice course, but the footing wasn't great.  I think she was a bit tentative due to that (which is okay, I'm fine with a dog with some self preservation instincts!).  The trickiest part was avoiding an off course tunnel.  I had to call her off HARD, and she tucked the nubbin for a  minute.  But she recovered and finished strong.  She placed 2nd and got her second leg for her OAJ!



The Standard course was tricky, with several twisty areas and another off course tunnel looming.  Lonya's been jumping contacts, so I overhandled a bit on them, but she got them all!  I wish I had video of this run, but wasn't able to get it.  But, she ran steady and clean (with a couple of nice 180s).  She did bounce off the tire, but went through the hole.  It was the first obstacle, and I'm not sure if I had her set up quite correctly.  But, she got her first leg towards her OA!  And, she was the only dog in Open to qualify!!

On Sunday, we didn't qualify, but still had a good day!  Her JWW run was first.  The footing was again a bit tricky (it had finished raining about an hour or so before our run).  It was a really nice course!  Lonya was FAST and so I had to handle her at more of a distance, even layering a jump!  She almost ran by a jump, but fixed it last minute.  She didn't slow up when she hit the weaves, so skipped pole #2, but got it right when I fixed it.   She got a second refusal at the last jump, she was so far ahead of me that she turned back for me to catch up.  But, I was very pleased with this run overall.  The video isn't great, but I wanted to post it anyway.



Standard was a much nicer course than yesterday!  Lonya had a couple of baby dog moments.  She ran by the teeter the first time but fixed it and needed to repeat the weaves again.  Lots of dogs had problems in the area of the field where the weaves were, sniffing a lot.  This wasn't Lonya's issue...she was just being a twit!  She did have another nice call off the wrong side of the tunnel and she got all her contacts.

And I got a nice picture of her at the trial site!

Wish we were going back tomorrow, instead I have to work...

Weekend wrap up

We did two more days of CPE at Pasco Paws, Sat and Sun.

Lonya was just crazy on Sat, she was having fun, but really not doing what I asked her to!  She was really in to doing tunnels...lots of tunnels!  Her Standard run was a mess, she didn't hit any of her contacts, wasn't even close on her frame and flew off the teeter.  Her colors run was a little better...just a couple of extra tunnels!

Sunday she was a little better.   We started in Standard again.  Initially, she seemed like she was going to just go and do her own thing, so I got a little harsh with her.  Nothing horrible, just called her name a little gruffly.  She tucked tail for a second, then settled in to work WITH me...which is what I wanted.  She did her Aframe and teeter, but ran by the dogwalk.  It was raining during the run, so I didn't push it too much...I really just wanted her to run with me.  Jumpers was pretty nice, just some baby dog mistakes...running by a jump or two and backjumping them.

Sparrow had some really nice runs!  Saturday we ran Jackpot, Standard and FullHouse.

Her Jackpot was SO nice.  It was traditional, and I didn't think she would be able to get the gamble.  But, it had a nice opening for her, where she could get the opening points needed without too much difficulty.  The gamble was a tunnel, 180 into another tunnel, jump and table.  You could go at it from either side (there was a line on both sides), and you could start it whenever you wanted, but it had to be the last thing you did.  If you finished the gamble in the opening time (before the first buzzer rang), you got bonus points.  Otherwise, you had 10 seconds (I think) after the buzzer.  Sparrow actually almost got some bonus points!!  Not what I expected, but once I had enough in the open, I went for the gamble.  She was one of the few dogs that got it, I was very proud of her.  Many dogs missed that their handlers crossed at the first tunnel, or the handler stayed between tunnels one and two so the dog ran between.  Sparrow turned correctly exiting the tunnel, and I had ran past tunnel two and was able to look through the hole to see her and call her through...it worked!  She had a minor bobble going to the table, because her leash was in that chair.  Very happy with her!



Her Standard run was nice also, except I sent her to the wrong tunnel entrance.  My fault.  Full house was good too, she was very happy and peppy (she likes this cool weather!).  Again, I just ran to get enough points and get out of there...But it was a nice run.  She got 27 points and had a couple more seconds before her buzzer rang.



Sunday she Qd in colors, with a really nice run.  She actually placed above another dog who ran clean (doesn't happen all that often!)  Sunday standard...poor girl had to run in a downpour.  She did really well, and would have Qd had she not gotten spooked by the judge in her poncho.  Sparrow stopped to bark at her before weaving...which put us over time.  I had that run on video..but I accidently deleted it!  Oops!  And Jumpers, it was still rainy and she was a little scatterbrained.  She ran around a jump or two and in fixing them, we went over time again.

On Saturday, my friends gave me a very nice surprise gift.  They made Kal-El an honorary C-ATCH bar.  It was a total shock, and of course made me cry.  It really is great to have such a wonderful community of friends....

(The photos are the couple of Kal taken by Tein Tran...I wanted something to put above the bar in the photo)

Day 1 of Pasco Paws CPE

Today we had CPE agility at Pasco Paws.  Sparrow had 3 runs, Lonya had 2 (have to spread out the agility funds!)

Sparrow started out with Jackpot.  It was non traditional, which is usually good for us.  But, there was just too much real estate between the obstacles and we fell a few points short of the total we needed... I think it'll be Jackpot legs that we'll end up needing for our C-ATCH!

Standard was next for Sparrow.  Very twisty turny course, AKC Excellent like.  Sparrow doesn't like these types!  She actually did pretty well, until obstacle 16, when she was just done with being jerked around.  Screwing around getting her to jump 16 took too much time and she was over.  But, she did do a beautiful rear on the flat to the weaves....

Her last course of the day was Full House.  This one can give us trouble too, since it's a speed based class.  It was a NICE course, no contacts to slow us down.  I had a pretty good course in mind for Sparrow (which meant that Lonya was going to pretty much run the same thing...I don't remember two different courses very well...see the snooker runs from CPE Nationals for proof of this!)  She ran fast and happy!  We ended up with 32 points (which is high for her!) and 5 seconds to spare (never happens!).



Lonya's two runs were in Full House and Wild Card, level 2 in each.

Her Full House run was fun!  We pretty much did the same route as I did with Sparrow.  But, once we got to the end, I started to play around a bit and see what I could send her to.  She ended up with 34 points...I think I may have a dog that I won't struggle in Full House quite as much with! I can see how much more confident I am with Sparrow than I am with Lonya...that'll come in time I'm sure.





Her Wild Card run was actually first today.  And she was a little weasel!  I wanted to do some contacts, so I was going to have her do the dogwalk, even though it set us up for the less smooth ending.  But, I figured having to do the "harder" ending would be good for her also.   Lonya had other ideas...  She did the tunnel, jump instead!  I had walked the course a couple of times with this option, just in case my contact sucking dog decided to tunnel suck instead...  So, it ran pretty smoothly, just not what I planned!



We go back tomorrow.  Again, 3 runs for Sparrow, 2 for Lonya