Wordless Wednesday

Trial weekend

I went to Sanford, NC for an AKC trial.  It was indoors , which was nice because it is now so freaking hot outside!!   On the drive there , it was 105 outside. I had my air conditioner blowing 3 bars and the lowest setting. I was sweating.   A couple of hours later I was shivering.  I look at the outside temperature, now it was 74. Wow!!  A storm had come though but I never saw it.   By the time I got to Sanford, it was hot again. LOL.  My friend was about 45  minutes behind me and she ran into two hail storms. Im glad I didn't hit those.  As soon as I got into Sanford , I stopped at the park. Its a really nice park called San-Lee park.  Except I cant get in because the road to the park is closed and I had to drive several miles around to finally get in.  They are working on the main building. It looks a mess, broken windows everywhere.  But the birds are still in their cages. Poor birds. I hope they get bigger cages when the construction is done.

 

 

 

The bathrooms were closed at this main building so I hiked up the hill to the campground. There were people tent camping up there but the bathrooms were locked. WTH??  So I peed in the woods. I didn't know what else to do.  Why would they have the bathrooms locked and people are camping there??  Where are those people going to the bathroom? 

It was freaking hot outside so we didn't walk around much.

 

 

Our hotel was very nice. I only took Java with me. I had pulled Miley because she was limping at the last trial. She hasn't limped anymore but  she will be on rest for a couple of months.
Ive been to this trial site before. In the past they have had the air conditioner cranking and I usually freeze there.  So I took my fans out of the car. Oops, mistake. It was cold inside in the morning but as the day heated up, the air conditioner couldn't keep up and it became warm inside.  The lady who owns the building had replaced the dirt/sand stuff she use to have in the ring and now it has turf.   The good thing about it, is you no longer smell all musty when you leave the place.   I use to have to go home and wash all my crates because everything smelled like must.  
Java had never run on this turf before and I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  I went to the practice jump but they only had 2 squares of turf under the jump, so it wasn't enough for your dog to practice running and turning.   I fingered our first run would just be practice. 

Its hard to watch people run their dogs at the site.  You cant bring any dogs into the ring area, until its your turn to run.  They use to have you wait outside before your turn. They changed that and now you wait at the top of the steps, inside, then you go to the bottom of the steps, then its your turn to go in.  The one big problem, was some of the  gate stewards liked to walk around with the gate sheet in their hands.  So you never knew when it was your turn to run. We asked several times to put the sheet up on the board, but I guess they didn't want to do that. I know their job was hard, because they couldn't see the ring, so they would have to go into the ring area and see where the dog was running and who was going in next but it was hard on us trying to run our dogs and not knowing how many until you ran.   
Anyway, this looked pretty easy right?  So many of the big dogs went off course after #8, they took #12.  The other problem was , after #13, they took the wrong tunnel entrance.


 So, we did stay on course but she dropped a bar.  I think I was late on the front cross.

Next up was standard.

Easy, right???  I screwed it up. LOL.    I thought she would have more momentum coming off the a-frame and I could send out to jump three. But I had to support jump three more and then I tried to force a front cross after the tire and she missed the tire because I was late. Ugh. I should have just reared #5 but I didn't think that quick. I feel like Im never going to get this. Easy course and I couldn't even do it. Ugh!!




Oh Well, what can you do. Live and learn.

We were done early, like before 3pm.  But it was to freaking  hot outside to go to the park, so I just went back to the hotel.  We went out to dinner at the Iron Pig. It was very good. They  also were the ones who brought the food into the trial for the workers. 

The next day, standard was first.

Another easy course, right?  Ugh, I should have done more of a lead out at the startline. Because when she went off the end of the dogwalk, she wasn't sure which end of the tunnel to go to. I was saying tunnel and she was headed to the right one but  she spun and we got a refusal. So I figured , go for broke now. Leave her at the a-frame and see what happens.  She missed the chute. It never occurred to me she wouldn't come straight off the a-frame and take the chute right in front of her. Ack. LOL


Then Master Jww.

This was all out , just run as fast as you can.  And she did but so did everyone else.  There is another sheltie who's father is  Rush, the dog who has been on the world team multiple times and  won nationals several times.  Anyway in AKC he jumps 16 but USDAA he jumps 18.  He can really run fast and did this course in over 7 yards per second. whoohoo.  Java did it in 6.5 yards per second. And took 2nd place. Yay!!

