Akekal Mudi and Shepherds

Day 2 of MADTA

2012-02-13T16:39:00.002-05:00

Lonya did really well yesterday too.

She did great in Standard, but I was out of position (trying to keep her from going back to the table) and caused a refusal. But, she had one of her nicest weave performance in a trial, so I was very happy.

She Q'd in JWW, ran very nice! There was a moment when I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep up with her running down a line, but I did. This was one of her highest YPS runs too, which was also nice.

It was COLD, and Lonya was feeling it. She was shivering when I took her out to potty, and spent the down time either curled up in a ball in her crate with all her blankets, or on my lap, under my blanket!

The video...

We have CPE in two weeks, then AKC the week after that.

Day one of MADTA

2012-02-11T19:22:00.003-05:00

Look at that, 2 posts in one day!

Today's agility trial was fun! We didn't Q, but she had some REALLY nice parts. Standard she missed the weave entry (she really wanted to take the Aframe and I had to call her off it). And she slid off the table, though she made a really valiant effort to stay on, and has the scrape on her leg to show for it!

JWW was FUN! The opening felt fast, several crosses which she handled well. She popped out at pole 10 (again! I need to figure out how to fix that!) and then I was out of position and sent her on a wrong course.

But, Q's or not...she is a fun fun dog to play with. She loves this sport and I'm lucky to have such a willing partner!

Back tomorrow for one more day (and who knows, maybe another blog post!)

Catching up again!

2012-02-11T19:14:00.002-05:00

I have been very bad about keeping up with the blog...I guess posting on Facebook is enough for me!

We've been doing a couple of weekends of agility a month. Our two January trials went pretty well. One weekend, she Q'd in both Standard rounds for legs 3 and 4 for her MX. She was close in one JWW too (I pulled her off a jump).

Our second weekend she only Q'd in one Standard, but had a couple of nice other runs too. Weave woes continue to plague us, that darn pole 10 problem! She also got spooked in her FAST run that weekend by some people loading equipment in a trailer. I was a bit surprised, I thought she was over that, but I guess not!

We've also been working on learning flyball. Lonya is really coming along, and I'd love for her to be ready to compete in the next few months. I hope she's on the same wavelength! Her box turn is really getting pretty solid, now we need to work on running the entire pattern and working with other dogs working.

Still trying to plan for her first litter...stay tuned!

AKC Agility Invitational wrap up

2011-12-25T00:12:00.002-05:00

Lonya and I were invited to the AKC Agility Invitational, and we went Dec 16-18. It was the first “big” event that either of us had been to (UKC’s Premier wasn’t nearly this big!). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I knew that Lonya would be one of the youngest dogs there, and one of the more inexperienced ones too. To get Lonya qualified this year, we only needed a single MACH point, due to there not being many Mudi running at that level. But, I had to get Lonya from Novice to Ex B in about 9 months, which was no easy feat…especially since I didn’t want to do anything to place too much stress or pressure on her.

Friday, our warmup run was FAST, but we (like 95% of the other teams) didn't attempt to do the send, but instead, just ran it with our dogs. I was VERY happy with how Lonya ran. There was an issue at the start gate, that had them calling for me to go in next, then wait, then go, then not...which stressed me out. Lonya was already stressed as she doesn't care for all the commotion around the gate. She was actually shaking when I carried her into the ring...so I wasn't sure what to expect! But, once we got in and I set her up on the line, she went to work and did her job! We did have a bobble on the weaves, she missed the entry and I fixed that, but I didn't fix it when she popped out at pole 10. I didn't want to stress her out. The rest of the run was beautiful (though she did cut behind me at the end, but did take the jump I wanted!). I was glad to see that she recovered from her stress so quickly!

Saturday was an EARLY day. We started at 6AM, and they were still running at 5PM when I left. We started with Standard. We had a few bobbles, at the weaves and she ran around a couple of jumps (though I did fix them, so we would at least get a score). She was a little stressed going into the ring, but not quite as bad as yesterday. Some shaking, but not as much.

JWW was a tough course (I had thought STD was pretty straight forward). Lonya was much better as we waited to go into the ring, no shaking. She seemed to be getting used to it. Lonya was clean this run, and she really had to work at it, since my handling left a lot to be desired!! I almost ran into the double...but she fixed my errors. I was so very very proud of my little girl after this run, she's running clean in the "big time".

Sunday was a LONG day, after another early start.. We stayed to watch the agility finals, which were fantastic (such energy!).

Lonya seemed a bit out of sorts Sunday AM, not sick, just a bit mopey. So, I wasn't quite sure what we'd do that day. She was more relaxed around the rings though, while waiting our turn to go (no shaking at all). JWW was a nice course and Lonya ran clean again. She almost came out of the weaves, but stayed in and ran the rest of the course well, even though I didn't run it at all like I walked it!

During Standard, it was LOUD in the area. The dock diving dogs were blaring music and the agility loudspeakers were competing with that. When I had Lonya on the line, I don't think she heard my release and ran with me instead of doing the jump. I really felt like I was having to shout for her to hear me at all, and we had a couple of more bobbles. But, again, I was very happy that she worked through it and she ran the ending fast and happy.

We ended up 72 out of 130 16" teams, not bad for the first big competition for either of us. Lonya didn't knock a bar, miss a contact or take an off course all weekend. I'm so very happy with how well she did, it was a great weekend for us! The support from all of our friends, both in person and those watching the results come in from the computer meant a lot to me.

I hope to attend the Invitationals again next year, and I hope that we have a full slate of Mudi there running! The site was nice, and I know that they’re looking at what improvements can be made for next year (hopefully they’ll move those dock diving dogs!!)

Day 2 of Pasco Paws CPE

2011-12-11T13:47:00.003-05:00

We had a great day yesterday at Pasco Paws. The girls were just great! We had 6 runs, and we had 6 Q's!

Lonya was entered in Level 4 Jackpot, Level 3 Standard and Level 3 Snooker. Jackpot was non-traditional though there still was a distance challenge. There was a box, with a jump on each side, a couple of feet or so out. You could do the "gamble" at any time during your run. You and the dog had to enter the box, and you had to send the dog out to 3 or 4 jumps (3 for 20 points, 4 for 25 points). The dog had to take each jump from the "box side" and no backjumping allowed. Backjumping ended the gamble, though if you knocked a bar, you could still try for 3 to get 20 points, you just negated getting 25 points. Lonya was fantastic! She did the gamble with no problem and ended up with one of the highest point totals of all the 4/5/C dogs! The horn sounded with 20 seconds left to give you a warning, and we ended the run with 6 seconds to spare...I could have gotten some more points! LOL It sure is different to not have to worry about points in the speed games! She Q'd with a 1st.

Level 3 Standard was nice. I did a poorly timed rear cross at a tunnel and pushed her off it. She came back to do it though, and the rest was really nice! She was moving, out in front of me for much of it! She Q'd with a 1st place, ran it in 38.08 seconds, course time was 59.

Level 3 Snooker was also fun. We did 2, 7, 7 (again, fun to try for higher points rather than shorter distance for a slower dog). She did it with only a slight bobble when she wanted to go to the table, but was well under time. She got 46 points, again, one of the higher totals of the 3/4/5/C dogs! :-)

Sparrow ran in Jackpot, Standard and FullHouse. All level 5. Jackpot was the same course as Lonya above. Sparrow had a slightly bobble on the 1st send, but then figured out what I wanted! She did refuse the second Aframe I asked her to do, but still had plenty of points. She Q'd with 49 points for a 2nd place.

Standard was alright, she was a little pokey, but it was warm for her at that point. Sparrow also knows that when we're in that ring at Pasco Paws, that we always exit at the same side, and it can be hard to keep her going if the course is set up have a part that Sparrow thinks could be the end. In this case, it was a jump that was the final jump (so had the timers set on it), but that we also took about 5 obstacles from the end. Sparrow saw the timers and when we took it the first time, she was trotting over to her leash! She did turn back to finish the course, but she was pretty sure I was wrong... She Q'd for a second place.

And FullHouse... I was really stressing about how I was going to get her enough points, since I didn't think the course was a good one for a slower dog. I typically try to not do contacts in FH, since she can be slow on them (though I will use the teeter, she's faster there). But, to do this one, I felt I needed to do the Aframe twice to get the points. And even then, I was worried she'd be too slow. Sparrow proved me wrong! She was VERY pumped up before we entered the ring. It had cooled down, and she was doing the bucking, bowing, growling thing that she does when she's feeling frisky. At the start line, she went into a play bow and we took off. She ran fast for her, and got all the points with some to spare. She did poop out a bit on me at the end, but it was great to see her have so much fun! Several people commented on how fast she was on that run. She Q'd with 30 points for a 3rd place.

I was very happy with the girls all weekend. Lonya was having fun, and worked well through her stress. And Sparrow when she Q'd and placed, was placing over other dogs! FullHouse yesterday, she took 1st (she got 34 points), and about 6 dogs Q'd! CPE is really a great venue for Sparrow, and we'll continue to play there as long as she's having fun.

Videos...

Pasco Paws, Day 1 of CPE

2011-12-09T22:10:00.002-05:00

Okay, trying to be better about the blog (I know I said that before....)

This weekend we have a CPE trial, Friday and Saturday. I chose CPE over an AKC trial this weekend as a warm up for the Invitational because it's more laid back and less stressful for me (and to be honest, we usually have a pretty good success rate there, so it's reinforcing for me too!)

Sparrow had 3 runs, Jackpot, Standard and FullHouse, all level 5. She only Q'd in FullHouse, but the others were not her fault. Jackpot she ran a great opening, and the send was totally doable for her, but I was not in the correct position and sent her to the wrong entrance of a tunnel. Standard, I knocked over the double as we ran by it, it was not the correct obstacle and we hadn't taken it yet. I thought that was an automatic NQ, but turns out it wasn't! But, because it was hot (for Sparrow) I didn't fix the end when Sparrow pulled off of a jump, so that NQ'd us. We may have been over time anyway, but still...I felt bad for not fixing the error! FullHouse had a really nice, easy course for her, no contacts, no sharp turns, just 2 oval loops. And, it was cooler by then, so she was happy. I didn't stay for the results, but I doubt that she placed (unless there were less than 4 dogs in her class!)

Lonya also had 3 runs, Jackpot (level 3), Standard (level 2) and Jumpers (level 3). Jackpot was fun, though there was an error with our time (which I'm not sure how they sorted out, they didn't ask me...and we got our Q so I didn't really care!). We were out there for a LONG time though, I ran out of things to do. But, she got the send with no problem, it was similar to Sparrow's, and I positioned myself better. She was VERY excited at the end, and almost jumped over me instead of the normal leap into my arms. Q with a 1st. That was her last Q needed in Level 3, on to Level 4 tomorrow. Standard was easy, Level 2 is well below her current competition level. It was a smooth course, that she ran in about 1/2 of the allotted course time. Q with a 1st. That was her last Level 2 Q, so on to Level 3 tomorrow! Jumpers was...interesting! She got spooked before going into the ring. Best I can figure, is that there were more men around then usual and she didn't like that! She had fixated on the leash runner (who was male) before entering the ring, so I adjusted my handling a bit. I was VERY happy that she continued with the run, dealing with her stress and not shutting down. It was a beautiful run until the last jump. I changed my path to put myself between her and the leash runner...but didn't realize that she'd then notice the male ring crew right there and shy away from him. Once I got on that side of the jump, she took it for a Q and a 2nd.

I put her new Thundershirt on Lonya after giving her some treats after her Jumpers run and took her back by the Jumpers ring. Not close enough to distract the other dogs, but just to walk her near the leash runner and the ring crew. While she wasn't thrilled, she stayed by my side and after the second pass, her tail went up. And she went up and sniffed the ring crew that spooked her in the run, happy with that. (Interesting note...the ring crew was a person we don't see very often...but who was wearing a rain jacket, watching right outside the ring at one of Lonya's first ever runs (also in Jumpers now that I think about it!) Lonya stopped her run to bark at him then...that was at least a year ago, maybe more. I don't think she could have remembered that, but who knows! I'm just glad she was still able to "work" while a little stressed).

Videos hopefully will be edited tomorrow...

IPOC weekend

2011-11-13T01:58:00.002-05:00

The IPOC weekend had some good parts and some not so good parts!

On Friday, Lonya was in a "need to tunnel" mode, and took a few extras! She even cut behind me at one point to take a tunnel...naughty girl! In her JWW run, she ran really nice, between the two off course tunnels!

