Why dont I post something?

Pictures By Matt at  Lowcountry Dog Agility Pictures.  

Im not sure why I cant seem to post anymore.  I think about it all the time but by the time I sit down to do it, Im to tired. Plus, its just easier to post somthing on Facebook.  The thing about facebook is, you cant find older post easily. They seem to get lost. 

Last  weekend I dove down to Charleston for a USDAA trail. I wanted to try to get Steeplechase and Grand Prix Q's.  I have none this year and havent done much USDAA.  Plus Java is still in starters standard.  No change there.  First she had gamblers and I lead out, she stayed.  I did make her do the teeter 3 times and finally on the 3rd time, she did a 2o/2o.  But then in standard, she broker her stay. Whell I cant run her if I cant lead out. We just go off course.  She jumped the dogawalk contact, flew off teeter, left the table before released. Ugh!!  I felt pretty bad about that one.  She did Q in Steeplchase and gamblers.  So the next day I decided I was pulling her if she broke her startline. I feel like I have no choise.  So Gamblers she stayed. Yay!!  We made it to round 2 of Steeplechase. I set her up at the start, started to lead out and she broke. So I said "Thank you " to the judge. She said , "Your leaving?" (she seemed surprised). I said yes. I walked Java back to the car, no treats.   Not knowing if it made an impression. Boy did it.  Now anytime she sat, while we were at the trial, even if I didnt ask for a sit,she didnt move until I said ,"ok".  LOL  She stayed the next two classes.  She had a beautiful GrandPrix run!! 

Miley had a nice run too.  And also Qed.  Both dogs got Bye's for Regionals!!! Yay!!!Mission complete. How unusual is that? To have a goal and actually meet it. LOL  It doesnt usually happen for me. 

Miley struggled at this trial. The doctor started her on Prozac.  She feels Miley, having to get up at night to urniate , is more behavoral than physical .   I dont tend to agree but I was willing to try something. Because when we stopped all the meds, she started getting up multiple times a night.   So we started the Prozac and she is just acting werid. Yes , she sleeps through the night most nights but at what cost. She really had weird jumping this weekend. (More than usual).  Even her weave poles, which she has always had awesome , fast weaves, were screewed up. She got through them but not as fast and not the same way all the way through.   Also, I beat her over the dogwalk, which NEVER happens.   So  after running her in jumpers and she looked terrible, I didnt run her again until later in the afternoon.  She seemed more like her self (I hadnt given her the whole dose of medication Satruday night) . She ran Grand Prix much better but still didnt seem like herself.   

When I watched the video's, I didnt realize how close she was to the edge of the a-frame. Im so gland she didnt fall off. 

And here, if you watch the begining of Speedjumping on Saturday, you see the werid jumping and the weird weave poles. Plus she is really slow.

While at the show, Miley would go the whole day without urinating.  Wierd.  I tried bringing flovored water, which usually she loves, to the try to  increase her urine out put , but it didnt work.  

 This weekend, I went to my mom's house for my mom's birthday.  Miley acted really werid there too.  She stayed far away from all of us on Saturday.   She stayed in the sunroom, instead of comming and sitting near me in the dinning room area.  Its were all the other dogs stayed.   She wouldnt leave the patio area to go the bathroom. I would have to take her out into the yard to get her to go the bathroom.  She has been to my mom's house many, many times and never acted like this before.  Sunday, she stayed in my room and wouldnt come out.  Shelite's like to be with you and follow you every where. She didnt.  Also wierd.  Im stopping the medication even if it is helping her sleep through the night. If she is becoming a different dog, I dont want that.  I think I will talk to the vet about medication that will concertrate her urine.  I think that is the real reason she is sleeping through the night.  Like today, she has peed since 6am, she just went now (which is 7:45). Thats not good for her, IMO. 

Guiness is getting old.  He also went to my mom's house too. He was so excited when we got there. He ran around like a crazy man in the back yard. Then fell twice going up the back steps and I noticed him off loading wieght off his right back leg.  He was fine shortly after that. 

