The Westover Pug & Pap Pack

Mt Nittany Feb 2012

2012-02-07T05:22:00.000-08:00

Just too busy lately to write much, but I'm so proud of my little Indy. She qualified for 2013 nationals in just a few trial weekends!

mysterious Indy

2011-11-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

So, Indy has been a bit of a mystery. For pretty much her whole agility career she's bounced between beautiful, fast, independent weaves and no weaves at all. It just sort of cycles, lasting for weeks at a time. The last two trials were we at, no weaves. she gets the entry and at least the first six and then comes out somewhere, typically it happens when she's on my left and she always comes out on the far side of the weaves (away from me).

Massage therapist has scared me death, says she's a mess. Thinks it's related to a minor soft tissue issue. She's very tight in her right hip, which is causing almost her whole body to be a tight mess and she's thinks Indy's mental over the whole thing and worries about it possibly hurting, even when it's not.

Chiropractor found an issue with her lumbar adjusted it easily, doesn't thinks it's going to be an issue. He also thinks that's why she slips so badly when running on matting. I like his diagnosis better!

Bottom line something has been going on, Indy's a good girl, she knows how to weaves, I think she likes to weave, so there has to be a reason for this to keep popping up every so often.

2012 Agility nationals

2011-09-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

Indy earned QQ # 6 a while back.....which means she's qualified for nationals and we're going!!

I went back and forth about it....should we, shouldn't we, are we really ready, will she do well, it's really far, it's really expensive blah blah blah, but I finally just stopped and decided, we are going.

It's almost always far away, what difference does it make once you get on a plane!
We are ready, she has just as good a chance as any other dog there to do well
I can't think of a better excuse to take a vacation
We still have lots of time to improve

Been busy

2011-09-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

We've been busy lately. Not with anything out of the ordinary, just enjoying some cooler summer weather.

We took all of august off from agility trials, although I did a bit more training than I normally do.

I went to a Lanny Bassham mental management seminar. I've never been one to get nervous, I don't know if it's because of my years competing in gymnastics or performing in ballet. but when I'm at a trial it's all about me and my dog. I just try to do my job to help give them the best experience as possible. Making it fun and making sure they always know where they're going as quickly as possible......but I don't know that I'm the best at setting appropriate goals and really making a plan and working towards them. I also tend to be very hard on myself, and brush off compliments. I'm really working on improving this.

We had our first trial since our break last weekend, and I'm pretty happy with how we did. I took some chances with things, some worked, some didn't, but I think it's important to do things that are outside of your comfort zone. You get stuck in rut and really limit your dog if you let yourself be afraid to try new things, and now is a great time for me to try new things. Indy is still a baby, not even three, but really loving everything about agility.

I set a goal to improve our average yps in both std. and JWW and we made great progress. all of our Jumpers runs were over 5. yps, with one run being 5.6

We're going to try to go on a longer all-day hike this weekend and then we have 3 day trial next weekend.

Hoping for Fall to come soon. I love Fall!

conditioning VODs

2011-07-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

I took advantage of a couple of the video on demand dvds that clean run has, strengthening your performance dog and stretching your performance dog. Both are pretty good, not so long that my short attention span starts to wander. There wasn't a ton in the strengthening one that was news for me. We already do most of the things listed, and I have to admit the section on "dancing" your dog kind of freaked me out. the dogs just looked like they were hanging on for dear life.....I'm not a professional, so I assume they were fine, although funny to watch.

The stretching dvd was great though. I've never done much of anything like this, so it was all new. watching it, I assumed no way would my dogs be too cooperative, but to my surprise so far they seem to really enjoy it. I've only done it with Indy and Abby, but Kittie's next. Both times I've done it, Indy's spent the next 30 minutes sprinting around the house/yard. stetching = a very frisky Indy.

Will have to see if it goes over as well at trials, there's a shortened version to use before & after runs included.

This, that & a QQ

2011-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Went to the golden retriever club trial this past weekend. It's held at my favorite trial venue, the Pittsburgh indoor sports arena. Field turf, LOTS of room around the rings and for crating, air conditioning, a creek to play in near by and it's only about 20 minutes from home. Sadly this was the last trial of the year being held there.

Indy picked up another QQ on Friday, we messed up our standard runs on both sat. & sun. On Sat. I front crossed at the end of the dog walk, (late I'm sure) and she didn't pick up on it and ended up behind me, and we danced around for what felt like 5 seconds with her behind me, not knowing where the heck she was supposed to go. Then she came off the table. On Sunday, I was too focused on her finishing the weaves (she did) that I had no idea where I was and pulled her off the correct jump. She did get 2 Ex B JWW legs though, finishing her MXJ title!!

Indy hurting her back has got me really thinking about conditioning, and proper warm up/cool down I always do a fair bit for conditioning, but I'll admit I'm not great about warming up. We just go from crate, walk around a bit, maybe do a few tricks, tug a little and off we go.....afterwards is just about eating a jackpot of chicken and then (whenever possible) getting away from the trial a bit to go chase her ball for few minutes, a short walk and then she sometimes hangs out with me for a little to watch agility or just goes back to her crate to rest a bit. Now I'm wondering if there are some specific things we should be doing, and there are a ton of things on the market to buy......this is big business.

I imagine the whole products for performance dogs is a relatively small market, but seriously there is a product for every possible problem you or your dog may have. Products to calm them, to perk them up, reduce stress, fix all manner of structural/muscular injury. You can set up a whole gym worth of equipment for your dogs. I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing, we've used a lot of these products, but some of it does bother me a bit. There's a vibe of "my dog doesn't like agility, so I need to fix it with special powders, drinks and pills" when rather it's probably a training issue or an actual physical problem. People get desperate though and our society loves a quick fix.

I'm off to shop for canine conditioning and stretching dvds. Now that I'm closer to 40 than 30, I find I need to stretch (when did this happen?)....so I guess it would be good for the pups too.

BFFs

2011-07-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

Indy's best friend Callie stayed with us for a few days. This is pretty much how it went the whole time. They slowed down every once in a while....probably talked about hair care products.

Whenever there is a camera, Abby usually isn't far behind.

Look at ME I'm the cutest!

Terrible

2011-07-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

What a weekend....We drove out to Cleveland for a trial saturday morning, well more like the middle of night. I got up around 3:00am so we could get there a little after 7am. I was just exhausted, don't even know how I got through courses. My thinking was I normally get up around 5, how much different can a few be? A lot apparently.

First run, the weaves were right after a straight line of a tunnel, dogwalk and a jump, so Indy was just flying, and collecting for the weaves with that much speed continues to be a problem. We need to work on this, but can't do it at home, or at most training buildings for that matter. We just can't get that kind of speed. Then she popped out of the weaves around the 10th pole in JWW, which really bothered me. This has been an issue that pops up from time to time, we had a really good run for a few months of no weave pole pop outs and lately it's been happening regularly.

There was a chiropractor at the trial who a lot of people regularly use, so I figured what can it hurt. Don't ask me what he said exactly, but all I heard was she was a mess. He was saying that another dog must have slammed into her from the side, and I couldn't think of anything and then remembered a few weeks back her and abby crashed into each other going for a ball. Indy yelped and took a few steps to the side, it scared me to death at the time, but within a few seconds she was bouncing around like normal. Abby's a tiny pug, but she's built like a tiny football player, she didn't even move an inch and Indy just bounced off of her.

Day two, had a good run going, but the judge caught her eye (bigger guy, with facial hair) she wasn't too sure of him and stopped dead right in front of the table, getting a refusal. the weaves were the 3rd from the last obstacle and she did great, I think that was the fastest weaves she's ever done! I ended up having her massaged later that day too, and Maria confirmed she was still a mess.

I finished up the weekend by front crossing completely out of position (who moved those weaves? ) sending her to an off course jump instead of to the weaves.

I'm spending the week, applying ice and heat to poor little Indy (who you would never know was sore) and she'll be getting another adjustment at the trial this weekend, and maybe another massage.

Now it's Abby's turn

2011-07-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

Oh great.now abby's sick. Poor girl has been having diarrhea all week. Did the whole with hold food, then bland diet thing, pumpkin, but nothing seems to be helping. she's acting pretty much like her usual self, but it's hard to tell with her. she tends to have only two speeds, crazy or slug. Off to the vet this afternoon.

Outside agility

2011-07-05T05:03:00.000-07:00

Indy ran at an agility trial this weekend, that was outside in a park. Now I know this isn't a big deal to most, but we've gotten really spoiled around here, almost all our trials over the summer are held in air conditioning, indoors, on field turf. pretty much perfect conditions. Indy ran in one class outside when she was a baby at her second trial ever, but that hardly counts.

The weather wasn't too bad considering, it is July. It was pretty hot though. The grass was really high. Overall I'd say Indy thought outside agility was pretty much the same as inside agility, FUN! We did have some issues with slipping, especially in the weaves, so no Qs all weekend. I think part of it was also she just wanted to run, run, run and the last weave wasn't part of her plan.....I don't even know if she even sees it sometimes when she really gets moving. I opted to let her keep running and not re-do the weaves, really hoping i'm not kicking myself for that.

I didn't check her times on Sat. but on sunday she posted her fastest standard & jumpers runs to date, so I can't complain. She had a lot of fun swimming in the creek, fetching her ball after all her runs. we have one more trial that's held outside at the end of the month, hoping she can figure out her footing the second time around.

In other news, there was a water main break near our house on the 4th, so we had no water, what fun......thankfully it's back on today, I was pretty worried it was going to take forever to fix. No shower in July is not a good thing!

Good but not great

2011-06-30T05:24:00.000-07:00

Indy knows she's amazing....and adorable!

I've been thinking a lot lately. Indy's a very good agility dog, I think I'm a good handler.......but I really feel we have the potential to be great. i'm just not content with good. Right now, we have good speed, but could be faster. So so turns, definitely could be tighter. nice weaves, but they could be better etc etc...

