Last week was the week of Ein's surgery. Anybody with multiple dogs can tell you it's "not that bad"...until one of them gets sick. You have a routine of managed chaos and when something gets thrown off, it can feel so overwhelming. That was the case when I brought Ein home last Tuesday, still half stoned from the anesthesia and with barely controlled pain from his incisions. Also, a pulled tooth that had to be sutured shut.
The girls settled quickly and were merciful to me. But the puppy simply did not understand. Obsessive sniffing of Ein that would not stop and boiling over irritating energy. Trying to pester the girls into rowdy play time that was not going to be allowed. And since I work an 8 hour day, it felt cruel to crate him after he had already been crated all day. We just did our best.
Ein bounced back with a vengeance the next day! He wanted food, he was sassy and his pain was much more manageable. His rib wound was wrapped with a pressure bandage due to the large incision. Ein did have some wound oozing, especially towards the bottom of the wound. We kept that wrapping on for 24 hours and then I changed it and rewrapped in much the same way. After that we tried a children's t-shirt. That was a waste of money and time. No matter how much I rolled the shirt up, Ein peed on it. He is a leg lifter but he is still a shortie! And to take the shirt on and off would have been more fiddling with his right front leg than I wanted to do.
By Saturday he had to go on cone of shame lock down as he will not leave his leg incision alone. This is really fun because Ein likes to sleep underneath my bed, but the bed is too low for the cone to fit under! That did not stop him from wedging himself under there and getting stuck. So now both sides of my bed have to be barricaded with random boxes and storage containers. I still hear him clanging around through the night, trying his best to see if he can still get under that bed. And he is an absolute battering ram menace with the cone. I thought Molly was bad! We are counting the days until suture removal next Monday!
I wish I had done this sooner. Oh, how I wish I had done it years ago! Ein seems to have so much more playful energy and his movement is so improved. I was so afraid of the anesthesia at his age but our vet did a wonderful job and he recovered so well. I think he feels so much lighter on his feet!
Ein has had two lipomas on his right side for years. They have both grown in size, particularly the one on his right ribs. I have not wanted to remove the lipomas because of his age, his past history with slow recovery from anesthesia and the fact that they really weren't doing anything but making him look a little lumpy.
Well, the thing about age is that the number only continues to grow and so did Ein's lipomas. The rib lipoma is starting to push against Ein's elbow. I notice him walking differently and if I feel both of his front legs at a stand still, his right elbow is turned out slightly and compensating for the lipoma taking up space. The vet and I discussed removal last November at his yearly and I have been thinking seriously about it ever since. Ein already off loads onto his front more than the typical dog due to his hip dysplasia. If the lipoma continues to complicate the movement of his right front leg we could be in for some trouble.
I am terrified.
Ein returned to the vet last night and had pre op bloodwork drawn. His heart sounds great. ("especially for 14!") His teeth look okay ("especially for 14!") and she wouldn't recommend a dental cleaning if he were not already going under for the lipoma removal. I have decided to have them cleaned and checked for any needed extractions. I don't expect there to be any. He has mild tartar build up. His bloodwork came back this evening and all values look great ("especially for 14!") except some slightly elevated liver values but she said that is not uncommon given his age. Our vet feels completely confident that Ein can safely undergo anesthesia to have the lipomas removed. I am terrified. But when I imagine Ein having improved mobility for this season's hiking and swimming and beyond, it all seems worth the risk.
It was a huge day for Einey because he finished his Level 1 Specialist 1000 point title in CPE Agility! We went into the day needing 30 points. To explain this title, every qualifying round that you earn in any level is worth a certain amount of points.
Snooker and Jackpot are 25 points. A clean Standard round is worth 25 points. You lose points if you have faults. Wildcard and Jumpers are 20 points for clean rounds. And Colors is 15 points. You need 1000 points to earn the Level 1 title, 2000 points for Level 2 and so on.
So, Ein debuted in Level 1 in 2013. He finished the level entirely in 2015. (Two Standard legs and one of each game.) And all this time we have been earning Qs and points. I was very hot and cold all the while. There would be months at a time when we wouldn't play any agility. Ein would have a day where he didn't seem to be enjoying agility so I would give him time off. And then some times he would be so strong and happy and I would enter him in his max of 3 runs per trial. Never more than three! Ein has always been rockstar consistent. He never takes wrong courses or bars, he rarely NQs. When we started, Ein did all obstacles except for the teeter and weaves. As he grew older he started refusing the dog walk and eventually the A-frame. In most classes we could easily avoid any obstacles except for jumps and tunnels. Every now and then they were unavoidable and we would have to scratch or NQ.
We went into today with 970 points. (We honestly had 990 but there was a clerical error and one of Ein's Jumpers legs was scored as a Level 2 Q and CPE unfortunately would not move it to Level 1 for me so that the points could be applied to his title.) It was ultimately my fault for not reading a trial confirmation closely enough.
Anyway! Ein earned a Jumpers and Colors Q leaving him at 1005 points and earning his title! Ein has really enjoyed the majority of his runs on his journey towards this title and I am so happy to have earned it with him. I never imagined he would end up enjoying agility this much. Ein is officially retired from all performance sports now.
Since I was already at Flexi with Ein, I entered Molly in Jumpers and Fullhouse. We also ended up adding Standard. (Ein was entered in a second round of Colors and the wonderful trial secretary let me switch dogs and run Molly in Standard instead.)
Jumpers was a catastrophe of wrong course tunnels and zoomies.
Standard was a wrong course dog walk, a wrong course tunnel, an early release off the teeter to a wrong course tunnel, a blown dog walk, a missed weave entry as well as skipping the last two poles at which point I just gave up. Motherf%&!! heathen.
We ended the day with Fullhouse. And with that run, Molly is also retired from CPE Agility. All of my dogs are now. In February 2013, at this same trial site and under the same judge, Molly and I had our first agility trial. We NQd everything the first day. The second day we walked in the ring and played Fullhouse. I have no video. We had the exact minimum amount of 19 points required to qualify. It was our first Q together. And so today, at the same trial site under the same judge, we ran our last CPE Q together. It was a perfect last CPE run for Molly and I. And there were lots of tunnels and no weaves. Everything my girl loves. We had 36 points.
Since the almighty Facebook is experiencing some sort of outage today, it is a good night to get caught up on this poor neglected blog. February was a blur with the only trial after my prior post being a CPE trial to gain points toward's Ein's 1000 Point Level title. Ein is now standing at 970/1000 points and set to finish the title this weekend. We have "only" been working on it since 2013 so maybe it is time to wrap it up.
Speaking of Ein, March 3rd was his fourteenth birthday. 14!!
Einey is definitely slowing down. He is clearly showing the beginning signs of "canine cognitive disorder" aka doggy dementia. It is most noticeable overnight. He will pace up and down the stairs or lick his paws and/or bed obsessively. I added 3mg of melatonin to his evening meal last summer and for a while it was peaceful sleeping at night again. In the last month though, the melatonin has not been enough. CBD oil is the next thing I am going to explore for Ein. Other than that, the old boy is holding together really well! He can act pleasantly and happily vacant sometimes. He still comes on hikes, although he "pays for it" with arthritic pain and stiffness more than ever. But he so adores his time in the woods. His deafness is worsening. I have to use hand signals to recall him in from the yard and I have to yell his name if I want him to come from another room.
