The weekend

 On Saturday I loaded up the car with the tunnel , sandbags and jumps to take to the park, to work Miley on some convergence  skills.  We got to the park and they were having a "Strongman Adventure" thing.  So we couldnt use the grass area of the park.  So  much for practicing.   So we just went for a walk with the dogs.  Everything is green and pretty.

I also watched a lot of WTT.  Wow, some of those courses were tough.  I watched  a lot of great people not be perfect.   And they are normally perfect run people.  I felt bad for them.  It was stressful for me to watch. Wanting them to do well so badly and one little thing went wrong. Ugh!   Sunday seemed to go better for everyone.  Lots of very competitive times and perfect runs.  Very exciting.

I took the  dogs to the park early so I could watch more of the WTT this morning.  The weird thing was, while we were on the way back, something was in the woods. Something big and I was thinking it was just a deer.  I couldnt really see it with all the dense brush.  Miley started growling and Guiness barking.  I decided to just keep going. We were close to the parking lot. Then Miley started freaking out.  Acting really scared. She didnt want to keep walking. I picked her up and tried to carry her and I almost dropped her because she was trying to get away from what ever was in the woods. Now I was scared.  We've seen lots of animals in the woods, deer, rabbits, squirrels, coyotes, and that bobcat. She has never acted like this.  We finally made it to the parking lot. And she  calmed down.  I dont  know what was in the woods but what ever it was, Miley didnt like it.

Later today I took a lesson with Meagan.  I wanted to work on planning out my run because I think that is my weakness.

 I dont think the distances are correct but this gives you an idea.  On this course we did ok until #13.  I just didnt give her the info she needed and she took the off course tunnel after #13.   I tried laying that #2 jump so I could really pull to the #14 jump, still didnt work.  I had to really  turn my shoulders into her and call her before taking the  # 13 jump to get her to come my way.   Man is she tough. LOL  Then the next trouble spot was after the chute. I went between the chute and the weaves.  Well I couldnt get enough forward motion to push her over that jump. I should have been on the other side of the chute so I could RC the jump. 

We did another course but I cant remember it.  Then we ran this one.

On this course Meagan had me be the dog and she would run my plan.  Wow, I could really see why what I was planning wasnt good. It didnt show my dog the correct line. Like after #8 , I was planning to pull her over nine and then RC.  But when she had me sit at the bottom of the aframe, I could see that Miley would see the weaves and could go off course. Then she FC after the a-frame. It now showed me just the jump. I knew exactly where I was going.  Also after the teeter I was planning to FC and run on the left side of the jumps #17-19.  Again she had me at the bottom of the teeter.  What is showed the dog was the #17 jump but you couldnt see #18 or #19.  But if you ran the right side of the jumps, you saw all three jumps and there was no question.   Wow, what an eye opener!!

Follow -up trial

 I never really wrote that much about the trial because I was just to tried.  It was at a new place this year. Farther away from the beach, so that was a drag but still a nice place.  It was at a park, a huge park.  When I drove up, you had to pay a fee. But I didnt bring any money. I didnt want to bring my purse so I just took my ID and credit card but forgot cash. I  looked through my change dish and found enough to pay the entrance fee.  Im  not sure what I  was planning to do for lunch. Plus I was staying for the b-match after that. 
Anyway the park was huge. The picture above was taken by this pond that also had a dock on it.It was in the "kid" area where there was a splash pad.I looked for an alligator sign but didnt see one until I went around the other side the next day. I wouldnt have put Miley next to the pond to take pictures.  Who would have thought they would have a pond with alligaters in the kids area.

Then there were the dog parks.  The one side for the big dogs was huge. It has two beaches  and the dogs looked like they were having fun swimming.

 The beaches and water is down passed those people you see in the picture. 

This was more of the water area in the dog park, the water circled the dog park.  I dont know why there were no alligators signs up in the big dog park area.
I had a long wait after running FAST first.  So I thought I would work a class.  I went over to find the worker schudule and it was posted on the ring gate boards.  I walked over there and I felt the leash go tight. I turn around and Miley is peeing right next to the AKC reps shoe. Ugh!  I told him I was so sorry.  She didnt pee on him but jeez, I dont know why she had to pee so close to the guy.  Anyway, I signed up to be leash runner for the exc standard class.  The classes werent that big so I worked it for the whole class.  It was small to tall.  The 24inch dogs were getting ready to run and the timer and scribe had to go walk the other ring. So two new people sat down. There was me, the gate steward , the timer and scribe. The score sheet runner, who worked for the club, went to bring the sheets to the table. She came back and brought water for everyone but me.  How rude is that?  I was so pissed.  Especially since I was in the sun and they were all under the shade tent.  And that there, is the story of my life.  I dont think she meant to be rude, at least I dont think so.  But if you got back and noticed you forgot someone, wouldnt you go get it, or say sorry.  I finished the class and I was grumpy. The worker coupons could go toward lunch but one wasnt enough to buy lunch.  I would need to work another class.   Great.
Now it was time for Exc JWW.

