Wordless Wednesday: Hummmm, this is comfortable....

I thought these two photos were funny. The first one is Devon curled up in "Page's lounge chair." It's not really Page's chair, but it is the one she spends the most time in. Devon has hopped up there several times in the last few days as if she's testing it out for comfort. Maybe it's more comfortable than where Devon usually spends her time? I'm not sure Devon's convinced.

And here's a recent shot of Page testing out Connor's couch. Again, not really his couch, but since the weather has been warm, 10-year-old Connor prefers to spend his days on the couch where the air conditioning is the coolest. You can see I'm once again protecting my furniture with fleece!

Fun video for Page

Thanks to Steve Ripley for making this fun video of Page's debut weekend. What a great memory I have with all of Page's runs! Thanks Steve!!

Agility Club of Indianapolis trial, day 3

Whew! I was completely exhausted by day 3. The girls did an absolutely wonderful job again on Sunday. I'll go in chronological order for this post.

Page, Novice JWW

This course was a bear. Later in the day I realized it was the Excellent JWW opening and closing bridged by a tunnel (at the end of the weave poles). I decided it would be a forward moving front cross drill for Page and I. I had learned a few things about Page on Saturday that I wanted to put in practice.

First, I realized she was rock solid on her start lines. Since she was steady, I wanted to push her and see if I could get a lead out to where I was comfortable. Page held her start line, and I liked the first front cross.

Generally the opening to the tunnel I was very pleased with. I wish she would not have had that first refusal, but she is a baby dog and those things happen. Page never let that tunnel bother her as an off-course option, which is remarkable for a baby dog who loves tunnels. That tunnel got a lot of extra work in Novice!

I never found a good way to run the ending after the tunnel. Even after a lot of study, I never found a simple option. Even the seasoned Excellent dogs had trouble there, and Devon went around the second to the last jump. It's too bad one of the last two jumps wasn't tweaked to make it doable for baby dogs. Even though we didn't Q, I still felt like this was a very good effort by Page.

Devon, Excellent A Standard

This was a really fun course, and Devon was ready to run it. I think Devon did a fantastic job with this course, except for the weaves. Since she was feeling fine and gave me no effort, I made her do them again. Of course, she popped out at pole 10 to do the teeter! I'm so thrilled with her confident, happy teeter, I didn't mind.

After the teeter, Devon put on the afterburners. I'm not sure it comes through on the video, but she was moving and I was barely in control! She was 11 seconds under SCT and that was with a second attempt at the weave poles! You can see with her speed she doesn't bother to hit the A frame contact. But I really enjoyed her burst of speed because it meant she was having fun and really enjoying herself out there.

Devon, Excellent B JWW

Very quickly Devon was up in the JWW ring. This was quite a technical course, so I worked very hard on my handling. I thought we did a great job with a very difficult course. Again the weaves bit us in the butt; can you tell what our homework from this trial is? I will not fault Devon for missing that next to the last jump. I made an assumption she would take it and I didn't support it fully.

Page, Novice Standard

I saved the funniest video for last! But before the clip, I'll continue with things I learned about Page this weekend. On Saturday night as I was thinking back over Page's JWW run, I realized why she struggled with the forward moving front cross/going around a jump in two places and didn't in the third. Page has always favored her right lead over her left lead. In fact, when she first started jumping, she would only turn right around the jump which clued me in that she was only using her right lead. After 3 days, this went away.

On Saturday in JWW, the two jumps Page went around where when she was on her left lead. When she was on her right lead, she was comfortable with more lateral distance and less support from me. I used this knowledge when I walked the Standard course, and I made note to work extra hard to support jumps when she was on her left lead.

The next thing I realized is that she hadn't missed a weave pole all weekend. All our weave entrances had been off-side until the last run. The tunnel, jump, teeter, weave, broad jump section of the Novice course looked to me to be more difficult than it presented on paper. If I was running Devon, I would have picked her up on my left out of the tunnel and pushed her to the jump, working her on my left through that section.