Beach trial

I went down to Charleston for a USDAA trial.  I decided to go to the beach before the trial. They were running team first and then at the end of the day was Steeplechase and Grand Prix. I was only entered in Grand Prix and Steeplechase. It was suppose to thunderstorm all day but the weather held and didn't start raining until after I ran my last run. How lucky is that??

Anyway, we went to Beachwalker park.  Its a public beach on Kiawah island. They allow dogs. It was great to be at the beach but felt sad too. I really miss going to Seabrook island.  Its so peaceful and quiet.  This beach doesn't open until 9am. I like to be out on the beach at 6:30am -7am.   There were lots of people and dogs for the middle of the day.   Lots of off leash dogs who don't come when called. Ugh.   My dogs didn't really want to play they way the would at Seabrook. They just walked right next to me.  I finally  had to throw a pinecone to get them to start running.

No dolphins were out today.   After spending a few hours at the beach we drove to the trial site.

I just put all the video's of each dog together on one video. It was just easier that way.  Miley Qed in Speedjumping with one dropped bar. In Grand Prix I pushed her off the jump before the tunnel when I rear crossed.  Then next day , we got into the second round of Speedjumping.  I didn't get the front cross in before the A-frame and decided to blind after the a-frame. I pushed in and decided I didn't have enough time to blind. She read the blind, blinded and I didn't, so we went off course.  I didn't put the jumpers video in there. She was just kinda crazy, running her own course and we left the ring.
Gamblers was tough, at least I thought so.  But actually lots of dogs got it.  It was tough because of that tunnel being right there.

It was also hard because you had no momentum going into the gamble (the number 1 jump).  We were so close. We got all the way  through #3 but didn't take number 4.  Then in standard, it was a wrap to the DW from a tunnel. She came out of the tunnel and I thought she had the DW, I started running and she pulled away and came with me. Oops.




Java , in Grand Prix, she went around the first jump. Oops. Then I put a RC in the wrong place (at the tire), so it pulled her off a jump. But otherwise very nice run.  In Steeplechase, there was a 90 degree turn after the a-frame.  She didn't turn, I called her , she stopped right before taking the jump. I thought I had saved it. I turned to put her over the correct jump and she went back over the a-frame. Oops. LOL.  The next day she had a beautiful jumpers run with a dropped bar.  She got the gamble in Advance gamblers. Then the biggest surprise  was we Qed in standard.  I figured the judge called her teeter.  The judge was very tough on teeters  all weekend and it wasnt a perfect one. So after that I figured run like heck and see what happens.  When I watched the video the next morning, the judge didn't call the teeter and we Qed. WhoooHooo. We might get out of starters standard yet. LOL

Finally!!!!

Woke up a 4am and  went to a small one day USDAA trial.  We had a great time. A couple of people from our club were there. I usually dont get to talk to them much but we sat together and had a good time. The people in Charleston are so supportive of everyone, its great!! 

First up was Miley PIII gamblers. ( I made sure I was really early so I didnt miss the walk thur in case they started early. LOL)

 

The gamble doesnt look tough on the paper but being on the field I thought, "no way will get that". LOL

 

 

Here is a picture of the gamble with my phone.

Well she freaking got it!!!  Except we dropped the bar on #2.  Oh well, such is life.






 Next up was Java PI Gamblers.

Java was kinda crazy in this run. Im not sure why.  Flying off the teeter , the second time really bad so I had to fix that.  She got the gamble, but it was easy at this level.


Next up was Starters/PI standard. Miley is still in PI standard because of the table issues. I really wasnt entering her in standard anymore in USDAA trails because what was the point.   But since she is doing better with her tables, I thought I would try. Next month Miley will be 6 years old. She got her first PI standard Q at 18 months.  Well  she finally did it, and did it well!!  LOL

Yay Miley!!!

