Monday, May 19, 2008

Agility Weekend

It was hot, very hot- and I of course failed to put Sunblock on at all on Saturday. So today I am paying for it. Regardless it was a great weekend and there were many Q's for our whole group- three of our students recieved their Starters Title and we all had a great time. Congrats to Lynn and Lucy, Kim and Maggie, and Deb and Stoker!

The Flashing Canines put on a great trial and although it was hot it still was fun. The venue was new to them and was very nice- it was on a baseball diamond that actually had quite a lot of shade from the trees. Shade was a hot commodity all weekend- thank goodness for shade tents!

The dogs all did great and I was very proud of them. Wicca's weaves are much better. We still had a few missed entries but not nearly as many as the last trial. Her bar knocking is still the same which is frustrating, but my handling has improved and she is responding much better. Boone had lots of fun and I was so proud of him- he met lots of people, and did great with the new place. Thankfully we were far away from any busy roads, and although he left the ring twice he came back both times. On two of his runs I made the choice to just make it up, run a short sequence and reward- it worked great for him and really kept his motivation up.

Here is a re-cap of the runs from the weekend..

Wicca
Masters Gamble- got the mini gamble twice, and lots of points- 84. The gamble was super easy so we got it no problem. I think that it like her 5th masters gamble Q...

The Standards were a bust for one reason or another. All had great moments, usually followed by a knocked bar. Her weave pole entries were great though...mostly :o) Her Standard 3 was pretty horrible and I made her leave when she twice popped the poles. Bad Wiccie.

Standard- can't remember which one- the fourth I think. She had a great run despite her table and knocked bar. I am very proud of how well I handled my dog this weekend.


Masters Team- was a great course with two sets of 6 weaves. Wicca weaved great- but we had an off course. Gyp of course ran her side clean :o)

Advanced Snooker- We Q'd!! Yup. Can you freakin' believe it!!!! This from the dog that took years to get out of Starters...so we move up to masters snooker....What a dog!! Oh, and it was a great run. Three Sevens- which were weaves, and we made it all the way to the end- earning 51 points...woohoo!

Advanced Jumpers- was a bust. Wicca was a complete moron and smashed into four bars before I stopped her. This was the last run of the weekend- and she was pretty frantic.


Boone
did great and had lots of fun- he was a little overwhelemed during a few of the runs, but came back to me and was happy to keep trying!!

Standards- we had two great standard runs. He was a little distracted at first but was moving along at a good pace. He had no problem moving ahead of me and his obstacle commitment was much better.



Jumpers- he moved up to advanced jumpers after that last trial and it was a bit difficult for him so we only ran half the course. He did great though- we have to work on keeping him from going so wide though- he has a large stride for a small dog and gets carried away sometimes.



Gamblers- he Q'd! Yay Boonie!! We got the mini gamble once, and between that and the 4 point obstacle we had just enough points. He got the gamble no problem! What a good boy!

Vito

Vito came along for the ride and did great in the socialising department. I think mostly he was bored but he was trooper and hardly complained. He got lots of attention and of course cookies! He managed to escape out of his crate when I was running Wicca and made it all the way onto the field!! Thanks to such a nice judge we got a re-run although she didn't have to give me one becuase it was my dog who got loose!!!

Vito's Trial Debute

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