Check Out the Bling!

Clancy and I squeezed in a couple of Novice Obedience classes this weekend. We had to schedule our entries around our morning private agility class. Thankfully the venues were only a 10 minute drive from each other. And I raced back to obedience just in time to hear the judge inform everyone that there'd be a lunch break before moving on to the Novice class. Well, glad I didn't get a speeding ticket then!

What was funny was that the other club's Novice A class had just begun in the other ring. So I did a last minute entry and they added our armband # to the list. I entered the ring with the usual butterflies (as always) and feelings of doom as Clancy would NOT look at me or focus on me. I couldn't get him set up straight in front of the ring steward and finally just left him with a 'good enough' shrug. His heeling was pretty good - mostly good with some WTF? thrown in for good measure. Like the 'oh am I supposed to sit when you stop?'. His figure 8's were also okay. At least he sat when he was supposed to. A bit of forging/lagging depending on the direction but nothing extreme. His Stand was perfect (although I really wish he'd stop looking like he expects the judge to beat him!). And his Heel Off Leash was also pretty good - considering how rarely we actually practice that. Probably a smidgen better than his On Leash heeling as by then he remembered to sit when I stopped moving. The Recall was funny, even if there were deductions. He came flying into me, both front paws nailed me in the thigh. Then sat crooked for a split second before auto-correcting into a beautiful straight front. His finish was nice and quick, but a bit crooked. I was just relieved to be at the end - till I realized we had to go straight back in for the Sits and Downs. I was stressing for the entire Long Sit, considering Clancy had just come from jump drills in Agility, I was worried he might be tired and decide to lay down for a bit. But he held for the full minute and I got to breathe again. Long Down - wasn't too worried except that I know better than to count my chickens before they hatch. Finally those most wonderful words - 'Back to your dog' & 'Exercise finished'! Especially when followed by the judge's 'congratulations!'

I think four out of seven qualified. I was so excited to get a Q I wasn't really listening to the judge till I realized he'd called our armband number - for the High in Class rosette! I had to ask him afterwards what our score was (193). So that's what it feels like to get a score in the 190's! I've always wondered LOL

Clancy relaxed in his crate while we waited for the second class. As always my conundrum is when do I get my dog...do I get him now? what about now? How to make sure I leave enough time to warm him up without letting him get too wired. It was pouring rain so I figured we wouldn't be doing much walking outside, and that he didn't need much anyway after jump drills and all. So my timing was to get him out to do his business nearly, then back into the crate until the team before us entered the ring.

The second class was much the same as the first - heeling was mostly okay but still a non-sit and some forging/lagging. No problems with the Stand (he still won't Stand on command - sometimes he will in practice but I was not going to embarrass ourselves by trying it in a trial LOL). Again, what's up with the Recall? He came flying into me and then swung his bum around into an-almost swing finish. I knew I should have practiced some Fronts in between classes! But he did a decent Finish to get fully into heel position so I told him he was brilliant anyway.

They split the 11 dog class so we did Sits and Downs after six dogs. Clancy was solid on both (thank you, buddy!) and then we sat and watched the rest of the class. That's the point of the trial I like - no more pressure! Then back into the ring for the ribbons. The judge handed out ribbons and all of a sudden I realized we were the only team not called yet. Omigawd! High in Class rosette with a 195 score! Talk about overwhelmed! Clancy was a bit 'meh' about the rosette, but he enjoyed his liver treats. I thought the green ribbons were lovely for a dog named 'Clancy'.

But wait, there's more! I was told to stick around for the trophies. Um...trophies? Um...yep. High Scoring Club member and High Scoring Novice Club member! I'm thinking Clancy and I should retire now as I'm not sure where we go from here.


Well, not really. This wasn't a CKC trial so still have that to look forward to in November. Poor Clancy has set my expectations rather high so now there's self-imposed pressure.

Oh, and we did have an Agility trial earlier this month. Let's just say there was no bling brought home. Actually, it wasn't that bad. We did get another Snooker Q, which means we now run in Advanced Snooker. Um...yikes! Clancy turned in a wild Jumpers run on the Friday night - his only run. Came so close in Standard - one dropped bar. Gamblers was a loss. Clancy has been so good and so fast on his weaves lately that I tried to do a down and back on the weaves to get 10 points. But he bobbled the entry and then popped out on the return. Ah well, it was worth trying. We never even got to the first obstacle of the Gamble. Clancy turned right onto the Dog Walk instead of left to the Tunnel (and no, I don't know why I capitalize the obstacle names. I think that's just because that's how I 'see' them in my mind.)

