2011 Flashback: Devon's AX

I can’t let 2011 get too far in the past without a blog about Devon’s agility career. Agility has been tough for her, and a lot of it has had to do with training (i.e., it’s my fault). I took for granted the access to foundation training I had in Ohio, and I didn’t have it here. What I learned through Devon helped me create the agility foundation program I used with Page and now teach.

But Devon did come with a fear of movement and she’s very environmentally aware, so lack of confidence in her foundation along with those issues have caused training and confidence problems. And in Oct 2009, after earning her OA, Devon got spooked on the teeter in training and wouldn’t get back on it. It took her nearly 6 months to even start back with a board and a 1-inch dowel.

Then in June 2010, I pushed a weave performance one weekend during a 3-day trial when she was sore in her left shoulder (something she’s battled on and off for most of her career). That caused a weave confidence problem!

So 2011 was the year if we would figure out of Devon was really going to have an agility career. Other than tracking to finish her VST and some obedience training here and there, we focused on agility all year. And it paid off!

In 2011, Devon earned all three legs of her AX for her title, as well as her first MX leg. All three of her AX legs were earned at “home” training buildings. I had a slight worry that she’d never weave successfully away from home on the first try, when she earned her first MX leg in Zanesville, Ohio, proving me wrong! In addition to her first master’s standard leg, Devon earned three MXJ legs this year and a total of 30 MACH points.

While 30 MACH points in one year is certainly low, it represents a year of hard work for us. Most of her Qs and points came in the second half of the year. By December, Devon looked confident and happy in agility. Even though we didn’t Q all weekend in her last trial of 2011, I’m so proud of her attitude and performance. We’re getting there, and I can’t wait for next weekend when we get to step to the line again.

The one thing I have learned with Devon is it truly is a pleasure to step to the line with her in any venue. She is a happy willing worker, but she really does it so we can have fun together. When I remember that, magic happens!

2011 Flashback: Page gets a mulligan!

It’s rare in an AKC trial to actually get a mulligan, or a “do over.” A few months ago, Page and I got one, and I decided to use it to my advantage. Page had not been weaving, due mainly to her lack of wanting to collect to slow down the game. We were just past our third try at the weaves and moving on when half the lights went out in the ring. The judge gave us a do over because we had not completed the course, even though we had already NQ’d.

When we finally got to run the course again (20 minutes later and not 5 minutes later as initially thought), Page went around the second jump. UGH! Something we’d done so well in the first attempt. I’m not fast enough to turn her around, and I knew the weaves would be a problem anyway, so I changed my plan.

When I walked the course, I knew you could run it with all front crosses or all rear crosses. In my first attempt, I went with all fronts, and I was happy with the results. So the second time when I had nothing to lose, I used all rear crosses. How rare is it to get the same course and the same trial situation and get to run it a different way?

Well, I learned something. The fronts worked better in this case. My dog has much more clear direction with the front crosses. Now it could have been because I did a bad job of executing the rears, and I’ll accept that. But it told me something about my team. Page gets better direction when I’m in front of her and I need to do everything possible to continue to learn to be in front of her.

Run 1

Run 2

Photos from an agility trial: Page

More photos from the Pawsitive Partners USDAA trial on Sunday. This is Page. Awesome candids!

Photos from an agility trial: Devon

Thanks to Virgil Sweeden of Paw Prints Life who took these awesome photos of Devon in action at the Pawsitive Partners USDAA trial on Sunday. It tops off a great day of Qs and placements!

ACI trial Feb. 19-20, 2011

I'll try and get posts up of previous trials during the next few weeks, but I have a minute to blog so I wanted to get this up. This is our third trial this year and we hadn't trialed since October 2010 due to Devon's heat cycle. I'm pleased with how things are going! Devon is training very well, and her teeter and weaves are solid. She's still having some stress in the weaves at trials, but we have been showing progress.

Saturday Excellent B JWW
Saturday was Devon's 5th birthday, and I can't say our first run, Excellent JWW, was a gift to her from me. I planned the opening so she would see the poles really well, but then I praised her in the poles and scared her to death! My voice was too strong and high and she popped right out. She went back in fine and weaved strong until a hand movement pulled her out and then we fumbled a rear cross on the flat. Poor Devon! She was so confused and stressed, she just stopped and shook herself off. You can see by the video I apologized. What a kerfuffle!

What I really like about this run is how she recovered. She took a couple of wide turns to say hello to the ring crew, but she is happy and fast. We were well under time even with the chaos at the weaves. Devon was still stressed, but she performed well.


Saturday Excellent A Standard
I wondered what Devon would do with the teeter as the second obstacle. She does prefer it early in the course, but it was against the wall and pointed into the wall. Although she looks strong on the video I felt she didn't charge it as she usually does. I was pleased that she was confident, because I think the teeter placement was difficult. It made me wonder what the Open and Novice dogs did with it later in the day.

