First Snow!

Last Friday we woke up to the first snow of the season! It turned out to be more snow than we got the entire winter last year. 

I really don't like snow, but I have to admit it was very pretty.

Kaylee loved the snow! She wanted to go out so badly, but I kept asking her to wait until it stopped actively snowing. It was like torture. When we finally got to go out, she didn't want to ever go back in!

Our first snowman together...my first in a LONG time

 

Licking the snowman

Cucumber eyes and a very small carrot nose. He also ended up with a bell pepper slice mouth that wouldn't stay on very long.

 

Kaylee loved eating the snow

After not very long, I noticed that our snowman was leaning a bit. I went to tilt him back up and the bottom of him split in half.

The dogs loved the snow too.

I am trying to take more pictures of the dogs, especially Patriot, because I don't know how much longer he is going to be around. He is getting old. Fast.

And the Hobber Monster

I think this is the skinniest Patriot has been since coming back from Guide Dogs

I can't wait for some more snow so we can go sledding! Well, first we have to get a sled (sad, I know!), but then we can go sledding and I think Kaylee with love it!

New Horizons in Agility

Last year around this time, I found out that my beloved mentor and instructor would be moving across the country. She didn't move until July, but since then I have felt a little lost. Moving into our house, I knew I wouldn't have any space for agility until we got our yards planted. So, I was counting on having agility classes to go to practice and learn new skills. After Meredith left we, as her students, decided to get together to practice and it was rough. I remember going home and feeling totally discouraged.

A year later, I have found a new instructor and am finally taking some classes again! The first few weeks were kind of an adjustment period because this person teaches differently than my old one. That also makes it more difficult for Hobbs because he expects certain things on a course, and gets discouraged when things change.

Last night though, I felt like we were finally getting back in our groove. The sequences we are running in class are short, and for the most part pretty easy with some tricky parts mixed in. I am still learning a lot! Here are the sequences we ran last night:

Sequence #1

Super straightforward, and meant to encourage the dogs to really drive from 3-6. Hobbs kept thinking we were going to the A-frame, but it turned out I wasn't setting him up at enough of an angle. Once that was taken care of, he did an excellent job. I kept feeling the need to name-check him between 4 and 5 but I should have just trusted him to stay with me and know his job.

Sequence #2

This one was the most difficult for us. The move our teacher wanted us to do at 3 is something that I have never been taught or taught Hobbs. I still haven't decided if I like it, but that may just be because Hobbs doesn't understand it yet. It really does tighten up the turn, and save time when it works correctly. During this sequence I was REALLY having a hard time keeping my breath. Running agility when pregnant is exhausting because your lung capacity (at least mine) diminishes so much. I felt like I was going to die by the end of our turn. Hobbs did fabulously though!

Sequence #3

I really liked this one. When I walked it I thought "I am going to die getting from 6 to 8" I thought I was going to be behind, and have to try to push Hobbs over 8, or I was going to get crashed into by Hobbs on his way out of the tunnel. Should have had more faith in my dog and myself! Meredith used to tell us in situations like this "Decide you are going to get there in time, and then just DO IT!" So, I stopped the negative thoughts and decided I would just be where I needed to in time. The first time through, Hobbs went up the A-frame rather than going in the tunnel, but I didn't cue the tunnel very well so it was my fault. The next times he did it without hesitation. I love my little dog! Oh, and I got to where I needed to be for 8 every single time!

Another big thing that has changed in our agility lately is that I have been training with a toy rather than just treats. It is a tug toy that has treats in it. Hobbs LOVES it! He usually is not comfortable playing tug around other dogs, but with this one he hasn't had a problem. At least at class. We will have to see how well it works at a trial around lots of other dogs.

Our next trial is a 3 day one the first weekend in May. I am really excited and nervous. I am hoping the weather cooperates and we don't have to run in the rain. I hate slick agility courses. It make me worry for Hobbs' sake. I don't want him slipping and getting injured. Now that I am pregnant, I don't want to slip for my sake either! My vibrams with tread on the bottoms don't fit very well (thanks pregnancies) and I don't have the $80 to spend on a new pair, especially in the next two weeks. My options are to borrow some regular shoes from a friend or just squeeze into mine for each run at the trial. I have been wearing my friend's regular shoes at class the past two weeks, and while I have more traction, I am tripping over my feet. They feel ginormous! I don't know what is worse, but I have to decide soon.

Dog Owners -Warning Long!!

I recently have been getting more and more frustrated with dog owners. More specifically, dog owners who also have children. I am involved with a couple of online groups of moms, and there were several discussions lately about their dogs not being tolerant enough of their children. So, I am coming on here to vent. I promise this has nothing to do with anyone who I know reads my blog.

