Double-Double Q Weekend for Summit and Soleil's first Trial

Work has been extremely busy and I've not had time to read my favorite blogs let alone post on my own blog. But last weekend was a fantastic weekend for Summit and I.

Friday - 1st place Jumpers, 2nd place Standard - QQ
Saturday - 1st place Jumpers
Sunday - 2nd place Jumpers, 2nd place Standard - QQ

So that leaves three more QQ's to finish qualifying for AKC Nationals!!! Oh, and he needs two more QQ's for his MACH which I guess he'll earn on his way to qualifying for Nationals. I really want to go next year as it is in Reno, Nevada.

Soleil's training has been going well. We continue to work the drills in DJS and continue to proof her dogwalk and weaves. Her teeter is looking great. She did go through a period where she would offer 20/20 on the teeter and 4-0n the dogwalk but on the advice of a friend, I began to train both obstacles in the same sequence and she soon figured it out.

So, I have decided to enter her in my club's DOCNA trial the second week of August. I want her to have her first ring experience in a fun organization that is low-key and allows training in the ring. I entered her in Standard, Jumpers, and the two types of Gamblers (we won't be doing the distance challenge). We may run a full course or we may do 7 obstacles and leave for a game of tug. I was tempted to enter Summit to do some contact proofing but decided I wanted the day to belong to Soleil.

Here are a couple of Summit's runs from the past weekend. The courses were pretty fun!

Friday Jumpers - 1st place


Friday Standard - 2nd place


Saturday Jumpers - 1st place


Sunday Standard - 2nd place (he released himself from his dw - bad boy)


Sunday Jumpers - 2nd place (can you see where I forgot I was going to do a FMFC? I remembered almost too late. Such a good boy, he not only kept up the bar but didn't take out my knees either ;-)

RM Regional and Soleil training videos

A quick recap of the Rocky Mountain Regional held over the 4th of July weekend. The event was held in an indoor soccer facility without air conditioning and it was HOT! Luckily we finished fairly early each day and missed most of the hottest part of the afternoon.

One of our team members was focusing on World Team points and the other was a young dog. We did not Q as each of us had a single elimination. Friday Summit was very high and released himself from the aframe and took a wrong jump before I could redirect him. He had nice runs in Gamblers and placed 4th in Steeplechase Round 1. Saturday he blew his aframe contact and dropped a bar in Steeplechase Finals and in GP round 1, he missed the aframe contact again. The last time he missed an aframe contact was at the South Central Regional during Steeplechase Finals.... hmmm I'm seeing a pattern here. I tend to get very competitive and push him when I don't need to. He is fast enough and when I start to push, his brain explodes. Definitely a mental management issue on my part.

We did very well on the IHC courses. I watched a lot of runs on these international courses and there were many faults. We had one off course in IHC Jumpers (it required handling past several obstacles to a tunnel entrance that was not in the dog's line of sight) and then we ran clean in IHC Standard and placed second (Mary Ellen Barry with Maizy was first).

Steeplechase Round 1 - 4th place (Jen missed the beginning because she was busy watching Mary Ellen run in the other ring!)


IHC Jumpers - even with the wrong course jump at the beginning (a common fault), I really liked how we ran this tough course.


IHC Standard - 2nd place


Soleil's training has been going well. Here are a few videos from this week. I am using food for jump sequencing as toys make her too high and I want her thinking about jumping not blasting through for the toy. I am still using food to reward the 20/20 behavior. At some point (like the teeter), I will switch to using a toy as a reward for further proofing.

First time running entire dogwalk with a stop at the bottom. I'm really focusing on rear feet position.


Running aframe - she hasn't been on the aframe for about a month. Still looking great! She really has her striding down.


Jump sequencing


We have a week off and then a three-day AKC trial in Castle Rock. Hoping for double Q's for AKC Nationals!