No surprised after the earlier run that weaves were an issue. I did want her to give them an effort, and she did that for me. The rest of this run was fantastic, including her table performance. Devon slipped on her take off to the table, although you can't see it on the tape, for a split second I feared she might miss the table and crack her chin on it. Thankfully she recovered and you can't tell there was a problem.

Devon handled the A-frame to tunnel ending like a dream even though I had wanted to do a front cross before the A frame. What a good girl!


One thing different for Devon is that she didn't want to tug at this trial. That was unusual for her, since at past trials even in January I was able to get her tugging all the way to the gate. On Sunday I played with getting her more amped at the start. I think this really helped, and I could tell by her body posture she was more up. She also did less scratching before her runs.

Sunday Excellent B JWW
This was a really, really nice run. I was super pleased with Devon's weaves. She did pop the second pole but got right back in and weaved them strong when I asked. I actually got several compliments on Devon's weaves from folks who didn't realize she skipped two poles!

I was reminded watching the video that Devon is super sensitive to motion into her when I pushed her off the jump after the triple. I was distracted by the leash runner's position as Devon came around the loop at the front of the ring and held my position to make sure she wasn't also distracted. Devon did a great job, but I forgot the conversation I had with Kathy about running that line as a push after the jump to the tunnel if the dog was too far behind. I wish I had done the push to see how she would have handled it; considering it worked really well for Kathy and Emma I bet it would have for Devon.


Sunday Excellent A Standard
I think this was the best run of the weekend -- of course, if you ignore the weave poles as Devon did! I can't blame her, and I let it go because the run was so beautiful. Those weaves will come. What I was thrilled about was how well we both handled this course. She was very up for the run (again I did different things in our warm up and pre-startline), and I was super pleased with her speed. While this looks like a straight forward course, there were a lot of NQs on it.



Usually the end of February is our last agility trial of the "season" since we usually only do agility from October to February due to field training all summer. However, this year I'm going to focus on Devon's agility career and continue trialing. Now that Devon is pretty much done with her training issues and has a lot of confidence, we are a lot closer to Q'ing. I want to keep the momentum we have going and continue trialing to see if we can't work on those Excellent and Masters titles.

What is really thrilling me is the speed she's working on. Even with our mistakes, she's consistently 5-8 seconds under time in JWW and she was 15 seconds under time in Standard on Sunday. She is faster than Ian was by just a few seconds now, and I know she has more in her. As we relax and become a team, I can't wait to see where we go! Devon is just such a fun dog to run!

Indiana Collie Club Trial day 2

The second day of the Indiana Collie Club trial continued my highs and lows. Trust me, I slept very well on Sunday night, because I was exhausted!

Devon's runs
The Excellent JWW course ate up a lot of dogs. It was deceptive in its difficulty. You can see the opening had another situation where two jumps were butted up against a pole restricting the handler. I saw two of my friends (one being Agile Gold) walk between the pole and the jump to get a lead out on that side. I wanted to cheer!

I would have preferred to lead out almost to jump 2 on that side and push, because I don't want to bleed off too much speed from Devon with a full 2 jump lead out. But I decided to do another forward moving front cross on the landing side of #2 instead.

Devon ran the opening beautifully up to the weave poles. I'm fully aware of my weave issue; Devon is doing them perfectly on the second try. This has become a habit, and I'm going to have to address it at some point. However, one issue at a time...

Devon also ran the closing beautifully. A lot of dogs didn't handle the turn to the jump with the tunnel entrance visible well (lots of tunnel sucking dogs). And a lot of dogs took the last jump as an off course instead of turning toward the jump and tunnel. My front cross was very, very late after that yellow jump before the tunnel, and I think the late cross (Devon commits so early) and knowing her jackpots were out there contributed to visiting the measuring tape near the ring gate.



Now for the Standard run. I have to say on Saturday, I was nervous for that Standard run. On Sunday I was not. I even made Devon turkey brownies on Saturday night! So before her run, I showed her the turkey brownies and her jackpot container with her triple and blueberries and we talked about how she again needed to do the teeter for her jackpot.

Going to the line, I sensed Devon was more stressed than the day before. You can see she scratches on the startline. The weaves as obstacle 2 didn't help. But I thought Devon's turn into the tunnel from the dogwalk was outstanding.

And then there was the teeter. I gave her a lovely entrance, but she refused the teeter. On the second try she went all four feet on, then bailed. I had already decided my strategy and boy was it tough to maintain. I left the course.

In leaving the course, I staying neutral; I didn't want Devon to perceive a "punishment." Devon expected her jackpots, and I know she was confused when she didn't get them. And no one spoke to her on her way back to the crate. I'm sure she wondered where her supporters were. I kept my voice up in my light chatter to Devon, and I made sure my body was relaxed on the way back to the crate. Devon looked for treats on top of the crate, but I just put her into her crate and walked away for about 10 minutes.