WAKE UP PARENTS!!! It is your job and responsibility as a dog owner to keep your dog safe. It is also your job and responsibility as a parent to keep your child safe and to teach them how to appropriately interact with dogs, which will in turn keep them safe. It is not your dogs job to be "tolerant" and let your child climb, pinch, jump, ride, hug, or pull on your dog!! Should your dog have manners around your child? YES!! Should your dog have self control when and if it gets overwhelmed by a child's attention? YES!! Both of those are a must, but you as a parent are responsible for making sure those things happen.

Many parents are told to get rid of their dogs when they are expecting a new baby because "the dog will be jealous of the new baby and could eventually bit that child." There are situations where the best option is to re-home a dog because it's behavior toward children is a liability. BUT, if you know that your dog's behavior is a risk, you have 9 months to work on improving that to the point where the dog can stay in the home! If your dog is a well behaved, well adjusted, friendly dog to begin with, it should be fine with a new baby entering the family.

Parents, if your dog bites your child, it is almost always something that YOU could and should have prevented!! Yes, there are exceptions to that rule, but you are the one who should be controlling the interactions between dog and child and when that happens correctly, a bite should never happen. When I hear/read about parents who say they can't believe their dog bit their child and that "there was no warning" and that "he is usually really tolerant" I feel for two individuals in those situations....the child and the dog....and yes, I usually blame the parent. That child should have been taught how to interact with the dog. And that dog shouldn't have had to be pushed to the point that it felt the need to BITE someone to get it's message ("I am uncomfortable, leave me alone!" across. I feel bad that the parent/owner didn't take the time to educate themselves on how to foster a safe relationship between a dog and a child.

Parents need to teach their children to LEAVE THE DOG ALONE! Parents also need to educate themselves on dog body language. You need to know your dog, and know that they have their own limits.

You also need to protect your child! Do not trust anyone when they say their dog is fine with children, or if they say their dog "LOOOOVES children". Observe that dog for yourself, and make the judgement of whether or not your child can interact with that dog. If you doubt at all, the comfort level of the dog, keep your child away.

I read THIS blog yesterday and it is SO true! This is specifically about children hugging dogs, but it is true of many interactions between dogs and children. That game of "tag" that your child plays with the dog? It probably is the same kind of situation as the hug talked about in the link. Anyone reading who has a dog and children, PLEASE read the linked blog! I don't care if you finish MY post, read that one!

This is something I have seen in our family. Hobbs is VERY wary of children, including Kaylee. I blame myself for his feelings towards children. When he was a small impressionable puppy, I allowed a pushy, loud, physically aggressive toddler to terrorize him. Because he was a guide dog puppy and I was a "stupid" owner I expected him to just take it. I am convinced that is the reason he is so wary of children. When he was dropped from the guide dog program it was partly because his distrust of children was to the point that the person who evaluated him said she was worried that, given the right situation he could bite a child. That is absolutely 100% still true. Granted, he would have to be pushed REALLY hard to resort to biting, but it could happen. Honestly, I think ANY dog has the potential to bite someone, especially a child. When we brought Kaylee home from the hospital, Hobbs was terrified for a couple weeks! He didn't want to be on the same side of the house as her, let alone in the same room. It took him a while, but he has gotten used to her and even likes her a little bit.

Now, Patriot, I trust him more around Kaylee than I do Hobbs. That is simply because he is more resilient than Hobbs. He is more tolerant. Does that mean I let Kaylee do anything she wants with him and expect him to take it? NO!! Thinking about it now, I think I let her get away with bugging him more than I should. It is usually true that when a dog gets older they get LESS tolerant of things. Their bodies usually hurt, they lose sight and hearing, and just generally are grumpy. That is definitively Patriot lol. He is a grumpy old man!

It is interesting that I trust Patriot around her more than I trust Hobbs. Patriot is much more likely to growl at her than Hobbs is. In fact, if Hobbs were to ever actually growl at her, I would probably snatch her out of the reach of his mouth, because a bite would possibly be coming next. He doesn't growl at much, he is one to try to escape the situation rather than confront whatever is making him uncomfortable. When she was first crawling, he dumped her on the floor many times because she would start to crawl on him and he would bolt. I never reprimanded him for that behavior. I would much rather him leave the situation than feel trapped and resort to worse methods of getting her away from him (bite).

On the other hand, I will admit that Patriot has growled at her. He growls and grumbles about everything from a stepped on foot/tail to the cat walking too close to him. When he growls, I first assess what KAYLEE is doing. If she is over the line, I will correct HER behavior first. If it is something silly, like her accidentally sitting on his leg hairs I tell him "that's enough" because really that doesn't warrant him grumping. 9 out of 10 times a growl from him is because Kaylee is doing something that she shouldn't (sitting on him, laying across his legs, using him as a slide, purposely standing on his tail, etc). Even when it is something little, I explain to Kaylee that she needs to be careful about what she is doing around Patriot.