He still loves carrying his Benebones everywhere, biting the puppy as needed and being a happy little busy body.
And guess what else happened on March 3rd? I took Zorro and Perri to a WCRL Rally Trial and baby boy earned his first title: Rally Level Intro! He had two rounds of Intro with lovely heelwork and attention. He couldn't resist one moment of trying to "wrap" a sign and then sniffing it - which he sometimes does in a new location. Otherwise a really lovely job and he had such a good time in the ring. He enjoys himself so much and we are going to have so much fun together. I also learned that you can reward at front position and finish in WCRL in the Intro Level Only. I think that's a great rule for the Intro level and I felt like it was a great support for my young dog.
Perri had a great attitude for her first time at this trial site (new to Perri! Only Ein has trialed in this ring before.) She blew me away with a perfect 210 and first place out of a 20 dog class. When she is on, she is on! Level 2 she was not quite so confident but we still put our fourth QQ in the books towards her ARCH.
Perri's big moment.
Perri also turned 7 this past Saturday. I am kind of amazed that she is already 7 years old. We are worlds away from where I thought we would be by this age in performance sports but I can truly say this year.: that's all right. Whatever. I have Perri's medication situation figured out, for now and hopefully forever. I am so much better at supporting her and understanding her. She loves her puppy and he makes her jealous and takes the pressure off of her simultaneously. She is my best hiking and adventure dog. I am so proud of her strangeness, I love sharing her eccentricities with people. She is a goofy unique martian of a dog.
This post is terribly delayed but I still wanted to make it happen! We have had a lot of changes this year for sure.
Ein wrapped up his rally obedience career this year, he ended on a high note earning his Rally Veteran Championship x 5 under our very favorite judge (and also, at the first place he ever did a WCRL trial at.) He also earned his Companion Dog Excellent title in CDSP Obedience, at long naughty last! And third time's the charm, Ein earned his Canine Good Citizen title at last as well as his Novice, Intermediate and Advanced trick dog titles. I still try to do a little trick training with regularity, for his mental and physical health. He also had a great agility year, though our CPE showing has become more and more limited. Other than performance, Ein is definitely showing his age in some ways. He is going deaf and showing the early stages of "doggy dementia". I started using 3mg of melatonin for Ein at night, as his pacing and crying was becoming intense in the evenings. The issue has resolved completely and he sleeps peacefully now. During the day time Ein shows mild and adorable vacancy but is still incredibly active. He still loves to go for walks and the occasional hike, though he takes longer to recover physically than he used to.
Molly had a rough start to the year, with her left front foot causing persistent lameness problems for her. After a diagnostic work up and steroid injection into the problem toe, she has stayed 100% sound. (besides ripping her entire toenail off the literal day of her return to agility after the toe ordeal. Molly! What can I say!?)
We no longer run on mat agility footing and I have kept Molly's runs limited to three per trial day. Sadly, no lure coursing for Molly this year because of her foot. In January, Molly had her last two runs in Regular 20" class and earned her AKC AX and AXJ in the same day. Molly did some running in Veterans 12" (CPE) but I have decided that we are definitely not ready for that low of a jump height - she is way too fast! 16" is perfect for her right now. She is running with so much joy and confidence especially since the fall. We are in a really great place as a team. We also spent 2018 in a regular training class with excellent instruction and I have had a lot of personal growth handling and mental-game wise. I am so grateful that Molly was my partner for that. She has seen me through thick and thin, and I could never ask for a better first agility dog.
Molly also played in Obedience and earned her Starter Novice title in CDSP as well as one leg towards her Companion Dog. She seems to enjoy the game!
Health wise Molly has been doing phenomenal. The addition of a twice-daily histamine lowering probiotic put a complete end to her GI attacks. Molly did not have a single episode of intractable vomiting in 2018. No signs of any lymphoma related issues.
Perri and I have had a great year together. I have been clear that my mind was not where I wanted it to be in regards to Perri and I'm not proud of that, but I feel like I am at a better place now. Perri had a medication switch from fluoxetine to amitriptyline and composure / l-theanine as needed. Amitriptyline has been incredible for her and I could not be happier with the results. She is much more pleasant to live with now.
Perri had a new therapy dog job, weekly visits to a group home and she continued her monthly library visits. Agility wise was more laid back than ever. We took a lot of breaks and if we did any agility, it as Intro or Novice with focus on ring confidence. Towards the fall I dropped Perri to Enthusiast in CPE and she went on to earn the last 9 legs needed for her CT-ATCH title in a straight shot. No NQs. She is now retired from CPE. She ended the year earning her P2 Snooker title and showing much improved ring confidence in all other classes entered. My own confidence has grown and most importantly, I have a much better understanding of what Perri needs from me before we enter the ring. The time from she gets out of her crate to my release from the start line is crucial. I have learned a lot from Perri this year.
Other than all that, Perri has enjoyed "her baby" Zorro. They play and wrestle together and she has done a wonderful job as a hiking partner to teach little Z how we act on the trail. I think having a puppy in the house has done wonders for Perri's mental health and confidence.
And of course our new kid, Zorro! joined the family this year! I flew to Nevada and back with him, my first plane ride in many many years and certainly my first time with a puppy! Zorro has learned so much this year already! He is housebroken now, doing well with his crate training, integrated well with the pack and is learning how to be an off leash hiking dog. He is truly lovely to live with, though he certainly has plenty of annoying puppy behaviors and a lot of energy! We have had a fun year working on foundation agility training, tricks and body awareness. Looking forwards to 2019!
We ended our trialing year of 2018 in a big way, with three days of trials!
Friday night was Einey with two CPE runs: Fullhouse and Snooker! Fullhouse was lovely and in Snooker the Aframe was #5 in the closing so I had to make a plan with big points in the opening so that Ein could still qualify with only making it through four in the closing. Ein says NO to the Aframe these days. We made it happen and Ein ends the year standing at 905 points, getting pretty close to that 1000 point title, buddy! (I am still semi tempted to enter a CPE trial the last weekend of the year so maybe I will make a liar out of my post title.)
I am beyond blessed to have a nearly 14 year old dog still playing agility. What a boy!
Saturday was our agility club's USDAA trial weekend and we had a Masters only trial on Saturday. I had a family get together planned for the afternoon on Saturday, but I still took Molly to the trial for the first two runs! We played Gamblers and almost got the Gamble but not quite. Standard was a real heart breaker, with one bar down and no other faults. Ouch! I did not post about it but a few weekend's ago Molly earned a second P3 Standard Q so she is now just one away from her MAD (P) title. Hey, we earned two Standard Qs for 2018. Not too bad!
That last Standard Q!!!!
What a year for Molly! Her front feet gave her such trouble, the toe injury and the ripping-off-the-entire-toenail ordeal directly to follow! But Unsinkable Molly rose from the ashes and we have been able to play agility together consistently since the late Spring. I have so treasured this year of training with her, actually even more than trialing. I wanted so much to have a year of really excellent training with my best girl and I got it. Every week she has been physically able to, Molly has been in the ring with me, helping me learn and putting up with my short comings and making me a better handler. Molly is my first agility dog and I always feel such guilt for failing her and not making good decisions for her in the beginning but it is a true treasure to still have her ready and willing, to still have a dog who is able to learn with me.
And Sunday brought Perri's turn since it was a Starters/Advanced only trial that day. Since it was our club's trial I entered Perri in all four classes offered.
