The Weekend Events

Saturday- MN Disc Dog Star Jam
Vito's going to ruin me for any future disc dogs!  I am learning to throw low so Vito has no crazy thought of doing a spectacular somersault for the disc and still missing.  And it worked.  Only 1 spill and he caught most of the discs, although in a very boring but safe way.

Sunday- CPE Trial
Our first agility trial since April.  Lance was entered in 3 runs and Vito in 1.  I picked the games for Lance so he wouldn't have to do the dogwalk or aframe during our wreck of training running contacts.  Unfortunately in Colors I had the choice of doing the course with the dogwalk and then flip to a tunnel, or a straight exit off the dogwalk and then the aframe later.  I chose the flip and planned to turn him late.  I am happy to say that Lance hit the contact without any spectacular leap and even turned away from me... into a different tunnel.  And then besides our usual stuttering issues, jumpers and full house went well.

Vito was entered in jumpers.  I wasn't holding out much promise for our run since Vito was once again obsessed with the astro turf at the arena.  It took him a long time to focus on me and take his toy or treats during our warm up.  All Vito wanted to do was roll on that sweet grass.  It shocks me every time since Vito doesn't roll around on normal grass/dirt/smelly things ever!  I feel like the run started really well and Vito was actually running instead of jogging like he sometimes does at trials. But then I lost him for half a second to sniff the grass.  He connected with me right away again but lost his speed.

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Day 2 of CPE trial- brilliant and idiot

Oh my.  Vito started out the day really well and then we seemed to get a little bit worse every run!

Wildcard
Fabulous job on the short little course.  Vito actually placed 1st out of all 45 level 3/4/5/C dogs who ran it.  Nice running aframe and good weaves

Standard
A little scream after I released him from his 2o2o on the teeter, 2nd obstacle :) Same set up as yesterday with the wrap to the dogwalk and this time a 180 left afterwards.  I knew Vito wasn't ready for that turn again so I planned to drive him off the end again.  He didn't read the wrap this time so we did it again after he took the tunnel.  Today his dogwalk seemed really nice, he looked like he did a little stride adjustment on the middle board right before the descent.  Yay!!!  Good rest of the course including a rear cross into the weaves, and nice aframe.

Jackpot
Vito was a little nuts before we even went on the course, doing some screaming at me.  The run didn't feel connected at all, but it doesn't look as horrible on film.  Vito didn't collect at all for the 1st set of weave poles, looked at me instead and screamed.  He self released from his teeter if he even stopped for any time at all.  I screwed up trying to do a send to a double that I didn't walk so Vito went around it.

Snooker
Did a different plan then I walked (I do that a lot to myself!).  Vito's weaves were broken :(  Took 3 attempts to get the entrance the first time, had to them again for the 2nd #7 and it was fine.  But broken again on the closing.  I also wanted to avoid doing the threadle in the closing so tried wrapping him around the other side of the jump.  Vito went really wide and even went around the pole marking the start line.  Teeter was good at least!

Colors
What a wreck!  Vito self released on the start line and I was so stunned that I stupidly didn't have him sit right where he was.  Then he misses a jump, blows past the weaves to sniff the number sign, totally ignores my cues to NOT go in the damn tunnel.  Idiot :) He wasn't even acting super excited and zoomy, just stupid!  What a way to end the trial.

Here's video from Friday's 2 runs and the first 3 runs of today.  I was going to include snooker and colors but it got too long and I don't really need to remember them :P

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Blizzard and a Trial

Us agility folk are hardcore!  Despite a gigantic blizzard with 17inches of snow falling throughout the day, most of us managed to make it to the CPE trial.  It was canceled after the first two games when we heard the plows were being pulled.  Took us about 2hrs to get everyone shoveled out and pushed out of the parking lot.

Lance
I had pulled Lance from standard and put him in fullhouse because of our contact issues.  And thankfully there was an aframe in fullhouse today!  I planned it for last and tested him by continuing to drive past the end and sure enough Lance came with me instead of downing.  I gave a simple "ah ah" and put him back over it and then he was a good boy :P

Vito
I was very happy with Vito's fullhouse run!  His aframes were quite lovely!

Standard I wasn't all that optimistic about since I knew he wasn't ready for the dogwalk sequence with his running contacts yet.  We don't practice that many wraps to the dogwalk and then it was a hard right turn to the weave poles of all things.  On the positive side there wasn't any looming off courses straight ahead, but there was also a wall pretty close.  I decided I was going to accelerate to hopefully drive him off the end and not worry about making any turn off it, no big deal if we had to redo the weaves because he wasn't collected.

