World Wind Week

Its been a world wind week. In one week Ive driven from Columbia to Savannah. From Savannah to Perry Ga., then back to Columbia. Then from Columbia back to Savannah, changed cars and continued on to Orlando. Then Orlando back to Columbia. Wow!!  Thats a lot in a week. LOL

So after Christmas I drove to Perry Ga where Miley and I were entered just one day for USDAA Team. Im really not planning on going to nationals because Miley and I are so inconsistent but just in case, I thought I would try to get a team Q. (You need one team Q for nationals). The nice thing about team is you can make some mistakes on some courses and still Q.  Anyway, I was teamed with someone who has a sheltie who can be a little crazy like Miley. Plus she got her team Q last weekend so that took the pressure off for me.
When I got to Perry Ga that night it was 44 degrees but the wind was blowing like crazy. It made it freezing. Even though I had lots of layers on to walk Miley, it was freezing and I was miserable.  One time the wind gusted so hard it blew Miley's back end out from under her. Holy Crap!  I was staying in an RV with a friend and I told her I was thinking of going home. I cant stand to be this cold. The RV was swaying during the night. It was like being on a boat.  But the next day the wind calmed down and the sun came out.

First up was standard. Let me just say a lot of "big name" people from the east coast were at this trial. I wont list name but initials. So if you follow agility you probably will know them:  LM, AB, TS, SM, KH there was someone else but I cant remember who.

As you will see in the video , this run is horrible.  She was pushing her start line and I released her so she wouldnt break but really thats releasing herself. Then She didnt finish the weaves and I let it go. (not good dog training). Then the tunnel under the a-frame. Im not sure what was going on with that. What Miley did, coming back out of the tunnel, so did lots of other dogs. Even several of the "big name" seasoned dogs did it. Weird huh?  So anyway we got a big fat E.  I just wasnt expecting this run to go so bad. I only gave Miley a couple of treats afterwards.  She needs to learn the rules are always the same no matter where we are. And I need to be consistent with that.
As I was walking Miley around to cool her down, I thought "what the heck am I doing here?".  And "where is this journey with Miley taking me. What is the lesson Im suppose to be learning?". And then I just let it go. We are here just to have fun and I need to let everything else go.




Miley hadnt been exercised in 3 days. We were at my moms house and it had been raining a lot. Plus you cant walk the dogs in her neighborhood because people let their dogs run loose and other dogs have been attacked. And then it was so windy the night before that a long walk at the trial site was out of the question. I had recently read that good trainers dont need to wear their dogs out before going in the ring. But I decided that was not information that helped me and took Miley outside and made her fetch the ball again and again.

Next up Snooker.

Here was the snooker course. You could only do three reds. I went the easy way so I didnt get the most points, 31. But this was the best snooker run we have every had. To bad we dropped at bar on 6b. Ugh  My partner burned up this course and took 3rd place. (notice Miley's start line is much better. Just only getting a couple of treats or chasing the ball helped her?I dont know)

 

Next up was gamblers. It had a joker instead of a gamble which someone had to explain to me. As soon as you you hear the buzzer you had 17 seconds to do the joker and take the finish jump. If the buzzer sounded before the finish jump then you lost all your points. The joker was, take a jump then an obstacle, another jump and a different obstacle, another jump and a different obstacle ect.. the point added up as 2, 4, 6, 8 ect.. And the finish jump had to be taken after an obstacle, not a jump or you got whistled. 

We were doing well and were in the Joker part, when she didnt understand go into the tunnel.  I knew we were burning up time and so the buzzer rang just before the finish jump and we didnt get any joker points. Ugh!!  My partner again burned up the course and took first place. WhooHoo for her!!




After this run I was beat. I had worked several classes. It was hard to find workers because everyone was running a dog. So I worked championship classes. I worked the gamblers class. I was leash runner, bar setter and chute straightener all at the same time. Finally someone took pitty on me and did the chute for the last few runs. I was very happy with the people who started with the tire. LOL  Most people did the chute first. Like me. So I felt pretty good about my snooker and gamblers runs until I went to look at the score book. That made me feel bad about myself. Why did I look at that stupid book. Its the reason I dont watch my videos until after Im done for the day. If I felt a run was good, I dont want to see what it really looked like on video and make me feel bad. LOL

I had received a lot of worker tickets for the worker raffle. This very nice lady, who's husband was running a dog, filmed all my runs. How nice was that!!  I gave her all my worker tickets and told her I hope she wins something.  I left before the end of the day, so I dont know if she won anything but I hope so.