November will be busy. We have 9 runs in the Remembrance weekend trial. Then four Novice A classes in the following weekend's obedience trials. What can I say? It beats cleaning the house!

Well, that went fast!

Okay, I think it's pretty clear that blogging is not my strong suit! Or rather the timeliness of my blogging leaves a lot to be desired :) ... Good thing I started this for my own entertainment. And I'm easily entertained.

Although actually it would be fairly easy to update Clancy's obedience accomplishments since the last post. None. There. Consider yourself updated.

Okay, it hasn't been quite that vast void over the last nine months. I've been busy. He's been busy. Sometimes we've even been busy together!

After our pre-novice experience, as chronicled earlier, I decided we'd save ourselves the entry fees and just focus on going straight into Novice.

Then we had to take a break from obedience classes as life just got too hectic and too complicated. It came down to a having to choose between Agility and Obedience. What can I say? Agility is just too fun to skip!

Anyway, while we were on our obedience break, we spent our 'spare' time working on straightening out his sits & fronts using some 'hind end awareness' exercises (I dare you to Google that!)

Then I decided that Clancy was good but with a little work we could really improve upon his heeling. Considering my past experience with my collies, I was basically happy if Clancy stayed vaguely within the vicinity of my left shoulder. But I got thinking about it and watching those experienced handlers with their bright, focussed dogs pinned to their left side and thought...Clancy could do that! But...how? I ordered Dawn Jecs "Choose to Heel" book after getting a few recommendations and we started working from that. Our training, as always, is spotty & intermittent but Clancy catches on so fast that he makes it look easy.

Of course, as one thing comes on, something else disappears. Clancy had a lovely Stand for Exam on a hand signal. Had. Now he looks at me like I've grown a second head. Not sure what happened there. At least his Stand is solid...it just getting him up that's the issue. But it's summer now and we're not in classes for a few more weeks so I'm not stressing it. In fact, it looks like our first trial opportunity won't be until November again. Hmm...wonder if I'll post again before then LOL!

But enough about obedience...how 'bout that Agility!? Clancy and I entered our first AAC Agility Trial last February. Standard & Snooker & Jumpers, oh my! I chickened out of Gamblers.

Our first Starters Standard run wasn't too bad, considering I was on the verge of puking before we got in the ring. No Q but *he* was awesome. Me, not so much.

After getting that first run out of the way, things went better - nerve wise anyway. Besides, it was soooo cold that weekend that we wanted to run just to keep our blood from freezing!

No Qs in Standard - dropped bars are not our friend. However surprisingly (to me anyway), a Q & a first place in Starters Snooker (okay, Clancy was the only dog of 2 in the class that qualified but hey, a first is a first, damnit!). And a bee-yoo-tiful clean run in Starters Jumpers. Go figure, a Q in Jumpers. If I was a betting gal, I would not have been putting money on Snooker & Jumpers but that just goes to show what I know!

After that, back to training until our next trial in April. Yeah, nothing to blog there. Even my Agility Log is silent on that weekend. I don't think it was a disaster as much as a weekend of 'almosts'. I do remember we entered a Gamblers class. And missed the Q by ONE POINT! My bad...I was trying to be fancy rather than just going for the sure points. Lesson learned, I hope.

Oh, ironically...the only trial we have video for! Here's one of our Standard runs. I thought the tire was his only fault until I saw the video. Just as well he missed the tire then, or I'd have thought it was a Q, only to be very disappointed.

And our Jumpers. This had the potential to be a good run, till he went wide on that one jump. I was just happy all the bars stayed up.

Next trial, June. The only sunny weekend all month. Our first outdoor trial. I love my little brown dog. He couldn't care less, indoor, outdoor...just show him the course and stay out of his way. Oh yeah, it's the 'stay out of his way' that I keep forgetting about. Honestly, I should just teach him to read a course map and let him run by himself. I think he'd do a heck of a lot better.

His first Standard run was lovely - except he had a 'blonde' moment at the table. He jumped on - and then sauntered off. It was almost worth it for the 'oh crap' look on his face as he turned and scrambled back up again LOL...I'm not taking the blame for that one. I think that was his only 'we're outside and there's stuff to sniff' moment.

We got the evil whistle in Snooker. We ran exactly the opening I had walked but I forgot one important thing - plan your opening, plan your closing...and don't forget to plan how to connect them. I missed the obvious tunnel suck in between the two and that ended our Snooker run.

