Does it make any sense to get caught up on your blog when you are as behind as I am? I think so, and now that I have a computer that does not take forever to turn on, blogging might be a little bit easier and more regular.
Since we are in COVID-land now, there are no dog agility trials. Dream Park, which I longed to attend trials at, were our last trials for...who knows? Some days I think not until 2021, some days I think perhaps there could be trials in the summer time.
In any case, Zorro and I continued to have much success at our trials at DP. We finished Zorro's NA and NAJ titles on the same day - neither run was super beautiful but they were qualifying runs and they got the job done! I was very happy with his weaves in JWW.
We returned the next week and finished Zorro's Novice FAST title, and I had planned to take a break from FAST for a while after that. I mostly like to play FAST as an environmental acclimation ring time.
After that was Open Standard. I felt irrationally nervous. 12 weaves, the beginning of when Perri and I started to struggle (due to her injury, but still.) and Molly...well, we stayed in Open for at least a year. We earned our first AKC NQ, had a wrong course and some uncharacteristic disengagement and Zorro absolutely could not get the weave entry. I remember deciding I had done this to us with my negativity and lack of confidence. And just before our JWW run I saw a very experienced handler with her promising but still-young dog in the Excellent ring miss the weave entry. I told myself to stop being silly and trust in my dog's skills. Entry misses happen. Wrong courses happen. I fixed my brain and we got our first Open Q! I hate how close I am to all of the obstacles on this run but this is what I do when I am feeling insecure.
I remember after the trial was over I drove around just for the fun of geocaching. We drove to Delaware to re-complete my Fizzy grid with a specifically rated D/T combo geocache (since the one I had found previously had had its ratings changed.) It was just the sort of fun little adventure I love...and the sort of thing that cannot be done right now. My state has Stay at Home orders which allow for walking and hiking, and I am so grateful for that. But driving around just for the sake of geocaching is against the rules. (I say that because, common sense dictates that.)
And, onto our very last trial. I had no idea. Of course. How could I? The day before I had hiked many miles and into the night to geocache with a friend on Leap Day. (and I have now found one geocache on every day of the year.) I came home and had dinner and much drinks with friends and went to bed quite late. I was slightly hung over in the morning and a miscommunication on departure time with my trial buddy left me without time to make coffee until we arrived at the trial site. Still, I recharged well with ample amounts of black coffee and Zorro and I earned a QQ in Open. It was a fine Last Trial For a While.
Until next trial, Zorro! I don't know when that will be but I sure will treasure that day when it arrives!
This past weekend I had one of those "dreams come true" moments. My baby dog came home last summer. We have adventured together, trained together, fallen in love. I have patiently waited years. Three years. To return to one of my favorite AKC Agility trial sites: Dreampark.
The environment is tough. A three ring trial in a dirt footing horse arena. There are literal birds living in the rafters and they fly around through the day. It is noisy with dogs and people and a general din that never stops until days end. There is cat poop buried in the dirt on the edges of the ring. But I know my babydog, he could do it. My girls taught me everything that I know about environmental stress and acclimation. Zorro has natural handler focus, but that's not the whole picture. We have been working on this on every hike, every trial site visit, every walk, every outing since he has been a baby. It has been so very important to me. You get a dog with natural focus, but then you need to support and help that talent grow. Coming from erratic no-frustration-tolerance pitbull Molly, and worried about everything Perri - it was a major priority to reward and support offered focus from Zorro over the last year plus that I have known him.
I entered Zorro in Novice FAST so that he could get in the ring before we had to work on a numbered course. We ran the outside of the ring in a circle, earned 67 points in 13 seconds and Zorro's first Novice FAST leg!
Novice Standard was next. Video is below. I was a little disappointed I did not insist on 2o/2o criteria on Zorro's dog walk. He tried the "four on" on the teeter again but I asked him to meet his criteria. I don't want that slippery slope of poor contact behavior - thank you, Molly, for teaching me the importance of that! I did choose to not front cross in front of the weave poles. Not at a new trial site with a dog who is still growing his confidence on the weave poles. I did a messy turn on the flat to the pause table instead. It was fine, got the job done.