Saturday, I didn't do well. In Standard, I pulled her out of the weave poles at pole 11, when there was no good reason to do so! I had plenty of room to turn her AFTER she was through with the poles, but I turned too early and caused her to pop out. It was her only error on a course that had dog after dog crashing and burning....I was so mad at myself! Her JWW run was just a mess, my fault. But she did her poles!

Sunday, we finally got it together and meshed and she Q'd in Standard. I had to do a hard call off a tunnel, but she listened! We got 14 MACH points and were in 5th place (again!). It's exciting to me that we're on the cusp of placing in Excellent B! Her JWW run was very nice, though she DIDN'T take a tunnel that I thought she would! I have video online of her Sunday runs

This weekend was more laid back. Agility and flyball classes were cancelled so we didn't do much. I did take Lonya to a flyball tournament on Saturday AM to hang out for a bit. She was a bit overwhelmed at first, but she settled pretty quickly. She wanted to play I think, hopefully we'll be in the lanes soon!

We have agility next weekend!

Catching up...again!

2011-11-03T23:34:00.000-04:00

It's been a while! I made it through the 1 year "anniversary" of losing Kal-El...still can't believe he's been gone for that long. I still miss that damn dog every day...and still cry over him. Sigh....

Lonya and I are doing really well in agility, and she's really coming along in flyball. I'm too lazy to try to post the reports from the trials I've missing blogging about, but will post the videos. I just want to get back on track, since we're entering our busier time for trialing and want to try to keep up!

Lonya got her AX on September 25, in Ocala.

Then October 14, I did one day of CPE with Lonya and Sparrow, both Q'd 2 out of 3.

Then, on Oct 15-16, I did 2 days of AKC with Lonya. Her first try at FAST (which she rocked!) AND my little girl got her first QQ towards her MACH. She QQ'd the first weekend she was able to...and in doing so, tied Kal for the dog I've trialed that has the most QQ's... I do hope (and believe) that she will be my MACH dog.

There...at least I've posted the videos, now, let's see if I keep this up over the 3 days of IPOC!

Kal-El's memorial video

2011-08-28T16:50:00.000-04:00

I first heard this song in December of last year, and I knew that I wanted to use it to make a video about Kal-El. But, I had to wait until I was mentally ready to do it. And, I had to get some VHS converted to DVD (Walmart does this, and the resulting DVD is very user friendly) and I had some photos to get off "floppy" disks. I'm really happy with how it turned out, I think it shows the dog that Kal-El was, a clown, a gentle giant, and a devoted companion.

Having lost 2 dogs in very different ways, so close together...I think it was MUCH "easier" to lose Cheyenne. I had time to prepare, I had time to say goodbye, I had time to make sure she did the things she enjoyed one more time, and I had time to accept that I was going to lose her. I think I've healed quite a bit from losing her. I do think the fact that she was old helped too.

I'm still not over losing Kal-El. It was just too sudden, too soon, and I didn't get to do his favorite things one last time. And he just wasn't old enough... But, making his video helped. And I really was happy to see him as a puppy again, God he was cute! I do miss having a shepherd boy....not for a few more years...

The power of one little dog....

2011-08-09T06:11:00.000-04:00

When I sit down and think about the people who are my friends, both those who I consider good friends and those who I only know in passing...I realize that most of you I know through my dogs. And I'm sure many of you knew Kal-El and you know Sparrow and Lonya. Cheyenne wasn't quite as "well known" as my other dogs...but without Cheyenne, I'm not sure that I'd know many of you at all...people who I think of as my good friends...I owe that all to the little dog that someone threw away.

I first saw Cheyenne as I was leaving work, right after the 4th of July, limping around the parking lot at Moody Gardens, in Galveston Texas. She looked pitiful, and I scrounged through my lunch bag to see if I had anything that she might eat. The only thing I had were some oatmeal cookies, which I tossed at her. The next day, she was still there, so after my shift, I bought a hot dog at the concession stand and went to find her. She was under a construction trailer and I tossed her little bits of hot dog. She gradually moved closer to me, until she would very tentatively take a bit from my outstretched fingers, then dart back. The next day, my day off, I went to the trailer with some of Akela's dog food. I tossed some of that to her, but she wasn't overly excited about it (some of the other people at work had been feeding her too..and hotdogs are better than kibble!). I asked my co-workers to not feed her anymore that day or the next, and told them I'd be back to try to catch her tomorrow. I walked back across the parking lot to my truck and about halfway there, I happened to turn back...and saw that the scrawny little dog was following me, though at a distance. I wandered around the parking lot (must have looked like a fool), and she gradually got closer...I was talking to her the whole time, just babbling. Finally, she was within a couple of feet of me, but I didn't want to risk grabbing her, so I decided to open the passenger door to my truck and ask her to get in. To my surprise, she got in and jumped up on the seat...she had made her choice! I was a little uncertain, since I now had this dog who I hadn't touched yet, in my truck!! But, when I got in and sat down, she looked at me, slightly wagged her tail and didn't bite me when I reached to pet her.

Skinny Cheyenne, right after I caught her

I did take her to the humane society, to see if she had been reported missing (though given her condition, I was pretty sure she hadn't been). No one had reported her missing, and I left a description of her there, but took her home with me. After about a month or so of fostering her, I knew she was there to stay!

Cheyenne chasing Kal-El

Chey was very underweight when I got her and it appeared that her tail had been broken at some point (it was kinked) and one of her rear feet was all scarred up. She would bite if she was afraid, and she taught me how to read those signs and back off. People who knew her later in life, never seemed to believe that she actually had a bite history...nothing "serious", but it was there.

Cheyenne and Simon, best friends

I started in a basic agility class, after I moved to Florida, to see if it would give Cheyenne some confidence, since she had trust issues with people. Never in a million years did I plan to compete with her, I was way too self conscious for that. And there would be a bunch of people I didn't know at a competition, and they may actually watch me...no, not for me.

Agility changed my life, and that's all due to Cheyenne. Chey took to agility like it was something that she'd always done. She was a natural...I've often said that I wish I had Cheyenne later in my agility career, after I knew more. She was a very good agility dog, I truly believe that if she'd had a handler who knew what they were doing, she would have been great. But, she didn't care about my crappy handling, she just wanted to play at the sport she loved. She liked to hang out at trials in her own chair, and would seem to memorize the course as she watched me walk it.

Chey made me love the sport too. And the more I showed, the more I became part of the agility community here in Florida. I came out of my shell within that community and it's led to meeting a lot of great people and making a lot of great friends. And that's all due to a little spaniel mix that no one wanted.

The last weekend of Cheyenne's life was spent at an out of town agility trial. She seemed to enjoy it, though she did sleep a lot. But, she was perky when walking around the show site and tried to get into the van on her own. She always loved to travel, and was such a great dog to travel with, she was so easy. I had many friends offer to keep her for me, and if I could clone her, I'd make a fortune....since she was also such an easy dog to live with. She was never sick, never hurt...until the final month when we were dealing with her cancer. She declined quickly when we got home, as if she just wanted that one last road trip before she left us. She didn't seem to be in pain, but lost control of her rear legs and couldn't hardly walk. We spent her last night sitting in the sun and laying in bed watching TV. She was ready to go I think, she didn't struggle at all. She left very peacefully, and I hope has rejoined Kal-El and Akela at the Bridge. I had her for 13 years, and it still wasn't long enough...she was thought to be 1-3 when I found her.

I will forever be indebted to Cheyenne. I couldn't have asked for a better companion, a better intro dog into agility or a better friend. Who would have thought one little dog could do SO much?

We'll miss you girl....

It sucks to get old....

2011-07-16T23:23:00.000-04:00

Sigh... Cheyenne has been getting old, well showing her age that is, quite a bit in the last year or so. She's been deaf for a while, but lately, her arthritis (lower back and hips) has gotten worse and she's lost most of her muscle tone. A couple of months ago, her appetite started to taper off, but by doing various things (soaking her kibble, changing her type of kibble, etc) I was able to get her to eat. But, last Sunday, she flat out started refusing to eat at all. If I put mush on the back of her tongue, she'd mostly swallow it but not because she wanted to. She'd push a food bowl away, and this is the dog that has always loved to eat...

We went to the vet on Thursday, I was hoping it was a tooth abscess but was worried it was kidney failure. It was neither. Blood work showed that it was her liver that was unhappy...the liver values were off the charts. According to the vet, that would be enough for her to not want to eat.

The most likely cause of the liver damage is cancer, based on how she presented. In order to know for certain, we would need to do an ultrasound. She is now on a med to help her liver function better and one to stimulate her appetite.

I'm not sure if I'll go ahead with the ultrasound or not...I don't know that it will change my course of treatment for her. I will not do chemo on her, or surgery to remove part of the liver. I don't think she'd survive either. So, I'm not sure it's worth the high cost (for me at least) of the ultrasound to know for sure that she does have cancer. The vet really seemed to think that's what it was, but didn't want to say for certain without proof. But, he was treating me like someone who'd just been given a terminal diagnosis on their pet.

For the most part, Cheyenne is not acting like a sick dog. She enjoys her time in the yard and getting her butt scratched as I'm sitting at my computer chair. When I get home, she "runs" down the hall to the back door with the other girls. This is another reason I'm reluctant to do anything extreme with her. I'd rather have a month with her this way, than 3-4 of her being miserable recovering from surgery. As of right now, I do not think she's in any pain at all.

I'm hoping the meds help kick in her appetite, but so far, they haven't. I am force feeding her twice a day, I'm making her up some gruel and putting in the blender until it's smooth enough to be put in a syringe. Today, she actually seemed to be cooperating a little bit when I fed her. But, nothing I offer her to eat on her own gets a reaction...

I'm handling all of this pretty well, considering. I am sad, there's no doubt about that. But, Cheyenne has lived a good, long, healthy life and I've known that her time has been coming to an end. Cheyenne is at least 14, but could be 2-3 years older than that, there's no way of knowing. She had her adult teeth when I found her, that was about our only judge of age.

I just want her final days to be as pain free as possible, and I want us both to enjoy them as much as we can.

But it still sucks to get old....

UKC weekend

2011-07-10T20:22:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Lonya and I had 2 days of UKC agility. We were entered in 4 runs each day, 2 AG1 and 2 AG2 (they do two trials each day). Lonya needed 2 AG2 legs for that title, so day one her AG1 runs were just "bonus". The way UKC agility works is that for the initial titles at level 1 and level 2, you need 3 legs in each one (from the A or B class), with a score of 170 or above (out of 200). Then, for the UACH (United Agility Champion) title, you have to get 100 total points from AG1 and AG2 in the B class, and you need a minimum of 40 points from each one. (Confused yet?). You get 10 points for a perfect 200, 6 for a 199, and down to 1 for a 196. So basically, you are no longer allowed to make a major error and get any UACH points!

Lonya doesn't do much agility at all indoors or on mats, so this was a good way for her to experience both. On Saturday, we do both AG1 runs first (they always run them back to back to minimize course changes). She ran very well, though she did slip a little bit on the mats. In each run, she had a refusal for a one point deduction (the scoring is very different in UKC too!). So, she got a 199 in each, and one first and one second place. Good warm up runs!

In our AG2 runs, she really ran well. UKC has some equipment that you don't see anywhere else, much of it in AG2 (fortunately, this club offers run thrus the Friday night before so you can practice on it!). She did most of that well. In her first run, she missed a weave pole, but did them the second time when I fixed it. Q for a 3rd ...and leg #2. In the second run, she had a refusal for a minor deduction, Q for 2nd and leg #3 and her title!

Today, we were running for points. AG2 was first today. First run, she popped the last pole, but several dogs did that. UKC uses 9 poles, so the dogs end on the "wrong" side...I actually debated doing AG2 because of this and her pole issues...but decided that one weekend wouldn't hurt her and I want her to just weave what's in front of her, no matter how many are there. She got a 195 for a first place, but no UACH points. Second run, she had another refusal for a 1 point deduction, so got a 199, 6 points and a 1st place.

AG1 was last. First run was just beautiful, she was fast, accurate and got a perfect 200 for a 1st place! 10 UACH points too. Second run, she slid off the table for 5 faults, but the rest was clean and FAST (she finished in less than half the course time, even with the table bobble). She got a 195 and second place. She had adjusted to the mats really well by this point, she was no longer slipping.