Then it was Java's turn. The turn off the dogwalk to the jump, with looking straight into the tunnel, I thought might be a problem. But it wasnt , she got it.  But other things were a problem.  She downed on the table but then went into a sit. I finally had to take her off and put her on again to get her to down.   Coming out of the tunnel my cue was WAY to late, ugh, sorry Java. Then the tunnel after the aframe was a straight shot but I guess I was to far behind and she read my deceleration as a turning cue and took the wrong tunnel entrance.  (Ill have to work on that, its the second time this has happened to me).




Next up Grand Prix. Miley

 

So I walked the course with sending her to the #14 jump and crossing behind her  to get the tunnel entrance because that is what I did in standard. (We didnt have this set up in standard, I had no idea why I thought that. LOL  ) I thought about front crossing after the dogwalk and thats what I should have done. Instead, Miley is locked on to the tunnel at the bottom of the dogwalk and doesnt even see me moving laterally. LOL, funny dog.

 

 

 

 

Next is Starters Pairs with Java. 

 

We didnt have a partner so someone agreed to run with  us.  She asked me to please make sure her leash is at the last jump so she could leash him before she handed me the baton.  So I did. I also made sure he was leashed before I took Java's leash off and lead out. ( remember the first time I ran pairs with Miley and other dog I was paired with her chased her through the course until she jumped off the teeter because he was with her). This time I was more educated. LOL

 

Java was freaking awesome. We ran the black numbers and I was worried that she would go straight into the tunnel but she read my rear cross after the weaves beautifully . I didnt get this run on tape, of course. LOL

 

Last up was Speedjumping with Miley

 

 

 Gota love when you can still Q with a dropped bar and missed contact. LOL  I didnt think we had Qed until I went to the computer. That was a nice surprise. Fun run!

 

 

 

 

We had a very fun day. Great weather, a little warm for the dogs around the middle of the day .  But then started to cool off again for Speedjumping. 

We have Table!!!!

We to a USDAA agility trial on Saturday.  I was going to go down Friday night but was to tried after work. So we got up a 4:30 and and left by 5:30.  The email I got last week from the secretary said that the judges briefing was at 8:00am and the first dog on the line was 8:15.  We got there at 7:45 and they just finished the Masters gamblers briefing. Normally briefings aren that big a deal but with USDAA gamblers they can have different rules depending on what the judge wants. I went to one trial and did three days of gamblers and everyday they had different rules. I cant remember all the rules but for instance back to back contacts are allowed or not.  Stuff like that. In this run if you did the serpentine you got 5 points and you had to start at a specific jump. (someone told me that stuff when I started asking people).  So I was not in the best frame of mind and posted on facebook that I was upset. So I think I ticked off some people at the trial for posting it on facebook. Which got me thinking about something my mom use to say to me when I was a kid. She use to say, "Why do you always have to be the town newspaper?"  My mouth got me in trouble a lot. LOL  Anyway because I didnt have the right attitude, I didnt really walk the course as much as I usually do. And I only timed myself once. So I thought I had a plan that as soon as she finished the weaves, we could do the gamble. When you watch the video, you will see my timing was way off. And they if Miley thinks I dont know what Im doing, she gets the zoomies. So my attitude only hurt me (how old am I??). Ugh.

Speedjumping was last but I didnt want to do to many edit videos so I put it here. It was really hot at the trial. It was 88 degrees and mostly sunny. All the dogs were hot. Lots of dogs dropping lots of bars. For some reason I was feeling really nauseous. Maybe I didnt drink enough.  I just wanted to get into air conditioning. So I decided after this course we would go home. I debated what to do on this course.

I had planned to run to the left of the first 3 jumps to keep Miley off the #18 jump. I felt like if I was to the right, she might take that tunnel under the A-frame. But no dogs in front of me did that, so I changed my plan and ran on the right side. Lots of dogs went off course after #10, and took #2. I managed to get Miley through that but my front cross was badly placed and cued the a-frame after #12, instead of the tunnel. Ugh, then because I stopped moving, she knew that was wrong and got the zoomies. I never got her back. Man, Ive got to  stop, stopping on course. It makes her freak out.  We could have really done well on this course if it werent for me.

