UKI trial and the beach

We went down to Charleston for a UKI trial and some time on the beach. I drove the RV down on Friday. It was hot as heck. (90 degrees in the shade and high humidity) .  Before I even got to the trial, which didnt start until 6pm, I was already thinking I might no be going. Yes, it was that miserable.

But then a storm came through. People who werent home, awning's were being blown about. Scary.  Anyway somewhere in the area there was a tornado and lots of people were without power.   Including the agility field, where the trial was being held at.  Plus it poured down rain for quiet some time.  I got a phone call from the club saying they had to cancel the trial for tonight but would be holding it tomorrow morning starting at 10am.  Ok, that works for me, plus it was suppose to be much cooler tomorrow.
My husband drove down on Friday night. He had to go through a little bit of the storm but he came from the opposite direction, which was good. I needed his car to go to the trial since I was staying at an RV park and not the trial site. The RV park is pretty nice.

There is a swimming pool, a playground and this cool chess set. They also have a pretty big dog run, so you have a place to let your dogs run around.

Saturday morning we drove to the beach. We went to Seabrook island. A friend of mine called me in a pass so we could go to the beach.

There is still an off leash area for dogs except now you can no longer go to the end of the island with the dogs. You know, where the dolphins herd the fish onto the beach.  That's sad. That was one of my favorite things, walking down their with the dogs and sitting taking pictures of the dolphins.  The condo we use to own, are now under construction. They are re-doing the whole outside of the buildings. Each owner was assessed $100,000. If we were still the owners, I would have freaked out.  When we owned it , we were assessed $60,000 and I thought that was ridiculous.  Plus , no rental income for the whole summer because no one is allowed in or around the condos while they work on them .
So I guess we sold at the right time and now I dont feel so sad about the whole thing.

I dont look good in this picture but its the best one of the dogs. LOL

 The puppy had a good time!!

 They look like twins, huh?

After walking on the beach, my husband dropped me off at the trial site.
All I needed was a novice standard Q, so I can get out of novice and I needded a speedstakes Q for nationals.  I didnt get either. LOL.  I only entered Java.

I did gamblers first and did it for NFC. So I could train in the ring. I wanted to work startlines and stopped contacts. she did great.  Then next up was Novice standard.

I was worried about RC after the dogwalk and the a-frame.  If she stops on the dogwalk, like she is suppose to , then I can get it. But since we are still working the stop on the dogwalk, she isnt always consistent. And the running a-frame and me being behind, she might go straight over that #16 jump.  Well we were having a beautiful run. She read both RC and then after #14, she went to the teeter. Ugh!!!  She got her first two feet on the bottom of it before I was able to call her off.  Still a great run but no Q.  (Sorry no video)
Next up was Master series heat.  We already had a Bye in this but I entered for practice.  This was a hard course with lots of backsides.

.I was behind and couldnt get a good push after the a-frame so she went sideways through the broad jump.
Next up was the second half of Master heat, jumpers.

We did manage to get through this course. We had a bobble from 12-13 but we manage to hang on and get through clean.  So we got another bye in Master series. My husband and daughter got there in time to see this run. We left after that and went to lunch. (We had to return at 6pm for the trial again)

I came back at 6pm. First up was Speedstakes.  I really wanted this.

I knew this was going to be a problem for me. If I FC 2-3, I know I couldnt beat her out of that tunnel , so I was going to have to RC between 3-4. If I didnt do the rear cross just right, she would turn to tight and not get out to #5.  So what if I ran the outside of the tunnel (3) . She would curl toward me coming out of the the tunnel and would I be there in time to push her out to #4?   Well she broke her start line, so I RC #3 and then RC #4.  She turned to tight on the RC and was pass #5, when she realized what I wanted, so she back jumped 5. Ugh. The rest was fine.

The next class was jumpers.  My daughter and husband had come back to get me. I had decided to not stay until the end so we could spend some time on the beach before it got to dark. Jumpers I did for NFC.  That way if she broke her start line, I could put her back and still be able to run.

Of course she didnt break her stay and we had a beautiful run!!!  Well at least my husband and daughter got to see a nice run.

After that we went back to the beach. Boy was it windy.

Plus it was high tide and the tide was really high. I guess because of the full moon.

The water was rough too!!

The sunset was nice.

 We picked up food from the King Street Gill. It was pretty good. We were all beat and just went back to the RV and went to bed. LOL
Then next morning Stephanie drove home and we decided not to drive back to the beach and just go home.

