Zorro Level 1 CPE Weekend!

This past weekend, Zorro and I played some CPE. I had originally not planned to do any CPE with Zorro, but CPE is perfectly set up to allow a team that is not quite ready for prime-time to get into the ring and run on some courses together. While I do feel this can invite teams to trial too soon, it can also greatly benefit new teams. It's all up to the handler.

CPE Level 1 offers Standard class and six different games classes, and none of them have weave poles or teeter required. Zorro has a fine teeter performance, but we have been taking much time polishing and perfecting his weaves.

After work last Friday we made our CPE-Wildcard-and-Standard debut! Wildcard was first and I was thrilled with Zorro's commitment to staying on a line of straight jumps. He is really showing independence as he matures, this used to be very challenging for him and we have worked hard on it.

Standard, we had two wrong courses. This is where I was proud of myself! I didn't yell his name to try to keep him away from the wrong course. I just accepted what I handled and "owned" where I not support  my young dog enough...and moved on.

The trial was offering five classes Saturday and Sunday each. When I first entered, I only entered Friday night. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do a full trial day with my boy and see how we felt. I entered the full day for Sunday: Jumpers, Snooker, Colors, Standard and Jackpot (Non Traditional.)

We started with Jumpers and it was smokin' fast! I do not have a video of it and I so wish that I did, it was thrilling! Such confidence from my guy and the ending was a straight speed line with total commitment. The whole run was sub-20 seconds. Really exciting!

Snooker was next and I felt some hesitation after our second "color" but then he perked up as we started the closing! I took him out to the fenced in area outside for some fetch after that run. I am trying to be supportive of adjusting him to a longer trial day where he is the center of my focus.

Colors was next. Another one I have no video of, but I know it was a Q!

Standard was next and this time we did qualify! Such a bummer we did not Q on Friday night or we could have earned our Level 1 Standard title (And, completed Level 1 - with the Jackpot Q we earned later in the day.) Anyway, this run didn't feel great in a few areas but as I watch it again and again...so much nice stuff! I was confused as to why he hesitated on the top of the second pass over the Aframe, but I think it was because I said his target word while he was up there. I think I confused him, saying that before he had begun descending. And I collected him too tight before we began the closing line. And just before the panel. I do not think he has ever experienced a MAD panel jump. Wall jump, yes! But not this type of panel jump. At first I thought the refusal (not scored in CPE) was because of handling, but the second approach and refusal was confusion at the solid panel obstacle. Third time was the charm and Zorro did nicely in the ending!

We ended the day with Jackpot. We had to do a tunnel-Aframe-tunnel with a small distance challenge of about 5 feet away from each Tunnel. This was worth 15-points, and then Zorro and I earned more than enough points in our opening to qualify (for our Level 1 Strategy title.) Zorro did get to do the teeter, twice, and I also asked him for weave poles. He missed the entry but weaved nicely. I stayed back from my original handling point instead of escorting him to the entry. He knows his entries, but he is green. I was very happy with him! I did not need to ask him to weave, but Jackpot was a good opportunity to do so. I was also pleased that Zorro did an automatic down on the table in both Jackpot and Snooker. In CPE the table is never used as a pause table, but as a "stop the clock" obstacle in certain games. The dog only needs to hit it to stop the clock. They can bounce on and off, they can stand, sit, down. You may ask them for a behavior but only one time and if they do not do it, you need to move on and leash your dog. This is an area where competing in CPE is not supportive of my goals for Zorro, but that is the game! Fortunately Zorro does not have any table training issues and remembered his job. Yay!

We finished the weekend one Standard Q shy of Level 1 completion, with his CL1-H and CL1-S titles and a Perfect Day 5/5 on Sunday. Not bad, baby dog! It was truly a dream weekend and I am absolutely thrilled for our future together! Zorro is so mature and runs agility at trials with such focus. I feel his young age shows in carefulness as the day goes on (rather than zoomies or other classic stress behaviors) and I will see more stamina and speed as we go on together, and as I continue to support him and look out for his needs. We are going to have so much fun together!

