4.25.2011

SO PROUD OF MY DUDE MAN!

Dexter had a big day yesterday, and I am so happy with him :)

First, in the morning mom came over with the puppies. She came in first to say hello to my dogs so they could kind of get their crazies out. Then she brought the pups in while they were in their crate and set it down for our guys to sniff. At first Dex went nuts making all kinds of noises including little growls - although then we realized it seemed like he was growling when he thought Spry was too close, and he kept putting himself between her & them. Then we let the pups out and boy oh boy did he LOVE them! Not even one single time did he look like he wanted to be a jerk to them. He just acted like a big goof, making silly noises and trying his hardest to be adorable and get them to play with him. They weren't sure they were impressed.

Then last night we went over to my in-laws to pick up my Nook which I had forgotten, and brought Dexter to meet Anuka (again). The first time did NOT go so well, it was at the training building and it was so dumb on my part. I let him meet Anuka when they were both hyped up, Dexter was on leash, and he was at "his" building. All of these things set us up for failure. Dex snarked him several times, and really sounded nasty. Spitting mad. Yuck. Last night we went outside at the in-laws, put Anuka on leash and let Dexter off-leash. They said hello, Anuka was kind of up in his business but Dex had the chance to leave if he wanted. Dexter did growl a few times and warning snap a few times when he thought Anuka was too close but it wasn't bad. We let them off leash and one time Dex did nip Anuka's flank when Anuka semi-trampled him, Anuka was STUNNED someone would do that to him, and after that they were pretty much fine. Ran around together and were very close to playing. they both wanted to and would start to initiate it but would then back off. The one thing we still hvae to work on is Dexter not getting nasty when he's getting pet and Anuka comes up. He was pretty possessive of people.

So overall reading that whole paragraph again I realize it doesn't sound that good but really I think in person Dexter's warnings were OK and appropriate (except when getting pet). He is a small dog and Anuka is a 10 month old crazy whippet with limbs that flail everywhere. I think it's OK for Dexter to want the other dog to know boundaries and that trampling is not ok. And after a few minutes they were all happy. We actually even took them all on a walk in the woods (on leash is when Dexter tends to be more of a jerk) and even on leash and hyped they were GREAT together!

4.20.2011

CPE weekend in review

First of all, check out the new, springy pics on the side :)

Panic ran with my friend Dee. They had a really awesome weekend - 9/10 Qs. Panic is now in L5 for jumpers, L4 for everything else except wildcard which she is still in L3 for. The only NQ was Jackpot, and it was a hard one that I was pretty sure she wouldn't get :) Traditional jackpot, 20 foot distance, with layering. Yeah, no big surprise on the NQ there! They looked good together and I am looking forward to seeing them run together at CPE Nationals in June!

Spry was 8/10 and I was mostly very happy with her weekend. Unfortunately we went back to not reading my LOM as well and having more spinnies. But, since we have not practiced AT ALL since Feb (other than my short practice Weds working the tire and short sequences), I am not surprised. Also, the trial was at our building where she gets higher than usual and then more focused on me.

Some very good things:
1) Contacts were great. She came off the end of 1 DW (stopped 4 on the floor), and one teeter as I FCd but other than that held them. Fast DWs. Teeter could use some more confidence. She slammed one AF, I wish she would take off closer to the bottom of it instead of launching onto it from several feet out! I assume time will help this.
2) Stays were fantastic. I tell myself every trial to try to keep this criteria solid and so far, so good. I think I did better this weekend on release, pause, move as well.
3) I have to review the videos but I don't think she took ANY off courses. At least no tunnel off courses and I don't think any off courses at all. Wow, that is HUGE for her!
4) She responds to deceleration well, and turns pretty tightly if I cue a wrap using it.

Some not as good things:
1) Weave poles - she had a hard time staying in her poles this weekend. I am not sure we had any courses w/12 poles, and she never popped out once she got going, but she had a hard time staying in after making the entrance. Or making the entrance at all. She does slip more on the rubber, and was super high. Will have to work on this at home though.
2) FMFCs... if my motion is going forward still, she is not collecting AT ALL! Must work on this.
3) Spinnies - I tried to run hard and show her where to go, and I think this is probably still my fault mostly. Also all non-wings so that might have made it harder for her.
4) KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR DOG! On Sat Std I sent her to a tunnel and turned to run the finishing line of jumps. Glanced back to see her, turned my eyes forward, kept running. really did not tell her at all which side of me to be on, so she chose the wrong side, ran around a jump, and I wasn't sure if she took it or not. BAD MOMMY!