I feel like we've just been coasting along, just getting through courses, rather than really handling them. Our training has been sporadic, and often it's either rushed and too short or too much at one time, like an agility cram session. Part of the problem is where we're training these days is so ridiculously far. It's a wonderful facility, but it takes over an hour each way, and it's tough to get in the car drive over an hour (with traffic the whole way) to train for really just a few minutes and then get back in the car and drive another hour home, and end up exhausted the next day because we get home so late. So, we've just been coasting along without a lot of practice. Really it's pretty amazing we're doing this well. Indy's not an experienced agility dog, she's only 2 and very green in many ways and while similar to the pugs, she's very different. I looked back at Kittie's records from her first year in Ex B and it's amazing how much farther Indy is already in terms of speed and consistency, but I know we can do better.

I need to spend time really perfecting specific obstacle skills; improving her confidence on the teeter, rewarding the fastest weaves, spend more time teaching her it's okay to drive ahead and really work on my handling; making sure she always knows where she's going as soon as possible. Making sure to take enough time to play with her on course and keep it a big game.

Poor Indy

2011-06-20T11:45:00.001-07:00

Indy's just not herself at all. She has no appetite, has vomited a couple of times and has lots of eye discharge. We went to the vet this morning and she gave us eye ointment for an eye infection and said to just give her pepcid for a few days and to come back if she's not doing any better by Wednesday. she doesn't have a fever, so that's good. It's just so sad to see her not bouncing around.

I feel terrible, we were at a trial this weekend and she was a tiny bit slower in all her runs, wasn't really driving in the weaves like she usually does, I think she just wasn't feeling well. She qualified in 3 out of 4 runs anyway, she really tried hard even though she didn't feel well. I never would have let her run if I knew anything was going on. Poor little girl, hoping she's back to herself quick.

look all the dogs in one photo

2011-06-17T06:24:00.001-07:00

All the girls

Abby was trying to get fancy, and offer some tricks for the apple in my hand

All dogs looking bored and tortured

Happy birthday Rudy

2011-06-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Rudy's 12 years old. No one ever guesses her to be 12, or even the oldest of our crew. she is and always has been a character!

YABTC trial, harness success & harness failure

2011-06-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

I got the harnesses I ordered, and Rudy & willy's are going back. I got them the premier, five way adjustable (or something like that) harness from sitstay. It may adjust in 5 ways, but not enough to properly fit these guys, especially Rudy. She really does have a build that is uniquely her own, skinny, with a small neck, but an enormous rib cage......the bigger the lungs to bark and scream with!! All those adjustable buckles also make the harness pretty heavy. Just not for them.

Indy's harness (K9 gear power harness) on the hand I *love*, it's just so perfect. Fits her great, is really easy to get on and off and she's seriously even more adorable than usual in it. I need to get some pictures, really, really cute! she's always been weird about letting me put harnesses on her, she hates to be picked up, and hates being grabbed at, and I had serious concerns that she would run away and be a brat in the ring at the trial this weekend, but she seemed to actually like getting this one put back on after her runs.

Now on to the trial. Indy did great, Q in 3 out of 4 runs. Got another QQ, earned her MX title and she now officially has all her points for her MACh, with a few to spare.....we're still a l-o-n-g ways to go on QQ, but that's okay, I'll take a fast dog who's having fun, without being super consistent (she's only 2) over slow and consistent any day. Her one NQ was so close too.

New harnesses

2011-06-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

I just put an order in for a new agility harness for Indy. https://k9gear.us/power-harnesses/ A power harness in Kiwi green, with a custom label with her name....Bill suggested getting a label that says "Fierce" and I just might in the future! She is a pretty fierce girl! She hates being grabbed at, especially after she runs, so getting most harnesses on was too much, but this looks pretty easy, or I'll have to get her one of those leashes that clips to the harness, but can be used as a slip lead just to get her out of the ring, you can never have too many leads!

Ordered willy and Rudy some regular harnesses from sitstay, and Kittie and Abby have fleece walkeez harnesses that I love.

I never really went for the whole harness thing, probably in part because it's so rammed down your throat that pugs "have to be" walked on harnesses, that their tracheas will collapse, or a collar will come right off over their chubby necks and they'll run off and die. I never had those issues, if my dogs were suddenly loose, they'd keep walking with me anyway, and they all have necks......but I really do think harnesses are more comfortable for them and safer for their necks and backs overall, plus I let them be as obnoxious and bad as they want to be getting the to the ring at trials, and I'd rather Indy didn't put pressure on her throat like that.

GTOTC trial

2011-06-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Indy ran at the GTOTC trial all three days this past memorial day weekend. On one hand I'm kind of disappointed we didn't get any QQs, but on the other hand I'm thrilled with how she's running. Perfect weaves and contacts all weekend long. She just got more and more into running as the weekend progressed. The only mistakes were; a table fault, a weird miscommunication at a tunnel and bad handling choice (I knew better too).

We ended up qualifying in one class each day. Jww the first two days and standard on the 3rd. Earning two 1st places and one 2nd place. These were larger classes with some nice dogs running too, so really proud of my little girl!

top priority now...stop running like a spaz! Really, I can run, but something happens when trying to sprint, properly cue my dog, keep track of where my dog is and where I need to be going.

Happy Birthday Willy

2011-05-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

Willy turned 10 last Saturday! How did that happen? We now have two pugs in the double digit club, and another will be joining by the end of the year.

I'm just not good with this whole aging thing....it's so hard to admit that some of my pugs are slowing down. I really struggle with what's best for them. We're so active and our pugs have always been a part of that, and it's hard to watch them slow down on walks, but even harder to leave them home. Right now, I try to do a mix of hikes, most days are shorter, but we stop once in a while so the "mature" members of the pack can rest a bit, and the youngsters can play and chase toys for a while. A couple of times a week I do a long hike with just Kittie, (who's keeping up pretty good, but even she's slowing down a little) Abby & Indy. Rudy and willy usually come along for a shorter walk with one of my slower clients those days.

A visitor

2011-05-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

This isn't a video of our actual visitor, he wasn't even eating strawberries. I knew something was up, all the dogs were going nuts....not just the ones who randomly go nuts at nothing. Our neighbors dogs were barking, but they're always barking....so I just went out to get them to come in, and at first still saw nothing, then I turned around and there it was! Bigger than all of my dogs, of course that doesn't say much when the biggest dog is a whopping 13 pounds, but still this guy was big.

I guess they're harmless, and really like strawberries, and he must not have been afraid of the dogs, or else I would have thought we had a dead possum.

Good bye!

2011-05-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

Possibly the most exciting, best news EVER. Our neighbors from hell have moved. We've had various nice neighbors come and go over the years, but these people have been here for at least the past 3-4 years.

Why were they so bad? First off they started with one dog aggressive pit bull who got out of the house on a regular basis. Did they take any measures to prevent more problems?? Oh no, they decided the breed the dog, and then kept 2 puppies. The puppies were about a year old, and I was just waiting to see a pack of angry pits running loose down the street.

To top it off there were three kids.....the loudest, rudest kids I've ever seen......it was their job to walk the pack of pits!! what a combination! I will say the youngest kid didn't seem too bad, and we always felt bad for him, he looked so sad all the time and had a hard time even getting in his front door around the dogs.

Our house and yard are like fort knox thanks to these neighbors. We hadn't taken our dogs on a walk around the neighborhood in years....just too risky. Really this is just the best news ever!!!

When she's good she's great......

2011-05-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

But when she's bad....look out!

We went to the WCOTC trial this past weekend, held at the brand new B&D creekside activity center. The facility is great, perfect turf, nice equipment, crating was a little tight (mainly because people have to set up as though they're moving in for the weekend), lots of room to walk dogs outside too. We're lucky to be able to start training there too!

Saturday was just a train wreck of a day. Trial started at 8:30 with fast first, and very small entries, so we show up around 10:00 and fast is still going on, we didn't get in the ring until close to 2:00 I think and then jumpers wasn't until around 4:30 if I'm remembering correctly. Just crazy. I love agility, and really enjoy trialing, but I have limits.

first was standard, Indy was so wound at this point, she was barking her head off outside the ring and was really excited to go! weaves were the 3rd obstacle and She got almost to the end before she came out, darted right across my feet to take an off course tunnel. I could have easily stepped on her! She finished the rest of the course nicely. By the time jumpers finally came around, I think both of us were pretty much done for the day. She has never been so bad in the ring! I don't even know how many off courses she had, and she came bouncing out of the ring, obviously very proud of herself! I think that was the first time she's ever ran at a trial and got no treats at the end of her run.

Sunday was a new day, and she ran pretty much flawlessly. I wanted to make sure I didn't get there too early again, and made prefect timing, the walk though was just starting as we walked in. She ended up getting her 7th MX leg and her 3rd MXJ leg and DQ #2. Earning 1st place in both runs.

Agility induced fog

2011-05-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know what was wrong with me last night. Just running along, fine enough and all of a sudden it was like I had no idea what i was doing, don't think I could have told you my left from my right. About the only thing I could manage was to run in a straight line. I felt really hot, (it was hot, but not HOT), like heat just radiating off my head, and this slight panic feeling.. I think mostly for my poor little dog. I felt better pretty quickly, I've had this happen in the spring when it first gets hot when I'm working in the past....just weird! I didn't eat much that day....just wasn't hungry. Low blood sugar, perhaps?

One good thing though, when Indy was younger she had this habit of shutting down/finding something better to do/sniffing/saying "hi" to everyone if I made the slightest mistake, no matter how I handled it, it was like, if I stopped for a second, she tuned out. She stayed right with me through all my bone-headed mistakes last night. Just looking at me like "what am I going to do with you?!" I'm sorry Indy, I won't let it happen again!

Just a couple of jerks

2011-05-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

Had a few moments this past weekend, where bill and I took turns being big jerks.

