Been long since last time

It has been a long time since I last wrote on here. Goofy is doing fine. Early this year she was diagnosed with a heart murmur so we have eventually stopped agility altogether. The Florida heat didn't help matters much either. She has slowed down some and I don't push her further than she wants to go for walks. I have also purchased a fitness ball to help with muscle tone.

We have also added cats to the family and they all get along well.

Title CPE Level 1

Goofy has finally finished CPE Level 1 and will be moving up to Level 2 next time she competes. All we needed was a Jackpot and we got that today at Paws & Ques in Williston. The drive was an insane 2 hours one way. So we left home at 5:30 am and didn't get home until 8:00 pm. Insane.... Glad we only went for one day. We also did Jumpers and Snookers. All 3 were Qualifiers so we also had a perfect day.

3 Qualifier Ribbons, 3 1st Place Ribbons, 1 Perfect Day Ribbon, and 1 Title Ribbon.

I will post some pics later.

Distance Class #1

Today was our first distance class. First off, Goofy is refusing A-frames now. No worries since this can be worked with later. We will be lowering the frame so she can succeed and build confidence again. But the plus side is her weaving has greatly improved as well as her teeter. Another down note is she is missing the middle of the tire at times. Like someone at the trials says, when you fix one thing, something else breaks. If you aren't fixing something, then you aren't doing agility right. =)

But Goofy did okay in class. We worked on some tricky ones like discriminating between tunnel and A-fame when they are both close. I would have to teach Goofy 'out'.

Another thing we worked on is making a cross behind your dog while sending for a double jump. I know we need more practice with the crosses and distance work.

All in all, we always learn something.

Intermediate Agility Class #25

We tried out our first Monday night class and I have to say I like it. It is late enough that I can go after work... the only down fall is I probably wouldn't go to the Tuesday morning Intermediate class, but instead I can now go to the distance class though. So we will do our first Distance class tomorrow night.

It is sad that Goofy doesn't like the A-frame much now... hehe She was trying to avoid doing it in class today. Poor girl. Then for the tire she ditched off the side of it. I think she is having problems running at night with all the shadows... or she is finding new things to undo. She is doing awesome on weaves though. All 12 of them in a row. Plus she is probably a tad tired from this weekend still.

There is going to be no classes from parts of next week until January for Christmas break. But teacher is still letting us come over for practices when we want. I don't want Goofy going out of shape.

CPE Trial Day 3

Last day of CPE trials today. And boy are we happy we have no more trials to go to this month.

Goofy got a Qualifier in Wildcards and Colors, but we didn't get one in Standard. Goofy was so tired by the end of the day that she could not (even with a good distance running start) get up the A-frame. Her strength and will power was so tapped out. The judge told me to just finish the course so we did. I am so proud of Goofy. (Don't I say that a lot? Well that is because I am very very very proud of her.)

So we got 5 Qualifiers, 3 First places, and 1 Second place ribbons. We entered in a total of 9 entries. We did not finish Level 1 CPE though. We still need Jackpot. We will try to do more distance control to be better prepared for this.

Some things we learned this trial?
1. Don't talk to much to your dog in the ring. Worthless words of encouragement just muddle the works and get ignored in the long run. So I stopped talking more than giving her course directions and a few minor words to help her locate me when exiting the tunnel.
2. Give her more distance to climb the A-frame when raining because of slippery conditions.
3. Avoid A-frame when the option is open... even if it means longer distance and obstacles that would take longer to do. I did this all weekend and found Goofy still got time. This also prevented her from getting too tired and not making over it, thus failing to Q.
4. Know what angle your dog is coming at the obstacles. This can be crucial not only to bar dropping but what obstacles they take. I learned this from watching the others run the course.
5. Keep your dogs warm on very cold weather. She does run in the rain, but I must keep her warm and as dry as possible to ensure good health.

I guess that is all really. No more trials until January.

CPE Trial Day 2

Another rainy day... but at least it stopped later in the day. The sun came and went for the later part of the day, but the winds make it feel much colder.

So how did we do? We got 1 Q in Standards. We didn't get our Q in Jackpot or Fullhouse. =( We just need a Fullhouse to be done with level 1, but it wasn't meant to be.

At one point, I was getting worried that Goofy may be getting sick or too cold. Instead of setting up cages outside, most set up in their cars. I left my trunk closed to keep the cold air out... so when I noticed Goofy shaking and making strange noises, I turned up the heat in the car. After a few minutes she was comfortable. So I just kept checking on her... If she didn't improve I would have scratched her from the last 2 events. No way am I going to make her run if she isn't feeling right. But she was fine. So we ran our Standard. If she ran badly or I noticed something is not right I would have scratched her from our last one, but she got her Q and she didn't seem off at all. So we finished our day off with the Fullhouse. I messed up that one and we were off by 1 point!!! Oh well. We had our fun.