Well when we actually ran it I thought he jumped.  Vito didn't do a clean wrap up the dogwalk, went pretty wide, and then didn't have his pretty footing on the run down.  While putting the video in extreme slow mo I can see that his hind feet were separated so it wasn't a real jump and he did clearly get his back paw into the yellow.  While it wasn't the performance I wanted I'm not upset with it.  I know he needs a ton more work on turns and just isn't ready for this type of sequence in a trial yet.  The rest of the run went fine and we qualified! It was our last Q needed to finish up level 2 and last thing Vito needed to finish up the qualification for nationals!  Since this is our last CPE trial we are entered in before the deadline I am relieved.  I wouldn't have been too disappointed if he hadn't made it, but it was a nice goal I had.

After the trial Vito wanted to snuggle in bed but Chuck loves the snow!  Lance joined him, but seemed lost.

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Vito's CPE Weekend

While Lance was having a crappy weekend Vito decided to man up and have another great one!

Friday
We qualified 3/4 on Friday.  All had little bobbles, but overall fantastic!  His dogwalk was amazing, most aframes fabulous with 1 decent.  Teeter confident with zero sniffing or hesitation before going into his 2o2o.  Our main problem lies with weaving as Vito just isn't collecting very well in a trial environment and ends up entering at the 3rd pole most runs.  This was the cause of our only NQ on Friday as while I tried to restart him he sprinted into the next tunnel.

We did have one major baby dog moment on Friday.  Daddy was bar setting and decided to hop over the little wall to go outside of the ring to film our snooker run.  Apparently Vito saw this and just went nuts.  Lots of reactive barking at the start line and I couldn't calm him.  When I released him we were heading towards that direction and Vito took the obstacles in his path until we got there and continued his barking display with waggy tail once he jumped on the wall.  I got him back right away and started to finish our run when we were whistled off due to a judging miscalculation.  I got to rerun it again and was happy Vito was calm and in control of himself at the start line.  But he still made the happy run to pounce on the wall where Adam was standing again!  I got him back right away and finished our course.  Idiot!

Saturday
3/4 Q's today but not quite as fabulous as yesterday.  Vito decided to start out the day by happily running to the wall where he found Adam yesterday  but then felt like an idiot when Adam wasn't there and didn't try that again the rest of the day :)  He only got to play with his running contacts once today as the games didn't use them.  And well it wasn't pretty.  Complete flying off the dogwalk!  In his defense I was late with my "left tunnel" cue which really wasn't even needed in the first place and he pretty much leaped as soon as the words were out of my mouth.  But in my defense, come on Vito!  We did layer a jump nicely at the end at least.

Still had issues with entering the 3rd pole in the weaves in standard but were great in snooker.  He also saved my butt in snooker when I forgot the course in the middle of a 3 part #5 combo right after a 2 part #4 combo in the closing.  At the last 2nd I regained a brain, called him and he turned on a dime to fix the course for a perfect 51 point snooker :)

Jumpers was another baby dog run.  He turned as soon I told him "Switch" instead of turning after the jump.  We fixed it, did a few more nice obstacles and then he missed another jump to nibble at his bum.  We finished the 2nd half nicely at least!

Oh, and there was no dogwalk or aframe in fullhouse so Lance got to just have a fun course.   And Vito did get the number of legs he needs to qualify but unfortunately still needs 1 more standard Q to finish up his level 2 title.  We have one more weekend we're entered in before the deadline.

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CPE Trial

The boys had a CPE trial!  I worked a few classes on Saturday and then actually played today!

Lance:
Lance only had one run today.  I can't afford two dogs even with all my vouchers so while I am trying to get enough Q's to qualify Vito for CPE Nationals (held in MN next year!) Lance is on the sideline.

Apparently on the bench is where he needed to be.  His 4 on the floor after the aframe was horrid.  He leaped and took a few steps off the aframe before actually lying down.  Dogwalk was better at least.  The course itself ran fine but he is stuttering worse than ever.  Lance actually knocked 3 bars in a row on a simple straight stretch.

Vito:

Standard- Q
Yay Vito!  Running pretty fast and listened nicely.  He missed his weave entrance and popped in at the 3rd pole, while trying to redo he took an off course.  Teeter was the best he has ever done in a trial; only a tiny sniff and went right away into his 2o2o and no self doubting by going back to 4 on!  Dogwalk was perfect and great drive to the jump straight afterward.


Wildcard- NQ
Totally my fault.  Since I wanted to test his dogwalk again it meant I needed to push him out to the far jump in the beginning.  Problem was I didn't lead out far enough so wasn't anywhere near the position I needed to be in to prevent him from taking the more obvious jump straight in front after the tunnel.  Weaves were good and dogwalk was ok but a bit higher of a hit.  It was hard to tell from the camera angle if his feet were separated or not.  1st half wasn't caught on film.


Snooker- Q
Daddy was leash running and Vito was very distracted by him at the start line.  It wasn't the fastest but he listened well and we had no errors.  I think I held up my outside arm to cue the wrap too early but he didnt seem to care.  Didn't do his automatic down on the table, chose to sniff instead, but did lie down right away when asked.

