RE leg and Open try

        We had a dog show this weekend. It was relatively close about twenty minutes so that was nice. 
We went to the fun match on Friday night and I did an open fun match with Joey.  I was entered for two days in Open A, but Joey wasn't quite ready he is still consistantly missing the drop and other random stations. However, since I didn't have the sense to go in and enter Joey in Graduate Novice or even Wildcard Open, something a little easier, my game plan was to go in there get open ring experience and have as much fun as we could.

       Well Saturday morning, I look at my sheet and find that I apparently entered Joey for rally excellent B on Saturday and open A on Sunday. So we had to leave the house alot earlier than I had  planned. Since rally excellent is always so early, I had just enough time to stuff Joey in the crate run though the walk though, get Joey out of the crate and try to warm him up before we went in the ring. To make matters worse the show was super noisy and chaotic. There crates being banged up, (believe me crate don't just bang when people take them down, apparently you can bang them up too.) blow driers going full blast around the show site, people every where talking and making noise. Joey was totally freaked out by all the distraction he wouldn't look at me when we heeled and kept slinking around at the various ill behaved dogs who would bark at us as we heeled by. By the time we got in the ring both Joey and I were frazzled. Joey wasn't his best in the ring but considering all the distractions he did pretty well. We had to redo one station and there were a few lags and sniffs but over all he did very well. We qualified and got second with a 95. One more leg to go until our RE title. 

        Sunday I was a little more composed. Joey also was more relaxed and willing to work. The night before we did a really good fun match which I think boosted his confidence. Though we didn't qualify, I was really happy with his run. His drop on recall was the slide into my feet drop, and he didn't want to do the retrieve over the jump at all. His heeling was on and off with me for the fast and here and there on the heeling pattern but he was at least with me. I say his best open heeling yet, and it's only going to get better. His stays, his retrieve, and his broad jump were perfect. I was really happy with Joey there. Overall, I was really happy with our open run today. There are definitely things to work on but I do think if we work diligently, Joey does have a chance after all. I think I will try Graduate Novice with Joey at the next show though. Just to get him more confident with the exercises.
                                           

Happy me and Joey after our rally run

Maltese Specialty Results

I am finally posting the results for the Maltese Specialty this year. 

I entered Joey twice. Once in Open A obedience and once in Rally Excellent B.

Our Obedience leg was a complete flop, which was really disappointing because I thought Joey was getting the hang of the Open class. Well, in this run he failed heeling, he wasn't even with me 5/6th of the time. Then he failed the dumbbell over the jump. Wouldn't even take the jump. Then he doesn't drop on the recall and walks on the broad jump both of which he has never done before. To say that I was frustrated and embarrassed was an understatement. The only things that keep me from giving Joey away is his perfect retrieve over the flat and stays. It was nice to know that Joey could do open stays. Needless to say though, we did not qualify in Open. Our Rally leg went much better. Joey was much more relaxed and in tune with me. We got a 99 and Qed. ( I lost a point because I didn't walk around Joey after getting the leash.) I think one of the reason Joey did so awful in Open was because he wasn't used to me not talking to him when he heels. When I talked to him in Rally he heeled perfectly fine. That's the bad thing about starting a career in Rally. You get used to talking while heeling. So since the Maltese Specialty, I've been practicing heeling in silence. I guess I'll see if it works in Mid-July when I have my next dog show.

 It been a while since the agility Trial but I thought I'd post our last two agility scores before I forgot.

          Saturday was the Standard Novice run. Joey didn't Q because of the chute. This is the second time we've missed a standard run because of the chute. I don't really know how to practice for it, because Joey does the chute perfectly at home. I don't know if it the bright yellow color of the chute (ours is dark blue), or the dog house frame around the chute, or if Joey is just nervous because of the new location. What I really need to do is find a chute I can let Joey run through that looks like the chutes at the trial, but I'm not sure where to find one.

       Sunday was another JWW run and we Qualified again! It was a 35.11 sec run because we had to redo the weaves, but Joey did really well again. So we have two JWW legs now!

        Now that the rush of agility practicing is over, we are practicing some Utility but mostly Open exercises. I will be competing in Open A Obedience at the Maltese Specialty in Orlando FL, on the 1st of May. We will also be competing in Rally Excellent B, but I'm not so worried about Rally. 

Our First Agility Q!!!

We got our first agility Q today! We have now done about five runs so far,  but a combination of the weave poles, endurance, and confidence (Joey's not mine), have kept us from that coveted Q. Today however, Joey did great, I actually had to run fast to keep up with him. We entered in Novice JWW and earned first place with a time of 26.36 sec! That is our fastest time yet. Maybe Joey does have a career in Agility after all. 

Agility Pictures

CD Title!

We earned our CD and did our first Open leg this weekend.
We did our first Open Match on Friday, and Joey did very well in that. Except the retrieve on flat and the out of site Stays. We were still entered for Novice the next day but I wanted to get some practice in Open.

Saturday, was our Novice A run. I was unusually nervous, well maybe not. (Does any one not get nervous?). But, I did have a harder time than usually fighting down the jitters. Maybe it was because it was our last Novice leg and a chance to earn the CD title. Joey did very well in the ring. His heeling was very nice, and though he lagged a little it was overall very pretty. His stand was rock solid. And though his recall was messy, (a crooked sit and finish) I was so happy that we made it though I couldn't care less. After that was the stays Joey was rock solid and we qualified!! Our score was 189.5 again. There is something about that score, all three of Joey's legs were 189.5.  Our Judge, Brian Cleveland took 5 points for off leash and 4.5 for on leash, and 1 point for the recall. Personally, I thought the heeling scores were a bit low, Joey did not lag that much. But, we qualified, got first place,(out of five dogs) and got our title. 