Day 2 of UKI

I didn't slept to well Saturday night, my body kept complaining. But I got up anyway and drive back up to the trial.  It was rough. Several times I almost turned around and went home. LOL
But when I got there it was a beautiful sunny day and no humidity.  That's unheard of here in the summer. It was so nice!!! 
It did make filming hard because the sun outside the covered arena plays havoc with the lens.  The new Ipads let you adjust the lens to let more or less light in. Its not perfect but at least you can see what is happening.

The bad thing was I didn't know what I had entered. Usually I take a picture of my entry with my Ipad but for some reason I forgot. So I got there and I wasn't entered in the first two classes. Ugh!!  But no worries, they take day of show entries , so I entered Gamblers and we Qed.    

Sunday was tunnel-palooza day. Some of the courses you did 7 tunnels, Whoohoo, happy dogs.

We had a pretty good day. We Qed in Gamblers and Snooker.

This was the Novice agility course.

We ran pretty good. I tried so hard to watch my dog and make sure she took the tunnel under the a-frame. So that made me a little behind when she came out the other side. But it worked out ok. I thought we Qed. I didn't realize the judge called a fault until I saw the scores posted. Ugh!!.  I looked at the film but I cant see why he called a standard fault.  I went to talk to the judge and asked him why but he couldn't really remember. Then he said he thought she left the last weave pole early. But that would have been an E, with a whistle.  So anyway, no Q for us. What a bummer.





I was really bummed out about this. Darn it!!  We did manage a snooker Q.  We were close with the Master series agility. I made a mistake on cueing her to turn when coming off the dogwalk and then I didn't cue her right, so she knew to take the tunnel. Ugh!!!

But everything else was pretty good. Even 9-11.  From 9-10, kept her on the inside and called her my side ( a side cue that Im using to keep my dog with me so they don't wing off an take something). It worked great and then I rear crossed on the flat over 10. Whoohoo!!



I wanted to go home after snooker but I had signed up for jumpers.  I should have gone home. I was tired and over it all. So of course I messed up and didn't turn into my dog to get the correct tunnel entrance , so we went off course. Ack!!!  I don't know if Ill ever get this stuff right. LOL

It was still a really good and fun weekend.  Not sure I will be going to nationals because I cant get the Qs I need to get there and wont have to many more chances.  Plus the course are really hard.  I had to laugh, the novice courses here were harder then the master AKC courses I ran last weekend.

Another trial weekend, Day 1

Well the weekend was spent doing another trial. This time UKI.  I haven't done any  UKI since November's Nationals.  Its just hard to find the time and there aren't as many trials as  with other venues.  I only entered Java, Miley is still on rest. 
I love UKI.  So many fun courses to run. To bad my friends all do AKC.  If they just tried these other venues, they would see how fun they are.  I did get one person, who has only done AKC, to come but she just entered standard and jumpers.  You can do day of show entries and I tried to get her to do other classes but she wouldn't.

Anyway it was really hot and humid. Luckily it was mostly cloudy which I think helped keep things from becoming miserable.  I did bring my Arctic cooling misting fan. It got lots of attention, people wanted demonstrations and asking where I got it.   It does help when its so hot outside.

This is an older picture. I now have one of those big orange water coolers that I take with me , filled with water.  I sit it on top of it and it works great.

We had multiple storms come through during the day. It would rain and then clear up again.

This was during one of the light rain storms.

This trial was very small but I felt lucky that he was able to rent this arena and its under cover.
We entered Gamblers, Snakes and Ladders. Beginner agility, Beginner jumpers and Master series jumpers.
 Boy these were tough courses. I felt bad that the courses were so hard because my friend is still pretty new to trialing. But mostly I wanted her to come for the training in the ring .  Her dog is having trouble with getting on the contact obstacles. He is great in class and then refuses at trials.


Java is still in beginners but here is the Championship course. Boy it was tough. It didn't look like to many dogs ran clean.

Here was the first class, Gamblers.

UKI  gamblers has two gamble options. The easier one is worth 10 points, the harder one was worth 15.

Java did good but missed the easier gamble (the white circles). She missed the #3 jump when she came out of the tunnel.








I ran Snakes and Ladders for the first time. It was fun and we Qed.

Kind of a crazy game. You have to run all the contact and weave in the direction away from the start line and you have to do all the tunnel in the direction of coming toward the start line.  If you dog accidently does them in the wrong direction, you are whistled off. You also have to do 6 jumps. All of this has to be done in 55 seconds, I think.    You plan your own course. You can do the obstacles again in the correct direction but you don't get anymore points and you are wasting time.  Java did 9, 11 and then #1dogwalk but missed the contact. If you miss the contact , you don't get the points. So I put her through the #8 tunnel and did the dogwalk again. This time she hit the contact and got the points.   I did the tunnel again to bring us to the weaves.  Doing the tunnel again didn't get us anymore points but I did it in the correct direction and I was just using it to get to the weaves, so we were ok.  We got through the rest of the course and Qed. Whoohoo!!