First Bill pretty much told someone to STOP running their dog, retire him, PLEASE and while i agree, just a little sugar would have been nice to smooth things along. I also think it's one of those things that people need to figure out for themselves, why it's so hard for some people to see i don't know. When your dog is dragging his back feet, crossing them over each other from time to time....it's time to retire. At least from reg. AKC classes, I'm sure a tunnelers run in CPE or nadac would be fine. I don't care if they're having fun or not at a point it's just not safe. Our dogs will have fun doing almost anything we do with them.

Then on sunday it was my turn. I'm one of those really annoying people who are never 100% satisfied with how I do, I'm happy with most of my runs, but there's always something that gets me, that I want to be better, but it's just my personality and I've been this way with everything I've ever done. I've learned to just shut up say "thank you" when someone compliments a run....most of the time. Indy's jww time was good, but it was on the lower end of her avg yps, due to some wide turns, and I was deep in thought about how to improve her times consistently when someone complimented her time, to which I gave a very "meh...it was alright" comment, must learn to just up and say thank you, and keep my obsessing to myself.

Indy N Olmsted April 30-May 1st

2011-05-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

The curse is officially broken! Indy had two Qs this weekend, with bill at the trial! Yay!

Still so many things to improve on, but coming along really nicely. Have I mentioned how much i love this dog?! She's just so much fun, and such a good traveler too, no problems at the hotel. She's just 100% about having fun all the time.

The pugs got to hang out with their aunt Danielle this weekend, which i know they love, but still it was tough leaving them behind, especially Kittie, who was following me everywhere sat. morning, she knows when it's a trial weekend and she would love to still be out there. Luckily we don't need to travel too often, there are so many local trials coming up.

0 for 4

2011-04-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

We haven't had a weekend like this in a while! and as much fun as it would be to just blame it on the Bill curse, I think it's more the baby dog curse. A few weave poles issues; more speed than she knows to handle in one case, and a random pop out in another. A poor choice on my part, a very late blind cross...I really thought I had time, but not with Indy. She missed a jump in another run, not sure what happened, it seemed like her line was just slightly off and ran right past it without even seeing it. Oh well, you will have these weekends.

The most important thing with trialing young dogs to me is seeing them remaining focused and having fun, with lots of speed and enthusiasm, and we had that, so I'm still happy with the weekend even if we didn't get the results we would have liked!

The curse of Bill

2011-04-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

There's been this ongoing joke that I do terrible at agility trials whenever my husband comes along. It started when Kittie was getting close to her MACh, to the point that he was pretty much banned from all trial sites, which was fine by him, he'd rather be on his bike anyway.

He's coming with me the next two weekends....can we beat the curse? I've got a pretty good feeling the curse is lifted, but we'll have to wait and see!

First QQ

2011-04-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Indy and I went to the mountaineer kennel club's trial this past weekend, and went clean in 3 out of 4 runs. Only NQ we had was she missed the weaves in jumpers on the first day, she was just going too fast to slow down and collect to get them...something we need to work on! I'm so happy she got her first QQ. I consider this trial the kick off to our spring/summer season because things really pick up now through the end of June locally. What a nice way to start the season!!

The pugs got to chill out at home with Bill. The weather was beautiful, so they got lots of lounging time in the back yard.

Giving cable the boot!

2011-03-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

No trials this past weekend, so my big news is we finally gave cable the boot.....well mostly. We're keeping cable internet, and that would end up costing two dollars more if we didn't keep basic cable, but still we're saving about 90. a month. It was just silly to pay that much to watch so little, plus we can still watch the things we like through hulu and netflix.

Other than that we took Kittie, Abby & Indy on a 6.4 mile hike this weekend. It was just perfect weather, cool and sunny. Indy still didn't seem tired afterward and wanted to play when we got home. On sunday I decided last minute to stop in at my friend's training facility for little dog open practice. This week's focus was on weaves. It was a lot of fun, lots of short little courses with a nice variety of weave challenges. Indy has very nice weaving skills and likes them, but it's one of those things that I do need to continually reinforce with her, otherwise the desire to just run as fast she can and pop out of the weaves wins out. She did good, stayed in every time, only missed one entry at the very end of the 1 1/2 hour practice. What a good girl!

It's so easy with a little dog

2011-03-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is a pet peeve of mine, that somehow agility is "easy" with a small dog. This is the same attitude as it's easy with a border collie, everyone has it easier than these people. These comments usually come from someone with a slow big dog. Agility is different with a small dog, on a course the options can be different. Small dogs will put in many more strides, so it's possible to change their line in less yardage than a big dog, but it's a lot easier to pull them off the correct obstacle too.

This started after hearing how many points Indy got on a single run.....as if all small dogs bring in those points. I know lots of nice running small dogs that need points to finish MAChs.

It takes the right dog and handler combination and the right kind of training to bring out the best in any dog of any height, to act as though it's just handed to you because your dog happens to be small is insulting to everyone who puts in the work with the tiniest of dogs!

New title

2011-03-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Indy earned her AXJ title this weekend, so she's now on her way! She also got her 3rd MX leg, and another 62 points. Was really hoping to get her first double Q, but it wasn't in the cards. I pulled her off a jump in jumpers and she slipped in the weaves in the standard, but nice runs!

We have two weeks off, and then we start a pretty regular trial schedule for the next couple of months. I feel like she's really ready at this point. We're having a lot of fun!

A glimpse of things to come?!

2011-02-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

When things all come together it's really a great feeling. Indy and I had one of those weekends, where you just can't go wrong, we went 4 for 4! Easily winning the classes too.

Indy earned her first two ExA jumpers legs and her first two ExB standard legs, getting 118 points!

Indy had so much fun, and I'm really happy with myself too, I made it a goal before Indy started trialing that I wouldn't run her "safe", that I would push and would take some chances. To think I had considered not going after her crash into the weaves and subsequent weirdness on Wed. night.

crash

2011-02-25T05:43:00.000-08:00

Poor Indy, she crashed into the weave poles! It was her first run on wed. night practice, she was weaving along when all of sudden she crashed her chest straight into the poles. I don't even really know what happened. She could have slipped or her striding may have been off, the day before she practiced the weaves at home on my 21" spaced poles, we haven't used them since Sept. because I really felt like switching back and forth between 21" & 24" wasn't good for her and I think I may have been right. She seemed funny and off the rest of the night, she's a sensitive little girl, I don't think she really hurt herself though since she was back to playing the next day. She wouldn't go near the weaves afterward at class, so I'm hoping she doesn't have any issues at the trial this weekend.

Abby relaxing

2011-02-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

Abby Loves her airline bag. I recently got it out and it's been her special place to chill out and look adorable.

Tamarack Lake trial

2011-02-14T07:02:00.000-08:00

We headed back to edinboro for another agility trial. it was just starting to snow a little at my house at 6:30am when were heading out, there wasn't snow in the forecast, so off we went....and the snow just kept coming. We did alright, my car really is great in the snow, past one accident, but we just kept slowly making our way on what should have been a one hour and forty five minute drive. We got there safely, but it took two and half hours and I missed the walk though. The course wasn't very hard, and it was pretty easy to follow just from watching it a few times, I had just enough time to grab Indy, take her on a quick walk and get in the ring. It wasn't the prettiest run, but not bad considering.

Indy ran really nicely all weekend, every run she scored 95......one fault away from qualifying, and you guessed it, that one fault would be the weaves! She does them perfectly one the second try. I do have some solid ideas about what's going on, and of course, it's mostly me. I need to decelerate just a bit before she gets to the weaves.....slowing down has never been my strong point. If a course requires you to run as fast as you can, I can do that, but slow down?! I actually think I slow down, but I was told it sure didn't look like it. Me and my dogs are alike in that way...running is more fun that slowing down.

Other than the weaves (and her weaves on the second try are beautiful) I couldn't be more pleased. There is one good thing to routinely NQing....you get very brave to try all sorts of things, like adding lots of distance from contacts! so, I'm now quite confident in Indy's abilities with all sorts of things that I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise. I've never been so happy after NQing either...she's just so much fun and doing so well.

loss

2011-01-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Bill's dad died this past sunday. Death is so hard to deal with, even when the person is older, has health issues and you were prepared that it could happen in the near future. It's an intense experience, that brings back past experiences when loved ones passed.

Bill seems to be hanging in there, handling things quite well. He had a conversation with his dad over Thanksgiving and apparently his dad told him he was "fine with dying, had no fear of it and had done everything he wanted to do" Everyone should feel so at peace late in life!

We truly have some of the best friends, our dogs were well cared for in a moments notice and we came home to great food prepared for us.

The whole thing really threw Indy for a loop, she's never spent a night away from me...heck she's barely spent more than a few hours at a time away from me, and she's been somewhat weird (hanging out with Rudy??, giving me pissed off dirty looks from a distance and pitching a fit and dashing out into the yard and refusing to come back in every time I try to leave the house.) Makes me wonder how dogs cope with being dropped off a kennel?! She'll rebound I'm sure. The pugs didn't care one bit, they love their aunt Danielle.

new years trial 2011 Indy & Kittie

2011-01-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

Finally got the video from New Years weekend uploaded.

X country Skiing

2011-01-18T06:30:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Bill & I tried XC skiing for the first time. We've been talking about it for a while, but we weren't sure if we'd actually enjoy it.... too slow, too hard to stop with no edge, fear of getting hurt. We had a lot of fun, it's absurdly easy to get started, practically zero learning curve! Okay, I'm still figuring out just how to stop, but fun none the less! I think once we go a few more times it would be a lot of fun to bring along a dog or two, I think Kittie & Indy would LOVE it.

So much fun to try something new, I thought for sure we'd wake up sore, but not at all, go figure!

Better

2011-01-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

Totally better than any trial, especially better than a trial in Edinboro

Edinboro trials?

2011-01-08T05:23:00.000-08:00

Seriously, why do I enter trials held in Edinboro in the Winter? Oh, wait, because it's just about the only place trials are held within two hours of here over the winter. Edinboro has got to be the worst place ever, there's a lake effect snow warning for a solid 4 months of the year I think. Normally I just take off this time of the year, but I wanted to do a few trials over the winter with Indy.

