Tag: agility

USDAA Brownsville, OR 2018-08-10

I took Vader and Twitch to the USDAA trial in Brownsville hosted by WAG on the 10th, 11th and 12th of August.

Vader was entered in 15 runs, 5 each day. We did Team on Friday and then regular titling classes on Sat and Sun with Steeplechase and Grand Prix thrown in. We did not place in Team but not for lack of trying!

Vader ran really well this weekend. His weaves were great and even sent out to a gamble weave for a Q on Sat! We got a super Q on Sat in Snooker as well. Our Pairs partner had an off course but Vader was clean. Standard was amazing as well! This dog is all heart and go! Love him!

On Sunday we had two knocked bars but I am sure he was tired! I was! I was having trouble remembering the courses and one of those bars was my fault for sure.

Twitch was entered in Standard on Sat and Sun. I only ran him Sat and he stopped at the second jump to chase a perceived bug. So refusal but he ran well after that! Was even under time! I decided to leave him home on Sun and I am glad I did. I was tired and a long day.

I was a chief course builder for the weekend so in addition to the 16 runs, I built every course in one ring Sat and Sun, and both rings on Friday. I am still tired and sore. Now I am going to sleep!

CAT CPE Longview, WA 2018-03-17

Today Twitch, Vader and I trekked up to Longview, WA for a CPE games only trial put on by the Columbia Agility Team. I signed Twitch up for 4 runs out of 5 and Vader for all 5.

Twitch ran really well for me. I am pleased with how he did. He managed a couple firsts and seconds with Qs in all runs. We did Jumpers, Colors, Snooker and Wildcard, all Level 5 as a Veteran. I ran the same way with him as I did with Vader in all runs and he had tighter turns than Vader on some courses but was overall a few seconds slower every time. It was neat to be able to compare some of the times with each other since I was running the same course in the same way for each dog.

Jumpers was first and the only difference is I didn’t trust Vader for the second jump as much and ended up rear crossing the serpentine versus a blind like with Twitch. I ran the same course in Snooker for both dogs and neither dog heeded my “push” cue for the backside of the 7b jump. Both started towards the table. I managed to get their attentions and we did fine after that. No video of any runs which is a bummer.

Vader also ran Fullhouse at the end of the day. I planned a super fast flowing circle of fun for us. We needed 25 points to Q and we had 30 seconds to do it in. We got 47 points in 27 seconds. 🙂 It was a lot of fun and we flew! I ran as fast as I could and I’m sure it would not have looked that fast on video. 🙂 I was really puffing after that run. But man it was fun. He read my decel in the two places I put it and got every obstacle we ran past. It was so awesome!

Vader’s Snooker Q was Level 3 so we are finished with all Level 3 now!

Tomorrow we do AKC in Ridgefield!

Field Leveling


The field of dreams. Of my dreams. Except it’s not yet. The mulch was blown in today but it’s too soft to run on. So now I have to rent a lawn roller to roll the field with and I’m not even sure the mower will travel over the field! I may have to pull the roller by hand!

Just one thing after another, I swear.

CPE Fleet Feet 2016-02-13/14

Twitch and I played CPE this weekend in Turner. We entered all 4 runs both days. We got 6 Qs for our efforts with some good stuff in there.

Saturday was Jackpot, Standard, Wildcard and Colors. All Level 4.

Jackpot was a fun course with a bunch of tunnels. We ran fast and smooth.

Standard was great except for a dog walk/tunnel discrimination that we failed so no Q.

Wildcard and Colors went off without a hitch with smooth and fast runs.

Sunday was Fullhouse, Standard, Snooker and Jumpers. All Level 4 except for Fullhouse Level 5.

Fullhouse was good. I planned a long, fast running course and we got to the teeter when the buzzer went off. Took us 11 seconds to get to the table so our 36 point score was reduced to 29.

Standard was going great until the second set of weaves when he popped a pole and shot into the tunnel. So we redid that and things deteriorated from there. I wish I hadn’t fixed the weaves and just kept going. It was already and NQ so why bother? Oh well.

Snooker was good. He started out a little pokey but sped up after the first couple of obstacles. Almost made it through 7 but still Q’d.

Jumpers, again a slow start but last run of the weekend so no surprise there. He picked up speed and we had a good strong finish.

  
All in all a good weekend with things to work on!

Saturday I took Vader with us and he got to meet people and other dogs. Plus he showed some great attention and heeling inside the barn. He got to play with a 10 month old BC named Lock, a 4.5 month old American Eskimo puppy named Riot and an 11 week old Sheltie named Levi. Plus he played fetch with me in one of the fields for a few minutes. 🙂

RAT USDAA 2015-11-14/15

Twitch, Kris and I headed up to Elma, WA on a familiar adventure with a new twist. We stayed in a hotel. All three of us. 

The hotel was just down the road from the trial site so super convenient for me. We arrived Friday with a pretty tuned up Twitch. He was raring to go but it was time for bed. The drive was awful with constant rain in the dark and I was tired and ready for sleep. Twitch was not.

The first night was not as bad as I was prepared for but it wasn’t that great. He mostly growled at noises but settled and ignored it with gentle touches and reassurances. At 4 am however he alarm barked and woke both Kris and I from a sound sleep. It was not a super restful night. 

The second night was much better. Twitch slept under the covers at my feet with fewer growls and one alarm bark at 11pm. Hopefully the folks above and below us weren’t also jolted awake.

This was a new site for us and Twitch was distracted. His first run in Gamblers on Sat was pretty good. He ran around the aframe and didn’t stop in his 2o2o for the dog walk but he did for his second aframe attempt. His wide turn over a jump meant he took another jump and good thing because without it we wouldn’t have gotten enough points! He got the gamble nice and smooth! Q.

Next was Standard. That was a disaster. He ran around the aframe and teeter. Popped his weaves and then we skipped a bunch of stuff because he was distracted. No Q.

Pairs. Well it was moderately better but not great. Entered the weaves correctly but then began sniffing. He ran past the teeter again, so two faults and no Q.

We entered Steeplechase for the first time. It was late in the day and we were both tired. We had a pretty nice run but he faulted the weaves and ran around a jump on a wide turn so no Q. But the rest of it was really pretty and his second weaves were gorgeous!

Sunday brought Snooker. He was still distracted with wide turns but we managed to make it through 7 with a Q. That was our third Q in P2 so now we can move up to P3 Snooker and start chasing Super Qs!

Last on Sunday was Standard again. We had a nice run but he was still distracted. I stopped him at one point and asked for his attention because he was not paying me any mind. Then he took the wrong end of a tunnel by going behind me off the teeter! Ugh! So no Q but the first half was really nice and he did stop in his 2o2o for me. 🙂

So a new venue and Kris was in and out of the picture a bit. Not sure if it was Kris or the venue. Otherwise I really like the venue and will go back there again. Crating area was heated which was really nice for a winter trial where it rained all day on Saturday. Plus RAT gives out pretty ribbons for titles.