This was jumpers. I heard Miley hit the number 3 bar and thought it dropped . So of course I was thinking about that and we almost went off course going to 6. All of a sudden my brain kicked in and I went, "holy crap, cue your dog for the weaves".  Everything was good until 18 when I gave my dog NO indication to take number 18, so she ran by. I was able to save it and get back on course. So we didnt E and got a Q.  Several dogs ran pass the tunnel after 12 so I made sure I had Miley's head going to the tunnel.


Last up relay. Our team had been above the Q cut off line  until after jumpers. So we needed to do well on relay to get back above the Q line.

I ran the squares. I pushed her off the a-frame with a rear cross. Ugh. But it was just a refusal and time points.

 

I left right after this. It was a freaking long drive home. I think it took me 6 hours. Atlanta traffic is horrible!!  I finally got home at 11pm and saw an email from my friend that we Qed. Whoohoo!

Ashley, all these videos are taken with the ipad 3.

Merry Christmas!!

Sunny Sunday

 This picture was taken right into the sun. Im surprised it came out at all.  It was freezing this morning, I think 29 degrees.  We were complaining how cold we were and then this lady in a tennis skirt passes us. Hmmmm.

I havent done to much this week. Monday I was down and out sick. Then Tuesday my son has his wisdom teeth out. Thursday I drove up to North Carolina to go to a Best Buy that was holding an ipad for me. I had gone on to BestBuy's website. It had a ipad 3 for a 100.00 cheaper then anywhere else  but you had to pick it up in the store. When I clicked on which store had one, none. What the heck??  I looked in Ga, NC, SC and Va. So I went on "chat" with Bestbuy and ask them about it. They wouldnt answer my question on "why do you advertise something for that price if I cant get it?'. Its like a bait and switch.  But they wouldnt answer the question. She just kept saying, "Is there anything else I cant do for you?"  I was so mad. Then I tried again the next day and one was available in Gastonia NC. Thats about 2 hours from me. So I bought it. I drove up on Thursday  and got it. I aslo stopped at a store my husband had a gift card for, for winning a race. The store is only in Charlotte.  The only bad thing that happened was the GPS that is in my car, the GPS is 4 years old,  all of a sudden said I wasnt on a road anymore. I was just flying through the air. Ugh. So I got lost and had to go 20 extra miles to get there. Stupid GPS. Thats what I get for getting the GPS loaded  in the dash of the car  when I bought it. The only way to update the GPS maps is to buy a new DVD. They want 200 dollars for it. That insane. I could buy a small unit for 100.00 with lifetime maps updates. Not sure what Im going to do about that. I always print out Mapquest when I go some where just in case my GPS cant find something.  I wasnt paying attention when I realized I was lost on Thursday but its a good thing I had the printed directions to get me back on track.
Friday, it was so freaking windy outside, I just did some Christmas shopping.

Saturday we went to the field to practice.  I used the ipad to shoot the practice.


The video was grainy looking and  I was disappointed. Then after googling information about it, I realized I didnt hit the HD button when I loaded it. So I tried again.



So this turned out much better.

Then I was thinking, to bad the ipad doesnt let you trim the video's. So I googled that and it does. It just wasnt some obvious button to hit. But I was able to figure it out.
Here is Java practicing dogwalks and weaves. She keeps popping the last pole, so I have work to do there.



It was freezing this morning but we took the dogs for a walk. Everyone had fun.

 Even Guiness got to practice restrained recalls. He doesnt get off leash to much. I worry about him running after something and not coming back. Like at the beach 5 years ago. Ugh!

Its almost Christmas. I only have one person that I still need to get something for. I just cant think of what to get.

Wordless Wednesday

USDAA trial and stuff

Stephanie made  me this beautiful picture for Christmas. This is my favorite picture of Java.
Here it is again with the photo.

This weekend I went to an USDAA trial with Miley and Java.  We didnt do to well. 
Miley got the gamble in PIII gamblers but left the teeter to early so we didnt get the points. Lots of teeters called this weekend.


