I havent been able to do much agility lately. Lou’s been sick. The kind of sick that you never want to hear your doctor tell you that you have. Thats all I’m going to say on that for now. So while I’m sitting here with him having a treatment, I thought I would blog.
I took Zoey to one day of an agility trial that I could drive back and forth to, about 2 weeks ago. It didnt go well. She was over the top excited. Jumped al her contacts and couldnt weave. But we hadn’t practiced at all. So this past weekend I entered an agility trial , just standard, T2B and jumpers. I was suppose to be there just Saturday. But then it looked like I was going to be there for 8 hours between my jumpers run until my standard run. So I changed it up and did my standard run on Saturday late afternoon and my jumpers run on Sunday morning. I took the RV up and spent the night because I figured I wouldnt be using the RV much this fall/winter. And RVs start having problems when you dont use them. Lou came with me, to get out of the house. So that was nice. To bad the weather was horrible. It just poured down rain all day.
Saturday Zoey did her T2B run first. It wasn’t great but not horrible. I didnt realize that she had dropped the last bar. So that was disappointing when my husband told me that. But oh well.
Next we ran Novice standard. She did awesome. The only thing was the missed down contact of the dog walk. So more work on that. I had switched her to running contacts because the 2o/2o was causing her so much stress in the ring and she was just doing crazy stuff on the contacts.
(Sorry I didnt edit the video in the begining but I was worried that it would get messed up. When I edited the jumpers video on my ipad, you tube uploads the part I deleted and nothing else. Which is weird since I deleted it. So I was scared to do it again)
The next morning she ran open jumpers. She did pretty well. We have been struggling with getting the weaves on the first time but she did it. She got all the hard stuff and just went around 2 jumps. I was late with my front crosses. I need to do better.
(This video I cant post because I edited it and youtube, like I said, seem to be able to find the part I deleted and uploads only that part. Very werid).
Java is doing ok with healing from her TPLO. She still limps at the end of the day and she has lost a lot of muscle mass in her rear. Its so sad. She is allowed to walk 30 minutes a day. She get rechecked on Monday.
Java is suppose to be walking 2 to 4 times a day, for 10 to 15 minutes. Its hard to get that in and walk the other dogs too. So I bought a stroller. It was off of Amazon. Its by PetGear called Excursion. They have a bigger version, that I probably would have gotten if this had to be a more of a long term thing. But since she should be advancing her activity after a month, I decided to go with this one. She can lie down comfortably. I took a picture but it didnt really turn out. Java is 18-19 pounds and is 15 1/2 at the top of her shoulders. ( in case you were wanting to buy want and needed to know the size) The back of the stroller opens, so she can walk in and out on her own. The front also unclicks and folds up. She didnt have any trouble riding in it and got in and out without any problems. I had the top open so she could stick her head out but most of time she just lied down.
Java had TPLO surgery two weeks ago today. She is doing well. We went to her post op appt this morning. She no longer has to wear a cone. She doesn’t need anymore pain medication. She can now start 2-4 10 to 15 minute leash walks a day, to strengthen her left leg. She is not allowed any running or jumping and has to remained confined to an x-pen or crate. This is the video of her walking yesterday. She will still hold her leg up but as long as you walk slow ,she will use her leg.
I went to a trial in Sanford NC. I only took Zoey. Its a small one ring trial and the ring is the only thing in the building. No other dogs are allowed around the ring except the next dog running. People can watch but no dogs. So it makes it nice for a dog who stresses up. Its a long time between runs, hours, so I would take her to this very nice park and go hike between runs.
The first day she did ok but kept running around jumps. Which hasnt been our problem. But at least she came to me at the end of the runs, which was a huge problem the last time we came here. She wouldnt come to me and would keep running through the tunnels. She also had no biting behavior, which is awesome. So her first run when she ran around a lot of the jumps, in novice jumpers, I let it go. I dont think you should keep correcting dogs by making them go back and get jumps they missed. Its demotivating. And will make them slow down.
We went to a trial in Raleigh NC. It was raining again. Its been raining a lot this fall/winter. I think every trial Ive been to but one, its rained. So I decided not to take the RV. I didnt want to drive in the rain or set up in the rain. plus deal with all the mud.