We held it together on this course unitl #17 and I became disconnected from my dog.  I remember thinking , wow we made it thur the hard part and bam, the bar came down. Not that it really mattered because she missed the weave pole entrance but it would be nice if I could keep it together thur a whole course.   The other thing, is she was really wide # 6-9.  Oh, well I was pretty discussed in myself. 

Then I worked another class. I think I was leash runner and bar setter.  I finally had enough coupons to get a sandwich.   It was now 2pm and I hadnt eaten since 6am.  So I think all my grumpiness was from needing to eat.  Needless to say, I didnt forget my money the next day. LOL

So now you are up to date since I already talked about the b-match and Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday

Pictures from the beach

 This time the dolphins looked like they were rolling in the sand next to the edge of the shore. But what they were doing was looking for flounder.

 Here are some dog pictures too.

Only 2 years!

Well, it only took almost 2 years but we finally did it.  Today we ran a whole open Standard course and Qed!!  And it was awesome!!

And just in case you havent been following my blog, Miley has been stressing about the table and not getting on.

Yesterday wasnt a good day in my attitude department.  I messed up FAST.  And we messed up her JWW.  I was just really down.  I stayed afterwards for the B-match. I had signed up for 2 standard courses and Time to Beat .  The first time in standard, I did 4 obstacles to the table, then ran out and rewarded. The next time, I 5 obstacles to the table and then did 7 more obstacles and then rewarded.  Both times she did great!!  We did pretty good in Time to Beat.

From Drop Box

Except we dropped bar 16 and 17. I think it was my fault. I think I pulled , more like jerked, quickly to keep her off that off course.  Man, I need to trust my dog and my training and stop worrying about off courses.

Here is JWW from Sun.  I think Ive run Exc JWW 30 times now with no Q's. I guess this is going to take 2 years too. LOL

 So I planned to FC after the weaves and then FC after 15 to keep her out of the tunnel. (Lots of dogs went off course into the tunnel)  Plus you see the line by the tunnel. Thats the run out line. If your dog went pass there, NQ.  LOL So we were doing well until I couldnt get out of my cross fast enough and I was behind. The it was like a train wreck. I could see it happening and couldnt stop it. Ugh! Then my dog stressed and zoomed around the ring.



Just an FYI. Someone got whistled out of the ring for saying "Crap".   It wasnt in excellent.  I  didnt see it but I hear it also had to do with the tone of her voice too.  
I didnt stay for FAST.  I had a bad headache all morning and by the time I got back to the condo, I had a migraine.  It was a rough drive home. ( I have migraine medication and it worked. It just makes me tired)

Good Try

This course was posted on Facebook by Greg Fontaine.  I thought I would set it up and try it. LOL  I taught the beginner class last night. It was the last 6 week session. So before class, I thought I would try this course.  I thought I would have trouble with the beginning but that was a  piece of cake.  I did a lead out to just before #2 toward the outside wing. I did a call to heel type thing and the just post turned her over the jump and then RC #3.  Try to guess where my problem was?   If you said the tunnel entrance , you are correct.  So this is my biggest problem. Figuring out what works best to run my dog thur a course. I just cant seem to do what my dog needs until it doesnt work and I have to figure out something else. But why cant I figure that out the first time I run her.  How long will it take for me to get it???
Anyway, I first FC after #5 then with her still to my right I put her over #6 and #7. But I really had to stay there at #7 to get her to take it. I did a FC as she took #7, so she was on my left. Then I had to run like heck up the line trying to get there to show her the correct tunnel entrance.  She dropped the bar at # 8 several times.  Then when I really tried to beat her up that same line, she crashed that same #8 jump.  A bad crash, head over heels.  Im sure I wasnt running that fast but she could tell I was really pushing and thats when Miley will start taking off early to try and catch up to me. Ugh!! Why did I do that.  She seemed ok. So of course I had to rethink what the heck I was doing there.   So I decided to post turn her over #7 which now put me on her left coming up that line and easily got the correct tunnel entrance. No dropped bars, no crashed jumps and it was much easier for me too!  BUT why couldnt I see that before crashing the jumps and almost killing my poor dog??? Well if you made it thur all that , congrats to you!! LOL  It was hot last night. I think 90 degrees. So after figuring that out I had to hose Miley down to cool her off. Then she laid down. Wow, Miley never lays down.  So I sat down and waited for the class to show up.  When they started coming in, every person said, "Wow, Miley is laying down".  LOL Yep, she was hot.

Sometime life is like this picture:

Vacation pictures

Arent you glad you dont have to come to dinner and watch  slides of my vacation. LOL

 Always trying to get the birds.

 Look how close they are to the shore.