Now back on track. Second up was starters standard. I figured she would never get on the table. I told my husband not to video, just take so regular pictures with my camera. This should have been an easy course for us.

I didnt even decided to put her on the table until the last second. And she got on!!  Like she had been doing it her whole life.

I have no idea why she decided it was ok to get on the table. But she just got on and laid down. I wanted to jump up and down and start screaming.  I wanted to run around the ring like she had  just gotten her MACH. When we were done running the course and I left the ring, people were just sitting around talking and reading. I thought to my , "OMG, didnt you just see what happened???  My dog, yes Miley, got on the table.Whats wrong with you people?".  LOL , you know its all about me. 

So I was excited, I didnt know if I should run out and reward or just keep running. I decided to keep running. To bad I did another bad front cross in front of the weaves, and blocked her. So she went in the second pole. We just kept going. I didnt want to cause any zoomines after all her perfection on dogwalks, a-frames and tables!!!!

Next was Grand Prix.

I debated what to do until I got to the line on going from #4 to #5. I was planning on being to her left when she came out of the tunnel. But once again, no one was doing that. So I changed my plan and was to her right when she came out and then RC the weaves.




Hey we Qed and got a bye to run regionals. ( it was a small trial).

I didnt stay for snooker. It was just to hot in the afternoon and I was feeling so sick to my stomach. It took about 40 minutes to feel better once in the car. We went to the beach. Well, first the condo and then the beach.

And look, Java did a down-stay. I had to get back a good bit because I had the telephoto lens on. And she stayed. Whoohoo!!

I have lots more pictures and dolphin pictures. I load in the next couple of days.

Day 2 of trial

Man I was beat after Saturday.  Sunday I woke up at 3:30am and felt terrible. I hurt all over. Ugh!  I didnt think I was going to make it to the trial feeling so bad. But I took all my medication and by 7am I was feeling better.  So at 8:30 I decided to go to the trial.   First up was Jumpers. I remembered my C.A.D.   LOL

I struggled to figure out what to do in the opening. If I stayed to the dogs right and post turned that would put me behind coming out of the tunnel. I wanted to be ahead of my dog.  A running front cross in front of #2, I felt would pull the dog to the wrong tunnel entrance if you werent just right because of the angle of jump #3. The only thing that would work for me was  a lead out push. So that Im to the left of my dog and then I will be in front with her coming out of the tunnel.  But when I tried that yesterday in snooker, she turned to soon and disaster.  But the C. is for confidence.  She knows how to do this, I need to get it right. So no time like the present.  LOL Well it worked great. We were having an awesome run until I got lost. It was around the turn in 13 -16. I was completely lost. I didnt know what number I was on, where my dog was, which way I needed to go. All I saw was a sea of white jumps that didnt show any direction to me.  Then I heard the "Aww " of the crowd and then I  knew we were off course. I knew the tunnel was in the end so I just ran for that.  I dont know how much my dog knew what was going on. And when I watched the video, I really cant tell Im lost.  Its amazing how fast thoughts go thur your head.  It felt like forever and that I was just standing there trying to find my way. But it doenst look like that on tape at all.  LOL  Man, that was not a good feeling. I ve been lost before but only for  a split second andI got it together. But this time it was like I was in a maze. Yuck!

Next up was Pairs. I usually dont ask for a side to run but when my partner asked me I said if she minded I didnt do the side with the a-frame because of how many times Miley missed it yesterday. She was ok with that.  So I walked my side (the circled numbers) and someone I knew on the side lines said I would never make the front cross before the weaves and I should force a front cross before the teeter.  I thought I would never make it there to force a front because I would be so far behind.  So I walked it fronting before the weaves and the other way the lady suggested.

