TAKC AKC trial - Sage earns QQ #17. Summit has a tunnel fixation

It was a pretty good three-day weekend. Sage and I had good teamwork! Summit had some nice runs and some not so nice runs. I'm seeing a new confidence level in my young dog which is resulting in some wrong courses and wide turns. I'm also finding I need to adjust my timing better between the two dogs. This has been a challenge for me. Sage's committment point is much later than Summit's. With him, I have too much forward motion and I'm driving in too deep which is resulting in his not collecting enough for turns.

Friday's standard course was very tough. There were 6 or 7 qualifying runs in the entire Excellent B 20" class . I ran Sage first and she had a wrong course. I ran Summit and he qualified and won the class by 6 full seconds (all the fast dogs NQ'd on this course). When I went to the line with Summit, I knew I would have to handle very aggressively. Being able to not have to run all the way with him to the end of the dogwalk gave me a huge lead out advantage for the ending sequence.

Sage qualified in Jumpers that afternoon with 7th or 8th place and Summit had a refusal on a jump that I did not support. It was a nice course and offered the opportunity to excecute a post turn towards the end. I was quite proud of the post turns I had with both dogs since its something we don't practice. Here is Sage's run.

Saturday Sage had an awesome Standard run and won the class! I changed my mind the last minute to do a recall over the jump after the yellow tunnel instead of the front cross (which I did with Summit). Notice her tight turns and how close I drive to each jump. Don had someone new filming so the video jumps around sometimes.

Here is Summit's run on the same course. I ran him after Sage. What can I say... he suffered from endless tunnel LOOP syndrome. I lied to the judge. After the second time he took the tunnel, I told the judge, "This is the last time, I promise." then he took the tunnel again... sigh. I finally put him in a down in front of the aframe. I think I heard the judge chuckling.

My timing was exactly what was needed for Sage but not for Summit. I drove way too deep when I cued the tunnel after the weaves. Then I had to catch up because he came blasting out the tunnel and I was not in position to cue the next two jumps. Then all that forward motion sent him turning very wide over #2 jump and then of course, my flailing arms and my bad positioning sent him to the tunnel the first time (you can see how I'm very late with the shoulder pull). YIKES! But the rest of the run was nice (although another very wide turn to the triple). I left him on the dogwalk while I ran past the finish jump.

The Jumpers course that afternoon was very challenging (same judge as Friday's Standard course). I ran it with Sage first and qualified with a third place and a double Q! Summit got the wrong course tunnel towards the end (as did the majority of dogs). I actually at some point was moving backwards pulling Sage past the plane of the tunnel entrance (a Snooker move:-) as I didn't have the advantage of saying her name or of using motion since the handlers path was restricted by the first jump in the 180. It was a tight little box and any motion towards the correct jump also cued the tunnel.

Sunday's courses were the nicest of the entire weekend. Sage had a nice standard course but missed the dogwalk contact. She later qualified in Jumpers with a 5th place. Summit had a wrong course jump at the beginning and then won Jumpers that afternoon.

Here is Sage's Standard run

Sage's Jumpers run - 5th place

Summit's Jumpers run - First place

We have next weekend off and will be doing some hiking in the mountains. My training goals this week are to work on some foundation skills with Summit (forward and lateral sends). Really work on my timing of deceleration for tighter turns. I think I will set up a line of jumps and practice running at the start (no leadout) and decelerating at different locations to cue 180 degree turns.

With Sage, I will continue to work on the dogwalk. She is becoming very consistent with her running a-frame but I still have to really manage the end behavior of the dogwalk.