Summit earns his OAJ title!!!

Well Mr. Summit is FINALLY out of Open Jumpers!
He earned that final jumpers leg at the SCAC AKC trial at Latigo.
This was the last trial of the year and I did not enter Sage this weekend, just Summit. I normally wouldn't travel that far this time of year for an AKC trial but I really wanted to get him out of Open jumpers.

Saturday, we had Jumpers first and Summit had a beautiful run .... BUT...
...one dropped bar:-(

That afternoon in Excellent B Standard, he broke his startline so we left the ring.

Sunday morning was Excellent B Standard and he had a perfect startline stay and a great run but missed his wp entry (many experienced dogs missed this wp entry also). I was very happy with his run - it was so smooth and I really felt like my timing was good and Summit read my motion cues perfectly.

So the last class was jumpers. This was our last chance to earn that last leg. We did it! The run was very nice and Summit earned his OAJ title. Don sent me the video (actually it's a Dartfish Overlay of Summit and Indy). I was very happy to see him collecting and turning tighter. We've been working on collection for a very long time and it's nice to start seeing it in the ring.



***So why was I so eager to get him out of Open Jumpers?
Because we do so many two and three-ring trials and there are always conflicts. I may still ocassionally have conflicts with him in Ex. A jumpers but at least I won't have to worry about walking the course since it's the same course for both dogs.

CASA de Canine USDAA - Lawrence, Kansas

The holiday has kept me pretty busy so behind on the updates...

On November 20th, Judy and I travelled to Lawrence, Kansas to the CASA de Canine USDAA trial. This was the first time I had gone to this trial and was really impressed with the venue, the club, and will certainly be back next year!

Sage was on DAM team with Shar/Tar'n and Judy/Sisu. We qualified with 5th place.

I originally wasn't going to put Summit on a team. I didn't think he was ready yet and it is nice to be able to take him off the course when he breaks his SLS. But Norm/Fln' needed teamates and so we put Summit and Fln' on a team and did a draw for another teammate (an experienced BC). Well not only did Summit's team qualify but we placed 4th!!!! Summit and Fln' had great runs with minor faults and NO E's! So Summit is qualified in team now for 2009.

Sage had great runs all weekend and not a single missed contact. Her handler tried a few goofy moves and sent her over a wrong course jump in Master's standard. But she qualified in Master's Gamblers and Steeplechase. She also earned her TM title!!!
She was only entered in one class on Sunday since I knew the three days with Team would be a lot for her. It was a good decision as she seemed fine Monday morning - no stiffness in the shoulders at all.

Summit had some really nice runs in team and qualified in Advanced Gamblers and Snooker. He had a lovely jumpers run and standard but with a dropped bar in each. He lost his head in Steeplechase and we left the course after he ignored my motion - actually I was standing still while he continued forward to take two more jumps including the broadjump... from the backside :-/


It was a great weekend with nice weather and the fairgrounds had a lot of open space where you could let your dogs off leash to run and play. There were lot of Colorado competitors at this trial also, which was really nice.

Sage Double Q's and qualifies for AKC Nationals!!!

This weekend we competed close to home at the MHACB AKC trial.
It was weird because the judge had a family emergency and had to cancel so the club had to get a new judge at the last minute. The new judge used the previous judges courses. I thought the courses on Saturday were ok (although the qualifying rate was low and people were grumbling). But Sunday's courses were downright ugly! There was a LOT of grumbling on Sunday and even the judge hinted during his briefings he tried to tweak as much as possible to make them a bit more friendly.

I hate it when a course begins with a very tight pinwheel. How demotivating is that for the dog? Both the standard and jumpers courses began with tight 4-jump pinwheels. The dog is released from the startline just go in a little circle to nowwhere!

Rant aside...

On Saturday Sage qualified in jumpers with a 4th place. I fell on the course and Sage almost came to a complete stop so we lost a lot of time there. There was a fairly straight tunnel to the tire with a 90 degree turn off the tire. I was concerned about the safety of the tight turn off the tire and so my shoulders were rotated towards Sage with my opposite arm out to cue a turn as soon as she came blasting out of the tunnel towards the tire. She collected nicely for the turn as she headed to the tire and my feet slipped out from under me (loose dirt) as I finished rotating for the front cross and down I went. Sage came through the tire, and headed towards me. I quickly jumped up and took off to finish the last 4 jumps (another pinwheel).

That afternoon she qualified in standard with a second place and earned the last double Q to finish qualifying for AKC Nationals 2009!