Zorro CPE Debut

Sunday Zorro had his debut in CPE and also did his first "for real" runs. This trial was sort of a last minute decision for me and a weeeee bit of a lapse of self control. (the plan was to do training runs only for a while!) The truth is that training runs in USDAA make me feel more secure, whereas in CPE I am a little more relaxed. And Zorro? He is just Mr Chill.

I was not sure how he would react to dirt footing, and I knew he would be seeing new-to-him equipment. He primarily sees and trains on Doggy Jumps jumps, with thick chunky bars. This trial had more traditional style jumps. A double jump he had never seen and a dog walk he has never seen. He has been trained on the double jump, but this piece of equipment can really vary in appearance by trial site.

Anyway! He was just....great. It kind of blew my mind. No zoomies in the dirt, no sniffing in the dirt, no getting "high" because of the dirt. Errors made were baby dog errors or handler confidence errors. I was so super happy with this guy! We played in Jumpers, Colors and Fullhouse - he qualified in all. Zorro earned his first agility title, CPE Level 1 Fun! (one Q each in Level 1 Jumpers and Fullhouse.)

Jumpers was first. A tough 90 degree turn after a speed line, we had a refusal (CPE does not score those). Everything else was great except me letting go of a rear cross just before he committed and another refusal. Disappointed in myself because I chickened out of a front cross and I had plenty of time to do one - I need to be braver! I was thrilled with Z pulling to the correct end of a tunnel discrimination. 

Colors was next, he ran it in 11 seconds and would have been faster if not for me getting hopelessly behind in the middle of the course! This boy has wings. In Colors you have your choice of two mini-courses. Zorro's Aframe training is not complete so I chose the course that did not contain the Aframe.

Fullhouse was last, always Molly's favorite! I was thinking of her when I ran. I didn't love the layout of this Fullhouse but we made it happen with 24 points. Zorro only needed 19 for his level. In Fullhouse you need three bar jumps, two 3-point obstacles (tunnel or panel jump), and a "joker". This course's Joker options were: Aframe, weaves, dog walk. We went with the dog walk because Zorro's weaves and Aframe are not ready for prime time. He was a little slower than normal on a different dog walk but he did well! I think, having my girls who never generalized very well, I am extremely appreciative to have a dog who is able to do so.

Retirement from CPE

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.

Birthdays and Baby Titles

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.

CT-ATCH Perri!

Perri and I rolled into yesterday needing the following Qs: Jumpers. Wildcard. And one Q in "any" class. (it would be the 10th leg to make up for skipping the required 10 Standard legs you need for a C-ATCH.)

After Perri's stressy behavior last Saturday as well as an extremely uninspired practice run in Molly's agility class on Monday night, I was trying my best to feel confident.

And we started with Wildcard. Two jumps to a tandem over the spread jump (our first wildcard). A tunnel discrimination for our second Wildcard, I let the easy end be our "A". And then the weaves. Perri got silly and I thought she would start zooming. Thank goodness for no refusals in CPE! I asked her to weave again and she hopped through them nicely, nailed our last Wildcard "B" (a pull to a tunnel instead of the bar jump in her line.) And out the ending. She ran around the last jump but thankfully returned to me without back jumping and took the jump. And not over time!

I started to feel a little more relaxed! The Jumpers course wasn't a straightforward flowy course, it asked for some handling. The first three jumps Perri came off the startline in slow motion, and did a brief stare at me after #2. (I tried to post turn. She was displeased.) I said "Don't do this, Perri!" And then we were off like a shot, a lovely fast Q of the rest of the Jumpers course and 8 seconds under SCT. (as opposed to last weekend's Jumpers course which was an allowable 2 seconds over SCT.) Perri even did a lovely pinwheel at the end, which she often finds demotivating. Good Poo!