But Page doesn't push well and I knew I'd have to support that jump. She would also be blasting through that tunnel, and I didn't think I could get into a good position to support that jump if I picked her up on the left. Since her weaves were so strong, I decided to pick her up on my right and rear cross into the weaves. I could support the jump-teeter combo and if she didn't get the weaves I'd just turn her around and try again. My plan worked well!

Even though I made a note to support jumps on her left lead better, I missed one before the A frame. It didn't really matter because of the table...

Be careful what you train. On Sunday, Page wasn't going to sit on that table for anything. I knew by the look on her face when she went down she was staying! This is the entertainment factor in the video. The only way this video would have been funnier is if you could have seen Judge Christie Bowers jumping up and down and acting just as nutty trying to get Page to sit as I was. Luckily I've only signed her up for one more day of AKC agility before Sept. 1. And if it's a sit on the table that day, I'm taking it as a training run!

Summary

It was a long weekend, and this is our only trial between the end of February and the end of August. When I considered whether or not to do this trial, it seemed silly to spend the money on the entry when it was our only agility trial in a 6-month period. However looking back, I think it was a very valuable snapshot on what we are doing well and what we need to work on for the next 4 months.

Devon's biggest accomplishment is her success on the teeter. I know I cannot take this obstacle for granted for a while, but she was very confident in her runs. I plan to continue taking her to a few other locations in the next two months to train. I'm also looking forward to the CPE trial the end of August before some fall AKC trials. The more trial experience she gets with the teeter, the better!

I also know that the other reason she did the teeter so confidently is that her "self esteem" was high. On Friday she was "special dog" because I didn't bring Page; she had me all to herself. This is very important to Devon. She was spoiled as the most important dog to train from the time she walked in the door until the day in April 2009 when Gayle secured Page into the crate next to her. As much as Devon likes her little sister, she doesn't enjoy spitting training time with Page. I will need to do a few "Devon only" trials to keep her attitude up.

I need to go back and work weave entrances. I think that Devon's shoulder being out and sore began this problem about 10 days ago, but now it's created a small training issue. I doubt I'll have to work hard to get Devon's weaves back; she has nice weaves. But I will need to make an effort.

Generally for her first weekend in Excellent Standard and her fifth weekend in Excellent JWW, I think Devon is doing a lovely job! We are well on our way to becoming a seasoned team! I'm looking forward to fall trials with Devon.

Page showed me some incredible things this weekend. She never went off course. She always looked to me for direction, which is remarkable for a 16 month old high drive pushy pup. Page knows this is a team of two sport, and she's all for it. What a privilege it is for me to run her!

Page never missed a weave pole, even with very challenging off-side entries and a rear crossed entry. Her performance in the poles was off, but I know that's totally due to there only being 6 poles. I can't wait to move her into Open so she can see 12 poles.

Page's start line was completely solid. I never once thought she would break. All the hard work on her start line criteria paid off this weekend. It's so nice to know I can get that lead out I'll need. I will need to maintain this skill and be ever vigilant.

Page stepped up on day 2 and nailed all three of her contacts. Even though she missed her correct performance on the teeter and dogwalk on Saturday, she did get the A frame. The fact that she improved her performance on day 2 once again speaks to the remarkable dog she is. That said, proofing contacts is our big homework assignment in the next 2 months. I want her contacts to be more solid to a verbal release regardless of my movement.

Finally, I'm pleased with Page's jumping. She is over jumping, which I've been assured will fade quickly with experience. She doesn't over jump in training, so I'm comfortable. I do need to really think about where I need to be to support jumps for her so she can gain confidence, especially on her left lead. While this is a longer term goal for us, I can still set up jumping drills and work that left lead.

This weekend told me Page is set up to have a fun fall of agility trials. We have work to do, but at least she has the foundation in place and she's a very willing partner, holding up her end of the bargain. What more could I ask for?