This trial was nice because it was one ring. So I figured it would be good for Zoey and all her stress. She did pretty well. She came to me at the end of every run except one. I always tell the person behind me not to come into the ring, until I have Zoey. Otherwise, she might want to go visit them. This person said they thought I had her, but I didnt. But she wasnt as bad as she has been at some other trials. Still more work to be done on coming right to me at the end of a run. She was also able to weave in jumpers. Thats a first. And I actually put her in a standard run. I havent done but just a few standard runs, here and there. Because she stresses so high, she just jumps all the contacts and on and off the table , repeatedly. I dont want her practicing that bad behavior in the ring. But she did really well. For some reason, she hit the up side of the a-frame really hard. And then stopped on the way down. She jumped off the table, once but got right back on and stayed. And stopped on the other contacts.
Jumpers run.
Java and I struggled on Saturday. Jumping off the teeter. But she had a nice jumpers run and took 1st place. (Either no border collies Qed or there werent any entered).
Sunday I only had Zoey in Jumpers in T2B. I was worried about to many standard runs. Her jumpers run, she finally got her weaves but we didnt Q because she had an off course at the beginning.
T2B run.
It probably would have helped if I hadnt been late with my cross coming out of the tunnel or after that other jump out of the tunnel. Both of those cause her not to know where to go.
Java Triple Qed on Sunday!!
I think this is double Q #13 on our Quest for a MACH. My goal is to get at least one double Q a weekend. But at the last trial I was at, we didnt get a double Q.
Zoey. I finally bought a picture of Zoey at a trail. Still not a great picture. They usually only take picture during Standard runs and we havent been doing many standard runs. This was taken during FAST.
Java
Java and I didnt do to tell at this trial. I think we only had one jumpers Q.
This wasnt a Q but a nice run except for the bar.
Zoey did so much better than the last trial. ( The last trial was a total disaster. Chasing dogs, biting me, no focus at all) I wasnt sure how things were going to go. I figured if the first run was terrible, we wouldnt run anymore. But she did pretty well. No biting me. We did running starts. She did ok in jumpers but still couldnt weave. We didnt do any standard runs. Im trying to take her more places to practice to she knows the same rules for agility apply everywhere.
This picture isnt from the Charlotte trial but I just wanted to have a picture. It is a recent picture of my dogs at the river here in Columbia. And I just like it.
So I took the dogs to a trial up in Charlotte. Its the only trial close enough to drive back and forth to. The only down side is , its outside on grass. So if it rains or snows , you are out of luck. But its also cheap to enter. I took Miley but she isnt entered. She is having more vision problems and many times cant even get weave pole entries at home. Friday, I took Zoey, just to get her use to being there , but she wasnt entered on Friday. We hadnt trialed in 2 months and Zoey was over the top excited. So we worked on calming behaviors outside the ring.
Java had 2 nice runs but no Qs. She missed the DW contact in standard and dropped one bar in JWW. But she stayed at the startline. (Ive tried everything to make this vidoe's post clear. I have not idea why they are blurry. They arent blurry on my ipad. I uploaded them again, thinking that I forgot to change it to HD. But it didnt make a difference. Maybe it just takes a while to process??)
JWW
Then Saturday Zoey was only entered in T2B. She was very excited but I thought she might be ok. You can see she wasnt. She broke her startline, then jumped the A-frame contact and couldnt weave. Then jumped off teeter. So the AKC has a new rule that if your dog jumps off the teeter half way up, or on the up contact of DW or A-frame, you can put them back on. So, since she jumped off, I went to put her back on the teeter but the judge said I couldnt. I went to go on but it was late and Zoey had already circled back around and then got on anyway. So we were whistled off.
Java 's JWW run, she couldnt finish the weaves. I tried 3 times and she kept popping out. The weaves where into the corner and there was a tunnel off to the left, that was next. I guess she just wanted to go on. Then in standard, she was having a very nice run, then missed the DW contact. It was DW into a curved tunnel. Then they come out and have to turn about 45 degrees to the right. She went right back up the dogwalk.
Sunday, Zoey seemed calmer to me so I thought maybe we would do better but we didnt. Well, she did a little better. She stayed at the startline , enough for me to release her. But she couldnt weave.
Jumpers.
I couldnt decided if I should run Zoey in standard or not. I dont want her just jumping off contacts. In the end I set her up at the startline, she broke. So I put her into the weaves (that wasnt the course) and she did them. We ran out and celebrated.