I have been taking Kitty with me too. She seems to also enjoy these car rides and outtings. They are basically spending half the day in my car. I lower one of the back seats so they can travel from the remaining front seat and have access to the whole back side. Sometimes they play back there...which is funny because they both have room. You see, my car is a hatchback. So there was plenty of room for them to have their run. Plus blankets, a bed, toys, etc for their comfort.

Tomorrow will be the last trial for this year and back to some serious practice. We know what we need work on.

CPE Trial Day 1

Today was a rainy rainy day. But we still continued with the trials. Goofy only needs Jackpot and Wildcards to finish her Level 1 title in CPE.

We failed the Jackpot. First off Goofy was fast and finished it faster than I thought she would, but then for the gamble she had a tunnel (under an A frame) then turn and run up the A Frame. The problem with this is Goofy needs a running start to get up it. I pulled her back to give her the space she needed, but I messed up the estimation. She was running in place almost reaching the top but not quite. She needed much more distance for the running start because of the rain. These are things you learn with time. The A-fame is hard on the really little ones since the slates are so far apart Goofy can't use them to get any higher if she doesn't get enough speed going up it. So we have another chance this weekend at the Jackpot.

Goofy did excellent on Wildcards though. It was easy enough to do and we were definitely under time. It is funny how the double jump looks like a single for the 4" hehe.

Last we had the Standard. It was pouring heavier by this time, but luckily it started to die down to a medium/light pour when Goofy ran.

So that is 2 Qualifiers and 1 Non-Qualifier. Tomorrow is another day and people are saying it is going to rain worse... I sure hope not...

NADAC Agility Trails Day 3

Today was the last day of trials for the 3 day weekend. I ended up entering her in 2 more runs for the day instead of the original 2 planned.

We tried the Chance again and to our luck, Goofy did just AWESOME. I am so proud of her. She did the distance perfectly and we got a Qualifier.

The Weaves still seem to be an issue though. I thought we did a perfect run until I saw the scoring and we were deducted 20. Apparently we didn't get all the poles on the first set. I could have sworn we did, but it looks like I need to watch this better. I can't recall if the time was good too though, but I think it was.

We had another Regular today and of course Goofy Qualified yet again. Then last was Tunnler. Too bad we where 10 seconds over time. Can't blame Goofy because she had a great 3 day weekend.

So all in all, we got 4 Qualifiers (3 in Regular and 1 in Chance), 6 First Places, and 1 Fourth Place (don't ask where that came from...haha).

It seems we need to work more on Goofy's speed. NADAC has lots of long courses and tons of distance to cover when compared to the CPE we did in October. Next weekend we have another 3 day weekend of agility trials for the CPE.

NADAC Agility Trails Day 2

Another day has passed. It was so cold this morning then it finally warmed up a little before it was over. Then back to really cold.

Goofy was supposed to be entered in Jumpers (I think it was) and Regular today, but I also entered her in Chance just to try it out. Goofy only Qualified in Regular though, but I think she did well. She has done better than I could have hoped for and feel we both are having lots of fun. That is what matters right?

One more day to go... Oh how I hate early mornings. At least on Monday when I have to work I can sleep in a little longer...haha Doesn't that sound wrong?

NADAC Agility Trails Day 1

Goofy was entered in Regular and Weavers today. She is Skilled Novice jumping 4".

She got 1st place ribbon for Weavers, but I did make an error I didn't know about. Apparently if your dog pops out on the weave, it is best to take her back to the entrance and make another attempt instead of getting your dog back in the poles and continuing. We lost 20 points for that mistake. Live and learn. Goofy did great though.

The Regular was awesome though, excluding one mistake I saw that I don't know should have points deducted or not. The sequence was a 'through' then 'walk', but the 'tunnel' was right next to the walk so many dogs took the wrong obstacle. Goofy almost took the wrong one and did step in a little at the entrance, but backed out and took the walk. The judge was at an angle that she may not have seen it. Either way, Goofy got 1st place plus a Qualifier.

So far I have to say NADAC is harder than CPE. The courses are much longer. I think I will concentrate mostly on CPE and do some NADAC on the side. Goofy has 2 more runs on Saturday and 2 more runs on Sunday. Then next weekend is CPE in Pasco again. What a crazy double weekend of agility this will be.