I was really happy with her all weekend. Before her last AG2 run yesterday, something spooked her and she started out the run stressed. It only took her a couple of obstacles to settle in to work though, she shook it off pretty quickly. She was a bit more clingy in the crate area, wanting to sit on my lap. But, that's fine with me. People get amused when they see her sacked out on her back in my lap....but the instant I put her down and stand up, she's ready to run (leaping leaping leaping at me).

So, if you're doing the math, in the last two weekends, Lonya was 18 for 18, with 4 new titles!! Go merlie girlie!

Night two at Pasco Paws

2011-07-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

We want to have a trial at Pasco Paws every weekend! 14 runs over 2 nights, and 14 Qs. Most with placements. Lonya got 3 new titles!

We started tonight with Lonya running Jackpot. It was a non traditional Jackpot. There were 3 distance challenges, and if you did all 3 successfully, you got a pair of fuzzy dice! The 15 point gamble was jump/tunnel/jump. The 20 point gamble was jump/aframe/tunnel (could be done in either direction). The tunnel was under the frame, so you had to do the frame with a turn away from you into the tunnel, or do the tunnel with a turn towards you to do the frame. The 25 point gamble was a 3 jump pinwheel, could be done in any order, in flow. I had a fairly good path that would allow us to attempt all 3, I wasn't sure she could do them all, but wanted to try. With the shepherds, I always was working on just trying to get the points needed, they really didn't have the speed to try the "fun" stuff. She did the pinwheel pretty well (one bobble that I fixed) and the aframe one went well too. We had to run across the field to get to the tunnel one, which was easy and she did just fine. I was a bit worried we'd run out of time, but we raced back across the field to the table and she had several seconds to spare! She won a purple pair of fuzzy dice! It was fun to be able to try it, and even more fun to succeed! It was her second level 3 Q (and a second place).

Next run was snooker. This was a nicer course than yesterday (for me at least). We did 1/7/1/6/1/3 then the close. It was all jumps and tunnels again. I did have to call her HARD off one tunnel, but she stopped! The close was smooth and she ended up getting 46 points in 29.33 seconds (course time was 45). This was her second level 2 Q (first place) and gave her the CL2-S title (Level 2 Strategy).

Next up was Standard. Sparrow ran first. It was a pretty straight forward course, at least it seemed so! But, while watching the dogs before Sparrow run, quite a few took an off course teeter that I didn't notice in the walk through. Sparrow wasn't overly speedy, but she was clean. She didn't look at the off course teeter, but I also tried to tell her pretty early where she was going. She Q'd with a second place. She ran it in 59.89, course time was 65.

Lonya ran Standard next. She really ran well, after we got past the weaves (they were obstacle 2). I think she carried too much speed into them and missed the entry. It took me a couple of tries to get her set up correctly. But, once we got those right, she flew through the rest of the course. She got her second level 2 Q (first place), she ran it in 39.17 (course time 57).

Jumpers was next. Sparrow ran first. It was a bit of a twisty to start out with, not Sparrow's favorite. It did have a nice 4 jump ending though! Sparrow ran it clean, and she Q'd. She was just under time, 37.77 seconds, course time was 38. She got first place, go Sparrow!

Lonya's jumpers course was VERY nice. We had a slight miscue where she ran around a jump. She called off a tunnel beautifully though. She backjumped the jump, but we got back in sync and she ended really nice. She still got a Level 2 Q though, for another 1st place. She ran it in 21.89 seconds, well under course time of 36, even with the bobble. This gave her the last Q needed for her CL2-F title (Level 2 Fun).

Our last run of the weekend was FullHouse for Lonya. It was a nice smooth course, and Lonya ran it very nicely! She did decide to end it early though, silly girl! I told her tunnel, she thought table and went there, stopping our clock! We still had about 10 seconds left where could have gotten more points! But, she got 31 points, which got her a Level 3 Q and a first place. It's fun to run FullHouse where I don't really have to worry about points!

So we ended the weekend, 14 for 14. Lonya finished 3 titles, and is now in Level 3 for all the games! Sparrow ran well in the heat/humidity (even though it wasn't TOO bad!). And Lonya handled a full CPE weekend fantastic! She was raring to go for every run, high energy and low stress! And tons of FUN!

Night one at Pasco Paws

2011-07-02T04:50:00.001-04:00

I took Sparrow and Lonya to Pasco Paws for a night CPE trial. Since I wasn't sure how the weather would be, I only entered Sparrow in 2 runs each night. Standard and whatever game I thought would be shortest (in case it was hot). This is Lonya's first weekend of running a full set of CPE runs, 5 each day.

Lonya started out in Jackpot, level 3, traditional. It was a really nice set up in the opening and the distance challenge was very doable. She knocked one bar in the opening, I think she slipped a bit on wet grass (it had rained a little bit earlier). She did her poles on the first try! The gamble was jump, send out to a tunnel, jump, table. No problems there and Lonya Q'd for her first level 3 Q! And it was a first! She got 54 points in 41.64 seconds, game time was 48 sec.

Second run was Wildcard. I didn't like this course much, I didn't think it flowed well for Lonya (especially the option I chose!). But, she got through it, including a tough weave entry, and she Q'd for a first again, also in Level 3. She ran it in 27.32 sec, course time was 40.

Sparrow's Standard run was next. It was a really nice course, and she ran it with no problems. Speed was pretty good for her also, and she was happy! She Q'd and somehow took first! That's not usual for her. She ran it in 46.68 seconds, course time was 60.

Lonya's Standard run was next. Nice course again, and she just smoked it. A slight bobble on the teeter, where she almost ran by it, but she corrected and got on. Good contacts and weaves. She Q'd, in Level 2, for a first. Course time was 65 seconds, she ran it in 30.67!

Colors was next, Sparrow ran her course first. She started out great, but I think she jammed a toe in the #3 tunnel. She went in fast and came out much slower. This happened to Kal once also. She finished the course, but was pokey. I looked her over after the run and she was a little tender on one rear toe. I'll check her over tomorrow, but she seems fine now. She Q'd, no placement. Ran it in 28.95, course time was 32 (she REALLY slowed down!)

Lonya's Colors run was just fantastic! Smooth course and Lonya was just having a blast tonight! She ran the course in 13.54 seconds, for a Level 2 Q and another first. Course time was 39 seconds. Fun fun fun! And this gave her the CL2-H (level 2 Handler games) title!

Final run of the night was Level 2 Snooker for Lonya. This was her first ever Snooker run, since I won't run a young/green dog in snooker. It was a little bit of a twisty course, and I had a hard time finding a course with flow. It was all jumps and tunnels, and it took a little bit of work to keep her out of a tunnel or two. But, she listened well and she Q'd again, for another first place! She got 40 points, and finished the course in 25.87 seconds, course time was 45 seconds.

So, we ended up Q'ing in all 7 runs, with 6 first places! And we get to go back tomorrow!

Miss Lonya is going to the Invitational!!

2011-06-19T18:20:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Lonya and I had 3 days of AKC agility, at the new rings at SonLight Ranch (AKA BonJon, not sure we'll get used to the name change!). The new grass rings are WONDERFUL. Very flat, great grass (even though Bonnie said the grass would get better as it got more established). And all the contacts had new rubber. Great site, and since it's so close to home, I hope it gets a lot of use!

I went into the weekend hoping Lonya would get 1 JWW leg, if that's the only Q we got, I'd be happy! We're still having weave struggles a bit, so I was a bit worried.

Friday, she had a nice start to JWW, then came out of the poles at 11. I did have her redo them, when she did. She had some nice sends, and knocked a bar when she was racing to catch up to me (which I know she has a history of doing). And I knocked a bar when I hit an upright on a cross. Standard, she really didn't want to do her weaves on the first try, but she did. She got all her contacts (has been very good at that recently!) and we got our first AX leg! So I ended the day happy...but hoping she'd have another set of poles in her for the weekend. I did stay after the trial for run thrus, and I think that helped!

Saturday, JWW was first again. It was a nice course, and the weaves were near the start. She got them first try, though slowly! She ran the rest of the course really well, even with me being nervous and overhandling! We crossed the final jump clean and you'd have thought we MACH'd, instead of just getting our first points! I was SO happy, as were my friends who knew we were running for the Invitational. She got 9 points, which is enough for us to get invited this year! Standard was nice, she missed pole #3, I think she carried too much speed into them. She did get them on the second try.

Sunday, STD was first. LOVELY run, which I wish we had gotten on video. Her poles were faster, and she really worked well. She swung wide out of the chute and was set up really wide for the last line of jumps. She had to really try to make those jumps, and she did. Q #2 for her AX, 25 seconds under course time! JWW, she missed the weave entry (it was tough), but did them all once I fixed it. Really nice course otherwise though.

So, she ended the weekend 3 for 6, qualifying for the Invitational and getting as much progress make on her AX as she could (since it was only one judge all weekend).

We're off for a bit, but will do one CPE in July, maybe one UKC. And hopefully some AKC in Aug!

Here's the video of the 2 Q's I have, JWW first, then Standard.

Palmetto trial

2011-05-31T03:01:00.000-04:00

Lonya and I had 3 days of AKC agility this weekend. It was a weekend of weave frustrations and lots of improvements. I need to remember to focus on the improvements and not let myself be frustrated by the weave issue! Hard to do...

The weave issue was that she is pulling out of the poles at pole 10-11. This cost us 5 Qs out of 6 runs this weekend! In some of those runs, she did make another error after the poles, when I'd try a harder cross or just get flustered. I "think" I may be crowding her...though I couldn't reproduce it at home. I'm going to try to take her weaves on the road this next couple of weeks to see what she does.

The improvements. First, the multiple runs where there was only 1 error! She is RIGHT there to Qing regularly in Excellent. She is 2.5 years old and ready to Q in Excellent!

She was MUCH more relaxed walking around the trial site. It was crowded (biggest trial we've been to). I watched her closely when were walking around and her tail was up. Dropping her tail is a first sign of stress for her, tucking it is definite stress. She went up to people and let them pet her. People she's met before mostly, but still, this is big for her. She was able to wait near the ring, not right next to it, but near. She even walked into the ring on her own a time or two. And when I carried her in, I asked her to jump up, I don't remember her asking to be picked up. I always ask for the leap into my arms at the end of a run, but I could put her down to get her leash on and she didn't ask to be picked back up. Very happy with all that!

Standard was TONS better. I was more firm, but after the first day, I didn't notice I was overly so. She only ran by one obstacle in Standard, the teeter on Sunday. I could see her make the effort to turn back in to take something I asked when she thought she was going somewhere else. And she called off several tunnels.

We trial again in 2 weeks, then again the week after that (if we "need" to). I really would like to make the Invitational, but if we don't make it this year, we'll be there next year! I still am impressed that such a young dog is doing so well, so quickly. I think it's only because we ARE so close, that I really really want to go this year...Lonya deserves it.

Updates

2011-05-21T23:14:00.000-04:00

Once again, I've been slacking off on the blog!

A few weeks ago, Lonya got her AXJ at a trial in Palmetto. This was her first time there, and I was pleased overall with how she did. It was crowded, but she really didn't stress very much at all. Her JWW run for her Q was nice, but unfortunately, I didn't get it on video! Her other JWW runs were okay, she had weave issues all weekend and I caused an error or two! Standard is still a struggle. Her last run of the weekend, I got a little firmer with her and she settled in to work...I think I may be so worried about her stressing that she's getting away with only having to do what she wants... We trial 3 days next weekend, so we'll see what happens if I'm more firm with her.

Then, Lonya came into heat, so I had to pull her from a trial, which meant I could enter Sparrow in a CPE trial and run her for her C-ATCH. I was a bit worried about the heat, but didn't want to put it off. We ran in 3 runs each night. Night one, we ran in WildCard, Snooker and Jackpot. She Q'd in all 3, which gave her the last Jackpot Q she needed for her C-ATCH. It was non-traditional, and was set up well for Sparrow. I'm a big fan of jump combos for 5 points! You had to do the obstacles labelled 2, 4, 6, and 8 in order, but could do other things in between.

The second night, our first run of the trial was Jumpers...the last thing we needed for her C-ATCH. It was warm, and I was nervous. But, she ran well, even if it was a bit slow. We were under time though and she Qd for her C-ATCH! I was so happy that she got it, she's been running so well in the last few months. I handled it pretty well too, I only cried a little bit. I really wanted Sparrow's C-ATCH to be about her, and not about the missed opportunity with Kal...and I think I succeeded at that. My friends who were there were very supportive and happy for us also. And the ribbon she got was huge!! We also ran in Colors for a Q and Jackpot for an NQ (she got the distance, but was 1 point shy of minimum in the opening!)

