A Travel Quiz - FOR MEN!!!

If you're a women reading this, which you likely are.....you need to ask your spouse, or significant other what they would do in the following situation.  I'm curious to hear the answer.......

You, a friend and your spouse are returning from an agility trial.  'You', ride with your friend, in her van, and your spouse is following in your van.  Now, there is an 'exchange' exit about 90 minutes into the trip in which "You" get out of the friends car, so she can go home, and you ride the rest of the way home with your spouse. The exchange occurs on the shoulder of the exit.  There is also a gas station a short distance away (1/4 mile tops) that we use as a 'meeting' place to leave for events.

Hopefully you are with me so far.....

So, the Friend is 'flapping her lips', and misses the 'exchange' exit.  The Spouse takes the exit.  

What would your spouse do?

A.  Wait at the shoulder of the exit for you to return.
B. Go to the gas station, and wait for you to take the next exit, and come back.
C. Jump back on the Interstate and follow you.
D. Call you on your cell phone and ask "WTF"!
E. Go Home
F. Don't take the exit, since your friend didn't.

Please respond!!!  Inquiring minds REALLY want to know!! 

Sunday - WTTO - Wrap up

Some of the signs in the soccer facility were very fitting!!

Yep, even this one!!  

Of course, it was the dogs that were flying!

Sunday started with PICTURES!! Okay, I'll be honest, not my favorite part.  Getting 45 dog/handler teams into a small area, isn't terribly pleasant for most.  Add to that, the dogs wanted to (run agility!), didn't want to be this close to other dogs, and many of the handlers are NOT morning people!  The large dogs then ran third, which means you now had 2+ hours of 'down time'.  

For us, that worked out just fine, I'm a morning person, and Kruz got to watch the small and medium dogs run!  Life IS Good! 

Seeker ran clean in the first run of the day, JWW.  I was very happy with my send to from the broad jump to the straight tunnel that allowed me to get down past the tire for the 270 from 19-20.  A few people tried to layer from 18-19, but the dogs 'correctly' came in over the back side of 20 reading it as a serp.  GOOD DOGS!!  Heck, we'd been doing that all weekend, so why would they think anything different?  Seeker ended up being 16th on this course.

Standard was amazingly fun!  Seeker was fantastic, staying off the teeter (which is his TOTALLY favorite thing), and taking the weave before I was half way up.  Unfortunately I got a refusal at the jump #9 due to 'losing connection', and Seeker came into me.  GOOD BOY!!  It was clean after that, although I was behind, so a bit wide.  

Overall a GREAT WEEKEND!!  

I had a blast doing what I love, 

RUNNING AGILITY!!

Seeker did well on what I thought he'd excel at.  His aframe still needs work, but we'll continue to work through that.  We'll continue to run at 26" for now, as he's qualified at that height in USDAA Nationals that runs in the Fall.  We'll see where we're at next Spring, and will hopefully go again. 

WTTO - Saturday - Reviewed

Saturday morning we had some down time as the small (14" jump height), and medium (18" jump height) run there courses.  Keep in mind, each height has a different course, and different spacing.  It's really quite interesting to watch and the challenges are amazing!  They somehow seem to flow, even though sometimes on paper they don't look like they would.  It's just amazing how the dog/handler teams just seemed to 'eat these courses' up!!

Nettle came into the building for a bit to hang out in the stands.  She discovered the joys of ABC gum, that was kindly left by someone.  Actually she found several pieces.....THANK YOU to whoever left it!  YUCK!!!!

Kruz came in each day as well to watch the medium and small dogs.  He really enjoyed the attention, and his 'judging' assignment!!  Those dogs sure can move!!

Shenna and Shiver were running FEO, Shiver is Seeker's litter sister.  She's a tiny little thing at 18.25", but she can run like the wind!!  Shenna was also the 'announcer' for  those of you listening on the live broadcasting! 

Seeker and I started off with this course, and a clean run.   Our A-Frame contact kind of 'nipped us in the butt' all weekend, so something we continue to work on.  "Sticky" is so HARD to fix!!  It's my doing, so we'll continue to work on it.  I got behind in a couple places (Hello!!  Don't Watch Him! RUN!!!) that I didn't plan on, but was so proud of his weave pole entry and hanging in there for me!  He was also 'sticky' on his teeter, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing on this course!  It was way fun! We placed 16th, so not too bad. 