But I figured I could send her to the back side of that #3 jump and move out to be ahead.  Well it worked. WhooHoo!! I made that front cross. It doesnt look hard on the video but it was. LOL Then it was the other person turn. I cut her out of the video but when she got back to jump #4 (its before the a-frame) , it was set for 22 inches. The girl was head of her dog and tried to reach down and set the bar at 12 inches before her dog got there but that wasnt allowed.  All jumps were suppose to be set at 12" for both dogs. The judge had said in the briefing that we  were responsible for making sure the jumps were set correctly for our dogs.  But I guess he felt sorry for us because changed his mind. And maybe it was because only that one jump in the back was set incorrectly that he let us rerun.  So could I make that front cross again?

Yes I did!!  And I finally got a Q.  LOL  I didnt stay for gamblers.  We still had to clean the condo and I wanted to walk on the beach one more time.

Trial Update

Here's a picture I took last night.  It turned out so cool.  I didnt do anything to it except crop the bottom off a little.  Java is in the picture too, she is to the right hiding.

I went to the trial with a new attitude.  I wrote on my hand C.A.D.  It stands for Confidence. To remind me to walk out to the line with confidence and trust my dog to stay. Dont babysit her.  A is for Acceptance.  Except Miley for who she is. She is sometimes going to stress and start circling. Its just in her and I have to not get stressed about it.  The D is for Drive.  Drive my dog through the course. If she goes off course because I drove her there, thats ok. But its not ok when I just let her go off course.
For those three things I  feel I was successful.  She had great stays all 5 times.  She stressed a couple of times but we got it back together. I felt like I was driving except once when I over rotated a front cross and she flew off course. LOL.
 
First up was PIII Gamblers.

We  did well except the first time over the A-frame she jumped the contact. This will be the theme for the day.  So I changed my plan and did the chute and the jumps and back over the a-frame. That time she go it.  We didnt get the gamble. I did the jump and tunnel and then just stood there when she came out of the tunnel instead of driving forward to get the weaves. So she came right to me. LOL

Next up was standard.  Great run.  She jumped the a-frame contact and then jump on and off the table, circled around and then came and got on the table.  She went into a down, then the rest was perfect.

Then Grand Prix.

Awesome run but again she jumped the a-frame contact. Ugh!!!!!!

At this time I was getting tired. I went at 1:30 to get lunch. Lunch is free here as part of working. Well they had already packed it up because they ran out of food. Ugh!!  I debated going home but I really wanted to try the snooker course. I felt I could do it. LOL

My plan was to do the red jump to the left and then the a-frame. I lead out to the a-frame but I must have not given her enough room and she turned right before the a-frame. I tried to bring her around but she stressed.  She ran huge circles around the ring 5 times. I couldnt get her to come to me.  I was just about to  give up, and I just ran. If she took the wrong thing so be it. But she got on the a-frame and got the contact. Then we did the red jump to the left of the a-frame to the #7 (3 of them) then the last red jump to the number 3. Then started the close. I couldnt believe the buzzer hadnt rung.  So she did 2 then 3, then the a-frame. And she jumped the freaking contact. Ugh!!  Tweet-thanks for playing. LOL

Last up was Speedjumping.

I did a running front cross  in front of #3. Im not sure why I did that. I debated just post turning. Anyway, I over rotated and she took the broad jump right into the tunnel.  I go her back on course and she jumped the a-frame contact. I marked it. If she stress, she stressed.  I just say "hey" and a stern voice but kept running.   The next time over the a-frame she stopped completely and waited. I told her good girl twice and then released her. The ending was great! 

Boy was I beat. Java was good but spent a lot of time crated and I felt bad about that. So when I got back I took her and Miley to the beach to run. It was getting dark but I think they had a good time. Java didnt bark or react to any dogs. But then walking to the beach we passed a couple of dogs and she barked but so did Miley. Hmmm, weird.

Trial weekend

I went to a trial this weekend. It was Friday night and Saturday night.  At night because its so hot outside.  Friday it started at 4:30 and Saturday at 3:30.  What long nights and I didnt stay for my last run either night. My dogs didnt care that we didnt go to bed until 1am, both mornings they were up at 6am.  I just cant do that. Ive had a headache everyday, I think from not enough sleep.