The morning was non stop since I had Ein entered in Colors, Wildcard and Jumpers (by the way, perfect day for the boy! 3/3!) and I was working out of my car so I felt like I was back and forth out of the building over and over between course walk throughs and bringing each dog in and out. After Ein's Jumpers run I finally had time to relax a bit since we had to wait for all of the Standard levels to run through before Jackpot. I timed all of those classes and made my Jackpot plan.

And then it was time. I kept Perri sitting on my chair the entire time we were waiting to run. I worked on LAT with large trigger dogs she was worried about. I massaged her neck and scalp and ears. I "squished" her. And then we went in there and we nailed it with nearly 20 more points than we needed and 8 seconds under time. The run could not have been more perfect. She was silly and happy. When she hits the table to stop the clock her tail is wagging. That tail was wagging leaving the ring. Our run was one of mutual enjoyment. Perri felt safe and happy and she was loving the game. How very perfect.

"love, if your wings are broken 

Borrow mine `til yours can open, too 

`Cause I`m gonna stand by you 

Even if we`re breaking down, 

we can find a way to break through 

Even if we can`t find heaven, 

I`ll walk through Hell with you 

Love, you`re not alone, `cause I`m gonna stand by you.

Enthusiast.

Before Perri did the CPE trial in October, I had decided that if she did well I would file the official paperwork with CPE to move her earned Level 5 legs in Regular class to Enthusiast. Enthusiast allows Perri a little bit more time in the ring, a lower jump height and most importantly: you can skip a class. This would mean that Perri would not have to do Standard class in order to earn the Enthusiast level championship title, the CT-ATCH. The extra time would be appreciated. I am embarrassed to jump Perri at 16" but that is very silly. Perri doesn't care. And while mentally I had to reconcile that I felt like I was almost cheating by not fulfilling the complete requirements for a CT-ATCH, I am grateful that CPE allows us the opportunity to earn a comparable title that is more Perri's speed right now.

Anyway. That left us at needing three quailfying rounds in Wildcard, two in Jumpers and one "any class". In CPE when you skip a class you must earn those legs elsewhere. It doesn't matter which class. You need 10 Standard legs for a C-ATCH and so Perri needed 10 legs in any other game. She actually already  had three Standard legs and she has a mixture of extra game legs beyond the required 5. Mostly Snooker. That's her jam.

We went to the local training center for my normal favorite Friday night of agility. The hosting club always offers two classes on Friday evenings and two full weekend days of classes. Fortunately, Wildcard was offered Friday night. I wish I had a video. It was my favorite run of the weekend! In Wildcard, which is my least favorite class mostly because instead of true discriminations you would actually see in agility, it's often just two obstacles plunked down next to one another. Or a tunnel where you have to pick one end or the other (and that is a true normal discrimination but one that I hate!) Mostly because of Molly. Perri is no challenge with tunnels since they are her least favorite obstacle.

We ended up doing two sets of weaves, and the dog walk and Aframe! I normally turn myself inside out to avoid weave poles as a Wildcard choice but the course layout left me no choice (horrible approach to the dog walk after the course's second Wildcard choice - a tunnel end discrimination.) Perri was on fire and so happy, almost 4 YPS, pushy on her contacts but a Good Girl and her second set of weaves in particular was performed with speed. Really great start to the weekend!

Saturday was only two classes for Perri: Wildcard again and Jumpers. I was mentally coaching myself through not being uptight about "We need these legs!" Connection, confidence. And if Perri has issues, it's just information. She is who she is.

And Perri sure did give me some "information". On both of our courses we had to follow a dog that Perri has disliked for years. Perri does not like fast dogs, loud dogs, flashy dogs and erratic dogs. This dog is a meek, anxious dog that is smaller than Perri and she has despised her for a long time, who knows why! To the point where she has had reactive outbursts ringside when this dog was far away from Perri. We had none of that on Saturday but Perri sure did notice this dog in the ring ahead of her and standing outside of the ring before her turn. Moving to Enthusiast means Perri is now the same height class as this dog. Groan.

