The Tongue from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Top Five
Top five ways to know you let your lawn get too long
5. You think you've picked up all the dog poop but you keep being surprised by buried treasures as you mow.
4. You turn a chuck-it ball into a flying projectile because you didn't see it before the mower passed over it.
3. Your dogs turn into cows when you let them into the back yard; they stop caring about playing and only want to graze on the sweet, sweet grass.
2. When you see the grass rustle frantically and you know it's time to send out the search party to find your lost cat.
1. When you send out the search party and all you can see are two red ears poking out of a sea of green.
5. You think you've picked up all the dog poop but you keep being surprised by buried treasures as you mow.
4. You turn a chuck-it ball into a flying projectile because you didn't see it before the mower passed over it.
3. Your dogs turn into cows when you let them into the back yard; they stop caring about playing and only want to graze on the sweet, sweet grass.
2. When you see the grass rustle frantically and you know it's time to send out the search party to find your lost cat.
1. When you send out the search party and all you can see are two red ears poking out of a sea of green.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Saturday at Tryouts
I've been trying to write a re-cap of my WT tryouts experience all week, but it's just hasn't been happening. I know I have writers block when I procrastinate blog writing with actual WORK.
Each time I start writing I get so verbose and it becomes so boring to write that I think it must be boring to read. And also, I think it's because I'm still very much in shock and not quite sure that it's real. My goad has been to work towards a spot on the World Team for a long time now and I felt that I was in a pretty good position to be selected. We traveled to two ISC Qualifying events and won overall combined for both with all 1st places (although Daisy and Jester gave us a run for our money at the Portland one). We did very well at nationals running clean for all runs (except that little unimportant one called Finals) and winning 26" ISC combined on Friday.
I thought that if I could go to tryouts and run clean they would have to at least seriously consider us if not select us. So that was my goal. Just. Run. Clean.
I was so relieved when I saw the first course. It had challenges, but it wasn't nasty like some of the European courses are (the small and medium dogs weren't quite as lucky!) I though we did a great job on that course, but when we dropped the last bar I already failed at meeting my goal! And I knew for a fact that we wouldn't win a spot on the team, especially on Saturday. I could only be so disappointed though. I had so much fun running that course!
When I saw the 2nd course I was horrified! The opening wasn't pretty. I thought that maybe when I walked it things would look better, but no.... it was actually worse after walking it! That course was a bloodbath. It managed to take out EVERY SINGLE DOG who had run clean in the first round. All Rd 1 clean dogs minus Juice, but that goes without saying. So, since we managed to mangle our way through Rd 2 clean (luckily without me puking on course - which I really felt like doing), after two rounds Icon was sitting in 2nd place behind Juice. My bar down in Rd 1 was looking pretty good! But still at that point I knew there would be no spot for me on Saturday.
For Round 3 the course was once again a very fun, challenging course. There was a tunnel/dw discrimination that gave me a few flashbacks to AKC nationals finals but it wasn't a very hard discrimination so I tried not to think about it. I think out of all my runs, Rd3 was my favorite; we had a blast out there. I wasn't watching Marcus and Juice run after us, but when I heard a gasp I looked to see that they had dropped a bar, which is very unusual for Juice! I knew that we had won the round but didn't occur to me that we could have actually won the spot. We both had 5 faults but surely Juice's time over the 3 rounds was faster! But apparently Icon had a faster time in Rd1 and Rd3 while Juice beat us in Rd 2.
Ashely was watching the screen for combined scores and when he came over to tell me, I believe my exact words (said very loudly) were, "We're on the f*cking team???!?!?!". Probably not the most appropriate thing to say, but it just slipped out!
At tryouts last year I went out for dinner with people on Friday and Saturday after it was finished, but by Sunday Icon wasn't releasing from his start line or contacts on the first word, which is very typical of 'weird' behaviour I get from Tired Icon. This year I decided (for both AKC nationals and tryouts) to just focus on Icon and forget socializing. So we celebrated on Saturday night by going back to the hotel to sleep (even though Nancy K graciously invited us out to dinner!) Icon passed out right after he ate, but I was so excited I couldn't get to sleep until well after midnight.