I really hated doing all this, but Devon made a choice out there and I could not allow her to make that choice. Devon proved she was no longer fearful of that teeter. She did it in competition the day before. Nothing had changed, except Devon's choice. And she doesn't get to play or get jackpots if she chooses not to take the teeter. The line was drawn in the sand.



I didn't like that walking off the course was the end of Devon's day. Later I brought her out and let her walk with me around the building. We "talked" and she had some petting before going back in her crate.

Page's runs
Page's runs were much better! In Open JWW, she popped out of the weaves near pole 10 or 11, but I kept going. I'm not sure if my arm swinging caused her to pop or not. It's very odd she would pop out, so I'm just letting that go as green dog.

I'll also have to work the dogwalk to tunnel turn more. I over did this turn with Devon as a young dog, and it took us a long time to get her to come straight off a dogwalk with a tunnel under it. I think I've done the opposite with Page.

And of course I was very late with my front cross before the teeter. But generally I was super proud of this run. We looked really good!



The JWW run showed I really need to get this tugging on the leash thing under control. Although we don't have video of Page's start, she was much worse on Sunday. It distracted her from getting a good sit at the start line in JWW. The poor sit (and she's a baby dog) caused her to go around the first jump, but again I let that go. I didn't want to put stress on her on Sunday. It's just something for me to work on.

I did fix the weave entrance, and Page didn't show too much stress over it. Her weaves were fast and focused. The jumping section after the weaves to the 180 I knew would cause us some trouble. I was very worried about showing her forward cues when she moved in front of me like I knew she would. I also thought I'd need to decelerate quite a bit to cue the turn after the first jump of the 180. I was afraid with all that speed she'd end up in the laps of the ring crew!

Instead, Page read my deceleration really well -- so much I pulled her off the jump! That really told me something about her! And she read my body position very well bypassing the first entrance of the tunnel even though she gave it a head flick and knew it was there. What a good girl!

I really worked the lateral send out of the tunnel, because Page sends forward better than laterally. I was very happy with the way she read that, too. Regardless of a Q, this was a really nice run. Page reacted to my handling very nicely, and her reactions told me how to handle her better in the future.

Indiana Collie Club Trial Day 1

This trial will go down as one that hit every emotion you can experience during trials -- from the extreme highs of success to lows from poor choices.

Devon's runs
Let's start with the highs. Saturday was Devon's day ... well maybe not at first! In our JWW run, we were just a little off from the start. I keep forgetting Devon commits really early, and she did commit to the wrong end of the #4 tunnel early and I didn't realize it. If I could have run the course over again, I would have done a front cross after jump #3.

As a general commentary on this trial, I loved the courses and the judge. However she did do one thing that drives me a little nuts. Both days in JWW she had two jumps butted up against a post. This severely restricted my handling choices, and I hate not having a full range of options for my dog. In the opening of this JWW course, you see that the #3 jump is up against a post and so is another jump so the handler was restricted from going on one side of the #3 jump. If I had my way, I would have preferred to handle the opening with a forward moving front cross on the landing side of #2 and running right at the #4 tunnel past jump #3 on the opposite side.

After we got about halfway through the course, Devon and I managed to get it together to end on a high note.



The best part of my day was Devon's Standard run. On Tuesday in class, we celebrated several big weekend successes, including Page's CT. Someone made "turkey brownies" for the dogs. Devon thought these were the most wonderful manna from heaven ever! She started getting really silly in class and taking off going over the teeter just to get more turkey brownies. It was too funny, so of course she got rewarded big time.

Today's Standard course was a beautiful straight run to the teeter, so I thought I'd try it. We train at this facility regularly, and she's confident in practice. I took her jackpot (tripe and blueberries) and some extra ostrich jerky and showed her it was sitting on a table right outside the ring. I explained if she did the teeter, she would get the jackpots. Devon understood completely (I could tell)! In fact, instead of doing the weave poles, she started looking for the teeter. The last time she did this she went off course to take the teeter!

Devon never even slowed down heading for the teeter, and once she hit the commitment point you can see her tail wagging. I had a couple of people stationed in the back to cheer if she successfully completed the teeter, and you know an agility trial is. If 2-3 people start cheering everyone else does too and they don't even need to know why!

This video is priceless! Devon KNOWS she was the star and everyone was cheering for her! After the run and she got her jackpots, Devon individually thanked every person standing ringside for cheering for her. One of my friends called it "Devon's Adoration Procession!"

Page's runs
So off the high of Devon's success, Page had to run. Page had a nice Standard run. I forgot that the on side angled weave entrance presented in this course is the one Page struggles with. She blew past the weaves and I had to redo them. That was totally my fault for assuming her weaves didn't need to be supported.

