Weekend Trial

Friday I pulled miley from the ring for jumping the A-frame contact. It was a-frame -tunnel, so I caught her coming out of the tunnel. I hadnt really planned on doing this. Its been such a delemia if it was going to cause her more stress by pulling her. It was freaking hot on Friday and I was just to tried to run if she wasnt going to do her job. But it looks like it was the right thing to do. She got all her contacts after that. Now I need to work on my handling. My late crosses  caused us problems all day Saturday.  We had a lot of tunnel suck problems too. I guess will be working on that, LOL.   We Qed in ex. FAST with a nice run. She fell going up the a-frame which I forgot about until I watched the video last night. She seems ok.  The rest of the runs we had issues. But she got her contacts. The video goes, FAST, ex Standard, Ex JWW and then T2B.  I messed her up so bad in Standard that after she got the weaves we ran out of the ring. I was worried about stressing her with the table.  Then JWW, she took the jump and was suppose to turn to the weaves.  She slowed, looked at me and "nope its the tunnel".  LOL   



We dropped a bar in T2B. 
Now off to watch my husband compete in a 1/2 Ironman. 

Wordless Wednesday

The weekend

(sorry if there are mispelled words. The spell check wont work) Yesterday was a horrible day. Well, Friday was kinda bad too. I had to leave work early because I felt so bad.  I feel like I cant get handle on things. But today is Sunday and Im feeling better. So hopefully what ever was causing all this pain is gone. Or at least back to its usual amount.  The boat is finally fixed. It hasnt been running right all summer. And then it just stopped all together and we had to be towed to the marina.  So its finally fixed and its running nicely. We took it out with the dogs. We went to the beach. The one cove had 4 boats in it with a dive flag out. Weird place to dive. Its not the deep and there isnt anything to look at. So we couldnt go in there and parked the boat to the side. I had to walk thur the woods instead of on the path. I just kept hopeing I wouldnt step on a snake.  I finally made it to the other side where the other beach is. But it was still in the shade. So I figured I wouldnt get any nice pictures. But I did. How lucky is that?

Look, its starting to look like fall. Its still warm out but not that opressive heat. Were everytime you go outside and walk or work dogs, you have to go change all your clothes from sweating. Ugh!

Guiness gets very excited about the waves. He barks and runs up and down the shore.

Miley says, "I dont think so".

We had a very nice time. I think the dogs had the best time.

We did work some agility too. I tried proofing Miley's contacts. I put Java in a crate at the end of the contact , hopeing to add some excitment. I dont think it worked. You may want to turn down the volume.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday

So Sunday I woke up  and no pain. Yea!!  Big dogs were running first so I had some time to find something to do. I tried to find this really cool park but my GPS in my car needs to be updated and it didnt know where the park was. So I went to a friends house and worked on their agility field.   I worked Miley's contacts. I was able to make her break so she must not know them as well as I think she does.  I ran Java as well.  It funny. Last week I put a tunnel under the dogwalk and she would jump off the side, missing the contact.

So I put a wing there to prevent her from jumping off. Once we had run it a few times, I took the wing away and she was still good. Then the next time I went to the field, I set it up again and she was ok. But Sunday, at this new field, nope. Jumped off the side.  More work to do.

Then I let the dogs run through their nice yard.

 

 

These were taken with my phone so not the greatest.

 

Then on to the trial. First up was excellent standard.

