Agility Retrospect...(part 3)

One Day.

One Mission.

Complete our level 1 requirements by qualifying in Jackpot!

(Oh, and also try our hand/paws at level 2 Standard - as in, perform the weave poles and teeter in public).

DONE! ...and... DONE!

Jackpot, our final level 1 requirement is complete. Yea! ...
It didn't go as smoothly as I (or Zainey) would have liked, for sure, but we did it. Z fell off the A-Frame, or more accurately, she launched off the A-Frame. Whoopsy! One of the people working the ring (I won't say who) observed that it was due to my approach, being such a green handler, that I needed to not 'leave' her at the approach to the A-frame, and that I'll learn how to manage that better in the future. ...<Ahem>... Okay. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the tire to A-frame approach was at a 90 degree angle and by the time we ran, the non-rubberized equipment set up outdoors on grass was visibly wet from all the dogs that ran before us.  Luckily, this is one of the few courses where the A-frame is not faulted and, while I was prepared to stop our run right then and there, Z bounced right back and was ready to keep on truckin'. Granted, my course plan fell apart a bit at that point and we just kind of muddled though, but we finished strong (no 'sniffy' or other distractions in the gamble portion) and in 1st place! Pretty good for her first time running on an outdoor course where the distractions are tenfold and she had to run up a slippery slide!

Agility Retrospect...(part 2b)

In part2b of the retrospective post of our March 17-18 agility trial, we pick up where we left off in part 2a (duh-really?). Z and I are back at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds competing in our third agility trial. We failed to qualify in Jackpot on Saturday morning which meant moving up to level two was out of the cards for that weekend. However, we still had three more courses to run that day and another three the next. Oy vey - that seemed like a lot to complete (in between a LOT of sitting around) when my hopes for the weekend had just been smashed like a yam on Thanksgiving. ...

Agility Retrospect...(part 2a)

Another title for this post might be "Agility Trial #3: 3rd Time's not the Charm" or maybe even "Our 3rd Agility Trial: Apparently Failure is an option."

I knew when I got started with agility that it wasn't going to be easy. I've heard time and again about people who've gone through all the hassle of registering for a trial, packing up the dog (and dog supplies and car), driving quite a distance, staying in some random hotel, getting up way too early on a morning that's way too cold, and sitting around for the better part of a day (or weekend) - all for the chance of qualifying in just one or two particular runs - only to have it all blown to heck in a matter of seconds. I just thought those types of disappointments would come at a much higher level, not in level 1! ...

Agility Retrospect ...(part 1)

Why the he** is it so difficult for me to keep up a simple blog?! From what I've been told, we all get the same amount of time in a day - 24 hours...right? Well, whatever, just a few obstacles in life, I suppose.

...Hey! Speaking of obstacles, I need to document Zainey's agility accomplishments, so let's get on with it. Since they are so out of date at this point, I thought about covering the past three trials in one post, but since it appears we probably won't be trialing for a while as we instead focus on some behavior issues (more on that later), I am going to really drag these out. Besides, she's accomplished way too much to just shove it all into one condensed blurb.

I'm going to take you back in time now to our 2nd agility trial, all the way back to January 2012. The location is Elk Grove and the mornings are flippin' cold as heck! 

Friday afternoon, checking out the new venue

We ran 6 courses over two days: 2 Standard; 2 Wildcard; 1 Colors; 1 Fullhouse. ...

Deuces!

Picking up from the last post which covered day one of our first agility trial, here is blog post numero deux...

Day two started with a tough morning. Zainey and I both wanted more sleep and having been woken up at 3:00 a.m. for a random visit with the vomit fairy (she came for me, not the dog), I especially was not happy about the early start to our day.

Before zonking out Saturday night though I realized that we had a gap in our ribbons so I started Sunday with a plan; IF she wasn't too freaked out to run and IF we ran well enough to qualify and IF we were lucky enough to place, I wanted a 2nd place red ribbon since we earned a 1st and 3rd place on Saturday.

Well, here are our THREE 2nd place runs that earned us our red ribbons ...

                   Oct. 30 Standard Level 1

I didn't even know if we could run this one, she was shaking with nerves right before, but I trust I know her well enough and that once she got going, she'd enjoy herself. I was right.
Break Down:

1. ZERO start line stay. She wasn't comfortable enough to sit there with her back to the action and that's pretty common for a nervous nelly, so we went with plan B and ran together
2. Good tunnel entrance discrimination
3. Decent front cross at the middle blue jump
4. Finished strong and relieved (both of us)

                   Oct 30. Jumpers Level 1 2

Above is another jumpers course that we both had fun with.

Break Down:

1. Start line stay getting worse. That 'shake-off' is doggy body language indicating that she was really trying to calm her nerves and was NOT in a place mentally for a sit/wait - so away we ran!
2. What's up with the size of my butt!??!?!
3. I had a couple of decent front crosses around that middle area of jumps and it can be tough to get out in position to front cross an obstacle when your dog has a good stride, so yea for me!
4. Another good finish!