We started the day off with a bang by earning Perri's P2 Snooker title! We did "three 4s" and she really opened up in the closing and got all the way through 7. I was thanking the agility gods the weaves were not in the course!
Jumpers was next and while I was very careful with Perri ringside (I kept her at our crating area the entire time.), as we were entering the ring a small dog snarked at Perri's nose just as we were heading for the ring gate. Perri entered the ring with her tail tuck and froze on the start line and would not release on the first cue. She was a bit slow off the start line and through the first tunnel but then she opened it up and we earned her second P2 Jumpers Q and were 13 seconds under standard course time. Perri!! The whole time I was laser focused on staying connected to Perri and not falling into my old habits of looking at obstacles instead of my dog.
There was a very long break after that as we ran Starter Jumpers as well as two Intro classes. Gamblers was next, not Perri's strong area to work away from me. I wanted Perri to do the tire as she can be a little weird about that obstacle, still. The tire was one of the obstacle options on the start line and Perri was the first dog in her height class so I set her up in front of the tire. While the ring crew was setting the tire. She became obsessed with the chain clanging against the plastic tire. Well, I was making good decisions for her! She was very very slow coming off her start line and then did the dreaded stare. Thankfully the dog walk was right there and I got her on it and she shook it off and started running again. She was pretty light and happy but wouldn't send out to a distance tunnel in the Gamble. She actually took some initiative and went to the second obstacle in the gamble instead, so I went with it and told her Go go Go! and praised her at the end.
Standard was last and I gave considerable thought to scratching it. Even more when I got her out of the car and she was rather frozen and hypervigilant. I asked her to get in my chair (which we had been doing all day before her run.) and she went into her crate instead. Now, either she saw the chair as a precursor to her agility run and was saying "no thank you", or she was simply taking the crate since it was now available. By now the trial had emptied out so I was able to have my chair alongside of the crate rather than in front of it (blocking the entrance.)
I was not going to be stressed out by this and snowball with Perri. I did a lot of gentle massage on her sides and encouraged body stretches, we did paws up on the chair to encourage stretching upwards. I massaged her scalp and ears. And Perri actually loosened up and got slightly "springy" again. I don't know how else to describe this way Perri gets when she is relaxed. But she is very "light" and springy and pops around, rather than being sluggish and slow and staring around.
I chose to do a running start. I stood on the start line holding her up with just her rear feet on the ground and pointing her at the dog walk. What a blessing the course started with her favorite obstacle! She did fly off the start line. Back tunnel to jump and weaves. She did all 12 weaves to the pause table and I thought. We are golden now. Famous last words! We then had to do the teeter, to a jump, to a mild pull to a tunnel that was under the dog walk. Miss Thing went super wide (also, I lost connection and took for granted she wouldn't be as hard into extension as she was!) and found the most awkward approach to the dog walk ever and flew down that walk with her tail swishing. I teased "Unbelieeeeeeeeeeeeevable, Perri!!!" And we ran to her leash and ended the run and she ended the day feeling happy and proud.
And what a year for Perri. What a year.
Last year on this day we were at the CPE trial (which was going on in the other ring at this training center.) and I remember Perri was so shut down that she could not even complete a CPE Jumpers course. I remember scratching her from Wildcard and walking back to the USDAA ring to talk to my friend. I told her I was done. And I was. It wasn't that I gave up on Perri, it was that I respected Perri. And if she didn't want to play the game then that was that.
The year of training that I committed to with Molly has benefited Perri. Perri was my substitute dog when Molly's body couldn't play. She didn't make it easy. We began this year with our team work in tatters. Perri demoralized and me frustrated beyond all reason. Resentful. Molly's bad toe and my financial commitment to training made me fight once again to figure out what could help Perri. Some nights she would work. Some nights she would stare at me. Our instructor never gave up on us, never let me shut down on Perri, she saw what my dog needed when nobody ever has before. And some weeks, in the beginning, Perri needed more than I could give. It's no shame to admit this about myself. Honesty is a the first step to improvement.
Connection. Clear handling. Less pressure. A puppy. New medicine. Raw diet. Less pressure. No matter how much you think you can fool your dog, they know. Perri always knew I was disappointed in her and she could not stand it. She is fragile, she needs support. She needed me to be a better handler, to not be frustrated, to be a better human. She was asking a lot. But I'm ready now, I'm ready to be that person. I remember at the end of 2016 I felt so hopeful for our future and it all fell apart the next year. If Perri doesn't want to play agility in 2019, I can say for certain: I am grateful for our 2018 and all that I learned from it. I am grateful that a few more times, we got to run happy like the wind together. It's enough.
I have been out of commision for a few weeks because my laptop stopped working. Thankfully it was an under-$100 quick fix that did not involve "your laptop is screwed, better buy a new one." and I'm back in business. (I hate blogging off of my smart phone or tablet!)
So with Molly's toe arthritis and the limited abilities of my three dog team to play agility (simply meaning, I can't do All The Venues All The Weekends! anymore.), I accepted that we would not be visiting the East Freehold Showgrounds for a trial in a long long time. Because: no more lure coursing for Molly and no more outdoor AKC Agility.
So when I saw an all breed conformation show on Memorial Day weekend offering Canine Good Citizen tests, Trick Dog tests and NADD Dock Diving at the Showgrounds, one of my favorite trial sites...I jumped on the opportunity! I had been looking for a trick dog test for my friend's young dog to test for her Novice Trick Dog title, as we had been preparing her for it. And on the flip side, my friend has been teasing me into giving Ein a third try at his Canine Good Citizen test. After all, third time's the charm? Ein has failed the CGC twice. Both girldogs have their CGCs and I attempted to test Ein twice over the years when each girl took her test. First at Molly's test where he failed any step that involved contact with a human, and secondly at Perri's test where he nearly passed except for the grooming step.
We arrived and went to check on the Dock schedule. It was around 930 in the morning and the CGC testing was running from 10-12 so plenty of time there. This was mine and Molly's first time jumping with NADD (North American Diving Dogs) and I learned that this event was being run "cluster style." This meant that if you pre-register for "Splashes", that you have no set time for your jumps. You show up in the morning and write your name into whatever time slots work for your day (to minimize conflicts.) Unfortunately for me, getting there a half hour after the event began meant that there were no available time slots until 1 or 2pm. You know, right when the Trick Dog testing was available. Yay, conflicts!
After that we walked over to the Canine Good Citizen ring and testing was already under way. I got Ein's name on the sign up sheet for his CGC as well as the Trick Dog schedule! Zoe Poodle also got signed up for her Novice Trick test. I felt a little nervous going into the test, mostly because of the Grooming step. Ein accepted a friendly stranger, sat politely for petting and grooming. The tester was very respectful and let Ein get to know her and approached him from the side and let him sniff the brush. She also asked him for his paw rather than taking it (upon my request. Ein has arthritic feet and he is happy to "shake" when asked.) Loose leash walking and walking through a crowd, no problem! Sit, Down, Stay and Come - no problem! Reacting to another dog (ignored her!) and reacting to distractions (wheel cart rolled by him and clipboard dropped, he glanced at the distractions but back at me.) And finally Supervised Separation, she kept him in the ring and I walked up through the breed rings for three minutes during that time. It is official, The Finest Einest CGC!