 

 

I decided to forget the table. Just work on contacts. When she starts consistently getting them, then Ill add the table.  I talked to a friend about Miley's contacts, if he thought I should pull her if she jumps off. He said he didnt think so. He said Miley is hard because she stresses so much. He thinks I should really try to make stopping in a 2o/2o so rewarding, that its more rewarding to stop then to fly off.  (Im not sure how to do that but food for thought). So I went into the ring. I did a crappy front cross between 4 and 5 and she missed the weave pole entry. So I just flipped her around and she went in. ( not sure why making mistakes in the weaves doesnt bother her but the dogwalk and a-frame causes stress)  So she jumped  the a-frame contact, I said "hey" and she stressed and ran around the ring. Ugh. I just dont know how to make her understand what I want.  So big circle around the ring. She starts coming toward the chute. I told her  "chute" and she went into the chute. How she cut in and made it into the chute, Ill never know. Then her dogwalk, freaking awesome!!! She stopped and held it. Even when I said "good girl", she didnt break. But the amount of frothing at the mouth and drooling was unbelievable. I wish I could have taken a picture. Ive need seen a dog with that much slobber around her mouth when running agility. Do you think that means she over the top excited or over the top stressed? She was so happy after taking the last jump. Her face was priceless. Jumping up and down. Happy, Happy.  Had to reward that dogwalk!!  
Next up was Jumpers. I had to laugh. When I walked the course , I thought, "this looks fun".  And a friend of mind said to me, "Diana this looks like a course you would set up".  LOL, I guess thats why I liked it.

 So I had planned to do a post turn through the pinwheel (11-13) then stay on that side and rear cross 16. But everyone front crossed before 14. So I figured that must be the right thing to do. So I changed my plan when  I went to the line. I can show you this video because there is no running around the ring.



I dont even look like Im running. Im just trying to stay on course. LOL.  Thats my goal. We dropped a bar but so what. We stayed on course. I think the fastest time was 22 seconds and we were 25 seconds, so not bad.  I wish we could work on speed and tight turns but we just arent there yet as a team. But hopefully some day soon.
Im not really into trialing. I wish I were better at it but it isnt the most important thing to me. I really like training. I can feel mentally terrible and go train my dogs. Then leave feeling like a whole new person. Its like a vacation for my brain and life. LOL Like Sunday morning, I just wanted to go home. But my friend was trying to get her MACH. So I wanted to stay and watch. But after I ran my dogs at my friends agility field, I was renewed.  I probably need to get that feeling at a trial huh? Its hard when you only get one shot to get it right. 
Last night at our co-op class I tried to  get Miley really excited.  She stopped on all her contacts.  I had a guy run like he was the judge really close to the contact and she stopped. I had someone hold Java close to the contact, barking , Miley stopped.  So more thinking to do.
You know what was weird. I was sitting at the trial with Java and Miley on leash next to me. This lady came up to me, I didnt know her, and asked me which dog wont get on a table at trials. I point toward Miley and said  "this one". She laughed and said "oh".  And walked away. How werid is that???? I thought maybe she was going to give me advice or tell me about her dog. Or tell me she reads my blog, or something. Nope.

The weekend.

Well I have no pictures to post. I usually take pictures when I go to a trial but I didnt take any. Ive been  having a lot of fibromyalgia pain. All day Friday at work I was miserable. But I made it through the day. I was suppose to drive up to the trial Friday night but just couldnt do it. I woke up at 3am in pain and got up and took some more medication. I drove up to the trial at 5am.  (laying around does not make the pain any better so I try, if I can, to just do things anyway).  The trial site is nice. Its indoor but no A/C. It was cool in the morning but by afternoon it was hot as heck just sitting there. It was only 85 outside but there was no breeze blowing through the building so it was pretty hot. I only worked one class, the 20 inch class. I was pretty miserable being a bar setter, because I couldnt get my pain under control, but I made it through. And the next day I won the worker raffle. It was a $10 gift card to amazon. Whoohoo!!

Standard on Friday was horrible. She jumped all her contacts and wouldnt get near the table. Someone said to me when I came out of the ring, "her weaves were great". LOL  , that was nice of them.  Im not posting the video, its to horrible. I missed telling her to take Jump 9 because I was already thinking about making sure she was suppose to go to the a-frame. She wouldnt get on the table and ran around the ring. I got her back by putting her through the chute. Then we were awesome. LOL  The gate steward said to me, "way to get it back together and finish so nicely".  That was nice of her.