This was our Wildcard run. Sigh on the weaves. I can tell I was feeling stressed. I'm just not very smooth. I'm trying my best to not worry that Perri will have a Perri moment and just be strong for her. Trying hard not to Want the Q.

Jumpers was last of the day. Perri couldn't get her eyes off of her nemesis dog when we entered the ring and was fixated on her to the point where she barked as the dog left the ring. This blew all of my fine positive start line plans out of the water. Perri was very pokey and stopped in front of two tunnels. She was two seconds over time but she qualified. First CPE Jumper Q in two years. And I had to work so hard for it. I don't have a video but I feel like I forced myself to be more relaxed on this run. I did a ton of being in front of Perri, running backwards to motivate her and draw her into me, and running on the outside of her line to motivate her. I'm proud of her for not stopping and starting at me. I actually smiled at her the first time she wouldn't take the tunnel. That's another thing I'm thinking about. When/if she shuts down, I have no idea what my face looks like but it's probably pushy and harried, begging. Fake smiling is something I'm trying.

Oh Perri. What a mind game this weekend was. But, you did it. And that is something. Perri really dug in there especially during Jumpers and she worked hard just because I wanted her to. She was not enjoying herself.

This is so hard for me. Perri loves agility when everything is Just Right. But I can't always make everything Just Right. If I could, I would. If I could just tell Perri she is safe, I will never let anything happen to her ever again, I would. But I can't make those decisions for her, Perri decides when she feels safe. So I am not going to obsess over Perri having a melty moment and we will see what next weekend brings!

PS. Ein played Jumpers too and was so sassy and fast! He even tried to nip my face while ringside and kept jumping around like a flea! What a fun old man he is.

March CPE Agility

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:

More January agility

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! 

2017's Last

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.

Perri's December

Continuing on in the spirit of catching up, we will address Miss Perri's doings.

Perri has had a tough year in agility but a very encouraging year in Rally Obedience. I waited three years to enter Level 2 and Perri's confidence and enthusiasm was well worth the wait. I have always loved attending AKC Rally-o trials in December at this trial site - historically Perri had her AKC Rally Novice and Advanced debuts (and first two legs) here. It was a fitting place to try Rally Excellent after a two year hiatus from AKC Rally.

Perri was not confident in the ring. She was worried but working hard to stay with me. The run felt awful to me, especially as I had been hoping for some of the sassy rally poodle from earlier this year. It turns out that Perri scored in the high 80s, she was the only Excellent A dog to qualify. Only one Excellent B dog qualified as well, leaving Perri one of two dogs who qualified. Cool? Mostly I felt sad that Perri was worried. But grateful to her and proud of her for trying hard.

Fast forward to the next weekend .... CPE agility. We played on a Friday night that I braved a "one inch snowstorm" to get to. Perri qualified in Fullhouse. She had one staring fit in Snooker, long enough to NQ us. Saturday we took a break and Molly played USDAA (two lovely powerful runs, a hearbreaker Standard run with an Aframe fault keeping us from a Q.).

Sunday I entered Perri in Jumpers and Wildcard, two classes she "needs" towards her C-ATCH/CT-ATCH whatever I choose to pursue. She stressed in Jumpers. Not badly. Not earth shattering. But it shattered my heart. I walked the course for her Wildcard run and then promptly walked over and scratched her name from the run order. I am done with this. I am done trying to make my poor dog play this game that she has become too stressed to play. I don't know what happened. I don't know why, when or how it happened. But I have nothing left right now for Perri and Agility. It's not fair to either of us.