The video of her C-ATCH runs is here.

We didn't do much of a victory lap, since it was hot, but she was very happy at the end!

Today, I went to a handling seminar with Lonya. She worked pretty well, even though it was hot and she's still a bit hormonal. She was a bit slower than normal, but I still learned a lot! We have a few things to work on...tunnel/contact descriminations, working the back side of the jump among others.

We have a trial next weekend, where I really hope to get a JWW Q....and our ticket to the Invitational!

Pasco Paws CPE, Day 3

2011-04-17T22:36:00.000-04:00

Today was our last day out of Pasco Paws. It was cooler out today, which was nice! I didn't even have to pull out the fan. Sparrow was 3 for 4 today, for a weekend total of 11 for 12! I think this is the best weekend she's ever had at a trial!

Our first run today was Colors. One course included the Aframe, the other didn't. Usually, I wouldn't have her do a contact in Colors, due to the time it takes her to do them. But, today, I really thought the course with the Aframe was the better one. It had a better weave entry (both courses used weaves) and it was one obstacle shorter. She ran it pretty well, it was pretty short and sweet. She Q'd for second place.

Next up was Standard. It was serpentine heavy, again! She really seemed to be getting over doing serps! She popped out of the weaves at the 10th pole, so we redid them. We probably would have been over time due to this, but I didn't really check it...since she NQd on the next to last obstacle. It was a tunnel/Aframe discrimination and she took the tunnel instead of the Aframe. I guess she was due to NQ at some point!

Next up was Jumpers. This was, to me, the run where I most wanted her to Q. Again, serpentines and 180s. Sparrow was really done with them at this point, and really slowed as she was being turned back and forth. Bless her for continuing on. She did finish the run well, and while she was a couple of seconds over time, she still was able to Q for 3rd place.

Last up was Snooker. This was a difficult course for me to decide what to do. I knew Sparrow was tired, so I wanted to try to find a course that was relatively smooth, but had her covering as little real estate as possible. I tried many different paths in the walk through, decided on one, only to discard it after watching some other people! I ended up running a path I hadn't walked, and while I was a little late with some of my handling, Sparrow did well and was actually got through the 7 in the closing! She Q'd for a second.

We went into the weekend needed 11 legs for her C-ATCH. We ended the weekend making as much progress as was possible for us, knocking out 9 of those legs! (And earning 2 legs toward her C-ATCH2). Sparrow only needs 1 Jumpers Q and 1 Jackpot Q now. Not sure when our next CPE trial will be, May (if Lonya comes into heat and I have to pull her from the AKC trial) or July.

Video being uploaded now...I'll post it later!

Pasco Paws CPE, Day 2

2011-04-16T18:54:00.000-04:00

Sparrow had another great day at Pasco Paws, even though it was warm out again. We did have a breeze though, so that helped a lot! Sparrow was 4 for 4 again, another perfect day!

Our first run was Jackpot, non traditional this time. There were several rules, but basically, there were 3 gambles you could do (for 15, 20 or 25 points). If you failed at the first gamble you tried (unless you did the hardest one), you couldn't attempt another one. If you did the first gamble you tried, you could try another, or just run for points. The 15 point gamble was a serpentine of 3 jumps, which should have been easy! Sparrow missed the second jump though, where she was supposed to jump back towards me. So, without crossing the line, I had to get her to go around to the BACK side of the jump and take it towards me. After a little coaxing (and some play bowing by Sparrow), she actually did eventually go around to the back and take the jump towards me, and we finished that gamble. But, that took a lot of time, and she once again jumped her dogwalk contact...so we were way short on points when the buzzer rang telling us we had 18 seconds to get to the table. So, I decided to try the 20 point gamble, which was a tunnel, jump, a-frame and jump. She did it without any trouble, but then saw her leash and ran to in instead of going to the table! After a second or two of me calling her, she finally got on the table. Course time was 48 seconds, she did it in about 47.5! The judge actually came over to check to see if she made time, and commented "wow, she actually got it!" She got 4th.

After Jackpot, Sparrow was very jazzed up so we played for a few minutes. She was play bowing, growling, bucking and just having an all around good time. A little of it was caught on video, so I'll include it when I edit the videos (probably tomorrow)

Next was Standard. It was a nicer course for us than yesterday's was. She ran pretty well, though she thought it was a little warm! She was really slow over the dog walk, but hit the contact. She also thought we were done right before the weaves, so it took a second or two to get her in them. But, she was the only 20" level 5 dog to run clean, so she took 1st place there.

Next was Colors. This judge REALLY likes serpentines! One of the color options had a serpentine, and that was the option I choose. I didn't like the other option, as it had both spread jumps in a path that I thought risked them being knocked. It was a pretty steady run, pokey but she got it done! She did like the 3 jump straight ending. She Q'd for 4th.

Last run today was FullHouse. Sparrow was a little tired it seemed, but she still worked well. I was the only one I saw who ran my path, which isn't unusual! With Sparrow, I need to minimize the real estate we cover while trying to get the most points we can. (The downfall of running a slower dog! But, she rarely knocks bars, which is nice!) We ran the course I planned, with one extra jump. I was happy with how well she ran and she Q'd, but no placement. This will be a Q used for her C-ATCH2!

One more day tomorrow, it's supposed to be a little cooler. And, no "speed" classes tomorrow...

Pasco Paws CPE, Day 1

2011-04-15T20:02:00.000-04:00

Sparrow and I have CPE this weekend. Lonya's staying home, I have to manage my entry costs and right now my focus with Lonya is AKC and the Invitational.

We did 4 runs today (and will do so each day). First was Jackpot. It was a traditional Jackpot, with a pretty decent path in the opening for Sparrow to get enough points...unfortunately, Sparrow had other plans! She was feeling pretty happy, and decided to take the dogwalk instead of a tunnel, so I had to adjust my plan. She didn't help by leaping over the down contact on it! We struggled a bit, but managed to get just enough points in the opening (well, 1 over the minimum needed). She got the send bonus without any really trouble, she actually has pretty decent distance work. She Q'd for 4th place.

Standard was next. The course was VERY tricky, with twisty parts and a tough weave entry. Sparrow was slow (it had gotten hotter), but she ran it without any errors. We were just under time, and she was the only 20" level 5 dog to qualify, so she got 1st place.

Jumpers was next. It was a nice course (would have loved to run it with Kal, I think he would have liked it), but not Sparrow's type of course. There were 2 serpentines, which aren't her favorite. She knocked the triple, which made her a bit worried as she doesn't like to knock bars. It took me a little bit to get her back running happy, but she did come back. She did both serpentines well, and didn't make any other errors. She Q'd with a 3rd place.

Full House was last, and I wasn't sure how we'd do. The course layout was pretty good for us, but it was hot, esp for Spar! Sparrow ran with decent speed considering the temperature, and we ran the entire course I planned with time to spare! She Q'd with a 4th place.

I really tried to do a lot to make sure I could keep Sparrow cool enough between runs, since she really doesn't like the heat. The temp today was in the mid 80s, not untolerable but warm for her. I think it worked... She had 2 cool mats in her crate, her cool coat, and a fan. I had 2 more fans in the van that I didn't need to use. I got to the site early so I could get a good spot to crate that would stay shaded all day. And, last night, I shaved her belly and chest. I think it worked, since she wouldn't pant for more than a few minutes after I put her away.

Palm Bay Agility Club trial

2011-04-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

Okay, got caught up on "old" trials, so here's the report from this weekend. We were in Vero Beach for 2 days, two warm days! Glad to say that Lonya will work well in the heat. No videos, I don't know a lot of people well in Vero and those that I do have dogs in Lonya's class.

Standard yesterday was okay. It was a really nice course, very doable. She missed a weave pole and ran around a jump. But, she did all her contacts and the table. I made sure to tell her to do them, not mean...but firm. No issues (either day). JWW was a very tricky course. I watched the big dogs run (before us) and dog after dog crashed and burned on it. She missed a cross and ran around a jump, and missed a pole again. But, she did have to really work to take some jumps that I didn't position her correctly for, which is nice to see. Some of them it definitely would have been easier for her to just run around.

Standard today was okay (seems to be our norm for now!). Again, she did her contacts and she got her weaves. Some squirrelyness in between. JWW was fantastic! She didn't Q, but it was one of those runs where the Q didn't really matter. She was on and really ran well. She dropped a bar when I rear crossed and said her name to make sure she turned. My fault! So, I tried a trickier approach to the weaves, which she did great! And she had a couple of really nice rear crosses later in the course (we worked on them in class this week). Her time was 9 seconds under course time, even with one really wide turn.

Lonya loves Jumpers right now. She definitely seems to love her "job". She's handling the stress better, though I do still carry her in to the ring most times, and always carry her out. It's part of our ritual now, and I like it (and she seems to also!)

I do think that some of her weave issues are caused by my poles at home. I have 22" spacing and most everywhere has 24" spacing in their trials. She is in the high 90% range on hitting her entries, but will skip a pole at about 7-8, which I think is when the difference in spacing catches up with her. A friend has a welder friend who makes 24" bases (and channels to boot!) at a great price, so that's where some of my tax refund is going. Not sure if my theory is right, but I may as well train how we trial!

Updates on Lonya

2011-04-09T23:10:00.000-04:00

I've missed a few trial updates...so here they are (I do like having them all in one place!) I am cheating again with the first couple of updates, copying from emails I sent!

March 19-20--Mid Florida Dalmatian Club trial in Brooksville

Lonya and I had 2 days of agility this weekend also, in warm and sunny Brooksville FL. I wasn't too sure how this weekend would go, as I was sick going into it (and went to Urgent Care after we got home today and have bronchitis and tonsillitis, yippee!).

I made a video of 3 of the runs, located here:

The first one was our 1 Q of the weekend, in Excellent A JWW. I did not handle this run very well, I was way overmanaging her. Partly because it was a tricky course, but mostly because I couldn't quite remember where we were going! When I came out of the ring, I told my friend who was taping (but didn't really know the course), "I'm not sure if I ran the right course, but she did everything I asked her to do!" I had to wait to see the score sheet to know that she Q'd.

The second run on the tape is JWW from today. She ran this REALLY nice as well, there was a lot of "handling" on this one. She didn't complete the weaves, which was her only error. She had 1 wide turn and 1 spin after an (unplanned) rear cross, but was still about 8 seconds under course time, which I was very happy about!

The 3rd run is Standard from yesterday. My head wasn't quite in it yet, and she took an early off course that I wasn't expecting at all. So, I was able to try some things that I may not have otherwise. The main one you can see is leaving her on the table. She "mostly" stayed, at least long enough for me to get into position. And I was really happy with how she handled the sequence from the tunnel after the table to the Aframe.

Standard today isn't on the video. She was VERY hyper...I was still fuzzy headed, you do the math! I did leave her on the table again though, this time she stayed until released!

Overall, I was very happy with her though. I'm thrilled that she was able to Q on a Excellent level course (and come close on another one).

April 2-Tampa Bay Agility Club, at KETCH

Lonya did very well today!  She qualified in Ex A JWW, for her second leg for her AXJ.  She ran really well, even though I can see that my handling still isn't quite right.  I was very happy that she got the turn into the weave poles!  Her standard run was better than they have been.  She had a couple of refusals, both on contacts.  I think I'm just assuming that she'll take them, and right now she still needs me to tell her to do them.  I was a little more firm about telling her to do the dogwalk, and she did that one fine.  And this is a trial site where she's not had very much success, so I was happy that she ran well there today.  Wish we were going back tomorrow!

Here's her run...

Lonya is Excellent now

2011-03-12T23:36:00.001-05:00

Missed updates for 2 trials, but Lonya is now in Excellent A in both classes in AKC!

We showed Vero Beach again at the end of February. She was much more comfortable in the hotel this time, which was good. She ran much better there also! Had some good runs on dirt for the first time. She Q'd in Standard on Friday, only ran around the table for her one refusal. Her Jumpers run on Saturday was really nice also, I didn't support a jump enough and she ran around it and took another for an off course. No videos from that weekend unfortunatley.

Last weekend, we showed in Mulberry for 3 days. I did email updates for that trial, so here they are! (Cheating I know!)