 

Next up was jumpers.  I missed us up here too.

 

For some reason she turned the wrong way after 5 but I got her right back. Then my front cross after 6 was late so I was behind the triple after she took it. This caused her to read it as a turning cue and she went right into the tunnel. Ugh. I couldnt figure out why that happened at first. But this was the 20 inch class that I set bars for. I could see it so easily after watching it happen to a lot of people in this class. Some people RC 8 but this got them the wrong tunnel entrance. Some people blind crossed after the triple. That worked  great.  So if you FC before the triple and were ahead of the dog, you could push them out to 8, other wise you got what I got.

 

Last up was T2B.  This was a run like heck course.

 

And little miss Miley broke her stay. It was almost like she just looked at me and said, "Screw it, Im going" She blew right by me and I was only at jump2. Ugh. I should have pulled her. But I didnt. I dont know how we stayed on course with me so far behind but we did. Then she jumped both a-frame contacts. Ugh.  I was so defeated I just walked the end of the course. I wasnt mad at her . I was mad at myself for letting her run when she broke her stay. So I walked her back to the crate and for the first time ever, no treats. I took Java out and went over to the practice jump ( that ring was done for the day) and worked Java's stays. Which are starting to happen.  I could hear Miley barking at us. So then I went and put Java away and took Miley out. We went to the practice jump and worked stays. I tried everything to get her to break but she didnt. So I think it made an impression. Sunday, she didnt break. I was prepared Sunday to grab her if she broke and leave the ring.

I finally got my pain under control at 7pm.  But my poor dogs didnt get my attention that evening.Ill finish this later. I have to get ready for work.

 

Things

Java's weave poles are getting better. She is only hopping out of the last pole. Maybe I need to put the ready treat closer to the poles so she doesnt feel the need to hop.  People keep asking me when Im going to run Java at a trial. ( She is 15months this month).  I  just laugh. I told them, not until I have a start line stay. I cant run her if she wont give me a lead out. I get to far behind and then she doesnt know where to go. Plus she has so much still to learn. Because of all the running contact stuff she is behind on other things. I also need her more consistent in taking jumps in front of her.

I went to teach some classes for the club on Monday. There is a novice -prenovice class first. This aussie went after Java in class. Ugh!!  Ive done so much work trying to get Java not to react to other dogs. She has always been fine in classes as long as another dog doesnt come running straight at her, be it play or what ever. Now all blown to hell. This dog came after her, Java was  just standing next to me. The aussie was suppose to be doing the teeter. I had to pick Java up to protect her. I dont know if the aussie was being aggressive or not. It didnt seem like a friendly , I want to play type of barking and running at her. But Java did get off two growls before I picked her up. And even after I was holding her, the aussie continued to jump and bark at us until the owner got her. Im not sure what I should do about this. I dont want another aggressive dog in class. Im not equipped to deal with it. She has been in other class and Ive been told, she had no problems.  I talked to a couple  of other people in class, they felt the dog was being aggressive.  The aussie might just be overly excited. She jumped and barked at her owner a lot too.

Next class was a group class were we run courses. I set up this course.

This is an AKC course that I saw on someones video from the weekend. I didnt have a course map, I made this map from watching the video, so probably the spacing isnt correct.  It was a fun course and Miley was spot on. whoohoo!!  Several people comment how well Miley did.

We go to a trial this weekend. We'll see what happens with Miley's contacts. Ive been giving her two commands on the dogwalk. "Go" which means just keep running and "touch" which mean do a 2o2o. I thought maybe if she knows the difference it will help her . LOL, will see.

I talked to my two bosses about all the students they are sending to the health room that dont need to come. They were to talk to the teachers. You know what happened?  They sent me even more kids. Way to stick it to me. Ugh!!

