I'm alive!

But junior year is kicking my butt D: Being an honor student is hard work

in other news...

Trixie qualified for 2013 AKC Nationals in Tulsa, OK! She also got another 4 (or 5?) QQ's and now we're up to 9QQ's and 444 points, not too shabby considering we were in Novice B at the end of March! Also we just got to level 5 in CPE and, well not a lot of ground made on the USDAA front because we just haven't done many of their trials! Our next one is in December so perhaps we'll FINALLY get to PIII, woop :)

I'd share some video BUT Youtube has been conspiring against my computer and I haven't had time to sort it out because school is tough, (see above) but Thanksgiving break is approaching and I WILL update this page soon :)

And the summer ends :(

August was a fun month - 3 more QQ's for Trixie and 100+ points for our MACh - just 1 more QQ and 134 more points for nationals!!!! - plus a nice shiny Q in PII standard in USDAA :D


Today we went to a rally trial because, well, there wasn't an agility trial... Unexpectedly it was outside on grass so Scoot and Trix were definitely sniffy but that's what I expected given we haven't done anything (almost literally) obedience wise in at least 3 months... That said they did really well.

Scooter got 2nd and a 4th with 91 and 93 for her 1st RAE2 leg AND miss Trixie got her first RE leg with a 92 and 1st place :)

Next we went inside to do beginner novice with Trixie and I have to say that even though we didn't Q I was happy with A LOT of things Trixie did. Our NQ was when Trixie laid down during the long sit - whatever she was tired, something that's easy to fix when you actually practice...
Here's our performance broken down by exercise:

Heel on lead:
Her attention was in the really decent category! I was definitely really happy with like 50-60% of it - head up and tail wagging! the other 50-40% was more lackluster but not terrible.

Figure 8:
What was that Trixie? it's like you never learned heeling....

Sit for Exam:
Totally fine, nothing much that could go wrong here

Sit Walk Around Ring:
NQ - she laid, or rather slowly slid, into a down - maybe she was just a little slippery but could have stayed sitting if she wanted to

Recall:
GREAT front - everything about this was nice - and no anticipation on the finish! woo

This fall I'm going to start getting serious about her obedience career (well as serious as I get!) and I plan on earning her BN and starting/finishing her CD.

CPE Trial, Awards, and Media Stories

Firstly thanks to Noa for the Liebster Award we got yesterday :) I wasn't expected it and I'm glad someone enjoys reading these posts! I'm supposed to pass along the award and I will do so tomorrow because if I did now the post would be incredibly long!

Second order of business: We got an invitational report for English Cockers and there are wayyyy more than I would have thought!!

Here are the top 10:

1. MACh12 Prairiefire Dusty Rose MXB4 MJC4 MXF TQX with 3,140 points
2. MACh3 Carefree's National Landmark MXC MJS2 MXF
3. MACh3 Prairiefire Queen of Hearts MXC MJB2 XF
4. CH MACh2 Sunbreak Impetuous CD RN MXG MJC MXF TQX T2B
5. MACh3 Blue Moon Adara Sweet Meson VCD1 RA TDX MXG MJB2 NAP NJP MXF MFP TQX with 1,361 points
6. MACh8 Perdrix's Cinnamon Teal SH MXB3 MJX3 AXP AJP XF
7. CH MACh3 Kinsale Ever so Amazing RN MXC MJC XF
8. CH CT MACh Blue Moon My Sweet Hemi RA JH MXB MJS NAP NJP OF
9. MACH3 Spindrift Dashing Beau Brummell MXC MJB2 NAP NJP MXF MFB TQX
10. MACh2 Belstar's Start Your Engines RN MXG MJC OF with 673 points
.
.
.
25 Spindrift Blazing Kate CD RE MX MXB MXJ MJB OF with 289 points

then there's Trixie with 72 points...not exactly close but I knew we wouldn't qualify for 2012 but I thought we would at least have made the top 25!

Still of we average 50 ish points a weekend (way under shooting it because the 2 weekends we had in Ex B got us 81 and 72 points, respectively) and we trial 40 weekends out of the year then that's 2,000 points which would put us as #3 and that doesn't count the 2/3 day trials we do so we should be able to make the top 5 happen.

...oh and she's currently #1 for 2013 by about 40 points*


Now onto this past weekend ( I need to start blogging more often so I don't have to do huge posts like this...) we went to a really fun CPE trial in upstate NY. I'd been missing CPE, it's really uncompetitive but every now and again it's nice to go to a trial and come home with 30 ribbons. Miss Scooter Q'ed in ALL 8 of her runs!!! I was just about to leave the trial when the club owner came up to me to give me a special perfect weekend pin. I was just glad Scooter was having such a good time running this weekend so for me it really was perfect :) We're definitely closing in on our year goal though I doubt that we'll finish our CPE ones because we're doing way more AKC than I had anticipated at the start of the year when Trixie was in preferred.

Trixie Q'ed in 6/8 runs - one spaz was hers the other was me, mostly I was just happy she Q'ed in all of the standard rounds and got jackpot because for awhile there those were cursed classes but now we're 1/2 way though the Lv 4 requirements in each! Just 15 more Q's until we start getting Q's towards our C-ATCH!

and finally one more thing! This month we've had 3-4 media people come to video/photograph/interview us at our house which was pretty cool, except for dragging the 10 pieces of agility equipment we own outside and back inside everyday. We still have another 1-2 interviews to do and I'll put links to the articles up here.