So we got up bright and early and started our drive into the winter wonderland. We had a little dusting over night, but nothing to worry about. The drive was going fine until we got just out of the city and the roads were a bit snow covered, most cars were going pretty slow, but there's always a few that just don't seem to get it, it was getting worse and worse and I just had a bad feeling, and was really worried about driving back home at the end of the day, so we decided to just a call it a day and head home. Just not worth it, I'd rather play in the snow with the dogs here and be safe.

Not two minutes later I see a car sliding out of control on the other side of the highway, it flips right over the guard rail and is flipping across the grass between lanes....heading right for us. The guard rail on our side of the highway stopped it before coming into on coming traffic. That will get the heart racing!!

Glad to be home.

Focused Indy

2011-01-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of Indy. It was taken of her by a friend at agility practice a few weeks ago.

Happy New Year

2011-01-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

While I'm not big on typical new years celebrations. I do really love New years, it's a great time to reflect and think about new goals and how to go about reaching those goals.

Here are my goals for the New year, some are dog/agility related and others aren't

in no particular order:
-Get in a better habit of taking care of myself. I'm outside all the time, and being in harsh weather that much can really start to beat you up. I can be a such a tomboy at times, I need to get in touch with my girly side. I do have one, in fact I was a total priss when I was younger!

-Learn to run faster with my dogs. I'm a decent sprinter, but put a dog with me, and all my speed disappears, I need to learn how to cue a dog in agility and really RUN at the same time.

-Continue working on my mental game. I sometimes can be over excited at trials, and others I feel completely under aroused. I'm getting better.

- Qualify for 2012 nationals with Indy, continue to work towards trusting my dog(s) and really running like it's a big game of chase, let Kittie continue occasionally running in agility trials, let Abby just be Abby....maybe she'll do agility or maybe she won't and be okay with whatever happens.

We spent New years weekend at a trial Zanesville OH. It was really fun, the trial was run well and it's such a nice venue. Kittie who was supposed to be retired ran amazingly well. She loves agility. She's a tad high maintenance, so it really helped to have Bill's help. I can't bring myself to retire her, so I think for now she will continue to run, but only at trials on good surfaces/equipment and when I will have Bill around to help. Indy did really well too. She would have been clean in 3 out of 4 runs if weren't for the weaves. she needs exactly 2 tries to complete them. I have some ideas of what may be going on, and we're going to try to work on it, I think it's also just part of being a baby dog too. She's doing great though, and she's a blast to run!

Who is this old dog?

2010-12-30T07:05:00.000-08:00

Who the heck is this old dog, and what happened to Kittie? She's nine now, which is a weird age to me, sort of old and young at the same time...old for things like agility, but not like death is around the corner or anything...blah. She doesn't act old at all, but she sure looks old in these photos. I'm going to blame the lighting..or the camera, it must be something because it can't be that Kittie really is old.

And you can see a bit of pk on her eyes in this photo, she's had it since she was young. She can't handle any type of drops or ointment they irritate her eyes like crazy, luckily it hasn't spread beyond this stage in all the years.

Just some dogs in the snow

2010-12-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

We've been hiking a lot lately, not taking so many pictures though. It's been wet, cloudy and on the verge of getting dark most days, so not great for photos. Here's a few from yesterday of the girls. willy was there....somewhere.

Fitness for agility handlers

2010-12-28T06:37:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to a fitness class designed for agility handlers, held at my friends training facility www.yougolittledog.com It was about what I expected, proper stretching, some sprint and ladder drills and our form while sprinting was analyzed. Some of the ladder drills were pretty challenging, I think it's been about 20 years since I did anything quite like that!

About a year ago I made it a serious goal to get in better shape and start eating better. I wasn't in terrible shape by any means, but I had put on about 20 pounds, and knew I wasn't eating in a way that worked for me. I was very successful, lost the weight I had gained plus a few extra pounds. I started doing yoga a few times a week and running too. I stopped eating corn and wheat and got back to what I already knew worked best for me, lean protein and lots of fruits and veggies.

Now I can work towards fine tuning last year's goal and work towards conditioning myself specifically in ways that will help me run in agility (and keep me out of a knee brace you see too many of them at trials). Indy can move, and the faster I can get where I need to be the better.

neurotic dog owners

2010-12-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

I have to say, i'm definitely *not* a neurotic dog owner, which seems to be rare these days. Yes, if they seem off I worry, yes I spend time researching anything that is wrong, health wise with any of them, but I don't obsess and certainly don't rush to the vet over every little thing. All of us have days where we feel fantastic, days where we feel lousy and tired, but most are in the middle, hopefully more on the side of fantastic. I'm lucky to have a pretty healthy bunch, even as some of the pugs age they're doing well and seem spunkier than dogs half their age.

Many of my dogs have never had any type of prescription medication other than heart worm and flea and tick prevention. They see vets regularly, get their teeth cleaned as needed and we take care of anything that comes up promptly, but I just don't think it does anyone any good to rush to the vet constantly. It's stressful for the dogs, they end being loaded with pain meds and antibiotics that are likely not needed, it's just like people. The ones I know who are at the doctor for every little thing seem like they're constantly sick. My biggest focus with my dogs has always been about giving them a great, full quality of life. Lots of time playing and hiking, things to do to keep them mentally active and feeding them to the best of my ability.

Home from the Crown classic

2010-12-19T06:31:00.000-08:00

I really do love this show. It's a big event, the classes are much larger than usual, with a lot of dogs we normally don't see, there's lots of spectators, conformation, obedience and shopping. It's just has such a fun charged environment. It's a great show to see how dogs deal with that environment. I must say Indy did pretty well. Not perfect, but she was happy, and fast and didn't seem the slightest bit stressed, really good for a young dog, who just a few months back was distracted just by the bar setters and judge to go into a trial with loud spectators on all four sides of the ring. She's even resting nicely in her crate between runs!

Abby was entered one day, and I didn't run her, I walked the course and started immediately feeling panicked and emotional and even started tearing up for a quick second. The idea of it possibly being her last time in the ring was just too much, she's only five as much as she's a mess in the ring, she's the exact dog I wanted at the time I got her....she's Kittie's polar opposite in so many ways. Kittie's not slow, but she doesn't really drive either, I wanted a dog with speed and enthusiasm and I got it, but I sacrificed almost everything just for that, she didn't have a great foundation. When I chose her I wanted the wild child in the litter, Abby has taught me there's a big difference between a dog with a nice work ethic and a dog who's just off their rocker and wound so much they can hardly think. I may enter Abby in jumpers at some point....and I may not. Only time will tell.

Kittie's 9 years old today!! Happy Birthday Kittie!! She'll be running for possibly the last time on New year's weekend. Kittie always loves to run, so I'm going to try to just enjoy myself with her.

It's really hard to wrap my head around not running a pug. The pug's were my start in dogs, first in conformation, then agility. they taught me how to train, how to build drive and motivate. I do think I'm fairly good at training dogs that love to work, and find it fun. I probably would never have done agility, if I hadn't started in the breed ring. I was used to spending my weekends at shows and needed something to do once Kittie earned her breed CH. I thought, wouldn't it be fun if I could get novice titles! We did quite a bit better than that over the years! A big thank you to all my pugs for playing over the years and showing me (and everyone else) just how much pugs can do!

Retired??

2010-12-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

I'm about 90% of the way toward retiring both Kittie & Abby from agility.

It's a sad decision to have to make with Kittie, because she loves agility, and can be really fun to run, but I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself due to what we believe is a problem with her depth perception. I'd love to bring her out for tunnelers, or touch and go in CPE or nadac sometime, but after the parkersburg trial on new years weekend, I really do think she's going to be retired from AKC competition.

It's a tough decision with Abby too, but after trying everything I can think of....time off, more steady competition, never fixing mistakes, always fixing mistakes etc etc....she just isn't cut out to compete. the trial environment is way too much for her, crating out of the car is worse. It's such a shame because she could be quite good and seems to enjoy running in classes. I probably will still run in practice here and there...who knows maybe I'll try her at a trial again, she's only Five, too young to retire, but too old to be acting like a baby-green-dog in the ring. Five should be a good point in a dog's agility career. Every dog doesn't need to compete, it's supposed to be fun and it clearly isn't for her...even though she tends to stress high and people tell me how much they love watching her, it's still stressful for her (and me).

On other news, Indy earned her AX title, she's now in EX B standard. We still need all three legs in Ex A jumpers. One little thing in each run, but she's doing beautifully, I watched the videos of her runs from this past weekend and even the ones with mistakes are so fun, there's such joy in that little dog when she does agility.

Christmas portraits 2010

2010-11-28T11:02:00.001-08:00

Taking photos of five dogs, with props, with bad lighting, when two of the previous mentioned five dogs would rather do almost anything other than sit still......is very, very difficult....but equally funny.

Here are some out takes

Cute pug book

2010-11-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Mimi-When-Get-Big-Pug/dp/0615410421

My friend Caryl put this together....I mean everything, the little outfits, back grounds, photos and text. I recently got my copy and it's way too cute.

Good bye Thanksgiving * Hello Christmas

2010-11-27T05:49:00.000-08:00

It was another great year for watching pugs camp out in front of the oven all day, Willy didn't even attempt to break in and steal the turkey this year, so all was good.

We did the unthinkable this year and bought our Christmas tree the day before thanksgiving, there just wasn't going to be time, and refuse to get a tree late in the season, what's the point? So, we had the "turkey tree", just lights with a wooden carved turkey on the top. The turkey's coming down today and the real decorating starts.

Indy and I went to a trial on black friday. Just so much fun running the baby. She's really getting into it now, she's pulling to get to the ring, she shakes in anticipation to run. No Qs, I made a poor choice (would have worked with the pugs) in jumpers and Indy hopped off the teeter....I am going to have to do some work getting her on more teeters. I'm thrilled though. The comments I hear about her at every trial are "she's a speedy little thing" and "she's so happy" and to me these are the best compliments ever to receive about a new baby dog just starting. The finer points will all come in time.