 I messed up the standard agility run, ugh.
 Right before this jumpers run we had a bad thunderstorm. It was raining when we were walking the course. Then a bad down pour. We had to leave the walk thur and go get the dogs and move all our stuff because the rain was driving in. Most of my stuff was soaked.

After the walk thur, I got Java out of her crate. She was in a plastic crate but still was pretty wet from the rain storm. And she was freaked out. It was thundering and the rain on the metal roof was loud. She refused to move several times while I was warming her up. I told my friend, she isn't going to run, she is to freaked out. Even when we went to walk to the ring, she sat down and refused to move. I had to  pull on the leash. We went into the ring and I was still thinking "she isn't going to run, she is to freaked".  But as soon as I took the leash off, I could tell she was ready. Forget what ever was happening outside the ring, she was fired up.  I needed a bigger lead out but was scared she would break, so I just released her. Whoohoo, we Qed!!






Last up was Master series jumpers.  Man we were so close to a Q.  She cut behind me coming out of the weaves and took the wrong side of  jump #6.  I need a tattoo on my arm that says , "Watch your Dog".  LOL

 I blinded #2 to #3. That was the only way I could think that I could beat her out of that tunnel to get the back side of the #4 jump.  Yes it worked.   This run felt better than it looks on video.





I drove home that night and got home around 8pm.  I was beat.

Rain, Rain go away!

    Yup, its been raining a lot!!  For 3 days.  Im over it.  And today is my last day off. Tomorrow its back to work. Ugh!!  Would have been nice to have one last nice day. Oh well, what can you do.
Java is still on rest. Well , no running or jumping. She is allowed leash walks.  She goes back next Monday to get an ultrasound. Im really hoping she is healed.
     Ive been doing a couple of on line classes. One is with Denise Fenzi, "Sensational Stays".  I really want Java to stay at the startline and on the table and teeter.  I hope this helps. I already found a hole in my training with this program. Now Im trying to fix it.  The other class is a learn on your own, with Kathy Keats, "Perfect Timing". Which well all know I don't have. Im trying to fix this. I think my biggest problem is not being able to watch my dog while I run.  I cant catch the mistake happening before its to late. Then we go off course. 

This is Miley running a course on last Wednesday.



She looks ok.

Yesterday I drove up to a UKI trial that was 2 hours away. They had posted on FB that if it was raining, it would be moved down the street to under cover. The whole time Im driving, its raining. I keep praying they are going to move it. Everyone is different in what they think is acceptable surface to run on. I wont run my dogs in the rain. Dogs slip all the time. One slip, they pull a muscle or something happens, and your dog can be out for 6 months to a year. Its just not worth it to me. But Im not saying anything against anyone who wants to run their dog in the rain or on wet surfaces. You know you dog best.  I got up there around 7am and stopped at a McDonalds.  I checked FB, they hadn't posted anything.  Ugh, I was worried. It was just misty outside. I drove to the site. The field was full of water and they decided to move to trial site. Yay!! We had to load up  jumps, tunnels, sandbags, contact equipment and other things in the vans. Took it to the trial site and unloaded and set up. It went quickly. I think we had it set up by around 9am. 
It was a nice small trial.  I think under 20 people ran.  It was  nice. Set up a course, run. Set up the next course, run again.  It was nice practice , with lots of different courses.  I could have never set up that many courses in a day , by myself, to practice.   Miley did well. No broken start lines. Yay!! But no Q's either. But that's ok.   She had some nice runs with just little mistakes by me. Again, I don't see things going wrong until its to late. Well , except for the last run. I was able to save a few things there but she dropped the last bar.
The footing felt ok. It was some kind of dirt/ saw dust type surface. It was fluffy but easy to walk in.  It seemed the bars were dropping easily.  Miley dropped the last bar several times. Weird. She doesn't usually do that.  I think it was the surface. After watching the video, I think she just didn't get the lift she thought she was going to get. The last run, I knew she was going to drop the bar, because when she took off to jump, her back end didn't lift off the ground. It was weird.   Still , we had a good time. Everyone so friendly and nice. Everyone worked together to keep things going.



So you can see she is jumping a little different than how she did on Wednesday. It had to be the footing.  I wonder if its something your dog just has to get use to?