Sunday, I decided to move Joey up to Open. Though we did not qualify I was still very proud of Joey. His heeling was awful, he was totally not there, but his drop on recall was gorgeous, and he did get the dumbbell on the flat. We NQed on the retrieve over the jump, which Joey usually loves, because I had to give Joey an extra command. And we finished strong with the broad Jump. The stay's were awful as I expected. Joey got up on the sits after about a minuet.I going to start seriously practicing stays in different places, we are really having a problem with them. Overall, I was happy with Joey. It wasn't bad for our first time in Open.

Novice Pictures

 

Fast

 

Playing between exercises

 

Getting ready for recall

 

Fast start

 

He's off

 

A blur of speed (or a bad photographer)

 

A skidding stop. (The big bump and crooked sit come next)

 

The crooked finish (Me ready to jump up and down, we made it!)

 

Sticking around for stays

 

A satisfied Joey knowing he did good and full of sausage

 

Windy ribbon shoot

 

WE GOT OUR CD!!!!!!

Obedience class photos

Pictures from obedience training at our training club

Hibernation Over

We had our first trial last Saturday the 1st-3rd of March. I think it finally jolted me out of hibernation. It was not the best of shows for me but I've learned some things and it has motivated me to start training more earnestly again. It was a very cold show because while it was enclosed, it had dirt in the arenas. It was also about 30 degrees and snowing outside, so even with the heaters it was still very cold. 

On Saturday there were two obedience trials, and I was sure I was entered in Novice A in the second one. So I spent the morning watching my Mom run her Shepard (also in Novice A), and trying to stay warm and keep Joey warm and happy. I was a little worried about Joey wasn't his usual food driven self. He was acting not so interested in working and was acting a little scared about the show noise. When our turn turn came I jacked Joey up on molasses and hoped for the best. Well, it turns out I didn't have to worry, we did not even make it into the ring. The ring steward discovered that the books said the run was for my Mom's Shepard. I stupidly mixed up the armband numbers and my Mom went instead of me in the morning show. So, my Mom went in again. I am so tired of my brain, I don't know how I could miss that "small detail" when I check the confirmation letter about ten times. I've made a lot a dumb mistakes in my dog show life, but this has to be one of the dumbest things I've done. I guess it is okay Joey wasn't in his show mood so we probably wouldn't have scored high anyway. I'll just finish up the CD title in about a month.

Sunday we were entered for Rally Excellent A, the afternoon show again. I was a little nervous since this was our first time in Rally Excellent. Joey did all the signs okay but he was barely with me. He was all over the place and I was losing him at every corner. We have been that uncoordinated since our first Advanced Rally leg, about two years ago. I was so frustrated. Despite the embarrassing performance, we got a 96 and first place under Judge Donna Eddins. I think Joey had such and bad skittish performance because I went into hibernation this winter. I did train him now and then but I mainly took a break, I also did not take Joey out and socialize him at pet stores or anywhere public. I think this sudden introduction back into the dog show world was too much for Joey.  I am going to start training regularly again and taking Joey to pet stores and parking lots to practice. hopefully that will get him up to par by our next trial at the end of March.

I did find out I made another dumb mistake this weekend. It turns out that BN is a considered a Obedience title and if you have it you must enter Rally B. So the leg I earned last weekend does not count. So last weekends trial was full of mistakes and left me wanting a new brain. 

But I've learned to:
 1. Not enter shows on dirt floors in the winter.
2. Triple check and confirm with other people my armband number. 
3. BN is an Obedience title
4. I need to enter Rally Excellent B
5.I cannot let Joey hibernate in the winter.
6. Even with stupid mistakes dog shows are a lot of fun and I can't wait to start competing more regularly again.

Late beach pictures

These pictures are from when I went to the beach with Joey a few months ago.

Agility Class

Yesterday, we went to a new instructor and tried a new agility class. We participated in the beginning class, because I wasn't sure which class Joey was ready for. It turns out he was ready for the intermediate class but we still had lots of fun with the beginner class.  I was happy to see that Joey did all the contacts with out a problem. And he did twelve poles for the first time. I was surprised how well Joey did. He seemed to like the class and even ran when the ground was wet. (Usually Joey refuses to run when the ground is wet). We got a video of Joey doing weaves, a little course run, and his first time on an exercise ball.

Finally, a post

Well, I finally got around to writing a post. It hasn't been that I have not been training with Joey. I have been training alot. I just haven't had the time to blog about it. Now that I am settled into my school schedule I hope to post more regularly. I have entered Joey in  USDAA agility trial on the second weekend of February. I'm actually not sure our entry made it in time, (we sent it kind of late), but we are assuming we did make it in and practicing hard. USDAA is a little different than AKC. To start with their Novice class has twelve poles, so we are practicing that. I also entered Joey for a standard run but am kind of regretting that now. He is not afraid of the seesaw any more but we haven't done a dogwalk for some time. I want to head over to our training club and practice the dogwalk and the seesaw.

Obedience is doing pretty well. His stand in motion is coming along, and he is finally starting to stop right away. I'm also doing the go out regularly and he loves running out to the ring gate. His articles are finally starting to click and though we are still only doing three articles, I don't need to tie them down anymore. Finally, his broad jump and drop on recall are good now, so he is ready for the open class. I am entering him in a trial the beginning of March, where I will finish his novice title and get a Rally Excellent leg. And I hope to compete in the open class in April.

I haven't done a whole lot of tracking because the ground is still freezing cold, and it makes it hard to lay a track, pus it isn't to fair to make Joey down for an article.