Agility Club of Indianapolis Trial, day 2

I am exhausted!! I woke up at 2 a.m. this morning, still dreaming of what an awesome teeter Devon did and still with that silly smile on my face. I felt like it was the day after Christmas!

However during my 1.5 hours of laying in bed wide awake, I did realize something else. Devon has struggled with off-side weave entrances for about a week now. I assumed it was just something in training breaking down, but then I remembered I didn't like Devon's stride right before take off on a couple of jumps in her JWW run on Friday. I realized Devon doesn't do anything to be difficult (i.e. the weaves), and I needed to have her checked out by Dr. Bonnie when I got to the trial.

The morning was chaotic. I thought I had to get Page measured (turns out I didn't since she jumped 24 inches); I was chief ring steward in the JWW ring, so I was in charge of making sure all the volunteers showed up; I needed to walk the Novice JWW course since it was Page's debut and she was second dog on the line; and I knew there would be a conflicted with Page's run and my turn to walk the Excellent Standard course for Devon, so I had to walk that course early (and I was standing in line to get Page measured!). Combine all that with not sleeping between 2 a.m. and 3:3 a.m., and it was a lot! I'm glad I've run multiple dogs before!

Page's Debut!

Ok, Page gets top billing today, since it was her debut. I had said I wouldn't trial until she was 2-years-old; and then when Page started doing well, I thought Labor Day weekend would be good. But she was doing so well, I couldn't miss the opportunity to run her in a local trial this weekend even though she's only 16-months-old.

Page was unfazed by the building and the trial environment. She's been to trials with Devon for the last year, and that helped a lot. The normally mouthy girl was quiet in her crate all day long.

I am running her at 24 inches, because when she was 12 months old she measured 22.5 inches tall. I decided to jump her at 24 inches to start, since it's easier to drop her jump height later versus trying to teach her to jump higher. Because Page is handling 24 inches so well, I decided to leave her at 24 inches at least until I get her permanent height card.

This was a really nice Novice JWW course. It flowed well and gave me three opportunities for forward moving front crosses. Unfortunately I only executed one of those well, and it was the one before the weaves. I pulled Page off of two jumps with the other two crosses.

Page's weaves were solid, even with the off-side entry. I knew the last line of jumps would be a challenge, and when I pulled her off the jump in the back, I got discombobulated! I turned her around just so I could reconnect with her. Even with the turn around, Page ran this course in 23 seconds! My goodness, I've never run a dog this fast before!!

After being on the line at 8:30 a.m. for JWW, it was about 3 p.m. for Standard. I had crated in the JWW ring, since I was working over there. I had a crate set up on the Standard side, too, to help me manage the girls on that side since it was a long walk between the rings. Page was so funny when we walked into the other ring. She had no idea there was ANOTHER whole ring of agility equipment! She was like a kid who walked into FAO Schwarz for the first time! She couldn't WAIT to get on that equipment, too!

This was also a nice Novice course, but the chute to the weaves (again best handled off side) was tricky. I knew Page could handle the weave entrance, though. Regarding my handling choices, I chickened out on the front cross before the teeter. Page was really moving and she didn't stick her dogwalk contact. She did come all the way down, stopped and looked for me to to release her, so I let it go. I should have made her wait and walked a couple of steps and then released her. That would have given me time to do the front cross I wanted, but I knew I'd be too far behind where I was.

Then I did a real no-no and sent her for a take off side/forward send rear cross on the double, which she didn't read -- DUH!! What was I thinking?? I should have and planned in a pinch to run through the double and then rear cross on the flat to the chute. Page didn't need me to manage that weave entrance! However, I let her speed push me into bad decisions. This is something I'm going to have to stop!!

The funniest part of this run was the table. I did SUCH a good job of teaching the automatic down, Page wouldn't sit. Judge Carla was laughing, and I even said, "Nice automatic down I taught!" She finally sat, but we lost about 8 seconds there. Funny, how I knew we'd have time to spare!

