Change and what ever.

 So since November Ive been trying to change Java from a running DW to a 20/20.  She isn't getting it yet. Well at home she is getting it but once we get to a trial, she doesn't even thing about stopping yet.
I went to a trial the weekend before last.  Some how she won Time to Beat. Im not sure how since it took 3 times to get into the weaves correctly.  But with even that, she had the fastest time.
We were so close on Master JWW.  I pulled her off a jump. I really thought she was committed and so I pulled away to get down the line and she came with me. Ugh!


I also pulled her and pushed her off jumps in Master Standard.  Ugh. Although it looks like she was thinking of stopping on the dogwalk.


The next day was worse. It was weird that I had ring nerves , which I haven't had in a long , long time.  Because of the ring nerves, I didn't trust my dog and I released her early , and we went off course. It felt horrible. I felt like a failure. I know its just dog agility but geez, how long is it going to take to figure this crap out???  In standard we went off course because I didn't stick with my plan to do an ass pass at jump #3, to make the turn tight. I change it to a post turn and she went wide and took the aframe.  Ugh!! ( it doesn't look like the a-frame was close to that jump but it was)

Oh yea, and I tried to run ISC JWW. This was intense because it was an official ISC tryout for people trying to win a spot for AKC world team tryouts.  If you won both JWW and Standard, you get an automatic spot. We werent trying for that. But they had a Rep there making sure the course was set up right.
One thing she, the Rep,  did  say was  the committee was meeting in February  and they were going to try to come up with a plan for the new class, I think its call Premier. (It will not replace ISC)  But what they are going to look at, is if you get 25 Premier Q's ( and that's just a number she pulled out of her hat. Its not an official number , so don't anyone freak out), that it will be another way to earn going to Agility Nationals.  You would have to pick either the Premier path or the regular 500 points and 5 double Q's and what ever else (I cant remember what it is).  You can do both, it you want and then which ever one you hit your qualifications on first, that's the one you send in.
Anyway here is the course map of the ISC jumpers run. (we made a mess of it.) I tried to FC after 3. I was late and that's all she wrote.  When I set it up at home, I had to blind between 3-4 or I never made it no matter how big of a lead out I took.

This pass weekend I went to Charleston for some run thurs that a club was putting on. Wow, did a lot of people show up. So that was good. Made it feel like a real trial.  Of course Java didn't stop on the dogwalk or the teeter the first time thur. Then once I put her back on, to show her what I wanted. The next time thru , she got it. I don't know how long its going to take for her to get this. Im beginning to wonder why Im doing this. The teeter, she needs to learn to stop. I just don't get what Im doing wrong.
Afterwards we went to the beach. It was a nice sunny day. Which we seem to have few of these days.

Look how big this crab leg was. Man it would take your toe off.

And this is Miley being embarrassed by her mom because the beach patrol guy came and told us we couldn't be on this end of the beach. The dogs can only be 1000 feet pass the entrance.  Well try putting up a bigger sign that people can actually see.   (He was nice about it).

So here is some video from today of me working Java's contacts. I was thinking if I had her do both running and 20/20, that maybe she would start to understand..




I hate to talk about club stuff but Im at the end of my rope.  They ordered new matting for the back of the building. Right now we only had thick matting in the front two rooms. But those rooms are small and you really cant do agility in them. You can set up maybe 2 or three jumps and a tunnel. My biggest problem with it, is the matting is slippery.  My dogs always slip on it and not just a little bit.  The club is spending a lot of money on new matting and they are putting in the same matting that they put in the front two rooms.  Why or why didn't they ask the club members what they thought of the matting we have already.  So now there will be a big room with matting in it  but still useless to the agility people like me, who's dogs run fast. If you dog isn't running, they wont slip but that isn't the case for my dogs. I just don't understand why they just made the decision. Apparently the board got together an made the decision.   Im over working so  hard for a club that doesn't even include its members on decisions that have a big impact on the clubs money and dogs.
  Then this lady that asked to be on the agility committee last time around and we put her on.  At the trial, on the last day, her dog kept going to the edge of the ring, during her run, and staring down a dog at the practice jump. He did it several times. Im not sure if she pulled her dog or the judge whistle her out. But she was upset. Which I get. She went and put her dog in the car and left. I figured she was just going to take her dog home and then come back. I mean, she is on the committee.   Well come to find out, she didn't come back and she was in charge of getting the judges their meals. She never told anyone she was leaving and could they take over her job and that she wasn't coming back. So no one knew the judges lunches were covered until a judge asked a handler if they would mind getting her lunch. Ugh!!.  The lady never came back , never told the trial chair she was leaving. Not even after the trial did she say she was sorry she left. And didn't help with clean up at the end of Sunday either.  This was very upsetting to me. Then I get an email today, saying thank you to her for providing and severing lunch all weekend for our club's obedience trial.  WTH???  See, Im just so over everything.
And last but not least, Mickey's skin infection still isn't cleared up after 6 straight weeks of Abx.  I had his Thyroid checked too.  Its still low after being on Thyroid medication for 6 weeks. It went from .5 to .6 .   So the double his Thyroid medication. We will do a skin culture  next week after he has been of abx for a week.

Start the year with a trial

I went to an AKC trial in Raleigh , NC the first weekend in January.  They were running  special events. They were having a top dog competition and Team competitions.  It was a fun raiser  and your team picked what ever charity you wanted to donate to.  You got pledges from people based on how many points you earned during the weekend. Then the pledges said the would give you 25cent a point you earned.  I didn't do team. I tried to get my friends to do a team but I think they just didn't understand team. At the end, they said to me, "We should have done team" .  LOL 
They were also running ISC jumpers and Standard during the weekend, along with FAST and T2B. 