I did get one comment that bugged me....."oh you switched breeds? You wanted an agility dog"....well yes, I did decide to get a breed other than another pug, partially so I'd have a dog better suited to agility. I also wanted a dog suited to us in general. We're really active people and I wanted a dog who could keep up, but I only wanted to consider smaller dogs and I didn't think a terrier would be a good fit. Pap's personalities really appealed to me. Yes, I was curious to see what working with a more traditional breed would be like. What bothered me was the implication that the pugs aren't "agility dogs". I always just comment back that the "pugs have to work three times as hard". They have a lot working against them, but most pugs have such love and character that they do it anyway. No, they're not going to be able to beat the more traditional breeds, but they absolutely can be just as much of an agility dog.

Mountaineer kennel club Trial

2010-11-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

Really pleased with how Indy's doing. Sure there are things that need work, but I'm just not worried about them. She's such a fun girl, and she did just turn two! I think she was a little tired on the 2nd day. We drove back and forth and I was up at 4am, which means Indy was up at 4 am following me around.

No video of Abby. She just ran in jumpers, *open* jumpers. I can't even believe she's still in open, she has her AXJ title, but can't manage her AJP. She had I believe the fastest time of all the open dogs, but of course she skipped the last few weave poles. CPE and USDAA are looking better and better for abby....no weaves in jumpers!

Another beautiful day!

2010-11-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

We've been on a beautiful weather kick around here, not complaining. Could make due with a few less people making out in the park.....I think Indy spotted all of them today, seriously who rolls around in the grass at 3 in the afternoon in a public park. Indy, not a fan of public displays of affection.

That tennis ball on a tug is dangerous

Silvia's cik & cap turning video

2010-11-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

I finally went ahead and bought Silvia Trkman's first training video on cik and cap turns. It's a bit pricey, but it's really well made, thorough and easy to follow. I love watching her work with her dogs. Her website says it can take a few hours to download, but it only took about 15 minutes.

I found her method to be similar, (but different) to Linda Mecklenburg's method for teaching jumping. Both teach collection and turning first, both place the reward in position to encourage the dog to turn over the jump, but there are some key differences. I do wonder if Silvia's method would encourage more speed. I don't think the two really conflict in any way. This is a verbal based skill, but as she says in her video her handling is supporting it 99% of the time, it's simply more information.

I'm going to work through her method with both Abby and Indy over the next couple of months. Should be fun and it certainly can't hurt.

Home for a change

2010-11-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

Just a quiet day at home today. Made that pie I was thinking about the other day, apple cranberry....and ate some of it. Did some dogwalks with Indy using the manners minder, looked good, but who knows her contacts can't actually be seen with the naked eye. For the most part I just played with the dogs outside in the beautiful fall weather.

Sassy Seniors rudy & willy

Rudy

Kittie & Abby

Abby

Indy

I Love Fall

2010-11-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

It's the best season ever. The past two days have been cold and rainy, but who cares, it's Fall! Everything is so crisp and cool, i always have energy to spare...so much better than summer-slugfest, where I barely want to move.

The Fall always makes me feel like baking and decorating. I don't even really eat baked goods. I turn into Martha during the Fall. Who wants some apple cranberry pie? I'm probably a little annoying to be around during the fall.....hyper perhaps? It's just so festive!

It's the perfect time to hike with the dogs too, no worries that it's too hot/cold. We hike so much during the Fall it's wonder i have time to bake and decorate like Martha.

I'm off to hike in the rain and annoy people with enthusiasm over the snow they're calling for tomorrow!!

Do you see the pain?

2010-11-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

That's one of Abby's special no one but Abby can touch toys in Indy's mouth. It's piggy...second only to cow-cow. These are toys that only come out for agility and special occasions because they make Abby lose her mind.

A look of pure horror on abby's face

Which gives way to a look of utter disgust.

Indy pretty much always gets her way with the pugs, but not this time. Abby won. all is right in her world again

Just a quick note about the photos. Not well composed or anything, still just playing and learning at this point, but these were taken in manual, inside my house with pretty poor lighting, so I'm very happy. I've alway had trouble getting pictures of Indy; Miss perpetual motion, especially with poor lighting. I was worried I'd never venture from automatic mode, but I dare I say, shooting in manual actually seems pretty easy.

Indy's running dogwalk

2010-11-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

100% are in for AKC, but only a few would make USDAA's smaller 36" contact. There are a few really good ones in there, but I'm still not completely happy with it. If I could only feel confident in what I'm seeing an give better immediate feedback I'm sure I would make progress.

Some photos....finally!

2010-11-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

All my posts have been photo free for a few months now (yawn), but I finally got a new camera this past weekend. I researched like crazy, asked anyone and everyone's opinions on point and shoot, dslr, canon, nikon until my head felt like it was going to explode. I finally made a decision and got a Canon EOS rebel 2ti and I'm so glad I did. I was pretty happy with my old camera, but this is night and day...not even comparable. I'm in the process of learning how to use it, but here's what I got playing around yesterday.

Abby

Rudy

Kittie

I feel sick

2010-10-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Pitbull Runs Off Porch In Point Breeze, Fatally Attacks Dog On Walk - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh

This is right down the street from our house. I already stopped walking my dogs in the neighborhood we live in, because of a different dog aggressive pitbull...now this. We don't live in a bad neighborhood, we're walking distance from a large park and moved here because it's so dog friendly. My heart goes out to the people who lost little Carmine, so tragic.

I'm not going to get into the subject of breed bans, but pitbulls are becoming a bigger issue all the time around here. Yes, any dog can be aggressive and just about any dog can be wonderful if properly trained and socialized, but pitbulls really do need to come with a warning. Most people do a poor job training their labrador or shih-tzu, generally you can get a away with some mistakes with those dogs, there's just no room for mistakes with a dog as powerful as a pitbull.

hit it board

2010-10-21T05:49:00.001-07:00

I finally got the hit it board, it was sitting on my neighbors porch for over a week, and it's getting sent back.

It's sensitive enough for the pugs, but Indy can sit on the board and unless she's right in the center it doesn't beep....I tried it out on the dogwalk and I saw her hit it and it didn't register at all. She's a tiny little thing, and I can't imagine there's much force coming form her little paws. The manufacturer can make adjustments, but I doubt it will be enough for it work consistently well for the little peanut pup. Also, my dogwalk doesn't have slats, so it really sticks out to her, and I think she sees it more like a stride regulator....something to jump over! Sure I could train her to step on it, but I'm not looking (at this time) to train a foot target.

I'm trying to do as much dogwalk training as I can right now when I have another set of eyes....although even then it's hard to see.

I do want to mention Clean run has great customer service. No questions asked about returns.

Even more on dogwalk training!

2010-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I think i'm making some progress on really seeing what's happening on the dogwalk, and rewarding what I really want. I still need work, it's getting there.....I need to not be so afraid to mark mistakes, after all, how is she going to know what is correct?! Still waiting for my hit it board to arrive. the plan for now is to place the hit it board in what I consider to be the ideal place for her to hit and really jackpot those, give a quick reward/keep running for the ok ones and verbal mark and re do the one with striding I don't want.

Daisy Peel is teaching in VA at the end of the month, and I'm debating going down for her contact training seminars, both running and stopped. I should go, it's just I've been so disappointed by most seminars and it's about a 4 hour drive, which is a lot to do on your own (for me anyway), if I go with someone else I have to sign up for the whole weekend and there are no working spots left for the masters handling and this would mean the dogs would have to sit around in the car all day, I really don't want to do that to them, especially when in late October, when we could be doing some great hiking. I'd love to get her feedback for Indy's dogwalk, but I fear she's just going to tell me what I already know. There are no magic wands to fix things.

Debi & Mia

2010-10-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest MACh pug in action, there's also video of her Mach run.

More MACh pugs!

2010-10-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

I just got word that there are now 5 pugs with MAch titles. Way to go, showing pugs can do it all.

I did a little looking around and saw videos of Debi & Mia...what a great little pug. She's motivated, well trained and looks like she's having a ball...barking her way around the course!

I have felling there are going to be more mach and multi-mach pugs in the future!

FCI

2010-10-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

It's going to be an agility sloth weekend around here.....not doing much actual agility, but watching lots of it. I have my laptop hooked up to the lcd tv. I love worlds, really different, interesting courses, a huge variety in handling...and breeds in the small and medium compared to the US, and dancing lots and lots of dancing.

still obsessing about contacts

2010-09-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

It's what occupies 99% of my thoughts right now, sad huh? Indy's pretty much perfect at home, unless I throw a toy, then she's jumping 100% of the time. I read somewhere...Daisy peel seminar notes, maybe? that using a toy for contacts can tend to put the dog into prey drive mode, and more likely to pounce off the contact. i would say that's what I'm experiencing. Still debating buying two hit it boards, and using both, to cover the bottom 20" of the contact. I can see what she's doing pretty well, if I'm running just ahead of her and putting all my focus on watching the contact, it all goes out the window when I'm trying to really run a sequence, I also noticed when watching video that I'm not really running....so indy isn't either, I'm turning into her (just a little), to see her contacts, which ends up being a collection cue, which may be why she always gets her contacts when I'm focused on just that.....the hit it boards could fix that. Although I worry they won't be 100% plus if she hits the slatted part it won't register either. the ones made in Europe seem perfect, but are too pricey for me at the moment (around 500.).

I've been thinking of using Abby as a contact training guinea pug. We played around with contact hoops on the A frame, didn't work, but for some reason I'm curious about using them on the dog walk for her, it's worth a try just to see how effective they are. What's the worst that could happen?

For some reason whenever things "brake" in agility, the problem seems to always need to have lots of cash thrown at it to fix it. Weave poles.....must be the new 24" spacing, better buy some new ones. Teeter problems better buy one just like they use in trials. Contact troubles...maybe we need a dogwalk with a rubber surface, maybe fancy electronic stuff, some hoops...maybe a new training video?? Need to generalize specific skills, better travel to every training facility within 200 miles to rent ring time.

good news

2010-09-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

Not great news, but pretty good! The mass on willy's leg was mct, but there were clean margins and no signs that it has spread at all. We'll take that!