Sunday morning, the standard course was just plain ugly. Many dogs got the wrong end of a tunnel (weaves, 90 degree turn over a single jump and into the far end of the tunnel), almost all handlers ran past the jump and tried to pull their dogs past the wrong tunnel entrance. Many dogs took the wrong end anyway. There was another tunnel trap coming off the a-frame as well.

I ran the course with Summit first and he missed his wp entry, then got the wrong end of the tunnel. Once we got past that, the rest of his run was fairly nice although a bit OTT.

I left Sage in the weaves and moved laterally so I could front cross the landing side of the jump before the tunnel. Sage got the correct end of the tunnel. It was a beautiful run and she qualified with 1st place. There were only 4 Q's in the entire 20" class! Sage was the only fast dog to qualify.

That afternoon in jumpers, (opening was tunnel into a 4-jump pinwheel - another stupid circle!), Sage and I got through the more technical parts of the course and then I sent her out to a jump and turned and left too soon for the finish and she pulled off. Darn! we were 4 jumps from the end. So no QQ on Sunday.

Summit....

... well Mr. Summit had a lot of fun this weekend. He missed every single weave pole entrance. He had a beautiful standard run on Saturday but missed his wp entry. I have not been training weave poles with him in quite awhile since his weaves have always been solid with very few missed entries. Guess we'll be working on those this week.

However, he had SOLID startline stays and CONTACTS! I delayed the release from all his contacts this weekend to reinforce the verbal release from 20/20.

We are heading out to Kansas on Thursday for the CASA de CANINE USDAA trial.

Hiking in Boulder

We had the weekend off from competition so of course....

...we did a long hike in the mountains. The weather was perfect. Sunny and cool in the morning and warming up to mid '70's by the afternoon. On this hike there are plenty of creeks so the dogs get to cool down and play in the water.

I brought home some very tired dogs at the end of the day.

A beautiful view from the trail

Three happy dogs taking a break on a very large boulder


Summit relaxing at the "Spa"

Sage hiding in the tall grass

LPDTC AKC trial - October 2008

This was a one-ring trial and it was so nice to not have ring conflicts and just relax. Sage had nice runs but no Q's. I think it's the nature of the QQ requirement in AKC. Since Sage has enough MACH points for TWO MACH'S, if we don't qualify in standard, I will use jumpers for experimenting and proofing new training. Sage is running very well - our NQ's are always because of a contact (either DW or AF) because I'm letting her run them. However, since I've been letting her run through, she has not had any shoulder soreness. So that is GOOD! and confirms that I made the right decision to retrain to 4-on-the-floor and "break" the 20/20.

Summit had really nice runs too. He qualified in Ex. A Standard and earned his AX title. He also qualified in Open Jumpers for his second leg in that class. His YPS was 7.39! Wow!

Here is a video of the run...



For the first time, Summit was pushing the contacts by releasing himself after the 20/20. This week its CONTACT BOOT CAMP!
He's had such solid contacts that I've taken them for granted and haven't trained them in several months. So this week I've gone back and rewarded 20/20 by tugging on the end of the contact as well as proofed the verbal release (Rachel Sanders' method).

We have next weekend off so will be spending some time relaxing and hiking in the mountains.

Private lesson with Stacy Peardot-Goudy

Well this morning Sage and I had a private lesson with Stacy. It was awesome as usual! Stacy was very pleased with Sage's progress with the MP by itself and when we put it at the end of the dogwalk and a-frame. She said now we need to start progressing onto the next stage...

1. I need to pair the MP with the contact obstacle. In other words, Sage does not receive reinforcement from just downing on the MP, she must perform the obstacle followed by the down on the MP to receive the reward. In the session, I was bringing Sage around to the side of the down ramp of the DW and she bypassed the DW and just ran to the MP and laid down. Stacy said that does NOT get rewarded anymore.

2. Now I need to add a release and make it very black and white for Sage. I decided to stick with the same word I use for her startline and table release. I thought of changing it to something different but Stacy said using the same release cue would be fine.
3. I need to start asking for speed over the contacts now and adding a tunnel or a few jumps before the contact obstacle.

4. I need to start fading the MP. We are committed through the weekend of Nov. 22nd (CASA) but I have pulled her from Latigo after that so that I can work on fading the MP. Once I start to fade the MP, I can no longer allow her to run through the contacts at a trial. However, I'll have plenty of fun matches to generalize her new contact behavior before January.