Jumpers-Q
I was happy with this run.  He missed the 2nd jump in the serpentine (out) and we fixed it.  I'm pretty sure I was too late with my arm cue.

Overall:
I feel like we are finally starting to be a team when trialing.  He's actually listening to my handling instead of being completely obstacle focused.  We have another CPE trial next weekend and hopefully will get the last of our Q's to make nationals.

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A little too much fun for Vito- CPE weekend

This weekend was another CPE trial for the dogs!  It was Vito's third CPE trial but he acted way more like a baby dog then he ever did on his first one!  He has never run on dirt before Saturday so maybe that had something to do with it?  Either way he had a blast!

Saturday:
Fullhouse-NQ
I didn't think it was really possible to not qualify in this game, but we managed to do it!  Man was he reved up and totally not listening to me!  On the positive side he had a very lovely running aframe and he apparently felt very comfortable in layering obstacles, obstacles of his choosing :)

Jackpot- Q
I wanted to test Vito's dogwalk contacts in the opening section so I did it twice.  I was really happy with the results too!  Vito was a bit slower than normal on the DW but he had great striding and a good "go" to the jump.  His teeter was a nice 2o2o but then he doubted himself and for some reason stepped his front feet back onto the board.  The jackpot itself was a nice simple straight line of obstacles and he had no problems.

Colors- NQ
I lead out and had Vito set up heavily angled at the first jump.  It was very similar to the opening we did in jackpot so I didn't think he would have a problem with it, but Vito ran straight to me (and the off course tunnel!).  We also had issues with Vito taking another off course tunnel at what I thought would be a simple rounded turn of jumps.  He did start to turn with me but then changed his mind and shot off the other direction.

Sunday
Wildcard-Q
I was really happy with this run!  Vito was running fast but also listening!  He did kinda enter the weaves after the 2nd "wildcard" and ended up retaking the jump he had just went over so we got an off course.  He also spun between two tunnels but I was pretty far behind him so can't blame him.

Snooker-NQ
Short :)  I didn't feel like there was any nice flowing course I could have done for Vito so I decided to just do the 3 7's I had planned for Lance.  Shouldn't have been too hard, just some wraps.  I was happy with Vito's lead out, another sliced one and call to heel that he did in jackpot but not in colors yesterday, but apparently he couldn't wrap at all.  We make it through 2 7's and the third red but then he took another red.  Vito just didn't want to turn tight at all.

Jumpers- Q
A tired puppy!  Vito did not tackle the course with the enthusiasm he had been over the weekend and this enabled us to qualify!  I wasn't too happy with my handling of the course but as an excuse I was expecting a crazy red dog :)

Overall
Well Vito is no longer bouncing around on the field, he's actually running and running pretty fast!  But he also isn't listening as well.  Vito is usually very responsive to my handing in class and is actually pretty easy to pull off jumps because of how sensitive he is to my shoulder pulls, but clearly I don't yet have access to that dog in a trial!  I need to remember to stand up straight when calling him and to talk to him more. I am pretty happy with how he did this weekend though, especially excited about his dog walk and aframe running contacts !

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Lance CPE trial

Lance did some agility this weekend at the CPE trial.  He finished up his level 2 standard title and now is in level 3 or higher in everything running with the big boys. 

Saturday:
Full house- Q
I thought he leaped off the aframe, although at least he didn't land like a thud into his down.  Looking around a lot on the down too; man he hates it!  Missed the aframe/tunnel discrimination the first time around, and used the table as a platform to launch off.  I gave him a look and he did down on the dirt right away upon landing.

Jackpot- Q
Apparently Lance can't do the weaves if they are the 2nd obstacle.  This isn't the first time he has blown past the entrance.  I gave a much stricter "floor" command on the aframe and Lance went slowly down but didn't jump.  The gamble itself was an easy straight line of obstacles and Lance didn't have any issues with his "go."

Colors-Q
Nice easy run with no issues.

Standard-Q
Much better aframe and dogwalk in terms of not leaping, but slow to down again.  Really no issues with the course, but knocked the last bar.

Sunday
Standard-Q
I was very happy with this run.  Slower coming down the aframe again but downed nicely.  I almost sent him off course after the dogwalk but recovered immediately.

Wildcard-Q
My favorite run of the weekend!  Lance was fast and had some really nice pull ins.

Snooker-Q
We went for the 3 7's in the opening as it looked pretty simple.  Lance did it just fine but knocked a bar on the last jump of #5 in the closing.  We qualified by one point though!

Really late "floors," especially on his aframe.

Overall
Lance is handling very well but we have some major issues we need to work on.  Besides his hating the 4 on the floor, he has a real problem with jumping.  Lance has started to stutter more and more and it clearly needs to be resolved.  He has been seeing a chiropractor regularly and is doing great so it is clearly a training problem.  I know I need to set up jump chutes, I just don't know what specifically to set up.  His new agility instructor has been gone the last couple of weeks so I haven't been able to ask her.  I will probably need to invest in a susan salo dvd pretty soon.

