He was happy as a clam!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Bailey helped!
We spent all day Saturday outside raking and bagging the zillions of leaves in our yard, and of course Bailey had to help us out!
He was happy as a clam!
He was happy as a clam!
Monday, November 9, 2009
CCCC Agility Trial Day 2
Yesterday was the second day of the CCCC agility trial at Cedar Run. I had a hard time sleeping Saturday night because my brain was still reeling from the success of the day. The fact that the Sunday judging started an hour earlier made for a very tired me! Nonetheless, we still had a great day!
Since the classes were run in the same order as the previous day, our first challenge again was the JWW course. The AKC requires that you earn each leg of your title under a different judge (or 2 judges for the 3 legs, can't remember which), so the judges had switched classes. Kim was judging JWW and Scott was on Standard. The Open JWW class preceded ours and seemed to go way too quickly! I had picked up the course map shortly after I arrived again, so had plenty of time to study and make a plan for handling the course.
The course map:
As soon as I picked up the map, I immediately noticed that there was not a single tunnel in sight! As the judge later said in her briefing, this is a true jumpers course with just jumps and weaves. My nerves felt much calmer today, until I started walking the course and decided that the best way to handle it was a rear cross between bar jump #7 and double #8. I've only recently been doing rear crosses with Bailey, since he was never really able to read them that well before. Do I dare try it in a trial and over a double, where if he picks his head up too high to find me, he might knock a bar and eliminate us? Earlier in the week, we had done some fantastic rear crosses in our video handling class, so I figured I might as well give it a try. It was into a pinwheel, which Bailey loves and has a very easy time finding the line. I figured if I was going to try it, this should be the spot. Lo and behold it worked! He read it perfectly and turned to the #9 jump without any issue at all! He took the turn between #9 jump and #10 jump a little wide because I think I pushed up too far into the pinwheel. I should have trusted him to find the line. He also did a great job when I sent him out over the #12 jump so I could get in position in front of the #13 jump for a front cross. We made it through the entire course with NO faults! CLEAN RUN! Yeah!
See for yourself!
JWW run
We were first into the ring in the Novice class and sure did set the bar high! Soon after we ran, the unofficial results were posted. We got a perfect score of 100 and qualified! Our time was 27.49 seconds, which meant that we came in well under the standard course time of 36 seconds. We beat the next best dog by about 1.5 seconds to take FIRST PLACE! Go Bailey!! Second leg of the NAJ title earned!
Again, we settled in for the long wait until the Novice Standard run. Bailey seemed much more settled and spent most of the afternoon napping in his crate. I picked up the Novice Standard map and spent a good chunk of time planning my afternoon run. I also ate some lunch, played some games on my phone, and watched my instructors run their dogs. While I was waiting, a classmate (and obedience instructor at ACA) ran with her dog Flynn and they earned their MACH! How exciting for them! I took some time out to sign her MACH bar (when you get a MACH, the sponsoring club usually gives you a jump bar as a memento - friends and fellow competitors often sign the bar). I grabbed some lunch and soon enough, the Novice Standard course was set up. I could tell Bailey and I were both getting very tired, so I was just hoping to make it though the afternoon run.
The standard course was, again, very straightforward.
The course map:
I had originally planned to do a front cross after jump #11, so I could have Bailey on my left for the closing. When I walked the course, I found that this would give the dog a really horrible angle to the teeter unless you brought the dog WAY wide on the turn. Bailey has had issue with teeters in the past, so I decided not to chance it. I kept him on my right for the teeter, then used the pause at the contact to do a front cross before #13 chute. The course itself wasn't that overwhelming, but I definitely felt the exhaustion of 2 days of early mornings and little sleep. We got two 5 point faults for table issues. For the first one, Bailey blew right by the table instead of getting on it. This was the first 5 points off for the refusal. Next, as we were on the table, I could hear the judge counting down from 5. When he got to 2, my brain somehow thought it was time to go, my body listened, and Bailey followed right along with me. Another 5 points for a table fault. *sigh* I was just so tired that my head wasn't thinking straight. Who goes on 2?!? You're supposed to wait for the "1 and GO" before leaving the table and that was totally my fault. Other than that, it was a nice run and Bailey did everything I asked of him, including sticking all of his contacts exactly like he's supposed to.