Rabid foxes...what's next

2010-09-28T04:35:00.000-07:00

Rabid foxes suspected in Pittsburgh-area attacks | PoconoRecord.com

All within miles of our house and right in the middle of where I walk the dogs most days.

USDAA agility

2010-09-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first USDAA trial I've been to in years. My very first trial ever, 6 years ago was usdaa, my first Q ever was in the games class Snooker. I do like this venue overall. A few more runs a day, some different challenges in the course design.

It's not for everyone though, jump heights are tough for a lot of dogs, it's not venue that you see a lot of non-traditional breeds. The small dog classes (at least around here) are tiny. At the masters level there were only 4, 12" dogs competing, just weird. Part of that is the cutoff is closer to the AKC 8" cutoff. Dogs must be under 12" to jump 12". I couldn't decide what height to enter Indy, she's done a bit at 12" but we've focused more on 8" since that's her AKC jump height. I didn't want to over face her, and cause her to loose confidence, so we entered 8" in the "performance" division. In the future we'll most like enter 12"

It is a different atmosphere, to a point that makes me a bit uncomfortable with a tiny dog. Warm up jumps were set up out in the open in crowded areas, we weren't using them, just too risky. things were also really lax about dogs being on lead. AKC has become kind of nuts about this, if you carry your 5 pound dog out of the ring and are still in the process of attaching their lead as you leave, you will lose your Q, or if the dogs natural momentum at the finish carries them out of the ring, even if they turn back right away you can lose your Q....that's excessive and just adds unnecessary stress. But I really hate seeing dogs, not attached to leads other than with their mouths tugging outside the ring, in a perfect world where everyone really knew their dogs and payed attention to their dogs, it wouldn't be an issue, but that's never the case.

We'll definitely try more usdaa in the future though, I think it will be a nice venue for Indy once she grows up a bit.

I'm just going to say it

2010-09-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

I sometimes really dislike running young dogs, there I said it. I know people who hate training foundation stuff. I love all the training. It's just that first 6 months to a year or so that they're trialing, and I feel like every time I turn around I'm adding something to the list to re-train. I don't rush into competition either, but it just feels like there are some things that no mater what I do, fall apart in competition. The teeter for example. I get my dogs to as many different building as possible, on different equipment, but nothing prepares them for the differences they see from week to week. This weeks teeter issues actually started last week. If you watch Indy's teeter form the last video I posted, you see she's a little tentative on the teeter, jumps off back a little from the end of the plank (perfectly legal), but it bounces up and lifts her back end just slightly. she's a sensitive girl and that got her thinking, and too much thinking seems to always end in trouble! I should have insisted she come all the way to the end and wait.

Kittie was the one exception, she *was* put in the ring early, I didn't know any better and my instructor at the time said I was ready, so off we went. She had a lot of holes in her training, and still had those holes years later, but Kittie always was who she was. Not too many surprises running her.

I know people who love running baby dogs.....it is fun starting a new dog off, trying to give them a good experience, but there's a point several months into trialing where I'm just exhausted by the novelty of just what are they going to do today?!? I'll laugh in a few days about this weekend, but for now I just shake my head.

Willy

2010-09-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Willy made it through everything just fine yesterday, he's sporting a fancy new lampshade, err... I mean e collar too. He doesn't seem to need it, hasn't even looked at his incision. Crossing fingers that his lump was nothing more than just a lump!

More thoughts on running contacts

2010-09-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

I've been saying that "it's a matter of time before indy starts to get called for her dogwalk" The behavior certainly has gone through some changes over the past few months and while i have ideas, I'm not totally certain what to do.

She's always been fairly quick, but recently she's become all about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible....which is fantastic, but she's looking for every shortcut she can find to accomplish this, skipping the last weave pole and extending straight off the dogwalk. We've been trying to work through this and I do feel she's getting a grasp that she needs to hit the bottom of the plank, but (and here's what concerns me about the behavior holding up) she takes a lot of short collected strides to hit the contact, rather than running fully extended and slightly adjusting her stride as she's coming down to hit it. I worry since she's almost never at full seed when she makes an effort to hit it, that the behavior will fall apart in competition.....because she doesn't understand how to accomplish both hit the contact and run at full speed. I also have a hard time getting her as excited at home as she is in classes and trials.

I'm thinking of purchasing a "hit it board", it beeps when the dog hits the contact. but it's so small that I worry the criteria will be too strict to hold up long term.

Not many dog as tiny as Indy manage to miss their contacts, even without training of any kind...leave it to my dogs to catch some air any way they can!

Indy Sept 2010

2010-09-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

Once we get this whole, can't calm down/focus enough to get through the weaves on the first try phase over with we'll be in business.

Indy got her last leg for her Open Jumpers title and her first EX A standard leg (not on video) this past weekend.

that C word

2010-09-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

I found a bump on Willy's front leg, so we went to the vet to have it checked out yesterday and the vet feels it's in her words "highly, highly suspicious of mct" so he's scheduled to have it removed next week. Last night I found two more bumps on him, on his rear leg.

Obviously i'm worried and upset......it's so weird when you think of the possibility of something like this in a dog who seems so healthy, so completely "normal". I refuse to obsess over this, I refuse to allow it to alter the way I think of Willy, and the way I interact with him. I've always said I would never put a dog through chemo. Only time will tell about that, but if this does turn out to be cancer, I refuse to put him through any pain just to stretch his life a few years. I want my dogs with me as long as possible, but most importantly I want them to have a good life. Willy gets very stressed out at the vets. He's one of those dogs who cries and carries on over everything. He's always been like this, even his breeder warned me that he was a "crier and screamer" at 8 weeks.

Willy's always been different that the girls, he loves to just hang out in the yard and forage for berries, dirt and anything else that could be considered food. He's a big worrier around big dogs, but he loves his girls. He's a total "fair weather" dog, he doesn't like to go for walks when it's wet, too hot or too cold, but is just thrilled about being out when it's nice out. He's my little marshmallow dog.

people people everywhere

2010-09-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and hike with the dogs in the early evenings while we still have the light to get out after work. Normally I try to squeeze in a hike during the afternoon or early morning, but it's nice to have Bill come along. Usually once we get off the main trails we're pretty much by ourselves, not yesterday. Runners, families mountain bikers at every turn, all this was okay. The dogs do need to see all these things regularly. But it seems on nice days there's always one who makes me lose faith in the human race. We were on a main trail, all our dogs were on leash at this point, just too much going on and we saw a large GSD mix off leash. The man looked like he was about to put the dog on lead when he saw us approaching, but as we came up it looked like he was just holding the dog by collar....while it stared at our dogs....that completely inappropriate, aggressive stare. I see people do this all the time, hold dogs by collar, as a means to control, while allow the dog to lock eyes on what/whoever....much the way people do in agility to rev a dog up! and that's just what it does with these dogs. We had to pass them, luckily it was a fairly wide trail, but by the time we had to pass him the dog was in a total frenzy, and i really worried it was going to get away from the owner.

Not the hike we were hoping for, this is why I sometimes can't wait for the bitter cold of Winter.

You can shape anything

2010-09-13T06:54:00.000-07:00

The whole thing started on Labor day morning. It was the 3rd day of a trial weekend. Abby was only entered on Sat. and Monday. she does better with a "mental health day" in between....I Iove three day trials for this reason. I got the dogs up, and Abby looked horrible, she could barely open her eye. how a dog can scratch their eye while in a crate over night, I'll never understand. We had left over ointment from a previous eye injury so I started her on that, and she looked a lot better by the time I got home. Still occasional squinting, but looking on the way to recovery! Went to the vets to be sure, and he agreed she was doing good and to keep up with the ointment.

In the days that followed her eye seemed fine 99% of the time, but at some point every single day she would follow me around, just sort of winking at me. which of course I responded to in the only way anyone with a heart responds to a squinting pug. I carried her around, babied her, kissed her head and gave her cookies. When she kept doing this almost a full week later I took her back to the vet, who confirmed her eye was completely healed!! I got to wondering, is she winking and squinting, for attention? Could she have figured out that squinting at me, got her attention and cookies?? You bet she did. It took a solid day of ignoring her when she winked and praising her when she looked at me both eyes to get her to stop. now, I just need to get it on cue!

Running contacts- an update

2010-08-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing is as easy it seems! Recently Indy's dog walk has been getting a little sloppy. Sometimes there are full blatant jumps, other times her striding is consistent the whole way down the plank, but she's so extended that that she's hitting at the very top of the yellow and the next stride is hitting the ground. All four feet hit the same spot, jackrabbit style!! It would be cute, but she's going to get called. I want it to be obvious to any judge that she hit her contact, I don't want to make them think, and boy oh boy is it hard to see what she's doing lately. I video taped and watched and watched and watched some more at full speed and could not for the life of me say whether her feet hit the lower section the dog walk or the ground just past. She already was pretty quick on the dog walk, recently she's really started to move! I had to slow it down to 12% of regular speed to really analyze what she's doing.

I hopefully fixed it. The first time she jumped on the dog walk, was outside and there was taller grass around the plank. This is Indy, she can be weird. She jumped every single time. It seemed like from that point on things got sloppy, she also started to get faster. It was like she did it once and thought well "this is easier and FUN". Got the plank out and did some remedial work. Also played around with her stop on the contact. I semi-taught her a four on stop months ago. she didn't forget! All I have to do is tell her GO or STOP when she's on the top plank of the walk and she does it. The stop certainly needs more work, more proofing but I'm amazed at how quickly she gets the concept and she seems to really like not knowing which it's going to be, and having to really pay attention. I think for her the stop even helps her running contact. It seems to remind her that there's something very important about hitting the end of the walk.