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Vito CPE Sunday- Or baby dogs are fun!

Day 2!

Vito definitely was more confident sunday then saturday!  He seemed to have more of his drive and obstacle focus back and was committing more to the obstacles.  I didn't use treats during our warm up today and instead just did a lot of tugging with him.  I have no idea if doing so is what helped him or if it was just being more experienced.  Video is at the bottom!

Fullhouse-Q
Crazy little red dog!  Vito comes bursting off the start line, zooms by me and sprints all the way down the long field towards a distance white dot on the floor.  He was a bit surprised as to why his "target" was so far away, but ran back very happily to me right away where we continue on with my chosen course!  He really recovered himself very quickly and I was quite happy with how we did.  I think I laughed about this for a long time after it happened. 

Jackpot-NQ
Vito was pretty distracted at the start line, but then shot off very focused when I released him. I got to to play on the dogwalk again with him but this time Vito jumped off his first attempt.  I bring him around again, do the aframe-very nicely I might add, and then have another go.  This time his DW was beautiful and I felt like celebrating with him!  I don't think he wanted to stop and celebrate though as he seemed quite perplexed by my actions and continued over the jump :)  I then lose my mind and have no clue how to waste some time before the buzzer goes and I can continue to the gamble.  When we do get to start it I was very happy that Vito didn't even think about coming in after the tunnel and it looked like we were going to do it!  But alas Vito spotted his leash on the floor and continued to go "out" a bit too far and bypassed the jump.  I actually think it's quite odd since I have never used the leash as a target, very very rarely tug on it with him, but all 3 runs today Vito went and picked it up excitedly.

Jumpers-Q
Nice easy run and I was happy with Vito's focus.  No silly stuff this run at least!

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Lance Sunday CPE Trial

Daddy ran Lance in 2 out of Lance's 4 events today!  He doesn't ever practice with Lance but I am trying to get him more involved and he actually offered to play without any suggestion from me!  Video at the bottom

Standard-NQ
Ran with Daddy pretty well.  Totally jumped off the DW, very easy call for the judge, but finally did his down several several feet after the contact.  Ran by the aframe but I think it's more from a lack of information from Daddy then whatever the cause was in the past.  Very distracted during his "floor" and kept looking at the judge.  Weaved for Daddy!

Colors-Q
Again ran with Dad and did pretty well.   Adam was a little late in cuing him and Lance took an off course that he was pointed at.  But once they got back on track they finished up nicely.

Jumpers-NQ
This time with me.  I thought we started out great.  I did a little stop and called him in order to get him in the right end of the tunnel but I don't think it was necessary and Lance seemed confused by the slow down.  We get an off course and I honestly have no idea why.  I think I was moving in the right direction and had a well timed front cross, but Lance seems to ignore my cues and my pleas to come.  Oh well.

Jackpot-Q
Again with me.  I wanted to try Lance on the dogwalk again after his leap with Dad earlier and Lance does it lovely.  I stop at the bottom so as not to push it.  We knocked the 3rd bar but I think it was due to my poor timing.   When it was time for the gamble he handles the modest distance nicely.

Lance finished up two level 2 titles today (CL2-H, CL2-S) and only needs one more standard Q to be in level 3 for everything now!  So curses on that dogwalk contact with Adam :P

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Vito CPE Agility Saturday!

Vito's 2nd CPE trial was today!  I entered him in 3 events, two of which I could make up my own course to test him.

I was thrilled to see that Jackpot had the dog walk and designed it so I could test him twice on it to see where his running contacts are at.  I am pleased to say that it was awesome!  You're going to have to take my word for it since my camera man didn't actually hit record, but we started with jump-dogwalk-weaves and Vito ran all the way down, not even close to a jump, and nailed his weaves.  He did seem confused after that as he looked around for a second and then sprinted off briefly in a direction before I called him back.  I really think he wanted to know where his toy was hiding!  He then nailed his gamble but I forgot he has a 2o2o on the teeter; I actually was confused as to why he was stopping on the teeter.  Vito did stop and wait, but was 4 on instead of his 2o2o.  He has been doing that in class recently too so it's something we need to work on.   We then did the dogwalk again and he nailed it again!  Didn't drive to the jump straight ahead as he started curling back to me, but at least it was a really lovely contact and he didn't look back at me until after he was a few strides off of it.  Both dogwalks today weren't as fast as he normally runs his dogwalk, but I am super excited about his contact performance. 

Colors was a good run but Vito wasn't commiting to the jumps as well and we NQed.  I fixed one missed jump, but didn't bother fixing the second missed one.  I'm pretty happy with his performance though and just think he needs more confidence.