Page handled the rest of the middle section of the course very well. This was the same as the Excellent course, so it gives me a clue of what she will do in the future. I was very pleased with her going to the chute after the table. That was a very difficult section of the course in Excellent.

Unfortunately I pushed Page off a jump moving into position for a front cross. I forgot we already had a refusal, because I would have just gone on had I remembered. Turning her around put me out of position and I had to rear cross the teeter. At least Page told me she could do that! This was a really nice run for a baby dog! Too bad I didn't handle it better.



Now for JWW. You know when you want to just redo a part of your day to make it better. Well, Open JWW was that for me. It was a really nice course and I wanted to enjoy it. But I was worried about supporting the first jump. I was so concerned about where I was on course and what I was doing, that I wasn't connected with Page. Because of that, she came around a jump.

Page going around a jump should be no big deal, but I was mad at myself, and I said "Darn it." It was my biggest mistake. A month ago I said Darn it when she dropped a bar on course. I didn't notice any reaction from Page in that run; but the next day when she dropped a bar, she showed some mild stress behavior in the rest of the run.

Now keep in mind I didn't even say, "Darn it" very loud. No one in the gallery heard me, and you cannot hear it on the tape in either run. But it was enough for my baby dog. Page handles the two tunnels well, but she goes around the next two jumps. I supported the next jump and she went in the wrong direction so I had to call her. When she missed the weave entrance that was it -- she started sniffing the ground and then ran to a ring steward.

I was devastated. I stood frozen for what seemed like minutes watching my wonderful baby girl sniff the ground and not come to me -- and it was all my fault. Page is a strong confident girl, but I had forgotten she is only 19 months old. She's a baby. She may have skills above her age level and a work ethic that few dogs have, but she's a baby.

Page did come back to me (and the video shows it wasn't minutes and probably not nearly as bad as I thought it was) and we finished the course. But I made some pretty strong resolutions after the run (and Page got lots of screw up cookies from me!). I need to connect more with Page and work on our teamwork on course; that should be my only goal for each run. I also need to praise her more on course so she clearly knows what she's doing well. I also vowed that I would never react to mistakes again -- her mistakes or mine! I also realized that the tugging on the leash going into the ring that started a few weeks ago is likely stress. It's getting worse over time, not better.



At the end of an exhausting day, I was proud of my girls. I always am. I'm privileged to walk to the line with each of them and I'm the luckiest person who gets to take them home. And to support them, I took home some valuable lessons for me, too!

Hamilton Agility Trial

We just did one day of the Hamilton Agility Trial the end of September. I have wanted to return to this trial since I was there a couple of years ago, but it has never worked out.

Page had a very good day, her first in Open Standard and JWW. I was extremely proud of her in Open JWW. The opening was two jumps straight at a tunnel, but of course you didn't take the tunnel but turned 90 degrees to a jump. Page didn't even look at the jump. She also nailed her weave poles.

However, I learned a valuable lesson on this run. And in reviewing my runs from the Field Spaniel trial it's one I should have learned two weeks ago. I cannot rear cross Page out of the weave poles because I'll likely be too far behind her to support upcoming obstacles.

The rear cross after the weaves put me too far behind and I got a refusal and couldn't support the 180 further down the line. In fairness, all the fast dogs bit the dust at that 180. And the front cross before the weave poles was ugly. So we'll chalk this run up to a pretty good run and a valuable lesson learned!



Next up was Devon's Excellent JWW run. This run needs some background. Kathy and I shared a room the night before (with 5 dogs). Around 2 a.m. we woke up to the sound of someone getting sick. Poor Devon was really, really sick. She threw up about 8-10 times, once on Kathy's bed and twice on mine, not to mention all over the floor. Kathy wins best roomie award for surviving this night!

After an hour of clean up and a trip outside to potty (and seeing a cat that Devon wanted to chase), we finally went back to bed. Devon slept well; I did not. Page decided she had to potty again at 5:30 a.m. Not a popular decision in my book, but she was insistent. Needless to say, I was exhausted the next day.

After she was so sick the night before, I hadn't planned on running Devon at all the next day. However, as the morning went on, she was in a good mood and clearly feeling better. Sammy shared some plain cooked chicken, and Devon about ripped my arm off for it. I decided to run her and give her the cooked chicken before and after. I decided Devon would be more confused by not running at all than having a bad run.

It wasn't the most stellar run. The push out of the weaves that usually works well for us really tanked. But Devon was happy running to the end and she really liked getting more chicken. In the end I'm glad I ran her.



The last run of the day was for Page in Open Standard. This was a challenging course; not as difficult as the Excellent course. However, it was ripping and would get a lot of speed out of Page which I would have to manage.