After the day's first victory, we returned to the car camp and put Ein in his crate for a rest. Now it was Zoe's turn for her Novice Trick Dog. Since Zoe has previously passed her Canine Good Citizen, for Novice she had to do five tricks. (If the dog has no CGC they must do 10 tricks from the Novice list.) Zoe did: Shake Paw, 4 Paws on Platform, 2 Paws Up, Get in Box and Spin. What I just love about AKC's trick dog program is how it encourages people who may never have done a competition with their dog or who are too intimidated by obedience or rally-o to get out there with their dog, train tricks and earn a title. I love it. That was exactly the case for our friend's Zoe and Mary, the Novice Trick Dog title tested them on skills we have been training and the challenge was accessible to them. Really exciting!
The dock diving schedule was running late so we decided to try to get Ein in for his Trick Dog tests.
I chose to do the Novice, Intermediate and Advanced levels with Ein. What a busy day!
Once again, I have been so excited to do AKC's Trick Dog testing with Ein since I heard of it. I did the mail in titling with Do More With Your Dog with Perri, and she has her Novice and Intermediate titles, but it was so much more appealing to me to go in person with my dog and show off the tricks.
For Novice, since Ein passed his CGC in the morning, he only had to do 5 Tricks. We did: 2 Paws Up, 4 Paws on Platform, Hold It, Shake and Hand Target.
In Intermediate, things got a little intense! The tricks that went according to plan were: Balance treat on nose, Fetch it (dumbbell), Game (Manipulate puzzle toy or kong), Hand Signals (Sit, Down, Come), Leg Weave, Roll Over, Handlers choice "Heeling with AutoSit", Handlers Choice "Right and Left Finishes").
The tricks that did not go according to plan were that I was planning on using Ein's dumbbell carry for the "Carry" trick - but the tester would not allow me to use any object but a basket. So that was out, as Ein had not generalized his object hold to a basket. I wanted to do "Catch" instead, where the dog must catch a treat or a toy but geriatric Ein has lost his ability to catch so that was a total fail. The tester was very kind and told me to go take a break with Ein and return with a trick we could do. Ein was getting hot and there were people waiting for their turn to do their tricks so, this was a good thing.
I couldn't believe it - one trick away! I was totally flustered. Mary and I went back to the car, gave Ein some water and I petted him and told him he was a good boy. I tried to get him to carry the basket, there was lots of attempts to revive his ability to catch treats and Ein was happy to eat all 400 treats I threw at him but his skills grew no more reliable. We tried "Crawl" but with Ein's hips as they are, it is too tiring for him to go the 5 foot distance required reliably and the tester was by the book. "go Find your handler" was an appealing option but I was told we could not do that since we were in an outdoor ring. We tried to get him to jump through my arms circled as a hoop! Paws up on handlers arm! Nothing! When we were in the ring I tried to get Ein to paw target on a little musical piano, and that would have been a passing trick but Ein just kept laying down on the piano and that was Not Good Enough. I finally had the good sense to get Ein paw targeting and rewarding him like crazy for it, and then we went back into the ring and I asked him to paw target on the $%$&!!! toy piano and he did it and we finally passed the Intermediate Trick Dog. Whew! It did me a heckin concern!
Comparatively, Advanced was a breeze. Ein did Back Up, Circle Right and Left, Turn on pressure activated light (with the paw target again!), Play Dead (Bang!) and Down at a Distance of 15 feet (verbal or hand signal only.)
And all that remained was the blissful relaxation and no-thinking joy of Molly's dock diving! It has been almost two years since Molly has gotten to dock dive at an actual competition event, and she was cranked to the max! She was so frustrated having to wait she latched onto my leg and tried to hump me a few times. Oh my! Molly had her first two jumps with NADD, in the senior range with a 15'6 and a 15'.
So I got my Freehold showgrounds fix for the year and a well rounded day for all! Only Perri was left out of the action. I am curious about getting her up on the dock to see if she is brave enough for a leap but the day was far too busy for that. I am planning on some more NADD events later in the season and they do allow "Try Its" with a second dog on the dock, so that is going to be a very good way for Perri to get acquainted with jumping. And as far as the Trick Dog titles, I can grandfather Perri's DMWYD Intermediate title so she can go straight to testing at the Advanced level. I will look forward to a future event with her! Not that Perri minded coming along for the ride and being support staff, she is always happy in that role.
Ein and I have been steadily plugging away in CDSP Obedience, a trial every few months in attempt to earn his CDX-C title. First, we went to matches. Then we started trialing January of last year and we NQd. We tried again in May of last year and NQd two times under a very grouchy judge at a very crowded and not-for-Ein trial site. After that I thought maybe this is not for Ein, maybe he is just getting too old. By last autumn I started peeking at the trial calender now and then, and I saw a trial with a much loved rally judge and thought it was worth trying a new to us trial site. There were two trials and Ein NQd one and squeaked by with his first Open Q and a score in the 170s. I was so thrilled, you would think it was a perfect 200! And that gave me hope. And I decided we would stick to this particular trial site since the ring layout made Ein comfortable. This past January we NQd both trials. All the NQs were for random naughty things, it seemed like a different thing each trial.
And so I entered both rounds of Open in the May trial. And we trained the things we NQd on, and we trained the things we did well on. And I entered the ring with my 13 year old rock star and told him to not be naughty!
He was naughty! His habit of "front? what is front?" that started this January has persisted. But not NQ naughty.
Trial one: heel free was fine. Running broad jump good but attempted to squirrel away to heel position with no front - I gave him a front cue since that is points off but less points off than a no front. Drop on recall. I gave him a very firm stay command and turned to face him. (no anticipating, please!) Rock solid stay, good boy! Retrieve on flat - great! Retrieve over high....here he went! Picked the dumbbell up by the bell - when has he ever done that?! Never! And to his credit he carried it to me and over the high jump and dropped it at my feet. That's 5 points off but not an NQ. (I did not know that and thought we blew it.) Go out he does this weird thing sometimes where he runs out to the stanchion to the right of the center one. Whatever dude, it's points off. Our second leg with a 180!! Movin up into the 180s!!
Trial two: heel free fine again. Running broad jump about the same with the naughty no front attempt. Drop on recall, another good boy stay! and naughty no front. I cued him front and he ignored me but then sat at almost my right side on front position. The retrieves were both good but on both run outs he was giving glances at spectators and the judge, and sometimes when he does that he loses track of the dumbbell and will nose touch it and come back to me. We have done a lot of work on this issue and it paid off, he retrieved both times! The go out he stopped short and I cued him to sit anyway (just points off.) and he laid down. More points off but we survived with a 189!
Companion Dog Excellent!!
I am so proud of him and so honored to be in the ring with a dog of his age. At the pinning for each trial the judges could not resist telling everyone in attendance how old Ein was and everybody cheered for him. He is such a special partner. My plan for now is to continue to play in Open C class (finally out of Open A!!). Ein really loves the exercises, especially the retrieve exercises. At this time I do not plan to continue on to Utility but who knows, I could be sitting here when this dog is 18 years old typing about his Utility Dog title. Anything is possible! In reality, I don't think that Ein would like the more touchy feely Stand for Exam that Utility requires, and I have always considered it a dead end for that reason.
Aaaaaaand Molly played too! She earned her third leg in Starter Novice (Heel on Lead, Figure 8 on Lead, Stand with Distraction (judge walks around.), Recall (Half length of ring) and Sit-Stay while Handler gets leash. Molly did a very nice job but she was a little bit stressy with some lagging issues on Figure 8 and two no sits between both heeling exercises so we got a 190. Still very respectable!
