Wordless Wednesday

 

K9 Kup Starter Standard

Catching Up

Wow, it's been awhile since we wrote our last post, we've been busy and I just haven't had the time.

On 16 June, it was Beckett's 6th birthday where does the time go; it just seems like yesterday that I went to Oshawa to pick him up.  We had a low key birthday. Beckett and Keltic both got a special cookie treat and Beckett got three new discs; after all what else do you get a Frisbee-holic.

Beckett with his new disc toys

Beckett with his birthday cookie.

Since our last post we've done some agility trials including our first United Kingdom International (UKI) trial. I entered Beckett in two Speedstakes and the Masters Series event which is one round of Jumpers (with weaves) and one round of Agility (Standard to those who follow AAC).  Beckett got Q's in one of the Speedstakes and in the Jumpers run.  For the Masters series, they also do aggregates of the Agility and Jumpers rounds and the dogs that place first and second in their height class get a bye to the Masters series finals at the Canadian Open (the National event). Beckett placed third; it didn't really matter as we can't go to this year's Nationals anyway. Keltic, I just put in Speedstakes events since it was the only event that didn't have weaves. He did good but had three bars down in the first run and one bar in the second. I could hear him give a little grunt each time he jumped so that pushed me to finally make the decision to put him in a lower height class. We had another UKI trial right before our Canada Cup weekend (more on that later) and will have another later this month.

Keltic also had his first K9 Kup event on 28 June. K9 Kup is the agility house league in our area to get young dogs or dogs new to agility used to a trial environment. Keltic ran pretty well even in the pouring rain but none of his runs counted towards the team's placements as he now gets handicapped for having his Starter's title. He missed his dog walk contact in the Standard run which was otherwise clean. He did had a great opening in Gamblers getting the mini gamble and he also did get the main Gamble. The main Gamble was jump, jump, tunnel and I doubt I could have called him off the tunnel though so good thing it was that easy. We had a 40 second opening and 20 seconds to do the main Gamble, Keltic's time was just over 48 seconds. We were in an absolutely perfect position when the buzzer went and Keltic was done the Gamble in a flash.  We were clean in Jumpers only because the judge wasn't sure if he did the tire or not; he didn't. This was the first event he did back at the lower jump height so not sure why he didn't do the tire; it was probably harder to go between the tire and the standard than just doing the tire at 10". I'll have to lower my tire in the backyard and get him working on it again.

On the home front, I'm having a sun room built but so far the project hasn't progressed all that much. The contractors parked their trailer in my driveway on 8 June but since it was pouring rain, that's all that got done that day. The rest of the week was rainy and my contractor and his partner got sick so nothing got done the first week. The second week, the old deck came up and the technoposts for the foundation went in, but they revised where the technoposts were to be placed so we needed new drawings from the engineers before anything else could be done. Those new drawings took nearly a week. After we got the new drawings, the beams and joists went in and that's where we still are today as we are waiting for the city to approve the new drawings and we can't go any further until the foundation is inspected so the floor can't be insulated or closed in until that's done. This four to six week job will likely now take 8 to 10 weeks so it doesn't look like the sun room won't get much use this summer.

The beams on the technopost foundation

The joists are in.

The sun room will have tile floors and a tongue in groove pine vaulted ceiling with a fan and light. There will be three double (full screen) slider windows at the end away from the house, a double hung window near the sliding door, a fixed transom window above the slider window at the far end and two skylights in the roof to make sure we still get as much light in the dining room as possible. We will just be installing a storm door just beside where the double hung window will be so not quite mid way as I didn't want to break up what's to be the main seating space. Hopefully the city will approve the revised drawings soon as they've almost had them longer now than they had the first drawings which we submitted with the permit application.

It sure will be nice to have a space where I can wipe the dogs feet before they come into the house. It will also be a great space for brushing them too. And, of course, for it's real purpose sitting out in the evenings without getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

K9 Kup

Once again this year, Keltic and I are running in a house league called the K9 Kup. The team we were on last year, Snow Dogs Unharnessed divided in two and added some new members, so now we have Snow Dogs Unharnessed and Snowdogs Unharnessed Too. Some of my agility friends have joined me in having honorary snow dogs. Now in addition to the huskies and australian shepherds, there is a keeshund, a border collie, a sheltie (Keltic), a duck toller, a collie and a mini poodle.

Both teams together
 

Snow Dogs Unharnessed

We've had two K9 Kup events so far and two more to go, unfortunately Keltic and I will miss the next event as we'll just be coming back from New Brunswick. At each event, we run three courses, a Standard and two games courses. At the last K9 Kup we ran Snooker and Steeplechase as the games. Keltic ran rather well, he even got his weave entry in the Standard and stayed in the weaves.

The best four runs from each team are added up to determine the team's placment. We got a third place and a fourth place in the first two events, Standard and Snooker.  Keltic's runs counted toward both of those placements. The score from the last event hadn't yet been tabulated at the end of the match so it will be awarded at the next K9 Kup. Snow Dogs Unharnessed was sitting in second place in our Divsion after the first K9 Kup.