Here is proof:
Standard run
The unofficial results were posted and Bailey got a 90 and qualified. His time was 58.06 seconds, well under the standard course time of 64 seconds (even with having to do the table twice!). Because of our faults, we placed second, but still had a great run! Second leg of the NA title earned!
Overall, Bailey way exceeded my expectations and I'm looking forward to being able to enter him in some more trials in the spring. Hopefully, we'll soon be campaigning for our MACH too! :-)
Since the classes were run in the same order as the previous day, our first challenge again was the JWW course. The AKC requires that you earn each leg of your title under a different judge (or 2 judges for the 3 legs, can't remember which), so the judges had switched classes. Kim was judging JWW and Scott was on Standard. The Open JWW class preceded ours and seemed to go way too quickly! I had picked up the course map shortly after I arrived again, so had plenty of time to study and make a plan for handling the course.
The course map:
As soon as I picked up the map, I immediately noticed that there was not a single tunnel in sight! As the judge later said in her briefing, this is a true jumpers course with just jumps and weaves. My nerves felt much calmer today, until I started walking the course and decided that the best way to handle it was a rear cross between bar jump #7 and double #8. I've only recently been doing rear crosses with Bailey, since he was never really able to read them that well before. Do I dare try it in a trial and over a double, where if he picks his head up too high to find me, he might knock a bar and eliminate us? Earlier in the week, we had done some fantastic rear crosses in our video handling class, so I figured I might as well give it a try. It was into a pinwheel, which Bailey loves and has a very easy time finding the line. I figured if I was going to try it, this should be the spot. Lo and behold it worked! He read it perfectly and turned to the #9 jump without any issue at all! He took the turn between #9 jump and #10 jump a little wide because I think I pushed up too far into the pinwheel. I should have trusted him to find the line. He also did a great job when I sent him out over the #12 jump so I could get in position in front of the #13 jump for a front cross. We made it through the entire course with NO faults! CLEAN RUN! Yeah!
See for yourself!
JWW run
We were first into the ring in the Novice class and sure did set the bar high! Soon after we ran, the unofficial results were posted. We got a perfect score of 100 and qualified! Our time was 27.49 seconds, which meant that we came in well under the standard course time of 36 seconds. We beat the next best dog by about 1.5 seconds to take FIRST PLACE! Go Bailey!! Second leg of the NAJ title earned!
Again, we settled in for the long wait until the Novice Standard run. Bailey seemed much more settled and spent most of the afternoon napping in his crate. I picked up the Novice Standard map and spent a good chunk of time planning my afternoon run. I also ate some lunch, played some games on my phone, and watched my instructors run their dogs. While I was waiting, a classmate (and obedience instructor at ACA) ran with her dog Flynn and they earned their MACH! How exciting for them! I took some time out to sign her MACH bar (when you get a MACH, the sponsoring club usually gives you a jump bar as a memento - friends and fellow competitors often sign the bar). I grabbed some lunch and soon enough, the Novice Standard course was set up. I could tell Bailey and I were both getting very tired, so I was just hoping to make it though the afternoon run.
The standard course was, again, very straightforward.
The course map:
I had originally planned to do a front cross after jump #11, so I could have Bailey on my left for the closing. When I walked the course, I found that this would give the dog a really horrible angle to the teeter unless you brought the dog WAY wide on the turn. Bailey has had issue with teeters in the past, so I decided not to chance it. I kept him on my right for the teeter, then used the pause at the contact to do a front cross before #13 chute. The course itself wasn't that overwhelming, but I definitely felt the exhaustion of 2 days of early mornings and little sleep. We got two 5 point faults for table issues. For the first one, Bailey blew right by the table instead of getting on it. This was the first 5 points off for the refusal. Next, as we were on the table, I could hear the judge counting down from 5. When he got to 2, my brain somehow thought it was time to go, my body listened, and Bailey followed right along with me. Another 5 points for a table fault. *sigh* I was just so tired that my head wasn't thinking straight. Who goes on 2?!? You're supposed to wait for the "1 and GO" before leaving the table and that was totally my fault. Other than that, it was a nice run and Bailey did everything I asked of him, including sticking all of his contacts exactly like he's supposed to.