The Destruction of Saluda Shoals Park.

Its very sad. They are destroying the park.  They have been working recently  and I have no idea what they are doing now. It started out as a nice walk.

 As I walk the path into the park you can hear all the machines working.  They are now taking down the trees right next to the walking path. I felt like crying.

They are taking down the trees next to the walking path. The trees  block the sun and keep the heat out. NOT anymore. Now the sun is coming through. I don't understand why they are doing this. Its very sad.

This is the hill I have my dog walk up and down. I guess they are getting rid of that too.

These pictures really just don't show all the destruction to the animals habitat that they are doing. Im so sad.

Java turns 4 years old

Java is 4 today. Boy is time flying!!  I took the dogs to the river. It looked like it would be low enough to walk through based on yesterdays level. 

Its so pretty and peaceful here. Its hard to show in a picture.

Guiness gets so happy here. Im not sure if its the water noise or if he is happy to be off leash.

I know these pictures aren't great. Its very shady in the early morning. But otherwise its to hot outside to go for a walk.

I finally broke down and bought myself a new laptop. The other one was driving me crazy. It took so long to do anything, I wouldn't get on it. So  I stopped taking a lot of pictures and that's why I haven't been blogging very much. But now I have a new one.  Its funny how much technology keeps changing and how hard it is to keep up.  Poor old people, I cant imagine trying to keep up. 
Anyway, my new laptop has windows 8.1   I know lots of people hate Windows 8.1, but its been ok for me.  Its kind of like having and ipad with a keyboard. You can touch the screen and swipe things, but then you can go into "My PC" and use it just like you use to use a laptop.   But you can also ,at all times, switch between touching the screen or using your mouse. The biggest thing is remembering where things are to get to them because when you open it, it is very different then your usual computer set up. 
There was a dead bird in my yard today.  I didn't want to pick it up, so I made my son pick it up.(Not because of getting sick but its just to sad)  I had two bags, one inside the other, so he didn't touch it. And then had him wash his hands after wards. I remember this guy here in Columbia was working in his yard and picked up a dead bird. He got a really bad illness and now I cant remember what it was.  I hope this bird didn't die of that same illness. Maybe it was West Nile virus.  Anyway, hopefully a cat just got this bird.

USDAA Part II, The finals

Its Sunday and the finals of Regionals.  I really wanted to go home yesterday. I was done and had felt like we had had some good runs. I was ok with everything and was ready to go home. LOL  I texted this person about their runs and she invited me over to her RV watch the horse race. ( I had told her I was thinking of going home.)  So that was nice.  I learned a lot about her that I never knew.  It helped break the loneliness I was feeling too. 

First up was Biathlon : Jumpers and Standard.   In Jumpers we managed not to E but I had to resend to the weave poles. Ugh!!

I got a blind cross between 8 to 9 and got the back side but then didn't handle 9 to 10 as nicely as I would have wanted , so I had to RC on the flat to 10.   I also over handled 13 and 17 and she turned the wrong way at 17 but came back to me. So it wasn't pretty.

 This run was going great until I over handled 17 to 18.  I pulled her in after the teeter and I pulled so hard , so took the a-frame. Ugh, so close!!

Next up was Steeplechase.  We managed to be the last 16 inch dog to make it in. There were 7 dogs in the 16s.   I was so nervous.  I couldn't shake it and I really wanted to do well. 

I had planned to front cross from 9 to 10. You needed to get down the line to get to 11 and 12 , so she didn't take the tunnel.

I had to change my plan when I ran, and RC into the #10 poles. I couldn't believe she stayed in. I was so excited at this time.  I let the video speak for itself.



Ugh, I was so embarrassed that we missed the tunnel.  I took it for granite that she would take it.  I should have just gone back and fixed it but we had already dropped a bar, which was 5 second fault, there was no way we would have a good time now. So I decided to leave.  I SHOULD HAVE FIXED IT!!!  Ugh!!

Next up was Grand Prix.