Friday...
Lonya started out day 1 of our 3 days of agility meeting my goal for the weekend! She Q'd in JWW today, for the 3rd leg needed for her OAJ! Her standard run was nice, but she dropped a bar (only the second I can recall since we started showing) and did the table an extra time. But, she had great contacts and weaves, and did go to the table when I sent her without running around it first. In the last two weekends, she's really come into her own, and wow, is it fun!

Sat...
Day two of the trial also went well. Lonya qualified in Open Standard, for her 3rd Q, so she now has her OA! She had 1 refusal, I need to get up in front of her better to direct her sooner. Her contacts were good. The teeter and dogwalk were great, the Aframe was good. She can't quite seem to stop in the 2 on 2 off, but is stopping right when she gets off..which means that at least she's thinking about stopping! (much better than launching from 3 slats above the yellow!)

Her Excellent JWW debut was really good. She didn't Q, but only had 1 refusal (I thought I could beat her down a line of jumps, I was wrong!). When I fixed it, she knocked the bar (wasn't a great set up). The course was TOUCH, not many dogs Q'd at all, across all of Excellent. She did really well with all of the "handling" areas, except the first time I had to wrap her...I think she thought we were done already!

Sun...
Lonya didn't Q today, but that's okay! She still had a great weekend. Her standard run was a bit of a mess, it was a tough, twisty course and it was just a little too much for her (and a lot of other dogs). I need to work on tunnel/dogwalk discriminations! JWW had some really good parts. She held a 2 jump lead out wonderfully, than ran behind me instead of turning, silly girl! But, she hit a weave entry that easily half the dogs missed...it didn't seem that difficult, but it was (it wasn't quite a 180 into the weaves, but it was close). She ran around the last jump also. We need to work on collection and turning too!


Here are a few videos from the IPOC weekend

Last weekend's trial

2011-02-24T18:56:00.000-05:00

I did one day of CPE last weekend, Saturday only (Sunday I went to the Daytona 500, great race, great time!!)

I entered Lonya in 3 runs, just for more exposure. She Q'd in Jackpot, where she got the "harder" distance challenge (even though I tried to send her to the easy one...I ended up quite far away from her at the end). She worked with me okay after that, and did a nice dogwalk contact. Her first Standard run was pretty good. Good DW and Aframe, but bailed on the teeter. Some baby dog errors too. Second Standard was okay, until the end. She just wouldn't take the Aframe, she was stuck in the tunnel vortex. I ended up downing her and taking her out...

Sparrow did great again! She Q'd 4 out of 5, and now only needs 11 legs for her C-ATCH. Her only NQ was in Jackpot, she was VERY close though. She got the distance no problem, but it was a hard course for use to get enough points on. She missed the down contact on her Dogwalk, and we ended up 3 points short. She Q'd in both Standard runs, even though she was slow. It was hot (for her) and she was pokey. Especially in the weaves! And, she did look at the judge a few times (she's a friend of ours!). Wildcard was okay, I had to ask her to weave twice, since I didn't like the 3rd #2 option. I normally wouldn't ask her for 2 sets of poles. And her snooker run was very nice. I was able to plan a pretty smooth course for her, and we needed to get through #6 in the ending to Q. She got all the way through though, so Q'd no problem.

Here's the video!

Here's what she needs for her C-ATCH...

3 Jackpot
3 Jumpers
2 Standard
1 Colors
1 Snooker
1 FullHouse

There are 2 trials in April...I can't do all the days of both (silly work gets in the way). But, if she runs perfect (in Jackpot and Jumpers at least), she could C-ATCH at the second one. Very exciting. I know I'll cry when she does it...and I hope that Kal will be watching.

Agility this weekend

2011-02-13T15:05:00.000-05:00

Lonya and I had 2 days of agility in Vero Beach this weekend. It was a new trial site for both of us, under cover on dirt. She hasn't run well on dirt so far, but did somewhat better this weekend.

Friday her JWW run had a REALLY nice ending but she had a couple of refusals and didn't get her weaves. She ran with me for the most part though, which was good. (She did have to go sniff the judge once).

Sat JWW was also pretty nice, she had some refusals, but did her weaves. No visiting though.

Friday Standard was a mess. She was not focussed at all. I struggled through it, but at some point I need to decide if pulling her should be an option...she never really settled in to work for this run.

Sat Standard was better, a little bit a least. I got a little more harsh with my voice when she started acting squirrely, and she settled a bit. She did her Aframe contact (both days actually), but totally flew off the teeter (coming out a tunnel to it).

I was a little frustrated on Friday after Standard. I know she can do this stuff, and that she just needs more exposure to trials, but I do wonder if I'm pushing too hard. She doesn't seem to be stressing, more just doing her own thing. I am interested in seeing if it's just the dirt or more than that...our next trial is on dirt, then a couple on grass.

We had our first motel stay, and she did pretty well. She was pretty clingy in the room, wanting to sleep ON me instead of just near me. But, Sparrow and Cheyenne are both pretty good travelers so I'm sure that helped.

Catching up

2011-02-06T00:14:00.000-05:00

I haven't been updating the blog very well! Things have been busy, which is good. This has been one of my only weekends where I don't have dog stuff...and I find myself torturing myself by re-reading all the stuff I wrote about Kal. I still miss that dog every single day... It will get easier at some point, I know. It has too. But, it still hurts a lot, and I feel gypped that I lost out on so much time with him, he was taken from me far too young. I still feel a pain when I see a male GSD...of any color. I really miss having one.

I'm waiting on Lonya's OFAs to come back. I'll call them again next week to see if her results are in. I hope it's my turn to have some good luck. I really want to have a litter. She's progressing in agility. She hasn't Qd in a couple of trials, but some of her runs have been close. She stands at 2 OAJ legs and 1 OA leg. We do our first overnight trial next weekend, where we'll stay in a hotel for a night. Not sure what she'll think of that! I plan to have a crate ready in case she can't settle!

Sparrow got her NA a couple of weeks ago. She needs one leg for her NAJ. Not sure I'll do much more AKC with her after that. I think she'll stick with CPE. She's doing great there, we did 1 day of CPE last weekend and she Qd 4 out of 5, running really well! Lots of fun for her. We need 15 more legs for her C-ATCH, then I think I'll just stay in level 5 with her and go for her C-ATCH 2 (or not, just let her play around).

Here's the video from that day...

I need to be better about keeping up with this...fingers crossed that I do it!

TBGSDC Trial

2010-12-19T02:42:00.000-05:00

This weekend, Lonya and I had 2 days of AKC agility.

It was at a new trial site, which has potential to be a nice site (and pretty close to home). The permanent rings aren't set up quite yet, and the footing in the rings we used was sketchy in some places. But there were lots of shade trees and lots of pretty close parking.

The first thing we had to take care of was getting Lonya's permanent height card. There were two "official" measuring people there on Saturday, so we could take care of it all in one day. I had bought some chicken lunch meat to use for the measuring, hoping the chicken would trump having to be measured. The woman judge (Rhonda Carter) measured us first. Lonya took chicken from her and settled pretty quickly. She was able to get a measurement pretty quickly, at 17.75". The male AKC rep (don't know his name right off) took a little more time for her to settle, she's not around men very much. She wouldn't take chicken from me with him there...but she did stop leaning in to me after a couple of minutes. He measured her at 16.625, which is short...don't know if he read the wicket wrong or what. I'm not sure if I should have questioned him or not... I think the first measurement is closer to her true one (I have her at about 17.5). But, both place her in the 16" height, so I was happy!!

Her first run (after a LONG wait) was in Jumpers With Weaves. She ran SO well! She's been popping out of the poles, so I wasn't sure what she'd do this weekend. It was a nice course, but the footing wasn't great. I think she was a bit tentative due to that (which is okay, I'm fine with a dog with some self preservation instincts!). The trickiest part was avoiding an off course tunnel. I had to call her off HARD, and she tucked the nubbin for a minute. But she recovered and finished strong. She placed 2nd and got her second leg for her OAJ!

The Standard course was tricky, with several twisty areas and another off course tunnel looming. Lonya's been jumping contacts, so I overhandled a bit on them, but she got them all! I wish I had video of this run, but wasn't able to get it. But, she ran steady and clean (with a couple of nice 180s). She did bounce off the tire, but went through the hole. It was the first obstacle, and I'm not sure if I had her set up quite correctly. But, she got her first leg towards her OA! And, she was the only dog in Open to qualify!!

On Sunday, we didn't qualify, but still had a good day! Her JWW run was first. The footing was again a bit tricky (it had finished raining about an hour or so before our run). It was a really nice course! Lonya was FAST and so I had to handle her at more of a distance, even layering a jump! She almost ran by a jump, but fixed it last minute. She didn't slow up when she hit the weaves, so skipped pole #2, but got it right when I fixed it. She got a second refusal at the last jump, she was so far ahead of me that she turned back for me to catch up. But, I was very pleased with this run overall. The video isn't great, but I wanted to post it anyway.

Standard was a much nicer course than yesterday! Lonya had a couple of baby dog moments. She ran by the teeter the first time but fixed it and needed to repeat the weaves again. Lots of dogs had problems in the area of the field where the weaves were, sniffing a lot. This wasn't Lonya's issue...she was just being a twit! She did have another nice call off the wrong side of the tunnel and she got all her contacts.

And I got a nice picture of her at the trial site!

Wish we were going back tomorrow, instead I have to work...

Weekend wrap up

2010-12-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

We did two more days of CPE at Pasco Paws, Sat and Sun.

Lonya was just crazy on Sat, she was having fun, but really not doing what I asked her to! She was really in to doing tunnels...lots of tunnels! Her Standard run was a mess, she didn't hit any of her contacts, wasn't even close on her frame and flew off the teeter. Her colors run was a little better...just a couple of extra tunnels!

Sunday she was a little better. We started in Standard again. Initially, she seemed like she was going to just go and do her own thing, so I got a little harsh with her. Nothing horrible, just called her name a little gruffly. She tucked tail for a second, then settled in to work WITH me...which is what I wanted. She did her Aframe and teeter, but ran by the dogwalk. It was raining during the run, so I didn't push it too much...I really just wanted her to run with me. Jumpers was pretty nice, just some baby dog mistakes...running by a jump or two and backjumping them.

Sparrow had some really nice runs! Saturday we ran Jackpot, Standard and FullHouse.

Her Jackpot was SO nice. It was traditional, and I didn't think she would be able to get the gamble. But, it had a nice opening for her, where she could get the opening points needed without too much difficulty. The gamble was a tunnel, 180 into another tunnel, jump and table. You could go at it from either side (there was a line on both sides), and you could start it whenever you wanted, but it had to be the last thing you did. If you finished the gamble in the opening time (before the first buzzer rang), you got bonus points. Otherwise, you had 10 seconds (I think) after the buzzer. Sparrow actually almost got some bonus points!! Not what I expected, but once I had enough in the open, I went for the gamble. She was one of the few dogs that got it, I was very proud of her. Many dogs missed that their handlers crossed at the first tunnel, or the handler stayed between tunnels one and two so the dog ran between. Sparrow turned correctly exiting the tunnel, and I had ran past tunnel two and was able to look through the hole to see her and call her through...it worked! She had a minor bobble going to the table, because her leash was in that chair. Very happy with her!

Her Standard run was nice also, except I sent her to the wrong tunnel entrance. My fault. Full house was good too, she was very happy and peppy (she likes this cool weather!). Again, I just ran to get enough points and get out of there...But it was a nice run. She got 27 points and had a couple more seconds before her buzzer rang.

Sunday she Qd in colors, with a really nice run. She actually placed above another dog who ran clean (doesn't happen all that often!) Sunday standard...poor girl had to run in a downpour. She did really well, and would have Qd had she not gotten spooked by the judge in her poncho. Sparrow stopped to bark at her before weaving...which put us over time. I had that run on video..but I accidently deleted it! Oops! And Jumpers, it was still rainy and she was a little scatterbrained. She ran around a jump or two and in fixing them, we went over time again.

On Saturday, my friends gave me a very nice surprise gift. They made Kal-El an honorary C-ATCH bar. It was a total shock, and of course made me cry. It really is great to have such a wonderful community of friends....

(The photos are the couple of Kal taken by Tein Tran...I wanted something to put above the bar in the photo)

Day 1 of Pasco Paws CPE

2010-12-10T20:57:00.001-05:00

Today we had CPE agility at Pasco Paws. Sparrow had 3 runs, Lonya had 2 (have to spread out the agility funds!)

