Zorro NA NAJ....Open Debut...

Does it make any sense to get caught up on your blog when you are as behind as I am? I think so, and now that I have a computer that does not take forever to turn on, blogging might be a little bit easier and more regular.

Since we are in COVID-land now, there are no dog agility trials. Dream Park, which I longed to attend trials at, were our last trials for...who knows? Some days I think not until 2021, some days I think perhaps there could be trials in the summer time.

In any case, Zorro and I continued to have much success at our trials at DP. We finished Zorro's NA and NAJ titles on the same day - neither run was super beautiful but they were qualifying runs and they got the job done! I was very happy with his weaves in JWW.

We returned the next week and finished Zorro's Novice FAST title, and I had planned to take a break from FAST for a while after that. I mostly like to play FAST as an environmental acclimation ring time.

After that was Open Standard. I felt irrationally nervous. 12 weaves, the beginning of when Perri and I started to struggle (due to her injury, but still.) and Molly...well, we stayed in Open for at least a year. We earned our first AKC NQ, had a wrong course and some uncharacteristic disengagement and Zorro absolutely could not get the weave entry. I remember deciding I had done this to us with my negativity and lack of confidence. And just before our JWW run I saw a very experienced handler with her promising but still-young dog in the Excellent ring miss the weave entry. I told myself to stop being silly and trust in my dog's skills. Entry misses happen. Wrong courses happen. I fixed my brain and we got our first Open Q! I hate how close I am to all of the obstacles on this run but this is what I do when I am feeling insecure.

I remember after the trial was over I drove around just for the fun of geocaching. We drove to Delaware to re-complete my Fizzy grid with a specifically rated D/T combo geocache (since the one I had found previously had had its ratings changed.) It was just the sort of fun little adventure I love...and the sort of thing that cannot be done right now. My state has Stay at Home orders which allow for walking and hiking, and I am so grateful for that. But driving around just for the sake of geocaching is against the rules. (I say that because, common sense dictates that.)

And, onto our very last trial. I had no idea. Of course. How could I? The day before I had hiked many miles and into the night to geocache with a friend on Leap Day. (and I have now found one geocache on every day of the year.) I came home and had dinner and much drinks with friends and went to bed quite late. I was slightly hung over in the morning and a miscommunication on departure time with my trial buddy left me without time to make coffee until we arrived at the trial site. Still, I recharged well with ample amounts of black coffee and Zorro and I earned a QQ in Open. It was a fine Last Trial For a While.

Until next trial, Zorro! I don't know when that will be but I sure will treasure that day when it arrives!

Molly SCN and Washington Crossing State Park

Today Molly and I ventured out in the freezing cold to play some more AKC Scent work. Today was only our second trial and the hosting club was offering: Handler Discrimination, Buried and Containers, two trials per day. I have not trained Handler Discrimination with Molly but I did enter both rounds of Containers and both of Buried.

This trial was run a little differently, and the dog did back-to-back searches. So, Trial 1 was our first search and Trial 2 was several moments later and a different search. We started with Containers. Molly and I have been focusing all of our Nosework training on polite alerts and respectful searching. No smashing the box, please. It all went out the window today. She flew off the start line of Trial #1 so fast I could barely keep up, sniffing the boxes at lightning speed and came to the hot box with a paw smack and I called alert! I thought, "okay! that was good, she didn't smash it hard, just a little bit. something sunk in."

No.

We went to the next search which was on the dirt footing of the agility ring. Let that sink in. Ugh!! Insane doesn't even begin to cover it. The next search was an embarrassing bowling alley. Boxes flying, a false alert, a box put up on its side, spinning and springing and then finally annihilating the hot box faster than I could even think. We got a fault for all of the destruction but we did pass and that was her Novice Container title.

Next up was Buried. Same thing, back-to-back. The first search was pretty quick! She alerted on the first box on the right and I hesitated a moment but did call it. Sadly the screen/grate on the container of sand was crushed through from her "alert" of perching on it with her front paws. She has never done this when we practice Buried, and my screens are even flimsier. Anyway, the judge said if I had called it faster it would have been a two second search. Ha!

We went to Trial 2, on the dirt footing again.... And she did the exact same thing. Alerted on the first box on the right. Now, I was really nervous. What were the odds the hide was the same place in both trials? What were the odds shenanigans were happening out on the exciting dirt footing and scene of earlier debauchery?? I....asked her to search the rest. And she false alerted on the sixth container of sand, right before returning to the actual hot box. The one she had told me about in the first place. I really did feel terrible, like I let Molly down. On the other hand, I was so absolutely fried doing so many container-type searches in a row with Molly and I guess I just wasn't reading her fact vs. fiction as sharply as I usually can. Sigh.

I feel embarrassed with how destructive Molly is with containers. Doubly so when a judge seems completely disgusted by the whole thing. I know that they have to replace the hot box and reset the search area and I truly do feel bad and Molly and I work on this. I don't just carelessly enter trials and ignore her behavior. The first judge today seemed to truly enjoy Molly's enthusiastic spirit and antics. The second, not so much. All I can say is that Proper Perri balances out the universe when it comes to Containers, she is so dainty and respectful! And now that Molly is out of Novice, Perri will get a turn soon. Well, at least the containers in Advanced will be a little more sturdy than cardboard....

We shifted gears after the trial and visited a new PA State Park! Washington Crossing State Park was nearish, and I have not visited it before. It is another one that is rather close to me, but it was added after I made my goal to visit all then-120 PA State parks. The number is now 121 State parks and Washington Crossing makes #103/121.

The dogs and I walked along the canal trail, we explored some hiking trails on the NJ side and then Perri and I did a nine-step Virtual cache through the historic area back on the PA side to end our day there.

Delaware River

August AKC Agility

Molly and I haven't played AKC Agility since January of this year when she earned her Excellent titles. Though I don't have any titling goals in AKC anymore, I could not resist trying a new and very local to me trial site that a club was trying out for the first time. Molly and I are sort of coasting and dare I say semi retired, but we still love to get out and play and I wanted to support the club's decision to use this trial site! Molly is now in Masters, finally out of Excellent, and dropped to Preferred 16" of course.

I chose to enter FAST since I knew Molly would likely not have to weave in that course, and Standard just because the contacts break the course up and Molly loves them. She would have to weave though and after June's weave stress issues I was not sure how things would go. We have been doing light amounts of motivational weave work.

FAST was a moment of reflection for me. A month or so ago my agility instructor not too kindly pointed out that I do not focus well before my runs and then I forget the course. While I could have been embarrassed and perhaps angry with her for pointing out something that was hard to hear, I had to allow that this was very true. And I wanted to grow away from it. I have been working hard on focusing and not chit chatting before I run agility. I am not good at focusing. Not at all. Not even a little bit. But it has been helpful. The awareness and the trying. I still do stupid things, I probably always will, but it's helping. It is a process. Anyway. In FAST I was chit chatting and not focusing and so I found myself 100% not where I belonged to handle something in Molly's plan and well, it didn't go right! Regardless Molly got to run around and take obstacles and enjoy herself. Just a learning moment for me.

Standard was a bit of a clusterfluff. Ridiculous hand flailing, dog walk blowing, weave pole entry missed (but a nice recovery with no stress! that alone made me happy!), and poor handling on a backside and a turn but ... hey. We're just happy to be there??

AKC Agility with Molly

Last Monday, I was happy to find I had off of work on the same day as a weekday AKC Agility trial. I thought, "why not try for the millionth time to get those last legs needed for Molly's excellent titles?" Molly earned her second Excellent Standard leg in Spring this year, shattering my perception that qualifying in AKC was simply not a thing that we did. Last qualifying score before that? 2015 in JWW! 