Novice JWW was next and same deal for the weaves. I opted for a turn on the flat after the weaves instead of cramming a cross in before them. A little wonky but it worked out. I am thrilled with his distance to the jump before the speed line at the end. I am trying so hard to let Zorro go do his job and not crowd obstacles. I am a work in progress! We also need a better understanding of "go on" when there is a straight row of jumps. We ran out of "go go go"s for that last jump. One refusal but that didn't take our Q away.
And we get to go back in two weeks! I am so looking forwards to that. The day with Zorro was a bit surreal for me. I have been so used to agility being about supporting my girls' mental states and the whole behavioral side of getting into the agility ring with brains semi-intact. Reactivity. Over excitement. Management.
Zorro has zero concerns in that realm. There is me, there is food, there are his toys and there is agility. Why worry about that other crap?
Brave new world for me. I am so grateful for this exciting journey we are beginning together.
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.
Last Saturday was Zorro's debut in WCRL Level 1! I felt solid to enter him in Level 1. The only area he is weak in is his stands and we put extra training time into that. Also, Molly came along to play in Veterans. I have a soft goal for Molly to be nationally ranked in the RLV category for 2019, so we will play until she is one Q short of the Rally Veteran Championship title (because that would put her into the Championship category and we aren't going to be playing that much WCRL this year.) Ps. Einey did get nationally ranked in the Veterans Championship category in 2014.
Anyway! This was a two ring trial so definitely a new experience for Zorro. I groaned when I saw our course map, as the Moving Stand walk around was the bonus. I had not prepared Zorro one little bit for that exercise. Oopsie! Other than that mister man did a really nice job. I am thrilled with his enjoyment of heeling. He does hesitate on his left finish, we are working on "You don't always get a treat at front." and he says, "Are you suuuuure?" And we got a sit on the stand exercise later on the couse. (That's ten points off for stand issues, ouch.) 198/210 on this one.
Trial 2 was a bit better for Zorro, although we still got a sit on the Moving Stand bonus (yes, it was the bonus sign again!!) This time he did his Sit-Stand sign without sitting again. I thiiiiink this one was a 202/210. Five points off for the sit on the moving stand and then we had a sit on the 270 during heeling. But, really good work for my baby boy!
I am making a commitment to myself and Zorro to stop letting the "new rules" surprise me. They are not new rules anymore. I was very disappointed in myself that I let that Moving Stand sneak up on me. My young dog could have had far nicer scores his first time out if his owner had trained him. :)
To be honest, I do like the format of using a list of Level 2 signs as Bonus for Level 1, and so on. I think that it encourages teams to train for the next level more than the old format did. I found the news update that included which bonus signs could be used in Level 1 (I could not find it in the rule book but that's user error, I'm sure.) and we have been enjoying working on them. We can practice rally-o inside in the AC since it is too hot to practice agility out there anyway! We are currently putting priority on his understanding of "Stand stays are rewarding, too! Sits aren't the only cool thing to do."
Molly had a blast, especially on the first Trial! Her usual lagging vs exploding and no in between when it comes to Rally. We also had to do one of the "new" signs where I took a left 180 turn and Molly had to spin or something and get on my right side. I don't know if we did it right but Molly sure did seem to enjoy it!
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.
My agility training club hosted our first UKI Agility trial this evening. I love weekday evening trials! We offered Masters Series, which I did not enter Molly in and Speedstakes. I have never done Speedstakes with Molly as it hasn't been convenient or offered any of the times we have run UKI. But I knew she would love it. Wide open lines and only jumps and tunnels? Yes please!
I volunteered for the lovely task of ring manager as well as timing/scribing every class except the one I was running in. I had Perri and Zorro in the car in addition to Molly and also to just keep everything really exciting a horrendous thunderstorm rolled in. And I was working out of my car! I don't often run my car at trials but when I saw the black sky rolling towards the trial site I put all the windows up, turned the AC up to high and put both battery operated fans on Molly's crate (to drown out the noise) and hoped for the best while I went inside to scribe the Speedstakes Senior/Champ class. It amazed me how many dogs in the trial ran with no problems or without noticing the storm!
