Wednesday, July 28, 2010

OA Indy

Indy had a VERY good weekend! Earning all 3 legs for her open standard title and 1 open jumpers leg (she was only entered in Jumpers twice) I made a mistake, and missed a jump....Indy was perfect.

She was much happier at the trial. Indy's a party girl, and likes to be able to hang out, meet and greet, play with new friends and spend as much time as possible scuba diving in the near by stream. She even was caught actually *sleeping* in her crate. Spending too much time crated at shows just seems to shut her down, she has no shortage of energy so I guess there's no harm in her staying out more.

Kittie ran this weekend too, just in standard. Had an off course in one run and a dropped bar in another. Oh well. As someone (rudely) pointed out she is getting old. She's only 8 1/2. She's slowing down on walks these days, the heat seems to be getting to her more easily. I just don't know what to do, not ready for Miss Kittie to start aging.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Venturing out from AKC

Indy and i are going to be expanding out from just AKC agility. We're doing one day at a local CPE trial, entered in jumpers, standard and full house...which I have no idea what that is! But it should be fun to do something different.

In September we're entering two days of USDAA. Really excited about that one, I still haven't decided what jump height she'll be running. We're currently going through all the foundation stuff we did at 8" all over again at 12" She never knocks bars (what a concept), but I want to make sure she's really jumping correctly and confidently. 12" just looks so big, but I'm probably stuck in the mindset I've had for the pugs.....and Abby jumped 12" for a while, and was reasonably successful at that height.

I feel like I'm stuck in a bit of rut with just AKC, many of the courses are very similar and I'm bored with taking up my whole day to just run two runs. I also hate that once you get to the Ex B level you need DQs to make any progress towards anything, it can be really demotivating. We're always going to run more AKC trials that anything else, there are just so many of them locally and it's a really good fit for the pugs, but I'm excited to try some new things.

Monday, July 5, 2010

4th of July trial

We went to a small trial that was outside this weekend. Friday I only entered Kittie, and Indy ran in fast for practice. We took Saturday off, it was me and Bill's anniversary. 11 years already!!

Sunday all three girls were entered, but with temps predicted to be in the 90s, I just brought Indy. running just Indy also meant my day was going to be very short, I was only at the trial for a little over two hours.

Indy earned her first Open Jumpers leg, with a 1st place. She would have had an open standard leg as well, but she ran by the outside of the chute and was already onto the teeter and I never fixed it. She's doing better with all the trial commotion. there were hats everywhere, the judge was wearing a big, red, white and blue top hat, all the ring crew were wearing hats and she did good. She's still not running as well she's capable, there's a big, big difference between Indy in practice and Indy in competition, but she's getting there!

My biggest concern is she seems to really stress about being left alone in her crate at trials. She doesn't make a lot of noise, but she's licking her lips (stress signal in dogs) whenever I see her, and she's not resting. I'm not sure how to handle that. Stay with her more...come back frequently, I just don't know.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Tip of the day

When running in the AKC fast class, it's helpful to actually *know*the rules! Walking the course beforehand doesn't hurt either.

Just a little tip from me, this way when your baby dog easily does the send and earns close to the maximum number of points, you will actually qualify. We entered mainly for training and some ring time (otherwise today was Excellent only), so I never really gave much thought to Qing or not....but still...know the rules, and walk the course, very helpful.