Each time I start writing I get so verbose and it becomes so boring to write that I think it must be boring to read. And also, I think it's because I'm still very much in shock and not quite sure that it's real. My goad has been to work towards a spot on the World Team for a long time now and I felt that I was in a pretty good position to be selected. We traveled to two ISC Qualifying events and won overall combined for both with all 1st places (although Daisy and Jester gave us a run for our money at the Portland one). We did very well at nationals running clean for all runs (except that little unimportant one called Finals) and winning 26" ISC combined on Friday.
I thought that if I could go to tryouts and run clean they would have to at least seriously consider us if not select us. So that was my goal. Just. Run. Clean.
I was so relieved when I saw the first course. It had challenges, but it wasn't nasty like some of the European courses are (the small and medium dogs weren't quite as lucky!) I though we did a great job on that course, but when we dropped the last bar I already failed at meeting my goal! And I knew for a fact that we wouldn't win a spot on the team, especially on Saturday. I could only be so disappointed though. I had so much fun running that course!
When I saw the 2nd course I was horrified! The opening wasn't pretty. I thought that maybe when I walked it things would look better, but no.... it was actually worse after walking it! That course was a bloodbath. It managed to take out EVERY SINGLE DOG who had run clean in the first round. All Rd 1 clean dogs minus Juice, but that goes without saying. So, since we managed to mangle our way through Rd 2 clean (luckily without me puking on course - which I really felt like doing), after two rounds Icon was sitting in 2nd place behind Juice. My bar down in Rd 1 was looking pretty good! But still at that point I knew there would be no spot for me on Saturday.
For Round 3 the course was once again a very fun, challenging course. There was a tunnel/dw discrimination that gave me a few flashbacks to AKC nationals finals but it wasn't a very hard discrimination so I tried not to think about it. I think out of all my runs, Rd3 was my favorite; we had a blast out there. I wasn't watching Marcus and Juice run after us, but when I heard a gasp I looked to see that they had dropped a bar, which is very unusual for Juice! I knew that we had won the round but didn't occur to me that we could have actually won the spot. We both had 5 faults but surely Juice's time over the 3 rounds was faster! But apparently Icon had a faster time in Rd1 and Rd3 while Juice beat us in Rd 2.
Ashely was watching the screen for combined scores and when he came over to tell me, I believe my exact words (said very loudly) were, "We're on the f*cking team???!?!?!". Probably not the most appropriate thing to say, but it just slipped out!
At tryouts last year I went out for dinner with people on Friday and Saturday after it was finished, but by Sunday Icon wasn't releasing from his start line or contacts on the first word, which is very typical of 'weird' behaviour I get from Tired Icon. This year I decided (for both AKC nationals and tryouts) to just focus on Icon and forget socializing. So we celebrated on Saturday night by going back to the hotel to sleep (even though Nancy K graciously invited us out to dinner!) Icon passed out right after he ate, but I was so excited I couldn't get to sleep until well after midnight.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Icon and I rented PP this weekend to do some coursework before tryouts. Kay came with us to help out and she got to run Apollo a few times since I have him entered in a USDAA trial next weekend. Kay will run him one day and Debbie the next. I really enjoyed watching him work with Kay. I always forget what a stunning dog Apollo is, I guess when he's right beside me I just don't notice. I also have a hard time believing he'll be 7 years old in less than 2 months. He still looks (and often acts) like a 2 year old! :)
We just did jumpers courses because I didn't want to bother moving contacts with just two of us there. And luckily Nancy already had a course set up so we just needed to set one by ourselves. The courses we did were fairly easy, which was nice because it gave me a much more comfortable feeling going into next weekend.
Kay took video of our practice for me, which I really appreciate. It's not all that exciting to watch (but you get an idea of the gorgeous view they have at PP). In the first run he turned the wrong way on the jump after the weaves, I was going for a wrap but he read it as a rear cross. On the 2nd course I had a hard time getting him into the the first tunnel. I need to make sure I support him until he's totally committed.
Icon's practice from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.
For a more fun video (in my opinion) we did the opening (1-4) of the first course a couple of ways.
The first time I did it, I didn't bring him through the center as the path is drawn, instead I double front crossed and sent him around the outside of 3. This is how I would do it in competition to take away the risk of the tunnel draw (which could result in an off-course, but more likely just add time to the turn). I timed the sequence based on video from when he took the first jump to when his nose entered the tunnel. The first time around he was 4.03 seconds.