We got very lucky and the storm died down in time for Molly's run (and the potty break necessary before it.) though there were still rumbles. I used her highest value reward, the chuckit ball, to amp her up before her run. We played a little fetch in the off leash area and I kept her focused on and enjoying it ringside instead of our normal food. We got a Q at 4.63 yps and as the only 16" select dog, first place! Not bad for an ol' girl!
Zorro was able to do some meeting people and even a few appropriate adult dogs. He played some chase with Perri in the off leash area (and was a little overwhelmed at Perri in a wide open field versus a hiking trail or our small back yard. That girl can really get a lot of ground speed!)I got a bit more interest out of Zorro for toy play in a trial atmosphere, though he was highly distracted by anybody with food or giving their dog food. I was pleased that I was able to direct him onto a toy in those times. Work in progress!
Great night and we even got a "Q" cookie for some pitbull torture to end the evening with.
I have made a ton of changes for Perri lately and the positive progress that was trickling in this year has begun to flow.
At the beginning of this year I wrote this post about our progress with fluoxetine. I was feeling lukewarm about the flatness I would see in Perri, but when I added salmon oil to her diet I noticed more energy. This was indeed a temporary and probably coincidental change. Perri continued to be flat, slow to rouse into play and exhausted far more easily than she used to be by most any activity. About three weeks ago, I told our behaviorist that I would like to wean Perri off of the fluoxetine and possibly try something else. Our instructions were to wean down to 10mg and keep Perri on that dose until our appointment to see how she does on that dose. We returned to 10mg on April 16th.
Last weekend I had Perri adjusted by her chiropractor. Jaw out and some cervical misalignments. We visited because I wanted to discuss the spasming that I often see in Perri's lower back, check for any adjustments that needed to be done and find out if I can be doing anything more to help Perri's spine feel more comfortable. Of course, all of the adjustments were needed "up higher"! In addition to the active stretches I had been already doing, we were given a few more. I also purchased a Back on Track mesh blanket for Perri. I have heard very good things about these jackets and I feel that Perri can benefit.
So, a lot of good thoughtful changes for Perri. I am also pursuing retesting Perri's thyroid levels, as she tested a "low normal" in December of last year. I have added a probiotic to Perri's diet, the same type that I use for Molly. A happy gut is a happy dog.
And Perri is a happy dog. I started to notice increased silliness within less of a week of decreasing the fluoxetine. Just little things. Flinging a toy up in the air and doing a ridiculous spin for one of Vince's workers. Actual interest and demand in play time with her standard poodle friend Zoe. And just in the last week, we had one of Perri's famous pounce zoom fests in the back yard, it has been a while. Last Monday in agility class Perri turned it on like I have not seen from her in a long time. She did both of her "turns" with really nice motivation, desire for her ball and actual fast and intense weave poles (with a pop at the 10th weave and a restart where she went even faster after being asked to do them a second time rather than crumbling mentally.)
Yesterday I volunteered with a friend of mine who was holding a lure coursing ring to raise money for a rescue at a large dog event held in my area. I felt apprehensive about letting Perri course. I was really struggling with making the Right Decision. On one hand, Molly has gone lame coursing three times now and I knew that Perri had an agility run the day after at a trial. I am trying so very hard to narrow down the activities I do with my dogs and be more focused. But on the other hand, I love how Perri opens up, de-stresses and gives in to raw prey drive in coursing. In the end I made the decision to let Perri run the course two times, once at the beginning of the day and the next time four long hours later at the end of the event. (It was very popular, we had a line 10-15 dogs deep the entire day!) She was full on BagBrain and each time she ran, Zoe poodle got to run with her (and Zoe did a great job following Perri and/or the bag the entire time, she did not leave or get distracted by anything. A great start!)