So first up on Friday was Master Gambler.  She ran very nice but we didnt get the gamble. I didnt think we would.  When I watched people run, the ones who got it, stopped turned and said "out chute"and there dog just did it.

In the gamble she did #1 and #2 then came back out and took #1 again.  Everything else was good. Great weaves and aframe. Teeter she self released but it was still good. I think we got 41 points. (No video)

Then it was a 5 hour wait until starters standard. Ugh, it felt like AKC. It was now 9:45 at night.

It was pretty straight forward. She got right on the table. whoohooo!!





After that was GrandPrix.

My two areas of concern were after the chute  because she usually goes wide. I was planning on FC after the chute but everyone else was FC after #8.  I walked it both ways.  But after seeing this really fast borderstaffy almost go off course, I decided to stick with fc right by the chute. Also after the a-frame, see jump #13. If you sat at the bottom of the a-frame you could see both #12 and #13 jumps but I think with the way you ran your line from the a-frame, it pulled your dog toward you because of the big wing, so your dog may not see or take jump #13.  I decided I would move laterally away from the a-frame while she was on it. Then when I released her at the bottom, I could push into to her and still  be wide enough to say around the wing.  Lots of poeples dogs missed jump #13 when they ran on the right side. Miley got it.  Another thing people did was be on the left side of the a-frame and rc #13 and then fc after #14.  I dont know how they got there in time to make that FC but they did. I knew I never could, so I stuck with my plan.  I also FC after#14.



WhooHoo, we Qed and took first place.( It was a small class. ) I was so happy we stayed on course.  We got a bye into regionals in GrandPrix but its the weekend of Stephanies graduation so I wont be going. Plus we have lots more practice to do and work on being a team before we start doing stuff like that. It was still nice. It was now 11pm and I still had pairs to run. I didnt have a partner so I decieded just to call it a night. I was beat.

Saturday I was a really warm start to the day. I think 87 and muggy. We started with Speedjumping.

The turkey broke her startline. Ugh, she had been doing so well. I had planned to lead out and do a running FC after #3. So much for that. I did a post turn. It worked but she dropped the bar at #3. The hard part was #14 to #15 but she did it without going off course. WhooHoo!! We Qed again. I love that sometimes even with a dropped bar you can still Q in USDAA.  We got to move on to the 2nd round.

Next was adv. Jumpers.

I was worried about her breaking her start and released her a little too soon. I think my FC after#3 must have caused her to drop the bar. But we stayed on course. We havent stayed on course in an Adv jumpers course yet. Whoohoo again!!

Now for the second round of Speedjumping. I was beat. I really didnt want to run but I felt like it was a free run.

 I didnt video this. For some weird reason she pulled out of the weaves early on #3, then we went off course into the wrong tunnel entrance. Hey I just notice this is the third time obstacle #3 has been a problem. I wonder what that means?  Everything else was good except the weaves at the end. She missed the entry and I has to put her back in. So I decieded to move laterally away from the weaves to see if she would pull out, but she didnt.  It felt like a crap run and now I just wasnt feeling good about things and kept trying to decided if I should just call it a night. It was very muggy even with the sun down.

Snooker looked like I could actually do it.  LOL, NOT! 

I started all the way at the red jump on the left, did a huge lead out to the left side of jump #4. And she didnt break!  After taking #4, went to that middle red jump and Front crossed to bring her over #5. I must have screwed up my post turn at #5 that was suppose to bring her over the last red jump but she went to the tunnel. Whistle.  LOL. She came right to me and was soo happy.  Even the judge said, "wow she proud of herself"  . But it had to be my fault. And I was happy that she was happy and not stress circling the ring.  So it was now 9pm and after me screwing up my last two runs, I decded not to stay for standard. I really didnt want to mess up the table.

Im so happy we dont have to run today, because I coudnt do it.

( sorry for the misspelling, blogger isnt wanting to show me my spelling errors)