Of course heading into this trial I knew all of the rules: "it's all in the journey", "be grateful to step into the ring with your dog"...but by the way I sure did want to Q and get at least one of those two titles! Being relaxed is imperative for my focus, doubly so in AKC (and USDAA Masters, as I have discovered.)  I decided to welcome the challenge of dually "wanting the Q" but not overthinking about it. Spoiler alert: we NQd both runs. But I was happy with that we did. Standard was absolutely beautiful including the weaves and avoiding a tunnel trap! We got snagged up on my releasing her from the table and not checking her to stay on her line, she veered towards a tempting off course tunnel that I knew to watch. She did not go into the tunnel but pulled around the next jump and earned us a refusal. JWW she snagged our obligatory off course tunnel and had some messy weaves, but really lovely after that.

Whatever! AKC is not easy for us. There were other victories that day! Molly is still running at Regular 20" in AKC and she was beautiful at that height. I feared some of those sad signs of a senior dog forced to jump too high beyond their time, but Molly made it clear she had no issues with her full height of 20". (And if she had struggled with 20", that would have been the end of it. I refuse to embarrass my dog by ignoring her limitations.) Another factor at play is that for the last week I have been faithfully taking Molly on at least one if not two fifteen minute walks per day. By her second run when she normally gets dutiful  and into that boring consistent "getting it done" speed, she was instead running fast and with no panting. The trial building was warmer than last weekend's trial yet she was not panting or sluggish. I believe our walks are helping! I felt like she was so strong physically on Monday and with increased endurance - that alone made me so happy! 

Another issue we had success with was that there was consistent target shooting going on near this trial site throughout the day. It was in the distance but Molly heard it. I did not know what to do, as I had not brought any portable crates to keep her inside of the building with. I took my iphone, set the volume to high and put it on top of her crate and just played all of the music I have on there on repeat all day. Worked like a charm! Molly had no anxiety or shuddering over the gunshots, she couldn't hear it! I was pretty excited about this and downloaded a bunch of classical music to my iPad for Molly in the future (so she can have something a little more soothing than the eclectic mix of songs that we listen to while driving!). If the car has to be opened up as it is in the summer time, I'm not sure what we will do because the closed up car muffled the sound a lot on its own. I think the fans set on high in combination with the music right by her head could be a help.

No titles but forward progress despite that!

Molly April AKC Agility

Today we had some April snow (!!!!) in Pennsylvania, but that did not stop Molly and I from attending our AKC Agility trial.

Molly was only entered in FAST and JWW today.   We have been reworking her A-frame, going back to a stopped contact (long story.), so avoiding the A-frame in trial situations.   No Standard.

Molly's attitude and engagement was spot on at this trial site!  We have been here one time before.  She was a bit squeaky and chattery when we arrived, she always is at trials and especially at louder and busier AKC trials.  She calmed down into offered focus via "LAT" rather quickly.   We did an acclimation walk through the building before our FAST run.

FAST went nicely!   The Send was a double jump to the backside of another jump, and then back over the double.  Molly and I collected some points, earned the Send Bonus and then ended our run.   Unfortunately we needed 60 points to qualify, even with the Send Bonus and since I skipped the 9 point A-frame on our way to the finish jump...and also skipped the 10 point weaves in our opening, we were short 6 points.  Oh well.   I'm proud of myself for sticking with criteria of not doing the A-frame even when that meant an NQ on a perfectly good run.   Not easy for me to do!  That was the first time we had ever earned an Excellent Send bonus and a "personal Q" is good enough for me.

It was hours until our JWW run.  The weather kept switching from miserably cold drizzle to rain to snow , cycling through until it finally settled on snow.  After our walk through I wanted to let Molly poop and stretch her legs.   She wouldn't poop!  Molly never holds out on pooping at a trial, and she usually poops at least 3 or 4 times in a trial day.   At 1 in the afternoon, she had only pooped at 7am, so I knew she had to go!   Over the next hour as our turn in the ring grew closer and closer we took three trips outside, walking further and further from the trial site to new favorable locations until at last Princess Molly pooped in the cold snowy weather.  Sheesh!  Pooping is one of those

Our JWW run was not a Q...qualifying in AKC is hard for us.  I NQd us right in the beginning by not pulling Molly hard enough off of a dummy jump.  That put me behind where I wanted to be for our next line, and we earned a refusal on the weave poles.   We missed a jump and ended the run with a wrong course.  Oh well!   Honestly I wasn't all too upset about the run - we kept it flowing.   I was really thrilled with my front cross at the pinwheel in the back - I really got myself into position and didn't lag around as I usually do.  Unfortunately that set me up to not be able to rear cross the third to last jump, and we may not have gotten that wrong course if I had rear'd it instead of trying to pull her off the wrong course.   But at that point, it did not matter and I was more interested in challenging my front cross skills!

The Finest Einest COMPANION DOG!

Today Ein and I earned our third qualifying score for his AKC Companion Dog title!  

I have to be honest, I enjoyed our first and second legs more.  The trial environment (four rings, louder, more distractions) seemed to make Ein more comfortable.   The place that we went to today was at a small obedience training club (one ring.  Quiet.)   There seems to be a fine line to "way too noisy" and "just the right amount of background noise/activity".  "Silent as a tomb" is actually worse than "too noisy".  Ein can be so environmental, so it is important to choose well!  

Ein was happy enough ringside.   His heel on lead was decent as was his figure 8 with a lot of happy smiles and tail wagging as he worked.   He was doing some glancing around and had one no-sit on each exercise.   That was my first indication that he was more stressed today than he was last weekend.  The Stand for Exam.  He rotated out of his stand-stay when I returned to heel position and my heart sank.   Bless the judge!   She told me right away, "It is just points off, you are okay!"  She read the mind of a Novice A handler (smile.)  It still chipped a little piece off of my heart because I knew that Ein was stressing.  I should have not scheduled our trial weekends one right after another - if I could do it again, I would have left a few weeks in between and built in some training sessions/ring times with more heavy reinforcement for his stand-stay.  (versus in the ring where he is doing a Very Hard Job for "free".)

Next was the heel free, and it often happens that if something goes "wrong", Ein's stress intensifies.   And it did.   I cued him to heel forward and he stopped for a stress sniff.   He caught up to me and did the rest of the pattern rather nicely until we had to heel towards ring side and he saw the People! looking at him.   I lost him to major stress sniffing on the about turn and felt that I needed to call him to me.   He came and we finished with a sit at halt.  Whew.

The recall came straight to finish - no front.   He did that on all three legs.   The group stays were just dandy.

We earned our Companion Dog title with a score of 175. (wince!)

But that is our journey!   It is a miracle my boy could do this and I am grateful for our time together.  I said he never could do this, and he proved me dead wrong.   This is our new work, our new challenge.  I am considering showing him again in Novice B later this year.   I would like to see how being outdoors would affect his stress levels.   And the bottom line is that my Ein is a worker, and so am I.  We both love to train.   I can see our problem areas highlighted consistently after these last three trials and I would love to try to work them out.  I would love to earn a score about 190 with him.  We will see.  This is what some people find some aggravating about Obedience, but I just love it.  The nitpicky point deductions, the desire for perfection.  Well I just see it as the opportunity to train more, and Ein sees it as an opportunity to play with me and eat cookies so...we all win.

Ein's First AKC Obedience Trials! (York Kennel Club and Delaware County Kennel Club)

We return....VICTORIOUS!

Ein and I made our AKC Obedience debut in Novice A class both Friday and today.   I was feeling a little nervous so I made myself watch our best rally-o video (from August of 2015) to remind myself of how beautiful our team work can be, and I put my favorite photo of us heeling onto my phone wallpaper.   Whatever works!

Friday the heel on lead felt good to me but we did lose some points for wide heeling.   The Figure 8 Ein noticed the one person in the post and worried about her, he even left heel position for a few steps to sniff her leg!   Oops!   But overall, kept with me and worked well.   Stand for Exam was flawless!   I don't think I breathed the entire exercise but my boy stood there solid as a rock, like we have worked on all this time.   Heel free felt worrisome to me, Ein was getting more stressy and noticing people outside of the ring more by that point - but when I asked the judge to go over our score sheet we actually earned more points in the heel free.   The recall Ein anticipated the finish and went to heel position but then realized that wasn't where he should be so he just sort of made up the difference halfway in between and grinned up at me.   Scamp!   I asked him to finish when the judge commanded but I accidently did both a hand signal and a verbal - I was stressed and I forgot myself!   I did not even realize it until me and the judge reviewed our sheet, so it was really valuable for her to go over that with me.  Our score was 185.5 - points lost for wide heeling, figure 8 stressing, one missed sit on the heel free, two points for my finish oops, and points lost for no front.  I was thrilled!