Last was snooker and Vito started out great but then really didn't seem to like my very twisty plan to get two 7's.  He switched from running mode to frolicking.  I also screwed up my plan at the third red jump and decided to let Vito go on to get #5.  Closing went well, his aframe was decent, but we got an off course red before #7.  We still qualify though :)

So yay baby dog!  I really think we are doing well and couldn't be more pleased with his dogwalks today.   I think with more experience Vito will get more confidence in the ring and we will be able to have some prettier, faster dances.

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Lance Saturday CPE trial

Lance had another CPE trial today and we have now have enough Q's to qualify for CPE nationals to be held here in MN next year! 


Overall it went well today but have noticed a few issues we will need to work on.
1. Table performance.  Lance blew off his automatic down on the table both times today, didn't even remain standing on it but used it as a launch pad.  I know CPE just uses it to stop time so it doesn't matter, and so far the only other venue we compete in is NADAC who doesn't even have a table.  But still, Lance is not meeting the obstacle criteria that I trained.

2. 4 on the Floor- I am so so happy that Lance seems to be speeding up on the dogwalk and we are losing the hesitation he had started to develop in trials.  But the work I have been doing on an independent 4 on the floor doesn't seem to be transferring to trials yet.  Lance downs as soon as I stop moving, but if I keep running he keeps running.  And twice today Lance needed a verbal questioning of where his "floor" was as he kept moving even after I had stopped.  On the postiive side though, his aframe performance was not as dangerous today as he went down further before hoping into his down.

3. Weaves- I don' think we have have a weave pole issue yet, but Lance needed to be restarted 3 times today.  One was a collection issue as the 2nd obstacle, the second seemed to be a slip?, but the third I have no idea.

Breakdown, for my records
Jackpot-Q
Squirrely.  Came bursting off the line and didn't collect for weaves as my 2nd chosen obstacle.  I tried twice, finally went on when he attempted to weave but a wrong entrance.  A wide turn, but then did both the "jackpots" nicely.  Very fast dogwalk, but would've missed his 4on the floor if I didn't stop and wait.  I screwed up my ending.  Lance launched on and off the table, totally blowing off his automatic down.  We qualified but the whole run felt off and Lance was just disconnected and seriously squirrely.

Colors-Q, 5.055yps
Very nice run, no issues at all.

Standard Rd1- Q, 3.686yps
Beautiful!  I was really proud of him and it felt fast.  He seemed to slip in the weaves and pop out so I restarted them.  His dogwalk was nice and fast with a decent 4 on the floor, with me stopping at the end.

Snooker-Q
We went for 7,7,6 and it felt ok.  He did two really good rear crosses in hard spots, did 2 good aframes without the slamming into the floor he has been doing.  Screwed up his weaves, but got it the 2nd attempt.  Because of his earlier table performance I told him table-down but he was already jumping onto the floor by the time I finished.  He did lay down right away on the floor, but definetly losing his table performance.

Standard Rd2- Q, 3.397yps
Felt great!  Good teeter, good aframe, fast dogwalk.  But he again totally missed his 4 on the floor. I tried to push it by keeping running and Lance ran with me, he downed once I stopped moving and gave him a dirty look.

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Vito's Agility Turn!

Vito had his very first CPE trial on Sunday, and his 2nd trial overall.  After the last one I felt I wasn't quite ready to handle him, but since then we've really started to connect as a team.

I having fun!

I have a tuggy!

And Lance's cool coat!

Fullhouse- Q
I really wanted to see where Vito's aframe contact was in a trial and to see if he would hold his 2o2o on the teeter.  Well right off the bat I kinda failed him.  I had planned a tight turn to the teeter but Vito took an extra jump on his turn and then ended up crossing behind me to the tunnel.  I was then late in recovering so we kinda bobbled but I eventually grew a brain and handled him to the aframe.  He proceeded to do his "handstand" or 1 touch on the downside which he never does at this height in class.  I only reward 2 hits in class and he is more likely to do only 1 touch on a low 5ft aframe.  He still manged to get one back foot in the yellow at least.  He was a little slow getting to position on the teeter, and did the extra tunnel surrounding the table when I wanted him to table.  Then when I went to get his leash he took my movement as opportunity to do the tunnel again!  Crazy dog.   Really I was happy with this run other then the crossing behind me in the beginning.

Wildcard- NQ
Bobble in the beginning as I was late in calling Vito off of the aframe.  He remarkably did come to me and we did a little dance to put him in the tunnel.  He did a very nice pinwheel, allowing me to stay back and let him do it on his own.  Then he shot off towards the aframe and I can't see anything I did handling wise to put him there.  On the very positive side, his aframe was very lovely this time and he even drove to the jump after which is something I am trying to get him to do in practice in order to wean him off of his ball as a target.  He called back to me really well and finished the course.  I was very happy with this run!