As many times as I walked it, you would think I would have known where to put my front cross after the A frame. However, I was in the wrong place when I rotated. Imagine my surprise when I was standing in the middle of the jump bar. Bless Page! She acted like it was no problem and I did that all the time (I don't by the way). She jumped the bar keeping it up, and then when I reacted by sending her to the weaves, so sailed into them like she done that a hundred times. I took time to admire her, and then I realized I better get my butt up there for the rest of the run!

I was very proud of Page jumping into me from the triple. That was tough and the timing had to be perfect and the dog fully understand a serpentine. She didn't look like she was only 19 months old! The rest of the run was lovely with a small refusal and off course. I had lots of folks come up to me complimenting this run! It was a great way to end the day and get Page's first Open Standard leg!

Catching up: Field Spaniel Agility Trial

Goodness, I'm behind! Here's a quick wrap up of our last two agility trials. The Field Spaniel Trial was at a local venue, and it was lots of fun. Unfortunately the courses were very tight and difficult (as expected).

Page earns her first agility titles!!
Page was a very good girl, doing a great job on very tough courses. She Q'd in Standard on Saturday, finishing her NA. I was very pleased with this run. It was nice and controlled, and much faster than it appears on video! I'm still working to hold all of Page's contacts so she understands her criteria long term.



Page did her very best on this very on her Novice JWW run on Saturday, but the course was just too much. The only dogs that Q'd were moderate speed and/or small dogs. The big fast dogs had it rough. The opening was a 4 jump serpentine, with a 180 into the wall to the weaves. From the last tunnel the dogs had to change leads about 4 times over the last 4 jumps and take the last jump into the concrete wall (again). Page had done a lovely job, so it was too bad when the bar came down (my fault, but the alternative handling caused the next bar to come down with the next fast dog).


I forgot Page started the day with FAST and earned a Q on a pretty little run. I think it's funny how she was all "oh hello there hi!" to the ring crew until she realized there was a course to run and then she couldn't have cared less!



Page's first Open Standard run was one I wish I had back. I didn't handle this run well at all and it was a disaster. I think I was really annoyed when another bar came down. I wasn't annoyed with Page, it was the courses that were getting to me (can you tell I didn't care for the judge?). They were just practically impossible with a fast dog.

This run also shows a slight stress issue Page has with the table. This has come up once or twice in training, so I was interested to see it come out in a trial. I'm sure it's stress related; and it does prove that as confident as Page is, she can feel stress from me.




Thankfully this trial ended on a positive note for Page. The Novice JWW run was again a big challenge. It was very similar to the Excellent JWW course, so I knew the pitfalls. That yellow jump we had to work around in the close had eaten up more than a few dogs in the other levels. Page read my body language perfectly and slowed herself down and was very controlled for the forward sending rear cross. I know I was supposed to do all forward cues and no sending in Novice, but with these courses it was impossible!

Good girl Page!



Devon's looking better!
Devon had two wonderful runs in Excellent JWW. Devon nailed her weaves in competition for the first time since February! I was so excited I got her excited and she bounced out at pole 11. Then I didn't keep eye contact and she sailed over an off course jump, causing me to completely lose my place on course. If you could hear the audio a little better, you'd be really laughing at what I was saying out there. I so didn't care about that run except that Devon got her weaves!





Devon's last run of the weekend was also very nice. I chose to run the very demotivating start with a rear cross to get some speed and motion into her performance and I think it worked really well. I'll have to remember that. She almost hung onto the weave entrance, but not quite. I was so busy watching the rest of her pretty run, I forgot to do my last front cross, so I had to make up the handling on the close on the fly. I think I did pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Derby City Agility Trial -- Page

This was Page's third agility trial, and her first 3-day trial. No surprise: Page held up well over the three days; better than I did!!

FAST classes

I ran Page in FAST just for the experience of getting on the equipment. She had two wonderful runs. Again, I'm a "get in, get the points, and get out" kind of game player, so Page Q'd her FAST run on Saturday but was not in the placement ribbons. Since my goal was really just to get her on equipment and work contacts, I didn't care about the extra ribbon!

Page hit all her contacts, which was nice. We had the same fly by of the teeter that we did in Evansville with a small stress sniff. This was also the first run she ever missed a weave entrance! Shocking!

Sunday's FAST run threw a new and strange teeter performance into the mix. It's taken me a few days, but I've finally figured out what happened. She did the fly by of the teeter, but then she tried to figure out how to get on. Since I taught her a lot of board work as a pup, it was natural for her to hop on the middle. So she did and went down. Well, since she did 4 paws on, I had to do another jump and then try again. Same result. Then we ran out of time. No Q on this one, but I was more thrown by the teeter "performance."