I also made Page stick that A frame contact and hold it. I thought I'd need to be ahead more for those last two jumps, but she read my forward movement just fine and ran straight. Page was 13 second below SCT, which included an extra 8 seconds at the table and an extra 3 seconds on the A frame. I don't think I'll have to worry about time!

In all, I'm pleased with her first qualifying score in Novice! The lessons for me are to concentrate more on my handling and support her jumps better. We'll get there, but for the first time out with a 16 month old puppy, I think we did pretty good!

Devon's runs

Devon did a super job today! I realized this morning that this is Devon's first weekend in Excellent Standard. She got her OA a year ago, but then she was doing field work last fall and got spooked on the teeter before we did any fall/winter agility trials. Today's course was challenging, but flowing. Devon did look long and hard at that teeter again, considering another off course to it! The still photographer's shots proved that!

But Devon did everything in sequence and really nailed this course. I was so thrilled with her teeter, again confident, that I told her so the entire time she was on the table how brilliant she was. Judge Carla said something to me after the class about another confident teeter. I really like her!

Devon's only problem in the whole course was in the weaves, and again I resolved to find Dr. Bonnie and see what was up. She was comfortably under time, so I was thrilled with this run!

Before Devon ran JWW, Dr. Bonnie spent a few minutes with her. I was right; Devon's left shoulder was out. Dr. Bonnie confirmed that would make the weaves very uncomfortable, especially the off-side entrance.

Devon's JWW run was again pokier than I expected, but she ran the course flawlessly, and I handled better than yesterday! She got slightly distracted by the ring crew after that rear cross, but she was in good company with many other dogs.

Devon really didn't want to do the weave poles. I never mind them popping weave poles as long as they give me effort. Devon didn't give me effort, so I turned her around and asked for them again. The second time she gave me very nice weaves.

Dr. Bonnie agreed with my handling choice, saying it proved to Devon her shoulder didn't hurt anymore and she could (hopefully) do the weaves tomorrow. I figured the adrenalin from yesterday's runs had carried her weave performance yesterday, and today it broke down since she was a little more tired.

Devon was right on SCT in JWW with the repeated weaves, so I was again pleased with her time. Since this was only her second weekend in Excellent B, I'd say we're doing very well!

Both girls did incredibly well today, and I was pleased with all four runs. Devon and I are a little rusty since we haven't trialed in 4 months, but we're doing great things in Standard! Page and I are a new team -- plus Page gives me the added challenge that I've never run a dog this fast! What a journey this will be with both my talented girls!

DEVON DID THE TEETER!!!

I am just busting I'm so proud of Devon! Today she did the teeter at the Agility Club of Indianapolis trial. She had been looking so strong that I entered her right at the closing date. But as the trial neared, Devon started bailing off the first time over the teeter, and she was hesitant to do it in a new environment.

So as of this morning when I left the house, I was still torn whether to run her or not. The dog trainer in me said not to. She was not solid on the teeter even in known locations, and this was not a place we trained. And if she bailed off, I couldn't put her back on it. But my gut said try it. I know this dog. She's feeling pressure from Page who now shares equal training time. Today was Excellent only and crating was tight so Devon was the only dog there. She felt very special. And I know she steps up for a crowd. She loves to be admired. I didn't think we'd do much damage if we tried it and she bailed; I just wouldn't ask her to run again this weekend and I would know where we stood. So as I walked out the door this morning, I grabbed a second jackpot for Devon.

I chatted with a friend, Dr. Bonnie, who actually helped put me on the road to this retrain. We discussed all the reasons I had made the decision to enter her, and Bonnie agreed I should try and run her. She also felt if Devon didn't do the teeter, I should very neutrally walk off the course and not finish. She would also get no jackpots, but again I would be neutral. Bonnie advised me to explain to Devon ahead of time what the plan was, so I did. It might sound silly, but I got her out of the crate, and we "talked" about how she was very special and I knew she could do the teeter. But if for some reason she didn't do it, she couldn't do the rest of the course. But I thought she was so smart she was going to do the teeter. As always, Devon looked very solemnly into my eyes (as she held a stuffed yellow duck in her mouth) as if she understood every word.