Just so the Grandparents reading this aren't getting nervous, Kaylee is never in danger around the dogs. I am very diligent in keeping her interactions with them appropriate and safe. So please don't worry!

Best Trial Ever!

This happened all the way back in February and I am just now blogging about it! ** For all of my non-agility readers, I am going to do a post about some common agility jargon so you will be able to understand these posts. But I tried to explain as I went.**

Hobbs and I had an amazing trial in February. It was our first AKC trial of the year and our first full trial being in Excellent everything.

It. Was. Awesome!

We only did one day, so 3 runs. We Q'd in every single one! No titles earned, but a perfect trial! Really quick, a Q means that I had a perfect, Qualifying, run in the class I was entered in. No mistakes.

First off, I got to the site only to find that someone had taken the little secluded spot I usually put Hobbs in to keep him calm and away from any loud dogs. Being around a ton of dogs usually stresses him out and throws him off his game. I had to find a spot that would be away from any loud dogs I could find.....not an easy task as a lot of agility dogs bark when they are in their crates and not playing. Many of them bark when people or other dogs walk past which is constantly during a trial. I put a blanket over his crate and crossed my fingers that it wouldn't affect him.

The first class was FAST - This is a class where there isn't a numbered course, but some of the obstacles have different points value. There is also a distance challenge where the handler can't go as close to the obstacles as they may want to, but they still need to get the dog to do the obstacles. To get a Q, you have to get 60 points AND get the distance challenge, all in under 35 seconds. Do you know how SHORT 35 seconds is??

The course map:

Hobbs was a MANIAC on this course!! I am so glad it was FAST first because I could make up my own course. The send was no problem at all....it was one of the easiest I have ever seen on an Excellent course. After this course I was worried that Hobbs and I were not going to have a good day. I shouldn't doubt my little dog. He is amazing!

Next was our Standard class. This is where all of the equipment is used, and there is a set course and a maximum time allowed to complete it. I think this is my favorite class. It is definitely my favorite to watch, and usually my favorite course to run. Hobbs likes it better as well because constant jumping just isn't as motivating for him.

Course Map:

This run was so smooth and together! I was nervous about Hobbs getting his weave pole entry after the tunnel, but there wasn't a problem at all. The only really scary part was that I was behind Hobbs as he ran down the last line towards the triple jump. I was running as fast as I could but didn't keep up with him. When he went over the triple, he started to drop his back legs (something he does when he isn't sure about where he is going next) and then yanked them back up. His legs went down right between the bars, and it was a miracle that he got them back up without dropping at lease one bar. This Q gave us our first points towards a very big title, and I was ecstatic about it!

Last for the day was JWW (Jumpers with weaves). This is a class entirely made up of jumps, weave poles, and sometimes tunnels. It is the class that has been really difficult for us in Excellent. This was our 10th run trying to get a clear round.....I will be honest and say that I was getting discouraged.

The course map:

When I looked at the map, and waked the course, I basically "knew" we weren't going to be able to get around the course clean. Lol, I have such faith in my and my dog's abilities huh? When it was our turn, I don't think I breathed the whole time on course....It seemed like it was slow motion, and after Hobbs got over the last jump I couldn't believe we had actually done it! We got our first ever Excellent JWW Q!! I don't think Hobbs has ever seem me so happy after a run EVER, and he loved it. He kept trying to do his little labby scoots, but couldn't with his leash on. We ran outside and I let him off leash to run and celebrate.

I learned at this trial that my little dog deserves a LOT more credit than I give him! He does this for ME!! Yes, he enjoys it, but he enjoys my happiness with him more than playing the game itself.

Our next trial is in only 3.5 weeks, and I am hoping we are ready. It will be a LONG 3 day trial, and I love the site it is at.

Finally some more agility!!

Hobbs and I finally made it back to agility today!! I have been feeling really sick for the past month, and we have barely gotten out of the house for walks some days let alone running around playing agility lol! But we have a trial coming up in just over a week so we needed to get back to practicing.

Today was another open practice at our local trial venue. I really love practicing there because it is building Hobbs confidence in a trial setting. He is also FINALLY starting to seem like he understands what is expected with his A-frame contact. The only reason I say that is because his speed on the obstacle has increased a ton, and he is hitting his contact most of the time. I haven't started running ahead of him or really doing anything other than going right beside him, but I have a feeling that will come soon. YAY!

Anyways, today's course seemed very similar to one we had a couple weeks ago. I am hoping that the one next week will be very different.

Our trial this next weekend is ASCA. We are still in novice and I think it will be fun to run some super easy courses. It will be a good start to our year. I am hoping it gets me excited for the agility season. I have been feeling kind of burnt out and un-enthusiastic about this year of agility, and I am not sure why. Hopefully that changes soon!