JWW Classes

Saturday's JWW course was really nice, and we should have Q'd on it. However, I didn't anticipate a slight pull from jump 3 to jump4. As soon as I realized she was around jump 4, I knew she'd be in the tunnel too fast for me to react. The Q was blown, but I could still work the FMFC off the jump out of the tunnel. This was such a pretty run, that I'm still proud of it.

Sunday's JWW run was one I'll remember for a long, long time. It was flawless. Page did a send and I front crossed on the landing side of a pinwheel. She did three rear crosses that were lovely. And it was the first time she broke 5 YPS in a qualifying run. I've NEVER had a dog who ran that fast. This was a nice 118-yard course, and Page ran it in 22.20 seconds. That's 5.3 YPS, and I was thrilled. I could watch this one over and over. When we're on, it's so magical!

Our last JWW run of the weekend was on a really tough course. There were about four side changes, and that ate us up. Poor Page went around about 3 jumps that I didn't support well, because I was focused on where to go next. We still managed to get through it, even though we didn't Q.

Standard Classes

Poor Page. On Saturday by the time we got to Standard 11 hours after we arrived that morning, I was mentally done. I was no where near where I should have been for her. I left myself stuck behind on contacts and didn't support the contact entry well enough. We had two off courses, and I rotated my shoulders and pulled her around another jump. We certainly gave the judge lots of exercise on this run! At least the weave poles were nice!

Although our Standard run was much earlier in the day on Sunday, I was very tired. My hips were starting to hurt, and I was completely perplexed by Page's new teeter performance. Poor Judge Kurt! She hopped up and over and I just took it as a refusal and went back. Then when she hopped up and over the second time, I asked (you can't hear it on the tape) if I should go on because of the 4 paw rule. His response was "Ahhh...." He couldn't tell either! Page solved that problem by promptly putting all four paws on and coming off, so he laughed and said, "Yes, now go on!"

Obviously the front cross to the dogwalk was very late, as Page and I collided (and not very prettily)! I'm sure I heard her say, "GET OUT of my way mother!" as her head collided with my rear end! Poor Page. She works her guts out and I didn't make it easy!

The last Standard run of the weekend, and I felt like this was the best handled one. Yeah, we had the same teeter issue that NQ'd her, but that's ok. We worked well together as a team. I didn't anticipate the off course tunnel, but I worked the rest of it well with a pretty rear cross out of the chute. It was a nice run.

Overall, I thought Page did an outstanding job at this trial. She had 10 runs over the weekend, and while our Q rate wasn't perfect, we became a better team. I'm looking forward to the next trial!

Derby City Agility Trial -- Devon

This weekend we attended the Derby City Agility Association's 3-day trial east of Louisville. It was a fun weekend with friends, and oh yeah I had to run dogs, too! While I probably am more focused on my runs when I'm trialing by myself, I did enjoy the fun times with good friends.

Devon had a good weekend. I decided not to run her in Standard at all, due to her teeter issues away from home and known teeters. I also pulled her from Novice FAST on Saturday since there was a teeter in the ring. I didn't want to stress her since I know she looks for that teeter as soon as she goes into the ring.

However, based on advice from Jenn Crank, I ran FAST on Sunday. I planned a "get in, get the points and get out" course that would be fun and motivational. As soon as I sat Devon on the line, I could see her ducking her head under the first bar and looking over it trying to see the teeter. She did see it in the back, but as soon as I directed her away from it on course, she started flying!

Devon did have fun on this course, earning 54 points in 17.72 seconds, for a Q and a second place finish.

Devon had three Excellent B JWW runs over the weekend. All three were very good, except for the weaves. I know I've got a ring/trial issue with the weaves. Devon hits the first pole and then walks out of them. This is what she did a couple of years ago when she wasn't sure how to collect. Now I know she knows how to collect because she's solid in practice/training.

I am asking her to redo the weaves in trials since I do want to have her give me effort. But asking for the retry is giving her stress in the ring. I also agree with a friend who suggested that because Devon is so environmentally aware, she may be having problems going between 22 inch poles and 24 inch poles. Most of our training is done on 22 inch poles, and she sees 24s in trials. I agree that weave spacing plays a part in the problem. This is just something I think we'll have to work through.

Saturday's JWW run was very pretty and it was a tough course. Devon went off course after jump 3. Before we started our run, we heard noise and movement behind the wall of the arena. When Devon went off course, I thought it was due to that noise; however when I look at the tape I realize she committed to that off course jump very early and I didn't give nearly as much indication of the turn as I thought. In fact, I think all my turns on this course were late for Devon. She commits much earlier than I ever realized. I think she's anticipating where the course goes trying to be helpful to me. That means I need to cue her a lot earlier than I am.