Java was in starters gamblers. She didnt take the tire, she went under it.  The jumped off the side of the teeter, that was weird.  The gamble was chute to a jump and she got tangled (not a bad tangle)  in the chute and when she got out, she came running to me, so she missed the jump.

Java had a nice starters jumpers run but I pushed her off a jump. I was worried about rear crossing but I decided no time like the present to try them out.




Miley had a beautiful jumpers PII run and we qed. Of course I didnt get that run on tape. Figures huh.
I think I finished running around 6pm. I went to the hotel. It was very quite at the hotel. I didnt hear any doors closing all night and my dogs didnt bark once the whole time we were there.  For some reason I really just wanted to go home. Im not sure why. I must have fallen asleep around 8:30 and woke up in the middle of the night with the TV on and the lights still on.  The next morning I wasnt feeling to good. Just my usual aching self. I didnt think to much about it. 
Sunday I ran Java first in gamblers. She didnt get her dogwalk either time but he gave her the first one.  I tried the weaves, she had only done 12 weaves for the first time on Thursday so I rewarded her anyway even though she didnt finish them. It was weird, I really thought she got them the first time, it wasnt until I watched the video and saw that she didnt finished the last pole. I dont think my brain was working to well on Sunday.  So Java got the gamble but we didnt have enough points to Q. But its ok, I just wanted to keep her happy and running.

Miley gamblers PIII run I really just wanted to work contacts. So thats what I did. We didnt get the gamble. I had walked it to take some steps back when she was in the tunnel so I could push into her to get her out to that jump.But for some reason didnt do that when I ran.   But I was able to fix a self released a-frame.




Grand Prix Miley was doing awesome. I was worried about the weave pole entry. I just took to many steps forward and it cued that jump instead of going to the weaves. Then she stressed because I stopped. Ugh! All I had to do was a front cross and she would have never known anything was wrong.  Oops.  In a side note. Java's litter mate won Grand prix . It started making me feel I shouldnt have bought a puppy from that same litter. I know you cant compare dogs or handlers but its hard not to feel bad about yourself when you can even run a jumpers course.

This was my last run of the day. I waited a long time for this run. When I was warming Java up, I took her outside to the under cover barn area. It had been raining all day and  it was dry under there. I passed these people with their dogs. The one dog came up to Java but wasnt running or lunging, I think it just wanted to play. But Java reacted badly. She barked and growled. She sounds like she wants to kill you when she does that. Most shelties have this high pitched bark but not Java. Her's is deep and growly. I got her back quickly and put her in a sit. We warmed up and went back in. Then someone standing above us in the seating and crating area was filming with an ipad and the person next to her was playing tug with her dog and they were on a wooden platform.  The wooden platform was making a thumping noise.Java went crazy barking. I got her back and walk further down practicing sits, downs and heeling.  Then a border collie passed us and again, Java barked and growled. Ugh. I dont think that dog did anything. The lady was nice and said her dog could have been staring because he does that. But I didnt notice it.  So now Im really freaked out. I think Java just didnt get out  and run enough at the trial because of the rain. I usually walk my dogs alot and let them play but with all the rain, that just didnt happen.(She ran the first run around 9am and then didnt run again until 5pm) I didnt tug with her before going in the ring. She was fine in the ring and when we left the ring.
Jumpers run: I front crossed after 4 but when I did this she wasnt committed to  # 3 and I pulled her off so I had to re-send her. Then I front crossed after 8. That #8 jump was over to the left  a little more than the course map shows. I felt like I had to front cross there because you needed a front cross after 12. Anyone who didnt  front cross after 12, there dog went by jump 13. That jump was just to far to the side for them to even see it. So I didnt support #10 enough and pulled her off. Then she back jumped it.   When I left the ring  I was already feeling bad. I didnt have anyone to tape my run because everyone I knew  either left or they were running. So I cant see what happened. I felt like I pulled her off those jumps. I asked someone who was working the ring and I know, she felt I should have not front crossed after 8, that I should have stayed on the other side and I set a bad line for my dog. This made a huge impact on me.  I felt terrible about myself all the way home. If I cant even walk a starters jumpers course correctly after all this time, I should just quit agility.In fact this post was going to say, "I quit" and nothing else. Im not doing agility anymore and Im not teaching any more classes for the club. Im just so tired of trying and looking like crap out there.  The drive home was long, dark and rainy.  By the time I got home I was so achy and miserable I just went to bed. But I couldnt sleep because my body hurt to much and I finally got up and took some medication. I woke up this moring feeling even more miserable. I dont know if it was some type of virus or what. I know there were sick people at the trial and a few people I know  when home early because they were sick.   Im feeling better tonight so hopefully its  going away.