Why have I continued on this long? Because I remember Perri loving this game. I have watched videos of her running fast with her tail fluttering. I remember her proud and huffing after a good run and walking with pride back to her crate. This video from last winter made me cry. We had worked so hard to come back from her shoulder injury and she was finally strong and confident and even sassy in the ring. It is one of her last phenomenal runs, right before, for no reason that I can figure out, she came undone. I had lyme and anaplasmosis tests run, thyroid tests run, a full check over for physical issues. There is nothing, no explanation. Right when Molly got sick, Perri fell apart and I cannot put us back together. We took two months off, it was not long enough. I feel very lost right now. I do not want to give up on my dog but I also want to respect her. What a hard line to draw. Nothing is forever but we must retreat further than ever for now.

Wildcard Success!

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! 

A Good CPE Trial Day With PERRI!

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!

End of Summer CPE Agility

Last weekend we enjoyed the last CPE Trial of the summer.   I have no videos, only photos!

I was late on Saturday due to having some work done on my car so I missed Molly's Standard entry, and we were not entered in Snooker.   That left ending the day with Wildcard, Colors and Jumpers.   Wildcard was okay but the approach to the Aframe was rather unsafe in my opinion, so I held Molly back and managed her on the flat for a straighter approach and that put me behind for Molly's exit from the A-frame - so she took a wrong course jump after thundering down the Frame.   Oh well!    Colors and Jumpers went much better.   A missed weave entry in Colors but nice and fast when I asked her to repeat them.   We are doing really good with keeping the stress out of restarting the weaves, and that is a skill I have worked hard on and am proud of.  Jumpers was an odd course with a back to back serpentine but Molly handled really nicely through it all.

Ein played Wildcard and Jumpers on Saturday.   In Wildcard our run was going really well, but the A-frame was a required part of the course.   Ein did perform the A-frame in the June trial, but he pulled off of it during his run on Saturday.    I asked him to re-do it and backed way up so he could get a running start onto it but he again ran around it.   That's fine, he is allowed to say No whenever he wants to!   Old Dog Rules!   I felt a little bit like if he wasn't showing much enthusiasm in Jumpers I would scratch him from Sunday's entries and not do anymore agility with him.    But Ein ran with speed and joy for a Q in Jumpers, no doubt he was enjoying his time in the ring!  

We returned on Sunday and I arrived while Snooker45C was running, I missed my walk through!   Those extra 15 minutes of sleep were too tempting.   I feel that I may be a true Snooker master because I made a plan on the fly and Q'd Molly with 46 points.   Yeah!

Molly had three more runs: Standard, Wildcard and Colors.   In Standard there was a four jump extension line straight to the back with a wrong course tunnel tempting her to the right, or the correct path...a jump to the left turning back onto the Aframe.    To the tunnel!!   She re-emerged with her teeth and lips bared and butt tucked, and took some bonus jumps before reconnecting with me to finish our run.   Even did some nice weaves!   The photographer captured this beast mode team shot of me calling Molly over a 180 - I look mad!   I wasn't, that's just my face!   Ha!   I love the comet trail of dirt coming off of Molly's feet here, love it.

Colors and Wildcard were not too memorable, we got em done!   Molly is really so very consistent at this trial site and I do enjoy that level of cooperation from her.  

Ein also got to play Snooker with me, but this time I had the benefit of walking my course!   I wanted to pick a flowy opening and leave after obstacle 5 in the closing (we would have plenty of points.)   However, a flowy opening in the beginning left us a bit short on points, and finishing 6-7 was not too much of an effort.   I don't usually do Snooker with Ein because sometimes you just end up doing a goofy course no matter how good your plans are.   As it was, we definitely ended up doing more side changes and handling than Ein is used to but he did really well with everything.   He did run around a jump that I kept a distance away from and expected him to commit to but we recovered well and finished the whole closing, a Q and 45 points.

Start Line Lovin'

Ein got another crack at Wildcard for the weekend and he fared much better.   This time the A-frame was a Wildcard, so we of course chose the straight tunnel instead.   He was Mr. Happy for day two of agility so I feel great about continuing agility trials for Ein.

