Leaping Liam

Liam turned five in June, where did the time go? Anyway, with the Agility Association of Canada because Liam has been in Specials for over a year I could move him to the Veterans class at five. This means he gets more time or needs fewer points for his qualifying scores.

I ran Liam at a trial as a Veteran just days after he turned five. In the two Standard courses he ran, he was well under the veteran time, but had he been still in Specials he would have been over time in both runs. We didn't get a qualifying score but did have one really nice run with only five faults for refusing a tunnel.

This past Sunday we went to another trial. It was stinking hot and in the afternoon, it poured rain. They delayed the trial until the worst of the rain was over so we didn't have to run in the rain but we sure were soaked. Liam was in four events, a Standard, a Gamblers, a Snooker and a Jumpers. In his first run, the Std, we had a beautiful run, clean until the dogwalk, the second last obstacle when Liam decided to bail off of it. I think he thought it was the teeter again; as he sometimes gets spooked by unfamiliar teeters. Our next run was a Gamblers; as a veteran, Liam now only needs 16 points in his opening and gets more time to do the Main Gamble at the end. Liam knocked one bar on this run but we got 24 points in our opening. On to the main gamble, marked 1, 2 and 3 at the bottom of the picture, Liam did the jump and the first tunnel beautifully but he stopped at the second tunnel, after some verbal encouragement I got him to take the tunnel. I thought we had a refusal so was surprised to see that we had a qualifying score.  Liam's first Advanced qualifying score.

Advanced Gamblers

Our next run was a Snooker, this is a very unforgiving game as you can get whistled off very quickly. I had planned to do R4 (a red jump), then tunnel 6 to R2 where I would do obstacle 7, the same tunnel twice, followed by R1 and obstacle 7 again before running the close, obstacles 2 through 7 as numbered.  We got the first red jump done and obstacle 6, then Liam knocked the bar on R2 so we had to go on to another R (red) jump. We went for R3 and did obstacle 7. I then thought that by doing R1 and 7 again we would be back on my plan for points but again Liam knocked the bar. Most of the close as you can see in the picture is jumps and I was sure he would knock another bar before we had enough points. But Liam ran the close beautifully, I was just sending him in the tunnel the second time for obstacle 7 when the buzzer for time sounded. As a veteran, Liam only needed 32 points and we got 35. The red jumps are worth one point and the number of the other obstacles is the point value. Liam's second Advanced Qualifying score.

Advanced Snooker

Our last run was a Jumpers, it walked really nicely and it was a good course for Liam with not too many straight on jumps, most were angled or he had to take the backside that he likes to do anyway. We had a really nice run; I thought we had another qualifying score. Then the gatekeeper told me he had dropped a bar, the judge told me later that it was really late dropping, that Liam was already on the ground when the bar dropped. It was a bit disappointing but we were happy with the day anyway. I always say any day with a Q is a good day and overall Liam ran well.  Snooker was a bit of a mess but in his other runs he only knocked two bars.

So Leaping Liam is enjoying being a veteran dog, our next trials won't be until the fall, possibly even not until winter as I'll be away when the next outdoor trials near me are being held.

Oh and I should mention that Liam also went to a real Hoopers trial and managed to get two qualifying runs there too. Unfortunately, the trial host isn't planning to run any more trials this year. It's too bad as they just revised the rules and fewer points are now needed for titles so Liam probably could have gotten his first Hoopers titles with another couple runs.

First trial - First Q's

 

Yesterday, Teddy was entered in his very first agility competition. I wasn't going to enter him in any competitions this fall but recently one of the trial hosts decided not to do any indoor trials until things improved with COVID so when I saw this Jumpers trial hosted by the Ottawa Valley Border Collie Club I decided to give it a go.  

I hadn't been to this agility venue, Dogz, for quite some time. I looked up the directions on my tablet and it said it was about a 50 minute drive (it probably is in traffic) so I planned to leave at 7 am. When I put the address in my car's GPS on Saturday morning, it gave me an estimated time of only about 30 minutes. Needless to say I was the first one there and had lots of time to set up and walk the dogs.  It was a glorious day for agility, cool but not cold with just a light breeze. 

Our morning view

I knew there would be people there that I knew and so I hoped that I would be able to get someone to video Teddy's very first runs. Luckily, a friend who was running her dogs in later events, arrived early and she was able to video for me. It's always easier when someone isn't worried about their dog's run. It was my first competition in 2021, my last competitions were with Keltic last Sep, hopefully it won't be another year before we can do another competition.

Teddy did great. I was really rusty in the first run and it wasn't a nice flowing Starter's course. I thought I caused Teddy to fault the first tunnel and one of the jumps but apparently since he didn't have any backward motion (Sheltie spins are backward motion) he wasn't faulted.

Starter Jumpers 1

Teddy - Starter Jumpers 1 Video

Teddy isn't the fastest Sheltie out there but it seems like he'll be a steady agility partner,  like Tucker, he'll probably rack up the qualifying scores once he can run as a Veteran dog.

Starter Jumpers 2

Teddy - Starter Jumpers 2 Video

The second run was much smoother for us. I got in all the crosses I had planned unlike in the first run. Teddy ran in one more event, the Steeplechase. He's only seen the A-frame in class once so I wasn't sure what he'd do. He did it alright but he stopped in the yellow, when I asked him to target he jumped off then got right back on again so we were eliminated. He did do all 12 of the the weaves though and didn't knock a single bar. 