                  Oct. 30 Colors Level 1 2
Do I really have to share this video?
Break Down:

1. A complete refusal of start line stay, little miss thing went around it and no matter how many times I've read the 8,000 page rule book, my mind still went blank. What do I do? Is it an automatic disqualify? Should I call her out and end it there? WTF!? 
2. RECOVER. I did the right thing. Get the dog (no touching), go back around the start jump (no back-jumping) and run with her since a start line re-position is not allowed at that point.
3. Throw in a bad position at a rear cross jump, a distraction and bad cue at the tunnel, and a snafu at a basic jump and you've got some fun viewing!
4. We finished it though and those last three jumps couldn't have made her happier! 

There's your wrap up of the trial. Patty has already talked us into our next trial which will be in the beginning of January in Elk Grove. Zainey and I have some work to do, primarily on her start line stays so I can get a decent lead out and also on her ability to 'go out' and take obstacles at my direction without me having to babysit each move. Those are two tough things to train as those issues are both rooted in her insecurity and need to be close to me, where she feels safest. We'll get there though, her confidence is already building and I believe it will continue to do so. I will of course be working on my own handling issues as well.

Yea for Patty for being there for me throughout the trial and our trainer Susanne who was there on Saturday and was a huge help in both reviewing the course maps and reminding me to breathe! The people at the trial couldn't have been nicer or more helpful and I hope I thanked them enough.

Considering the fact that my two goals going into the weekend were a.) get Zainey measured for her jump height by the judge without eating her face and b.) have Zainey at least run around a course or two without completely shutting down... I think it's fair to say we did pretty darn okay! ...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

One last thing, I'm really not going to make a habit of these long posts.
Who even reads posts this long anyway!?
Hello?!... You still awake?

Numero Uno!

I registered this blog well over two years ago. So, as far as projects go for me, I'm right about on schedule with the timing for post Numero Uno (and it's gonna be a long one, so get comfy). I will do something eventually to catch you up on life with Zainey over the past three years (maybe I'll sprinkle some retrospective/soap-opera-like flashback posts in with current events), but for now, here's your briefing of where we are in our journey together! ...

Zainey is officially a competition agility dog! That's right! You heard me correctly, the reactive dog who for so long couldn't handle close distances to other dogs and who, just eight months ago sat shaking with fear in the facility where class is held, now has five qualifying runs under her belt with one 3rd place, three 2nd place, and one 1st place ribbons! I can get teary-eyed thinking about all of the challenges we've faced along the long road we've travelled to get where we are, so instead I'd like to focus on acknowledging the dog that she is today. I'm not saying her issues have vanished as that will never happen. Zainey will always be more challenged in this life than most dogs, but with confidence building, training, and patience (nurture) we have been able to build a better foundation for her than what she was born with (nature).

I will not go into the fact that she's 'only' competing in CPE agility (the 'easier' organization to compete in) or that it's 'only' level one, because I am not going to diminish our accomplishments. So, without further ado, here she is in all her glory...


We ran 6 courses over 2 days (max is 5 per day, but I did not want to over do it), this was our first, and it was the only run where we did not qualify and place. In all honesty, it was not pretty...

Oct. 29 Standard Level 1 - Round 1

Guess what? It's my favorite run of the weekend because it shows what's really important for us which is working together as a team; trusting each other, even when we're both a little unsure. 

Let's break down this run:

1. A decent start line stay (for us anyway) especially considering it was her first time in a real competition arena
2. She passed right by the first jump in order to get to the dog walk since she loves contact obstacles
3. She missed the third jump due to a combination of nerves/distraction and maybe not strong enough signals from me given the circumstances
4. I got flustered and did not rear cross the A-frame which put me out of correct handling position.
5. I was in the wrong position for the fourth jump, she knew that, and we got all wonky
6. We finished on a good note and she came out of the tunnel with a big ol' doggy smile!

So, to sum up, the judge signaled one 'off-course' for all 4 paws hitting the contact on the dog walk out of sequence and another for back-jumping that third jump = NO qualify for you (I heard the soup Nazi in my head!!!) Awesome news for our training buddies though, Patty and Sophie qualified and took 2nd place!

In the next run we had this to look forward to ...

Oct. 29 Jumpers Level 1 2

We qualified with a first place blue ribbon and she wasn't even moving at her fastest! Woo-Hoo!

Breaking it down:

1. Good start line stay
2. A decent front cross coming out of the tunnel
3. A bunch of basic circle work
4. Finished with a smile!

Essentially an easy course for her and probably exactly what she needed to help ease her nerves.
Next up, our final run of the day...

Oct. 29 Standard Level 1 - Round 2

Much better than our first standard, we qualified with a third place yellow ribbon. She was getting more comfortable by the afternoon and showed it by tilting her fearful little head to look around a little as she came off the dog walk (I'm more than fine with that if it means she's a little more relaxed). 

Breaking it down:

1. A slight falter at the start line
2. Nice little twizzle at the front of the A-frame (she's a pro at sticking those contacts when I ask for it)
3. Missed that darn corner jump on to the dog walk again
4. Finished strong and happy!

There you have it, day one of our first trial. This is what we've been working toward for so many months with weekly classes, private training sessions, and lots of practices. The work to get us here started long before that though, it started when our shy little puppy turned out to be a reactive dog that was afraid of the world and didn't quite know how to cope. These videos show how far she has come and that she's not just coping, but some days she's even coming in first place! Numero Uno!

I warned you that this first post would be long. I wasn't kidding and guess what? Yup, you've still got day two of the trial to look forward to!

(I promise my posts will get shorter.)

The End!... (of day one anyway)