While Perri did not do any agility runs this weekend, she joined us both days!   We did partial crating indoors and her normal switching to car crating.   We worked on relaxing ringside.   I noticed twice taking Perri out of her crate that she would stress yawn and be reluctant to walk to the front of the building with me.   This makes me feel so resolute in my decision to take a break from trials, but even more so at this particular trial site.   Although this is one of my favorite places to run, I believe I will need to be firm that Perri does not run here anymore.   Or on dirt footing anywhere.   I really believe that the dirt gets her so excited and overaroused that she has a hard time focusing, and the stress and conflict of this cause her to zoom and then to ultimately stress down.   Whether this is the case or not, I don't know, but I'm trying my best and I need to eliminate stress wherever I can.   The footing is an extra factor and we have enough to deal with.   All of the photos in this post are by the talented Rich Knecht Photography, and I am forever grateful for him for snapping this candid of me cuddling ringside with Perri.  

July CPE Agility

Another round of CPE Agility, one day only this time!

Molly got to play in Jumpers, Colors and Standard.   Jumpers was beautiful, the video is of Colors and Standard was going great until she fell off the dog walk.   One minute we were running, the next my dog plopped down on the ground where I very much did not expect her.   I know she came out of a tunnel very fast and I checked her with my outside hand to get her up the dog walk.    I trusted her with that and kept running.   The person doing ring crew near the up ramp said she approached the ramp crooked and lost her footing, tried to recover but when she could not, she jumped off.    I am honestly glad that she made that decision, before completely wiping out and taking a really scary fall.   It still surprised me since Molly has never once even in her craziest of crazy days lost her footing on the dog walk.    It could have just been a fluke, could be related to her age - but the outcome was okay and Molly continues to not show any ill effects so we are just going to move right along.

Ein came along and enjoyed two runs - Jumpers and Jackpot.   The Jumpers video is below - I got myself stuck on the wrong side of the tunnels since I didn't want to rear cross tunnels with him.   Awkward!   We will have to do a little bit of training on rear crossing tunnels.    Jackpot was great, collect points and you had your choice of two distance challenges.   Ein did one that was Jump, Tunnel, Back over the same jump.   He needed some handler motion and a second cue and cheering to get him into the tunnel at a distance but he did it!

Perri was Perri!   I tried very hard to speak only positive words.   Jumpers she was pouncy wild poodle for her first run of the day.   In Colors she was a bit demotivated and her weaves were a mess.   I did the wrong closing sequence on the last three jumps and NQd us.   Snooker was a Q because Snooker is Perri's Game!   (still, not good weaves.)  Standard was good except she absolutely wouldn't weave.   She entered them and then just went into the SpaceZone and then started zooming and barking at me when I asked her to do them.   I broke down and told her "you stink." and we left the ring.   I was still worried about Molly, since her dogwalk fall/jump had happened about 10 dogs ahead of Perri and it eroded my ability to be patient and upbeat with Perri.  I feel ashamed of myself but also, frustrated.    Jackpot was nice and Perri did both distance challenges though there were some moments of stopping and staring.

Sigh.   We did have a very enjoyable evening in agility class tonight with phenomenal powerhouse weaves.  Perri would not weave like that if she was injured.   I remember when she was weaving while injured, she would either walk them or bounce step them.   In class, when she is energized she has a beautiful single striding way of weaving and that is what she did tonight.   It's trial stress, hers and mine.   I know it is difficult for her to focus on the dirt.  I know she was hot.   I know that where trials used to energize her and empower her, there is stress.  These are things I know.   This weekend we will be trialing indoors, in air conditioning and on artificial turf.   Positive words only, and we will see how that goes.

And of course after our trial, there was swimming!

June CPE Agility Day #2

A bit of a delay getting around to posting our Day 2!  