Then finally, the elusive Q in Starters Standard! Woohoo! That was worth the weekend entry fees alone. Oh wait, that was the only Q all weekend. I just checked back to my entry confirmation and we entered a lot of classes that weekend. And yet, what I've described are the only ones I remember. Hmm...I think that says a lot. Oh, we did run our first Steeplechase too. That was fun, actually. No Q and I didn't even bother recording all the faults because it just so didn't matter. It was unnerving for me seeing us listed with the 'Master' dogs! But it was fun, oh so fun! Clancy is such fun to run. If only he had a handler that knew what she was doing LOL...

We've been in a dry spell since then...missed a trial due to holidays (dumb planning on my part!). Oh wait, we did enter our first CKC agility trial last month and came home with one Q. We only entered two runs so I was very happy with that. Our second run was more of a comedy of errors. We were doomed right from the opening - three jumps to a tunnel. I set him up and lead out to half-way between the first & second jump. As he took the first jump I had an 'oh crap, I can't beat him to the third jump' moment which shook me for the rest of the course. Why did I think I could run faster than my dog? Afterwards I kicked myself in the ass for not just yelling 'go, go' to get him to keep going over the jumps. We've trained that. He can do that. But my mind went blank and so he circled past the third jump to come back to me to ask 'what next?' LOL. Lesson learned (I hope).

Oh, and did you know the chute is longer in CKC than AAC?! Clancy does. Now. But I made a gazelle like leap over him as he came rolling out of the fabric. What style! What grace!

We're heading up next weekend to visit the in-laws. Conveniently there's an Agility Trial close by so Clancy and I entered four (4!) Standard runs on the Saturday. More to come on that :)

Again with the stupid holiday planning, I will be away for my Agility club's September trial. So after this weekend, we have to wait till October. I hate waiting.

Pre-Novice Disaster & Redemption. Sort Of.

The automatic finish still hasn't resolved itself but I stopped worrying about it after I checked the rule book and realized that you don't need to do the finish in pre-novice :) Then other family issues came to a head and I just about forgot about the trial altogether.

Yesterday was the big day. I wanted to get up there super early so I could relax and watch the other classes. Unfortunately I was going to be the first up in the pre-novice class so would not have an opportunity to watch someone run through it first. 'Oh well, it's all for fun', I told myself. 'Then why', I asked myself, 'do I feel like throwing up?'

Two hour drive in the fog and rain to the show site. Got there early, but not super early but no problem. Found a parking spot...pottied Clancy and staked out a spot by the ring.

Things I learned:

• Don't stake out a spot by the ring with Clancy.

In my jumbled, stressed out line of thought, I figured having him with me would give him a chance to acclimatize to all the activity and dogs so that he would be able to focus on me once we got in the ring. Yeah, didn't work that way. By the time we got in the ring, Clancy was climbing the walls. Focus? Heeling? Sit? Never heard of them. I don't know if it made it better or worse that the judge is a member of the obedience club I train with. He must wonder if we ever attended a class.

Clancy did hold his sit (all 30 seconds of it - longest 30 seconds in history!) which redeemed him a bit, enough that I didn't actually put the 'free to good home' sign around his neck. There were four entered in pre-novice and none of us qualified. I'm now re-evaluating my 'pfft...it's only pre-novice' attitude.

After we were done I put Clancy back in the van over the lunch break. I vowed that he wasn't coming out again until it was just time to go into the afternoon class. The waiting is the worst part....constant second-guessing: should I get him now? No, not yet. What about now?

We were supposed to be second into the pre-novice class but I ended up having to scramble as the team before us didn't turn up. No problem. Got Clancy and had him heel from the van to the site, throwing rapid fire treats to keep his attention on me. Into the ring, with a 'well, we couldn't do any worse' sigh and....

Clancy was the little dog I was expecting. He heeled beautiful, with full attention. Got every sit - if I had to be picky I'd say they might have been a little crooked but good thing I'm not picky at all. No lagging, no forging on the circles left/right. Perfect recall right to front (and a straight sit!) Oh, so proud of my little brown dog.

Did you notice I didn't mention the sit for exam. Yeah, that was where he nq'd. For almost a year we've been training the stand for exam. So he knows what to do. I like to think he was trying to be helpful. I put him in the sit. Judge said 'leave when ready' and Clancy's little brain went 'oh no, mom forgot - I'm supposed to be standing!' and popped up to a stand. I mean, how do you be mad at that? Even the judge let out a 'darn'...LOL. I put him back into a sit and he stayed for the rest of the exercise.

So no ribbons but that's okay. The judges and show staff were great. I learned lots and had fun and made it well worth the money. And now that the first trial is under our belt, bring on the spring show circuit!