Here's a video story (yes I did put out the simplest conceivable course...):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KttfceClp2A&feature=share

The Intelligencer's print story comes out next week so stay tuned :)




*based on last years top 25 dogs

Lower Camden's AKC Trial

Another 3 day trial! And probably our last - they're just so long! Trixie and Scooter both had a lot of success at this trial too - Scooter was 1/2 and Trix was 4/6.

Friday Trix claimed her 2nd QQ! and 36 points too :) great start to the invitational qualifying period. I was really happy with both of her runs, except for her dog walk in standard but it improved over the weekend. Friday's jumpers run was probably my favorite of the weekend because I felt like it was the best job of handling I've ever done (not that there weren't things to improve ;)  ) Especially considering there was actual running on my part! UsuallyI jog because I think for some reason Trixie might run around a jump or something if I slow down - just need to trust her, which I did!

Runs:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3roxip2Wk

Satuday's runs were probably the best of the weekend. No QQ because Trixie knocked the top bar of the triple, not entirely sure why. She started barking right before it plus I was having a spastic handler moment off to the side :) The rest was great! More running and I was really excited about barking in the weave poles - that's a first for a trial :D Standard was amazing. Trixie's run was .37 seconds off from first and .14 from 2nd! and she beat 4th by almost a whole second, I love her. The only thing I'd really like to change about the run was my front in the serp - I just wasn't where I thought I was!

Standard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR0iVDACc2A&feature=youtu.be
JWW:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXAPyA4Kq8s&feature=youtu.be

Scooter got to play on Saturday too - she started with a really nice jumpers run and really ran it! She even got 4 whole MACh points and an MXJ leg :) In standard she was over time by like 5 seconds - it takes skill, I know. At her next couple shows I'm putting her in preferred because I think the easy Novice courses will really help to boost her confidence and speed.

Sunday's runs were definitely disappointing. Trixie's standard run was off to a gorgeous start but when we got to the table she stopped and then when I called her name to get her to sit she bounced off! Not to mention she didn't even turn around...WTF?! Jumpers was slooooooowwww Trixie slowed down like 3 times to shake her head... but I kept pushing her to keep going and she finished the run clean just barely over 4 YPS - yes that slow...

So we got 1 QQ and 71 MACh points towards AKC Nats/ Our MACh

Just 4 more QQ's and 267 more points until we're going to Tulsa!

A little bit of everything

Wow I need to blog more often- it's been like 20 days! Lots of good news though

CPE Nationals were awesome - Trixie Q'ed in 8/9 runs (the only NQ was a REALLY close teeter flyoff...really Trixie, really?) and we were the HIT junior team. We also came out as the #1 12" dog in the non standard classes, pretty awesome right? there were more than 60 dogs competing for that! We got 6 placements too :) Going into CPE nationals I didn't think it was going to be hard to place at all - at local trials 1st is pretty much a lock because there are like 3 other dogs and Trixie's often wayyy faster. This time there were like 20 others - I know, nothing compared to AKC Nats but hey you've got to start somewhere - the only dogs that beat us were these two really fast shelties. One of them left 1/2 way through the weekend (?) so we went up a place for like every event.

After CPE Nats we went back to a small AKC trial. It was pretty tiny actually - 20ish dogs in the 12" class. Trix kept her awesome momentum going to get her AXJ and an MX leg (26 points) on saturday and get her FIRST QQ!!! on sunday bringing our point total to 62. Scooter had an awesome standard run - she was running like a maniac, but then she ran like 50 feet away to get a tunnel... *shakes head* but as long as she has fun :) the 1st half of jumpers was really slow so I started running around everything (270's included!) and she started running with me :) still we were 5 seconds over but it was much hotter than it was in the morning so maybe that's why.

Trixie's first QQ :)

Pay no attention to me almost running into the double... at least Trixie saved my butt...again, gotta love her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg_F0IDeGKA

Invitationals Update!!

Here are the top 5 Engies currently qualified (they've changed! new ones in red)

(in alphabetical order)

MACh3 Blue Moon Adara Sweet Meson VCD1 RA TDX NAP NJP MXF TQX
MACh3 Carefree's National Landmark MXF
MACh12 Prairiefire Dusty Rose MXF TQX
MACh3 Prairiefire Queen of Hearts XF
Ch MACh2 Sunbreak Impetuous CD RN MXF TQX


After all of the 2012 qualifying period trials are over I'll buy a report from the AKC and have a more detailed idea of what's going on. I wonder if Trixie will be on it - she has 72 invitational points so it's possible and if she's in the top 25 maybe we won't have to trial as aggressively as I thought. This year, well next year, at nationals they'll also have a national rally competition! I'd love to show Scooter and Trixie in that too so we'll have to get out there and get some Q's! 5 doubles and 3 perfect scores for Scooter and 3 Q's above 90 for Trixie, at least it won't be difficult because they're very consistent in rally.

 Am I crazy for trying to do two events at one national? Definitely ;)

Our first 3 day trial :)

Since school ended for me last Wednesday I thought I'd give the three day trial thing a chance and see how the dogs (and I!) held up through the weekend. Honestly it felt like a never ending trial - for me they all do if they're more than 1 day though because that's what we usually do. I think we handled it pretty well, if anything Trixie sped up as the weekend went along but she still wasn't that fast - definitely a combination of conservative and kinda lousy handling on my part, I just really wanted some Q's because we haven't had that many recently. I know, I know. Trialing isn't about the Q's but I want to be in Ex B by July when the invitational qualifying period starts, so that means just 1 more JWW Q and we're golden!