Since Molly titled and I had prepared her for the exercises in regular Novice class, I moved her up for the second trial. (Heel on Lead, Off Lead Figure 8, Moving Stand for Exam, Recall over Bar Jump, Sit-Stay (Handler Walks Around Ring.) The heeling was okay but I was very supportive of Molly. I miss my sharp little heeler that I had in January and it shows that I have slacked off on a lot of the motivational work I was doing with Molly's heeling. I'm going to put more work into that so we can have a nicer time for her last two Novice legs! The other exercises were uneventful and she was a Very Good Girl with no errors, I was especially pleased with her Moving Stand for Exam.
Looking forwards to our next Obedience trial in a few months, and it's time to really get serious about working on training Molly for Open.
Day one of agility fun weekend! Today was for CPE agility, first trial of the year back at our favorite trial site....Flexible Flyers on the dirt! (Bonus that one of my favorite judges was judging this weekend!)
It was originally going to be an Ein only day: Jackpot, Snooker and Wildcard. When I saw the map for the non traditional Jackpot, it contained three gambles that I knew Ein was not capable of. One contained the Aframe, and Ein has been clear that he does not want to do the Aframe. One contained weaves and Ein does not weave. One had a serpentine but I felt that it was very likely Ein would be able to push out past the plane of the second jump. I made the decision to scratch him. He might have been able to do it, but I did not feel that he was prepared for that kind of challenge and I did not want to diminish his confidence in the agility ring.
However....after Molly's visit to VOSM I had scratched her runs on this trial day. But mid-week last week I sent a last minute e-mail to the trial secretary asking if I could pretty please re-add in a Jackpot run for Molly. Dropped down to Veteran class, 12". And we were in business! I might have been taking "let her start doing hard exercise in two weeks" too literally but Molly has been stir crazy, I miss my girl in the ring, and Molly has always been a dog happy to bend the rules right along with me. (And hey, we are almost four weeks past that appointment after all.)
And it was glorious. Q number one for the C-ATCH4. Another decision I made for this year was that in CPE, Molly would go back to Level 5 (and out of Level C.) I like having that fault leeway when we're chillin' in CPE. Molly is like the phoenix, once again she rises from the ashes of something that could take her down and out and she is back in the ring by my side, lips flying. If today's run was her last ever, it was a perfect one.
It was a long wait until Ein's Snooker Level 1 run and I was really happy with him! Some reluctance on the tunnels and a judge check-out but overall a really great run for Einey! Wildcard was a bit naughty, literally running behind me to do the wrong entrance of the tunnel, I was shocked! I had Ein on my right side and I usually have to do room service to get Ein to go into a tunnel. For some reason Ein stopped in mid run, cut straight behind my back and took the wrong side of the tunnel. !!!! I would admit if my handling was to blame, I am always happy to do so! He also ran around the last jump which is not unusual for him when he is feeling insecure. In any case, it was overall a nice run for Ein and a great day! Here is Ein's Snooker run:
Today was an awesome!!day because today Einey turned thirteen years old. A teenager! It is hard to believe that Ein is 13 years old and it is so exciting that he is in such excellent health and still so physically mobile and active. I have noticed that Ein's hearing is definitely going the way of the dinosaur, especially within the last half year. If he is sleeping downstairs or upstairs when I come home from work, he does not hear me and keeps sleeping until I come find him. And when hiking, if he is too far away he does not hear me calling. Other than that, it's business as usual for Ein.
We celebrated first with a big birthday cookie from the local dog bakery.
Then we went up to the local training center for the USDAA trial! Ein was pushing down the door wanting to come along, so I brought him with us since I wanted to take him on a short hike for his birthday and it would be helpful to not have to drive back home. I also brought his cake to share with the agility dogs at the trial (Knowing a ton would still be leftover for a dinnertime treat.)
I made the decision to enter Perri in Intro class and FEO. I wanted to be able to take a toy into the ring or have the freedom to work on start line attitude or whatever else I felt could be of value with our time. I have really been analyzing and tackling Perri's issues in the ring and I feel that the start line as well as whatever collar/leash I am removing from her as well as my own behavior are make or break issues. Asking her for stopped or "managed" contacts is an issue - I feel I will need to encourage running contacts for Perri. I need to not care if she flies off of her contacts in the mean time. I do not think it will be a big training project so much as "I'm happy if you just keep running fast on this obstacle." Today's criteria was extension and movement. Today's criteria was "please for the love of all things good and holy, do not stop and stare at me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" We achieved this goal!
This is Gamblers! She blows both of her contacts but she is moving at a speed I love and does not stress down when I re-collect her for the gamble. She did play some naughty keep away after I threw her toy down! But she is allowed to do that in class as a reward to her so I couldn't be surprised she did it with a toy at a trial. I was pleased that she did this Gamble as she had to stay on her line a bit away from me and then not run wide around the final jump. I made the decision to leave the ring without her collar and leash, as I new she would continue holding onto her tug toy and stay with me on our way to the crate. Putting on any collar or leash of any kind after a run is very aversive to Perri and I am still brainstorming a work around.
It was quite a wait until Intro Pairs. I gave Perri a chewie to enjoy in her crate and then put her out in the car for the remainder of the time she would be waiting, to recharge. Her energy seemed decreased from what it had been in the morning and it made me anticipate a less motivated run. I tried to be confident and not "think that way." As it turned out, Perri was running very fast, read a rear cross I did beautifully and ran straight out the extension line at the end. Awesome! It was a perfect course for her and I. Am. Thrilled!! Bonus was that our friend Donna accidently threw the baton on the ground along with her leash - I swear Perri used her martian intergalactic mind control powers to will D to do so! She hates that baton since it is clearly used for poodle beating!
We left the trial with enough daylight for a very windy and muddy hike at the local reservoir park. I love windy hikes (muddy? not so much.) and sunset-near-lake hikes. With the wind and the cold, nobody else was in the parking lot so the dogs got to enjoy being off leash on what is normally a very popular trail. So peaceful and so what each dog deserved. Ein was in his glory marking trees and trotting out ahead of me. I am so grateful we could go on a hike for his birthday, it was always one of his favorite things to do.
Great birthday, great agility trial. Beautiful day!
Today I took Ein to what will be his final rally obedience trial. When I saw that today's trial would be at the same training club as our first trial, and under the same judge, and he would be able to finish his RLVX5 I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to retire him.
I did not study or bring a copy of the new signs and regulations with me and that was a big oops! We lost three points for some handler errors on our first run (Did the figure 8 the "old way" and asked Ein for a sit on a sign when we should have heeled forward.)
On the second run I did a better job of doing the new signs, thanks to a sensible competitor who had the rulebook saved on her iPad. (a good idea!) We got to do the new "Mini Spiral Left" (you can see us performing that in the video, it was the first exercise we did.). I also had to look up the Call Front Forward Left as the sign looked so different that it used to, I was worried about doing something wrong.