I was  happy that Java stayed at the start line.  I really needed a startline stay to be able to handle the opening.  Then she got on the teeter and I forgot to say, "YOU WAIT".   I had been saying that all weekend to keep her on the teeter and it had been working. I was just to late to get out the words I needed. She flew off and headed straight to the tunnel. I called her off before she took the tunnel. I didn't know she had missed the dogwalk contact until I watched the video. (I was shocked, she had only missed one other dogwalk all weekend and this was a straight off one????)  What I was most proud of was how I handled  15 to the close. This area was causing a lot of problems   Lots of people did an "ass pass" turn at 16 and the dogs were still swinging very wide. So then they missed 17 or they had to bring them back. Some dogs went off course over 7.  Java read the turn great!!

Perry Regionals.

Last week was USDAA Regionals in Perry Ga.  I drove down on Wednesday because Daisy Peel was coming for the regionals and was offering private lessons.  I was really worried my lesson would get rained out.  I got there at 2pm and thought I could set up my RV and then I had arranged for someone to come get me and take me to the lesson. The lesson was only 1.5 miles away.

A storm was coming and I could see the dark clouds and here thunder every once in a while.

 But the Georgia  fairgrounds wouldn't let you come in to the sites until 4pm. Ack.  I thought great, now I will be setting up in a thunder storm.  I called the person who was suppose to pick me up, and she said just to drive over to the lesson. She felt pretty sure I could get my RV in there.  So I drove over but couldn't find the place. I called her again. When walked out , so I could see where they were. (the site is land locked).  I pulled down between two fences and into the gated area. (I never would have found this place  if she hadn't walked out).  So we had our lesson.  Lucky it was cloudy, which helped with it not being so hot.  I had a good lesson and learned a few more things that I was doing wrong.   I was able to turn my RV around and get it out of the area, to be able to leave.

It never did storm.  It sprinkled a couple of times but that's it.  So I was able to set up with no problem.

I had a pretty good spot. There was no one to the right of me. There was a fence and bushes and tress. So that was nice.

Thursday I went over and helped with set up.  Lots of people were already putting their crates in the building. Funny, you could do that if you helped with set up. But there is no way all those people who set up their crates, helped with set up.  

Then we ran  Master Challenge Standard and jumpers, then Steeplechase and  Grand Prix. 

Because so many people were entered in the trial, there were fault limits. Which means, if you Eed (went off course) you had to leave the ring.  They didn't decided this until after the trial closed and lots of people were mad.  But they really didn't have a choice.   We were already there really late most nights, like 9 and 10pm.  So I cant imagine how late if would have been if they didn't do that.

This was Master Challenge jumpers. I only entered Java in the Master Challenge classes.    So the first run of the weekend, and off course we went. Sooo my fault.  I turned my back to here driving to the opposite end of the tunnel and I think she thought I was blind crossing. Ugh!!  Not a fun way to start the weekend.

Then Master Challenge Standard.

And Java Qed and took 1st place!!  Whoohoo!!   No video. I stopped taping after I messed up in jumpers , thinking it was jinxing me. Lol.


Next up was a Local Qualifier for steeplechase. (Both my dogs have a Bye for the finals of Grand Prix).

I was so worried about Miley jumping the broad jump.  In USDAA its this huge metal thing, that looks like steps (at least to me).  She made it over the broad jump but then fell over the next jump and landed hard on her face and shoulder.   She seemed ok  but I didn't finish the run. 



She was ok the rest of the weekend until Sunday. She had two runs Saturday and one run Sunday, the Grand Prix finals.  When I took her out of her crate Sunday, late afternoon, took her down to the ring, she started limping badly. Walked her back up and was fine on the concrete. Then back down to the ring and she had a bad front limp. So weird. I checked her paws but didn't see anything.  I pulled her from the run. Sad but what else could I do.  Then Monday at home, she would limp badly on the living room rug but then get excited and jump off the couch, before I could stop her.  You would think with that bad of a limp, it would take her down when jumping off the couch. But it didn't faze her at all.  What the heck??  Today she is fine. No limp. I even walked her at the park, no limp. I haven't given her any medication.  So now Im wondering if she burned her paws on the parking lot at the trial.  It was that dark black tar type parking lot. We had to cross it several times to get to the RV.  I tried to take the shortest route and we ran but maybe that wasn't enough.  I guess time will tell. 




This run allowed us the run in the 1st day of Steeplechase in Regionals. Yay!!

The weather was very nice once the sun went down. It was cool and breezy.