Here is proof:
Standard run
The unofficial results were posted and Bailey got a 90 and qualified. His time was 58.06 seconds, well under the standard course time of 64 seconds (even with having to do the table twice!). Because of our faults, we placed second, but still had a great run! Second leg of the NA title earned!
Overall, Bailey way exceeded my expectations and I'm looking forward to being able to enter him in some more trials in the spring. Hopefully, we'll soon be campaigning for our MACH too! :-)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
CCCC Agility Trial Day 1
Today we went to our first agility trial. The trial was held by the Capital City Cocker Club and took place at Cedar Run Horse Center in Woodbridge, VA. I entered Bailey in the 24" height division in Novice A Jumpers with Weaves and Novice A Standard.
Thankfully, I packed up the car last night so I didn't have to do it in the cold darkness of a November morning. Boy was it cold this morning! The only thing I'd forgotten was Bailey's jump height card, which I tore apart the house looking for and finally located inside the cover of a book I was reading a couple months ago. With jump height card in hand, I loaded Bailey and myself into the car and hit the road. After about an hour's drive, we arrived at the horse center and got a great parking spot. I was going to leave Bailey in the car all day, but after taking him on a quick walk around the agility rings, I decided to set up inside. He was acting somewhat nervous with the noise and activity level, so I thought that sitting inside all day would help him acclimate. I found a good spot near the jumpers ring, set up the crate, and settled in.
Jumpers with weaves was our first challenge of the day. At 9:30, they set up the Open JWW course. I think there were about 50 Open dogs and it took a little less than an hour for all of them to run. As soon as the Open class was done, an army of people set up the Novice course. I had picked up the course maps on one of my earlier walks around the building with Bailey, so I'd had plenty of time to study them and develop a plan. The course seemed pretty straightforward. We had about 10 minutes to walk it, then the runs started. They were running tall to small and Bailey was the last 24" dog to run. There were about eight 24" novice dogs, so we had a few minutes to practice some obedience to get him focused and ready to go. I was so nervous that I don't know how I kept myself together. However, as soon as we entered the ring for our run, my nerves disappeared. It was just me, Bailey, and the course. The run went very well and I did everything I'd planned during my walk through. Bailey did take one detour to sniff some of the pigeon feathers on the ground near the end of the course (they might be edible!). Unfortunately, this was counted as a refusal, but only 5 points off. Overall, we had a great run and my confidence was boosted a lot by this morning's performance.
The course:
Our friend Karen was kind enough to take some pictures of us on the JWW course with her iPhone.
Getting set up at the start line:
Bailey anxiously waiting while I lead out 2 full jumps. Most of the other novice competitors thought I was nuts for trying this, but I trust my dog and his stay! :-)
Nailing the weave entry:
After just a few minutes of waiting, the unofficial results were posted. We got a score of 95 and qualified! Even better, our time was 27.11 seconds, which meant that we came in well under the standard course time of 33 seconds AND beat the next best dog by six tenths of a second. FIRST PLACE! Yahoo!! First leg of the NAJ title earned!
The Standard run wasn't until the very end of the day, so we settled in for a long wait. Bailey spent most of the afternoon napping in his crate. I wandered around, fiddled with my new phone, studied the Standard course map, ate some lunch, talked to some friends, watched some other dogs run, studied the standard course map some more, and cheered some friends on.