Ein did something unusual in that he sat on both of his Moving Stands. Ein has never done this before but I feel it was due to a lot of pain he is having in his left wrist lately. (Winter is very hard on Ein.) Ein's left front was always his good leg but I can see his left wrist starting to get that hyperflexed look that his right wrist has. On our first run I saw Ein stumble on the Moving Stand - and that makes me think that when he does that exercise he typically weight shifts to his front left. But today, it hurt him to do that so he shifted all his weight to his rear and sat instead (he has good knees!) I notice on the video when I re-cue him both times, he makes a point to weight shift to his front right because he is ready for it this time instead of doing what he has always done by muscle memory. A good reminder that when competing with a senior dog, or any dog, the importance of keeping in mind that pain may be the cause for them doing something out of character.
Back to last weekend, it was a four day event! Molly and I continued on to a USDAA agility trial on Sunday, but our awesome streak....did not continue!
Jumpers was like this! (with the rest of the course completed quite nicely after her detour.)
We got Snookered on Snooker. Standard was dead last of the day with a very long wait in between classes since it was a one ring trial. It was a nice run but unfortunately we had a weave fault. It was actually an interesting situation though. Of all of the agility obstacles, I would say that the weaves are Molly's number one most historically stressful obstacle. And right behind that is the dog walk. I have worked hard on Molly's understanding of my criteria as well as my own behavior around these obstacles, but we have a history. It doesn't help that Molly had three dog walk crashes last year, a new thing for us, and now where I am not really so anxious about faults anymore, I am anxious about Molly hurting herself.
Anyway. The Standard course started with the dogwalk right to the weaves, so there's a lot of stress build up there. On the map and even moreso on the actual course, the handler's path really converges towards the weave entry unless you really let the dog have some distance and find their entrance on their own. Molly is very capable of that but she is also very sensitive to my pressure at the weave entrance. So what did I do? I released her and walked to the weave entrance with her. Sigh. She stressed but actually shocked me with grabbing the weaves but she did leave them at about #4. It was just too much for her.
Looking back I wish I had asked her to stay on the dog walk, walked away from her and then released her to find her weave entrance at a distance. It would have been out of my comfort zone, but I know that would have made Molly very comfortable. And I know she has the skills. Next time we see DW to weaves I will be forcing myself to do that.
Further on down the course I did challenge myself (it always helps when you cannot qualify anymore!) by leaving her in her table stay and not releasing her until I was on the opposite side of the jump. And she stayed! (Being a long time CPE dog Molly does think the table down stay is foolish, though we have been doing some value building on her table stay over this winter as well as a lot of work on her "down" mechanics - in preparation for drop on recall training.)
So, that was that!
Monday was a vacation day from work. I originally intended to do some CPE runs with Perri to gain legs for her C-ATCH/CT-ATCH but that plan is on hold. I did take Ein to play a round of Snooker. The course was largely composed of tunnels which Ein does not really love. I could see some hesitation from him but he's a good ol' boy and he got it done. I love playing with him!
Great four days of fun to start off our agility year!
Today was CDSP Obedience for Ein and...Molly! I finally stopped just thinking and dreaming about Molly in Obedience and went ahead and entered her in a trial. I even panicked and tried to scratch her from the trial, fretting that she was not ready, but between changing my travel plans and a lost email, Molly's entry in today's trial remained. (Since yesterday's agility trial was nearby to today's obedience trial, I got a hotel room in the area. And since Molly was with us anyway....)
Good thing I did! Molly stole the show today.
Today was a double trial and Ein got his turn first at Open A in Trial 1. Ein was "on" in heeling, even feeling great enough to forge a little bit. Running broad jump was good. We have had anticipation issues on the Drop on Recall and have worked on that since the last trial, but he stayed solid until I called him. ....And did not drop. Sigh. I feel his attention flickered towards the worrisome people at the doorway for a moment, just as I gave the command. Both retrieve exercises were perfect. Ein has a new dumbbell that is a better fit for him, but I still had it in my mind that he might not retrieve it under the stress of a trial. No problems there. No running around the jump either (that was last trial's screwball move!). The Go Out and Sit he boomeranged back to me and I sent him again and he went back out and sat. Okay! More to work on! A bummer since his Go Out was really nice at the last trial.
Molly got her turn second. Since I started doing CDSP with Ein and Perri, there was a new class added called "Starter Novice". I decided to enter Molly in that rather than the standard Novice class. Heel on Leash, Figure 8 on leash, Stand with Distraction (Judge circles your dog but does not touch her.), Recall (Half length of the ring.) and Sit Stay (while handler retrieves leash.) Molly heeled like a dream. She blew me away! Both on the regular heeling and the Figure 8. I have never enjoyed such a flawless Figure 8 pattern with either Ein or Perri. It was an incredible feeling. Molly held heel position doggedly, her tail was wagging. She sprinted in the fast pace but stayed right in heel position. I have done no extensive heelwork practice with her, just a lot of tooling around with bowl pivots and what we do waiting for our turns at agility trials and training. Which...when I think about it could be considered extensive. She understands heel position as solidly as Perri does, with none of Perri's stress. I wish I had a video. But I know how it felt and I will never forget it.
Ein loves heeling but he heels wide and often lags when he checks on the judge or spectators in worry. I never get that feeling of being 100% in sync with him, and I respect his concerns. You cannot fight fear. He loves heeling with me and wants to give me all of his attention, but he cannot ignore "threats". Molly is all bravado and confidence and it was a strange, beautiful feeling for me to actually heel a dog who I have trained well and who is totally in the moment with me. Wow.
The reason I wanted to scratch the trial was that I did not feel I worked Molly's stand-stay to fullproof. And we certainly have not practiced with other "judges", other than Vince. She stayed solid as a rock, not a foot out of place. Her recall was lovely, and her sit stay was solid. Molly scored a 198.5 and was awarded highest scoring Starter Novice dogs. There were golden retrievers in her class and my naughty pitbull mutt scored the highest. Floored. Who is this dog?!
Back to Ein, my angel, my golden boy...naughty again!! Great heeling, great running BJ but skipped front, this time anticipated the DOR. But he dropped! Great retrieves. Did his Go Out and downed instead of sitting. Oh Ein!
So our training will focus on Go Outs in more stressful environments. Same with DOR. I need to replicate the anticipating, as well as distractions as he is running and recalling towards me. Since I don't see, at this time, a suitable CDSP trial for us in my area until May, I want to try to get Ein to some matches where we can utilize "judge" pressure to help get Ein more solid in his problem areas. He used to have a very hard time retrieving around judges but he has conquered that (at least....for now!) so hopefully we can do the same with the DOR and the Go Out.
And Molly just powerhoused another beautiful for her second Starter Novice Q! One oopsie she did make was not sitting at halt for our first Figure 8 round. She did sit, with no command from me, but there was quite a pause before she did it. The judge deducted us 4 points for that, which I felt was a rather substantial deduction for a slow sit. Oh well. Everything else was beautiful! We got deducted 3 points for a slow finish on the recall, but I oddly do not remember a slow finish at all. I am very honest when there are faults made from my team, but I felt Molly had a very snappy finish and an instant response to my finish command. Again...oh well. 192.5 and a first place!
What an exciting day! The bottom line is that Ein was working really nicely despite his faults, I still had the sense he is settling into Open class and working better as we go along. And Molly blew all expectations out of the water. I look forwards to our next trial where I would love for her to title and move right up to Novice. We will practice so we are ready if that should happen.
I suppose I should write some big summary post about 2017. It was not my favorite year, what with the Molly Cancer and the Perri Coming Undone and all that. But maybe later.
Today I took Molly and Ein to our last agility trial of the year, literally on the last day of the year.