Friday Miley was on fire and got 3 Q's.  Whoohoo. I was so excited. I thought we might have a chance to make it to the Top Dog Finals.  But then Saturday morning, in  jumpers, she dropped so many bars , it was scary.  I pulled her for the rest of the day.  I was so worried about her but also sad that we wouldn't be able to try for the top dog run.  On Sunday morning they posted the dogs that made the finals and Miley was so close. We only missed by a couple of points. I think they picked 4 dogs for 12 inch and she was the 5th dog. Ugh!!   When I got to the site that morning, the trial chair came to me and said there had been a mistake with the points and Miley made it in to the finals. Whoohoo!!  Now, how would she do with jumping. Would she crash a bunch of bars????  I was very nervous about the run because I wasn't sure she was up to it. 

I just went for it in the run. No baby sitting anything.  She dropped only one bar and it was my fault.  She did get called on the a-frame contact and the teeter. ( both unusual for her).  Makes me think she is sore.  I had already planned for her to take a 2month break after this trial, and this just confirms that it is the right decision.  It would have been nice to win but I wasn't really expecting that.  I was just happy to be running and that she didn't crash any jumps.  4leggedflix was there filming all weekend. There was also live feed for anyone who wanted to watch. Well they were nice enough to give you a free copy of  your run , for any dog that made it in the Top Dog finals. That was so nice of them.  They also plan to match the donations made to their site to watch the live feed and give it to a dog charity ( I cant remember how they chose the charity. It had to do with the winners and who tge winners picked). You could watch the live feed free but they asked that you donated money based on how much feed you watched.  So if you watched but didn't donate , you might want to consider it.





Java didn't do well this weekend.  She couldn't finish weave poles and for some weird reason, she just kept taking the wrong tunnel entrance. Even if it didn't seem like the other end was a choice. ( did see that I kept turning my shoulders away from her, which makes your dog fling  the other way. You should turn your shoulders into your dog)  So we hardly  had any points to make it into Top Dog Finals. I had entered her in T2B on Sunday morning. They were using T2B like a challenger run. If you won, you earned a spot into the finals.  Java had a freaking awesome run. Did all the weaves and got the correct tunnel entrance.   The only thing that happened was  after putting her into the tunnel, I needed to run and start cueing the turn off the a-frame before she hit the down ramp of the a-frame. But the judge was in my path to cue the jump after the aframe. So now I couldn't see the jump and I couldnt pull my dog with a running a-frame. I had to go around the judge on the inside.  I think the judge was just use to everyone staying close to the a-frame to make sure their dog hit the contact. But if I did that Java would have taken the jump straight in front of the a-frame.

 

So we missed jump #10.  I could have fix it but I just wanted to  keep the flow and she was running so nice.   She had the fastest time but she missed the jump. I still think she would have made the finals even with the extra time to get that jump.

 

 

  We stayed with a friend her in new, to her, RV.  I don't think my dogs liked being so close to her dogs. We shared hotel rooms lots of times but this seemed different. My dogs didn't even want to go in the RV at times. (Poor dogs).

This is Miley , the first night. She is on the dash board, I guess to stay away from everyone. (My friend has little dogs. She had 4 there  to show and then 3 puppies. I guess that was a lot for my dogs to have to deal with)

 I cant remember which night this was. I think my dogs were to tired to care if there were a lot of little dogs in the RV.

Sunday my dogs did well at the trial.  Like I said, Java couldn't get correct tunnel entrances or finish weave poles all weekend. So frustrating.


I guess I better watch myself with bringing my hands up with frustration. Otherwise that will become a stress signal to my dog.

So after all that, Sunday, she had a beautiful Standard run. (And the T2B run which I already posted).



That was so exciting and we took 2nd place.  Of course I had to go see if I got called on anything first. LOL  Sometimes its hard to know when you are running.

I missed most of Sunday's walk thur for 12 inch JWW. I was out walking the dogs and Java had to poop.  When we trail, she can never just go.  Its a process. Walk back and forth and back and forth. The start to go, then decided that's not the right spot and start walking back and forth through the same area. Ugh!!   Its not something you can get done fast. I knew I had to be missing the walk-thru.  When I got in the door, by friend just took my leashes and I went down to the ring. I had 35 seconds. I walked it twice , real fast.  It was a twisty course, easy to get turned around. I didn't run it the fastest way for my dog, I wouldn't have rear crossed so much but we got it done , without going off course. Yay!!



I messed up with Java.  She didn't have stellar start lines this weekend. Ugh. I knew she was over things on Sunday.  I should have done the beginning the same way I did Miley. But then I thought, "She'll stay".  Nope, she didn't, so we were off course in the beginning. Ugh!! So much for a double Q.   LOL

The big negative for the weekend was dogs barking. It was unbelievable. I had already moved my creating area twice , to try to get away from it. These dogs just barked and barked.  Even with the cages covered.  It was a loud, ear piercing bark. So many times, my friend and I had to go to the other end of the building so we could hear what we were saying to each other.  One time, the people were are just standing next to the dogs, just barking away. They didn't do anything to stop it. How were they hearing each other to talk???  I did put my dogs in the car a couple of times to give them a break from all the barking.  ( I was able to park behind the building. There were only 4 car spots there. I don't think to many people knew about the spots. I could see my car from my crating area, so I didn't feel like it was unsafe. Plus it was enclosed by fencing. ) The other negative was it rained all weekend.  It didn't get really bad until Sunday.