Friday was a bust - Trixie had a GREAT jumpers run but then she decided to poop right before the last jump. Needless to say she got A LOT of walks before any other run of the weekend... In standard she LEAPED over the dog walk contact and took an off course later on. Oh well.

Saturday was pretty hot, hotter than Friday but not nearly as hot as Sunday. Scooter ran first in jumpers and started biting at flies in the weave poles...at least they were real flies. We got an R for that but she ran the entire course so I didn't even care. Trixie ran jumpers clean, pretty slow, but clean - our first AXJ leg!! After like 4 hours of waiting in the heat Scoot ran in standard - the first half was slow and then she sped up and Q'ed for her AX! If she had been in Ex B she would have even gotten 4th! (3 Q'ed) Trixie also Q'ed with a pretty decent run despite the heat.

Sunday's heat was brutal. it was like 89 degrees but felt like 95 at least. Trixie actually ran faster, probably because fewer of my crosses were incredibly late. She Q'ed in JWW with a nice run (4.4YPS - not bad) and later Q'ed in Standard (3.6YPS) for her AX title!

We leave on Thursday for CPE nationals - I know it's just CPE but I'm still pretty excited!

TBAC AKC Trial

Hooray for trials! I went back to Dream Park in hopes of AX and AXJ legs for Scooter and Trixie and we did pretty well. Scooter doubled and finished her AXJ! just 1 more Q until her AX :) I still can't believe how far Scooter has come in the past few months.

Trixie had a GREAT standard run and was only wish seconds behind 1st in B and would have been fourth if she was in B. As it happened though I didn't support the second jump and she ran around it *smacks head repeatedly* she again broke 4YPS!

I entered her in FAST at the trial because she had 2 Q's towards her NF and I thought we might as well finish the title. The send was easy and we took 1st with a score of 79 - just couldn't get that extra jump in there :)

Jumpers was intense. I was soooooooooo glad I didn't run a big dog when I started walking the course. There was like 3' between obstacles in the opening and, obviously, bars were falling all day - even with the small dogs! Trixie and I got through 95% of the course Qing until we hit the weave entry, or didn't rather, I knew it wasn't in our skill set but it was still disappointing because I was so close to the end. I want Trixie to Q in Ex A darn it!!! Well we have a rally trial tomorrow and our next agility trial is a 3-day one in two weeks - fingers crossed

Runs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4rHQcfh35U 

Would you like a side of epic with that fail???

Yeah our Q rate this weekend was pretty horrible - we got an Ex A Standard Q!!  but Trixie had a lot of really nice things too :) For one her speed was great - in her Qing run she would have been 5th in B! I don't think we've ever broken 4 YPS in standard before so that was exciting. Also her weaves were great this weekend, not a single pop or missed entry and I really pushed them on Sunday. ALSO she was taking jumps I wasn't baby sitting so good for her!!! I totally screwed her up in Sunday's JWW but I give her all the credit for Saturday's NQ... and 1/2 of the nonsense in Sunday's standard... I think she just isn't a fan of Yardley, I hate to make excuses for her but she's usually so consistent. Next weekend we'll be back at Dream Park and we'll have some more chances for AX and AXJ Q's, also Scooter will be going for her  AXJ (!!) and her 2nd AX Q

Here's our Q:
http://youtu.be/BVlp20Cmzfs

April Fun

April rocks - everyone is doing so well! Trixie finished her OA and OAJ (back to excellent thank God, not being there was killing me haha) and Scooter got not one but two AXJ legs! and even an AX leg :D This past weekend at our club's trial she had one really awesome run where she was 8 full seconds UNDER time!!! These runs give me hope that a MACh is possible for her! But I'm still just going to take 1 Q at a time, ... even so I can't keep myself from thinking that she 1 Q away from working on her MACh!!! and Trixie is just awesome, she had a REALLY nice JWW run too - 4.8YPS though...why can we not break 5?! Well I guess you have to have something to work on though, right? I do think my handling has gotten A LOT better, I'm not incredibly late with my front crosses anymore! Someone who I didn't even know and the show even told me how good my crosses were :) And while we're talking about break throughs Trixie GROWLED in the weaves!!! This has never happened at a trial before and I really hoping this is only the beginning. We have 2 more weeks until our next trial and I can't wait. God, I love agility so much


Here are our runs from the Krusin' K9 Trial (Burlington's video's have wayyyyy too much light in them...):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlXqsfs5NqY

Weekend CPE Trial

There weren't any rally/obedience/ USDAA or AKC agility trials so we went out and did CPE! (wow I'm a trial junkie ;) ) Usually I come home from CPE trials obsessed with the venue and plan to do like 12 more CPE trials, but not this time. Sure the dogs did well, as always (Trix 4/5 and Scoot 3/5) but the trial didn't seem AS fun. Maybe I'm just used to knowing a lot of people there like at AKC shows. It also probably had something to do with the surface... I usually really don't think about the surface unless there's something obviously wrong with it - at this trial is was like trying to run in quicksand! I had trouble WALKING the course without sliding about and, to make matters worse, there was dust/dirt EVERYWHERE - i.e. eyes, shoes, socks, BENETH socks, dog's fur (eyes too I'm sure),  and feet. I'm definitely not planning on going back (unless it's resurfaced) because it was so bad; which is a shame because I LOVED everything else, the location, the exercise area, the crating space, the food (OMG it was good), plus it's the closest CPE trial around (1 hour). The judge was a really nice guy, at least I thought so until I saw his courses! Level 4/5/C's jackpot was just ridiculous, only ONE dog out of like 50 got it, Trixie was close but she decided to bounce off the teeter... hmmm I wonder what we'll be training next?? Except for colors all of the courses were really demotivating for slow dogs, plus the surface didn't help (poor Scooter knocked a bar, I blame it on the surface because...I CAN! ha just kidding but really I think I saw her slip, and I noticed both dogs having trouble with take offs/landings. Wildcard was the worst I think - SUPER tight, like USDAA Masters tight, only tighter... I did like his colors course though, very true to CPE! :D