I was very nervous that Perri would be too tired for her agility run today. We have had a really really nice week since that beautiful agility class on Monday. On the prior dose of fluoxetine, Perri would typically be wiped out and it would be a big ??? how an agility trial would go the next day. It doesn't help that it was naughty of me to enter today's trial in the first place. It was for pure social reasons that I entered, my friend was going to be there and the original plan was to enter Molly but then that bonehead went and ripped her toenail off at the lake a few weeks ago so....hey I do have another dog, right?! So, I entered Snooker with Perri.
But Perri was....great! The Snooker course was laid out so that in order to get the best flow I ran to the back of the ring with her to use our first red, rather than starting on a "red" on the start line. On our way out there she got distracted by a male ring crew but did call off of him fairly quickly. We ran our course and there were some angles that I was fretting I would lose her on, as well as a jump wrap but she really ran her little heart out and was fast and happy! I was so proud of her and it felt awesome. We started the close and it was a diagonal line from 2-the first jump of 5. 5 was a 180 jump combo. Well I lost Perri to visiting a ring crew who also is a friend of ours, how could Perri not say "hi"? I was going over in my mind if I should be trying to recollect Perri back around the jump to try to earn enough points, or just ignore it and run out the finish and forget #5 but I ended up trying to get her and reset her. It turned out to be a not horrible choice, although I am aware it was not the ideal choice. I can't quite remember what happened but I know that Perri was like "Haha you're weird I'll just take the jump!" and then we had a merry happy little race to the exit and she was mighty proud of herself and quite happy and that is what matters! On reflection, I'm really proud of her for not freezing up when I confused her by trying to bring her back to the correct side of the jump, and just making a decision instead. She was not sure what I wanted, but there was a jump in front of her so she took it! I am okay with that. Very unlike her and very confident! I did notice that Perri was very bothered by us getting to the leash chair at the end. I need to work on a more positive association with ending the run and getting equipment put back on her.
After Perri's run I let her sit in my lap for a while. Perri had a very good day of behavior fear reactivity-wise as well. Something to discuss with our behaviorist. Perri saw a very drivey doberman yanking on a tug toy walk across the crating area, she had eyes on a german shepherd trotting briskly along but she actually LAT'd to me and then a bearded shepherd was crated next to us and warming up for a run. Perri noticed it but reoriented to me quietly. And I was paying big for all of this with bits of dehydrated lamb lung. And I am proud of myself because I interrupted a conversation with a friend to say that Perri had been very successful and I thought she should go out to the car before something pushed her too far and she had an explosion at a dog.
I am very excited about Perri's self assurance around three situations that would have triggered fear reactivity behavior in her. I have no doubt she was still concerned about all three dogs, but she trusted me today and did not feel the need to freak out and warn those dogs away from her.
Go. Team!
I am so optimistic and so terrified it will all fall apart again. That's our journey, I am learning to embrace it and not resent it. It's easy to say that now when we are progressing in the right direction!
Last Sunday was my training club's USDAA trial, so I entered Perri in both offered Intro classes (Gamblers and Standard) and I entered Molly in Standard only. Both classes were near to the end of the day, but we spent all day there volunteering.
The Intro classes were back to back, which is not a great set up for Perri and I was mild level fretting about it. We played Gamblers first. Perri was a bit flatter than she was last month when we did Intro. Leash removal went very smoothly and without notice from her. She was still very much playing with me, but with reluctance creeping in there. I was very happy when she had a moment of staring at me that she came right back into the game - that is a victory!
Standard was next. When I brought Perri back into the building she wanted water. I gave her a small amount, since she would be running soon. She became frustrated by this and kept nose and paw tapping the water jug. Then she became sort of sullen and staring into space, ignoring my treats and toys. Perri is a stress drinker so it's hard to say if she was truly very thirsty or just feeling some stress and needed to displace some of it. So with that behavior coupled with having to run so soon after she had already run, I was feeling like maybe I should scratch the run since I was allowing myself to become rattled by "what ifs" about Perri's run. I put on my big girl panties and got in there and tried to make a super flowy plan and I even spent some of our time on a toy throw (and subsequent poodle pouncing and keep away). I wanted to rescue our ring time and gear it totally towards: positive feelings! Right towards the end I asked for a tunnel that she runs by and I see her feeling weird about that but she comes right back and does some nice running (and a scary Aframe fly off). I am starting to not feel great about letting her run the Aframe as she jumps off so high and I don't want her to hurt herself. In any case, it was a nice run salvaged out of some stressy feelings on both of our ends and that is kind of the point!