Today started off with a bang when I thought the briefing was at 8:30am...and that was actually when the ring started.  And we were the first dog!   I arrived at 8:18!!!!!  And Ein had to poop!  We made it ringside by 8:27 and into the ring we went.
Heel on lead was much smoother than the day before.   Figure 8 I made extra effort to keep him engaged and not worrying over the stewards and we did much better with only one person-sniff, though there was some google-eyeing and lagging and one missed sit at the end (with a big grin up at me and a tail wag!   The judge could not help but remark on how very very cute he is.  I agree!)   Stand for Exam - rockstar!   This judge had a sweater on but she was very careful to gather it and hold onto it so it would not hang in the dogs face.  Awesome!  Much appreciated!    Heel free was good with some wide heeling but all around great attention and enthusiasm.  Recall he missed is front again but this time I gave only a hand signal for our finish.  Score of 186!

Oh, group stays on both days were totally fine.   Talk about nerve wracking though!   I counted in my head because what else could I do?   I saw Ein looking at things around the room at times and I felt like I should glance at what he was noticing and acknowledge to him that I saw it - isn't that funny?  But it felt like it would be important to him.   On the second day the dogs were lined up with their backs to the Rally Excellent ring so that was a bit of a challenge.   Ein handled that well but it still made me nervous, I was glad that there was not too much commotion!

These last two days were golden.   Beautiful and unbelievable.   I am so humbled by my dog and so grateful to him.   AKC Novice Obedience was one of those things that I truly accepted we could never do.  Until we could.  Until we did.

AKC Agility Dauphin DTC October

This club's trial in October is a bit special for me because two years ago, it was mine and Molly's first time trying AKC Agility.  I remember when I looked over the rulebook I saw that you could get a title if you got three Qs in a class.  I thought that seemed pretty do-able.  You know nothing, Jon Snow.

The trial environment was like nothing Molly and I had ever seen.   In the Net was huge, bright, clean and beautiful.  There were multiple rings and the gates were low, and it was loud.  There were lots of dogs and people and there was a dull roar louder than any Molly and I had ever heard.  I took her into that Standard ring, just a little "Novice A" team stepping up for their first time, took the leash off and she ran circles around me, we tried to do the course and she jumped right over that low ring gating.   JWW was better, our only fault was a dropped bar. (Rare.  Dropped bars are very rare for Molly.)  I wanted more.

Last year at this trial site with this club, a year later, Molly NQd everything, just as she had the year before.  We were in Open this time, we needed one more leg for our OAJ and two more for the OA.  We only played in FAST and JWW because Standard was too stressful for us at the time.  But my little Perri had a perfect weekend and collected both of her Novice titles, all earned without a single NQ.  Pristine.  I remember my head being in the clouds!  Molly had tried her hardest just like always, and my Perri who I never thought would trial in agility had blown away all expectations.

This year Perri is still in Open, and she was scratched from this trial.  Her injury sidelined us earlier this year and, never fully healed, handicapped Perri's performance.  

Molly did get to play today though.  Excellent Standard I was nervous and it was indeed a bit of a trainwreck.  Broken start line stay and a wild ride the whole way through.  

JWW was a lot better.  She even got into her weaves and stayed in, and I managed to handle the weaves nicely and look ahead.  I remember being terrified to do it because we were still qualifying and I had to let go of my illusion of control and look ahead into the poles and My God What If She Popped Out?  She did not.  Personal growth points for me!  

After the weaves it was a jump to a pinwheel to a curved tunnel with a tunnel trap, you had to pull the dog (or front cross) to get into the correct end.  I thought Molly had committed to the last jump in the pinwheel and started pulling hard to get the correct tunnel entrance.   She had not committed, she pulled away from the jump and we earned a refusal and an NQ and no AXJ. 

This is our story in AKC Agility.   Standard is almost always an absolute disaster, an embarrassment.  We are lucky if we stay in the ring, finish the course, if we don't get an "E".  JWW is almost always flawless but for one little mistake (or, the weave poles go south).   Every now and then, very occasionally, something lines up just right, we get lucky, and we get a JWW Q.  Even more rarely, more impossibly, we get a Standard Q.  A Q in CPE Standard is difficult enough for us.

Since Perri's injury I have been enjoying having one dog in a trial at a time.  No conflicts.  No shoving one dog in the crate and pulling the other one out.  Plenty of time to relax before and after a run.  A lot less stress.  I posted a while ago that I wasn't going to trial them both at once to avoid all of these issues, and of course did not follow through on that.  I really do plan to try to do better.   For one thing, warm up and cool down is very crucial for my dogs.  I want to give them more than just shoving them into a crate, still hot from a run.  But more than that, I need to be realistic about which trial sites are good situations for my dogs.  In the Net is hard for Molly.  Perri adores it.  Dirt footing makes Perri insane, Molly runs awesome on it.  Wouldn't it be better to trial each dog less, but have more quality?  Is it avoidance to stay away from places where they can't be successful, or is it just playing it smart?  AKC is very hard for Molly, CPE and USDAA are better for her (quieter.)  Perri thrives on the noise and the energy, AKC is definitely her best venue.

Molly and I have nothing but CPE planned for the rest of the year.  That could change, but if it doesn't I think this is the very best place for us.

Trainwreck AKC Trial

Last weekend (Sept 19-20) we attended our first outdoor agility trial since last September.  It was Perri's very first outdoor agility trial.

It started off innocently and well enough with FAST.  Molly was usual, breaking off her start line, a little wild but she did both her contacts on the teeter and A-frame.  The send was a tunnel to jump to different tunnel entrance.   She blew out of the tunnel, went around the jump and took the backside and then the correct end of the tunnel again.   Fault!  We fooled around a little bit with the weave poles and left the ring when our time was up.  We had a meatball party.

Perri was next and earned her Novice Fast title with exactly 50 points.  She was a little fired up too and got pouncey on me, but she was a good girl overall!

Things went downhill quickly.   In Standard, Molly got stressed.  First two jumps and she flew away from me wild.  I called her back and she did another jump and ran far away and hopped on the pause table.  I called her back to me and she just sniffed the ground.  One criteria I try to stick with is that when I get that level of disengagement with Molly, we leave the ring.  (Because often when we continue, she gets wilder and wilder and eventually jumps out of the ring.)

The day got even worse when in JWW, two dogs before our run, Molly had an absolutely berserk melt down.  She started screaming, she was up on her hind legs, she was chatter-screaming and frothing and her tongue was hanging out.  She was yanking me around, she would not and could not re-engage.  I scratched her right there and walked her back to the cars and she was still on hind legs screaming her fool head off almost the entire way back to the car.  I had to go walk for Perri's Open Standard course, and I was in tears.  I could not believe how bad Molly got.  How could we keep backsliding this bad?  What set her off?  Three people approached me throughout the rest of the day and asked what on earth happened, and if we were okay.  They had never seen such behavior from Molly.

Back to Perri.   She was worried in JWW, had some jump run outs and lots of worried glances towards the treeline (the JWW ring was a different one than she had run in that morning in FAST.)  She tried her best though.  Weaves were not very good, but again she tried her best.  In Open Standard she did better.  She did her chute (!!!), she had a few jump refusals.   She popped out of the weaves but did them pretty nicely when we repeated them.  We ran the rest of the run at top speed confidence mode.