On quite another note I've been thinking about taking a break from agility, no don't panic just agility trialing. After CPE nationals I have like 4 agility trials planned for the summer, instead I think we'll be doing more APDT/AKC rally, obedience and maybe even trying CDSP. Who knows? CDSP (Companion Dog Sports Program) is like a happy, carefree version of AKC obedience, I think it'd be a good starting point for Trixie and some fun for Scooter too. I also think after Scooter and Trixie get their C-ATCHs and Trixie gets her PDCh in USDAA I'll just stick to AKC agility with the occasional USDAA tournament trial to Q for nationals and I'll do regionals too because why not :) And of course I'll still do APDT rally, great ribbons and nice start times with down time to do homework in between. I do think I'll take Trixie as far as she wants to go in rally, past the ARChX like I'd originally planned and take Scooter past just 1 ARChMX, I know it'll be expensive but if it means trialing less and having more fun when we do then that's what we'll do

Back to Awesome-ness

Trixie and I had some fun at class tonight. We ran 1 of the Small dog WTT courses, round 3?? (http://www.akc.org/pdfs/events/agility/world_team/2011/Course4_Small.pdf) Trixie totally nailed it, twice!! I totally sucked at handling the pull through and 4 to 5. I initially tried it the tightest way and she was okay but the thirdish time a ran it she wasn't too happy about having to run it. I'd like'd to have tried an olga between 4/5 but her brain had died so I just went through, skipped 4, and finished a nice run. I didn't want to practice the pull through too much - she's just starting to assume she has to stay on the far side, why ruin that?I was SO happy with 13-20, she had a great push to 16 something I had been struggling with before but now I think we have it under control. Scooter was also looking good at class, even her sends are coming along - almost NADAC worthy! - Not that I'm going to NADAC land, I still think the hoops are stupid, and the courses aren't interesting enough, CPE's my fun break - no need for 2 easy/fun venues! plus Scooter wouldn't make time

Keep Marchin' On

Long story short this past weekend's AKC trial was a mess - 0/4 Q's all of which SHOULD have been Q's, except for maybe Jumpers. Trixie's 3 weeks into her Lyme treatment and has seemed totally fine outside of agility, maybe no training this week had something to do with it? In any event she was MUCH better at class, hopefully she'll make it through this CPE trial weekend well and with some level 3/4 Q's - she's going for her CL3 so I hope she does well , Scooter's running too! here's what's going down...


Trixie:

Level 3 Standard - Last Q for her CL3-R
Level 3 Colors/Wildcard - 1 Q of each for her CL3-H/CL3
Level 4 Jackpot - 1st Q (haha )
Level 4 Jumpers - 2n Q hopefully

Scoot

Level 3 Standard - 1st Q!
Level 3 Colors/Wildcard - 1 of each for CL3-H
Level 3 Jackpot - 1st Q
Level 4 Jumpers - 2nd Q, hopefully we'll make time ;)

Can't wait for all 10 runs, I love CPE <3

Various Fun Things :)

Several awesome things have happened but I didn't had any time to write about them so better late than never I guess :) Last Saturday Scooter and I went to an APDT rally O trial in Andover and came home with 4/4 q's for our 8th & 9th ARChEX, RL2X2, and RL3X legs - I can't wait for the next trial when we actually get all of these titles! - we got 1 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (the full set!) with scores of 210, 210, 209, and 207 (I failed to remember the station and when I moved to read the sign Scooter moved with me, a little too responsive ? haha) I want to try and finish up Scooter's ARChEX and ARChMX this year so I can start to focus more on agility and actually doing obedience with Trixie - she has 1 BN leg (which she got with a 193 despite a 3 point handler error) I'm thinking that obedience training will be a focus while I'm in college but who knows, so much is still up in the air.

Back to other fun things! Scooter got re-certified as a therapy dog! We didn't pass the 1st recertification test because I forgot to tell her to stay...what's wrong with me? ... and Scooter had some definite stress issues on the second one - but we passed! I'm excited to start doing volunteer work with her at a local hospital, who knows maybe we'll even go for our AKC Therapy Dog (ThD) title - if we do we may have to earn it over 2 summers because it requires 50 visits, something that would be hard to do in 10-12 weeks of summer ( although there's a minimum 75 hour requirement so who knows?)

Unfortunately I missed BOTH of our agility classes this week so the trial should be interesting this week! As long as we finish our NF and Q in Open Standard and JWW (for our 2nd legs) I'll be happy, Time 2 Beat will just be a fun bonus :) Watching all of the runs at AKC nationals has made me even more excited to go to Tulsa that I already am! (I didn't think it was possible!) Given our consistency we'll hopefully have gotten all of our QQ's and points by the end of the summer, but lets not get ahead of ourselves - one trial at a time...