About 4.5 hours after we finished our JWW run, the Novice Standard course was set and ready for the walk through. Again the course was pretty straightforward and I'd had plenty of time to develop a plan. Walking the course just confirmed that what I planned on paper would work for Bailey. I was also able to see a couple alternatives in case things didn't quite go how I planned. The same eight dogs were in this 24" class and we were last up. The run went really well and almost exactly how I planned. Bailey did take a detour on the way to the table to see if the table legs laying on the side of the ring were edible. That, unfortunately, was counted as a refusal for 5 points off. Other than that, he did a fantastic job. He hit all of his contacts, did a wide variety of jumps with no issues, had no issue with the start line timer at the entrance to the tunnel (he'd never seen that before, so I didn't know what to expect), and did a great job with the weaves getting and keeping the entrance. I left the ring VERY pleased with his performance.
The course:
Again after just a few minutes of waiting, the unofficial results were posted. Bailey got another 95 and qualified. His time was 58.57 seconds, well under the standard course time of 67 seconds. We beat the next best dog's time by about 1.1 seconds, earning us another FIRST PLACE! YEAH!! First leg of the NA title earned!
Bailey did a great job and surpassed even my best expectations for him. I'm exhausted and need to hit the hay, since we're back there again for another day of fun bright and early tomorrow!
Thankfully, I packed up the car last night so I didn't have to do it in the cold darkness of a November morning. Boy was it cold this morning! The only thing I'd forgotten was Bailey's jump height card, which I tore apart the house looking for and finally located inside the cover of a book I was reading a couple months ago. With jump height card in hand, I loaded Bailey and myself into the car and hit the road. After about an hour's drive, we arrived at the horse center and got a great parking spot. I was going to leave Bailey in the car all day, but after taking him on a quick walk around the agility rings, I decided to set up inside. He was acting somewhat nervous with the noise and activity level, so I thought that sitting inside all day would help him acclimate. I found a good spot near the jumpers ring, set up the crate, and settled in.
Jumpers with weaves was our first challenge of the day. At 9:30, they set up the Open JWW course. I think there were about 50 Open dogs and it took a little less than an hour for all of them to run. As soon as the Open class was done, an army of people set up the Novice course. I had picked up the course maps on one of my earlier walks around the building with Bailey, so I'd had plenty of time to study them and develop a plan. The course seemed pretty straightforward. We had about 10 minutes to walk it, then the runs started. They were running tall to small and Bailey was the last 24" dog to run. There were about eight 24" novice dogs, so we had a few minutes to practice some obedience to get him focused and ready to go. I was so nervous that I don't know how I kept myself together. However, as soon as we entered the ring for our run, my nerves disappeared. It was just me, Bailey, and the course. The run went very well and I did everything I'd planned during my walk through. Bailey did take one detour to sniff some of the pigeon feathers on the ground near the end of the course (they might be edible!). Unfortunately, this was counted as a refusal, but only 5 points off. Overall, we had a great run and my confidence was boosted a lot by this morning's performance.
The course:
Our friend Karen was kind enough to take some pictures of us on the JWW course with her iPhone.
Getting set up at the start line:
Bailey anxiously waiting while I lead out 2 full jumps. Most of the other novice competitors thought I was nuts for trying this, but I trust my dog and his stay! :-)
Nailing the weave entry:
After just a few minutes of waiting, the unofficial results were posted. We got a score of 95 and qualified! Even better, our time was 27.11 seconds, which meant that we came in well under the standard course time of 33 seconds AND beat the next best dog by six tenths of a second. FIRST PLACE! Yahoo!! First leg of the NAJ title earned!
The Standard run wasn't until the very end of the day, so we settled in for a long wait. Bailey spent most of the afternoon napping in his crate. I wandered around, fiddled with my new phone, studied the Standard course map, ate some lunch, talked to some friends, watched some other dogs run, studied the standard course map some more, and cheered some friends on.