4.15.2011

Comparison

Peanut's 1st leg of any sort was Juniors 5/1995, I have no idea when we started entering Starters classes, if it was before or afer that leg.
Fancy started showing 9/5/1998 I think. That's when she got her 1st leg at least, and she would have been 18mo 8/27/1998 so it must have been her 1st trial.

Date Dog Title Length of Time Competing
5/24/1997 Peanut AD ?
8/1/1998 Peanut AAD ?
4/21/2001 Peanut SAM ?
4/2/1999 Fancy AD 7mo
9/12/1999 Fancy AAD 1yr
3/11/2001 Fancy RM 1yr 6mo
9/2/2001 Fancy JM 3yr
9/8/2001 Fancy MAD 3yr
6/2/2002 Fancy SM 3yr 9mo
11/16/2002 Fancy SAM 4yr 2mo
6/5/2004 Fancy SCh 5yr 9mo
9/10/2006 Fancy JCh 8yr

Interesting stats

I feel like I've been running Dexter for eons... NOT SO! He has been competing in USDAA for 1yr 3.5mo at this point. Panic has only been competing for almost 4 years! It also feels like much longer. So it took Panic 5mo to get her first title (4 trials). Took Dexter 9.5 mo, 9 trials. This is honestly not so bad! Yeah it's a lot of time/trials to get one title but considering the fact that he had to get over buzzer noises, being scared of contacts, and well, just the general dude factor, that's not too bad :) It took Spry only 4.5mo and 3 trials to get her first title, so that's even less than Panic. Panic has 161 Qs in USDAA (counting all Qs from all levels except overall team Qs, I counted individual DAM Qs) which averages out to about 40/yr, I'm pretty pleased with that :)

Date Dog Title Length of Time Competing
9/22/2007 Panic SS 5mo
9/22/2007 Panic SG 5mo
9/22/2007 Panic SJ 5mo
10/28/2007 Panic AJ 6mo
10/28/2007 Panic AS 6mo
2/9/2008 Panic AD 9.5mo
5/25/2008 Panic JM 1 yr 1mo
7/6/2008 Panic SM 1 yr 2.5mo
1/18/2009 Panic AAD 1yr 8.5mo
4/5/2009 Panic SCh 1yr 11.5mo
4/18/2009 Panic JCh 1 yr 11.5mo
6/20/2009 Panic MAD 2yr 1.5mo
7/18/2009 Panic SAM 2yr 2.5mo
8/8/2009 Panic JCh-Br 2yr 3mo
8/9/2009 Panic SCh-Br 2yr 3mo
8/16/2009 Panic RM 2yr 3.5mo
5/8/2010 Panic TM 3yr
6/5/2010 Panic ADCH 3yr 1mo
6/5/2010 Panic GM 3yr 1mo
6/6/2010 Panic TM-Br 3yr 1mo
8/29/2010 Panic SACh 3yr 4mo
8/29/2010 Panic Jch-S 3yr 4mo
10/30/2010 Panic SPJ 3yr 6mo
10/31/2010 Dexter SG 9.5mo
1/15/2011 Panic SPS 3yr 8.5mo
1/15/2011 Panic PD 3yr 8.5mo
1/15/2011 Dexter SS 1yr
1/16/2011 Panic SPK 3yr 8.5mo
1/16/2011 Spry SS 4.5mo

Update

I know it's been eons, but I haven't been doing anything! We are going back to school for nursing which leaves me little time to train :( So that means Spry hasn't done a single thing agility wise since our Feb CPE trial. I did get down to the building on Wednesday to practice tires and other things since we have another BRAG CPE this weekend. We practiced one jump stuff and I also ran short sequences where I'd vary the tire height each time so she actually has to pay attention to how high it is. Seemed to help some, she was slightly hesitating before the tire which at least tells me she is thinking about it. Knowing her that slight hesitation will not last long, and hopefully the "thinking" part sticks around. I don't know if I ever posted it or not, but while we were in Maui, she crashed another tire at a USDAA trial where I had a friend running her :( That was probably 100% my bad - she is too excitable still and adding a new handler to her couldn't have helped. But she just has no common sense where pain is concerned!!

So this weekend we are doing CPE, in a few weekends USDAA up in Michigan. I entered her in Steeplechase - trying to Q her for nats (just for fun of course). If we can throw down a run where we manage to hold it all together I think she will Q no problem! She is getting better at not darting halfway across the course for tunnels so that will help :) That will be my goal for this weekend - be VERY clear about my cues and don't let her take tunnels that she picks out in courses where it doesn't matter (like jackpot & fullhouse). She will do what I tell her to do. And hopefully I will not break myself.