Q's All Around!

Q's for everyone! We had a perfect weekend at the SOJAC AKC trial at Dream Park - I'm so happy with everyone, especially Scooter! She finished her OA title and even got her first AXJ leg!!! She started out pretty slow and so she was 3+ seconds over time but that was enough for a Q! - if she ever gets her MACh it'll be a miracle but it will happen eventually!

Trixie finished up her NA and NAJ titles and got 2 NF legs plus 1 OA and OAJ leg - no more novice!!!! All of her runs were clean, so far so good. Q'ing for 2012 invitationals would be fantastic but I'm not sure it will be possible even if we Q 100% of the time (which we've actually been doing!) so until July I'm going to focus on trying to get her MXJ, MX and Q'ing for 2013 AKC nationals - definitely possible :)

Our Runs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llp0se8Otrw

Thursday Class

Trixie was looking even better and it seemed like her sore spot on her left side was significantly better and she was bouncing around all day so I let her run at class tonight. She was kinda off in the outdoor ring but was awesome inside on the standard course. Scooter was also doing pretty well - I still have my fingers crossed for her OA title and her first possible AXJ leg!

Ouch

last night at class Trixie was clearly not feeling well at all - strange considering she was absolutely fine in the morning. We took her to the vet who checked her over and apparently she's Lyme positive - fantastic... well at least we know what it is as opposed to when she was lame at 6 months old and no one had any idea what was going on. I did more stretches with her this morning and she's definitely better than last night but she definitely has a bruise/muscle tightness on the left side of her back, hopefully this is nothing that some doxycycline can't fix. I'm almost certainly not running her at all at class tomorrow night, maybe just a small lap in the grass at 8" to see how she is for the trial this weekend - I'm really hoping she'll be able to run but if she can't that's fine too - I'd rather her be healthy than push her too hard even if i really want to get out of novice. I'm definitely going on Sunday to run Scooter and I'll try and get Trix a massage while we're there if she's not any better and see if that helps her. Poor dog :(

Perfect Weekend! - well sort of...

We finished up this weekend with 2 more Novice Q's so now just 2 more until we have our NA and NAJ! Next weekend we'll be at Dream Park again for Saturday and Sunday so we'll likely finish those and get OAJ and OA legs. We're also doing novice FAST which is always a fun class because the sends are like 2 inches :)

Once again Trixie continues to be faster in standard than JWW, I know contact obstacles are more fun more her, after all what English Cocker wouldn't want to run up a plank 4' in the air I mean really :) In JWW both days, but especially Saturday, she had some strange striding where she took some unnecessary strides before she jumped...? When did she start that? I'll have to fix that during this week, better the catch it before it's a habit... Never the less Trixie won all of her classes and had the fastest time of all the Novice dogs on Sunday's standard course. Speaking of standard...Trixie had some super nice dog walks! They were exactly what I wanted her finished product to look like, now no judge will call her for missed zones! If they start I'll just bust out my contact pants hehe :) This trial was especially awesome because there were like 8-10 English Cockers! Nothing is more fun than sizing up your AKC invitational competition ;)

Our runs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0A0AgMhkEo

Scooter is running next Sunday - fingers crossed for her to get her OA title! ...and make Excellent JWW course time...

Contact Pants - I need these!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUNN53a7884&feature=player_embedded

^^ 

Greatest invention ever! maybe I should get a black and white pair for Trixie ;)

Yay for trials!

Not one but two trials have happened since I updated last - at least I'm good about updating our titles in progress, mostly because I use that to remember what's actually going on because if you've ever seen the list it's kind of ridiculous... But back to the trials! Last weekend we didn't get into the local AKC agility trial so we did APDT rally instead.. :( I like rally but it's just not agility. Scooter was awesome and dependable as always earning her 7th ARChEX/RL2X2/RL3X (gosh that's a lot of titles o.0) legs with two 209's and a 2nd and a 3rd placement. Trixie went out for her first ARCh leg attempt. She had a decent level 1 run earning a 207 and 17 ARCh points (our first ones! just 83 more to go...) I completely messed her up in level 2 and so we NQ'ed.... ahh well live and learn. After Scooter finishes her ARChMX I think I'll retire from rally, at least until I get my next puppy and then I'll just do AKC Novice with him/her to just get her/him working with me at a small trial before I do agility with them.

Today was the 1st day of an agility trial in Palmyra - that's 2 1/2 hours away...but it was awesome! I was glad I didn't enter Scooter because the building was pretty echoey when we first got there. It was nice to walk her around and help build her confidence which actually didn't seem to need any building! She would jog with me and run over the practice jump without much encouragement, 1000% better than this time last year when she would walk an JWW course! I planned to arrive like 1 1/2 early (I have no idea why I wanted to get there THAT early) and it was a good thing I did! They were 1/2 way done with open standard and novice standard was right afterwards. Luckily there was no epic crate scouting that needed to be done, like at Dream Park where you have to be willing to crate in 10cm of space, so there was still plenty of time to walk Trixie and Scooter. Both of the novice courses were really easy and Trixie Q'ed with a 100 and 1st place in both of them getting her first NA and NAJ Q's. Waiting to run was pretty painful though and this trial definitely reminded me how much I love being in excellent where all of the dogs are awesome not just 1 or 2. Sadly we didn't get into the trial for tomorrow, I would've loved to be done with novice after this weekend!, but I'll just have to wait until Sunday. Keeping my fingers crossed for 2 more novice Q's :)

Trialing!