Ein ran in Jumpers and Wildcard. He was nervous in Jumpers, he has not run at this trial site in a few years and the close quarters of ringside made him worry. Most of the course was towards the back of the ring and he did well as we got away from where people were congregated. On Wildcard he ran like the wind and his confidence seemed to be restored! We are standing at 610 points towards Ein's Level One Point title. This year, Ein and I have begun to enjoy agility together more than I ever believed possible. I cannot put into words what a blessing he has been for me this year while navigating through Molly and Perri's health and mental issues.
Molly was entered in all five classes today. Originally she was only entered in three, but since I scratched Perri from the two runs she was entered in, I substituted Molly in. Jumpers was first and was lovely but for a wrong course tunnel. Wildcard was next, lovely but for a dropped bar. Standard was the old dog walk to the tunnel at the bottom and you-have-to-handle-to-the-tunnel-side-that-isn't-in-their-line. Gets us every time and it got us today! And then without warning I took her out of her crate for her Snooker run and she was dead lame on her bad front foot. I scratched her last two runs and ran the timer for the rest of the trial.
It was like. Symbolism for this really really tough year. I did not even win anything in the worker raffle, just to keep things consistent for me! But like I told the judge...I am just happy my dog is alive to play with me today. The judge had, had, a lymphoma dog, a dog with high grade B-Cell that was treated with chemo and had a 9 month remission. It's easy to forget that Molly has lymphoma. It's easy to get caught up in agility dreams with her, like I always dreamed. Like we have always done. But she has lymphoma. And mast cell disease. And a really bad arthritic foot. And she's only 8 and it's really not fair at all. But it is reality. And I will do my best to be grateful to my girl who is always willing to be by my side despite her body's constant betrayal. When she's good she's great, and when she's not I'll just pour myself a glass of wine and be happy that Molly seems to never run out of better-feeling tomorrows.
Last night I took Ein and Perri to our local Friday night CPE trial. Wildcard and Standard for Perri, only Wildcard for Ein. I normally do two runs with Ein but since he has made it clear he is no longer a fan on the Aframe, we don't need to do Standard.
Wildcard was first and there was a straight extension line with some weird angles in the beginning, leading straight to a tunnel trap. The hosting club began the trial 15 minutes early, so I did not get to walk the course. So much for being organized and confident for Perri's sake! I worked ring crew for "small dogs" so I could be in the ring and get a little bit more familiar with the course.
Even when we set up on the start line I was not set on how I wanted to handle that first line! I decided to be very brave indeed and set Perri up on a start line stand. Whoah. It let me set her line over the first two jumps but then do the necessary push out to the next three. At the end of that was a tunnel trap, but I rear crossed the jump and pulled Perri - which she did very nicely. I was doing a lot of mental management to be confident of doing that and to not agonize over the potential for a wrong course. With Molly she would have taken that tunnel no matter how much deceleration or rear crossing I did and I had to remind myself that Perri is not Molly. She is more handler focused and if I am confident in my decisions on course and she is not stressed, she will follow me. And she did! Entered her weaves and stayed in them. From there I needed to stop and see where to go next, as the angle of the next jump was hard for me to see from where I had been ring crewing. No matter, we qualified and finished well under time for at last, our first Level 5 Wildcard Q. Ha!
This all meant a lot to me, as in the beginning of August was when I "fired" Perri for a while. It was after we drove to a farther away club specifically to get Wildcard legs, but Perri was so stressed out that we NQd both Wildcard opportunities. It was nice to come back with a Wildcard Q at Perri's first true planned trial back since then. (The other two trials were Pairs for the sake of a friend, and unplanned substitution for Molly at a CPE trial last month.)
We also did Standard! I was feeling really great about this course. I ran with Perri off the start line, cheered her up majorly on the teeter and then did a front cross at the end of it. I did not have much other option as the only way to run with her on the first line was to be on her left, and rear crossing the teeter is a super non-option for Perri. Unfortunately that big front cross all the while cheering and carrying on and not asking for her stop criteria (I haven't been lately because Perri has been having confidence issues on the teeter)...anyway it caused her to bound off the teeter early as my shoulders were pointed at the Aframe and she happily ran towards it.
I forgot myself and called her and she stopped dead in her tracks. Not a stressed out stare for no good reason, but a stink eye. A stare down at me! I deserved it and I welcome it! She was doing what she thought I asked for and I called her off of it and I was getting some attitude! She stared me down for a while, and then finally did the #5 jump even though she seemed thoroughly disgusted. There were some weave stress issues then and I did ask her to repeat them. That was a risky decision. She weaved fast and then ran the rest of that course fast and confident! The gamble decision played out okay, whew. She did her second set of weaves, entry and commitment, great! And the rest of the course was a lot of extension with a little tunnel trap at the end. Again Perri pulled towards me and took the correct end. She was sassy and proud on her dog walk, which was second to last obstacle, and finished the course with her tail up and happy!
To bounce back from a moment of some confusion and weave stress was a really big deal for me and I am almost happy it happened! I do question my decisions. Maybe I should have left her take the Aframe. Maybe I should not have asked her to repeat the weaves. However, our dynamic was not what we had been dealing with a few months ago. The issue a few months ago was random disengaging with no discernible triggers and slowing down to a trot while staring at nothing. Last night it was unclear handling and truly, some sassiness on her part. Perri is a sassy dog when she is not stressed out and she was right to go to the A-frame and she knew it! So. This time, a clear trigger. I kept my mind clear, I acted playful, I judged where Perri's mind was and if it was strong enough to handle a slight readjustment, and I judged correctly. Had it been that mindless drifting and environmental stress, I truly believe I would have played along with her to get her back in the game and feeling brave again.
It will still be a month before Perri does more agility and that is okay. I have given considerable thought to moving Perri to Enthusiast level in CPE next year. She would have to jump 16" which is the only thing I am not happy about. What I am looking to do is skip a class and gain more time to run courses. Skipping a class would allow Perri and I to skip Standard class as we pursue a CT-ATCH. CPE is kind enough to do a one time transfer of any legs earned down to Enthusiast or Specialist, so all of her Level 5 legs would be retained. I had this idea after last month's CPE Agility trial. Now after last night I am unsure. If I were to move Perri to Enthusiast it would be because I believe that Perri and I absolutely cannot tolerate Standard class, that it would be detrimental to us as a team to continue playing in that class. At least for now. However, last night we both kept our cool and rode out a little mini storm and came out with a wagging tail at the end. That means a lot to me. That means maybe we could dig in together and work on a goal of playing in Standard class. Maybe. We could. We will see how December goes. I am learning that life with Perri is one day at a time.
And by the way, Ein played in Wildcard Level 1 with a faster YPS than Perri and a time of 18.88 seconds. He was so fast, his commitment to obstacles was so improved and he is so loving the game. I even layered the last wildcard (he did the tunnel and I layered the weaves between us once he was committed!). This boy!
I worked up the nerve to enter Ein in another CDSP (double) trial. Truth be told I almost cancelled my entry, fretting that he was simply not ready. Especially not for his Go Out. But I kept the entry. I picked a trial with a judge I love and who I knew I would feel comfortable with. Ein and I have worked hard on his Go Out as well as some other problem areas between Spring and now and I really did want to see how things were looking.