About 4.5 hours after we finished our JWW run, the Novice Standard course was set and ready for the walk through. Again the course was pretty straightforward and I'd had plenty of time to develop a plan. Walking the course just confirmed that what I planned on paper would work for Bailey. I was also able to see a couple alternatives in case things didn't quite go how I planned. The same eight dogs were in this 24" class and we were last up. The run went really well and almost exactly how I planned. Bailey did take a detour on the way to the table to see if the table legs laying on the side of the ring were edible. That, unfortunately, was counted as a refusal for 5 points off. Other than that, he did a fantastic job. He hit all of his contacts, did a wide variety of jumps with no issues, had no issue with the start line timer at the entrance to the tunnel (he'd never seen that before, so I didn't know what to expect), and did a great job with the weaves getting and keeping the entrance. I left the ring VERY pleased with his performance.
The course:
Again after just a few minutes of waiting, the unofficial results were posted. Bailey got another 95 and qualified. His time was 58.57 seconds, well under the standard course time of 67 seconds. We beat the next best dog's time by about 1.1 seconds, earning us another FIRST PLACE! YEAH!! First leg of the NA title earned!
Bailey did a great job and surpassed even my best expectations for him. I'm exhausted and need to hit the hay, since we're back there again for another day of fun bright and early tomorrow!
Monday, October 12, 2009
First Agility Trial
After probably too long just training for agility, I finally entered Bailey in his first agility trial - the Capital City Cocker Club AKC trials on November 7th and 8th. I entered him in 24" Jumpers with Weaves and 24" Standard. I'm not sure whether he is completely ready, but I guess we'll find out. The trial is in a horse barn at Cedar Run Horse Center, so I'm hoping the sniffing doesn't become a major distraction. I've heard that the surface is much cleaner than where we normally run at Frying Pan Park, so I hope those rumors are right.
I'll post more about it once we're done with the trial. Wish us luck!
I'll post more about it once we're done with the trial. Wish us luck!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Another win!
On a spur of the moment decision, I entered Bailey in the Certificate of Conformation Assessment (CCA) at the PVGRC Specialty Match the last weekend in August. The CCA is a program run by the GRCA that evaluates the conformation of dogs against the Golden Retriever breed standard in a non-competitive format. It was set up for dogs who are otherwise ineligible to enter the breed ring for formal conformation competitions/evaluations. I hadn't entered because I wasn't sure how strictly they evaluated your dog against the standard. I know Bailey has some minor faults that would probably prevent him from getting a Championship in the breed ring if I'd kept him intact. Anyway, I decided to enter him. If nothing else, I'd have a better understanding of what his flaws are and I'd "donate" the $65 entry fee to PVGRC.
We showed up at 8:30 in the morning to check in and get photographed and measured. The dogs are photographed from the side and the front. These photos are filed with the evaluation results at the GRCA. The dogs also have to be measured to ensure they are within the height requirements for the breed. Deviation of more than an inch from the height requirements would disqualify the dog. Bailey measured in at 23.25", so he's well within the range required. Then I set up his crate, which as it would turn out, would be our hangout for the next several hours. There were at least 25 dogs entered and they go into the ring in groups of 3 for evaluation. Each group of 3 takes about 45 minutes in the ring with the judges. We were in group 7, so that meant we had about 5 hours to wait.
I think the judges got through the first 5 groups before lunch, then took a lunch break. We had the PVGRC club meeting after the lunch break. The judging began again around 1:30 and we were in the ring around 2:15 or 2:30ish. I was afraid that Bailey would be too friendly with the judges, but he was great. He also did a great job moving with me on the movement evaluation. It's like he knew I meant business and that being in the ring meant it was time to work! One of the judges even asked me if he is an OTCH dog. I just laughed because there's no way my silly little pup could be an obedience champion! Overall, the judges were very complimentary and only really pointed out the conformation flaws I already knew Bailey had. He did very well on the temperament evaluation and they said his movement was nice. At the end of the evaluation, I thanked the judges and left the ring. Then got back to my primary job of the day... WAITING!