Snooker- Q
Vito was way more tired this run but this enabled us to have a pretty good run!  I was happy with how he handled and even more happy with his running aframe!  The only downside was that Vito wouldn't do his automatic down on the table.

Overall
Yay little Toller!  We still have a ways to go in terms of handler focus, but I am very pleased with his performance today.  I need to work on cuing him much earlier, it's just such a big difference compared to Lance.  He wasn't even as fast as he can be in practice so I know I will have even bigger adjustments to do.  I am also estatic about his aframe.  His running contacts got better each time and he was driving to the next obstacle instead of turning to look at me for his reward.   Baby dogs are so much fun!

Ok now it's hot.

I don't think Chuck made it.

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Lance's Agility in the hot hot sun

On Sunday we drove down to a CPE trial.  I guess I've been pretty spoiled so far in our short agility career as this was the first time I've had to wake up at 5am to get to the trial on time and plus it was really really hot!  I can't say I want to do agility outside again for a very long time.

Do you see my new cool coat?

I want it!

Grrr

I win!

Damn it Vito

Fullhouse lev3- Q
First up was the silly little point game of Fullhouse.  Lance was extremely inattentive before I even went into the ring.  He would give me a tiny bit of eye contact, I would reward, and he would go right back to sniffing and plain old ignoring me.  Very odd for Lance, especially for an agility trial. An obedience trial on the other hand...!  The inattentiveness carried over the ring a tiny bit.  We ran ok, he listened decently, but we just weren't in tune and both screwed up at times.  He also did his leap of the aframe and didn't do his 4 on the floor right away, and wouldn't lie down on the table at the end. 

Standard lev2- Q
Thankfully Lance was a billion times more attentive before going into the ring and we had a brilliant run!  I thought the pinwheel had actually a quite hard turn into the weaves but Lance called off the the obvious jump nicely.   I was pretty happy with our 3.96YPS for standard.

Wildcard lev2- Q
Not much to say.  I was happy.  5.41YPS

Snooker lev3- Q
Oh how I love snooker.  I lead out facing the wrong way from what I had walked so ended up doing the course in a tiny bit order then what I had walked.  Still did the order I wanted (7,7,6) but different order of red.   Bad was his not doing the auto down on the table.

Jumpers lev3- Q
I really loved this course.  Very happy with the beginning and the difficult wrap.  I think I was so focused on that wrap that I briefly forgot I wanted to do a cross.  Made it in, but still apologized to Lance for the timing.  Then he pulled off a jump I sent him out to.  I don't think it was anything I did wrong, my arm was still up but I may have turned my shoulders too soon.  Or he could have just been the heat.  It was over 10hrs later from our arrival!

Overall
Very happy!  The first run didn't feel that great, but we seemed connected the rest of the games.  My reoccurring thought though is on his aframe contacts.  I just don't like the way he jumps off and lands in a thud in his down.  The 4 on the floor is supposed to be easier on his joints.  I would like to go to running contacts with him, but when I first attempted last summer progress was extremely slow and frustrating.

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Lance CPE trial- new titles!

Saturday

Wildcard- Q:
Lance knocks the bar on the very first jump on this first course of the weekend.  Sadly I thought about him doing that as I led out a tiny bit so maybe I saw something in the way he was balanced or how close he was, or maybe I just jinxed it.  Rest of the course went fine though and Lance had a really nice "go" without needing to check back for me and a great "out" when I failed to set him up on a nice line for a jump.  I thought he was really fast on this relatively easy course, 5.2yps.

Jumpers- Q:
This is the one game that we've moved up to play with the big boys and I thought the course was hard!  Lots of off course opportunities that many dogs took advantage of.  Lance handled really well though and we made it through the difficult section without a hitch.  A bit wide on a turn, but that's about it.  I screwed up a bit at the ending though as apparently Lance questioned whether I wanted him in the last tunnel or not.  Once I gave him a verbal he went in with a smile, but I'm not sure why he paused and stared at me.  4.8yps

Jackpot- Q:
This was our first time playing this distance game and I was relieved that it was a "non traditional" jackpot.  There were 3 challenges on the course that we could try at any time and only needed one, and enough points, to qualify.  I thought I would try all 3 just to see where we were at!  But Lance had other plans as he sadly decided he did not know how to weave at the beginning of the hardest gamble.  I wasn't really any distance away from him yet, but somehow Lance kept wrapping the onside entry and tried to enter with the first pole on his right.  It was a hard entry but I would have expected Lance to shoot past us, or at least pop out early if he wanted to make a mistake, not try to enter repeatedly on the wrong side!  Other then that though Lance did great and we did the other two gambles without a hitch to get 61ps and our CL1-S title.

Sunday

Full House- Q
Lance did really well except for the aframe.  He seemed excited to go up it but then slowed way down on the and even very briefly stopped all motion right at the yellow before he decided to jump into his down at the base.  I planned a nice course though that ended at the table exactly as the 1st whistle blew.