There also was this lady sitting down in front of me at the trial. Im not sure why she had 3 chairs because she was the only person there with her stuff all weekend. She had her crates and two chairs on one level, the next level  up she had another reclining chair. Then the next level was me and my dogs. Well in her reclining chair she had two containers of treats,a bag of McDonalds food, with the bag open, and a McDonalds sandwich with the wrapper open sitting on the chair out of the bag. My dogs, I guess just arent trainned well enough because they just kept trying to get the food. I said something to her and she just said, "yea my dogs keep trying to get the food too". But she didnt move it. Ugh. So finally about 3/4 through the day, I couldnt take it anymore.  I picked it up and moved it down to her other chairs and table to get it away from my dogs.  When my friend above me left I moved my stuff up a level. Just to put more space between me and her. I was getting ready to leave and wanted to look at the photographer's pictures before I left. I can here my dogs barking and going crazy. I finally go over there. She is sitting in her reclining chair and has her dog on the level above her chair , so close to my dogs. What the heck was wrong with this lady. How much space does she need. So I got my dogs out to go put them in the car and her dog sniffs my shoes, extra shoes (bogs) for the rain, that were sitting out. Java went crazy again. Ugh!! It wasnt a good way to end things. 

Wordless Wednesday

2nd day of trial

I wasnt sure I was going to post the video of Miley at the 2nd day of the trial. But after watching it several times there are some really good things happening with Miley and I. So I decided to post it anyway.
First up was ISC standard.  A freaking hard course and I thought to myself, "why am I running this, its over my head".  But I walked it and ran what I walked.  I slipped at 5. Then my cross was late after the dogwalk. I was planning to FC and then rear to the weaves. But I think she thought I was doing a "backee upee" ( where you step back and bring your dog around the jump). So I messed that up.  My front cross after the weaves was  late and I held her to long going to the tunnel.  I really wanted to make sure she did the teeter correctly which then put me behind. Then she didnt stop on the aframe so I marked it.  I know it was kinda a mess but I just kep going. I heard Loretta in my head, "keep going no matter what happens".

In T2B we were have a beautiful fun. She stopped on the first a-frame and it was beautiful. I praised her.  Then the second a-frame and she jumped it. Ugh!!  Then Im not sure if what happen afterwards was my fault but she stressed and ran around the ring. We left.  This part of the video makes me feel bad. Im not mad at Miley, I just want her to understand she cant act like this. But how do I convey this without seeming so disappointed.  At this point Im not surprised at jumping contacts or running around the ring. But we cant complete a course if she dose these things. Ugh. Im not sure what the right thing is.

Last up was jww. We had an awesome run going and she missed the weave pole entry and went in a the 2nd pole. I was just going to keep going but then she popped out like she knew that wasnt right so we restarted. We had a great ending. I should have RC on the flat  after 18 but I just didnt think quick enough.



Last up was Java.  She ran the day before in novice FAST. It wasnt a very good run. I stepped to the line and my heart was pounding in my chest. Ugh, I hate when that happens. So I messed up a lot. The video wont load to youtube. LOL  So this day I ran novice jww.  It was weird. I felt like I just didnt know how to run this dog. I thought , "what am I doing here". I wasnt sure  if I should  just run with her or front cross things or rear cross.  We started to run and I felt like I sent her and could make the front cross, but darn she was there before I could finish the cross. Ugh. So I cut her off a couple of times but otherwise a very nice run. My dog was happy and running.  Someone came up after me and said, "you had the best dog out there". Yay Java!!

Wonderful weekend

We went to a trial this weekend. I wasnt sure I was going to make it. I took a 1/2 on Friday at work but it was freaking crazy. The nurse coming to cover me was late and all these kids just just kept coming. I was so stressed out by the time I finally left I couldnt get  my head together. I finally left  after 3 pm and had to turn around and go back home because I forgot dog food and someone, Miley, was stinking up the car. So I went home and washed Miley and got the dog food.  We finally got on our way. Lots of traffic but we made it safely.  
The hotel we stayed at was full and it was a 6 story hotel. There was a confirmation show going on close by too but not our our site.  So lots and lots of dogs every where. 
I signed Miley up to run ICS and when I saw the course, it looked tough.