And, back to Molly!   She was in car-jail.  After Perri's run I was still feeling miserable about Molly and did not really feel like leaving the trial yet.  I signed up to work the rest of the trial for Open JWW and Novice JWW.  In between the two classes I got Molly out again for a walk.  I thought maybe if we spent more time on acclimation, Sunday could be better.   She was stressy and whiney and chattery around the first two rings, but when we got to the third ring...the JWW ring she went insane again.  We fought our way back to the car and it hit me: she thought it was lure coursing.  She was acting exactly the way she does when we are waiting for our turn to lure course.  The snow fencing was there.  There was a dog running around in the ring.   And there was a noisy generator at one of the RVs nearby.  I worked Novice JWW, waited for T2B to complete in the "lure coursing ring", and got Molly out again.   We worked long and slow, with lots of treats, and stayed under threshold.  Slowly slowly approaching the ring until we finally managed to get to the ring entrance with a quiet dog.   The course was being set up for the next day and she had a start when she saw the measuring tape being adjusted (the bag!  I knew the bag was in there!!!) and I cringed and waited for what felt like forever and she reoriented to me and I gave her tons of treats.   She looked back at the tape and quickly back to me.  I was so proud of her.   It had to be her decision to examine the ring and the measuring tape and decide to choose engagement with me, and she did!

We got there early Sunday.  We did the exact same thing.  Molly seemed calmer.

I will take a break and talk about Perri's day.  She was better!  She seemed to have figured out this Outdoor Thing.  We got a jump refusal pretty quickly but she was in a great mood and we continued the course until a straight line down the back into the weave poles.  I started decelerating for the weave entry which pulled Perri off of the jump.  The weave poles we tried two times and on the third time I asked her to try them again.   She got crazy!  Play bow and zoomies.   Not embarrassing or anything, having your dog get zoomies in the Excellent ring!  And it is my policy for Perri that with zoomies, I walk out of the ring.   Usually she gets a second chance, but I didn't want to risk her leaving the ring.  (And she usually only zooms on dirt at this point.)

Open Standard was gorgeous.  Everything was perfect.  She did the chute as the first obstacle with the wind blowing the fabric towards us (somebody straightened it right before our run.), she did a 180 and turned nicely back onto the second jump instead of going wide like she almost always does.  But the weaves ate us.  She got in and weaved a few poles and started sniffing the ground.  I asked her to do them again and she continued sniffing and walked away from me.  Sniff sniff sniff.   That made me upset, because it all came together in my mind then.   She might be hurt again.  Her weave poles have been declining in the last month, just like last time, until she absolutely says "I cannot do this." We finished the last few obstacles and had a major party.  Weave poles or not, I was proud of my girl turning out a nearly clean run at her first outdoor trial!

Back to Molly! 
JWW was in a different ring on Sunday and I was rejoicing!  We got into the ring, I took the leash off and she took the first jump, sniffed by the snow fencing and jumped out of the ring.  Well.  I did not expect that.  I was a bit crushed.

I considered scratching her for Standard, but decided to try it.   I went into Perri-mode for Molly (which is normally way too energy-making for her.)   Fun talk and personal play and tricks ringside.  Running off the start line together.  Praising whatever mistakes occur and going with them...   We got into the ring and she launched for the first jump before I was ready.  Again.  I called her back nicely enough and we ran off together.   She ran out the first line because I was so far behind her (this is why Molly does a start line stay!), and took a tunnel and the next thing was the dog walk so I just called her to that and showered her with praise on what a good girl she had been.  Next thing was the panel jump to the edge of the ring which was terrifying for me.  I sent her over the panel and told her to do the teeter, which was next...and also near the fencing.  I did not want to give her any body pressure to send her out of the ring.  She did her dog walk contact and the teeter properly, next jump...and bounced off the table and started sniffing.   I told her she was amazing and she got back up on the table and her tail was wagging but she was all red and stressed and panting.  The judge finished her count and I said "We are going to leave now, thank you!" and out over another jump or two and we did the finish tunnel and had a major party.   Whew.


I don't know what happened.  Molly has done outdoor trials before and while we haven't been enormously successful...we never are!   Molly was no more crazy or not crazy outdoors than indoors.  We always have wild Molly runs indoors, and outdoors was no different.   But her stress and confidence crash was very new.   We are actually going to try again on Friday, one day of AKC outdoors at a different location.  We will see how that goes.  Hopefully she does not think she is at lure coursing again.

AKC Agility Weekday Trial

I took Molly to a Monday AKC Trial today.  I always love weekday trials, and with a goofy hospital schedule I can often get off on random weekdays in exchange for weekend shifts.  Sometimes it's nice to have a lower entry trial for Molly.  I was feeling a little sad that my Perri girl wasn't running today, though.

Standard was first and it was a surprise Molly-catastrophe run.  Her butt got goosed by a rude dog just as we walked into the entrance gate.  She tucked and scooted in, and then coughed and tongue flicked at a treat she had not finished swallowing.  Molly and I have an issue with this in agility class, so I always am sure to give her her final treat before we enter the ring pretty well ahead of time.  I was surprised to see her coughing!  So she was charged up from two things and it showed.  Broken start line stay, weirdo jump refusal onto an off course teeter that was way far away.  The tunnel trap that I was most worried about in the whole course ate her alive.  She took an off course chute off of the Aframe instead of collecting and turning with me.  And the weaves?  Second to last obstacle.  She got her entry, but popped out at pole five and ran for the hills.  I saw her lips flying and her teeth out in that manic way of her's as she headed for the finish jump.  Well, it's been a while since we had a trainwreck.  I guess we were due.

I scribed the rest of Exc/Masters Standard.  I hung out in the car with my dogs during Open and Novice since all worker positions were filled.

JWW came around and it had some nasty tunnel traps.  A lot of the Masters dogs were taking off courses.  But Molly and I?  We aced that course...  I planned on rear crosses for Molly to show her to turn with me away from the tunnel traps and even though I felt a little insecure - no one was doing rear crosses.  They were doing the flashier front crosses and blinds and being ahead of their dogs, and the reverse spins....  I decided to stick with what works for us because those rear crosses communicate well for Molly.  And we pulled it off, we did awesome.   And then...she was heading for her weave entry, second to last obstacle.   And she started coughing on a treat!!  This time I made sure to give her her last treat well ahead of her ring time.  Goodbye, AXJ....as Molly ran past her weave entry.  Sigh.  I was disappointed...but after a year and a half in Open, we will survive a little more time without that AXJ.  And I need to work harder with Molly with her weaves.  Harder, harder, harder.  We need more road trips, more value built in, more regular practice.

We left the trial, I took Perri and Molly to the local lake park for some lake-chuckit fetch.  We went to a different park for a walk and to find some geocaches.  We went to agility class, where Perri took over for Molly (I felt Molly was too tired for a full agility class.)  I will remind...Perri does not like to play agility at our training club.  But!  For a meatball and the praise of my classmates (remember, Perri loves trials and not classwork.) Perri weaved all 12 poles!  And some tricky weave entries at that!  And she got better as the class went on, even dancing the second half of her last rep through the poles.  I think it is safe to say that Perri's weaves are back!!  I have decided to enter Standard class with Perri at the end of July at the USDAA trial (in addition to the games classes we were already going to do.)  She is ready.

Berks Dog Training Club June AKC Agility

Yesterday I worked a double shift, got home after midnight, and did not fall asleep until after 1am.  The alarm to wake me up at 6am for this morning's agility trial was not welcome!

I had only Molly entered in this trial because there were no games available that did not have the weave poles in for Perri.  We started with Standard and I was more jittery than normal but exhausted at this same time.  An extra hour of sleep would have been great!  Our Standard run was not our worst, but defintiely far from the best.  Molly broke her start line stay, I was not where I wanted to be for the next five obstacles, I was way behind her on the weave entry and she missed it and went to sniff the chute...she did! get into the weaves and stayed in.  We did pretty good until the Aframe, I was babying extension for her running Aframe and I turned her into a tunnel that was to the left of the Aframe...we were supposed to take the opposite end.   We finished in grand style with a dogwalk fly-off, a bounce through the tire , and another bounce over the ring gating to say hi to a smooth collie standing outside.  Yikes.  

