Rough Trials

This winter has not been especially great for Zumi's training!  Ice, fridgid temps, then snow dumps.  Excuses.

Obedience/Rally

Two weekends ago Zumi went to our CDSP obedience/ WCRL rally trial on Saturday.  2 runs in Open obedience, 1 run in rally.  

The first obedience run started a bit rough.  Not horrible, but a bit distracted on setups and some moving away from me.  We qualified, but it just wasn't a connected run.  

Oh and we had a rethrow again on the ROH jump that I didn't know about until we were waiting forever until Zumi finally couldn't take it and left me.  That's when I looked up and saw the judge was in the process of picking up the dumbbell.  She doesn't handle rethrows well to begin with, and having waited SO long with trying hard to not scream or leave early was just thrown out with her anticipation.

But overall I thought she had to poop. And I was right in that as soon as we went out she did poop.  

Then that didn't explain that her next run, rally, had similar qualities of meh heeling.  Not really distracted, just laggy.  

Her last run of obedience she seemed better.  Much more connected with me, more energy for sure.  But we didn't retrieve.  Not once. Zumi left me to walk several steps on the 1st retrieve.  So I called her back and was going to move on but the judge let me do it again.  Same thing, so I moved on without releasing Zumi.  Retrieve over the high, essentially my 3rd throw in the ring was the same thing.  I think it was a combination of a stressy day for her plus the added rehearsal int he first trial of leaving me without any cue on my part.

The bad news/good news is that I've been working on it with her this last week and have been able to replicate it.  If I let the dumbbell hit a wall so it makes an apparently exciting sound, she will start walking towards it.  So I've been having her lie down, I pick it up, and then come back to give her cookies and do some heeling before trying again. Not sure if that's a good approach for her or not!  I dont' want to create more stress with the exercise, but the same time I need it very clear that moving does not lead to a release....  Overall I'm trying to have more easy short reps than the ones I challenge her on.

UKI Agility

Then last weekend Zumi had a UKI trial.  And we had more issues with her startline/release.  This particular location seems very tough for her as I think all of her startline issues have started here.  This time it was worse as while she mostly actually stayed put (still difficulties with the initial stay after lining up, before I left), she ran around the first jump in her last run Saturday and 2 of her 3 runs on Sunday.  While Zumi has been known to do that, it's usually in a particular setup where I need to be at an angle on the lead out vs an approach like these courses had.

So not a great month so far!!!

I am curious and a bit scared to see how she will do the next 2 weekends. No trials this week. But I did end up entering her in an AKC obedience trial back on our home turf this coming weekend.  And then the following wekeend is USDAA at the location she usually stays well at!

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2018 Wrap Up

2018 was a busy year!  The baby became a toddler.  Adam started a new job in the spring.  And we moved, not once but twice! 

The yearly video!


Zumi
Zumi had a big year.  We traveled in agility for our first overnight trip to the midwest UKI cup in Wisconsin, and then our bigger trip just last month to Florida.  She didn't do that great on paper, but I thought she handled the exciting environments really well!  We still have a long way to go in agility for my handling to keep up with her and for continually fixing her startine!

In obedience, we continued to work hard on fixing her arousal issues with her dumbbell retrieve.  And mostly we were successful in practice.  Unfortunately, after over a year of work she *can* still squeal even in practice.  So while I didn't give up on my mission to work on it in practice, I decided that I was going to be OK with knowing she would squeal in a trial and take the points for it.

So we started trialing in AKC Open this October and Zumi has done 3 days of trials now.  I discovered that she actually doesn't always squeal in a trial on each retrieve!  And discovered some exercises that weren't as solid as I thought.  Zumi's down from a sit was broken.  And her stand stay was a bit broken when left near a judge.  While I thought she's done really well at her shows, we have just 1 Q to show for it.

Vito
Vito finally hit the big 10!!  Double digits for the Toller! 

Vito still is running in agility, just at 16in in UKI and 14in in USDAA.  He's running well and earned his UKI championship in the select class this year.  Mostly he's down to 2 runs a day and often just one day of a trial.  He could do more physically still, just a combination of money and well Vito has always been a happy couch dog vs agility dog. 