On a side note, I don't know how judges accurately can judge contacts. I think fast small dogs are even harder, it's tough to really see what's going on. I think electronic touch pads are only a matter of time.

car shopping

2010-08-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

"Stinky" my 1998 forester is finally being retired. I loved that car, sure it had a fair bit of body damage from years of driving (and being parked) in the city, yes it smelled like a wet labrador retriever, but it was the first car I really, really loved......sort like a bad, abusive relationship towards the end. I just couldn't part with it, so I kept dumping more and more money into it. Thinking if I just fix this one thing, it will run for like two more years!! It just doesn't work that way at some point. I drove everyday through the blizzard this past year, only problem was getting held up behind all the cars stuck in the snow....oh and the one time I started to get cocky and parked in a snow bank (for the record, I did not get stuck, but came pretty close).

My 2001 Forester is currently my all purpose car, I'm using it for work as well as my own personal use while I wait to find my new car. Looking for a 2007 or newer Forester, what can I say I stick with what I love, or maybe I just resist change..... I'm also cheap, So i'm looking on my own and I have someone searching auto auctions for me. I really thought i might have my car now, but was priced out at the auction by 500. oh well

Anyone want to buy a 1998 Forester, rare 5 speed, two brand new tires, clutch less than a year old. almost a classic car!!! Slight odor problem

Another water dog!

2010-08-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I do, but almost all of my dogs are obsessed with playing in the water!

I took Kittie, Abby & Indy to the park yesterday afternoon to play in the stream. It's been so miserably hot that there's no way to go on hikes during the afternoon. Indy has been to the stream exactly one time prior to this all year, and I'm not sure if she ever went last year. As soon as we got out of the car, she's pulling like a nut, chattering away. I had no idea what got into her, it was kind of embarasing I thought, guess we need to work on the whole, how to walk on a leash thing. Then I realized she was pulling to get to the water. As soon we got there, she was in! Dunking her head under, "scuba diving" for rocks and swimming with her big sister, Abby. Kittie likes to chase her ball, but rarely goes in too far, enough to cool off though.

There would be pictures, but I'm still without a camera. I have my eye on one that comes out later this month.

Relax and kick back agility

2010-08-09T07:47:00.001-07:00

That would be how CPE was described to me at the trial this weekend, when someone heard that I had never done cpe before. That was also my first indication of the day that CPE agility, probably wouldn't be my thing. I can think of far better ways to kick back and relax with my dogs than any agility trial. What I like the most about trialing, is new challenges and course that really make me think and push myself. That is fun for me, and generally my dogs have fun, if I'm having fun.

I will say CPE is very nice for young dogs, for ring experience. Overall it's not that much different than most trials. Seemed far less frantic about getting to the line. Some classes, you just run around and do whatever obstacles you or your dog want to.....would have been great for training.....if they actually opted to use the contact obstacles, what's up with that?! Pretty much all the courses, even at the highest level looked variations of novice courses, so not huge challenges. Dogs can jump two height classes lower too, so very nice if you want to bring a retired dog out to play once in a while.

I think it's great that we have so many options to play agility. something for everyone.

Call 911

2010-08-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

Indy had a HAIR emergency! My biggest fear about having a dog with a pretty coat......

Took all the dogs hiking at Deer lakes park this weekend. We've been several times, never a problem. The trail was grown in somewhat and there were those little green things everywhere, no idea what they're actually called, but it's like tiny pieces of velcro that weave themselves into a papillons pretty hair. For a while I was trying to pull them out as we walked, but it was no use. It was awful, to look at Indy you would have thought there was no way, all her hair would have to be cut, but she patiently waited while I worked every single one out of her coat. Some hair came out, but none had to be cut, and she still looks pretty as ever.

You got to love a pugs short coat! they shed everywhere, but you just can't mess up their coats no matter what.

Don't think we'll be going back to Deer Lakes for a little while!

Indy open agility

2010-07-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

OA Indy

2010-07-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Indy had a VERY good weekend! Earning all 3 legs for her open standard title and 1 open jumpers leg (she was only entered in Jumpers twice) I made a mistake, and missed a jump....Indy was perfect.

She was much happier at the trial. Indy's a party girl, and likes to be able to hang out, meet and greet, play with new friends and spend as much time as possible scuba diving in the near by stream. She even was caught actually *sleeping* in her crate. Spending too much time crated at shows just seems to shut her down, she has no shortage of energy so I guess there's no harm in her staying out more.

Kittie ran this weekend too, just in standard. Had an off course in one run and a dropped bar in another. Oh well. As someone (rudely) pointed out she is getting old. She's only 8 1/2. She's slowing down on walks these days, the heat seems to be getting to her more easily. I just don't know what to do, not ready for Miss Kittie to start aging.

Venturing out from AKC

2010-07-14T05:57:00.000-07:00

Indy and i are going to be expanding out from just AKC agility. We're doing one day at a local CPE trial, entered in jumpers, standard and full house...which I have no idea what that is! But it should be fun to do something different.

In September we're entering two days of USDAA. Really excited about that one, I still haven't decided what jump height she'll be running. We're currently going through all the foundation stuff we did at 8" all over again at 12" She never knocks bars (what a concept), but I want to make sure she's really jumping correctly and confidently. 12" just looks so big, but I'm probably stuck in the mindset I've had for the pugs.....and Abby jumped 12" for a while, and was reasonably successful at that height.

I feel like I'm stuck in a bit of rut with just AKC, many of the courses are very similar and I'm bored with taking up my whole day to just run two runs. I also hate that once you get to the Ex B level you need DQs to make any progress towards anything, it can be really demotivating. We're always going to run more AKC trials that anything else, there are just so many of them locally and it's a really good fit for the pugs, but I'm excited to try some new things.

4th of July trial

2010-07-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

We went to a small trial that was outside this weekend. Friday I only entered Kittie, and Indy ran in fast for practice. We took Saturday off, it was me and Bill's anniversary. 11 years already!!

Sunday all three girls were entered, but with temps predicted to be in the 90s, I just brought Indy. running just Indy also meant my day was going to be very short, I was only at the trial for a little over two hours.

Indy earned her first Open Jumpers leg, with a 1st place. She would have had an open standard leg as well, but she ran by the outside of the chute and was already onto the teeter and I never fixed it. She's doing better with all the trial commotion. there were hats everywhere, the judge was wearing a big, red, white and blue top hat, all the ring crew were wearing hats and she did good. She's still not running as well she's capable, there's a big, big difference between Indy in practice and Indy in competition, but she's getting there!

My biggest concern is she seems to really stress about being left alone in her crate at trials. She doesn't make a lot of noise, but she's licking her lips (stress signal in dogs) whenever I see her, and she's not resting. I'm not sure how to handle that. Stay with her more...come back frequently, I just don't know.

Tip of the day

2010-07-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

When running in the AKC fast class, it's helpful to actually *know*the rules! Walking the course beforehand doesn't hurt either.

Just a little tip from me, this way when your baby dog easily does the send and earns close to the maximum number of points, you will actually qualify. We entered mainly for training and some ring time (otherwise today was Excellent only), so I never really gave much thought to Qing or not....but still...know the rules, and walk the course, very helpful.

35 years

2010-06-21T05:17:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me! 35, now!

Trialed close to home this weekend. Indy finished her Novice agility title, so she's in Open for both classes now. She's still struggling with "who are all these people in the ring and why are they staring at me?" This is a new one for me, but I'm assured it's a normal baby dog stage, she did get distracted by people in class at a time too and she got over that quickly. She's rarely running over to them now, but it's just enough distraction to miss a weave or a jump. She'll get there. No Open jumpers Qs, due to moments of baby dog distraction, but nice overall. i'm very happy with her speed in jumpers.

Abby was a lot of fun. She's runs like heck! No table or weaves, but I'll take a bad dog who's having fun over slow, acurate and boring any day.

Kittie only ran in standard, which she did very well, one of those effortless runs.

11 years old

2010-06-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

Happy 11th Birthday Rudy!! The pug who started it all!! without Rudy I may have never got so involved with dogs. I was still in school when we made the plunge and got a pug puppy....out of the newspaper. She was everything a pug, was not supposed to be. Smart, insanely active and drivey. I've yet to have a dog who plays tug with such intensity. We walked her everywhere, just trying to tire her out enough to get some peace, took her to classes. She is pug-like in some ways, she's had virtually every health problem that's common to the breed....bad eyes, knees, back problems and a lot of allergies.

She's taught me a lot. Pugs can do all sorts of things, the value of a good breeder and how important good nutrition and conditioning is for all dogs.

She's still going strong, no one guesses her to be 11yrs, or even the oldest of our dogs.

No focus

2010-06-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

Had class last night with Kittie, Abby & Indy, I just had no focus at all. Lots of sending dogs around jumps and running like a slug. Can I blame it on the ridiculous heat and humidity? Maybe....just one of those days. I was slow at work, two of my favorite dogs were scheduled to be walked. These guys aren't regulars, just random dates through out the year I always look forward to seeing them. The older one has cancer and the younger one came up lame, so that was upsetting. Lots of negativity in general before class, people talking about dogs not working out for competition. I think it was a combination of summer weather and general blah-ness but i just wasn't in the right state. At least dogs are more understanding than people!

Other observations

* It's raining AGAIN
* Went out to bring the dogs in, and found Willy with a decapitated bird.....trying to eat the bird's head. I figure, between all the berries he eats and now birds, I don't even have to feed him over the summer. He's a hunter gatherer pug.

Watch out birds!

broken camera

2010-06-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

One minute my camera was perfect, the next it just stopped working. hmm, I'm thinking that maybe you're not supposed to just toss a loose camera into a backpack and sprint with it bouncing around. Hoping it can be fixed, I've had it about 4 years or so and really do like it. I'm not sure what i'd get this time around.

Potentially the last photos from camera;

"what do mean, I look pathetic?"

swamp-front property

2010-06-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

This has been the rainiest June ever. Our yard has pretty much turned into a swamp. The dogs think it's great, especially Indy and Abby. The house is a perpetual disaster, the kitchen may as well have dirt floors.

Indy, "what's wrong with a little mud?!"

Believe it or not, the floor actually is white.