Sunday's JWW run was the best of the weekend. Devon was slow off the start, I'm sure in anticipation of the weaves. But she handled this course very well. Her weave entrance was very pretty, so it's really too bad she didn't hang onto them. I think my handling was much better on this course.

After many, many runs, I was really tired on Monday, and poor Devon paid the price. I was mentally not there for her JWW run. I didn't run the course as I had planned, and frankly I was lucky to remember it. Devon hung with me until an off course after the weaves. I'm not sure you can tell in the video, but after the weaves, she really blasted through the rest of the course. I could tell she was burning off stress, just like she did in her last run of the 3-day trial in June.

Photos from the ACI trial

Thanks to Virgil Sweeden and Rebecca Forrest of Paw Prints Life for their awesome photography at the Agility Club of Indianapolis trial in June. Virgil is a very talented photographer, and Rebecca is the best at helping pick out just the right shots. If you see them at an upcoming trial, make sure to ask Virgil to take shots of your dogs. You will have fantastic memories!

Devon's photos:

See, I can do the teeter!

Mom, it's a sit on the table. Can't you hear she's not counting?

Told ya!

Page's photos:

Great second trial for Page

As frustrating as Devon's day was in Evansville, Page had a fantastic day! Page is much more secure in her job than she was in June. While I'm still supporting all her jumps with forward cues and only turning her on the flat, she's not running past jumps like she did at her first trial. It's remarkable what 2 months has done in her maturity level with this sport.

Page's standard run was first. While you can't see it on the video, her front end actually went out from under her when making the turn after the tire to the panel. She fell hard on her right shoulder.

It was a sit on the table for the Novice dogs, and I have not taught Page a sit since this was our only trial before the rule change Sept. 1 to a "positionless" table. I had expected to just let her stay in a down and then go on. However, I caught her before she went down and kept her in a sit for the table count. Whew!

The refusal at the teeter was weird and unexpected. I did pull off of it a little, so I'm going to chalk it up to my body language and a baby dog moment.

The rear cross on the flat and send to the weave poles was amazing! Frankly, that was a difficult series to find a place to cross, and I was thrilled at Page's ability to handle what I asked of her. I heard oohs and ahhs from the audience on that one.

Finally, the refusal at the last jump was just me letting up and not supporting it. I was mentally and physically tired, and I let up one jump too early. That's my big homework for the next trial - run through the last jump!

JWW was at the end of a very long day. This was a 1-ring trial. They ran all the standard classes first, starting with Excellent, then all the JWW classes, again starting back with Excellent. Because I had to set up and get two dogs measured (one of them twice), we got to the site very early. Page went to the line in JWW 10 hours after we arrived at the site that morning. When I went to get her out of her crate, she was sound asleep laying on her back with her feet in the air! It's funny how quickly she can be ready, though!

This JWW run was almost picture perfect! I knew it would either be beautiful or a disaster. It was a fast flowing course, perfect for Novice dogs. I haven't mentioned it yet, but I love Tom Slattery's courses. Just enough challenge to make it fair and very flowing. For the fast dogs, you've got to think and handle precisely or they are over an off course. To me, that's fair.

The only error on this course was mine and once again I did not support the last jump. I stood still too long on my rear cross on the flat and didn't get in to support that last jump. Good girl to Page for taking it at a horrid angle and not dropping the bar.

This little girl ran this course in 22.71 seconds or 4.84 yards per second. Wow, I haven't run a dog this fast since Reece, and I never remember him running with this much confidence or with this much handler focus! Page is going to be a blast to run!!

So Page ended her weekend with her second Standard Q and her first JWW Q, both with first place ribbons. Page only had one baby brain refusal and one that was my fault. And her weaves were once again beautiful. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weekends of trialing. I think the only one who isn't happy about Page's great runs at Evansville was Devon. While Page and I were running JWW, Devon dumped her water bowl and tore the Velcro strap holding it into 10 pieces. The devil!

And I suppose I shouldn't leave Ellie out of the blog posts about Evansville. She was a good girlie, too. Ms. Ellie is my friend Sheree's dog. Her registered name is Starduck's Habeas Corpaws JH, WC. Sheree can take credit for the field titles, and I expect Ellie to have a tracking title soon, too. Sheree trains her and I'm running her just in agility.

Here is Ellie's standard run. Don't know what the issue with the tire was; she's never struggled with the tire at multiple locations. The only thing I can think of is the red frame and the dark colors on the tire threw her. And I never expected the lovely way Ellie handled that rear cross and send into the weaves! What a good girl!

You will hear cheering as the dog before us finished his run. It was a Great Pyr, and they made it all around the course and did a lovely job - well worth the cheering. It was hard to run after that, though!

Here is a fantastic fast JWW run. This was a 29 second run, faster than I expected from Ellie. Drat that bar coming down! I'm sure that was just fatigue from a long day.

Woulda, shoulda, coulda ... UGH!

