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!
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