It was just the same: Ein was a total rockstar, Molly was slowish in the heat but a consistent Q machine and Perri was a squirrel!

We started with Perri-only in Standard.   I don't truly remember too much about the run other than it started with Jump to Weaves and Perri skipped a weave but weaved fast when I allowed that and just let her get back in.   She also did a fast teeter, I remember being happy about that.

Next we did Colors.   Molly was fast and accurate and did a sub-20 seconds run with decent weaving and no bobbles!   Perri ran around a jump, did slow weaves and was 3 seconds overtime (allowable by CPE, thankfully!)

Ein got his chance in Colors Level 1 and was Mr Happy, though at the end I would normally have rear crossed a jump, but didn't want to since I didn't think Ein would carry over the jump (I did not want him to take the bar).   We had a bit of a confusing moment there but we re-collected.   My Ein is a forgiving dude!  Note to self: teach Ein the rear cross.  

Next was Snooker.   I was late getting to the line with Molly and by then she was really rather hot and tired.   She was not running slow but she was definitely slow by her normal Standards.   I let her skip the weaves since they were Number 7 and we already had plenty of points.

Perri got to go next and was pretty good all around but did have one moment of staring and freezing.   I just pushed right through it and let her approach the jump from a different angle and she was back up and running in no time.   She was so happy that I decided to try the weaves at the end of the numbered sequence, and she did three of them like a boss but then just walked out of them.   Well, three is better than none!

Our last run of the day was Jackpot and Molly got to sit that one out.   I entered Ein in it since it was non traditional, and of course Perri since she needs a few more Jackpot legs for her C-ATCH.

Ein went first.   There was a dividing line down the center and there was a tunnel, jump, aframe and tunnel all down the center.   There were two gambles and you could handle one or the other from your side of the line.   Ein of course had no issues and did his gamble, got his points and qualified!

Perri was next and she did a pretty good job of staying happy.   She got plenty of points and then we went for our gamble.   The first three obstacles were great, but after the Aframe it was a push out to the far side of the tunnel.   Perri instead ran behind me and made a beeline for the wrong end of the tunnel that I was not indicating at all.   I said, "Stop!"   She stopped.    She gave me the stink eye.   I told her the correct end...three times.   She was disgusted with this directive.   She finally trotted through that tunnel as slooooooooooooow as possible for a qualifying round, .06 seconds over time.   Thank goodness CPE rounds down.   If you are one full second or more over time in Jackpot, you NQ.   Not Perri's first time doing a run so close to over time it is scary.

So.   I really had a nice weekend and it tickled me pink to have the "whole family" out playing agility together.   Ein ran with some nice speed and drive and was totally enjoying himself in the ring.   He was not sore or limping anymore than usual after the trial (or the two days of swimming that we did.)   Ein never walks like a sound dog, but he walked like "his normal".   Ein makes my heart so big, I am so proud of him.

Molly was not her normal "bat out of hell" self.   I was staring at her left front all weekend and feeling worried.   But she stayed sound and did well in the ring.   Molly has never been a fast dog in the heat, and her speed has diminished this year even before the "foot thing".   I am so grateful that Molly could play in the ring with me.   I have no idea if we are 100% in the clear yet, but this weekend felt like a step in the right direction.

Perri....oh, Perri!   She was her normal hot and cold self.    I just rolled with it and enjoyed what she was giving me.   I did a lot of cheer leading and exercised a lot of patience.   Perri is Perri.   I got to play in the ring with my beautiful, sound dog and that's a whole lot right there.   One of Perri's best friends in the world, another standard poodle, is currently battling a yet to be diagnosed neurological issue.   Weakness, legs giving out or knuckling, and general tension and pain in the spine.   I have a young dog who is sound of body, perhaps a bit quirky of mind, but she's still there playing the game with me and she's still there going on hikes with me.   So, hey.   I'm blessed.   And I'm grateful.   Perri was sent to this earth from her strange little planet to teach me every chapter of the Book of Patience.   I love her and I will persevere with her.