We had to wait for the final scores to be tallied and recorded, then sorted according to whether they qualified or not. In the morning groups, only about half of the dogs qualified for the title, so I got a little nervous especially after seeing some of the dogs that didn't qualify. In any case, around 4:00 the PVGRC president came out with a large stack of score sheet envelopes and ribbons and started passing them out. To my surprise, Bailey qualified under all 3 judges and earned a new title! The judges' scores were all pretty consistent and he got a passing score of 79 from each judge. Finally, we posed for the group win picture (which I'm told will be published in the GRCA publication Golden Retriever News).
I'm so proud of my little boy!
We showed up at 8:30 in the morning to check in and get photographed and measured. The dogs are photographed from the side and the front. These photos are filed with the evaluation results at the GRCA. The dogs also have to be measured to ensure they are within the height requirements for the breed. Deviation of more than an inch from the height requirements would disqualify the dog. Bailey measured in at 23.25", so he's well within the range required. Then I set up his crate, which as it would turn out, would be our hangout for the next several hours. There were at least 25 dogs entered and they go into the ring in groups of 3 for evaluation. Each group of 3 takes about 45 minutes in the ring with the judges. We were in group 7, so that meant we had about 5 hours to wait.
I think the judges got through the first 5 groups before lunch, then took a lunch break. We had the PVGRC club meeting after the lunch break. The judging began again around 1:30 and we were in the ring around 2:15 or 2:30ish. I was afraid that Bailey would be too friendly with the judges, but he was great. He also did a great job moving with me on the movement evaluation. It's like he knew I meant business and that being in the ring meant it was time to work! One of the judges even asked me if he is an OTCH dog. I just laughed because there's no way my silly little pup could be an obedience champion! Overall, the judges were very complimentary and only really pointed out the conformation flaws I already knew Bailey had. He did very well on the temperament evaluation and they said his movement was nice. At the end of the evaluation, I thanked the judges and left the ring. Then got back to my primary job of the day... WAITING!
We had to wait for the final scores to be tallied and recorded, then sorted according to whether they qualified or not. In the morning groups, only about half of the dogs qualified for the title, so I got a little nervous especially after seeing some of the dogs that didn't qualify. In any case, around 4:00 the PVGRC president came out with a large stack of score sheet envelopes and ribbons and started passing them out. To my surprise, Bailey qualified under all 3 judges and earned a new title! The judges' scores were all pretty consistent and he got a passing score of 79 from each judge. Finally, we posed for the group win picture (which I'm told will be published in the GRCA publication Golden Retriever News).
I'm so proud of my little boy!
Monday, August 31, 2009
DGOTC Agility Match
On 08/29/2009, we entered the DGOTC Agility Match/Run-thrus held at Banshee Reeks Park. I'll spare you the details of every single run that we did, since we ran the course probably 6 or 7 times. Overall, I was very impressed with Bailey's performance given that it was really his first time doing agility outdoors, except for practice in our back yard. I did have someone take a video of our first run.
Click here to watch the video.
DGOTC member Ann Hereford is also a fantastic photographer and got some great still pictures of Bailey that you can view on her website HereForDogs. Pictures of Bailey are on pages 8, 9, and 11.
Click here to watch the video.
DGOTC member Ann Hereford is also a fantastic photographer and got some great still pictures of Bailey that you can view on her website HereForDogs. Pictures of Bailey are on pages 8, 9, and 11.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
It's been a while
So, I haven't posted in a long while. This seems to happen to me with blogs. Not that much has been going on recently, so I've been short on things to write about.
We're still training in agility at DGOTC and ACA. Right now, I'm taking a Pre-competition class with DGOTC and Handling 3 at ACA. I'm hoping that we can start competing this spring or summer in agility. We will also be attending a jumping seminar with Susan Salo on February 27 and 28. Looking forward to that. Also, looking for someone to go with me and take photos and/or video! If you know or are someone who can do that, let me know!
