Fun Filled Weekend

     This weekend Trixie and I headed out to Colts Neck, NJ for an AKC Coursing Ability Test (CAT). The weather was perfect, 70 and sunny. Not too hot, and definitely not too cold :) As an added bonus we didn't even have to leave the house until 8 and when I got there the trial was running about 30 minutes ahead so I didn't have to wait the full hour that I thought I'd have to.
     I had never been to this site before and was pleasantly surprised by just how beautiful it was. Usually dog shows are tucked away in some back corner of beaten down parks, but this one was definitely in the gorgeous category. There were three ponds, a small hiking trial, several baseball diamonds, and a nice looking rec center. Granted, the rec center was locked, but it was there. I was also surprised by the complete lack of fencing at the CAT. When I've gone in the past it's always been surrounded by some fairly sturdy looking orange fencing, but today there was nothing. Honestly I was kind of glad that it wasn't there because Trixie has a tendency to enter "psychotic mode" when she sees it because that type of fencing is only used at lure coursing.
     Though I didn't know anyone at the test, the group seemed as friendly and the inspector was more than willing to inspect Trixie far away from the other dogs who were running. To my surprise Trixie actually did a pretty good job of remaining calm around the other dogs, well... at least for a little while.

     When there we about three dogs left before Trixie I got her out of the crate to stretch her with some treats. Everything was going pretty smoothly until she realized what was going on. Cue the insanity.
    I have no idea why Trixie is so much crazier than ANY OTHER DOG at CATs, but she is and, admittedly, it's kinda fun to watch. Though I could do without all the stretch marks down my side from her frantically trying to get to the lure. Yeah, that'd be a nice change. Still, CATs aren't really about me and what I want. Mostly I do them so Trixie can get a chance to really run. Her recall isn't completely reliable so she doesn't get any opportunity to go full out anywhere but in coursing so I guess she just wants to make the most of it. The other major reason I choose to do coursing videos is because of something I heard from a Silvia Trkman video. When I was watching "33 Tips for More Speed," she talked about how the reason that many boys are better at things like running or throwing balls is because they usually do these things more than girls do. Consequently, they learn how to run much more efficiently. Silvia made the point that in this day and age of heavy leash use many dogs simply do not know how to run. When I heard this I laughed. It just seemed so silly that I hadn't understood this fundamental part of agility. After all, how are you supposed to turn in fast times on course if you're out there with a dog that doesn't know how to run properly?
     This weekend Trixie definitely showed me that she knows how to run. In the AM trial she finished off her CA title (and finished my first goal on the "Complete Before College" checklist!)

She also got her 1st out of 6 Q's she needs for her CAA title. I think she got a piece of the lure on that one :)

    And that right there is the other major reason to do coursing. Victoria Stilwell always said, "A tired dog is a happy dog." Definitely some words of wisdom right there. Trixie actually ended up sleeping for about 5 hours straight. Then she ate dinner and slept for another 10. Only her.     I was happy to see how her level of fitness had improved since her last CAT. Around this time last year Trixie was only able to run full out for the first 2/3rds of the course and then when she was done she basically collapsed from exhaustion and had to lie down for 5 minutes before she could get up and run around again. This time she ran the entire course at 100% and then when she was done she was still fighting to get back to the lure. Good to know that walking her 50+ miles a week is paying off.

     On Sunday I headed out to our training center to work on speeding up Trixie and Scooter's dogwalk and their weave poles. The setup I came up with had a tunnel on either end of the dogwalk, like what's below. It worked really well for both dogs - the tunnels helped keep Scooter motivated and prevented Trixie from jumping the contact zone.          The only minor snafu was that I *think* Trixie may have fallen off the first board of the dogwalk. I can't know because I didn't record the session *wags finger at self with disapproving look* but when I turned around I noticed that she was jogging behind me. Odd, right? I checked her out and she  started happily bouncing and barking when she remembered I had treats with me. Scooter's dogwalk REALLY improved. We only did about 4 reps just to keep it fun. Even in that small span of time she got to the point where she was *almost* sprinting, (yes, sprinting!) across the entire thing.  

     I came up with a similar plan for their weave poles. I completely opened the channels and had a tunnel on one end. I would have put one on both ends, but there wasn't really space and after having spent 10 minutes putting everything out I was feeling too lazy to move it all again.      Over time this drill should definitely speed them up, but for now it took a couple reps just to get them to actually sprint through the poles - they're just so used to collecting when they see them I guess.      The highlight of training today was getting to see how excited BOTH Scooter and Trixie were to work with me. Usually Scooter just likes to sleep but today she was really into it. Awesome end to an awesome weekend.