After that I tried the opening 2 other different ways, a pull with a front cross (that was actually a mistake on my part, the course wasn't set up so you'd want to handle that way) and then a full pull through the center. I thought he turned quite nicely on both of these. The time for both was 4.12 second.
When I was calculating times at that point I was surprised that the first way, which appears longer on paper, was actually the fastest. Luckily I had done it the first way once more and after calculating the time on that... it was 4.12 seconds! So it is not necessarily the faster way to go, but I think the most important fact here is that it's also not the SLOWEST way to go. You have to run to your strengths and front crosses are definitely stronger for us. Icon will jump longer on pulls and not accelerate out of them as well. Anyway, it was an interesting exercise.
Which way is faster? from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.
I had a heart attack at the end of practice, when Icon started limping a bit on his front left leg. We had just finished our practice and were walking to the other end of the field when he went through a tunnel and was limping when he came out. I checked his foot in case he got something stuck in his pad, and I moved all his joints but I couldn't see anything wrong. After that he seemed fine. When we got home he ran around the back yard on his own and we went to the park this morning and he showed no signs of discomfort. Kay said that the tunnel holder chain was in front of the opening so he might have just smacked his foot on it and it stung for a bit. Very scary though.
I've decided that I'm not doing anything else with him until I get to MN. I packed up all of my agility equipment in the back yard so I wouldn't be tempted (ok, I left the teeter out, but a little bit of contact work won't hurt).
We just did jumpers courses because I didn't want to bother moving contacts with just two of us there. And luckily Nancy already had a course set up so we just needed to set one by ourselves. The courses we did were fairly easy, which was nice because it gave me a much more comfortable feeling going into next weekend.
Kay took video of our practice for me, which I really appreciate. It's not all that exciting to watch (but you get an idea of the gorgeous view they have at PP). In the first run he turned the wrong way on the jump after the weaves, I was going for a wrap but he read it as a rear cross. On the 2nd course I had a hard time getting him into the the first tunnel. I need to make sure I support him until he's totally committed.
Icon's practice from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.
For a more fun video (in my opinion) we did the opening (1-4) of the first course a couple of ways.
The first time I did it, I didn't bring him through the center as the path is drawn, instead I double front crossed and sent him around the outside of 3. This is how I would do it in competition to take away the risk of the tunnel draw (which could result in an off-course, but more likely just add time to the turn). I timed the sequence based on video from when he took the first jump to when his nose entered the tunnel. The first time around he was 4.03 seconds.
After that I tried the opening 2 other different ways, a pull with a front cross (that was actually a mistake on my part, the course wasn't set up so you'd want to handle that way) and then a full pull through the center. I thought he turned quite nicely on both of these. The time for both was 4.12 second.
When I was calculating times at that point I was surprised that the first way, which appears longer on paper, was actually the fastest. Luckily I had done it the first way once more and after calculating the time on that... it was 4.12 seconds! So it is not necessarily the faster way to go, but I think the most important fact here is that it's also not the SLOWEST way to go. You have to run to your strengths and front crosses are definitely stronger for us. Icon will jump longer on pulls and not accelerate out of them as well. Anyway, it was an interesting exercise.
Which way is faster? from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.
I had a heart attack at the end of practice, when Icon started limping a bit on his front left leg. We had just finished our practice and were walking to the other end of the field when he went through a tunnel and was limping when he came out. I checked his foot in case he got something stuck in his pad, and I moved all his joints but I couldn't see anything wrong. After that he seemed fine. When we got home he ran around the back yard on his own and we went to the park this morning and he showed no signs of discomfort. Kay said that the tunnel holder chain was in front of the opening so he might have just smacked his foot on it and it stung for a bit. Very scary though.
I've decided that I'm not doing anything else with him until I get to MN. I packed up all of my agility equipment in the back yard so I wouldn't be tempted (ok, I left the teeter out, but a little bit of contact work won't hurt).
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The group shot
I tried to get a group shot of the dogs yesterday. Icon was the petulant child of the group. Someone ALWAYS has to be a smart-ass in the group photos.
And poor Foster was int he shadows for a few.
I guess this is the best one. Icon looks like he doesn't belong though!
And poor Foster was int he shadows for a few.
I guess this is the best one. Icon looks like he doesn't belong though!
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