Round 2 we did very well on as well, I just 'assumed' he'd take the jump after the chute and decelled too much, he ended up with an off course (back side), for a zero.  RATS!!  He was a very good boy. 

For Round 3, I lost track of #4's placement and told him to come after #3, he did!!  GOOD BOY!!  I really can't fault him for coming in tight, something we've struggled with, then he got a titch clingy and we got 2 refusals at that jump.  UGH!!  A 3rd at the poles, when I consider a fluke, it was our easiest pole entry all weekend, and he nailed all the others.  3 faults equate to a zero....so that really hurt!   Oh well, it was super fun as well!

The only down side to running a dog at this height is I don't have much time to watch the other large dogs.  I'm either walking him to warm him up, or walking him to cool him down.  I guess his health is more important than watching, plus, Bill taped a lot of the runs for me!  YIPPEE!!

Saturday evening was Broadway Pizza!!  We went with Seeker's breeder, and good friend Dena Brown.  Michelle and Dave Pappone also joined us, they are always fun to have along.  BWP is awesome, but we'll get thin crust next time and Dena can just DEAL WITH IT!!  VBG

Tomorrow, Sunday's break down. 

Friday Recap of the World Team Tryouts

Friday is practice day, you can indicate what 'approximate' time you'd like to practice, and they try to fit you in appropriately.  You're practice is a total 7 minute segment, shared by 3 dogs.  That's right, you are in the ring with 2 other dog/handler teams, and no, there are not any ring gates dividing the area.  Honestly, it's not a problem, these dogs are focused on their 'work', not the other dogs. 

At your scheduled practice time, ours was 4:01, you have 15 seconds to enter the ring and get to your 'course'.  Seeker stated at Course #2, or the one in the middle.  You then rotated after 2 minutes, you had 15 seconds to get to your new course, and a whistle signaled when to start and stop working.  We rotated from course 2, to 3, then to 1. 

You might think 2 minutes isn't much time, but it really is.  It is a good idea to have a 'game plan' before you enter the ring.  In other words, have a specific goal as to what you want to work on.  For most people it seemed to be contacts, weaves and getting a good look at the viaduct jump.  

You could stop training before your 2 minutes were up, honestly, I should have 'saved' some dog for my 3rd course.  You would not think that you could wear a dog out that quickly, but with the energy level and arousal level of the dogs, most were 'spent' by the time there 6 minutes were complete.  Okay, I'll be honest, Seeker's head almost exploded!  He was in HEAVEN!

Think of it this way, the time spent in the practice ring on Friday, is more time than any dog spent in the ring for the next two days completing. 

After your 'work out' time was over, then it was time to just hang out and visit with friends.  Drawing for running order, and the briefing was scheduled at 6 PM that evening.  I drew 28 as my running order for Saturday.  Not a terrible draw, you get to see a lot of dogs run before you, which is nice.  When it reverses order, you still get to see 12 dogs plus the five FEO (For Exhibition Only) dogs, so that wasn't too bad either. 

Tomorrow....Saturday's Courses......

Throwing Your Old Dog Toys Away????

You might want to think again.......

I'll post about WTTO tomorrow.....too tired tonight!

Redemption!

Yesterday was not a good day for little Nettle.  I'm sure we ALL have days like this, but she was NAUGHTY!!!  With a CAPITAL "N"!! Looking back, I could have/should have handled the situation differently, but alas, it's water under the bridge now!  UGH!

When we're outside, or not otherwise able to watch Net, she's in a large crate in the living room.  Trust me when I tell you, she is not toy poor.  Yesterday she had her nice assortment of chew toys!  Monday I did notice that her crate was closer to an outlet than I thought save, yes, there was a cord pulled in there, so I pulled her crate forward.  The cord, was to a really nice floor lamp that I like, and it had the 'warning' tag attached near the plug.  I think Bill must have thought that the crate was too close the entry to the kitchen, so he pushed it back.  Guess who spotted the tag?  Luckily, she pulled the tag, which pulled the plug out of the wall.  Of course, she then pulled the cord inside her crate, removed the tag, and the plug as well!  UGH!!  You know that 'small' part of you that wishes she would gotten zapped?  Yep, I felt that too.  Oh well, not really her fault I guess.  Strike ONE!