Sparrow started out with Jackpot. It was non traditional, which is usually good for us. But, there was just too much real estate between the obstacles and we fell a few points short of the total we needed... I think it'll be Jackpot legs that we'll end up needing for our C-ATCH!

Standard was next for Sparrow. Very twisty turny course, AKC Excellent like. Sparrow doesn't like these types! She actually did pretty well, until obstacle 16, when she was just done with being jerked around. Screwing around getting her to jump 16 took too much time and she was over. But, she did do a beautiful rear on the flat to the weaves....

Her last course of the day was Full House. This one can give us trouble too, since it's a speed based class. It was a NICE course, no contacts to slow us down. I had a pretty good course in mind for Sparrow (which meant that Lonya was going to pretty much run the same thing...I don't remember two different courses very well...see the snooker runs from CPE Nationals for proof of this!) She ran fast and happy! We ended up with 32 points (which is high for her!) and 5 seconds to spare (never happens!).

Lonya's two runs were in Full House and Wild Card, level 2 in each.

Her Full House run was fun! We pretty much did the same route as I did with Sparrow. But, once we got to the end, I started to play around a bit and see what I could send her to. She ended up with 34 points...I think I may have a dog that I won't struggle in Full House quite as much with! I can see how much more confident I am with Sparrow than I am with Lonya...that'll come in time I'm sure.

Her Wild Card run was actually first today. And she was a little weasel! I wanted to do some contacts, so I was going to have her do the dogwalk, even though it set us up for the less smooth ending. But, I figured having to do the "harder" ending would be good for her also. Lonya had other ideas... She did the tunnel, jump instead! I had walked the course a couple of times with this option, just in case my contact sucking dog decided to tunnel suck instead... So, it ran pretty smoothly, just not what I planned!

We go back tomorrow. Again, 3 runs for Sparrow, 2 for Lonya

New Lonya photos

2010-11-20T20:24:00.001-05:00

Here are a few new photos of Lonya doing agility (of course). They were taken by Pix N Pages.

Here she is checking out the camera as she goes over a jump (or probably actually watching me!).

Here's another jump shot...

And one of her going over the A-frame. I like how she was set off against the sky here.

The Places We've Been

2010-11-19T21:52:00.001-05:00

I was thinking the other day, when I couldn't sleep, about the places Kal-El took me...

Kal took me into the conformation ring(UKC) for the first time. I was terrified, and I'm sure it showed. The judge was very nice and helped me present my dog better. He complimented Kal (not me so much though!). And, I later found out, caused a stir among some people when he put up a long coated WHITE shepherd over the standard colored GSD in group...the judge was Fred Lanting (Mr. GSD), and some GSD people weren't happy a white dog placed higher.

He took me into the obedience ring for the first time. I didn't care for it very much...and neither did he. He didn't like that I couldn't talk to him. And the stays...! Really, who could expect him to stay that far away from his momma! We got our UCD by the skin of our teeth (the judge had to actually look up the rules to see if Kal NQd on the stay!).

(I know, this is rally, but I don't have any obedience photos)

He took me into the herding ring for the first time. He took the instinct test, and it was magical to see him know what to do without any training at all. And, he did it without me! I was on the outside of the ring, watching. He got to "play" with sheep several more times, but we never did any formal herding.

He took me onto the flyball lanes for the first time. He LOVED flyball, and made me love it too. He usually ran anchor, mainly because the other dogs didn't want to pass him. He was big for a flyball dog...and if the pass was off, he was going to go anyway! He ran down for the ball...and even faster back to me, cause he was so far away when he was at the box LOL

And the physical places he took me. We trialed all over Florida in various sports: Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Lakeland, Zephyrhills, Davie, Montecello, Daytona, Palm Bay, Ocala, Williston, Kissimmee, Palmetto, and I'm sure I'm missing places.

We drove to Abilene Kansas twice for white shepherd specialties. We went to Perry Georgia for agility. We went to the GSDCA Nationals in St. Louis and followed that up with a trial in Lawrence Kansas. We went to Kalamazoo Michigan for the UKC Premier to show in Agility AllStars. We drove to Beaver Falls Pennsylvania for white shepherd Nationals. I'm not sure if I'm missing "out of state" trips..but that gives you an idea.

I know I'll continue to travel with the girls...and that they'll take me to new places. But, it's not quite the same without Kal riding in the crate behind my seat...

Time passes....

2010-11-15T07:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, time passes...but I don't think I've even begun to heal. It's been one month since my heart was shattered...and I don't think it's put itself back together very well yet. I still have moments where I feel like I've been punched in the gut...and the tears will still suddenly spring up out of nowhere.

Reading about an online friend who suddenly lost her agility GSD (to torsion) brought back all the raw emotion. I think having only hours to come to terms with the fact that your best friend couldn't be saved makes it all the more difficult to heal...

I'm trying, the girls need me to. And, they try. Sparrow is good at licking away tears, and Lonya will try to get me to laugh. Spar will bring me her ball or her bones...she gives me her treasures to try to help me feel better.

I feel the most normal at trials....and I miss him the most when I'm at home. When I'm out, or working, I can put aside my thoughts and memories and put up a pretty good front. But, at home, it really stands out that he's gone...he had such a presence in the house.

There's a saying (in songs and I'm sure in other places), that life's not about the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away. Kal took my breath away all the time...sometimes just looking at him was enough. He was such a beautiful dog...

Day 3 of IPOC

2010-11-08T06:09:00.000-05:00

I only showed Lonya today, in Open Standard and Open JWW.

We ran JWW first. It was kind of a tough course...lots of "stuff" out there with some twisty parts. But, the weave entry was set up perfectly just for Lonya! I heard some people complaining about it, but not us! It was a "c" shaped tunnel right into the weaves....which is what I've had set up in my backyard for ages! She ran it pretty well, some wide turning that made her really have to work for some of the jumps. I felt a bit frantic at times, since she's faster than what I'm used to and I couldn't get where I wanted a couple of times. You can see a place in the video where I bail on trying to get a front cross at the last minute! But, she was clean and got her first open Q!

(You can hear she has a bit of a fan club LOL)

Her Standard run was VERY nice also...just a couple of minor bobbles. She got a weave entry that a lot of dogs missed (again, including excellent dogs, similar if not the exact same entry). I told her "good girl" too early, at pole 11 and she didn't take #12. She did them fine when I asked her to redo them though. Then, she hesitated at getting on the table for a second refusal, so NQ. But, the rest was pretty darn good. She's SO close to Qing in Standard, it's only a matter of time!

Lonya got all her contacts this weekend, and got most of her weaves on the first try. Only knocked one bar. And, even after 3 days, she was still happy and bouncy!

I got a compliment from a total stranger too, which is always nice. She said that she'd been at the trial all weekend and she just wanted to tell me that it was good to see how I was always happy with my dogs after a run, even if they messed up. I do try to do that, they usually are trying hard to do it right...and if they have a bad day or a bad run, it just shows that they're not robots!

And, here is Sparrow's JWW run from Friday. I hope to get Lonya's from that day too, but it's not on my camera....

Day 2 of IPOC

2010-11-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

Another fun day at the trial...only teared up once (again, talking to another GSD person...). The dogs did well, even though we only got 1 Q.

Sparrow was a wild child in JWW. She did the puppy play bowing and galloping around...and in doing so, took out one bar! But, she did have fun...! Standard was later, but it was still cool. She ran very well, happy! She did have to stop to scratch an itch before weaves, but since it was Novice, it didn't even count as a refusal! She Qd with a first place!

Lonya didn't Q, but man, she sure had some nice parts of her runs. She was a little spooked going into the JWW run, so I altered how I started. I hadn't walked it that way, but I didn't think I was going to be able to get my leadout, so I didn't want to let her practice breaking it. I ended up pushing her past a jump, which she then backjumped. She needed to redo her weaves once also. But, man, she was running fast! I'm a little frantic with her out there, at least it feels like it! I didn't actually check her times today, I need to do that tomorrow....

She was a little flaky in Standard, but not as bad as yesterday. And, she walked into the ring on her own four feet! I have been carrying her in, since she seems less stressed that way. But, for Standard today, she didn't ask to be picked up at all. I was very pleased! She hit a tough weave entry the first time, and really had to try to curve enough to get into the second pole without skipping one. When I saw how fast she hit the entry, I figured she's miss the second pole and hit the third...but she got it! It was a very similar (if not the exact same) weave entry the excellent dogs had, and many of them missed the entry or missed the second pole.

Lonya's really coming along...she's quite the up and coming agility star!

On a different note...the emergency clinic that I took Kal to 3 weeks ago, sent me a sympathy card. While that is nice enough in and of itself...I was very touched that not only did the entire staff (or most of it) sign it, but the attending vet and vet tech that night wrote personal notes to me about Kal. It made me cry again, both commented on how sweet of a boy Kal was. Even when he was so sick, they could see how good he was...

Day 1 of IPOC

2010-11-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

We had agility today. The weather was beautiful and the trial site was nice. My friends had staked out a really good spot, and I didn't even need to set up my tent, since we had shade all day!

Lonya was entered in Novice JWW and Open Std. Her JWW run was very nice. And FAST!! Holy crap! She had a little bit of a lapse in the middle (I think she missed a rear cross?) but once I got her back (and after I managed to keep her from going off course!) she worked the end nice. Great weaves! And Q #3 for her NAJ! On to Open JWW tomorrow!

The Open Std course was nice, pretty doable (and not what I expected from this judge!). Lonya had some major puppy brain moments though, and we struggled through it. But, I was glad to see that she would retry the things she missed without apparent stress. And she did 12 weaves the second time through (she missed pole 2 the first time...which happens if she doesn't slow up when she enters). She got all her contacts too.

Sparrow ran in Novice Std and Novice JWW, preferred so 20" jumps. Her JWW run was very nice, she liked that it was so open. One refusal, but that was it. She Qd!

Novice Std, she was a bit mopey. I had got her out WAY too early!! I think by the time she ran, she thought we were just hanging out. Once I got her going, she ran well, but it was a bit of a struggle at first. But, she ended up Qing there too!

I only have a little video from today, I'll upload them later, probably not until Sunday night... Lonya's JWW run is on a friend's camera, so hopefully I'll get that in not too long.

There were a few more people today that I hadn't seen in the last three weeks...but I only teared up a couple of times. I really get choked up around other shepherd people for some reason. I guess it's because I know they know how special a shepherd is...

Totally unrelated, I bought Sparrow a new food bowl...and Lonya is able to retrieve this one. I know Kal is watching and is happy she's taken this over. It's a silly little thing, but I like it.

Logic versus emtion

2010-11-04T17:21:00.000-04:00

It was 3 weeks ago today that I lost Kal...how can that be??

Today started out much like that day...

I got up "early" to run some errands and to start changing my sleep schedule over to being awake during the day, before 3 days of agility...exactly like that Thursday. I was even going to pretty much the same places.

I was set to leave at about the same time even...and was going to do what I did then. Give the dogs some treats and feed them their normal meal when I got home, which would be closer to their "normal" time.

But, part of me was scared that I'd come home to a sick dog again...I KNOW that giving Kal cookies before his meal didn't make him sick...it didn't give him hemangiosarcoma...it didn't cause his spleen to rupture. But, I couldn't leave without feeding the dogs...even though it means I'll have to feed them again before I go to bed so they don't go too long between meals. There's no logic with doing that...none at all. But, the thought of leaving the house without feeding them turned my stomach. Silly isn't it??

I also "almost" used my Wii Fit for the first time since I lost Kal...but then I realized that I need to decide what I want to do with Kal's "Mii"s on it. Kal is a dog on it, and also a person (it was easier to weigh him as a person, since I didn't have to pick him up that way). Both Kal the dog and Kal the person show up all the time in the games...I don't know if that'll be a comfort or a dagger... I'm thinking to probably delete the person and keep the dog??? Then he'll still get to run with me...but I can't deal with that now...so I didn't use the Fit. Good thing I have other exercise games!

The United White Shepherd Club put a full page memorial to Kal-El in their latest newsletter. That was unexpected and a surprise. It was very nice of them to do.

3 days of agility this weekend, AKC style. I'm running Sparrow in Novice Preferred Std and JWW for 2 days and Lonya in Open Standard and Novice JWW all 3 days. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, it's raining now but that's supposed to stop overnight. Hoping for a Q or 2!