Snooker-Q
This was our first time doing snooker on the advanced course and I wanted to try for all 7's again :)  I even converted some others to try with me as I had a really nice plan.  But sadly I fell apart when running it.  Lance hard a hard time reading my moving front cross in the beginning but we got the first 7 and wrap the next red nicely.  But I did another cross when I shouldn't have, and wasn't planning on, and Lance rightfully went into a tunnel I was not planning on.  I was thrown off and expecting a whistle to blow so started towards the table but then quickly realized that it was a legal move so continued on to another red.  Of course I then screw up the order I wanted to do the next 7, but we finish it and make our way over to the tire.  But since I wasn't coming from my planned direction I was thrown off again and thought that we would again get whistled off after I started #2 on the closing.  This time my pause was longer as I was really confused, but finally recovered and made it through all of the closing.  Sorry Lance!

Standard- Q
The dogwalk was 2nd and lance completely bypassed it.  I know it wasn't anything I did handling wise so I'm not sure why he ran past it.  I circled around and attempt two he hopped up right away but was slow on the decent side although he did a perfect 4 on the floor.  And again on the aframe Lance crept down and then pounced into his down position.  The rest of the course was fast though and Lance did a very nice rear cross and "go" for me.  This run earned us his CL1-R title and finished up all of level 1 for us in CPE.

Overall:
We Q'd every run and got 2 new titles this weekend!  But Lance's contacts sucked and I'm not sure what to do.  He seems completely confident on them at our regular training club and even has no problem at any of the other schools we occasionally visit.  The contacts weren't rubber this weekend but seemed exactly the same as the type we usually train on.  He has also done this at the other trials, but not as bad as today.  I think it's a confidence issue but I'm not sure with what.   When training his contacts we first just ran over them, no criteria, to get him used to going at speed.  That's where we discovered this natural stride did not land him in the yellow so quickly put out hoops or bars on the floor when having him run in class :) He also has no issue turning around on the dogwalk and doesn't seem worried about the height at all.  He slowed down when first learning his 4 on the floor criteria but now seems to know what his job is and likes it in class.  I guess I'm not sure if I should worry about this or shrug it off as being a green dog and know that confidence on different equipment will com with time.

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CPE Trial

Lance had a CPE agility trial today, our first trial not at the U of M equine center.

We qualify in all 4 events and earn a new agility title! Lance got his CL1-H today for qualifying in wildcard to match his snooker level 1 Q.

Wildcard- level 1
Pretty straight forward, although I screwed up and didn't talk to Lance when he went in one of the straight tunnels. This resulted in him shooting out fast and taking an off course jump instead of turning towards me. Bad handler.

Snooker- level 2
This was fun! The course wasn't that hard so I decided to go for it and try for all 3 7's! We make it as Lance had no problem reading what side to come to and ignored the jump standing next to me when I called him off the start line. He had some really tight wraps that I'm quite proud of! This run also got us the highest snooker score so Lance won a bag of dog treats!

Standard- level 1
I pushed Adam to run Lance in this since it was a really easy course. Considering that Lance can count on his 4 toes how many times his daddy has ran him in practice he did really well listening to him. Lance was a bit more distracted and made some wide turns but managed to get all the obstacles except for one knocked bar. His contacts were horrible though. Lance did a down in a 2o2o position on the dog walk instead of his 4 on the floor, and then crept down the aframe real slow although manged to get his 4 on the floor on that one. He almost missed the tire but I think that was more due to Adam's handling then anything else. I am proud of both of them though and hope that Adam had enough fun to do it again!

Jumpers- level 3
I had fun in this course! I got lots of front cross practice in and Lance had no problems.

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A CPE agility weekend!

This past weekend was our first 2 day agility trial!

Saturday

Full house, level 2:
We start off with a bang!  Full house is a point game so you can make up your own course and I decide to try his very first weave poles in a trial.  We nail them! And the entire course Lance is fast, reads me well, no issues!  I end way under the allotted time with 32 points for a Q and 1st (out of 2!).

Colors, level 1:
In colors you have your choice of 2 courses and the level 1/2 course was fairly straightforward, jumps and tunnels only.  Lance was fast!  We did it in under 14 seconds with zero issues.  Lance also might have ran it at 6.25yds/sec if I read it right!  We get a Q and 1st place (out of 4).

