Sooo...

I've really been a slacker and haven't posted here in almost a year! Eek!

A lot has happened in the last year. We've been trialing a lot and Bailey earned a bunch of new titles!

AXJ: 01/02/2011 (AKC: Agility Excellent Jumper)
AX: 03/11/2011 (AKC: Agility Excellent)
NF: 04/08/2011 (AKC: Novice FAST)
PD: 05/07/2011 (USDAA: Performance Dog)
SPJ: 05/08/2011 (USDAA: Starters Performance Jumper)
MXJ: 07/31/2011 (AKC: Master Excellent Jumper)
OF: 08/06/2011 (AKC: Open FAST)

We're also only 1 leg away from Bailey's MX (AKC: Master Agility Excellent) title and have 5 double Qs and around 150 points towards Bailey's MACH (AKC: Master Agility Champion - a prefix that is the highest title you can earn in agility at the local level).

Last December, I set a goal for Bailey to earn his MX and MXJ, along with all of the USDAA Starters agility titles by my 30th birthday in November. At that point, he hadn't even earned his AX or AXJ titles and had only earned one of the six USDAA Starters titles. He had also been in a long string of NQs in the Excellent ring, so I was feeling REALLY discouraged. I didn't really expect to reach my goals. I knew I was being ambitious, but hey! You gotta aim high, right? :-)

We are currently about halfway to accomplishing those goals, since he has earned MXJ, PD, and SPJ titles. We're almost to his MX and have a USDAA trial next weekend where I hope to earn SPG (Starters Performance Gambler), SPK (Starters Performance Snooker), and SPR (Starters Performance Relay).

This little dog impresses me more and more every weekend. The two of us have really come MILES in the last year. The amount we've been able to accomplish just floors me! He's so much more consistent, my nerves are under control, and we really work well as a team now. I'm truly blessed for each and every time I get to go play this game with him! I hope we still have many years left in this partnership!

Bailey with his MXJ rosette that he earned with a 3rd place finish on 07/31/2011

Oops

Well, I haven't posted in forever because quite frankly, we've been busy! As you can see, Bailey completed his OA and OAJ titles in June and July respectively. He also got the first legs of his NF (Novice FAST) title and his AX (Agility Excellent) title. Finally we went to his second USDAA trial where he completed his Performance Standard I title (PS1) and if he'd had just one more Q under a third judge, would have gotten his Performance Dog 1 title (PD1) meaning that he has the PS1 and also 1 Q in each of the 4 agility games (Jumpers, Snooker, Gamblers, and Pairs Relay).

In addition to all of our agility, I bought a house and the two of us moved in. I've been in a constant state of cleaning, unpacking, cleaning, organizing, cleaning, improving, cleaning, etc. We now have a huge yard to play in and a giant shed in which to store all the agility equipment (and the riding mower!).

I've also been getting lazy about having people film every run. As much as I'd like to capture it all on film, sometimes it's hard to make time to beg people to record your runs, especially if you're working the entire trial too. Oh well.

At some point, I will come back and post the video of at least the Q runs from the last couple months. I wish I had a computer that could stitch all the videos together into one longer movie. That would make it all so much easier!

Anyway, no upcoming shows yet. I may enter the Bearded Collie trial coming up in the beginning of September if I remember to mail the entry form. It will be our first time in Excellent for both Standard and JWW! It seems that the agility trial season is coming to an end, so I think it's just back to classes and backyard practice for us!

More Upcoming Agility Trials

I entered Bailey into a couple more agility trials for the next month or so:

Capital City Cocker Club AKC Agility Trial - May 29-31, 2010 (3 day) - Fredericksburg Field House in Fredericksburg, VA

PVGRC AKC Agility Trial - June 26-27, 2010 - Carroll Indoor Sports Center in Westminster, MD

April PVGRC Agility Trial

Here is the video from the weekend. It was our first time in Open. We had 2 Qs, both first places. The other two runs were NQ - one due to handler error and the other one too many refusals. The rules get stricter at the Open level! The video has comments on what happened in each of the runs. If I get time, I will scan in and post the course maps. I know I still owe the maps from the last competition.

The video below was actually filmed in widescreen HD, so it's probably better to click on the video to bring it up in a separate window. That way, you'll see the entire screen.



Thanks for watching!

Next Agility Trials

I have entered Bailey in to a couple more trials in the next few weeks:

PVGRC AKC Agility Trial - April 24-25, 2010 - Carroll Indoor Sports Center in Westminster, MD

TAG USDAA Agility Trial - May 9, 2010 - Dulles Sportsplex in Sterling, VA

Bailey is running in Open 24" Standard and JWW at the AKC trial (our first time in Open! Eek!) and in Performance I (Novice equivalent) 22" Standard, Jumpers, and Snooker for the TAG trial.

Wish us luck!

Clean Bill of Health!

I took Bailey back for a return visit with a chiropractor tonight just to make sure that the adjustment he had on Easter Sunday stuck. It was a LONG drive, but Dr. Bierly looked and felt him all over and gave him a clean bill of health! We're going to keep the jumps low this week, and put them up to full height next week just to be on the safe side. We're back in business!

Adjusted and Massaged!

I took Bailey down to the Mid-Atlantic Agility Showcase today to have him adjusted by the chiropractor and massaged by Kim. Bailey started the day off with a massage, which he absolutely loved. He had a great time just lying on the table while Kim worked on him and he only needed a little bit of peanut butter as a bribe.

On the other hand, he wasn't a huge fan of the chiropractor. She took a quick feel and indicated that the ribs along vertebrae 9, 10, and 11 (if I recall correctly) were subluxated. She tried to pop them back manually, but couldn't so instead used an activator. The activator (or popper as I called it) is supposedly low force, high speed and it's a tool used to help put parts back where they belong when it can't be done manually. Bailey was not a huge fan of the popper, but he survived. Every time she popped him, he turned around and tried to lick her. Silly boy! The chiro said his hips and everything else felt normal. She instructed us to take a 10 minute walk, get some water, and completely rest for 4-6 days. I'd also already had him on Traumeel to help with the soreness and she said to keep him on it for the next week or so.

So, we begin a week of complete rest (no agility, no running, leash walks, etc) and hope that this does the trick...