Java had a nice day. She Qed in Standard.
In JWW she dropped one bar. Ugh, so tough. We are trying to get a MACH and I feel like its never going to happen. We have over 3000 points , you need 750. But we have only 11 double Qs. In good news she holding her startlines now.
You can see it was much cooler but luckily the rain held off until after we ran.
I dove down , on Wednesday, to Florida this year for the 2017 UKI nationals. It was moved to Jacksonville because Perry Ga place gave their spot to a horse show. The venue was nice. It was pretty warm on Wednesday and Thursday, in the 80's. It cooled down after that. On the first day , when walking my dogs around, they got those sand spurs in their feet. Those things hurt! I thought, oh great this is going to be a problem. But that was the only day they got them. I did manage to some how step in some fire ants and didnt know it. I thought I just had regular ant bites. All on my left foot and leg. But I now know they were fire ants. So all the skin between my toes is falling off. I hate those things!! How did I know know they were there is beyond me.
Anyway, I got up really early and drove down. I got there at 11am. I set up my rv. Then I went over and help a little with set up. Mostly I worked on putting together the worker bags and signs. This year they had practice rings set up. You could pay to use the practice rings. There was only 4 obstacles in the rings and you couldnt move them. You had one minute at a time. The money went to the world team. I really liked this idea. I hope they keep it. It allowed me to run Miley and let her think she was having fun too. And after my first run with Java, I went over to the practice ring and worked on stuff.
They offered a practice type run, called Sweepstakes (winner takes all). I had high hopes for this run. But Java broke her startline. I just didnt expect it. She had had rock solid startlines for months. One time, I had lead out, something happened and the judge went to talk to the scribe. (this was at an AKC trial). And she stayed all while this was going on. So again, when she broke, I just didnt know what to do. And then I just never got it back together. I felt so sad after this run.
After this run, then the regular runs started. For some reasons I didnt enter Masters Heat, because I already had my bye. But I could have used the practice runs. Ugh. That was a big mistake.
My first run was National Championship Round 1.
I really felt like we could do this. LOL, but we didnt. It just fell apart. I just kept pulling her off of everything. Every time I thought she was committed and I would go, she came with me. It was horrible.
Next was Biathlon Jumping.
I dont even remember running this course. LOL. Even after watching the video, I still dont remember it. Scary, huh? (Just a note, you can get a refusal and still be in the game, its just a time penalty. Unless you get 3 faults, then its an E)
My next run was Power and Speed. It should have been no problem. It was one of the easiest courses of the weekend. We E'd. (The theme of the week for us)
There is 2 parts to this course. You have to be perfect in the first half, to be allowed to run the second half. Java didnt stop on DW and then didnt make the weave pole entry. We we E'd and cant do the second half. Sad.
And that was then end of our first day. It was hard not to feel terrible about how things went. So many silly mistakes. But you have to let it got so that you are ready for the next day.
Friday I only had 2 runs. And our first run was Snooker. Ack!!!
It was hard to walk your snooker run because everyone all crowed around the same area. I was having a hard time remembering my plan. So I used my phone to plan my path before I walked.
This snooker you had to take a red jump, then a colored and after the colored you had to always follow it with a tunnel. And he was calling refusals at the tunnels. My plan was to do two 7's and the #6 weave poles, front cross after the weaves and put her in the tunnel, then start the close. For some reason, while waiting, I changed my mind and decided to pull her into the tunnel after the weaves.
Once again we freaking E'd. Sad, sad , sad!! I do not know what this ring footing was made of. It had a little sand in it but had some ground up webbing stuff. It seemed good in the morning but as the afternoon wore on, it became softer and softer and was hard to run it. I dont know if watering it would have helped but Im going to ask? I wasnt the only one who felt this way. It didnt seem to bother the dogs.
Now for one of my worse runs of the weekend. There was not way in earth I was going to beat Java down the line of this next run.
First off, 3 straight tunnels, holy crap!!
So I was ahead of my dog at #2, but I still didnt get down there to cue#5 and she took the back side. I felt like I just couldnt run. And this course was huge, it took the whole ring. The only people I saw making it were dogs that kept checking in with their handler, slower dogs, or dogs that were stopping and jumping up on their handler. We you see 20 years olds not making it through the course , then .....
Now its Saturday. I only have 2 runs. Master Heat Series finals.