Yay for trials! I didn't really have time/the desire to update last week but it wasn't because we did badly - Scooter QQ'ed last week and this week to get her first 2 OA legs and her OAJ! I think I need to push her AKC 2012 goal further, perhaps to finishing the excellent titles? She also was UNDER time in Open JWW for the first time ever :D only by 4ish seconds but hey, I'll take it! Not sure how we'll do in Excellent JWW in terms of being under time but getting Scooter a MACh before she retires is definitely a goal of mine so I'll find a way. Trixie was also super both weekend despite some shenanigans...but what else is new? She quadruple q'ed last weekend despite her airheadedness in T2B and got 10 points and 1st because she was the only preferred dog, she also finished her Excellent A P JWW title and her Open FAST P title. Today she triple Q'ed (for her 2nd faux PACh QQ) and got 17 points towards her PACh in JWW and her 2nd AXP Q - when Trixie gets too old to jump 12" at least she won't have to start in Novice again, wahoo!

Total tally of Q's:

Trixie:
2 Excellent A STD Q's
1 Open P FAST Q and OFP title
1 Excellent A P FAST Q
1 Excellent AP JWW Q and AJP title
1 Excellent BP JWW Q and 17 PACh points
1 T2B Q and 10 points

Scooter:

2 OA Q's
2 OAJ Q's and OAJ title :D

Here are our runs (mostly Trixie's):

Bayshore Companion Dog Club:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-T87c02hc8&feature=channel_video_title

Delaware County Kennel Club:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPJxfbwMJI4&list=UUzUBDJU3Gg3loqPIxafRHcw&index=1&feature=plcp

More Agility Numbers!

The 2011 agility rankings came out today!! Here are how the English Cockers are doing...

1) MACh Prairiefire Dusty Rose MXF TQX with 2,880 points and 51 QQ's
2) MACh2 Carefree's National Landmark MXF with 1,815 points and 35 QQ's
3) MACh2 Prairefire Queen of Hearts XF with 1,714 points and 30 QQ's
4) MACh7 Perdrix's Cinnamon Teal SH NAP NJP XF with 1,508 with 34 QQ's
5) MACh2 Blue Moon Adara Sweet Meson VCD1 RA TDX NAP NJP MXF TQX with 1,197 points and 34 QQ's

I'm not so sure we'll make it into 2012 invitationals because we don't even have a regular Q yet and points stop counting after June 30 but we'll trial hard and see what happens, you never know unless you try but it's not looking likely. I'm pretty confident that 2013 shouldn't be too difficult though, Trixie's a rockstar if I do say so myself - well for an English Cocker :)

out of curiosity I looked at the Cavalier numbers too, I know Scooter will definitely not make 2012 invitationals but I was curious about 2013

1) MACh4 Covington Cashmere with 2,981 points and 43 QQ's
2) MACh5 Enchanting Taste The Rainbow with 2, 471 points and 67 QQ's
3) Ch MACh9 Wystar He Got Game CDX RAE MXF TQX with 2,303 points and 66 QQ's
4) MACh2 Wright's Rg Treasured Trinket XF with 2,420 points and 35 QQ's
5) MACh4 Daisylane One Crazy Summer RE XF with 2,194 points and 54 QQ's

okay probably not...although I do think that a new goal of mine is for Scooter to get a MACh, I know she can do it because she really is a nice agility dog, not the fastest in the world but definitely able to get a MACh if she continues to run like she has - at the last trial said she was such a speedy little dog and I swear I almost cried with joy that someone actually thought she was fast!

We have an AKC trial this weekend, unfortunately I couldn't change Trixie to regular for this and the next AKC trial so she'll just have to jump 8" and like it but I also entered Scooter - I think she'll do really well, I'm hoping for a QQ!

Invitationals...The Real One This Time...

So long preferred! We were advised to go back to regular (and novice, ugh!) I do think it'd be better for Trixie and I. She was slow at last weekend's trial but pretty speedy at class, I think she likes running 12" better, it makes her work more. So naturally now that we could potentially make it to ... AKC Agility Invitationals!!! (cue dramatic music) I went to check out the past few years of statistics on English Cockers in agility...

Here were 2010's top 5:

1) MACh8 Prairiefire Dusty Rose MXF with 2,511 points and 40 QQ's
2) MACh5 Perdrix's Cinnamon Teal SH NAP NJP XF with 1,609 points and 35 QQ's
3) CH MACh3 Bellflower Springhill Shamrock JH OF with 1,273 points and 28 QQ's
4) MACh Prairiefire Queen of Heats OF with 1,178 points and 21 QQ's
5) MACh2 Spindrift Dashin Beau Brummel MXF TQX with 885 points and 24 QQ's


Now Trixie is usually 25-30 seconds under in Standard and at least 15 in JWW... assuming we are in Ex B by May (totally possible given we are very consistent and starting in Nov B again late Feb.) we have aprox. 12 days of trailing before the Invitational qualifying period ends... assuming that she averages 25 seconds in Standard and Q's 75% of the time and 15 in JWW and Q's 90% of the time and gets 8 QQ's she'll get 225 STD points, 165 JWW points, 80 QQ points so 470 total - pretty low so I'm thinking we'll get it next year unless Trixie really goes nuts or the other dogs don't do as well, besides some were older and might even have retired or dropped to preferred

The top 5 for invitationals so far are, in alphabetical order:

MACh 2 Blue Moon Adara Sweet Meson VCD1 RA TDX NAP NJP MXF TQX
MACh2 Carefree's National Landmark MXF
MACh7 Perdrix's Cinnamon Teal SH NAP NJP XF
MACh 11 Prairiefire Dusty Rose MXF TQX
MACh2 Prairefire Queen of Hearts XF

that's 2 different from last year... well it's not over 'till its over! Only time will tell...