I have made the decision to do another trial hiatus with Perri. Despite some nice successes on Sunday, I feel like Perri needs me to pull back for a little bit again. I don't want us to hit "rock bottom" of staring in the ring and stressing down completely and having an awful regression that makes me want to drink lots and lots of wine when I get home! We have had a nice month and done some good work, but we both need some time to retreat and think over what both of our needs are as far as trialing goes.
And Molly got to play too! We did only Standard, since she needs three Qs in that class for her MPD. We NQd immediately for a wrong course due to the filthy handler giving dreadfully late turning information again! So mad at myself! It felt like a little bit of a trainwreck after that and she wouldn't weave but overall looking at the video, she was a happy girl and I am truly in "just happy to be here" mode when it comes to getting to run agility with my girl! I did reset her weaves and the second time sort of did a sprint and turned my shoulders to her and clapped and she was like "NU-UH WE HAD A DEAL ABOUT THAT KIND OF NONSENSE FROM YOU, I'M NOT DOIN' IT!"
Ps. She did weave in training class the next night when I behaved myself :)
I keep having to pinch myself and get my head out of the clouds after Sunday's AKC agility trial with Miss Perri! Entering Perri was quite honestly something I did because I wanted to go spend the day at a favorite trial site with good friends of ours. Entering the Excellent level is completely out of the question for Perri, but fortunately you are allowed to start at Novice again if you drop your dog to Preferred. I made that decision last year, but have done exactly one AKC trial with Perri since then, and she only qualified in FAST. Regular titling classes still in play for a drop to Novice.
And Novice would be perfect. Simpler courses for us would allow me to work hard at staying connected with Perri and putting into play the changes that I need to make about myself for Perri's sake. And bonus: since we were playing AKC, she could wear a collar and eliminate all of the issues that come with equipment being put on and off of her body. Regardless, I was terrified. Perri used to absolutely adore this trial site. But last year she was incapable of doing more than a few obstacles the last time we were there, and she was obsessed with worry about a door in the back of one of the rings.
We arrived bright and early for JWW, oh the joys of Novice! We were in the "ring with the evil door", but thankfully it was early morning and there was no harsh sunlight coming in (that was the trigger the last time.) It was not long after arrival that I was walking the course and then taking Perri into the ring. I chose to do a start line stay. I focused so hard on maintaining connection, being cheerful. And we did a really really awesome job, Perri was absolutely flying and I was handling her nicely! And then we had an oops. I didn't realize until I watched my video what exactly happened. Perri has a delicate throat and if she is stressed she will either have a sneezing fit or a coughing fit. During our run I pushed a little too hard on her line and she ran for a wrong course tunnel. I called her with an upbeat tone but she knew it wasn't right and started coughing ("hackerdoodling", we call it!). And of course the weaves were the next obstacle. I decided to just forget about it and let her run out the last three jumps, a nice straight line, and she took the first one but blew past the last two. Residual stress.
I felt disappointed in my behavior and my mistake. I did feel better when I saw the video, because there was a clear cause for her behavior and a way for me to improve so that she doesn't feel this way again. I thought that the weave poles had triggered the coughing, but it was actually the error of running for the tunnel. (my fault!) Regardless, we had a phenomenal time on most of the course and I did not expect perfection!