Mushroom Monday

 

What a mess

That's what I feel like life is for me.  Just a mess. Ive spent so much money on life. 500.00 to fix my car, Stephanie needed new tires which I knew but was  hoping she would make it until Thanksgiving. We just changed the breaks on her car. Then her tire went flat at school and couldnt be fixed. So new tires it was. Then I had to pay for doctors appt. Funny, your insurance will pay for you pap smear but not the office visit. So how are you suppose to get a pap smear if you cant afford the 130.00 office visit. The pap smear is 37.00 .   Then Roxy got sick. Bloody diarreha. She wouldnt eat and it was a holiday weekend.  I tried to get her through until Tuesday when the vet opened. I called a friend and got some IV fluids. I thought if Roxy got fluids she would bounce back. But it didnt seem to help. I got worried and took her to the emergency vet. So for some blood work and urine sample 430.00 later,  they thought she was ok and started her on antibiotics.  Gas prices are sky high. We just paid my sons room and board for school. Ugh, Im broke. 
I dont know why but I hate my job. Its not a hard job. Its busy this year because I have a lot of chronic conditions that need attention. But they send silly things to the nurse. It drive me crazy. Even the student's know it silly. This girl came today and told me her teacher made her come. Even she said it was ridiculous for her to  come. She caught a pen flying through the air. There was a small pink ink mark on her palm. No cut or anything. I had her wash her hands. The ink mark was gone. There was nothing wrong with her hand. Ugh, its a waste of my time, when I have a ton of work to do.  I really dont know how to fix this problem. Its not easy to find a job that I dont have to work weekends or holidays. I do like that I get off at 3:30 so I have time in the day light to do things with my dogs. But while at work, there is nothing fun. There has to be something positive while you are at work. I cant think of any. Its just hit the floor running and I dont stop until I leave. Im getting about 10 minutes for lunch and thats the only break I get all day.  I have no one to talk to , or help me out. Its become very over whelming.
Im still working my dogs. But Im just not being successful at anything. Im working on Java's weaves with the WAM's.  Sometimes she gets the foot work but other times she is hopping. She is fast, so I dont know if I  should slow her down, so she has to think more. I keep video taping and sometimes I see things I like, and then bam, its all screwed up. LOL I did put a leash on her today to try and slow her down. On the last one run through on the this video, when she runs toward me, youll how she is hopping if no leash controls her.


Then there is the stay at the start line. LOL, I dont know what Im doing wrong. Maybe to many sends to the tunnels when doing running contacts , makes her think "see agility, run". So Ive been using the crate  at the start line. Let me know if you see things I could be doing wrong.  I did for about 3 minutes, I didnt post all 3 minutes. I guess I should have stopped at one minute.


Im sorry this seems so negative. I dont mean to be. Just frustrated and cant seem to make progress toward fixing anything. I have more to say, Like its humid and hot as heck. Which makes training your dog miserable. A cold front is suppose to come through tomorrow and bring the temps to 85 and low humidity. I cant wait. The bugs have been horrible too. I have so many bug bite that Ive stopped walking at the park for a few days. I need to stop itching.  There were 10 cases her of West Nile virus last week. Scary.
In good new "Home Goods" open here  in Columbia. Im so excited. To bad I dont have any money. LOL

Mish Mash Monday (and mushrooms)