He also did some CDSP obedience again this year at handful of local shows.  Overall doing very well and happy on most exercises.  The gloves remains an issue, primarily if sent to the side that the steward is standing on.  But I'm thrilled with how happy he's being and how he's mostly nailing his signals! 

Lance
First half of the year was pretty similar to the last few years.  Some fun coming out for a small handful of WCRL rally trials and barking lots.  Very sassy.

The move from our old house to my parent's basement in April was hard on him.  Lots of stairs and while I tried to carry him often it was difficult to do consistency.  I already was carrying the child up and then another trip for any dishes/laundry and the corgi was just doing the stairs more often than I'd like.  He really seemed to feel the impact.

And then in August, shortly after our final move, he suffered what is likely another disc issue in his back, just not as severe as the original one that forced his early retirement several years ago.  While this one wasn't as bad, his recovery from it hasn't been as great either. He's still sassy and still hides any physical issues really well when out and about at work or if I bring him to visit others at a trial.  But at home he's having a harder time with finding the motivation to get up out of a dog bed to go outside.  Unfortunately, he also likes being in the basement at our new house. At least it's only a half set of stairs down and then he waits at the bottom to be carried back up.

I'm not sure if he's going to be doing any WCRL trials in 2019 or if he's officially retired.

Fosters
We started out the year with Pippa, the goldador.  We had Pippa for 6 weeks, 6 weeks longer than I wanted to!   Her goldeny personality did not mesh well with me!  She's a good dog though and will hopefully make a great service dog someday!

And this was the first year we've had a puppy in the house in awhile!  In April we picked up Splash the Boykin spaniel puppy!  Unfortunately, due to medical reasons (growth plate issues) he was career changed from the service dog program and we found him a home shortly after we moved into our new home this August.  Splash taught me a lot about management to prevent a puppy from ingesting things!  And it was interesting working with a spaniel's focus outside! 

Then we had Speckles the tiny terrier for a few months while he waited for a client to be their hearing dog. 

And now we have a puppy again!  This time little Grace is not a service dog in training, just an opportunity for me to start a puppy and see how she grows out for her breeder!

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All the Things

Wow, life has gotten busy and summer is almost over!  Here are the last month's happenings!

We sold our house, moved out of my parent's basement where we had stayed for just over 3 months, and moved into our new house.  It was kinda a disaster but things are finally coming together now.  Lots and lots of cleaning.  New floors in the basement.  Appliances that work.  Fenced yard and a potty yard.

The Boykin finally got adopted a few weeks ago!  And yes I did manage to teach him a hold, and a stand, in case you were wondering about his progress :)  I even started working on moving from a stand and hold to a sit and hold for fun!  And more importantly, his new family just adores him.

And now my current foster is a cute litter terrier, Speck, who hopes to be a hearing alert dog!  Aside from some minor terrierness fun, he is an incredibly easy dog to live with.  A welcome change from Splash's high level of training and management needed!

Oh and I got a chinchilla for my birthday!  Meet Kix!

Training wise, still not doing much with my own dogs :(  

Zumi has been able to do more TEAM work though this last month and I'm happy to say she earned her TEAM 3 title and I'm waiting to hear back on her TEAM3H title!  Level 3 is really fun!

I've done a few agility trials with her the last few weeks in attempts to finish up the last 3 jumpers Q's she needs to pre-qualify for UKI's championship, the US Open.  Unfortunately, we seem to be cursed with beautiful runs and then a dropped bar, or I miscue a jump and get a backside instead, or don't get the backside, or...  So still 3 jumpers legs needed and just 1 trial left.  Between the masters heat series and the normal championship level runs we will actually have 6 chances over the 3 days for a needed 50% Q rate.  Which is still 100% higher than our current Q rate in jumpers.

On the other hand, Vito earned his UKI championship title for the "select" division last month!  The IWACs!

The Corgi has struggled a bit these last few weeks.  We're pretty sure he either slipped another disc or has swelling, or something going on with his lower back.  On the positive side, he already started improving in a week before he had his vet appointment.  And he's certainly feeling better being on carprofen!  He's on a bit of rest right now and then we will reevaluate things next week!

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More UKI Trials

Zumi (and Vito!) has had 2 more agility trials these last 2 weeks.  Definetly getting more comfortable with the routine.  She has no problem watching me set down her ball anymore as we get ready to go in the ring and wants to offer some lovely heeling on many of her entrances.  No issues with being distracted by people at all anymore.  And this last weekend was her first experience running on real turf.

