Downs and Ups

I think I've posted before that Liam has an eyesight issue that makes it hard for him to judge his take off point for jumps. It's believed that either the dog is near sighted or has a depth perception issue. I think Liam is near sighted. 

When we first started competing in agility he always tried to go to the back side of a jump. I think because then he was close to the jump and could now see it clearly. With time and letting him figure out what worked best for him he became better at doing the jumps from the correct side. In Dec, we were at a trial, and he reverted to going to the backside of most jumps. Needless to say, I was very discouraged, he tries so hard, and he does love to play, but I decided we needed a little break, and I didn't register for the January trial. I made up my mind if he did the same thing at this past weekend's trial we wouldn't register for any more indoor trials.

Yesterday, Liam did very well. He did all his contacts although his two on two off wasn't really there, he did his weaves, got the entries and didn't pop out and, for the most part, took the correct side of the jumps. In his first event, an Advanced Standard, he took down the bar on the last jump but other than that it was a very nice run for him. 

The next Standard wasn't as good. Liam got a refusal on a tunnel and an off course for taking the backside of a jump when he should have taken the front side. He still had nice contacts and didn't hesitate on the scary teeter.

Our last event was a Starter Snooker, since there was no teeter and no weaves, I knew Liam should be able to do this if he could only keep the bars up. Snooker is a game where you have to successfully take a red jump before taking another obstacle, you have to do this three times using a different red each time and then you run the numbered obstacles 2 through 7, and at Starters you have to accumulate 37 points in 60 seconds or less to qualify. We did red, then the A-Frame, obstacle 6, then red, then tunnel obstacle 7 then a red and the tunnel again before beginning the close. My only worry was getting Liam by the frame and to tunnel numbered 2. But he was a very good boy, he came with me and kept all the bars up. 

Liam - Starter Snooker Video

We got a qualifying score with 50 points. Liam now only needs one more Snooker for his Starter Games title. 

So, it was a shame about the one bar down but good news about all the bars he kept up. Liam and I will keep trying and having fun playing agility, although we are thinking about giving Hoopers a try. 

Nothing!

 Well, we're in that blah period with Christmas season over and it's not yet Easter with no real sign of Spring. We're having sort of a non-winter here though, there were some record high temperatures this past week, but we're bound to get some more winter before Spring really arrives.

Liam and I are in agility classes, and we go to practices on some Sundays, but we haven't been to a trial since Dec. We do have one coming up this weekend. Teddy isn't in any classes at the moment, so he only gets our walks and some scent work in the basement.

By this time the past two years we'd been making camping plans and reservations. There was a sudden death in one of my brother-in-law's families and they're waiting to hear when the memorial service will be so they're holding off on making reservations. I've made suggestions to my youngest sister, and she seems agreeable but so far, we haven't booked anything. When entries open for the Spring agility trials, I'll have to make a decision on what to do, last year our camping trips were planned around my agility.

We've made the booking for this year's big trip. We'll be going to Scotland at the end of Aug.  The same sister that I share a cabin with on the river cruises is going but it's another sister and her husband that are joining us. It's a self-driving vacation and we'll start and end in Edinburgh. We haven't booked the flights yet but are watching the prices if they start to go up, we'll book those. It seems we'll have to prebook most of the castles and things we want to visit so I've been doing a travel plan; haven't got much input from my sisters on that. 

I took down all the Christmas decor both inside and outside so there's nothing, no snowman outside to decorate for Valentine's, St Patrick's and Easter.  I hung the hearts I bought to decorate the snowman and bought a new garden flag and a heart that stands, so there's something out there.

Perhaps next time I write there'll be something to really write about. Tata for now.