Jumpers didnt look bad. I really felt confident we could do it.
I felt confident when we step to the line. Java had been staying at the startline after the first day. We start, a little bobble at #4 tunnel but we are ok. Then coming down to 12-13-14 and I cant remember which jumpers were front sides or back sides. Ack. You walk both courses and then everyone runs. So many backsides. I just couldnt remember and we went off course.
Now the killer course. I knew I didnt have a prayer. This course measured 216 feet and they dont measure the dogs path in UKI, when they measure the course. They measure the shortest distance between the obstacles.
There is no way I can beat my dog down all these lines to get these backsides. So my goal for the year is to get backsides completely on verbal. So do I stay back and make sure she gets on the a-frame and not the tunnel but then not get the backside? I figured she would take the a-frame on a verbal, NOT. ( this is a horrible run, I wasnt even sure I was going to post it).
Ok, now its Sunday. Last chance to make it into the finals. Beat every 16 inch dog int he challenger round. The course was could and I really felt we could do it.
If I had just turned my shoulders into her . Ugh. These little mistakes are what is killing us in AKC runs too.
Oh well. In good news, I was home by 4:30pm. And I made it down and back on one tank of gas.
Since I havent posted much here, you dont know that Ive been struggling with Zoey;s training. When we go to agility trails or practice with groups, she wants to chase other dogs. She cant focus on me, just the dogs running. I dont know how I lost all control of my dog. Ive always let my dogs play chase with each other and its never been a problem but its a problem for Zoey. She cant figure out when its ok to play chase and when its time to work. And I guess I didnt realize it was a problem until it was way out of control.
Here she is at a B-match in August. You can see what a problem I have. So until I have this fixed, I cant trial her. I cant take a chance of her running after another a dog.
Ive been doing a lot of Susan Garrett's stuff, because she works on relationship building and getting the dog to focus on you. Ive finally found a solution to getting her not to bark and run the fence line , with the big dogs behind my house. All the garden fencing with stakes, that Ive put in, she just climbs. Even when I put in multiple layers of it. So I found this metal fencing that comes in sections. Slowly , Ive been putting it down the fence line, of where I join the neighbors yard. It keeps her about 5 feet off their fence. And it seems to be working. She also doesnt get to just be outside on her own much. That way she cant self-reward herself with bad behavior.
I working on getting a running A-frame with box method. Im ok with a 2o/2o but she is creeping so much on the a-frame, I decided to try this with her. I didnt have good success with it , with Miley. But we will see ...
We also finally have weave poles. I started to really work hard on them after we got back from my trip out West. She is finally getting them.
Her wanting to chase dogs is a HUGE problem and Im not sure I will be able to work through it or she will ever be able to trial. But we will see.
In other news, the girl I job shared with quit a week before we went back to work. So now Im working full time until the next person can start and its been rough. We must have a lot more kids this year with illness than last year, because Im drowning with paperwork. Ive work the last 2 weekends just trying to get caught up on paperwork. And Im still not there. I need a break.
My goal is to start blogging again. It helps me keep track of training and just life in general.
Yesterday was the Eclipse. In Columbia, SC we were in an area that would have a total eclipse for about 2 1/2 minutes. Many people traveled to Columbia to see it. All hotels were sold out. Crazy , huh?
I did buy the glasses, which was stressful since there were lots of people selling fake ones. How scary is that?? Fake glasses that could burn your eyes so you will have black spots for the rest of your life. I didnt buy the filter for my camera because I didnt think I would care that much about the eclipse but then when it came, I wish I had the filter. That figures.
These pictures where taken with my cell phone. I cut one of the glasses we had and put the filter from the glasses over the camera lens. I did have to change the setting on my phone to "Pro" and change the shutter speed.
Now these arent great but it gives you an idea of what we were seeing when we looked up into the sun.
Then night came. I video taped it. This was off my back deck. You can see into my neighbors yard and their TV must be on.
Night only last 2 1/2 minutes but it was cool. I didnt notice my dogs acting any different. Then it was over and we all went back to our lives. LOL
Ive been finally working on getting Zoey's weave poles done. So since I got back from my trip, Ive been working hard and Ive almost have the poles closed.
This picture was taken here in Columbia , but I like to have pictures with my post.