Sequences and Plans for Patriot

This morning Hobbs and I did some little sequences I got from AgilityNerd HERE.

We did these two sequences:

I think I had it a little more spread out than it was was supposed to be, but they were both still really fun. Hobbs rocked both the weave entries on the first tries, but then got a little sick of them. He certainly doesn't love the weave poles. After a couple tries on both sequences I move on to playing on the dogwalk and teeter. I worked on his speed using the clicker and a target/treat plate at the end of each.

I realized that, for some reason, Hobbs is nervous about staying in the 2o2o position on the teeter. He was hesitant to get into the position, and then would immediately jump off when I released him. Not sure why he is nervous, but I do know that the teeter made him hurt when he had his bladder infection in Oregon. Maybe he is nervous about it hurting him?

The morning was very fun and relaxed. I was very happy that Hobbs wasn't worn out by the end of the hour!

Now, for Patriot. I have a plan to help strengthen his muscles, particularly his hind end. I won a DVD at a trial last year, and just barely got around to watching it. It's about strengthening performance dogs. There are a few exercises in it that I have been doing with Patriot, and he gets fatigued very quickly, so I am hoping to see an improvement over time. He is feeling much better, but is still having trouble getting up and down sometimes.

Practice pays off!

I am loving the consistency I am seeing with more practice. Hobbs was doing really really well yesterday when we went to run the course at open practice. We managed to get a clean run on the first try, and it was a really fun course.

We ran the whole thing through twice, then played with some different handling to tighten up the turn from 5 to 6. There was some weird thing in the dirt straight out from 5, and Hobbs would run to it every time. I think he thought it might be his reward.

The best part of this practice was that Hobbs' weave poles and A-frame were fast! Usually Hobbs isn't fast on either away from home or the barn. It is good to see him relaxing here and getting used to playing. This is where many of our agility trials are held, so hopefully all this practice will carry over to the trials.

Thank you for all your kind comments about Patriot. I think I have a plan for him, and he is definitely feeling better after a few days rest.

Alphabet Drills

Today Hobbs and went to the barn to practice. A friend came with us and she brought her book of Alphabet Drills. We decided to start at the beginning and did the letter a.

First we played around on the other equipment. I sent Hobbs over the A-frame a bunch of times with the hoop at the bottom, and he did great. I took it away for one time and he jumped the yellow. Silly dog :(

I worked on his weave entries, doing positions 1 and two from the challenge. Hobbs rocked them both! He gets stuck and slow sometimes in the weaves, and I am not sure what causes it. I wish he was this confident with his weaves at trials.

I played with him a lot! I want him to be a little more excited to play with me, rather than just running for the treats. Lol, he thought I was insane for a while, but then got into the play.

We only had time for one sequence with that letter, so we did the hardest one:

I am proud to say that Hobbs and I got it on the first try! He was very fast, focused, and watched me well for the most part. It was really hard for me to tighten up his turn from 10-11. There is a statue of an Owl at one end of the barn and every time he went over that jump he was staring at the statue. I am not sure what he thought it was, but maybe he couldn't figure out why it never moved.

I love my dog! He was having SO much fun today! We are going to the open practice again on Wednesday, and I am hoping he will have as much fun there as at the barn.

Year in Review

Our second year of competitive agility was AWESOME!! Here is our summary:

2011

Trials - 8

• ASCA - 1 - February
• AKC - 7 - January, February, May, June, July, and September

Q's - 23 (this is DOUBLE from last year!!)

• ASCA - 3
• AKC - 20

Titles - 7

• ASCA - GS-N (novice gamblers)
• AKC - NAP (novice agility preferred), NFP (novice FAST preferred), OJP (open JWW preferred), OAP (open agility preferred), OFP (open FAST preferred), AXP (agility excellent preferred)

I truly LOVED our year of agility! My little dog did me proud on almost every single run. The only ones he had a lot of trouble with were the ones at our Idaho trial. The thing I wish I had tried harder with was practicing and keeping him fit. He may or may not have injured himself during our last trial, and part of that is probably because he wasn't fit enough. I openly admit that, but it is tough to keep a dog fit with a two year old and being pregnant most of the year. I will do better this next year! If he had been fit, we could have had 3 more months of agility this year. Instead, I was trying to keep him sane while he healed.

*Our Agility goals for next year:

*Get out of Excellent A!!! - or at least get an Excellent JWW Q
*Earn a QQ towards Hobbs' PACH
*Earn half of our speed points towards a PACH (that is 375 points)
*Trial more in ASCA
*Attend a seminar
*Attend AKC Nationals! Lol as a spectator anyways
*Get and keep Hobbs fit
*Practice 3x per week (at least)
*Come up with a pre-run routine
*Get a reliable A-frame contact
*Complete the weave pole challenge
*Trust my dog more at trials
*Trial like I practice
*Have FUN!!