Friday morning started early. Friday was all the team runs. In case you don't do USDAA, there is an event called Team. There is Championship and Preferred. A Championship team has 3 dogs and Preferred has 2 dogs.  I had both dogs on a team.  
We started early and had to be there ready to walk courses at 6am.   For some reasons we didn't start till 6:30am.  So people complained about that. Then they ran out of course maps. More made people. I gave someone my course map after taking a picture of it with my phone.  Then when they reminded people about  the time faults and leaving when you E, my two team mates where made. I think the one know already but the other one didn't seem like she knew. But they were both really upset. Which I understand but really I don't want to stay all night, so it is what it is.   I have no video from Team because it was just to hard with running both dogs on a team.

First up was jumpers.

I cant believe it but Java and I made it through this course. It wasn't  pretty but we didn't E. And we took 4th place. Whoohoo!! Miley Ed. She went straight form 3 to 5.   This doesn't look hard on paper but this course ate a lot of dogs.  A lot of dogs, big dogs, crashed the broad jump or went through is side ways.  Scary. 

Next up was snooker. Ugh , I had snooker and I better start practicing so I can get better.

I should have had a better plan for Java, I did all the weave poles after the reds and messed up with Java. I think she back jumped the last red. Ugh.  So I changed my plan with Miley and did #5 weaves, then red to the #7 tunnel. This worked my better. We made it to the closing until #5 weaves.  She didn't make the correct entry to the weaves. 

Next was gamblers. In team Gamblers, its a timed gamble, not a distance gamble.

This was lots of fun.  As soon as the buzzer rang, you had to run to  the gamble area and start with a tunnel, then jump, tunnel, jump tunnel. As many times as you could before the second buzzer rang. You had 17 seconds for Java jump height.  Java did great but I was scared of loosing all my points if I didn't take the finish jump before the buzzer. So I only did 2 tunnels and one jump. I left over 5 seconds on the clock. Ugh!!  I could have done another jump tunnel in that time. Oh well.  I think she placed 5th.

 We had a nice run in Standard and took 4th place again. Whoohoo. There were lots of world team people here, so I was very happy with myself.  There were areas , where I could clean things up a little to increase her time. My path from 14 to 15 was good but otherwise , we did a nice job.

So last up was relay.

My team mates didn't have very good runs today , so our placement was near the bottom.  They were tired and didn't want to stay and run Relay.  I cant say I wasn't disappointed but I understood. Its hard to keep running when you dog isn't doing well. Im not going to Nationals, so its not like I needed the Q.  But they were so upset about  having to leave the ring when they Ed, I just thought they would want to run , when they got the chance.  Oh well. It was fine. I had to stay anyway to run Miley for her Team.

Team Relay  for Preferred was different. Usually you just run two parts of the DAM team relay but this time they did a completely different course.

Miley ran the Squares.  She stayed on course. WhooHoo!!

 

 

These ducks were at the Perry National Fairgrounds. I have no idea what type of ducks they are. Ive never seen them before. Someone who was being given a tour, not related to the dog show, asked to see my pictures, so they could see a close up.  Then they talked to me for a little bit. The one guy, not the guy being given the tour, felt that someone, who had owned them, just dropped them off here. The one person also said they had never seen them here before.

 

 

Saturday was round one of Grand Prix and Steeplechase.

 

First up was Steeplechase.

 

 

 

There were some very fast dogs in this class.  Im not sure what happened here but for some reason Java ran to the other end of the #12 tunnel.  I yelled "No!!!!!".  And she stopped, right at the edge of the tunnel and came to me and we got back on course.   I wasn't sure if we made it to the finals and decided no to look until the next day.  Even with this mistake, here time was pretty fast.  I think we would have placed in the top three if I hadn't wasted that time.  




Next up was Grand Prix.  We ran today just for fun, we already had a bye into the finals on Sunday.

 This was going so nice, until I messed up #16.



So things I learned.   One,  Java and I are getting better as a team.  Were are so close to getting it together.  Two, I don't have a lot of fiends in agility.  So going to a trial for 5 days can be really lonely. Three, people aren't always as they seem.   I met someone this weekend and she was really nice and invited me over to her RV. We watched the horse race together and had a nice time. (Right before this,  I was thinking of driving home) .   Four,  Bring extra food in case dinner plans don't work out.  Five, try at all cost, not to drive your RV at night. Its to hard.  

I will finish this post tomorrow. Im tired.