So Zoey is now 16 months old. She is finally running in agility, so now Ive lost my startline. She also cant control herself , in that she wants to chase dogs that are running in the ring. When I go to trials, Ive been working her at the practice jump and Ive been able to keep control of her. But not this weekend.
This weekend was a small UKI trial. They sometimes offer nursery class for dogs 16 to 18 months. There are no weaves, teeter or spread jumps. They can also enter speedstakes. So I entered Zoey in those 2 classes. It was a one ring trial, which is where I will be with Zoey, so she doesnt jump the ring gating and chase the other dog running in the other ring.
The first time she ran in the nursery class, everyone took a break. There were no dogs around. So she stayed with me. You will see in the video, she was over the top and kept bark and jumping up at me and trying to get me. She doesnt normally do this when we practice. I only see this when we go to a new place or she is over the top excited. So I have to be careful with how much excitement I build into her when trying to get her to run.
The second run she did much better. Before her run, we tried to practice at the practice jump. She took off, running down the ring gating, after the dog that was in the ring. Ack!!! I had to call her name twice, and she did come back, but I was freaked for a second that she was leaving for good. I didnt take the leash off at the practice jump anymore. I used a long line and put the bar on the ground and practice her staying with me. She did well after that. So on her second run she left the startline to go see a dog that was outside the ring but came back to me when called. Otherwise, she did really well. I have to remember she is a baby dog and needs more support, especially when coming out of the tunnel, to make sure she takes the jumps.
The next day, we practice a lot more at the practice jump, with the long line on, to make sure she understood what is expected of her. We did the nursery class again. She did well, except she wouldnt come to me at the end of the run. As soon as she saw me with the leash and I called her, she just dead stopped. She had figured it out. Fun is over. Ugh!!. So I acted like I was leaving the ring, and she blew by me and ran out of the ring. Great. So now I called her, she stopped and had to think about if she was going to come to me or not. She did finally come to me. So , I have lots of things to work on.
Zoey likes to sleep outside. None of my other dogs do this. They always want to be around me. But not Zoey. She will even sleep out there when its raining.
We had a light snow dusting earlier this January. I keep meaning to blog, but then it doesnt happen.
Then a few days later is was in the 70's , so I took the dogs to the lake.
Lots of turtles.
Saw my first bald eagle in South Carolina.
Zoey went to the top of this dirt wall thing and then jumped off, to the ground. Ugh, scared the crap out of me.
This wasnt her jumping from the top. This was another picture.
No matter how much I tried I couldnt get the picture of her out of the shade.
Zoey is really slow when running agility. She is fast when chasing my dogs especially around the agility field and through the tunnels. But as soon as she starts agility , she is slow.
So Im keeping video, trying to time it and see if I can get her moving faster.
Dec 23rd
Jan 1st
Then I signed up for a "Cone work" class. Its suppose to help with speed and teach turns too.
Thats all for now. Im sure there is more but I cant think of anything right now.
These were some of the pictures I had taken last month.
Zoey 9 months, Nov 2016. I cant believe she stayed. I walked away about 20 feet.
Java and Zoey.
I feel Im a failure with Zoey. She was this perfect puppy. She never ate/chewed anything. She doesnt sleep in her crate a night. Then something happened a few months ago. She has lost her mind. She barks and fence fights with the dogs next door. I put a garden fence up, well its been up since before I got her, to keep my other dogs from fence fighting. But she kept climbing over it. Then I ran the fence down the middle of my yard, to keep her way back not be tempted to go over there. Nope, she was able to get over.
So now I have 3 garden fences running down that side, to keep her away. She was able to pry the corner open, so I zip tied the corner closed. We'll see if she figures another way in. Every time I think Ive got it, she figures it out and gets over it.
Then she is crazy barking when she see other dogs running agility. But that doesnt transfer in to running fast when it her turn to run. I just started taking a class with her so I can work on her acting crazy and barking at agility. In the class, we are all working at different stations. She wants to go run off toward the other dogs. Ive been able to call her off every time , except once. I wouldnt mind this so much if all this craziness transferred into her running fast but it doesnt. I was so hoping not to have to work so much on drive, like I did with Java. But I guess, here I go again.
Here was today's session. Zoey is 10% slower than Java.( this is boring , so dont feel you have to watch this)
The other thing that I want to make sure, is she has a start line stay. So Ive worked a lot on getting her to stay.