Sunday

Wild card, level 1:
In this game the course splits in 3 sections and you have to decide what obstacle(s) to take, making sure to get 2 "easy" choices and 1 "hard" choice in level 1.  I thought forever about what choices to make since the dog walk was an option but I wasn't quite sure if Lance could nail his 2o2o in a trial yet, and then there were weaves again, and a weirdly angled jump as the choices for "hard."  I decided to be greedy and see if Lance could weave again like he did yesterday.  He did!  Lance was also speedy and had some great obstacle focus.  But alas he knocked 3 bars!  He hit the first jump, and then the last two.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe I was too far ahead of him?  No Q for us although we get 1st (out of 3?).  4.76yds/sec

Snooker, level 2:
Snooker is becoming a favorite of mine but WOW was this a hard course!  It's a point game where you have to take a "red" jump and then any obstacle, another red followed by any obstacle, and then another red+obstacle in the opening and then you do the set course.  Rules are strict and any deviance from this order results in a whistle off.

I screwed up this time.  After Lance turned the wrong way out of tunnel 4 (I think I called his name to late and he didn't read my rear cross) my brain went dead.  I did manage to direct him to the obstacles I walked in my plan but all the crosses I had planned were forgotten.  I had him on the wrong side of me to the next tunnel which had the potential to send him to some wrong course jumps (which thankfully didn't!), ran on the outside of another tunnel which caused us to almost trip over each other, and I hesitated on where to go and did a really bad rear cross which pulled him off the tunnel.  But some how we manage to play by the rules and get a Q! Also got 1st (of 1!). Good boy Lance!

Jumpers, level 2:
Pretty straight forward course and Lance did well.  No errors, bobbles, or anything off but he wasn't as fast as the rest of the weekend.  Part of that may be due to my brain still not working.  I didn't make any obvious errors but I hesitated slightly around the course and almost forgot where I was supposed to go.  We Q, and 1st (of 1!), 4.69yds/sec. (no video)

Overall!
Lance can weave!  He is also getting great obstacle focus and speed but so far is still listening to my handling.  We qualified on 4 out of the 5 runs too!  I'm very proud of my boy.  This was also our first 2 day trial and our first time doing 3 runs in a day.  Lance was tired by the end but still seemed into it.  I on the other hand was dead.  I also worked the trial so was there for 11hrs on sat and  10.5hrs Sun.  I apparently need work on being able to remember a course when I am tired and need to learn how to recover when something doesn't go as planned.

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Agility Trial #2!

Lance had his second agility trial (CPE again) Saturday. It was at the same location as basically the horse barn is one of the few places that winter trials are held at in MN. I froze my butt off during the 10.5hrs I was there but it was worth it!

First up was Full House, level one. In this game you get to choose your own course and just have to do a certain number of plain jumps (3), "circles" such as the tunnel or tire (2), and "joker" such as the contacts, weaves, or double (1). This is great for Lance since I can avoid the contacts until I feel he's sold enough to do in a trial and same for the weaves. I played it really safe today and kept my course to only 21pts (needed 19 to Q) even though I knew we would have plenty of time left to accumulate more. We finished our course in 19sec and were given 35sec to do it. But I wanted to make sure my baby boy was successful and left the course confident. I actually don't think it could have gone much better and I even did our first rear cross in a trial!


7 hours later was Jumpers, level two. Lance also did great in this course although I screwed up on the position of my front cross out of the first tunnel. I didn't get as far enough ahead as I wanted to be so ended up angled right in front of the jump. This of course meant that I had to then sidestep around the jump which communicated to Lance that I wanted him to turn since that's the way my body and feet were going! Good boy Lance. I was able to call him back really easily though and we simply turned back in the right direction. I felt like we lost a little bit of speed on the rest of the course, but who knows! And the thing is, I orginally was planning on doing a rear cross there but after watching levels 3/4/5/C do the course (basically the same course with some tweaks) many people did a rear cross but those with the smaller dogs mainly did the front cross. I walked the course with a front cross and knew that I would have to get far over, but I guess I still screwed up. Oh well, I was still very happy on this run!

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Lance's First Agility Trial!!

Lance had his very first agility trial today! Snookers was first in what I found out was supposedly a very stupid decision :P When I was deciding what events to enter on Sunday I just looked for events that had a good chance pf having no contacts. But I wasn't aware that everyone would laugh at me and tell me how brave I was for entering snookers at my first trial. For the non agility people, snookers is a strategy game but one where the team can be whistled off for silly things like off courses and dropped red bars :)

Well Lance was amazing! Not only did we complete our opening nicely, but we also made it through the entire closing for our first Q, a score of 46pts, and 1st place! But what I am most proud of is how well we actually ran together. There were zero bobbles and he listened so nicely to me :)

Next up was jumpers and I again couldn't be more pleased! We again finished the course with a clean run for a Q and 1st place :)

I am so proud of the little corgi! Lots and lots of pros for the weekend. The only con I can think of is Lance's speed. While Lance ran through the courses decently, they were not close to top speed. I think I've been realizing though that Lance will pretty much go at whatever speed I run. In practice he loves to chase after me. But in a trial I was very nervous and wanted to make sure we hit everything right so I didn't run as fast. And hopefully with more experience the corgi will get confident to start pushing things!

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