Jumpers with Weaves was next and was...a Q!  That's our second AXJ leg!  I don't even have much to remark about it, other than the start line stay was again broken...but we had a very nice run regardless and much praise from people who were watching afterwards.  The weaves were slow, but she got the entry and stayed in.  Somebody who was in foundations agility class with Molly...way back in the beginning...said it was amazing to see the transition from the dog she was, to the Molly who ran that JWW run today.   Cool!

The trial was running Tall to Small so we had a very long wait until the end of the trial.  The hosting club was offering a B Match and that is just what Perri and I need to practice weave poles!  I bought Perri two runs on the Standard course.  I did not just go right in and dig into the weaves, I wanted to make it as trial-like as possible for Perri.  We waited ringside with tricks and treats like usual, we set up on the start line as usual.  The course started with the chute, but since Perri got shy about the chute in May for our last trial at this site, I didn't want to start there.  We started with some jumps to a tunnel, to the Aframe.  Perri did the teeter just fine.  Then we flowed right into the weaves.  Perri got her entry and started weaving, very pretty footwork!  She skipped a pole or two.  I noticed her, instead of shutting down, doing something that looked like she was studying the weave poles to figure out how to get back into them.  We did not do repeating, but I encouraged her to just get back in and try.  We had a few reps like that, and then finally...12 straight weaves, dancing single strided footwork, right through.  We had a major part with her fleece bunny tug and left the ring and I gave her half a meatball, just like I would if she had done a regular trial entry.  Perri's next run I made up a different course and she was just as happy and fast, and this time she got in the weave poles...and danced through all 12 without a single error.  The crowd goes wild!  I threw her bunny tug and she got the ultimate prize: getting to zoom and pounce with her favorite toy without a pesky human connected to the other end!!  I let her enjoy that for a small while, retrieved the toy and asked for the chute with our remaining time.  She blasted right through and was rewarded with her tug toy, and we tugged our way out of the ring to the other half of her meatball.  I AM PUMMMMMMMMMMPED!  I could not have asked for anything better!  And to be perfectly honest, I think Perri's weaves are going to be way better than they were before.  The work we have been doing has been a major value transfer of fun and play into the weave poles, and it definitely showed today.

I did do a run in the B Match with Molly.   She was hot and I should have hosed her down.  She held her start line stay perfectly.  Of course!  She always seems to when I am doing training runs, even though I have her toy hidden.  She did her usual creep into the weave entry, although this time (it was the same Standard course as before.) she held her stopped teeter so that I could get ahead to support the entry.  I pulled her out....showed her the toy...and I had a lightning fast dog in the weave poles!  We did a second rep, rewarded and left the ring.  Maybe...this time...it might sink in for future trials.  Hey, I am just happy that she did not pop the weaves in today's trial, and that she got 1/2 entries.  We will get there....!

Tailblazers May AKC Agility Trial

Molly and I did another AKC Agility trial yesterday.  I was quite dismayed to realize that FAST started at 7:30 AM (nearly 90 minutes away from where we live!), but the trial was Small to Tall.   That meant being there really early, and then waiting hours for our next ring time.  Oops!  Would not have entered FAST if I had read into this more carefully!

This was a trial site that we had never been to before, but one that I plan to return to.  It was a sports center, with an air conditioned crate room, very nice cafe, and clean spacious rings on sprint turf.  I actually crated right from the car because the parking lot wrapped around the building so that it was a shorter walk from the lot to the rings than the crate room was.  I love that layout!  Any day I don't have to carry all of my stuff around is a good one.

FAST was a jump to the less obvious tunnel end, to that same jump on the return out of the tunnel.  We got the wrong end of the tunnel since I did not pull Molly hard enough.  I had been eyeing a better approach for our start that would have lined us up better for the send, but chose not to do it because it was less points.   Regrets!
We salvaged the time by practicing the Aframe (got the yellow!) and the weave poles.  She started to do a stress run out but surprised me with a sharp turn directly into the weave entry and she stayed in!  This meant a lot to me because I could see that instead of being overwhelmed by weave stress and trial stress, Molly was using her brain.   Great personal Q!

Standard was four jumps, rear cross the fourth to get the dog onto the dog walk (and not on an off course tire.)  Molly read it all beautifully.   I asked her to stop on the dog walk.  I could see her racing and then the instant I said "Spot", I could see her collect herself.   I really believe she had every intention of stopping....but then there was that guy sitting in the ring crew chair at the base of the dog walk....  She did run the whole ramp nicely but did some visiting.   She was stressy and hot and panting on the start line so I'm not surprised she blew off some steam this way.  If I had been thinking clearly I would have altered the way I chose to handle the next sequence.   She came back to me, took the next jump and then we needed to take a second jump and do a sharp left into a tunnel.   She was running fast off the ring crew, so I decel'd hard and began my rear cross....but she wasn't driving hard enough.   She stopped and looked at me, and then read my lateral movement and took the tunnel instead.   Refusal and Off course.   I picked her up out of the tunnel like nothing wrong had happened and we finished the course with speed and happiness.  She got a very tricky weave entry that many Masters dogs were faulting (we are only a baby Excellent team with a weave entry problem.  CHEER CHEER!!)  got to celebrate a fine weave performance with the wheeee! chute! and an Aframe contact success followed by three tricky jumps.  I was nervous because trying to steer Molly after her running Aframe is always a little risky.   It was overall some really good stuff, we are getting there!

JWW was about an hour later.  I doused Molly with the hose after her Standard run as well as right before her JWW run so that she would not be so hot.  I wanted to do a lot of rear crosses so I needed my dog to be her normal self!  It worked.   We did a great job on that course and I am so sad I don't have it on video.   Another weave pole entry and staying in of course and our very very first AKC Excellent Q!   I never thought this was possible!! 

Not Weaving and you can't make me

My agility trialing world with Perri came crashing down around my ears this weekend.  We started everything off with a beautiful FAST run, with 70 plus points earned, fast happy poodle....everything I love about running her!  I was feeling good after that.

Then was Excellent JWW.  The course wasn't easy, and it shouldn't be - this is Exc/Masters.   Perri and I made our way through it with zero mistakes, until we got to the weave poles.  She entered them.  She always enters them.  Then popped out and I just let her skim through them, we had already NQd so why stress her out?  We finished the rest of the course with one jump refusal on an ambitious blind cross that we didn't quite pull off - but otherwise...really nice focused work from my girl!

Open Standard was last of the day and it was a good, clean run....except she entered the weaves, popped...and that was it.  I asked her to do them again and she stressed down hard, stared off into space and would not. try. again.  That's it.   I was very disappointed.  But she couldn't try again for me, she was shut down.  I know Perri gives me everything she has, but she just didn't have another try at the weaves inside of her.

So what is it?  I keep saying, helplessly, "But Perri used to do the weaves!"  I am almost outraged, I am "this cannot be happening".  I cannot have another dog with weave problems.  It just cannot be true.  But it is.  And she is worse than Molly.   Why is it happening?  

I plan to have Perri evaluated for a physical issue, hopefully sooner rather than later.  I really do not think that this is the problem, though.  I had an "energy massage" done on her at the trial today, why not?.  I have no idea what that is.  But the person doing the energy massage got "stuck" at Perri's shoulder/thoracic spine area and was "stuck" there for quite some time.   She said that I might want to have her to a chiropractor.  She smoothed out the energy problem.   I need to research this type of massage.  

I think the problem is that Perri has been "wrong" too many times about these weave poles and with her low confidence, she is just too crushed to try again.  I have seen this absolute refusal to try something, no matter how simple, no matter how Perri might know how to do this thing...I have seen this refusal before when Perri is "wrong."   Wrong is death.  If Perri is wrong she will die so she shuts down because she cannot, will not, be Wrong.  It makes me so sad.  She has never been punished for being "wrong", she just does not have the confidence level that many dogs do.  

The trial today was bittersweet.   We had a one hundred percent clean run in Excellent JWW, we held our own against all the Masters dogs.  But when it came to those weaves, she entered...popped at pole #3 and shut down.  She would not re-attempt the weaves.