Another great course

Hobbs and I went to the open practice again this week, and had a great time. Hobbs was tired really early again, but I am trying to work on his fitness so hopefully that will get better.

This course was pretty fun!

The only tricky parts were 3-5 and 17 to the end. I decided to do 3 -4 as a threadle with Hobbs on my left. It worked wonderfully on the first try! The end was only hard because I had to get ahead of Hobbs enough to do a front cross after the tunnel. I guess I could have tried a rear cross at 19, but I chickened out. Hobbs was super fast at first, but the deep dirt of the arena takes a lot out of him.

I think we are going to plan for an ASCA trial in February. It will be a nice first trial because we are still in Novice in almost everything lol. I wish I had the money to trial in ASCA regularly too, but I would prefer to get his AKC titles first. Then we can go back and do ASCA later. I think there is also an AKC trial in February that would be fun.

Monday will begin our regiment of 3x a week training. Monday, Wednesday (most weeks), and Saturday we will be doing agility! I think I am going to work on handling/obstacle behaviors on Monday, run whatever course is set up on Wednesday, and then we will do a little of both at our group practice on Saturdays. This will be the most we have practiced agility each week since we first started, and I am excited to see what kind of difference it makes.

We are back!!

Hobbs and I are FINALLY back to doing some agility! We went to a local agility practice, and had a great time running a full course for the first time in two months.

Here is the course we did:

Our first go through was surprisingly good! He went off course a few times but every time it was my fault because I was handling slowly and sloppily.....and Hobbs was FAST! Hobbs was obviously tired after the first run, so we only did it one more time. The second time it was perfect and Hobbs' A-frame was amazingly gorgeous!

I am planning to take him back again next week, but I expect the courses to get more difficult as people are preparing for Nationals. I am excited to see how crazy they get.

Oh, and I am BEYOND excited to go to Nationals as a spectator!! March is SO far away!

The Lack of Agility :(

There has been a significant lack of agility around here lately :(

After our last trial it seemed like Hobbs was moving oddly. I couldn't pinpoint anything, so I decided to just let him rest. He seemed to be better, and I was ready to get him back in agility, when he broke a toenail. So we are done for the year. My plan is to start up again in January, and will be entering two trials in February....hopefully.

I am still debating whether he should go in to see a vet or not. He doesn't seem to be in any pain and willingly runs around like his normal self. The only thing I have noticed is that his walking gait has changed from a regular 4 beat to more of a pace gait. Patriot has walked this way since he was pretty young, but until recently, I hadn't noticed Hobbs doing it. That is why I am wondering if I should still take him in even though he doesn't seem to be in obvious pain.

As for Patriot, he is doing well for his age. He is going to be 10 in May!! He is really slowing down and I had to get him some stronger joint supplements because he was starting to have a hard time on the stairs and getting up after laying down for a long time. He is pretty content now not going on walks very much. He still enjoys them, but after 30 minutes he is ready to come home. It is really sad to think that he is getting old. I hate thinking about when he isn't here anymore. Hopefully that wont happen for another few years.

I have been really bad lately about taking pictures of the boys

I am going to try to do better next year!

AKC x 2

Yes, I know it has almost been TWO months since I updated last! Hopefully that doesn't become a habit, but it might. Life is just busy right now, and we aren't doing any agility lately....more on that to come.

Hobbs and I were able to compete in two more AKC trials last month, our 6th and 7th so far this year, and for the most part they were pretty good. Lets just say that, so far, Excellent is kicking our butts.

The first one was at a beautiful site, a large horse farm with huge grass paddocks and the grass arena they turned into agility rings. The only classes we Q'd in were Open FAST and T2B preferred. We had two other really REALLY nice runs, but the little mistakes I made cost us the runs. Here are the courses and as much as I can remember about them.....forgive me. Its been two months :(

Friday:

Excellent STD - This was such a nice run! We had one refusal at #15, I think, because I didn't support him enough over the jump.

Excellent JWW - Another really nice run that was SO close to being a Q! It was another refusal, but I can't remember where on the course it was.

Open FAST - This course was great. Fast and easy! No problem with the bonus, and we got our 2nd open leg.

Saturday:

Excellent JWW - Bad run. 3 Refusals and 1 wrong course :( Looking at the course, I don't remember why it was so difficult. I think we were just having a bad day. I do have this one on video somewhere, but I can't find it for the life of me! I do remember that his landing coming off #12 it looked like he might have hurt his leg. I stopped to watch him move around for a second before finishing the course.

T2B - Our only good run of the day and it was REALLY good! HERE is the video. It is on a friend's Facebook page so hopefully people can see it.