Weekend Trial

2010-10-31T22:19:00.000-04:00

Lonya and I had AKC agility this weekend. I think I'm very glad that I had agility this weekend and have it next weekend too. The distraction it provides is very needed....it's still difficult to be at home sometimes. And I went out to dinner with friends, and that helps too...I don't have much of a appetite now, but when I'm out I do better.

There were several people at the trial this weekend who hadn't heard about Kal-El yet...or who hadn't had a chance to talk to me yet about him. So, more word got around this weekend. I appreciate those who want to talk to me about him, and are okay with me tearing up. And I also can understand the people who don't quite know what to say... But, it is good for me to run the dogs...it helps me forget for a bit. Though, I do still feel a bit guilty that I'm out having fun without Kal... That's gonna happen though.

So, the trial. Lonya was just awesome!! She has grown up SO much in the last few months, I'm kind of thinking it's been since her second heat cycle. She's more "dog" now than "puppy". She still has puppy moment, but it really seems like she's figured out her job.

She was in Novice Jumpers With Weaves and Novice Standard on Saturday. We ran Jumpers first. She did very well! She did blind cross me (she thought we were going one way and crossed behind me to get back on track.). She also called off a tunnel well, even though she slipped when she did it. She only ran around one jump and got her weaves on the first try (which she actually did all weekend!). She Qd for her first NAJ leg!

Standard was also very nice. I choose to run it differently than most people, what else is new. But, I thought the "normal" way of running the opening risked a collision at the exit of the tunnel, which I didn't want to do with her. So, I ran behind the tunnel, so I didn't have to cross. Slightly longer for me, but it worked great! (I love it when that happens! LOL) She ran around the AFrame the first time for a refusal. She also got a refusal at the teeter, but it was 100% totally MY fault. I front crossed her, which she did great!, and ended up out of position. I heard the judge laugh when I told Lonya as we were running that that refusal was all my fault! But, she still Qd and that was the 3rd leg for her NA!!

Sunday, we had Novice JWW again and I moved her to Open Standard. Jumpers was great again!! She held a 2 jump lead out. She did go sniff the ring crew for a second (he was sitting right where she was running toward him after landing). But, she got back on track quickly. She again, ran around one jump (when I rear crossed), but fixed it well. She Qd again for her second NAJ leg.

Standard was a tough course, it only had a couple of changes from the Excellent course (from what I could see since I didn't walk the Excellent course). I really didn't think she'd have much chance on it, but figured we could see what we could do. She came VERY close to Qing!! She had 1 refusal and 1 off course. I thought you were only allowed one mistake, so had thought we had NQd already. I was wrong, but it didn't really matter since I still ran her like normal. She ended up NQing on the table, when she jumped up on me! She got all the hard stuff and NQd on a silly thing!! She didn't run by the frame and did 12 weaves for the first time in competition. I was thrilled with her!

I'd like to get her weaves faster, and need to work a bit more on the Aframe. But, man, she really impressed me this weekend.

CPE photos

2010-10-29T03:10:00.000-04:00

Sparrow:

My favorite photo of Sparrow

Overjump anyone???

Pretty girl

Tire shot

Who says you need to see where you're going?

Lonya:

Over!

Only one paw on the teeter (makes me cringe a bit!)

She's a gazelle!

A nice tire shot

Turning over the jump

Catching up to Mom!

Happy happy girlie!

Another tunnel shot

I love the nubbin sticking up in this one!

Heading your way!

Concentrating in the poles.

Ups and downs

2010-10-26T06:51:00.000-04:00

Some days are better than others...this one was one of the better ones.

The girls gave me some excitement when I got home...Sparrow and Lonya somehow managed to catch a small bunny in the back yard. I thought they were just playing chase with each other...and when the screaming started, I got a bit freaked! Fortunately, they were in one of the areas where there is some light, so I was able to see they had something. I was able to call them off it and it kind of stumbled a bit...that was too much for Lonya, so I had to pick her up. Sparrow called off it a second time. It was kind of hobbling away, so I put the two of them (Chey was oblivious to it all) in the house to see if I could catch it. Of course, I couldn't find it when I got back out there (much to the girls chagrin...they were raising a ruckus in the house!). So, I got Lonya's leash and let her track the bunny and lead me to it. That actually worked! So, back in the house for her and I caught the bunny in a rubbermaid. I took it to the marshy area across the street and let it go. It hopped away, so I hope it'll be okay. Man, I hate the noise rabbits make! This is only the second time I can remember hearing rabbits scream...it's not a good sound!

Still haven't found Kal's leash, but I didn't get as much done around the house this past weekend. Hopefully I'll find it this weekend.

Another favorite Kal memory...I have some running pants that I usually wear to agility trials. I have several different pairs. I like them because I can wear shorts under them and they have zippers at the cuffs so I can get them off over my shoes easily. Kal knew that these were "dog show pants". If I put them on, he just KNEW we were going to a trial...and he wouldn't go to his room. If I happened to want to wear them for another reason (like to go birding or somewhere else where I'd want to be able to change quickly), I couldn't put them on until after I put him away...otherwise he would try to insist that he was going with me...after all, I was wearing the dog show pants!

The goofy things that made me love my boy...

Not a good weekend

2010-10-22T21:44:00.000-04:00

I brought Kal's ashes home tonight...I know it's not really him, but still, many more tears. It's been that way much of the weekend though...I guess I feel that I don't have to pretend at home. I don't have to put up a front that everything is okay, cause you know what, it's NOT okay! I'm not okay. The situation is not okay. Nothing is okay.

I took Kal's stuff out of the van and put it away. I also put away his CPE score sheet and the vet report. I got some photos printed up for that picture frame, and may have some others to choose from soon too. His leash wasn't in the van, so it must be in the house somewhere. I'll try to find it tonight.

So, I need to write some happy memories...

Kal liked most people, but there were a few people that he really loved...that he included in his inner circle. Our trialing partner Cherie was one of his most favorite people. He would always get SO excited when he saw her at a trial, he'd lunge and pull me towards her, moaning and yowling at her. We'd have to watch to make sure he didn't hurt her or knock her over! Cherie let me and my dogs camp with her in her camper. We had to block my dogs into part of the camper away from where Cherie was sleeping, or Kal would go check on her throughout the night. We would always laugh in the morning, when we got up. It was like Kal-El would forget while he was sleeping that we were camping with Cherie. When he realized that he was in the camper with Cherie, he'd get so excited he could hardly stand it. He'd whine and try to get to her to say hi, and the thumping his tail would make on the sides of the camper seemed loud enough to wake up everyone else! He really made sure his friends knew that he liked them!

He had his eating and drinking quirks too. He never ever swallowed that last lap of water...he'd walk away with it dripping out of his mouth. After slipping and almost falling several times, I figured out where to put the water bowl for my safety. I had to put it between the toilet and the tub, so when he was done, he had to back out of there. That made him drip (mostly) over the bathmat.

Until Lonya came along, every time Kal would eat, he'd have to go rub his face on things right after he was done. He preferred his bed or a pillow, he'd make do with a blanket or laundry if he had too. And, if nothing was available, he come to me so I could rub his face for him. I think he didn't like having the food in his teeth., where it would get stuck up by his molars. Once Lonya came along though, she would take care of that for him! She would come up to him and, even though he'd growl and snarl at her, she'd put her head in his mouth and lick his teeth to get all the loose food out. He would sound like he hated it, but he let her do it every time, and I think he actually liked it! I thought as Lonya grew up, she'd stop doing this, but she didn't...she'd always go clean his teeth for him.

Day by day

2010-10-21T06:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a bad day...I was fighting back tears much of the night at work and was just in an overall depressed state. Today was better...though still not great. I'm surprised how sometimes I can talk about Kal and what happened so easily, without tears or emotion...other times I can't hardly think about him without choking back tears. I think the numbness is starting to wear off...

I "need" to do a few things this weekend. I came across Kal's cool coat in the van over the weekend. I need to move that out of there. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but for now, I'll put it away...out of sight. I need to record the girls Qs from last weekend...but I know that Kal's record sheet is right there with the girls' sheets. I need to put that away out of sight too. And I need to find Kal's leash. It's been missing for a little while, but now I really want to find it, again, to put it out of sight so I don't stumble across it in a few weeks or months. The leash will probably go with Kal's ashes in his urn, when I get it. I don't actually have his ashes back yet, but expect that I should get them soon. I may call the clinic to see when I can figure for them to get them back...

I bought a picture frame at the trial last weekend, and I want to find the perfect photo for it. I have a couple of CDs of photos to go through. And if I can't find it there, I'll start going through the photos online from the various photographers from the trials.

And, I want to make a memorial page for Kal-El on my website. This will be very very hard...I have a couple of poems/sayings for it and a general idea of what I want to do...but I think moving Kal's name from under the "white shepherds" heading to "in memory" is going to hurt a lot.

The girls are doing well. Lonya has started to pick up the food bowls for me if I ask her to, though she doesn't like Sparrow's (I think it's too smooth). And Sparrow is moving into her role as Cheyenne's hearing ear dog. I've been leaving Sparrow in the dog room with Cheyenne when I leave, and Spar's getting better about going to that room. Chey definitely seems calmer having Sparrow with her, which is good. I'm toying with the idea of moving Lonya's crate to that room also, to have them all together (and give me more room in the living room), but that'll wait a week or two.

It's a short weekend for me this week, which is probably good. And the two weekends after are both agility weekends, also probably good. I think keeping busy is best for me right now...

Sigh...

2010-10-19T06:31:00.000-04:00

The first night at work wasn't too too bad. A few tough moments, but it's done.

It was hard to get home and not hear Kal yodeling for me. When I would put my key in the door, I always would listen for Lonya moving in her crate in the living room and Kal yodeling in the dog room. It was always such a nice welcome home...!

One of the other things he would do on work days, if I was carpooling, is wait for the car to get to the driveway. I'd open the blinds so I could see when he got here, and Kal would watch with me. It was the only car, other than mine, that Kal wouldn't bark at. He'd sit or stand at the window, and as soon as he saw the car, he'd wheel around and run back to his room....sometimes he'd let me know the car was there because he'd be hauling ass down the hall way..he wanted his cookie! (They all get cookies when I leave to go to work). He was starting to teach this to Lonya...she would wait with him at the window.

Favorites and memories

2010-10-18T05:24:00.001-04:00

I know that parents aren't supposed to have a favorite child...and dog owners aren't supposed to have a favorite dog. But, I think we all know that it's just impossible for there to not be a favorite. What does it say about a dog when he was so heavily your favorite...that now that he's gone, you don't really know who's your favorite now? Don't get me wrong, I love my girls dearly. But God, I loved that boy. There's just something about a big goofy shepherd boy. They are such momma's boys...especially when their mom is the only person in the house.

Kal seemed to know the silly things that he did that made me laugh...or just love him even more. Simple things, like the "lean"...he was a pro at the shepherd lean. He'd lean so hard into my legs that if I moved, he'd almost fall over. And he would lay with me in bed, and look at me upside down, with his head flipped all the way back, and wag his tail. That killed me every time, so so sweet. Or when he really wanted something, he would sit very prim and proper...just wagging the very tip of his tail. And, for whatever reason, it just tickled me to no end to see my big white boy playing with squeaky toys. He was generally such a dignified dog...but if he had one of his favorite squeakies, he'd be just like a puppy again. I'm sure there are a million more....

I've had a few people mention that they aren't able to read this blog, and I understand that. I'm barely able to write it... But, I do believe that a part of me is afraid that I'm going to forget some of the little things as time passes, and that's so not fair to Kal. He deserves to have every little thing remembered...every quirk, every nuance, every accomplishment.

I have to attempt to reenter the "normal" world tomorrow. Fortunately, I think (hope) my co-workers all know what happened, and they're all animal people who know how important Kal was in my life.

Trial today and other stuff

2010-10-17T22:50:00.000-04:00

Today was better than yesterday. Not quite so many tears, and no real meltdowns. It was still hard, but it was good for me to be around people...and not in the house. It's hard to be in the house... Long drives are hard, I wept most of the way to the trial. I wore a new pin that a friend gave me...it's a pewter dog angel. It was a nice reminder of my boy.