And then it was the loooooooong wait until the end of the day for Novice Standard. Oh the joys of Novice! I was hoping that we would not have an enthusiasm crash for the second run of the day, that is a thing that could happen. The opening of the course was a two straight jump with a sharp 90 degree turn. There were lots of curvy lines of jumps. As much as the JWW course was a Perri-friendly course, the Standard one was not a confidence builder. I chose to lead out just a little bit and then tried a front cross in front of jump #2. I was not miserably late with the front cross but I could have been clearer, and Perri ran right behind me, took a wrong course jump, and headed towards the A-frame. I did not even say a word but when I turned to her, she was frozen. She looked at the Aframe and then started looking around the ring and looking at me. A staring fit. My worst effing nightmare. I tried to do the claw hands and jazz her out of it. No. Then I did another new thing I have been trying in class. Our instructor told me when she shuts down I should ask her for a nose touch or a trick, something quick and easy to make her feel successful and re-engage her with me. I've actually been doing a down and have had a lot of success with that. I've even been working downs into the start line. It's rather strange because downs used to be very unnerving for Perri, but I don't question it! I think somewhere in our fold back down nerd training and the table down value building, she has begun to enjoy the position.
I got down on the ground, real quick and talked silly talk with her and asked her to down. She bowed, she wagged her tail and she dropped and just looked into my eyes and I ran away from her and asked her to come with me. For a half second she just lay there and I thought, "Well. That's that!" But then she absolutely exploded up and did the next three jumps! (And promptly skipped the tire and the weaves but we just kept running!) Then it was the pause table and well you bet I asked her for a down again! She was flying high after that, running as fast as she is capable of, blowing her contacts and finished the whole course over a curved line finish. Whoah!! I was floored by her! It was a royal NQ (Just take note in the video of the judge signalling mad faults!) but we don't care, it was so much fun!!!!!!
I am over the moon with this girl and I'm just gonna brag that I am proud of me. I went into this year feeling absolutely powerless on how to reach Perri, feeling like it was all over. I got over feeling jaded about agility classes and found an instructor that saw exactly where I was failing Perri. I am forever grateful. If there was a single thing in my power to help this dog, I would crash into it and attack it. And I did. We did. I am so afraid of everything crashing down again on us, afraid of making too many handling mistakes and setting her back. I keep thinking "but she won't weave but she blows her contacts but but but but"...but I think everything is going to fall right into place when our confidence soars back where it belongs.
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!
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 I took Molly to our first agility trial of the year to give those final AKC Excellent legs we need another "good ol college try." We have been working on our Excellent titles for an almost comical amount of time, mostly owing to our weave pole journey and playing AKC a lot less than we have in the past.
Still, every now and then I get the urge! Since last Spring Molly has been standing at needing one Standard and one JWW leg each. Spoiler alert: she nailed them both today!!!
Here is our standard run, I was struggling with pressure in the weaves and she hangs in there and keeps going for me. I also felt those dog walk blowing sparks from her, but again she chose to stay on there and get a big old Q and first in her class.....and her AX title!!
No video for JWW but I did a lot better in the weaves and of course she was feeling great about that and did some nice weaves to thank me! A lot of panting in the ring. Her walking exercise has been little to nothing due to a length cold snap in our area, and it showed. There was also gunshot in the distance and while the piano music playing loud in the car kept her happy in their, she wouldn't even poop at the trial site because she was stressed about the shooting. I am not so sure her panting in the ring wasn't in part due to residual stress.(she was relaxed inside the building since she could not hear the shooting.)
Any further AKC agility trialing that we do, Molly will move into the Preferred 16" track for Masters. She will never jump 20" again! Though Molly does 16" in every other venue we run in, it was a little bittersweet to officially say that today was her last run at her full height.
Last Monday, I was happy to find I had off of work on the same day as a weekday AKC Agility trial. I thought, "why not try for the millionth time to get those last legs needed for Molly's excellent titles?" Molly earned her second Excellent Standard leg in Spring this year, shattering my perception that qualifying in AKC was simply not a thing that we did. Last qualifying score before that? 2015 in JWW!