With the two Starter Q's (qualifying scores) in Jumpers, Teddy now moves to Advanced in that event. So with good weather, a chance to see friends and play some agility; I'd say that all in all it was a pretty good day.

Fun Match

Keltic did a fun match on the weekend. Boy, was it hot out. We stayed for our two Standard runs and one of our two Snooker runs and then went home to our air conditioning.  Keltic, even given the heat, was quite ready to play. He had never been to this venue before but when I brought him up to the gate, he was jumping around just raring to go.

I was still recovering from a torn calf muscle so on the Standard course, I was going in with a plan just to do one obstacle at a time but Keltic had other plans.  It was also his first time at 16" so that's probably why he missed the tire. He still bounces over a lot of jumps but over a couple in the video I can see that he is jumping a little better. If it wasn't so hot outside we would do some jump grids so I could video him at 10" and at 16".

Keltic - Dogz Fun Match July 2013

In his second time on the Standard course, a friend ran him for me and my little pumpkin head did the whole course for her, well except for the weaves but he doesn't know how to do those yet.  So this weekend, Lyne will try and run him at the Kanine Kup. If he doesn't run off leash than she can run him for exhibit on leash at least that way he can get more experience with a different handler, equipment and venue.

In Snooker, I practiced calling him by obstacles and got him between two jumps, wasn't too much of a challenge as I was calling him to his favourite obstacle the A-frame.  I put him over the second red and managed to call him off the tunnel to do the A-frame again but we weren't as lucky over the third red, that tunnel was just too enticing.  Then we just worked on tunnel, tire until our time was up as he was having difficulty with the 16" tire.

Overall he did very well given the heat and the fact that he hasn't jumped 16" that much.  I'd like to start thinking about entering him in trials but I'm going to wait until he's weaving.

Wordless Wednesday

Beckett's Agility Fun Trial Debut

Last weekend, I took Beckett to his first agility fun trial at Dogz, a training facility in the west end of Ottawa. We had trained there before so the location wasn't totally new to him. I decided before we went that I would try to run the complete courses (with treats provided at key locations) but if it proved too much for Beckett to handle we would just do short sequences. I also decided that we would not attempt the weaves at all but I didn't want to just run right by them. Fortunately in the Standard course, obstacles 3 and 4 (two jumps) were parallel to the weaves so I just did those two jumps a second time rather than run by the weaves. It was a good thing too, as it was 12 weaves that were set up on course and Beckett isn't even doing 6 weaves yet. We're getting there though.

It was beautiful agility weather, cloudy and cool with some sunny periods, although sometimes it was a tad warm when the sun was out which meant jackets on, jackets off. Tucker also came along as a spectator but I did take him over to the practice ring where he did a few jumps and tunnels for his favourite treat, chicken hot dogs. What am I saying Tucker's favourite treat is any FOOD!! Beckett also got to have some free play time with his best bud, Whistler, a sable Sheltie only 3 days older than Beckett.

In our first Standard run, I tried a false turn to get Beckett from the jumps to the tire, since we should have been doing the tire from the weaves, it made for a very awkward entry to the tire. The second time around, I did a front cross which worked so much better and put Beckett on a nice line for the tire and the next obstacle, a tunnel. We have to work on our contacts though, he likes to sit at the top of the A-frame now and usually stops way up on the down ramp of the dog walk but for a young fellow his teeter isn't bad.

In the Jumpers course, the first time around we did the Starters course and the second time we did the Advanced course. In the Starters course, he didn't get out to the second jump of a pin wheel and I wasn't in a good position, having tried a front cross, which put me behind him going up the field. When we ran the Advanced course, I didn't front cross but just stayed on his right side which worked much better. In his Advanced run, I wanted to try a hard false turn from a jump to a tunnel, unfortunately, there was another tunnel right there so in my mind I'm thinking "false turn, tunnel" so what did I do, but put him in the wrong tunnel. Even with the extra tunnel, he ran the course in 28.9 seconds and the standard course time for Minis was 47 seconds. I'm going to have to work on distance with that boy because when he gets going, I'll never keep up.

Some parts of the weekend were bittersweet though. Beckett looks so much like Ceilidh that there were times on the videos that it was her I saw. Two moments in particular stand out, in the first Starters course after running the course, we were practicing jumps to a tunnel with a rear cross and on the second attempt, Beckett refused the tunnel and began to spin and jump; it was classic Ceilidh. When I saw the video of the first Jumpers run, just the way Beckett sat on the start line and then sprung off the line, for the first few seconds I saw Ceilidh. At the beginning of the second Jumpers round it had started to rain but by the time it was Beckett's turn, the sun had come out again and there was a beautiful rainbow. I tried to take a picture of the rainbow but my camera batteries were running low. Luckily for me, Lyne had videoed a few seconds of the rainbow which I incorporated into my video on Beckett's debut. The video is long so if you don't have a fast internet connection, it will likely take quite a long time to download.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVl3msHlRq0

We are looking forward to our next fun trials, Krazy Kanines in October and Red Gate's in November and December. Maybe by then we'll try the weaves. Go Beckett Go!!