In Standard she was slow on the teeter.  I was worried she was going to jump off, but she did complete the teeter and I told her she was a rockstar!   She popped out as soon as she entered the weave poles.   We ran the rest of the course, though.   She got an off course tunnel, mostly because I didn't handle the discrimination because it didn't matter, I didn't really care which end she did.  She went into the chute, came back out, and would not re-enter it.

I feel 100 percent crushed.  I have to remember that this is not the first time Perri has had a confidence crash at an agility trial.  That soothes my troubled mind only as far as the teeter and chute go.   The weave poles, I am just beyond sad about.  My plan for now is some time off of agility trialing.  I pulled her entry from an AKC trial that I had planned on in three weeks.  (Molly will still attend.)   We will not train the weave poles for a week, and even longer since in a week's time we have a camping trip planned.  

It is so hard with Perri.  It is so hard to know what to do.  With Molly, the answer was to train it, to work on it.  Perri is so much more complicated than Molly.  

We left the trial and went to Middle Creek Reservoir for some hiking, geocaching and brain clearing.

Pretty Darn Excellent!

Molly had her very first All-Excellent day at the AKC Agility trial today!  For some reason, I was not really nervous at all.  Maybe I am Over That now, I think I used up all of my Nervous during the month of April.

We started with FAST.  I can never seem to enjoy FAST as I do USDAA Gamblers or CPE Jackpot, I'm hoping to push past that as we do more AKC.  The send was a tunnel, the dog had to hold their line to a jump, and then send back out to the exit end of the tunnel (rather than the entrance end that started the gamble.)   Molly sent out to the tunnel great but she pulled to me and faulted the Send, she did not stay on her line for the jump.   Regardless, she was beautiful collecting points, she listened to everything I wanted, she was not "crazy", and she did send back out two different times: one for the jump she missed and again for the tunnel.   This is something to work on with Molly.  She knows her "out" command and sends very far away from me, but we need to build on that!    An NQ I was happy with nonetheless!

Standard was next and it wasn't too bad, but there were some traps.  Molly did not even look at those traps!  She followed my handling, she did her contacts...all of them!  She entered her weaves...and popped out at number 11.  That's a refusal, and an NQ.  But the rest of the course was very pretty with an Aframe/tunnel discrimination, and a fast blast out of the tunnel onto the table.   She almost flew off but I could see her stick on there, she knew she must stay on the table!   I was just so proud of her.   We had an awesome first go at Excellent Standard, and it was really special for me to feel so relaxed and be so successful with our "problem" class.  Another happy NQ!

Jumpers with Weaves was last and it was a lot of twisting and turning, but that's okay - I like that!  It keeps us both paying attention to one another.   The course started with a tunnel to a jump backside and we nailed that!   I think it's the first backside we have seen in competition, and just yesterday I was training a verbal cue for a jump backside for Molly, so it was fun to see if she would perform under the stress of a trial.  The course went pretty great, she entered and stayed in her weaves, but towards the end I should have done a front cross....but I panicked halfway through it and was halfway in between.  Tried a rear cross, which was the absolutely wrong thing for where I was and earned us a refusal.  Molly did just what I told her to do.  It's hard to explain without the course map!  But it was very much a ridiculous handler error borne of still having a hard time relaxing and handling aggressively instead of timidly.   I can't seem to get my body to believe my brain saying, "We can make it here in time!"  Hey, we will get there.   Still, another happy NQ!


So what handler would be happy with a day of NQs?  ME!  I cannot believe Molly and I are not only in Excellent, but not making idiots of ourselves.  Not once today was there zooming around, stress behavior, or a wrong course.  And Molly was not moving slow (except in the weaves.)   She was moving at a pretty decent clip!  For the first time today I actually thought that Molly might be capable of a MACH.  That is a terrifying dream.   That is a Big Dream.  And I say so not to belittle our C-ATCH.  That was a big dream, too.   But to be consistent enough, to be perfect enough, to earn 20 double Qs in AKC?  Unfathomable.   But seeing Molly succeed today in an environment that drove her to distraction a year ago, to see her overcome reactivity and focus on me and work as a team with me...it made me think that my dog might have a chance.   Even if it is only a little one.

Molly was a big fan of Miss Lucy's dog treats, she made a valiant attempt to knock the entire table to the ground before you can say Moo!, but I did buy her these apple sticks with my worker coupons for all of those awesome NQs.

AKC Agility and Hiking with Perri

Some days you do great at a dog show...and then some days you don't!   Today was one of those "don't" days with Perri.   We only had two runs: her first shot at Excellent Jumpers with Weaves, followed closely by Open Standard.

JWW started at 7:30am which was probably the earliest I have ever had to start at a trial.  I got there half an hour early, though, and tried my best to acclimate Perri.  It wasn't enough.  I didn't want to overdo it with her before her ringtime and I cut it too close.   I took her to the ring at the beginning of the five minute wait period but they started it earlier than that because "everybody was there."   Somebody cut in front of us on the warm up jump, and by the time we got into there I had done one jump with Perri and she started stress sniffing the floor and we were being called for by the gate to go into the ring.  Not good.   I can work Perri through the stress behaviors, but it takes time.  Time that we didn't have.   She broke her start line stand for the very first time ever and she was fast and on the edge of control.  The course was full of tight turns, a serp and a few 180s....Perri's weak areas.  It was a refusal festival and Perri was high but to her credit she stayed with me and though I was behind her the entire course she did some pretty nice work (in like, two spots on the course.) in spite of being a train wreck.   The final blow was Perri entering her weaves....seeing her own reflection in the glass sports arena wall...and leaving them.  I let her do the final jump and we left the ring.   At least she didn't pee in the ring!

Standard I got her ringside early.  We did our exercises that we learned in Get Focused! and that helped a whole lot, as it always does.  Her ears and tail were up before we entered the ring.  Then I did what I had to do, I took her over to the glass wall.   Instant stress sniffing and disengagement.  We worked back from that.   I will say one thing: it pushes her to her limits, but Perri is a resilient thing and she re-centers on me faster than she was ever able to.

Then we had to run.  The weaves were right next to the glass wall, she popped out of them.   We got through them with lots of shameful luring and cheerleading.  I sent her over the next jump and she got on the table for a wrong course fault.   Not like Perri at all, but I'm gonna blame that on stress release.  The next part of the course she did two rear crosses and read them well and was running fast and I was super proud of her.  Up and over the Aframe cleanly and into a tunnel, over the next jump and a sharp 90 degree turn to the next two jumps followed by another 90 degree turn onto the teeter.  Perfect, perfect...  Then was the table.  For the first time ever, Perri popped off the table and that was the nail in the coffin of our NQ.  Everything else she did great.  Even with all of that we would have still qualified, but we were three seconds overtime, adding 6 more faults to our 15 faults for the refusal, wrong course and the table fault.

So, two firsts this weekend for babydog: breaking her start line and coming off the table.  We have been working on weave poles this week and it seems like the more I train it, the worse they get!  I am honestly sick about it, Perri used to have pretty reliable weaves...  I have to say that a lot of the problem is that I am now worrying about it, and she is sensitive...and the issue is snowballing.

Anyway!  We left the trial by 9:45 in the morning, that's a record!   And then we went hiking and geocaching and Perri retrieved a stick many times out of the reservoir.  This is a Big Deal, I love for my dogs to enjoy swimming and fetching.  Perri is coming around to enjoy fetching things, but if Molly is with us she prefers to chase and bite Molly.

We had a really great day together.  There were good moments at the agility trial for sure.  My husband said something about Perri when we went to the specialty, "She's just going to act like herself."   That's what Perri did today.  She was stressed, she did some goofy stuff, but she tried really hard.  That's Perri, and I love her for it.   And the other thing about Perri is that she is just a fantastic trail dog.  She's good off leash or on, she goes and goes until I decide we are done, she is calm, she waits patiently while I look for geocaches or take photos.   She is a Good Dog and I feel very lucky to have had a wonderful spring day with her.

Open Purgatory is Over!