Of course heading into this trial I knew all of the rules: "it's all in the journey", "be grateful to step into the ring with your dog"...but by the way I sure did want to Q and get at least one of those two titles! Being relaxed is imperative for my focus, doubly so in AKC (and USDAA Masters, as I have discovered.) I decided to welcome the challenge of dually "wanting the Q" but not overthinking about it. Spoiler alert: we NQd both runs. But I was happy with that we did. Standard was absolutely beautiful including the weaves and avoiding a tunnel trap! We got snagged up on my releasing her from the table and not checking her to stay on her line, she veered towards a tempting off course tunnel that I knew to watch. She did not go into the tunnel but pulled around the next jump and earned us a refusal. JWW she snagged our obligatory off course tunnel and had some messy weaves, but really lovely after that.
Whatever! AKC is not easy for us. There were other victories that day! Molly is still running at Regular 20" in AKC and she was beautiful at that height. I feared some of those sad signs of a senior dog forced to jump too high beyond their time, but Molly made it clear she had no issues with her full height of 20". (And if she had struggled with 20", that would have been the end of it. I refuse to embarrass my dog by ignoring her limitations.) Another factor at play is that for the last week I have been faithfully taking Molly on at least one if not two fifteen minute walks per day. By her second run when she normally gets dutiful and into that boring consistent "getting it done" speed, she was instead running fast and with no panting. The trial building was warmer than last weekend's trial yet she was not panting or sluggish. I believe our walks are helping! I felt like she was so strong physically on Monday and with increased endurance - that alone made me so happy!
Another issue we had success with was that there was consistent target shooting going on near this trial site throughout the day. It was in the distance but Molly heard it. I did not know what to do, as I had not brought any portable crates to keep her inside of the building with. I took my iphone, set the volume to high and put it on top of her crate and just played all of the music I have on there on repeat all day. Worked like a charm! Molly had no anxiety or shuddering over the gunshots, she couldn't hear it! I was pretty excited about this and downloaded a bunch of classical music to my iPad for Molly in the future (so she can have something a little more soothing than the eclectic mix of songs that we listen to while driving!). If the car has to be opened up as it is in the summer time, I'm not sure what we will do because the closed up car muffled the sound a lot on its own. I think the fans set on high in combination with the music right by her head could be a help.
Last week we took our annual trip to Cape May, NJ. We have been going there for years now and have decided this will be our last visit. Time to explore some new places! It is so hard to find off leash areas for the dogs to run, so much so that between Vince's busy work schedule and wanting colder weather (therefore less people.) we visited later this year than we normally do.
We were rewarded, especially on our last day (with temps in the low 40s and a storm rolling in), with little to no people. The dogs were able to enjoy a whole lot more off leash running time.
I was nervous about how Molly's foot would hold up on the sand, especially since we had an agility trial about three days after we were due to return. I refuse to keep her in too much of a bubble though, so she got to do a fair bit of ball chasing. Last year I had a pretty full proof system in place: backpack for poop bags, chuckit, balls and anything else. So sadly, no camera. It sucks and I so miss having my SLR, but until I grow some extra arms it had to be sacrificed. The iPhone is much easier for snapshots, lower quality but I've always been of the opinion that composition is so much of what makes a photo beautiful, not equipment.
Ein freely off leash. Either Perri or Molly off the leash alternately. I did try a fair bit of leaving Perri off leash while playing ball with Molly, but Perri was so rude with her biting and chasing behavior that I had to leash her. Molly gives Perri absolutely no corrections for her behavior, but simply chooses to go "out to sea" with her ball to avoid being pestered. That doesn't work when it is in the 40s and your dog has no coat! (Not to mention, Molly drinks water while she swims and we don't need any salt water induced diarrhea!) And Molly is only permitted off leash when we are playing ball. Without the ball to occupy her she turns her attention to bullying the other two dogs relentlessly. Despite all these "rules" they all had a great time!
An excellent example of Her Royal Pestiness!
"Out to sea...no poodles...just me, my ball and the great wide open."
"Fools"
If it fits, I sits! (yes, she did jump up there herself!) I lifted her the first time but then asked her to get back up and she did. "Her powers of levitation would make a fakir stare..."
Goodbye, Cape May!