So I walked the course, which was strange because we haven't run Standard in exactly a year! I had my plan. As my marker dog came up, I was nervous. When I got Devon out, I warmed her up as usual, but as our turn came closer, I felt like I did before Ian's MACH run -- about to puke! The girl in front of me warned me if her dog broke the start line he was coming off. Sure enough he did, and we were up. We had lots of friends who were in the stands who knew this was a big deal for us, and I knew they were all pulling for us.

The course was dogwalk, chute, tunnel, teeter, table. My plan was to go with her to the tunnel and meet her at the tunnel exit praising her all the way and running with her to the teeter. You will see in the video clip below, Devon saw the teeter as she exited the chute. She started toward it, but I said, "tunnel." She took one look at the tunnel and said, "Nope, Mom, I'm doing the teeter!!" I realized she was right and we were going to the teeter.

Have you ever seen a more confident teeter?? Trust me, I've never seen a better one from Devon. And she even went off course to take it!! You can hear the crowd cheering, and Judge Carla Boudrot turned to the crowd and said, "I guess she was having a teeter problem?" My plan was as to tell Devon how brilliant she was the entire time she was on the table. But you see Devon was so proud of herself, she jumped up and put her paws on my shoulders as if to say, "I KNOW!!! AREN'T I SUPER COOL!!" I was so thankful that the judge understood and didn't whistle me off. I thanked her profusely during the next walk through!!

So here's the run. You can tell how super proud of herself Devon was.

Devon's JWW run was actually first. It was a nice run, but she was moving slowly and she was very distracted. As I front crossed in the middle of the course, I realized she was distracted and looking around. I got distracted and lost my place for an instant and pulled her off a jump. I felt just terrible. However, Devon nailed her weave entry, and she's been having problems with that entry, so I felt like it was a huge success.

I got to redeem myself in JWW, though. About 10 dogs out, Jane Glier asked me if I wanted to run her Corgi Kip. He runs in the 8 inch class, and I've run him before in class. I really like this little dog, so I said sure! I already ran the course, so I had a plan. Jane said he didn't rear cross well, and I said that was fine since my plan didn't include any rear crosses. Well, I underestimated how fast that little stinker was! I had to rear cross, and as you can see, Kip handled it just fine. It's so much fun to run a well-trained dog, and Jane is a great trainer. Kip and I Q'd and he earned a 4th place! The funniest thing was hearing folks in the crowd wonder what the heck I was doing out there with an 8 inch dog!! Here it is on video!

We're back for another two days, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the weekend goes!!

A fun time was had by all

Devon, Page and I packed up this morning and headed to Pawsitive for drop in classes. We had a blast! The girls ran great, and there were lots of fun folks for me to hang out with, too.

We had an interesting standard course set up. Devon ran the first class, and she was pokey off the start. I think it was a combination of two things; first, the start had her running toward the teeter and I think she was anxious about when she would be asked to do the teeter. She has been pokey at the start lately and I think it's concern/anticipation of the teeter.

Second, I had trimmed her nails this morning and just nicked one too close. It didn't bleed much, but once she started running it broke open and bled. I think her toe was a touch sore. Shame on me for not doing this the previous day as I had intended!

Devon's teeter confidence is so much better in places where she routinely trains. However, in the last two weeks she's gotten into the habit of bailing off the teeter the first time over it, then going up and over on the second and all subsequent attempts. Today she again bailed the first time but then went over confidently on all other attempts. This was very exciting because the teeter was different today, and she wasn't rattled by the change in equipment. So it's just confidence in new places we need to work on and not fear of the equipment. That's a good sign!