I'm getting this post out of the way, because it's depressing. After all the positives we've had this summer on the teeter, Devon has had a couple of set backs this week. Of course, just like last year, the set backs are right before a series of upcoming trials.

About a month ago, Devon refused the teeter at the kennel club when it was back in a dark corner. After having success lowering the teeter in that location, I moved the teeter to the middle of the floor. It was so interesting to see Devon work through her issue. She wouldn't leave the teeter until she went over it. Talk about dedication and heart! This is why I love this dog!

I was concerned that this would cause an overall setback in her teeter performance, but it didn't. For the last month, Devon has been confident on all the teeters she has been on. So I had no worries going to an agility trial on Sunday in Evansville. I could only make Sunday's trial, and there were 3 VMOs at this trial, and I needed a permanent height card for Ellie, a Golden I started running for a friend, and a temp measure for Page. I'm so glad to have these girls off the measure list! It makes my mornings go so much better.

I walked the Excellent Standard course for Devon. The course looped around where they landed off a jump facing the teeter, but instead had to turn to the right and do a 360 degree loop of 4 jumps before circling around and actually taking the teeter. I thought about cutting out that 4 jump loop completely and just sending Devon to the teeter when she saw it. However, I went against that idea because she had been so confident on the teeter that I thought I'd just run the course as usual.

The plan I did come up with was if she did head for the teeter I was going to step in and support the teeter and let her take it. I didn't want to call her off the teeter. I'd rather her go off course to take the teeter as she has been doing, sacrificing the short term Q for the longer term goal of a solid teeter performance.

Well, here's where the woulda, shoulda, coulda comes in. I shoulda gone with my first instinct and cut out that 4 jump loop. Devon actually committed to the turn and jump, which I didn't anticipate and I stepped in on her. This caused her to doubt her decision on the jump, but I quickly altered and supported this jump. I told her she was a good girl around the loop, but the small handling bauble in front of the teeter had done it's damage. When I supported the teeter, she wasn't sure of it and came off.

UGH!! Her first refusal of a teeter in competition. Something I NEVER wanted to happen in her career. And to fall into the coulda category, I coulda taken her special teeter treats (jerky treats that she only gets for a successful teeter and she loves; she even blows spit bubbles for these treats) and broken them up and showed them to her before her run and left them outside the ring like I do in training.

And I woulda walked her off the course so she didn't learn that refusing the teeter meant the game ended, but I forgot that too! I don't want to punish her for not taking the teeter, but I don't want her to learn that it's OK to bail off the teeter and then get to play the rest of the game. No teeter, no game. Sorry!

One other note about Devon's run. She spotted the teeter as she came out of the #3 tunnel. She's looking for it which tells me there's stress associated with the obstacle. No surprise, but noteworthy. Here's the run:

We didn't do the teeter in class this week, mainly because it was back in the dark corner where she had refused it a month ago. After a difficult time at the trial, I didn't want to follow it up with another bad training session.

Yesterday, I took a trip to the Louisville area to get Devon on a different teeter. I took the teeter treats, and she was happy to run to the teeter. After jumping off of it once, she went up and over it -- just once. She got lots of treats for that one time over it, but I could tell when she came off of it, she hated it. It was a hollow aluminum teeter and it made a loud hollow thud even on grass.

I was never able to get Devon over it again. I tried treats; I tried putting her up and working Page; I tried moving it to another location; and finally I tied her to the fence and had her watch Page go over it and get treats. Nothing. UGH!

We are entered in a 3-day trial this coming weekend and a 2-day trial the following weekend. This weekend we have FAST class the first two days, and it's the first class. Devon is the only one running in FAST, so I can concentrate on her. And if she is not successful in FAST, I will not be running her in Standard.

Unfortunately, she has never run at this location, which I wonder is part of the issue. Will she take the teeter in locations where she has trialed before? Or should I not run her in Standard in new locations and just stick with working in known locations this fall?

And the other consideration I have is preparing her for VST tests this fall. I learned last year that I cannot stress two sports with Devon at the same time when she's working at a high level in either of the sports. Right now VST tests are a top priority for us, so I'm leaning towards pulling her from Standard this fall until we get through her VST and then worrying about the teeter after that. I do think that working the other sports and not trialing consistently in agility has contributed to this teeter problem. Once we get a solid teeter, I need to stick with it and trial to build her confidence, pushing everything else aside.

The other thing that isn't helping is a weave issue, too. Back in June at the ACI trial, Devon had a a jammed shoulder and it was affecting her weave entries. This turned into a training issue. I worked through it and she has lovely entries in training, but as you can see by her JWW video they came back to bite us in that class, too.

Poor Devon. I'm just at a loss on how to support her, and it seems I'm making all the wrong decisions right now. Time will only tell how this issue is resolved.