I took Molly to the Kruisin Kanines AKC Agility trial today.   A year ago, at this trial, we earned our first Open Qs.  This morning when we got to the trial Molly was in the stressed up, reactive, panting red eared mood that I know all too well.  I don't see her in this mental state very often anymore, but I was cringing mentally.  Molly in that mood means: the first run is going to be a disaster.  In the past no matter how early we had gotten to the trial site, or no matter what I did: LAT reps, obedience behaviors and tricks, fetch until her tongue is hanging...no matter what, she could never shake the chattering, screaming stressed up mindset.   Until today.  We did a ton of LAT, we took a walk together, I focused very hard on my body language: I forced myself to smile, I forced myself to stand up straight and make my eyes soft and relaxed.   It was very exhausting for both of us.  But somehow, for the very first time at an agility trial, Molly calmed down and centered.  She was focused on me, she was eating cheese and had eyes only for me ringside, and we ran Open FAST for our third leg and Molly's OF title.  Yes!

We had a long break in the afternoon until Open Standard.  Molly was stressed-tired for her run, and she was hot.  This facility gets super warm inside, even if it is a cool day outside.  We had a wrong course fault and a refusal fault, both area permitted in Open Standard so we got her third leg for our final Open title, OA!

We were in conflict with the Excellent JWW ring and made it for our run with about eight dogs to spare before the class ended.  Stuff like that stresses me out!  By now Molly was absolutely exhausted, she was hot.  We ran the course but my usual abrupt decel that works so well with Molly when she is flying fast and high was too much and I pulled her off of two obstacles ever so slightly....two refusals.   By the end of the class she sounded like...an alligator, breathing and rattling.  Poor Molly!  Two runs within ten minutes in a hot building when she was already mentally exhausted, too much.  We had a great first go at Excellent JWW and it was amazing to me we were in the "Big Girl Ring" (as I think of it.)

So, Open is behind us.  My crazy, bad dog Molly is in Excellent 100%.  We earned our first Open Qs here a year ago, and our final Open Qs today.  Wow.  Just, wow.  "Open Purgatory" really is a thing.  It is a thing that we deserved.  You become a team in Open, you are forced to confront your weak spots and make them better.   And when you do, when it all starts coming together, the Qs start happening on skill rather than just luck.  Overcoming a reactive stress up episode on top of blasting out of Open Purgatory was beyond beautiful for me and Molly.  Oh, how very very far we've come...

Poodle AKC Agility

Finally catching up from the weekend.  Perri got to do four runs over the weekend at the AKC Agility trial, too!  We did Open Standard and JWW both days.

Saturday's Standard was a bit of a bust.  Perri saw her toller boyfriend right before we went into the ring and was not focusing well.  It was her first run of the weekend too.  She was beyond silly!  We did the first two obstacles, ran out a jump.  I got her back pretty well until the weaves and she kept popping them, did an off course tunnel and it was just a bit hot mess of an NQ!

JWW was quite an improvement though!  I thought for sure that we would not get it: it started out with some twists and turns , had a serpentine in the middle (which Perri and I are still working on, jump run outs on serps are pretty normal for her.) and ended with the weaves...which was the kiss of death on our Standard run.  Running the actual course, we got a jump refusal on perhaps the third or fourth obstacle and I mentally groaned... We are only allowed one refusal and there it was!  Amazingly she was blazingly fast and accurate, hit the weave entry and stayed in and we nailed our first Open JWW Q.  Awesome, poodle!


Sunday we returned for more.
Standard was much improved with very good focus this time around.  I pulled her too hard on the double jump out of anticipation of a wide jump run out...she ran it out on the opposite side and took an off course tunnel.  Bad handler!  A weave pop refusal put us one refusal too many and we NQd, but really happy with Perri's attitude here.

We ended our weekend with JWW.  This was our best run of the weekend and I so wish I had it on video!  Perri was on fire fast and I made myself do two front crosses in spite of the speed.  Total trusting her obstacle commitment and that yes, she will read the cross!  We had a refusal on popping out of the weave poles but I put her back in and she did them.  Second Open JWW Q!



One thing is obvious after our weekend and that is that we need to work on weave poles!  Perri's weave pole issues are normal for her experience level.  I felt a little discouraged and miserable about the weave issues, which we haven't really had in the past... I get scared we are going down Molly's road in regards to weave pole problems.  But I have to remind myself that: Perri doesn't get to practice weave poles a lot.  This is one of the first times she has been asked to do 12 weave poles at a trial, much less a noisy three ring trial with people walking around 3/4 sides of the ring and another dog running a course on the remaining 1/4 side of the ring.   Spring is here.  I just bought 12 versaweaves.  We are going to get this!

MOLLY OAJ!!!

It is very ironic to me that Molly at last earned that final Open Agility Jumper leg to earn her OAJ on Friday the 13th.  We just needed a little extra luck I guess!

But we started with Open FAST and a poor decision.  I thought that I might leave Molly in a sit stay and walk roughly 15 feet away from her and release her over the send jumps ...  Her first time at a three ring trial in over 5 months, first run of the day, brimming with cabin fever energy...this was the thought I had.  Molly broke her stay and ran around the jumps and churned towards me and up the Aframe, then hopped off the side towards me when she saw that wasn't what I wanted!  I sent her from a dead stop to the Send and she of course did it...and earned the Bonus.  I know my dog would send that far, why oh why didn't we gather some points before heading in there??  We ran out of time about five points shy of a Q ....

Open Standard next and much to my surprise we qualified for our second leg towards the OA!  Have not gotten an AKC Standard Q since last April.  The contacts were close, we got an off course (did not talk to her enough in that chute!) but we made it.

And next was Open JWW and Molly was so very calm for this last run of the day and we got a clean run for our last leg.   We pull one leg out of Open Purgatory!  On to...Excellent.  Yikes!

We returned to the trial today, with Molly only running in FAST again.  (Perri got to do Standard and JWW, that will be tomorrow's post!)

Again!  A bad decision!  The Send was in the back of the ring.  It was a tunnel underneath of the Aframe and a jump after that.  Molly and I ran up a jump line into a tunnel in the back of the ring and flew up the Aframe...and when she saw how far away I was and decelerating, she jumped off the Aframe....failed to collect her feet...and took the jump bar down that was part of the Send.  Sigh.  I knew this was a potential Thing That Could Happen but "trust your dog" and all that, I tried it anyway.  I gathered her up, sent her into the tunnel and over the remaining 12" bar and out my closing line of obstacles.    I don't know why, but I cannot seem to feel as relaxed in AKC FAST as I do in Gamblers or Jackpot.  Maybe it's something about the "send" being available at any time...

And in closing here is Molly nomming up the cone of vanilla soft serve that I bought her for earning her OAJ title.  (I also "topped" it with several chicken nuggets.)  Good pitbull!

Angsty AKC Trial Recap!

Yesterday was our last AKC Agility trial of the year.  I decided that me and Molly were going to earn that OF and OAJ!  Speaking positively and really meaning it mentally has its place but...it kind of makes failure feel even worse.

This training center just built on a whole new Big Deal addition for crating.  It used to be jam packed in the crating area, and that was if you could get a spot.  Standing room only, even on weekday trials.  I did not rush to get there, thinking crating would be a non issue.

The entire crating room was full with inefficient crate set ups.  One spot in particular was an enormous floor covering that consumed its entire sprawl, with a tiny x-pen in one third of the area.  So many crates could have gone in that spot.  I was absolutely fuming but I had to have a spot inside - my car was parked so far from training building it would have been impossible to meet my girl's ringside and warm up needs and not be rushed to get in for my class.  I started setting up in front of someone else's crate set up where there was an open space! and she scolded me that it was a bad choice.  Yes it was a totally open space, but her crate doors were facing that area.  I was really frustrated and felt cracks in my normally very stoic tone.  Internally, I wanted to rearrange some inconsiderate people's furniture in a fury and lecture them on being respectful of crating space.  Externally I seethed, "Well where should I go?"  Now this lady was very nice and I think she could see I was frustrated and not trying to be a jerk - and as soon as I apologized for being frustrated, her and another competitor helped me find a space.  I had seen the recommended space before, but there was a ring gate with a twelve inch long base sitting beside it, so there was no way I could lay down my mat and crates there.  They both helped me move the gate to a better location.  The spot was absolutely terrible, it was crowded and there was no room for a chair (I can live with that.), there was no breathing room for either of my dogs when they would come out of their crate (sucks, but better than being too far away and out in the car!).  I thanked them both and apologized again for being testy (and seriously, my testy is like...pathetic.) and set up my crates.  