Won't someone come out and play in the puddles with me?

Kittie jumping E.T.S.

2010-06-09T06:17:00.000-07:00

I've written many, many times about Kittie's jumping issues, and posted links to early take off syndrome articles. Here are some photos that very clearly show what the problem looks like.
Starting here, just hit next to see the progression;
http://www.cindynolandphotography.com/gtotc510/satexst8%5F2/gtotc510_3831.htm

Notice her take off point, notice how close she lands to the jump. It should be spaced evenly, with the jump itself at the center. See how much higher she jumps than she needs to.

We've done it all in terms of training and re-training again and again. This is just Kittie, I can handle to compensate for these issues to a point, but she will always drop bars.

Traffic

2010-06-08T05:46:00.001-07:00

The place we do most of our agility training is about a 40 minute drive away, an hour with traffic.....normally.....yesterday it took a whopping 2 hrs and 15 minutes. I'm so glad Donna let us crash the 2nd class. By the time I realized this was more than your ordinary traffic, we were basically trapped on the highway, with an hour into the drive, to turn around and go home at that point would have made me nuts, at least we got to have fun.

Indy is definitely having fun, she seems more and more into it all the time. Handling really tough sequences, with threadles. We do need to work on switching between obstacle and handler focus, and really training a "come" command for agility. She's just a wee bit forward focused at the moment, which is a good thing, but I need to be able to smoothly redirect her.

That traffic yesterday is my worst fear about moving outside of the city, that could turn you into a raving lunatic pretty quick! Still trying to find a property close enough, yet the perfect private dog wonderland where they can bark at birds and squirrels all they want.

"minor leagues" other agility venues

2010-06-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

There was a CPE trial close to our house this weekend, at the end of the day there was a tunnelers fun run, all proceeds went to breast cancer research. A fun chance to run the dogs in a trial environment, even almost 11 year old rudy got to come out and play! and raise some $$$ for a good cause, a win win for everyone. Everyone did great, Indy ended up 1st, Abby 2nd (I believe they were 2nd and 3rd overall for all heights). Kittie ducked behind me to take an off course and Rudy missed a tunnel- she hasn't done any agility at all for several years, so it was great to see her out there really running!

We've never done CPE, truth be told 99% of the agility trials we do are AKC. I've done a few USDAA, it's a goal of mine to do more.

Around here (and maybe everywhere) there's very different attitudes about different venues. CPE, I'm sorry to say is negatively viewed as "the minor leagues" by many. This has always bugged me, it bothers me just as much as when people who only do venues like CPE & NADAC criticize those who only do AKC & USDAA saying "well, I want to have fun", implying that anyone even moderately competitive can't possibly be having fun. I want to go as far as I can with each of my dogs (just how far that is will vary) and certainly have fun, that's the number one reason I do all of this, to have fun, to play with my dogs and any success I have stems from that. I like running courses that are challenging, both physically and mentally, I wish AKC courses were more challenging. That doesn't make me better or worse than someone who is looking for a different experience with their dogs, as long as you have a good relationship with your dog, do your best to prepare them and yourself and don't blame the dog for your own shortcomings there's nothing wrong or lesser about any venue. I think it's wonderful that we have so many different types of organizations. In Europe, my pugs wouldn't even have an opportunity to play, since the lowest jump in many countries is 14"

The easy CPE tunnelers run was fun! It was a nice opportunity to just RUN and put the focus 100% on speed.

Abby Weaves...at a trial!

2010-06-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

I've been just running right on by the weaves if Abby makes a mistake/decides she doesn't have time to finish them, not stopping her at all. Well, on the 2nd day of the trial this weekend Abby completed both sets of weaves on the first try. She knows how, she really is pretty nice weaver. Who knows, maybe there's hope Abby.......now if they would just get rid of the table in standard we'd be in business!

NAJ Indy

2010-06-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

Indy earned her NAJ title and a leg towards her NA...would have been 2 legs, but she missed a weave pole and I didn't even notice it, so an NQ for that run. she's doing very well......I on the other hand need work. She's such a good girl, my front crosses are not only late, but positioned terribly.

Indy update

2010-05-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

Indy's 18 months old now, still very much a baby, but growing up more all the time. I'm so happy with her, she's such a fun girl and a great all around dog. She's always ready to play or do some training, but she's calm, quiet and snuggly at home if there's not much to do. She's far more social with other dogs than I'm used to with the pugs, but it's never distracted her in classes, so that's great! I do have a feeling there will be more papillons in my future, just a perfect breed for me! I had my concerns venturing away from pugs when I got her, but it was a great decision.

Training wise she's come a long way and of course there are some things that need some work.

* weaves and dogwalk and just great, I'm amazed at what she truly seems to understand. Both are fully independent, with nice speed

*Teeter and Aframe are good, but need a little tweaking. Teeter- she's starting to self release when it hits the ground, I went through that with Abby and let it go and that turned into fly offs pretty quick. I need to remember to really reinforce her staying on the board. She seems a little confused by a lot of lateral distance on the teeter too. A frame- I'm such an idiot, I realized we never really worked on a variety of approaches onto the frame with her, just lots of straight approaches, so she seems a little unsure and it seems if there's a discrimination and she doesn't know where she's going right away, she's not sure that she can make it. I did however do some things right, her contacts on the frame have come together beautifully, she understands her job. I have worked on all sorts of exits, pushing off the Frame, front and blind crosses, lateral distance, she does well with it all.

* Jumping she's a fairly good jumper. Not a bar knocker, that's for sure!! She does tend to jump very flat and extended, so I need to continue working on collection skills and improving my timing/deceleration.

Trick training her has been fun. I don't know why more people don't spend time working on tricks. I need to put a video of her finished tricks together.

Some tricks that are still in the works (need work)
* limping on beck leg, without any assistance
* retrieving things and putting them in a small container. she does this, but she still kind of *throws* the toys at the container/me. I'd like to see her really paying attention to what she's doing, but the current version is pretty cute!
* rolling herself up in small balnket, we've got nowhere on this one. I do have a cue though *burrito*

She's entered in just a few trials over the summer. Taking things slow, letting her mature with no real pressure put on her. Just enjoying running a baby dog. something I haven't done before. It was always a race to get to Ex, then a race to get to Ex B. she'll get there, that's for sure, so no need to rush.

WCOTC trial

2010-05-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

Went to the WCOTC trial this past weekend. Kittie ran both days and Indy & abby each ran one day. Kittie was her usual self. she's really become very easy for me to run. she has her limitations and plenty of holes in her early training, but I know her and she's very comfortable to run. She's always ready to have some fun out there and tries her best!

Indy was a total weenie! Both runs were ok, but then ruined when she got afraid of something......dogs/people outside the ring, that she noticed when she was on the table in standard and the judges hat in jumpers. this really surprised me at first and then I got to thinking, she really hasn't done much agility outside, and she does still have a certain degree of fearfulness when we're outside hiking. A barking dog in the distance panics her, and she really can't focus. Poor baby, I think it's leftover stress from when she was attacked. This stuff really can stick with them. she just wasn't 100% herself last weekend, yet she ran well overall. Teeter and dogwalk were both great! She really loves to weave too!!

Abby was Abby, fast and bordering on out of control! No Qs for her, but she put on quite the show : )

Here's video of some of Kittie's runs.

A surprise in the mail

2010-05-11T05:16:00.001-07:00

I came home to a surprise yesterday. Kittie's invite to the PDCA showcase...or top 20, or whatever they're calling it now. I really didn't think she was in the top 5 for agility, since I barely ran her last year and then I moved her to preferred but she ended up #4 for standard.

Not sure if we'll go or not. The whole thing sounds a little silly. Dressing up in 50's attire.....conformation folks in 50s prom getups and companion event people dressed like the movie Grease (so, are the breed people the soc's and the performance people Greasers??) Bill says I should do it, but I think he just want photos of me in a poodle skirt and saddle shoes.

I wasn't even decided about nationals, Kittie runs terribly on the surface that agility is being held on this year and I definitely wasn't planning on spending the week.

Does anyone know just what the showcase entails? I see there's a required rehearsal. We've been invited before, but have never attended.

A plan to make a plan

2010-05-05T05:56:00.001-07:00

I've whined several times about how I want to move out of the city, want less neighbors, should be happy in our cute little neighborhood where you can walk to cafes, indie movie theaters etc......but I'm just not. Well, it's time to start really forming some plans to make things happen. We're starting a serious search for properties within the city that fit the budget (I'm not a fan of having debt, we like to live well below our means) and our list of things we want in a new home, # 1 being no close by neighbors, I also have this obsession with having a mudroom. We have five dogs, we need a mudroom! Also get an idea of things in surrounding counties. We've done this before....and we ended up living in the city. It's a tall order. Even if this ends up being on a 10 year plan, I want to have a real plan for making things happen. Moving outside the city, with a 40min. to 2 hr commute just can't happen right now, but with some changes made it *could* down the road sometime.

any day now.....

2010-04-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

Supposedly AKC is voting on all those possible changes, A frame height for little dogs, positionless table among other things. We should know what's going on sometime in May. It's frustrating for me because if they do change the A frame height my dogs will never be able to practice on a 5' foot frame. Where we do 99% of our training the A frame can't be lowered. It may be just fine to "wing it" but I'm not a fan of surprising my dogs in competition.

I just wish there were some proposed changes for the teeter. Indy had another flying launch off the teeter on Monday night. she's not doing it because she doesn't care, she's doing it out of confusion. She was on 2 different teeters prior to this earlier in the week that tipped very differently and she really was confused and that hurts her confidence on the dog walk...."which kind of plank is this?? A teeter or walk, better slow down to be sure". Very frustrating for both Indy and I, it's not fair for her to surprised like that. when you're only 6 lbs some teeters are just starting to give a little as she approaches the end and others aren't moving at all and she has to wait a second, just for it to begin to tip if she's all the way at the end, the way she's been trained (she needs to go to the end, or many teeter won't tip at all). At least she landed on her feet this time.