Covid Titles and the Wine and Weenies UKI Trial!

For better or for worse, "things are opening up" where I live, Covid-wise. My hospital is back to operating nearly at full steam elective procedure/surgery-wise. Zorro and I have had three in person agility classes now and it was absolutely wonderful to get back to it. My yard barely has room for a set of weave poles or two jumps at a time so I had to put agility on the mental shelf for a little while. Agility is my happy place, my stress relief - and so when work became more stressful than ever during the pandemic, I really missed having that outlet. Being able to focus my training and earn fun titles at home was a welcome replacement for our weekly agility lessons and I am so appreciative for the organizations that made at home titles a possibility.

We continued on with the AKC Trick Dog program, and earned Zorro's Trick Dog Advanced...

And I just got word that Zorro passed his Novice Parkour title!

We actually had to re-do one of our videos. Darn it, I thought I was good at following the rules! Our "Under" video did not pass. The dog has to go Under something at least shoulder height or lower. I did feel like we met the requirements there but I think we cut it too close. With Parkour, if the violation is "non safety" related, you can resubmit that one video for free. With our Under video resubmission, Zorro passed and earned his Novice Parkour title!

But speaking of agility, UKI Agility was rocking it by offering At Home trials! Every week you could enter in your choice of three different sized courses in many different classes, clear runs earning titling Qs. The smallest size offered is 30x30. I of course do not have even a 30x30 space so, UKI at Home was out for me. As time went along, UKI loosened the restrictions to allow competitors to do UKI At Home in places other than their own yard or building, as long as it was permitted by law. When our state opened to "yellow" phase, my agility trial buddy and I decided to get together and have our own little outdoor trial. We entered Speedstakes, and since we always get a grilled hot dog when we go to trials together, hot dogs would be on the menu. And of course, wine! The Wine and Weenies trial!

We did managed to pass our Speedstakes run. Not my best work, and definitely a different "feel". The course was tight at 30x30 with not much room for the dog to open up, especially a 20" dog but hey - it felt like heaven. And Zorro? That guy is just happy to do whatever makes me happy. Always. 

Perri Novice Parkour PKD-N!

Perri and I successfully "avenged" our Novice Parkour NQ! And I think now I have the hang of the Parkour association rules.

We did quite a bit of this title at home. You are required to do only three of the fifteen required behaviors "outside with naturally occurring obstacles". (Not placed for the purpose of the title.) We certainly did that with more than three but it was nice to be able to work on this at home. Creativity is the only limit - you start to look at everything and think "How could I use that for Parkour??" 

For Perri's title I started working on it when we drove out to our raw co-op pick up location at the beginning of the month. I saw the cool bench with the two wooden labradors en route and did our "10 Second Wait" on that. We did a nice walk at a park that was loaded with too many people. (And Ein wanted to come along for the ride but he got overwhelmed on our walk. That seems to happen with him sometimes with his aging/cognitive issues.) After our pick up we kept encountering lots of people out enjoying their day, so it was nice to be able to retreat to my quiet back yard and work on our title. What I am saying is, I like that you can do a whole lot of the Novice title at home. Especially with a dog who has environmental and dog reactivity issues, like Perri.

The rest of the title was done at a small local park with a nice walking loop. It is not terribly popular, though people definitely do go to it. I brought Molly along each time since it is smooth walking for her. You can hear her screeching with frustration in the background of some of the videos. <Smile>

This video is all of our behaviors except for "Creativity" and "Three Obstacle Sequence". The "dog getting off obstacle" and "5 second wait times" shortened for the sake of length. The dog getting onto and off of every obstacle is required, and the wait times on the obstacle are listed in the rules. 

Creativity:

Three Obstacle Sequence:

I do not do much training with Perri anymore, other than Nosework. It was a little strange to come back to her pace and remember to respect her time limits and confidence drops. But I also found that I enjoyed working with her, laughing with her and revisiting a goal that we worked on in the past together. We have both come far over the years. There were a few times that a set up did not work for Perri. I am able to recognize that so much faster than I used to. I am able to set up success for her and keep her feeling proud of herself. She has taught me well.

Zorro Quarantine COVID Parkour Title!

It has been four years since I have attempted any Parkour titling with my dogs. Perri and I failed Novice years ago due to my own inability to follow the rules, more on that later. International Dog Parkour Association released a limited edition Quarantine COVID title this year , with three available titling levels and I have been eyeing it up since then. Last week I decided to get to work with Zorro and earn that title!

I was rather nervous about breaking rules. Here's what I learned:
The dog does not have to be wearing a harness for ground level or low obstacles. But if you want to, or need to, use a leash it must NEVER be attached to the dog's collar.

Take the time to set up good video angles with both hands in clear view. The dog must be shown getting on and off of every obstacle. No cookies in your hands. Don't do anything that could appear as luring. I got in the habit of making my hands flat like target hands.

Overall Zorro and I had fun putting this title together. There were seven categories. You had to submit 15 behaviors from the seven categories, and at least one behavior from each category.
There was
"Four Paws On": Hard, Soft, Moves, Plastic, Wood (grooming tub grate, dog bed, toilet, wooden wall art.)
"Two Paws On": Hard, Soft, Metal, Plastic, Wood (pot from the kitchen, coffee canister with plastic lid, wooden stool.)
"Back Up": We certainly strengthened his Back Up behavior! Your Back Up could be: Narrow, Tall (I don't honestly know what that means!), Over, Under or Through. I took videos for Over (the one I submitted - back up over an object, I chose a slip leash.), Under and Through. I got too anxious about not passing for some reason that I submitted the "safest" one. And poor Zorro worked hard the whole time to get the ideal video - and lots of treats! I was so pleased by "Under" especially having Perri lurking on top of her groom table supervising the whole thing but I kept fretting it wasn't enough steps, or I was not in the frame enough.

Through:

Under:

"Balance": Narrow​, Uneven, Wide, Wobbles, Soft​​ - We only did one from this category. Wide, on an antique firewood storage box handed down through Vince's family.

"Under": Solid, Moves, Long, Low, Raised - Again, only one. Run under a chair.

"Around": Short ,Wide, Two objects before returning, Long, Tight fit - we did a lot in this category and Zorro was pleased as ever to do so. I was strangely obsessed with his running around objects when he was a puppy and the work we did in our foundation paid off big time! We did a small piece of firewood for Short, our two wood buckets for "two objects", and a big potted plant for "Wide."

"Control", demonstration two different behaviors on one object. 2on vs 4on, Around vs 4on, Under vs 4on, Under vs Around, 2on vs Under (We did Around a Cooler vs Four Feet On the cooler.)

Here is the full video of our submission. I got the great news today that Zorro passed! I actually managed to follow all of the rules! Zorro is a good boy. Me? Room for improvement! This video is shortened a bit in many places. Dogs have to remain on obstacles for 5 seconds and be shown getting on and off, the dog has to go around the "around" objects twice. But for the sake of a shorter video, I clipped things down a little tighter.

Next venture: avenge Perri's Novice Parkour title! We are already hard at work.