Thoughts on Trialing...

I feel like I should warn you this is a ramble about random agility things...

I've been thinking recently about the agility trialing we've done and how Trixie and I aren't really in the highest levels of any venues even though we trial all the time, how can we get a MACh/PACh, PDCh, or even a C-ATCh if we do so many different venues? Well we Q pretty frequently but it will take forever for us to get just one of these if we do all these different venues so I think I've decided to focus on AKC agility and also do the local USDAA's - but no one ring Barto trials, I've said never again to 13 hour days!!! We'll do some CPE after/if we get a PACh this year because there's no sense in getting extra PAChs because the only reason we're in preferred is for nationals...I've also been thinking about our PDCh goal for this year... it seems unlikely not because I don't think we're capable of it but you need a tournament relay Q and there will be like one or two chances to get it and who knows if we'll even be able to do those trials...honestly I think I should aim for us to be in PIII in everything and Lv 5 in CPE instead of the PDCh and be happy if we get it, hopefully there will be plenty of USDAA trials though because they're so much fun! As of now there's only one trial scheduled for the summer but I hope more go up...

SOJAC AKC Agility Trial

First AKC Trial of the year! I love AKC agility, it's so much fun. This was Trixie's first official trial at 8" and I think she was a little confused as to why the jumps weren't at 12 but never the less she Q'ed 5/6 times, not too shabby. The first run of the weekend was Open FAST and, as usual, Trixie was nuts but she managed to get it together and Q! I'd been thinking about not entering FAST until Trixie's back in regular next year but I still love FAST because Trixie and I need some time to get it together in the morning. A little while later I walked the Excellent JWW course and I was a little disappointed. I've never run an excellent course before so I was really hoping the judge would bring it, but it was basically a big loop... wish Scooter could have run it for an Excellent Q! As I went to get Trixie to do our run I noticed there was 30 seconds left to walk Open Standard which I didn't even know they built! I quickly walked it then grabbed Trixie and was back 2 dogs before our run. Trixie was good and Q'ed but was pretty slow, about 4ish YPS...what was that Trixie?! Soon after when we ran Open Standard she had a fantastic run at 4.3 YPS, one of her fastest standard times and our last Q for her Open Standard title :D

Sunday I woke up before 6 (ugh!) and ran Excellent A Standard, it was basically the open standard course from saturday because the judge was the same. Trixie had a great run but didn't stop on the table. At first I thought it was my fault but now I'm thinking Trixie was being silly and not trying hard enough to stop. She was about 4 YPS with the table fault. Soon after we ran open FAST and Q'ed again!! Now we only need one more FAST Q!! Our last run was another nice jumpers Q for our second Ex A JWW Q! I love how reliable Trixie is in JWW, this time she was running at 4.54, still not our best but better. Today when I was grooming her I find a small sore on her left rear leg and a tiny bit of blood on her fur, she seems fine though so I don't know if that was affecting her at all.

Our runs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSfvKyHvlQM&feature=youtu.be

Trials!

Well school's been busy as usual so I haven't had time to write about last weekends trial so I'll just mix it in with yesterdays!

Last weekend we went to 3D Dog Training's CPE trial in Barto, PA. I was so excited to go because it would be in a NEW and HEATED building! No more freezing at 7 PM waiting to run jumpers... story of my life right there. Also two of my other junior friends were there, Hillary and Sarah, and it was nice to see them again because our last trial together was...August? not totally sure but it had been awhile - I also got to see Hillary's super cute new Papillon who was running in her 2nd CPE trial and she finish 2 titles!

Level 3 Standard - our 4th leg!

As for my dogs...Scooter was awesome and Trixie definitely had some 2 year old moments... but they both had perfect days so I can't complain. My favorite run was definitely Level 3 Colors with Trixie, it was pretty easy, a straight line to a serp to a minority challenging tunnel entrance to a straight line to the weaves and out - we rocked it with the 3rd fastest time of all the heights (the fastest was like 1 and 1/2 seconds faster and was like 10" taller...and a BC...) she hit a new YPS high again - 5.37 YPS, love how she keeps getting faster and I'm not flailing around and being late as a handler. All of our other runs had lots of silly mistakes, usually I'm willing to take the blame but 99% were definitely on Trixie, she just needs some more experience and age to settle her crazy mind... especially in Snooker... but we did get a perfect 51 and finished our CL3-S title, in Jumpers we also got our CL3-F.

Scooter was AMAZING! I love her when she runs - she's so cute! She got 1st and Q'ed in level 3 Colors at 3.88 YPS ( pretty good for her!) and got 2nd and Q'ed in Wildcard at 3.49 YPS! Then was standard...and she Q'ed!!! Absolutely no hesitation on the teeter - it was amazing! Now we only need 1 more Q for her Level 2 Standard and 1 more in Jackpot for her Level 2 Strategy and she'll have Q'ed for 2012 CPE Nationals! We're entered in another CPE trial before the nationals cutoff date and the 2 runs Scooter are doing and the 2 Q's she needs so fingers crossed!