Trouble in River City

Oh no! Smart little sheltie has decided obedience is boring and he'll spice it up a bit. Even though we don't practice the front & finish, he's put the two together and swings to heel on the recall. Gack, two weeks to pre-novice and *now* he decides to get funny?! I'm trying to re-teach him using the 'around' instead of a swing heel. But two weeks! I do not work well under pressure.

Look what we can do!

Sweet talked my daughter (okay, bribed her) to video Clancy's excellent progress with the weaves. Of course, I edited out the multitude of unsuccessful weaves. Where's the fun in that?


Then of course, my videographer lost interest and started her own monologue.

It's so hard to find good help nowadays.

Back to Basics

I was so excited about Duffy that I forgot to even mention Clancy's training progress in the last post! He's doing so well, maybe I just figured it would be superfluous to mention it. Hehehe...superfluous. That doesn't come up in training too often.

Clancy's obedience work is proceeding apace. We're entered in a pre-novice class next month to see how a trial run under trial conditions goes. He shouldn't have any trouble with the pre-novice exercises (knock wood!). His focus improved dramatically post-op. Somehow those little girl dogs (and the occasional boy dog) just don't seem as enticing as they did before he was neutered. Much to my relief. There's lots of fine tuning needed. He tends to forge on the heeling patterns - I'll take that over lagging any day! Figure eights suffer mostly from my inability to actually make it through the pattern without getting dizzy and stumbling. What's with that? His group exercises were solid - recently I've seen some going down on the long sit. In his defense, our training class is very late at night (well, after 9:30 pm) so I think that's his way of telling me we should be home in bed! So we'll see...we'll see...I'm hopeful to be trialling by the spring. Ever the optimist, I even bought him his own dumbell last week.

Agility. Did I mention that we started agility training last spring? Did I mention that he loves it? Did I mention that he's fast. Much faster than his handler. I'm not sure how he manages to arrive at what he's supposed to do without any effective coaching from me. Our biggest hurdles (ha, pun intended!) are the weaves - the evil weaves...or weevils, as we call them - and the teeter-totter. Big surprise.

Channel weaves & weavamatics, he did pretty good at the introductory sessions. But once they were upright, he lost all concept of what to do. And apparently my attempt to train him only ended up confusing him even more. Sorry 'bout that, little buddy. So this past week we went back to basics and retrained with the 2X2 method. After just a few days, it's 'clicking' with him. And because we're training on grass he's loving the big chunks of cheese that I have to throw so that he can actually find it in the wilderness. Our new 'tug-it' toy from Clean Run is in the mail LOL.

The teeter is a little trickier as we don't have one to practice on at home. I'm not as worried about that as his issue is that he loves it. He gleefully goes barrelling across, clearly loving the BANG as it hits the ground. So the next few lessons will be working on teaching him some self-control on the teeter.

I`m constantly amazed and impressed with Clancy`s attitude. He`s a wonderful bundle of confidence and sheer joy. It`s going to be an interesting run.

It's a Time-y Wimey thing...*

Wow, that's embarrassing. Here it is September and the last post was November. So we didn't quite disappear for a full year. Just an almost-year!

I'll lie and say we've been just so busy training and competing that there hasn't been any computer time. Sure, that's what I'll say. This is the Internet...no one can prove me wrong. Except maybe all my Farmville friends who'll fink on me LOL. We have been doing lots of training, a bit of fostering, and just general keeping busy with kids and school and work stuff.

A Finnegan update, seeing as the last post was mostly about him. He was adopted into his forever home about a week before Christmas. Much to our relief and my children's delight as I refused to put up the Christmas tree while he was in the house. Finnegan was a darling dog, but basically a four legged whirlwind with energy to spare. If it weren't for the whole working full-time thing, we might have considered keeping him. I would have loved to do agility with him as he would have had a blast! But there's a time and a place for everything and now and here were just not the right match.

After Finnegan came Seamus. Seamus was a former rescue who was returned for rehoming. He spent two or three months with us and I cried when he found his forever home. There was serious second guessing about sending him off to his own family because I selfishly wanted to keep him forever. But it was a wonderful home and just a perfect fit, so all's well that ends well.

And now, now comes Duffy. Also a rehome. And here to stay. All that's sweet and gentle about collies is personified...er....doggified!...in him.
Finally, the smoothie of my dreams. It's a long story but the happy ending is that he's here to stay. He has inserted himself into our household with barely a ripple to disturb the calm. Even Mikki seems fond of the big guy. And Clancy finally has a trail walking buddy to crash through the bushes with. All is good.

*Doctor Who