In her actual runs she's gaining speed.  I think I finally know what it's like to have a dog that can be even faster in trials than in practice, not that she's slow in practice.  Issues with going from extension to collection have shown up.  She's been great if I can be right there, but at a distance she's a bit of hit and miss on actually turning tightly.  For the most part she's listening pretty well.  Number of Q's over the last 2 weekends (UKI trials!) have been extremely low.  But no major issues cropping up.

Start lines are teh biggest issue.  Not in breaking her stay but reverting to the horrible vulturing that she used to do and had improved greatly on.  I feel like an idiot as I repeatedly give her the sit cue/signal to have her straighten up multiple times as I lead out.

Dogwalks have been pretty darn good.  Maybe 75% very low hits, and 25% on the higher side?  Not sure if any actual misses.  Aframes were awful 1 hit downsides at the first trial, all misses, but this last weekend all 3 aframes were beautiful.  Teeters have had another flyoff (2 total now in trials), an early release, and the rest have been goodish.  She's not doing her 2o2o all the time, sometimes doing 4 on instead.

Weaves are having some issues with collecting for the entrance on soft turns to them.

And we have had a few instances of running around the outside of jumps because you know turning a little bit is hard.

Overall I'm very happy with where Zumi is at in agility.
I don't know if I shared my disappointment at her last USDAA trial but it's offical, Zumi did not get her 3rd measurement to be 17.5" and jump 18.  The judges were very nice (I actually had both measure!) and they just couldn't get her there.  So 17.75 is her height, jumping 22in in USDAA unless they raise the cutoff.  Current plan in USDAA is to jump her at 22in until she gets into masters and then reevaluate if I want her in performance at 16 or not.  It  just gives me the most options going forward and right now I think she looks really good at 22.  UKI she gets to jump 20 and I think that's perfect for her.

A few videos from the last 2 weekends.
Standard from this past weekend.  Just missed the jump after the dogwalk!


Standard round 2 from 8/20. I love, love the dogwalk turn :)


Jumpers from 8/20.  Tunnel sucked her in from the weave entrance!


And Vito got to play too these last 2 weekends.  We don't really seem to be in sync yet from our break.  Getting so many more refusals like he used to do, especially on wraps when he just stares at me sometimes and doesn't take the damn jump in front of him.  And then I do toy runs as UKI allows that and he's perfect.  Toller loves his ball.

I just did Saturday with Vito this last weekend and skipped day 2 as it was a long drive and I didn't want to push our luck.  I increased one of his drugs just a week ago as car anxiety was starting to come back.  We only got a short few months of bliss since starting this new drug earlier this year...

Here is one of Vito's better runs this past Saturday with just 1 refusal at a wrap and 2 knocked bars.


And a weirder run where we were just not in sync much at all.  And then the poor guy did something at the weaves.


Both dogs get to play again in 2 weeks at an outdoor USDAA Trial.  It will be Zumi's first 2 ring trial, but the rings don't share a gate so will be a nice gradual introduction.   I guess we will just see with Vito.

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Corgi Obedience

Entered one day of the trial this weekend with the Corgi.  A very squirrley corgi.

We were first in the ring and the judge started a little early so we didn't get to practice our squish.  Straight from the crate and heeled into the ring.  He's such a good dog.

Gloves were first and Lance did a very nice pivot to glove #2.  Always hard for him in trials.  Took off the glove a quarter of a second before I actually gave the verbal, the judge couldn't have detected the difference.

Then we had scent articles and were in for quite the delay.  The articles weren't in the ring yet as this judge likes to grab them from the bag himself as it starts.  So when the steward made it into the ring he grabbed his tongs and fished.  Unfortunately the little hook right below the tongs got stuck on the canning ring.  It was wedged in this circular trab and since the judge is not allowed to touch the article I had to try and pry it off.  It felt like it took forever to finally maneuver it through an impossibly small gap.  the judge said this has happened to him before with canning rings which is why he hates them!  I never would have even thought it possible.  Luckily the corgi is awesome and i tucked him to wait between my legs and on my feet like we do when outside of the ring.  He barked once at me during the long process and the judge frowned and said he was taking a point off.