RMATC AKC agility trial

Well we had a great weekend! Summit had some really nice runs with another Q in Excellent A Standard on Saturday (he dropped a bar on Sunday). We are really starting to become a more consistent team. As I learn to handle his speed and as he gains confidence, the runs just keep getting better and better.

Sage and I had good runs also. She won Standard on Sunday and qualified in Jumpers for a double Q.

I'm still letting her run through the contacts at trials. Right now, the mouse pad is the cue to perform the down so in absence of the MP at trials, I'm still ok to let her run the contacts without the down. I did pull her from the November 28-29 trial in order to have 6 weeks to fade the MP and attend matches to generalize it before the FRAAD USDAA trial in January.

Update on Sage's contact training

Sage LOVES her mousepad! I can barely get the darn thing on the ground and she runs to lay down on it. She will drive ahead to the MP, recall, and down on the MP with my running past.

Meanwhile, I've had her running through the contact zone under a hoop for both DW and AF. Both obstacles are now at full height (AF at AKC height).

Last week I decided to put the mousepad about 12 feet from the bottom of the DW contact. I sent her over the last 6 feet of the down ramp of the DW while I stood still. She ran through the contact and immediately to the MP and layed down. Perfect!

We've backchained the DW and the AF and I've gradually moved the MP closer to the bottom of the contact. This morning, I moved the MP back to about 3 feet of the bottom of the contacts. Sage is still running through with speed and downing on the MP.

We practice sends, recalls, and my running past. I have noticed though that if I am off to the side standing still, she will down on the MP slightly facing me (not facing straight ahead). I can go back and put up the gates to keep her straight (which I might do) or just let it be. All I want is a down, I'm not sure if I want to be picky about where she is facing if I am standing off to the side. If I was ever to be in that position at a trial, it would be because I wanted her to turn off the contact obstacle anyway.

I have not put the down on the MP on a verbal cue yet. I still haven't thought of a good hand signal to pair with a verbal cue (in case I need it). Right now, Sage is offering the down when she sees the MP.

At trials, she is running through the contacts and out of 6 runs last weekend, only missed ONE DW contact. Not bad!

Sage's DAM team qualifies for 2009!

This past weekend was the 3-day ACAT USDAA trial and the first opportunity in Colorado for 2009 DAM team qualification. Friday was team only and Sage's team ROCKED!
Our team name was Bordering on Insanity and consisted of three BC's - Sage, Jane (with Jen), and Rain (with Alan). It was pretty exciting as we were consistently sitting in 10th place and just below the qualifying break off. Rain and Alan E'd in jumpers and Sage E'd in standard. Finally it all changed with the last class of the day - Team Relay. All three dogs ran clean with no E's. We waited while the results were announced. There were 12 qualifying teams out of 27 teams competing and Bordering on Insanity ended up with 9th place! We were thrilled!

So now Sage is qualified for 2009 Nationals in DAM team.

Saturday and Sunday was regular classes and tournaments. Sage missed a wp entrance in Steeplechase and her final time just missed the cut off by 1 second. She had a smokin' Grand Prix run but missed the dw contact. Sage (with Rob and Petey) had a great Pairs Relay run and got 1st place! Sage also qualified in jumpers with 7th place.

Summit had a nice Advanced standard run but dropped a bar. He qualified in Snooker with 1st place (he got all three 7's) and Advanced Pairs (with Hannah and Stardust). He had an awesome jumpers run until the end when I fell down on the grass. I jumped up to finish the run and couldn't remember which jump we left off and so sent him over a jump he had already taken (drats!). His startline stays were perfect the entire weekend!

Contact Training

So after some long thought, I've decided to retrain Sage's contacts to a modified moving. 20/20 (which she performs in training but recently not at trials) is very hard on her shoulders. So I've decided that 4-on-the-floor makes much more sense. Because Sage can't hear verbal directionals, I must have a stop at the bottom - especially at the DW.

First I needed to "break" the stop of 20/20 at home. For several weeks I've been running her over the DW, under a hoop, and to her motivator on the ground about 15 feet from the end of the DW. Gradually I've raised the DW and so far, she is striding through without stopping. I did the same for the AF.

Here are a couple of picture of the DW after the first week. I started with it completely flat on the ground and have been gradually raising it higher.

Separately, I have shaped the down on the mousepad. Sage learned this very quickly and is now driving ahead to the mousepad and laying down. Now I need to figure out some sort of hand signal to put it on cue.

Meanwhile in trials, I've just let her run through the contacts. She strides through yellow about 80 percent of the time. I plan to put the mousepad at the end of the contacts after trial season.