Molly's foot issue did not act up, no limping! She did have her usual sand-induced skin breakdown in between her paw pads though. When we got home I gave her a bath and soaked her feet in Epsom salt, and despite having cleaned the sand out with wipes after each beach visit, I still got more grit out in the tub when I massaged each foot! She had been licking obsessively until that bath, so even though I got the royal stink eye for bathing her, I know it made her feel better! I also massaged a new shampoo into her feet that I have been trying for Ein by Espree. Molly usually fights me in the tub "tooth and nail" but she stood quite still and tolerated her feet being massaged. (Molly has no issues with me handling her feet, she is my best "paw dog", but when it comes to a bath she says no thank you! to everything about it!)
I also noticed a favorable difference in Molly's hips this year. Because of what we were dealing with in her left front foot, I doubled the dose of Dasuquin I had been giving her after the first episode of lameness in that foot. After she improved I backed off to maintenance dose until the beginning of October when the limp returned after a day of Fast CATs and beach play in very loose sand. Last year at the beach I remember Molly dragging her hips up, she was very stiff after playing on the beach. This year I saw none of that and I have to think that the doubled Dasuquin is to thank. Good stuff!
With Molly's soundness under discussion I will roll right into a quick update about our USDAA trial from last Sunday! We have done little trialing since September, with the exception being a very short day mid-October where Molly took a crash on the dog walk after a very poor approach. Although Molly seemed quite sound afterwards, I didn't feel much like playing. So, last Sunday I was hopeful for an enjoyable day. My main focus was on my weird ring nerves in the Masters ring, my feelings of self doubt and inferiority. I actually put a little meme on my phone with a message that encouraged me and made me smile all throughout the day.
I do not want to be a handler who lacks confidence anymore. I really want to tackle this and overcome it. I was feeling pretty good about our Jumpers course, though mildly obsessing about a wrong course tunnel. By the time we went ringside I was intensifying in feeling some of those feelings of being worried of making a fool of us, of failing, of not belonging. However, my focus for this trial was honestly to address this issue I am having and by the time we took the line in Jumpers I was working hard on exactly what the meme above states: being confident and not doubting myself. We won our class, our first Masters/P3 Jumpers Q. :)
The rest of the day was a lot of waiting as Biathalon Jumpers and Grand Prix were in the run order and we had not entered either of those. (I keep saying when we get a Steeplechase Q we will then try Grand Prix!) We had Gamblers and Standard remaining. Here is our Gamblers run, which I did not love. Molly was sort of tired, not very fast, and I gave her an awful approach to the Aframe for her first time. While we got whistled on the Gamble (hmph.) we did complete the distance challenge so I was happy with that!
In Standard I had the same kinda ho hum pokey dog, though we did run our first clean P3 Standard! We were one second over the SCT but I am still grateful for what was a very nice run! However, Molly's inability to run three agility runs in a day without becoming so tired that we are overtime was initially upsetting for me. It brings up another issue that I have:beating myself up for days after a trial over every single thing I did not like. Introspection is good but I take it too far!
However, introspection on Molly's energy and speed makes me realize that I truly have let her become a "weekend warrior" and as she is getting older, she is not able to maintain endurance on just being young and in condition. Because...she is getting older and I am not keeping her in proper condition! Perhaps I could blame her feet still being sore, or fret that her lymphoma is becoming symptomatic, but I don't think so. Really, beginning this year more than ever, if Molly doesn't want to go walk or hike, I leave her home. Molly's exercise is so sporadic, it could be only a walk every two weeks or a hike here or there. Starting this week I have tried to take Molly on a 15 minute walk every day. It is not much but it is better than nothing and it is a start. (Our usual weeknight exercise is an hour+ walk perhaps 2-3 times a week, and again if Molly doesn't want to join Perri and I, I just shrug and go on without her. No more!)
Six days later I have already created a monster, Molly has more energy! While she would normally eat her breakfast and go back to bed on a lazy weekend day where I am at home doing chores and bills and drinking coffee, guess what. She was pestering me for her walk! I love it! Now, I just have to start saving up for a Dog Pacer.
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!