I felt better running today...though still guilty that I was at a trial without Kal. Sparrow had 2 runs, snooker and colors. They were the 2nd and 5th classes. Snooker was in the AM, when it was still pretty cool out. There was a decent path that involved doing all tunnels in the opening, with a back to back tunnel after the last red (as a tunnel was #2). Nice smooth closing too. Sparrow was SO happy this run. I don't think she quite believed me when I kept sending her to tunnels! She did the puppy gallop and was just a crazy girl after the run. I took her to an open area and just played with her after she was done...she was bucking, running to the end of her leash, play bowing, growling, just all out being a nut job. She Q'd with a second place. Her colors run was alright. It was a tough course, you had to choose a difficult weave entry bypassing a tunnel or a 3 jump sequence doing two tight 180s. And it was hotter out! I choose the weave one, and Sparrow wasn't too happy that I called her off the tunnel! She ran around one jump, but I fixed it. She ended up Qing, one second over time.

Lonya did very well also. She had 2 runs too, standard and jumpers. 3rd and 4th classes of the day. Standard she NQ'd early (wasn't even CLOSE to hitting the down contact of the dogwalk!) so I played a bit. She caught a front cross well and did her weaves the first time. She ran by the Aframe again, so I did make her fix that. She did it fine the second time. I can't really remember much else about that run...but it was fun. Her Jumpers run only had one mistake, which I had her fix. It was a really nice, smooth, fast course. She missed the first tunnel entry, twice. When she missed it the second time, I was a little harsh in getting her attention back to me, but she responded and did the tunnel. The rest of the course she did very fast! And I could see her make a decision to take a jump rather than run around it...she had to change her direction at the last moment to take it. Her time was 24 sec, course time was around 37...so even after screwing around at the tunnel, she was well under time. She Qd with a first place. She's really matured a lot in the last few months...and it was nice to hear several people tell me that.

Chey seemed stressed when I got home, though she wasn't howling when I got here (like she was yesterday). There were some interesting things that happened not too long after I got home. At one point, I saw Lonya cleaning Chey's eyes and face. She used to do this to Kal...never saw her do it to another dog. Chey tolerated it for a bit, then was done and told Lonya so. Lonya persisted and Chey snapped at her. Sparrow got between them, then sucked up to Chey. Lonya left Chey be after that.

When I went out for a short time a while later, I decided to leave Sparrow in the dog room with Chey (Spar normally goes in my bedroom). Spar was a bit confused, but once she got her cookies, she was fine. She didn't seem too put out when I got home, and Chey definitely seemed happier. I think Kal was Chey's ears, more than I realized. Chey can't hear me get home, and I end up surprising her when I open the door to let her out of the dog room. So, I'm hoping Sparrow will be okay with being Chey's new ears...

Beginning to heal

2010-10-16T21:44:00.001-04:00

We went to the agility trial today. It wasn't easy, and I almost turned around right before I got there. The first couple of hours were hard...very hard. There were lots of tears and lots of hugs and lots of stories about my boy. Several people mentioned that he was the first white shepherd that they had ever seen, how beautiful he was, and how he was such a good dog. Fortunately, the word had gotten around on Friday, so most of the people there that I know, already knew. I did okay most of the day. I had one major meltdown, that fortunately was only witnessed by one person (or others who saw were kind enough to pretend they didn't). And I think my sunglasses hid the minor random tears triggered by things. Walking out onto the standard course for the walk thru prior to Lonya's run was hard...my next standard run was supposed to be Kal's.

My girls did very well, better than I was expecting, especially Lonya. Sparrow ran both her runs first. Her Jackpot was very nice. She was slow in the opening, her feet seemed a bit sore from her allergy. But, she was the first dog of the class to get the gamble. And gambles are not her specialty. She was one point short of what she needed in the opening, but it was a nice run. Her colors run was pretty good also, she ran around one jump and I choose not to fix it. We weren't running for Qs today, we were running to try to get things a bit back to normal.

I wasn't sure I would run Lonya at all...she's still so new to the sport, I wasn't sure it was fair to her to ask her to run when I wasn't myself. I decided to try it and just go in and ask her to run, but not fix things. She did so so well. Both runs would have been Qs if I had fixed her single bobble in each. Her colors run was really nice, she ran around a jump...when I front crossed I think. But, the rest of it was fast and clean. She almost ran by another jump, but fixed it. Her time was under 14 seconds, course time was around 30. Her other run was Standard, she again, only made one error. She ran around the Aframe, there was a frame/tunnel discrimination and I actually thought she was going to take the tunnel. I think she realized that was incorrect so just skipped the whole thing! She caught a front cross really well, got her weaves on the first try, and was fast! Under 39 sec when course time was 70.

No videos today, I didn't ask anyone to tape. I wasn't sure what would happen, and didn't really want video evidence if I couldn't run and had to leave.

I can't believe Kal hasn't even been gone for two days yet. I woke up this AM at almost exactly 24 hours after I let him go... I'm seeing a couple of changes in the girls, mostly Sparrow. I think she is trying to move into Kal's role of being our protector and leader, though she doesn't want to. I hope that Lonya is able to take over soon..a lot to ask of a young dog, but I don't think Sparrow will be good at this job. Sparrow has never been a dog that lunges or barks at dogs when she's in her crate, but she did that several times today...twice at a BC pup. The pup had played with Lonya earlier, and that seemed to concern Spar, even though the play was very appropriate. She just doesn't quite "get" what she needs to do, which doesn't surprise me, as Sparrow has never been an overly protective dog. If she seems something outside that needs barked at, she would bark once to alert Kal, than let him take over. I have a feeling that as the days go by, I'll be finding more and more things that Kal did to keep things running smoothly.

I plan to write about Kal here quite a bit...it's actually been good for me to write about him...even though it makes me cry. Part of me feels guilty that we went to the trial today without him...but I really to think that he was there watching us, and telling his sisters to go easy on me this weekend. I miss him so so much...

Losing my boy

2010-10-15T20:14:00.000-04:00

What can you say about the best dog that you've ever owned...and probably the best one you ever will own? Kal-El was my heart dog, the first I've had. The moment I saw him at the airport, I knew he was put on this earth to be my dog. He's the dog I never should have had. I wasn't supposed to get him, but the litter I had planned on was a false pregnancy. So, Ronda found me Kal. It was meant to be. Kal was a dog that would do anything that I asked of him...and I "trained" him to do several things by only asking him. Some of his jobs were to find the cats and pick up the food bowls. I never taught him this...I really don't know how he knew to do it.

He was the first white shepherd to do lots of things in our area. He introduced a lot of people to the fact that german shepherds DO come in white. I constantly have people come up to me at trials and talk to me about him...people who I don't know at all. He was that kind of dog, the kind you remembered. He was the first white shepherd to get a UACHX and a UGRACH, and was one leg away from being the first to get a C-ATCH. In my heart, he got that C-ATCH. The titles and accolades are all great, but it was the experiences he gave to me that will live on with me.

I could tell stories about Kal for hours...and still never scratch the surface about what made him, him. He was good with all people, but if you were one of his special friends, watch out! There was risk he'd almost knock you to the ground in his exuberance to get to you to say hi. He was good with dogs too, he liked to play with dogs of all sizes, but if a dog snarked at him, he got his feelings hurt. Only on a very rare occasion would he snark back, and that was only if he thought one of his sisters was being threatened. I often jokingly called him my "perfect dog"...but really, it wasn't much of a joke. He was almost perfect.

Kal loved to "work", no matter what I asked him to do, he tried his best. He was a great agility dog, not the fastest one out there, but he was steady. He saved many of our runs by making up for my poor handling. He was a great JWW dog, which given his size, still surprises me. He LOVED flyball, and I'll never forget people asking me if he was a wolf at our first tournament. And the surprise of some people that we were running an intact male shepherd. He loved to go get his ball...but then realized how far he was from me and would come running back even faster. He really liked Rally too, more than I did actually. It was to be our retirement sport.... Regular obedience wasn't his favorite, he hated the stays..that was too far for him to be away from me. And an out of site stay, you're crazy if you think he'd stand for that! Conformation was only "okay" also...while he may not have been the "best" conformation dog, his outstanding temperament won over several judges. He did have fun the couple of times he got to play with goats and sheep.

His decline was swift and painless for him. Less than 24 hours before his death, he was playing fetch with me in the backyard. It is a blessing for him, I would have hated to see him suffer or linger on with a disease. But, man, it is so hard for me. I still hear him moving about the house, and I keep checking his sleeping spots for him. I'm grateful that he waited until Thursday so I could be with him. If I had been working Thursday night, I would have most likely come home to find him already gone. I truly believe he waited so I could give him permission to go...and at the end, he still didn't want to. It was probably the one time where he was deliberately trying to go against my wishes. He was that type of dog...my right hand man and my son.

I hope that some day, hemangiosarcoma becomes a disease that we can say our dogs USED to die of. I somehow knew that that is probably what would take Kal, I just didn't know that it would be this soon. The suddenness of it all is shocking....it feels like I've been punched in the gut and I cry a lot. The girls are handling it well, they somehow know that he is gone. They're not looking for him or crying for him (like they did when I took him to get neutered). They're more concerned about me, especially Lonya. She doesn't understand why I'm crying all the time and it's upsetting her. I'm not sure if she thinks she's the cause or not...but I'm trying to give her extra attention. And Sparrow, bless her, is being a great big sister, playing with Lonya and distracting all of us.

If people want to share a memory of Kal, I'd be glad for you to do so here. I really have appreciated all of the notes and messages from everyone...it helps more than you know!

Lonya's first AKC trial

2010-09-27T00:34:00.000-04:00

Lonya had her first AKC trial this weekend! I went into the weekend hopeful but realistic. I know that I have lofty goals for this girl, but I also don't want to put too much pressure on her too quickly!

I am either getting better at managing her stress level at trials or she is adapting to the hectic environment. I keep her away from the start gate until we're next up, so she's not crowded there. And when we go to enter the "ready" area, I carry her in and set her down. While we wait, I try to get her to play with me as a stress release. And, at the end, I have her leap into my arms, and I carry her out past the spectators then put her down and take her back for her cookies. What I really liked is that today, in one run she was a little stressed going into the ring. But, when I put her down, I could see her relax and go "oh, I know how to do this stuff". She is learning!

So, her runs. She was entered in two days, two runs each day. One Jumpers With Weaves and one Standard.

Saturday Jumpers With Weaves. I was nervous!! And it showed. LonLonLonLonLon Really? I don't do that normally... She did pretty well, the course wasn't too difficult. She only NQd due to the back jump (no off courses allowed in JWW). I was happy to see she got her weaves on the first try (after calling her off the off course jump!). And, she visited the ring crew for a minute. Nice rear cross at the end though!

Saturday Standard I was really very happy with this run. She had good contacts, the dogwalk looked "different" to some dogs and the slats on both the walk and the frame were bigger than she's used to seeing. She had refusals on the broad jump and the tire, both are obstacles she hasn't seen that often before. But she did the chute really well! Not sure why I told her to sit on the table...when I've been training an automatic down. I think I panicked when it looked like she was about to jump off it! She did end up Qing this run, with a 90 and a second place. Leg 1 towards her NA!

Sunday Jumpers With Weaves It was really hot and I should have wetted her down. She was really distracted for this run. I really think I also need to work more jumpers courses with her, we mostly work on Standard courses. I probably should have just called it and not made her do the weaves...but it's hard to think like that in the ring (for me at least). And I wanted her to push through her distractions... Another nice rear cross at the end.

Sunday Standard I wasn't sure what to expect. I did wet her down before this run, so at least she was a bit cooler. She had a very nice opening, and called off the Aframe to the teeter pretty well (though I was surprised we didn't get a refusal on the teeter). Some weave problems again, but she did them. Again, probably should have just moved on..but it's hard when you "know" they can do it! Not sure why she skipped the aframe, unless it was because I had called her off it the first time she went to it. And a very nice last four obstacles. She Q'd with a 95 and a second place. Leg 2 for her NA!

So, it was a very successful weekend, more than what I was expecting! She could get her NA much quicker than I anticipated! We're not ready for Open right now, not sure where we'll be at in a month or two. I need to work on more handling type stuff and Jumpers courses. I'd like to speed up her weaves a bit too, but I think that is a confidence thing!

New Blog

2010-09-26T23:54:00.000-04:00

I can't figure out how to access my old Blog, it's linked to an old email account. So, I'll start over! I'm going to be realistic this time and figure to only use it to post trial results...so I have somewhere to keep track! I may do other stuff too...but don't count on it!