Excellent STD - Another REALLY bad run. I think I got overconfident with this run because the course was almost identical to T2B. Hobbs missed the weave entry twice and it just got worse from there. I don't even know how many faults we had or what they were, but it was BAD. He also dropped at least 2 bars! Not like him :(

Saturday in general was a tough day for me. It was the 1 month anniversary of losing our little Cadence.....so my mind was elsewhere for parts of the day. I would like to think that contributed to our horrible runs.

Our next trial was just two weeks later, and it was SO much colder! During the two week break I gave Hobbs a lot of rest time because it seemed like he was moving weird. Not limping, but not moving right. After the two weeks it seemed that he was good again, so we went to the trial.

Friday:

Open FAST - This course really interesting. The bonus line was odd, and it was the first time the judge had tried something like it. If you look at the picture, you can see there was a vertical line and a horizontal line. To get the bonus you had to stay below the horizontal line or to the left of the vertical line until after the dog was in the chute, then you had to cross the line, so that you were above the horizontal line and to the right of the vertical line, before you sent the dog into the tunnel. Anyways, our run was amazingly smooth and wonderful until the weave poles. Hobbs missed the entry once, twice, and finally got it on the third try. After the second try I started to think "It has been a really long time. The buzzer should have rung by now!" It turns out I was right. The timer was having issues and didn't work properly for my run. So, after a 1 dog break I got to do it again for points and time. I ran the exact same course and it went really well again, but Hobbs still missed his weave entry 2 times before I skipped it and ran for the end of the course. We Q'd, got our OFP title, and moved up to Excellent for the next day.

Excellent STD - This course was beautiful! Right up until he missed the weave entry....twice.

Excellent JWW - This course was also really beautiful! Hobbs was getting a bit tired though because it was the end of the day, and he dropped two bars. I think I was getting tired too and didn't handle as well as I could have. He really hasn't had a problem with bars in a long time.....well except the last trial. He got his weave entry though which was my only goal for this course.

Saturday:

Excellent STD - This was such a wonderful course, and our run was practically flawless! I almost lost him at #12 because he locked onto the table. This was our 3rd standard leg in Excellent A so Hobbs now has his AXP!! We still haven't gotten his certificate from AKC though, so I may have to check on it.

Excellent JWW - Ugh. This was our 9th run in Excellent, and our 9th NQ. This one was another really close one too. Our mistake happened at #8. He jumped it thinking he was turning right and when I called to him he back jumped it.....I wanted to cry at that point. The rest of the course was wonderful, but my records say we also dropped a bar. If he dropped the bar as he back jumped #8 would that count as a fault? Because we got one wrong course and one fault.

Excellent FAST!! - This bonus was really intimidating! I was really excited about being in Excellent FAST though. I walked my planned opening of this course a ton. I planned to put him on the start line pointed at the double, then turn left and go through the chute, then over the five 1 point jumps that are in a "line" to the bonus. I was one of two people who did that opening, and the other person did it because she saw me walking it that way. It worked out well for both of us! As for the bonus. No one was getting it. The handler couldn't cross the line until after all 4 paws of the dog were on the ground after the A-frame.

Hobbs and I nailed it!! I put my whole body into letting him know he needed to stay on the A-frame while I went around the skewed jump that was on the bonus line. Then I let him creep down until he was in the yellow, then released him. Here is where my plan was off. I immediately tried to push him over to the weave poles and he missed the entry. Then I panicked about the time and ran for the finish, picking up the triple and tire on our way out. Thinking back, I should have taken the extra second to set him up nicely for the poles to get the 10 points. We would have had 1 or 2 time faults, but more overall points. But we still got a Q!! I really wish we would have gotten a video of that run....I was so proud of it! I think we were one of 2 or 3 20" dogs that got the bonus.

A little rusty....

Well, our first agility practice (last week) went pretty well! I think mentally, I was not at my best (go figure), but we did a good job anyways. That course is tough!

We did THIS course for our first practice.

We stumbled our way through it once then I went back and walked it a TON while Hobbs had a water break. The second time through was rough, but we got through it! Hobbs was pretty done after that so we ended with a small easy part of the course.

Today we went to the barn again for practice and it went so much better! Here is the course we did:

Click to enlarge

This course is actually by a judge I have competed under! I thought it was really tough when I set it up. I switched the A-frame and the Teeter because they were already mostly in place and I didn't want to have to drag each of them across the barn. There were parts of it that were pretty tight, and I think that was even more so because of the size of the barn. I need to get faster at setting up courses! I understand mostly how to do it now, but it takes me 20-30 minutes to set it up when I am by myself.

Hobbs was on fire! He was crazy excited to be doing agility again, and I was happy that even with that extra energy we got through the course clean (with breaks for rewards) the first time through. The only trouble he had was sticking his teeter. He kept stepping off and so we worked on that for a little while between running the course.