Everyone else turned their dog to the inside of 2 , which was faster, but I felt like I need the couple of seconds extra to get down pass the tunnel to make a front cross.


My dog was freaking awesome.  This was my best run with Miley ever.   I felt like I saw every take off and landing. Usually Im just running to hang on.  I know she doesnt look that fast but she was only 2 seconds behind 1st place.   Most of her turns were tight too.

Next up was Excellent jumpers.

I just couldnt figure out how I wanted to run 5-10.   Most people FC after 5 or they post turned 6. I planned to serp 5-6 and then rc 7 and then front after 9.   After watching everyone, I just decided to go with my plan and see what happens. It worked. 50 excellent JWW runs and we finally got a second Q.

Awesome run. But then the timer, scribe and judge all went to the middle of the ring and started talking. I thought , Oh crap. I guess something happened to the timer. It started before  Miley took the first jump. She said I could rerun but I told her I was good.  They said they would take 2 seconds off my time because they think thats how much time went by before we started. Heck , they could have added 2 seconds to my time and I would have been ok with that. LOL

Standard was next.

Nice run but she jumped on and off the table. When she did that I said, "no" much harder then I meant to. I thought I would here "tweet" but I didnt.  I worked on the teeter the last two weeks but I guess I have more work to do.
Sorry I dont have time to finish this. More later.

Christmas party and stuff

This week has been crazy at work. Flu is here and all coming to my office. Kids have been getting off the bus and walking straight into my office with a fever of 102.  Im not sure why parents are sending their kids to school sick but if they keep this up we'll never get it out of the school. In the first three days of school this week Ive seen 189 kids, not including medications. That's a lot.  I  had the principal do a "phone blast" where everyone at school is called with a recorded message. It talked about flu being at school and that your child's temperature has to be under 100 degrees without medication for 24 hours to come back to school. So yesterday no one got off the bus and came to my office sick. Hopefully things are getting better.
Last night was my clubs Christmas party. It was very nice. It was in a club house for a community. The house was old and charming. Lots of people came and lots of people I didnt know.  There was a gift exchange.  You brought a gift, it could be anything, that cost 10.00.  I think some people spent more than ten dollars. It was hard to find something for ten dollars.  I brought a ball jar that was fill with the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies.  Im sure you have seen them , they have all the layers in the jar and you just have to add a couple of items, to make the cookies. Its was cute. This gift exchange was where you could pick a gift or steal someone else.  They limited the steals to once since so many people where there. When people started opening gifts, I got worried I had the worse gift there.  This one lady got a slipper stocking that was stuffed with a big toy tiger, a soft ball, and several dog treats. I stole this gift. So she had to go pick another. She picked this small box with this really neat flower on top. She opened it and it was a lump of coal. Ugh! I stole this lady's gift and now she got coal. ( I later found out the coal was a piece of chocolate).  I left terrible. And this lady is new to the club, this was her first meeting. Yea, I know how to make friends , dont I??? So I gave her the dog treats( a big cookie type bone and a bully stick) that were in my gift. She didnt want to take it but I told her my dogs wont eat that stuff so she would take it.  Why would someone give a lump of coal?  Well clearly I didnt have the worse gift. LOL
This weekend Im off to a AKC trial.  Java will run for the first time. She is entered in novice FAST on Saturday and novice jumpers on Sunday.  Im nervous and excited.  I havent really proofed her startline. I may have to sling shot her at the start line. Will see.  She has really started to put things together recently. I ran her in a class on Wednesday and she did the masters course.( course is from Clean Run Source book)

My only problem was getting her to send to #13 so I could run down the line to get in a front cross between 15 and 16. But man she had no problem with the treadle at the end.  Do you know how long Ive been working on threadles with Miley and sometimes she still doesnt get it. Java nailed it several times. How exciting.

I use to be able to run

I was looking back through videos and came across this one. It was 2 1/2 years ago. Look, I use to be able to run. And not get stuck in my front crosses. What happened to me. I thought I would get better at this.

Silent Sunday