Is it wrong to quit working a dog because they don’t want to work?
Twitch does agility for food. That’s it. He is in it for the food. If I quit playing and training him in agility, he wouldn’t care.
I have often considered this because he doesn’t live to play like Vader does. I often have to call him back to play because he runs towards the house thinking we are done. He is a conundrum.
Twitch, Vader, Kris and I went to an agility trial this past weekend hosted by CAT at the Ridgefield Fairgounds in WA.
Vader was 5 runs each day. Twitch 2 one day and 1 the second.
Twitch is only entered in Standard runs because that is what he needs for his C-ATCH. He got one on Saturday afternoon but not so much on the other two. An off course tunnel bit us. Oh well. Someday he will get that last Q.
Vader is doing really well! We had a couple bobbles but he was running fast and happy. If we could only get his weaves down pat, we would be in better shape. He had a couple nice ones but also missed one.
We did 10 runs and got 9 Qs. The one non-Q was Snooker. I chose an agressive plan and it failed. I found myself blaming him for the bad run when it was really my fault. It always is. I wish I had a magic way to stop blaming the dog instead of my handling. A great weekend and I blamed him. Doesn’t make sense. I need to be very careful about that because I could shut him down with disappointment.
On another note it seems like Twitch is getting better about noises. We had the sprinkler guys come out and take a look at our system today. He barked a few times but I was able to call him over and calm him with pets. Also tonight he was alert to the fact that Kris was upstairs but he didn’t bark as much as he usually does. A symptom of a hot weekend? Or some progress? Let’s hope progress.
Perhaps i need this blog that no one reads in order to keep grounded? Somewhere to just put down feelings and thoughts in order to help me.
Its been a rough few weeks. Lots going on and its causing me stress.
Leveling the field. That started a week and a half ago on Thursday and nothing has been done since. So we have a field of dirt.
I would like for them to actually finish sometime soon before summer is over so i can actually use it!
We started a patio project four weeks ago and it will probably take another 4 weeks to finish! In the meantime our backyard and parking area is under construction. 🙁
We had to rent a mini excavator to dig out the yard.
We got one wall mostly done but had to quit because we ran out of glue. More glue and blocks will be delivered on Thursday.
Vader is doing amazing in agility! Fast, paying attention and having fun!
Twitch? Well he is Twitchy. He did so great at CPE Nationals and we even got High in Trial for 12″ Standard dogs Level 5! He was fast and consistent and so so good! Standard has been our nemesis for a while now and he got 3 Qs that weekend! Then the next trial at Ridgefield we got zero. We have never had a zero Q weekend before. I still can’t figure him out.
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Twitch and I went to CAT’s CPE trial in Ridgefield last weekend. We signed up for 10 runs and ran 9. I knew 10 was a lot but wanted to see how we would do. The weather warmed up for us on Sunday which Twitch didn’t care for and neither did I! I’m becoming a wuss in the heat!
Back to agility. We had 2 Standard runs on Saturday with Fullhouse, Jackpot and Wildcard. We got Qs in Wildcard and Fullhouse. Standard we had some weave issues. Jackpot was a distance gamble and we didn’t get it.
Sunday we ran 1 Standard, Jackpot, Snooker and Colors. We were signed up for Jumpers but we scratched because it was hot and he was not running well. We Qd in Jackpot (non-traditional), Colors and Snooker. An off course tunnel bit is in Standard.
Overall Twitch ran well on Saturday and early Sunday. He was fast and happy and that is what I’m shooting for these days. He was pretty pokey on Sunday except for our first run which is why we pulled from Jumpers.
We struggle with the weaves so I need to work on that.
Twitch and I were at it again! We went to Fleet Feet’s March agility trial in Turner this weekend. Good for us because it’s the barn where we train. Twitch is very comfortable there and we had an amazing weekend.
I have been trying to focus on the fun of agility with him because I have been putting too much pressure on us both. That kind of worked at WAG in Corvallis but was really great this weekend. We had some nice flowing courses that didn’t trip us up any. It’s what I strive for with each run and it was amazing to get those in competition.
We ran 7 runs and came home with 6 Qs. We finished three titles this weekend and one more Standard run and we will have our Level 4 title. This weekend was a lot of fun. So proud of my little man.