This particular trial building was perfect for Ein. Ring separate from crating and spectating. Steward table off to the side in the ring rather than at one end or another. The ring entrance was a doorway with two foldable ring gates stretched across it. Wide, and it allowed room for spectators to see in, but not on either of the ends of the ring where Ein would need to run towards or away from. Cool.
Ein's heel off lead was laggy on the first trial and he had a missed sit because the heeling pattern ended right at the entrance of the room and he got distracted momentarily by spectators. I was told a missed sit is -5 points but a verbal cue to sit would have been a -3 points, so best to give a verbal if I'm not getting a sit. (And really, best to support my dog too. Bad Handler.) Running broad jump, good! The BJ was right by the spectator gate and I was happy with how he handled that. Drop on Recall, good boy! I can't remember but I think he anticipated the finish on this exercise. Retrieve on Flat great!! No anticipating the send, picked it right up and was fast! (and adorable!) Retrieve over High Jump Ugh! Retrieved the DB and then came wide around the jump and....didn't take the jump. We've worked on off set pick ups of both treats and the DB and he catches the jump. The judge reminded me I could have cued the jump as I saw he was coming in on the flat, I did not know that! (I forget to ask if was points off, not that I care but it would be good to know.) Go Out was okay. He went out but sort of started this arc and return to me. I just cued him to sit by the gate and returned to him. Not bad, definitely and improvement!
I was super thrilled with Ein's attitude and work in the first trial and really felt like our hard work has paid off. Ein is loving being in the ring.
Perri got to play in Novice C (in CDSP Novice C class is for dogs who have earned their CD-C title). I tried some tricks, having some super high value treats. Asking a friend to hold Perri for me right before my turn so she would be excited to be with me when the leash was handed back over. Perri still flattened out for the ring. Dutiful flat heeling for the heel on lead (though only 1/2 point off.), she did perk up about half way through. Figure 8 was....well we got eight points off for steward sniffing and getting lost with stewards. Sigh. No deductions on the Stand for Exam or the Sit-Stay, and a half point off on the recall for a crooked sit. Strong finish! The judge even pointed out Perri's tail which was firmly slammed down for her whole time in the ring. Like everything with Perri, I know she is capable of loving the ring but today was not her day. She was still a very good poodle and tried very hard for me.
After that I stewarded in Utility and before I knew it, it was Ein's second turn! Heeling was much prettier this time, but he had some other tricks up his sleeve! Broad jump was good but Ein went right to finish position afterwards and grinned up at me. Clever boy! Drop on Recall was great but the same thing, why front when you can just go straight to finish?? The retrieve on flat he amped it up to a new level by dropping the dumbbell at my feet and speeding into heel position. Oh my! Too much! For the retrieve over high Ein returned over the jump no problem and I firmly reminded him with a verbal "front". He say quite squarely, held the DB until I took it and did a finish when told. What a hoot!! Still in the realm of the (barely) qualifying, we proceeded to the send area for the Go Out. I made a fuss of showing him his mark, stood up and sent him. Beautiful rockstar Go Out, stayed put while I returned around him. Besides the extreme naughtiness on the fronts, it was our best run yet!
And I still did not know if I qualified. I'm not terribly savvy on the rules and I wasn't sure if we lost too many points on all those missed fronts and especially the dumbbell drop. But then I heard our "Open A dog qualifies with a score of 179.5!" I raised both arms up, so happy! Our first Open leg!! We did it!
A close friend of mine often laughs at me because I tend to make declarations...only to change my mind later. I did exactly that regarding yesterday's trial. "I believe I need to be firm that Perri does not run here (on dirt.) anymore." Also, Perri is on an agility break, right? But what am I to do when my best Molly hurts her foot and I've got five perfectly good runs and and and....I swapped Perri in!
I am bad. bad. bad. But I was resolute to scratch and quit playing if things went badly, resolute to keep running and not fix "errors" (of the "spacing out and trotting past an obstacle for stress reasons"-variety) Most importantly, I felt enthusiastic about a chance (however naughty on my part) to play with Perri. Not out of duty, not out of "fixing my project", just excitement over the opportunity.
credit R.McGavin
Our first run of the day on dirt footing is normally zooming and barking and silliness. It was...not! The course was very short, it was the game called Colors. There are two mini courses on the map and you pick which you would like to run with your dog. I chose the shorter one, only eight obstacles. The downside of that course was that the weaves were very close to "ring side" but I wasn't insisting on weaving today. Firm. Perri was a thing of beauty, running fast as the wind and the course was blessedly a course which allowed for extension - perfect. Perri even hit her weave entry and weaved straight through and took the finish jump. 16-something seconds! 5.44YPS! Perri!
We played Snooker next and I hated the course, but I do often call Perri the "Snooker Queen". Perri never NQs Snooker anymore, in CPE or USDAA, even all through this year and her issues that we have been struggling with. She is "further along" in Snooker in both venues than any other game. And she was the Snooker Queen, doing my goofy choppy plan that I hated with happiness and speed! The weave poles were "Number 7" and she did skip out of them after three but I was a very good poodle support handler and did not miss a beat, just kept running and asked her to get on the table.
Jackpot was next and Perri started to fray. Off the start line she took a jump and had a moment where she spaced out and slow-trotted in a direction I was not running. Thank goodness this happened in Jackpot, a class where I am most at ease. It set me up for success. I changed course immediately and made a big noisy cheering fuss and took off in the direction that Perri was moving. It worked. She sort of rebooted and then started running with me again and enjoying herself! Good! The Jackpot was "non traditional" so the rules were: you had to collect points and after the buzzer, any tunnel that you did meant that the obstacle following that tunnel would triple in points. I asked Perri for a tunnel, then the Aframe (tripling it to 15 points.) and then did two more tunnels on our way out (tripling the second tunnel to 9 points.) Cool!
I lost Perri on the fourth run, Standard. She was slow off the start line and had a moment of stopping. I stopped with her and made the claw hands and scuffed some dirt sideways, and that energized her into a pounce! It was short lived as she came out of the next tunnel in a daze and trotted past the next jump. I switched course and just ran past her to a panel jump and asked her for the dogwalk (her favorite obstacle). She did that, then the teeter but was very sticky on it. The weaves and a tunnel were the last two obstacles and she said "no thank you". After she ran past the weaves we just went straight to the leash. The whole while I was running with her and did not stop and compound her stress. We had one more round of Standard left to go, but I scratched that.
It was a good day overall. Success and good moments, and a reminder of Perri's limitations. I respect it all. I am proud of myself for scratching her last run, but I wish I had listened to Perri's behavior in Jackpot and scratched the first round of Standard as well. I am a work in progress too! One other thing that I did differently was to keep Perri outside on the car as much as possible, and then keep her back away from the ringside area as long as possible before our runs. Will continue to experiment with this.
And of course I must mention my most perfect Mr. Ein! He played in Colors and in Snooker with Qs in each game! He is running faster and faster and staying committed to obstacles better, such a fun boy! In Snooker we had to do a rather obnoxious plan so that we could earn enough points to still qualify without doing the Aframe, which was number 5 in the closing. Since Ein is in Level 1 Specialist, he only needed 24 points. We earned 21 with our opening alone and did obstacles 2-4 in the closing.
I am having so much fun playing agility with Ein. As of yesterday's scores he is over halfway towards his 1000 point Level 1 title. We sure are having a lot of fun together! I daresay he is beginning to love this game more than Rally or Obedience!