The second time around the course was amazingly smooth and flawless! It was a great morning even though it was about 1000 degrees by the time our hour was up.

I am excited for our trial this weekend! I am also nervous and worried about the heat. Hopefully it will be a cool day......ha ha!

Going Crazy

Patriot thinks he is going crazy. We have a new cat in the house and he can't figure out what he is supposed to do. He is VERY protective against cats that aren't ours, and now he doesn't know what to think. He will randomly jump up because Turtle or the new cat (who doesn't have a name yet) walks by, hackles raised, and run over to them to see if they are ok or not. I keep reminding him that they are both ok, but he seriously gets this look on his face like he thinks he is going crazy. It is a little funny, and a little sad.

Hobbs on the other hand is stressed and terrified. He is scared to death of the new cat, because she is not used to dogs. His stress comes in the form of diarrhea and drinking excessive amounts of water. I don't know what to do for him other than just keep his routine as normal as possible and try to limit his interactions with the new cat.

She still needs a name, in case anyone has any suggestions!

Plans for Practice

I finally rented the barn where I have had class for the past two years! I will have it all to myself, and that is a little intimidating to me. I know I need to make sure I have a plan so I don't waste away the time. I already have a course that I want to try that might actually fit in the barn. Usually we have to break a course down into two parts to get it to fit in the space. It is from AgilityNerd's latest post:



It looks really tough, and really really fun!

I will only have time to do one course (probably), so I want to work on some other things before and after. Pretty sure we can finally get some work in on the weave pole challenge.

I took Hobbs and a few jumps to the local park and Hobbs was crazy excited to be doing agility.....or he was just excited about the freshly cut grass. He would take a jump and then go run a HUGE loop around the field and come right back to do more agility. The poor boy was pretty worn out after only a few sequences, and about 5-7 loops around the field. It was really good to do some agility though.

Goals for Hobbs

For the next few months, basically the rest of the year, I can't trial. So, I have a couple of options. I could just sit back, relax, and start from square one after I am recovered from having this baby. Or, I can take advantage of this time to work on some little things that could be improved. My plan right now is the second option. I am going to be working with Hobbs on mostly agility stuff, and I am going to work with Patriot on a few things.

Here are my plans (so far) with Hobbs:

Weave Pole Challenge! - Hobbs struggles with his weave poles at trials, and I am not sure why. I have gotten though only week 1 of the challenge, and haven't successfully been able to video ANY of our weave pole work.

Jumping Skills - There are a few skills I would like Hobbs to understand better, most of which have to do with collecting and turns......and keeping bars up.

A-Frame - I have not decided what exactly I want to do for his A-frame contact, but I do want his contact behavior to be more consistent

Recall - His is getting really bad. It has never been good, but it is getting worse.

Core Strength - I think this will help him overall in agility, especially his jumping, weaves, contact behavior, and turning abilities........wait, that is everything!

Body Awareness - Again, helpful in all aspects of agility.

Fitness - I have been keeping him fit, but just enough to keep me from feeling guilty. Honestly, I am probably asking for him to get injured, and I think about that every time I play agility with him.....because I know he isn't as fit as he should be. This one will be mostly waiting until after I am not pregnant anymore. Then both he and I will be really focusing on getting fit.

Change treats! - I got to thinking about it at my last trial that Hobbs has been getting the same treat as his reward for Agility for the past 2 years. Does he like it? Yes! Could he like a change better? Maybe!

One of the big challenges we have had in the area of training is the lack of a yard. Ours is really not fun for the dogs to play on, and I don't want to force either of them to work on it. It is extremely difficult to get all my jump equipment, the dog(s), and the two year old to the park to work for any length of time.

I may have to really work to get this stuff accomplished by the end of the year, but I think it is doable!

The end of a great season!

This past weekend's AKC trial was SO wonderful! Well, wonderful except one tiny moment that was a bit less than wonderful lol.

First thing on Friday morning was FAST......and it was less than ideal. Hobbs was CRAZY despite me taking him to run around outside before the run. The A-frame was in the gamble and as soon as he took of to go up it I knew he was going to jump the contact on the down side. He basically jumped from the second slat on the down side. I pulled him off of the rest of the send bonus to try the frame again, and he jumped it again....but this time it was closer. I decided we were done and thanked the judge and she said we could try the A-frame again. So I did and this time Hobbs went all the way down to the bottom and gave me 2o2o.....something we haven't done in almost a year lol. After he got it I praised him a TON and let him do a tunnel and a couple jumps as we walked off course.

Next up was our first Standard run of the weekend. It was a great course, and I felt like it was very doable. Hobbs had his head screwed on for this run, thank heavens, and we did awesome! I was very proud of our, and wished I had had my camera for someone to video. Hobbs got his A-frame again, but I was babying it a bit to make sure he got it. I really need to figure out what I want to do to get that running contact consistent.