June CPE Agility Day 1 and Perri Continues to Dock Dive

Today was a long day so I am breaking the weekend down into two posts!

Today felt like an important day for Molly.   I have played CPE with Molly at this training facility for years now and I never felt so nervous as I did today.   If Molly stayed sound, no limping or paw picking up, I knew I would feel hopeful for the continuation of our agility trialing together.   If, after 3 weeks, she experienced lameness again due to an arthritic (and, unfixable) deformity....not so awesome.   

#nailedit!   Molly did great!   Her usual speed was definitely not there, but that has been the case all of this year, especially since all of the testing and surgeries that she endured in the winter.   Molly only had to do two sets of 6 weaves today, and on one set she really powered through them with speed and confidence.   I don't think that Molly would have done that if she was in pain.   Any excuse to not weave at a trial is fine by her: she does not love weaves enough to perform them through pain.   So, clinging to all of that.   Business as usual.   The next video is Molly's Snooker run from today, both girls qualified with this plan but I do not have Perri's run video'd.

The next on the Awesome! List is that Ein came along to play with us today.   Level 1, and he got to play Jumpers and Wildcard.   I feel like he ran faster on his second run!   Ein is such a joy, I absolutely loved playing with him today (and, I need to teach him it's okay to leave my side and take a wing jump!)

Perri had her usual day of ups and downs.   She did not zoom out as she usually does for the first run on the dirt.   She disengaged when I was late cueing her and I don't blame her for that.   We had a hard time getting back in sync but thankfully the rest of the course was as flowy as it gets so we got to have some nice confidence building time together after a rough start.

In Wildcard Perri shut down when I asked her to weave so I let her run past them and we continued the course.  Snooker was a nice run with one moment of shutting down when I confused her with a handling mistake.   We finished with two rounds of Standard.   The first one is the video, and we actually qualified (not even two seconds under SCT, whew.)   The second round I got flustered, lost my spot in the course and NQd us though we continued running for a decent run.

Today made me think about my responses when Perri shuts down.   Our instructor said that when Perri shuts down (in training) that I need to ask her to reengage with me in some simple way (a hand touch, a silly trick.)   I think there is a lot of wisdom in that, especially because it helps me avoid "shutting down" behaviors of my own.  I have a long history of Perri shutting down on me, and it is extremely upsetting and demotivating and honestly: it shuts me down too.   I am simply recognizing and stating this fact right now.   I've known it for quite some time, I don't like it about myself, but it's true.   And I want to improve that.   My focus is so much on avoiding the shut-downs but perhaps if I managed my responses to the shut downs better, that would be a better (and more realistic.) solution for us.   I think I could expand more on my thought process about this but I'm going to leave it for now.

All that heavy thinking aside, after the agility trial we went to a new dock!   Perri needed only one tease-throw with Molly and she was happily jumping off the dock and into the lake for even her regular tennis balls. (instead of Molly's prized orange chuckit balls.)   Success!   I feel very proud of Perri and very excited about possibly trying some dock diving events with Perri.   For now, different docks...dock jumping without the excitement of Molly around...and eventually a higher dock.

There were a lot of people at the lake and none of them minded my crazy gang at all, it was kind of refreshing to not have to keep them clamped down so tightly.   We met a lady and her grandson and he absolutely loved the dogs.   He wanted to know all about them: what sorts of dogs are they, what are their names, is Molly is dumb (hell yes), does  Ein likes to bark (hell yes), why doesn't Ein have a collar on.   He helped me throw the balls for the dogs and even squeezed the water out of them before throwing since I asked him to.   I had to smile at my Perri jumping off the dock for a kid she just met throwing her ball (and then jumping in after her and trying to race her to the ball), when just a few days ago she was too scared to do that.   

A challenging dog can be heart rending, but when they have break throughs...it is so very sweet.