Actual article sends were fantastic.  Lance sent around me very tight to the pile and must have scented on the way as both times he went straight to the correct article and immediately nabbed it.

Go outs were sadly our NQ.  I hate go outs right after articles as it takes so long for hte pile to be gone and they were right where I was trying to mark Lance.  I can't blame our mistake on that though as Lance DID mark correctly and knew where he was going . He pulled up quite  bit short, possibly still qualifying?, but I gave an immediate 2nd cue to go out which Lance promptly did.  Naughty corgi.  Then Lance did not take the bar jump.  Went in the correct direction and ran just 2 feet away from it instead.  Very odd.  And worries me.  The 2nd go out he went all the way to the gate and I had him touch it before I told him to sit.  Took the high jump just fine, with his bad stutter step before it.

Signals were full of forging.  Forging like 2 years ago.  Even before we stated I think he stook up when I answered the judge we were ready.  Nailed the down signal though!  And barked on the sit.  Then I'm not even sure if the judge gave me a signal to call him in, he must have but I saw the judge's head down scoring the bark and Lance started to run towards me a step before he realized I didn't call him.  Judge still didn't look up so I gave Lance the signal to come.

Moving Stand was more forging.  I waited longer after the order to heel to make sure Lance wasn't going to anticipate again as Lance started to jerk forward before I was even asked if I was ready.  Moved a bit on the exam so I told him to stay again.

Overall I was really happy with how Lance handled himself today.  Very good focus, extremely engaged in between exercises and handled a very weird delay just fine.  Thrilled that the down signal issue seems to be gone, for now at least.  My only worry is the avoidance of the jump.  I don't think it was a confusion issue but I suppose that is a possibility.  But if Lance was avoiding it then perhaps he needs to be fully retired from AKC utility like I retired him from open after his injury this year.

Lance is entered both days of a big trial Thanksgiving weekend so we will wait and see how that goes.

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NADAC Sunday

After Lance's obedience day on Saturday, both dogs went for a NADAC trial on Sunday.  Because the contacts weren't rubberized, Vito was only entered in jumpers and chances.  There's no way that dog is ever doing a non rubberized dogwalk.  With Lance's slower stopped contacts I felt safer asking him to do it.

Lance- 3 of 4, including another chances Q!
He really ran well in jumpers and a 5.4yps is near his top speed.  In regular he was a bit slower and I'm not sure if was due to the contacts or just because he remembered he usually runs slower on grass.  Round 2 of regular I pulled him in too hard for a aframe/tunnel discrimination and he came all the way to me, and then went in other other end of the tunnel.  He was moving quite a bit slower on that and looked hesitant about wanting to take the aframe.

Vito had an OK 2 runs.  Jumpers was actually pretty good considering it is always his slowest class.  But then again, the corgi beat him by 2.5 seconds.  Ouch.  Chances was sad.  Vito said the jump was too far away and then when I stepped over the line to run with him he still pulled off every other obstacle.

I admit I'm a tiny bit disappointed with Vito's trial results.  We've been working on leaving a toy at the start line during practice for just over a month now.  He's doing really well with leaving it sit there and turning away from it as we run!  By ourselves his speed remains mostly unaffected and he's Zoomy Toller.  In his group class I'm doing it only on short sequences and he also seems to be doing well.  In NADAC you can carry your reward on you, as long as it's secured in a bag and you don't even point to it within 10ft of the ring.  But Vito didn't act any different even though he knew I had the ball in my pocket compared to USDAA trials.  Still happy to go in the ring with me and lots of screaming.  Broke his start line again too!   Screamed and broke his start line to just float out there...   At least he's happy.

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Too cute for criteria

That would be the corgi.  He had a blast at the NADAC trial this weekend, hitting zero contacts.  Or maybe a toenail in a few.  Managed contacts not so managed.

In class he's starting to do very well on the aframe since I went to training what is basically a 4 ON that's dependent on me being right there.  In class, the dogwalk is almost a true running, almost.  In trials he giveth me the finger.  It looks like I'll actually have to do some training to some real criteria again if I ever want to qualify.

But he LOVED running 4in for his first time in a trial!  Stuttering was much reduced, even on the long lines in NADAC and even on some rear crosses!  Our jumpers run he even ran 5.3yps (last run on the video)!

  

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