Last up for the day was Jumpers, and it was a tough course. I was very excited to try it, and I was VERY happy with how we did. Our only issue was the weave poles. They were right after a tunnel and triple jump so Hobbs was FLYING. I tried to get him to steady before he started them and he got his entry, but after about 3 poles he couldn't stay it. I sent him again and he did all of them and then we finished the course beautifully. It was a REALLY nice run.

On Saturday we only had two runs, a standard and a jumpers. The club chose to have Time 2 Beat as the game for the day and I didn't sign up. It looked fun though so next time it is offered we will give it a try.

Our jumpers run was great! It was a very fast running course, and being 7 months pregnant, running fast is not the easiest thing in the world. I walked it several times, and somehow still blanked on most of the course. Maybe it was the fact that my pants kept falling off.....I was literally holding them on while I ran. So, I felt like I was running hesitantly, trying to remember the course jump by jump. Hobbs missed a pole and exited early from the weave poles and so we didn't Q, but I was very proud of the rest of the way he ran the course. This is the only run I got on video so here it is:

Standard was another very doable course, but after two mishaps with the weave poles I was nervous. I shouldn't have been. It was an amazing run! He got the weaves wonderfully even though they were right after the tunnel. That gave us another Q and another 1st place. It was a wonderful end to our trialing for the next couple of months.

I am going to make a list of things I would like to work on before we return to trialing. Hopefully, it will include a plan for the A-frame!

Black and White

Sadly, this past trial in Idaho didn't go quite as I would have liked it to. We had some good moments, and some truly awful ones. I have actually been delaying this post because I couldn't bring myself to watch one of the videos. I survived the video, so I guess I can share.

First was Excellent JWW - I got too busy watching people run that I forgot when I needed to pull Hobbs out to warm up. I didn't have near as much time as I wanted to. So he had a lot more energy than I wanted. I went into the ring a little flustered, and as I watch the video a lot of my handling was late, but it didn't feel like it at the time. I mostly felt like I didn't have Hobbs' attention at all.

The course:

Here is the video - This is the one I really didn't want to watch because it seemed SO bad when we ran it. The wind in these videos is a bit loud so you may want to mute it!

Next up was Open Standard - What a difference! We had a couple bobbles (his A-frame contact was SOOO close), but for the most part it was great, and Hobbs did really really well. I wish I had a video of this one! This was our last leg needed for our OAP title, we got 1st, and we moved up to Excellent!

The Course:

Last of all on Friday was Open FAST - This run was bad....it had good moments, but mostly it was just bad. Hobbs was blowing me off big time. He even missed the tunnel entry of the bonus....which was super easy. He instead chose to trot around behind it sniffing. Then he went sniffing around the scribe's table, and at that point I almost walked off the course. The only good part of the whole run was that he got his A-frame contact really well!

The Course:

First on Saturday was JWW - When I walked this course I liked it much better than the one the day before. I felt like it was very doable.....Then I ran it.

The Course:

As soon as I sent him over #11 I realized I had walked it wrong. I had walked it with #11 going in the wrong direction. That threw me off for the rest of the course. He took a bar down somewhere, and went to the tunnel after 14 rather than the weaves. I was kicking myself for the mistake for a LONG time after the run was over. I didn't let Hobbs know I was upset though. I celebrated and played with him for a good while because he was SO good during this run. After I put him away I mentally beat my head against a wall.

Next up was our first ever Excellent Standard run - It went decently well. Hobbs, and almost every other dog in the class, had a weird moment at the table. Hobbs stopped and trotted around for a second before getting on it....which gave us a refusal. The ring crew chair was VERY close to the table, and there was a photographer and a group of spectators all set up right behind the table. I think it was stressing the dogs because many of them had problems with it. After that he got the weave entry which I was really happy about. I forgot my handling plan for after the weaves and he thought I wanted him to go to the teeter......and then got lost behind me.

The course:

The Video:

Last of all was Open FAST - I almost went home early and skipped out on this run. I was SO hot and tired and the day seemed to just drag on and on and on. I am glad I stuck around because it was a good run. I was worried about the end of the A-frame being SO far from the line, but he got all the way down into the contact. After that I was so happy I forgot the rest of my plan. It worked out though and we got 1st and a Q!

The Course:

I hope our next trial isn't a total disaster. It was tough keeping up with him being as pregnant as I was, and I will be another 3 weeks further along. It will be in our usual trial location for this year, so hopefully I will have my normal dog again.

I promise it wont be another month before I post again! I am planning to start on the Weave Pole Challenge tomorrow, so hopefully I can get that edited and posted soon after. I am really new to video editing and I am hoping that wont slow me down too much.