Devon is entered in Standard at this weekend's trial, but I don't think I'll run her. There's a very good chance she'll bail off the teeter on the first try, and with the 4-paw safety rule I must go on. I want to wait and trial her where I can give her multiple attempts (like in a FAST class) and have her succeed.

Page will be debuting at this weekend's trial. At 16.5 months, this dog is looking amazing. I never in my wildest dreams imagined she'd be ready before fall at the earliest. But she's handling challenges very well, and she's learning from my consistency on her small problems.

Page held every start line today, and most of them were right handed starts. She nailed every contact except the first time over the teeter. I anticipate that will be a tough one for her this weekend. The opening of the first course had two forward moving front crosses, and it was a challenge. I was thrilled that Page held her start, and we nailed front crosses.

Page's other recent challenge has been the table. Remember that I hadn't planned on trialing her until this fall, and I knew AKC was considering a table change rule. I've taught Page an automatic down on the table; I did that with Devon and I love the performance. So when the positionless table change came out for Sept. 1, I thought, "Great, I don't have to worry about a sit!" Oooops! Now I'm trialing.

So the first time I asked Page for a sit on the table, she looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "NO, MOMMA! A box is a down!" She wouldn't even sit for a treat! So the last 3 weeks I've been working on her going from a down to a sit on the table. Bless her soul, she has put that together this week! Her tables looked great today.

One of the other courses we ran was a JWW course with an awkward set of 6 poles. I am so glad we got to run this course, because I wish I had a video of the look on her face the first time Page went into 6 poles. She got the first two poles and then kind of fell out and blew by the rest of them, then she stopped and looked around like, "What the heck happened to the rest of the poles?!?!" I turned her around and we did them again and she figured out there were only 6 and did just fine.

The other funny thing about this course was after a pinwheel going to a second set of poles, Page went running straight out in front of the jump. Liz stopped me and said, "What happened there?" I said I hadn't the foggiest idea. Then she asked what I had said, and it was "GO." Then I said, "Well that's her weave command and it shouldn't have meant go flying out in front of me." Liz very calmly said, "Yes, and where did she go to?" DUH!!! She went flying to the other set of weave poles in front of her, and not the weaves 180 degrees behind her! How stupid was I that I didn't see that! Liz said she was doing exactly what I asked of her but couldn't figure out how to make the weave entrance.

Once I changed my handling to a rear cross on the flat and directed her to the poles I wanted and THEN said, "GO," Page handled the sequence just fine. Bless Liz! It's so handy to have someone to see these things! Liz was also considerate enough to remember some of us would see a broad jump this weekend, so she set one up and we did that, too.

In addition to Liz's wonderful eye and kind kicks in the butt, it was fun to see friends I don't see often. We got to share in Ada Mae's Senior Hunter cake, brought by her proud mom Jane. I was so glad we got to help celebrate their accomplishment. Ada was owner trained and handled by Jane, and I know they have worked so very hard together!

We're off to bed with visions of agility trials dancing in our heads! The bags are all packed and jackpot are ready to head to the trial site in the morning!

Rain, rain go away!

We got hammered by a series of storms last night. Twice we were all crowded in the little bathroom below the stairs, once around midnight when the wind and hail got bad and a second time at 3 a.m. when a tornado warning was issued. Connor hates storms, and Devon decided last night she did, too. Page took everything in stride, even laying down in the tiny bathroom as her brothers and sister panted at the baby gate. Wish I had a photo of the profile shadow Ian cast on the wall from the bathroom nightlight. Belgians really do look like wolves!

This morning the yard was completely flooded. I didn't get pictures for a few hours, and the water had receded quite a bit by the time these were taken. Page, always one to make lemonade from lemons, decided it was a blast having a lake in the back yard! Once she took her first all out run through the water, Connor got into the act and has enjoyed the water all day. Silly Goldens! From this video clip you'd never guess Connor was 10 years old!