So, that was boring right?  It did not set my day off to a good start.  I was even more frustrated when there were no Open FAST maps.  None.  And here I had planned to arrive, set my crates up and plan my FAST course while enjoying a cup of hot coffee while sitting in a chair?  Too much to ask...  I asked the judge in the briefing what the send was and I think he took it as a complaint on the lack of maps - I did not mean it to be so!  I was starting to feel like a very unsportsmanlike jerk.  Another competitor straight away showed me her map and I thanked her a million times over.  She even offered it to me while we were all walking again in case I needed it for points.

I'm going to take a little intermission from my boring whiny rant to say this: I see AKC Agility competitors slandered on Facebook and in other venues as being snobby and rude.  I have not only never experienced this in any excess than I do in other venues, but there were specifically three people just in my first hour of being there that went out of their way to help me when I was having a bad day.  I hate generalizations, hate them.  People are people.  We are not "CPE People", "AKC People", "USDAA people", we are all just people and individuals.  And to be honest I notice many individuals that compete in CPE exclusively who put up an angry shell towards other venues and viciously claim that they are just "out to have fun" and end up being far more rude to others on that basis than I ever experience when I show in other venues than CPE.

So!  What about the dogs?
Molly was revved to the moon.  I made the mistake of trying to "hide" from the other dogs in the area towards the back of the building and there was a whole stand of the finest animal parts for sale and her focus was G-O-N-E.  I took her away from that and we spent some time in the practice jump together, and while she was still chattery and UP!, she remembered that I existed.  Unfortunately the dog ahead of us was a barker, for the entire class.  It was too much.  Molly broke her start line stay and we managed a loose approximation of my plan, only with her blasting full speed ahead of me.  She flew all the way down the Aframe though!  Unfortunately from there she launched into the Send area and took two of the obstacles there in a row...without doing the first Send obstacle.  I attempted the Send again, even though it was Faulted but I pushed her too far and she took the wrong end of the tunnel.  (It was a jump, with the wrong end right in the dog's line.)  I think if Molly had not been so charged she wouldn't have pushed out so hard, but Molly was taking any motion of mine and going with it.  I heard the judge laughing to himself while calling out points , again.  That's my girl!  And hey, it's another day in the Molly Life.  If I am going to NQ, I love to hear the judge enjoying my girl.

And now, it was going to be a long wait.  Hours long.  Novice FAST and the entire Excellent/Masters Standard had to run.  One ring trial.  Oof.  I loaded both girls into the car and we went geocaching.  It was the last day of rifle season, so no going into the woods for us!  We made our way around and found a bunch of "park and grab" caches: a teeny tiny magnetic nano hidden on an iron gate at a cemetary, a cache hidden for a four year old inside of a guard rail, a post office hide, and another easy guard rail hide.  I returned when the 16" class was starting.  Ate a sausage sandwich and brought Perri inside the building.  I fed her treats and she schmoozed a few different people.  People are always surprised to find that such a beautiful and striking animal as Perri (their words!) had mange (I always get asked about the black spot of fur on her back.) and was a Chicken Killer.

Then it was finally time for Open Standard.  As if the day could not get any more excruciating, it was running Small to Tall.  Perri and I did our usual warm up with her favorite treat (Ham) and worked on tricks.  I was surprised that she was happy to offer drops out of a sit ringside!  Then, we were up.  It was tire to Dogwalk.  I swear I heard the wind in my ear when she flew through that tire and she hit the dog walk hard and ran it.  For the first time ever, no cringing or slowing on the walk at a trial.  And she was beautiful!  We had one moment of a jump run out and a play bow with a naughty gleam in her eye and I thought, "Oh great, here we go!"  I told her firmly to "Stop.  Focus."  And she did!  The rest of the course was absolutely flawless.  This line of 11-12-13 a lot of dogs were curving out and running up the Aframe instead of taking the tunnel.  I put up my outside hand (Perri reads that really well.) and she didn't even think about the Frame.  I was so far behind her when she went over 14, I thought she would never get the weave entry.  She did.  She hit it hard and collected and then just rocked right through.  So proud!  OA, first leg!

And now...another hours long wait for JWW.  We went back out geocaching: we found a magnetic one hidden on a Verizon shed in the middle of a field, one hidden above the roaring Conewago Creek on a guard rail by a gorgeous bridge, made my 400th find at a tiny little cemetery in the woods, went to a ski resort and an abandoned baseball field.  I arrived back to find the 16" class starting Masters JWW.  I got a good parking spot, I found a spot for my chair in the spectator area and enjoyed watching the course.

Molly was first since she was 20" and we ran our best ever Open JWW together.  She was flying and I was handling her properly.  She read my rear cross and entered the weaves independently - she has never done that at an AKC trial in Open!  We ran up the next line and into the 180 and I thought..."My god this is going to happen.  We are going to get our OAJ."

I even walked this, experimentally, with a front cross after 13 as she came over 14.  Something about it felt right to me.  I ended up deciding to pull her with me over 15.  She went right over 14 and flew into the tunnel.  I saw as soon as she landed what was going to happen and I lost myself and called her name for her to come to me.  Off course.  NQ.  I can't remember a single NQ out of this entire year that broke my heart more than this one.  The front cross felt a little smoother, but I never even considered the off course possibility there.  As pathetic as it is, as embarrassing as it is, I was completely crushed and cried probably half of the drive home.  It feels ridiculous to even type it.  It's not that we didn't get our title.  It is that my dog did everything, everything right.  That whole course she showed how far she has come in every way, with the weave poles...and I let her down.  And worst of all, I called her off of the wrong line that I sent her on, which I hate.  Misery.  Total misery.  It was just too much after a 10 hour long, exhausting day.  I am fully aware that I live a good life, with great dogs and am so lucky to be able to trial and it was totally silly to cry over an NQ for a(nother!) handling mistake, but that's where I was at.  (I will note that I showered Molly with praise and kisses and told her a million freaking times how amazing she was when we got back to her crate - as well as two sausage meatballs and half a piece of ham.)

Perri ran this course as well and we got two refusal faults for jump run outs, but hey - she's green without solid obstacle commitment that comes with a seasoned agility dog, and I am still working on how to handle Perri.  She doesn't run "tight" like Molly, she runs like a poodle.  I don't know how else to describe it!  Jumpers is actually more difficult for me with Perri because of how she "floats" around.  And I was anything but my A-Game with exactly three dogs in between my two girls and with my emotions barely held together.  Our first refusal was on a straight line towards the jump before the weaves and I actually suspect some Poodle silliness on her part there.  I wish I had a video.  The next one was on the 180 and I didn't pull her tight enough over the 14th jump.  She ran right around it for our second refusal.  I will fully admit that my brain exploded as we approached that spot, and I had a hard time thinking anything other than "You screwed up so bad here with Molly!" and not "decelerate and front cross for Perri!" like I should have.  

But, I feel better now.  Really, Molly and I will have our OAJ in no time next year.  Our first Qs in Open were in the Spring and they were truly all luck of the draw.  To think back on our run last night, we have got what it takes and I made a mistake and that happens.  Our runs from Spring?  We were still quite disjointed and beaten down by stress, with Molly not understanding her weave entries or enjoying the obstacle.  If we Qd it was on occasion and by luck, and if Molly got into the weaves and stayed there while I held my breath it was a miracle.  We have grown so much as a team this year, so much.  And I am determined to conquer contacts with her next year (the weather is being very unkind to my Running Contacts training mission, but winter won't last forever!).  Out of the ashes we will rise, and try again.  And again.  And again.