Last night was the Foundation class, so earlier I'd set up a few fun stations to work on.  Some wraps, tight turns out of tunnels, a teeter on a table, etc.  What a great opportunity to work Nettle for a few minutes.  I took her out to the building, we played some tug, I took her leash off and did some wraps to a tunnel.  AWESOME!!  Then a family of sparrows, apparently taking their first flying lesson, appeared not 10' from us.  Trust me, I can NOT compete with 5 sparrows, not to mention uncoordinated fledglings!  Nettle left me, SURPRISE, then pounced and got one!  Well, almost, it somehow wiggled away under her paw and off it went.  I only went down hill from there. 

I called her to come, she looked at me, looked up at the top of the building and decide....Nope!  So, I began to just calmly walk her down.  I walked, she walked...and walked and walked.  Now, how hard could it be to walk down a dog in a 60X80 building?  Let me point out that there was never a direct walking to her, all the contacts were set up too.  I vowed long ago that I would never do another 'Come to Jesus' on one of my dogs, but it crossed my mind while I was walking.  So, I thought about other things, like....'would it be possible to put a sparrow on the end of a tug toy'?  Okay, probably not a good idea.  Finally, after 20 minutes (maybe more), she stopped, and she let me take her collar.  I got her to tug again, let her go off again, called her a couple times to play and called it a day. 

Thinking back on it last night, I wish I would have just left.  There was no where she could have gone.  I could have just left her in there for 15-20 minutes and went back, so that's what I'll do if this ever happens again.  I could also have left her leash on, but I won't do that when working a contact piece, just too dangerous. 

Today she redeemed herself.  Of course, I wasn't in the building, I was out front.  We did some nice bouts of 'shadow handling', and even with Kruz as a distraction (he wanted the cookies too), she hung in there with me.  So, there is hope!  We'll just keep on celebrating the accomplishments, and try to figure out how to avoid the 'backsliding'.  I'll all work out in the end!!

Now, how am I suppose to read my book at night? 

JEFF!!!  Help!!!  VBG

Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Dogs do TRICKS!!

The Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center

 This evening Seeker and I had the opportunity to visit the IC Animal Care and Adoption Center.  We visited with their staff of volunteers to discuss 'trick training'!  HUGE thanks to Liz and Carol for inviting me out for an evening of fun and learning!

This is a small shelter, but don't be fooled by the size, they have some GREAT dogs!!  The volunteers and I worked with 4 of their dogs this evening, but only two currently have their pictures listed.  All were very nice trainable dogs.

Swisher - he's an Am Staff, and he was all about putting 4 feet in a laundry basket.  We actually had him going into a suitcase by the end of the night.  A few of the 'cookies' got stuck in the bottom, so we also deemed him a certified 'drug dog', as he was scratching at the corner to retrieve the treat.  

Wendy, is a golden retriever mix.  She warmed up quickly and really enjoyed the training.  She already has an amazing sit and down, so we added a great start to:  Roll Over, Play Dead, Sit up and Matt was working on a 'shake', he'll get it!!  She also LOVED to play fetch with a ball!  What a sweet girl!  The most amazing thing about her was the automatic behavior of "It's Yer Choice".  If you had treats in your hand, she just sat right back and waited for you to give her one.  No jumping, or trying to get it out of your hand!  GOOD GIRL!!

http://www.icanimalcenter.org/index.html

Polka, a little terrier mix has a lot of potential!   She did well in the 'box' after we put in some bedding and is a doll.  A very nice little personality, and will be a quick placement!

Finally, Porter, a young black lab.  I know what your thinking, a wild and crazy boy!  You are so wrong!  A nicer, sweeter boy you'd be pressed to find. He will be an 'easy' train, but tonight he seemed more into just cuddling with his 'peeps', than doing any serious work.  I think fewer distractions will be just the ticket for this guy!  He needs a family with some kids, so if you're one of those, RUN, don't walk!  I can't imagine he'll be there long either. 

Hats off to all the volunteers that put so much time, love, and care into this facility!  

It truly shows in the amazing animals that are available for adoption! 

Take a BOW!!!