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.

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!