Also right before the 3/4/5/C Jumpers walkthrough the Judge gave out a it-is-what-it-is award and I got it from wildcard this morning because Trixie was being so silly but I kept my cool and Q'ed, yay for my mental game :D

Here's our cool prize - a slip lead!

Yesterday we were at On Target's Winter USDAA trial which was also in the new Barto building. I was happy with how Trixie ran in everything but PII Gamblers, I think I could definitely have handled the gamble better than I did but I think Trixie was ignoring some of my cues there... After like 5-6 hours (literally!) of waiting we ran in PI Standard and got our Performance Dog title - so glad I'm out of PI. The course wasn't that hard but A LOT of dogs weren't Q'ing. Right after we ran in Performance Grand Prix - not gonna lie I was freaking out a little, it was definitely the hardest course I had ever run - I've just never been in excellent or masters because Scooter had her stress issues and Trixie's so new to trialing. I was so happy with how Trixie ran! Except for her refusal - Trixie gets the blame for that one, I don't know why she ran around that jump I don't think I could have cued that if I tried...but she didn't get eliminated! and we finished by 4ish seconds in 2nd! (probably the time it took to fix that jump) I was annoyed that we didn't get the bye because I thought the dog that beat us blew their DW contact but I didn't really care because Trixie got hers all day! Next time I guess. I was going to go home before PII Pairs because PGP and GP was taking SO LONG. Right as was packing up the last of our stuff for the car I noticed that they were about to start walking PII pairs and we were 2nd to run... it was such an easy course that I stayed the extra 20 min to run it. My partner wanted to run the 1st half, so I took the 2nd, and easier half. We Q'ed and got 1st. Now we only need a PII Snooker Q and 3 PII Standards for our Advanced Performance Dog title... Then we'll official be working on our Performance Dog Champion!!!! I've also been thinking about doing USDAA regionals... they're 2 hours away but...it's regionals... but then nationals happen during the school week so I don't know if I'd even be able to go...

Here were our courses!

The easy, yet fun PI Standard

Performance Grand Prix - so fun!

PII Relay - we had the 2nd half

Starting 2012 off right!

     Today was awesome :D Because there weren't any agility trials anywhere Scooter got to do APDT rally-o 2 weekends in a row! I gave Trixie the weekend off though because I wasn't totally sure how last weekend would go and I don't think she's quite ready to go for the ARCh title yet...even though she keeps getting 210's and such I'm just not satisfied with how she's heeling, I feel like when I'm in the ring with her she really is pushing ME around the course...maybe that's how it's supposed to feel, I'm so used to having to cheerlead miss Scooter all the time that going back and doing all the performance events with Trixie all seem completely different than they did before with Scooter. But back to the rally trial! As usual Scooter was slow, steady, and won the race :) well actually she lost twice on time but she had 4/4 perfect scores, and got her 5th and 6th ARChEX legs :D I feel like since I stopped pushing Scooter to get 1st place all the time her scores have gone up by like 3-5 points (to being consistently 210/209) and she actually gets 1st a lot more often! iconic isn't it? She got 1st place twice and a 2nd and a 3rd on time - I need to find some sort of way to speed her up! It's not that she's stressed like agility, actually I started agility to try and get her to be faster in rally!, because her tail is always up and wagging the whole time. I think she just likes taking her time, and I'm fine with that.
     Recently I've been thinking of more stuff I can do with Scooter. I know she and I can only go so far together in agility, probably the MX and MXJ are wishful thinking but what the heck she's only 3 so she's still young, so I've been looking into other titles we can work towards together. I'm thinking of trying CDSP obedience with her because they don't have out of sight stays - I don't think she'd have a problem but I don't really feel like training them to be honest. Teaching scent articles ought to be interesting... but on a different note...recently I heard about these "trick dog titles"and I have to be honest they seem kinda silly but being the sucker I am I've been thinking about them. If you haven't heard of them they were created by a women who wrote some books about how to teach your dogs different tricks and to get each trick title the dog has to know a certain number of tricks that a of a certain level of difficulty. Once you've taught your dog the tricks then you get someone to watch you do them with your dog and then they sign a form saying that you dog can do the tricks and voila! you have earned a trick dog titel. But of course you can't get away with getting these titles for free, that would just be silly! so for each title you have to pay $20 per application, really now? but wait there's more... there's a Trick Dog Champion title ( which is decently challenging) for which you have to actually submit a video of your dog doing the required tricks to be reviewed by a licensed judge type person which may be why they charge $109.99! Wow... They totally had me hooked until I saw how much all of this actually cost... So I've decided to do something...a little lame, maybe..., because I'm kind of cheap (but still I have more important things to spend money on!) Once either Trixie or Scooter have met the requirements for I trick dog title I'll post a video of them doing their tricks on here and I'll award them a trick title myself! ha take that you underhanded scheme! and for those of you wondering I do own one of her books... I'll probably get around to having them do their tricks in like wish weeks when we don't have any trials :'( I'm actually looking forward to working with them to teach them tricks again - the last one I taught was teaching Trixie how to shake like... a year and a half ago...shameful I know - but that will change!

Amending a Goal?

One of the things I love about training and competing with my dogs is that you have lots of goals which are changing constantly as you progress through their training, however my long term goals change less frequently. 3 days into 2012 I've decided that I'd rather work towards trying to complete her PDCh than her C-ATCH...so goal changed! Although I also want to be in Level 5 in all of the classes by the end of the year so we'll be in a good position to finish it next year. I love CPE but USDAA is...awesome :D