Glass half empty

So, Im sure you probably already know this but Im a glass half empty type of person. I want to be positive but it just wouldnt work out. LOL  Anyway, Ive been so focused on things I feel I did wrong with training Miley that I forgot about things I did right. I have been so worried about not teaching Java certain things , that I forgot to teach some foundation stuff.  With both Miley and Guiness , I would walk them through the neighborhood and work on sits, stays, running, front crosses and rear crosses. I havent done any of the with Java. So Ive added that in to my training. The other thing I need to remember is that Java isnt like Miley. Miley will do a sequence over and over again with just as much enthusiasm the 10th time as she did the 1st time. Not Java.  She did it twice and she just looks at me if I ask her to do it again. She isnt going to do it again. I think she is thinking, Whats the point? LOL Java is a thinker. She learns it quickly and wants to move on. Miley is  doer and do what ever it is as fast as you can. No thinking allowed. LOL
Ive been working on Mileys running contacts. Its been slow going because she goes as fast as she can but isnt thinking about what Im clicking.  Ive been working on rear foot tricks and I can tell , after several weeks, she still doesnt get what Im clicking for. Hmmm.  Tonight we might have had a break through. Im having her run a flat 12 foot board. I think, just maybe, she understands leaping the contact doesnt earn a reward. Will see what happens tomorrow.
Ive been very depressed about not being able to teach Java to "wait". How freaking hard can this be???? For some reason she doesnt understand what I want. I feel like Ive been banging my head against the wall. Ive tried tons of different things to teach "wait" and she just doesnt get it. I used a mat and can get her to wait on the mat. But as soon as I put her in front of agility equipment, all bets are off. So my new plan, who knows if it will work, is  Im using crate games . I ve been working in the house and putting her crate in front of a jump. Its working for now. Im hoping to take the crate and jump different places before adding it to the usual places we do agility. I hope this works because she is getting fast and I cant get down course fast enough to give her information if I dont have a lead out. Then she just stops and looks at me. LOL
Roxy has been sick on and off this summer. Her stomach keeps hurting. Well thats what I say when she does this bowing thing. When ever she does that , it means her stomach or abdomen hurts. Her liver enzymes were really elevated at the beginning of August and she didnt eat for a couple of day. Im suppose to bring her back in a month for a recheck of her blood work. Tonight she doesnt feel good again. Every time I put her back on her food, her stomach starts hurting. It seems like she is fine when eating chicken and rice.  Im worried that  theres is something really wrong with her since this keeps happening. She was fine when she ate dinner tonight but now you can tell she doesnt feel good.

We took the boat out on the lake today. We found a spot in a cove to pull the boat up. We werent there to long and this other boat just pulls right up next to us. If we are looking for a spot, we dont go where other people are already pulled up. It was weird. And that they were so close to our boat. There was plenty of space to park farther down. So I have to put the dogs up because Guiness doesnt really like people. He is ok but sometimes I worry and he wants to bark at people.  So that was the end of our fun. But there was lots of shade , so it was hard to take action pictures. It was windy , so there were lots of waves. Miley and Java were to interested in getting close the the waves hitting the rocks. But Guiness gets excited and barks at the waves.

So anyway, we had a hard time  getting the boat out of the cove because those people were parked so close to us and the waves were hitting and turning the boat. So Lou had to get in the water and swim to the boat. If I waited for him by the shore we would have hit the other boat. Ugh, people are so rude.  Then half way back home the boat motor just stopped and wouldnt start again. Lucky there was a nice breeze so we werent miserable while waiting for someone to come tow us in.  We finally found someone. So while being towed in, this big sail boat u-turns and is crossing in front of us. I have no idea why he did this. You can tell we were being towed. So the guy towing us has to stop and wait for the sail boat to go by. Plus we have no control of our boat. The lake is huge, there was no reason the sail boat had to do this. Idiot. We finally made it to the marina. The guys who all work the marina wouldnt even help us. They told the guy pulling  us to come to there side, so he did. Then they said we had to put the boat in a slip on the other side of the boat ramp. You dont think anyone stopped putting there boats and jet skis in the water long enough for us to move our boat. Nope, dont interfere with their fun for one second. They just kept on going and two people almost hit us, More idiots. So the guy who towed us in , jumped in the water and pulled our boat across the water into the correct slip. (It the slip owned by the boat repair shop).

Look at this house being built. I hope it looks better when its done.

Sorry I havnt been blogging. Ive been depressed. My work just is horrible. I really dont want to talk about it but its really effecting my life. Its been hard to even read other peoples blogs. Hopefully Ill get back to normal soon and catch up on everyones blogs.