On the obedience front, despite what I originally planned, I have started training Bailey for Open obedience. I found a great website on how to do a clicker-trained dumbbell retrieve, so I've been working on that pretty diligently. Despite having a Golden RETRIEVER, retrieving a plastic dumbbell on command is totally unappealing to Bailey. He will play ball for hours on end, but the dumbbell just isn't the same, I guess. Anyway, in about 4 training sessions, I've clicker trained him to pick up the dumbbell and return it to my hand from varying distances. The farthest distance is about 8 or 10 feet so far, but that's not bad for a dog who wouldn't touch the darn thing a few weeks ago!
On the Rally front, I don't have much ambition to do more rally just yet. I did get a premium for a trial in March and I thought about entering in Rally Advanced just for fun. But it's an expensive thing to do for fun! I think we need to take an Advanced rally class before I'd feel comfortable entering a trial.
As for me, I actually volunteered for and got voted into a board position for DGOTC. I am now the Fairfax Member-at-Large. I'm not exactly what this entails, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough!
DGOTC had their awards banquet this year where I got presented with a nice plaque honoring Bailey's accomplishments this year. I think he was one of three dogs that earned Obedience titles. The rest of the mile long list of dogs were all on there for agility titles.
PVGRC is having their awards banquet in March this year and I plan to attend that as well. I have applied for consideration for several trophies, but I'm not sure whether I will be eligible for any of them since I joined the club so late in the year. We'll see, I guess! At the very least, Bailey will get two new rosettes for the titles he earned this year. It's so nice when your clubs recognize your accomplishments, even if they are small!
Finally, Bailey and I supported DGOTC in the Purcellville Christmas Parade. Here are a couple quick photos from the parade.
The majority of the group getting ready at the parade start:
Walking in the parade:
Bailey's coat kept twisting around, but he was a good boy for most of the parade:
The whole group coming down the street near the end of the parade:
We're still training in agility at DGOTC and ACA. Right now, I'm taking a Pre-competition class with DGOTC and Handling 3 at ACA. I'm hoping that we can start competing this spring or summer in agility. We will also be attending a jumping seminar with Susan Salo on February 27 and 28. Looking forward to that. Also, looking for someone to go with me and take photos and/or video! If you know or are someone who can do that, let me know!
On the obedience front, despite what I originally planned, I have started training Bailey for Open obedience. I found a great website on how to do a clicker-trained dumbbell retrieve, so I've been working on that pretty diligently. Despite having a Golden RETRIEVER, retrieving a plastic dumbbell on command is totally unappealing to Bailey. He will play ball for hours on end, but the dumbbell just isn't the same, I guess. Anyway, in about 4 training sessions, I've clicker trained him to pick up the dumbbell and return it to my hand from varying distances. The farthest distance is about 8 or 10 feet so far, but that's not bad for a dog who wouldn't touch the darn thing a few weeks ago!
On the Rally front, I don't have much ambition to do more rally just yet. I did get a premium for a trial in March and I thought about entering in Rally Advanced just for fun. But it's an expensive thing to do for fun! I think we need to take an Advanced rally class before I'd feel comfortable entering a trial.
As for me, I actually volunteered for and got voted into a board position for DGOTC. I am now the Fairfax Member-at-Large. I'm not exactly what this entails, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough!
DGOTC had their awards banquet this year where I got presented with a nice plaque honoring Bailey's accomplishments this year. I think he was one of three dogs that earned Obedience titles. The rest of the mile long list of dogs were all on there for agility titles.
PVGRC is having their awards banquet in March this year and I plan to attend that as well. I have applied for consideration for several trophies, but I'm not sure whether I will be eligible for any of them since I joined the club so late in the year. We'll see, I guess! At the very least, Bailey will get two new rosettes for the titles he earned this year. It's so nice when your clubs recognize your accomplishments, even if they are small!
Finally, Bailey and I supported DGOTC in the Purcellville Christmas Parade. Here are a couple quick photos from the parade.
The majority of the group getting ready at the parade start:
Walking in the parade:
Bailey's coat kept twisting around, but he was a good boy for most of the parade:
The whole group coming down the street near the end of the parade:
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