Keltic - K9 Kup Standard

 

In the Standard, Keltic did very well even getting on the table that they had forgotten to lower without a problem. Too bad his Mum didn't tell him to target on the dog walk.

Keltic - K9 Kup Snooker

 

In Snooker, he did pretty good but he was just a little excited, perhaps because my course isn't as flowy as it should have been. At the first red (the first obstacle), I thought he was going right on by the backside so I turned too much to get him over. That meant I wasn't heading for the double jump on the correct line so, of course, Keltic knocked the bar.

 

Keltic - K9 Kup Steeplechase

 

Keltic got distracted by something on this course, not sure what, but once he came back he ran nicely. This might have been a Q in K9 Kup standards as they use Starter Jumpers times. It likely wouldn't be a Q in the AAC, since the event is considered a Masters event, the times are much tighter.

 

 

Looking forward to our next K9 Kup. Keltic will have been in  two AAC trials by then and if we are lucky he may have to carry a handicap in his next K9 Kup. Any dog with their starter agility title has a handicap since they have demonstrated some skill in agility and K9 Kup is trying to encourage newcomers to the sport.

 



 



Wordless Wednesday - Almost

K9 Kup results - the X indicates the scores that counted for the team placement.

K9 Kup

This year, Keltic played agility in a house league for mainly Starter and pre-Starter dogs called K9 Kup.  He was on a team called the Sibe Tribe. The team was made up of 6 Siberian Huskies, two Australian Shepherds, a Keeshund and Keltic, a Sheltie.   The K9 Kup has four events over the season which runs from June to Oct. At each event, there are three courses, a Standard and two of the games, Steeplechase, Gamblers, Jumpers and Snooker.  Every dog runs all three courses and then the best four runs from the team count for the placements but if your team places all the dogs receive a ribbon.

The Sibe Tribe

When we started the season, Keltic wasn't doing any weaves so each time there were weaves on course, we would just have to skip them and take the 20 faults. That meant that our scores usually didn't count for the team. Our two Steeplechase runs did count though as since it is time plus faults and we didn't waste any time trying to get the weaves done, our times were quite respectable.

We worked on our weaves and at this last K9 Kup for the 2013 season, I was going to try to have Keltic get his weaves. The courses this time were a Standard, a Jumpers and a Snooker. First up for us was Jumpers. It ran very fast, Keltic didn't miss a jump and went straight on like a flash to the tunnels.  We will have to work on "go" as when he came out of the last tunnel, he turned back towards me rather than going on to the tire.  I got him turned around and he did the tire and I'm pretty sure it wasn't faulted.

Jumpers

Next up for us was Snooker, we did red jump, A-frame, red jump, A-frame, red jump, tire and started our close (obstacles 2 to 7 in numerical order).  We got to the weaves with lots of time left. How do I know, because I had time to send Keltic 4 times into the weaves. The first time he very nearly got it as he only popped out at about the 10th pole. It was alright that we didn't get the weaves though as we had our 37 points at the A-frame.

Snooker

Our last event of the day was the Standard and I was glad to see only 6 weaves.  I was pretty sure after Steeplechase that he would do six.  Our Standard run was great, although he self released from the A-frame and teeter, wouldn't go down on the table and he wouldn't weave! I had to call and send him through the six poles, but we had a clean run even with all of that. So nice that the dogs don't have to down on the table any more or we might have been over time.

Standard

I was very happy with our runs. I'm sure some of them counted for the team score but I didn't get to see the final results.  The Sibe Tribe took first place in our Division in all of the events this year and first place over all in the 2013 K9 Kup.

The champs!

It was fun to have Keltic be an honorary Siberian Husky. He was even included on the team's T-shirt.

Do you see? That's Keltic on the sled.

Keltic might be a good little agility dog after all. He seems to like to run, hasn't had any issues with zoomies, has gotten more focused over the summer and hasn't showed any signs of spinning. Did you hear that Beckett.  Keltic only jumped 10" at K9 Kup.  I registered him at 16" for his first AAC trial, we'll see how things go at that height and will make the decision later on if he stays as a Regular dog or moves to Specials.

Go Keltic Go!

K9 Kup 2

This past weekend the extremely hot weather finally broke and we had a most beautiful day for the second K9 Kup. Since I was still recovering from a torn calf muscle, a friend stepped in to run Keltic even though she had her own dog to run in the same height class.

Keltic and his K9 Kup ribbons

This month along with the Standard run,  the two games were Steeplechase and Snooker.  Keltic still isn't weaving so I told Lyne to try for the entry and if he didn't get it to just move on and even if he did by chance get the entry to just move on from that as well.

First up was Steeplechase, notice where Lyne places his leash and Keltic glancing at it and almost picking it up.  Since he sees nothing in his line to do he heads off on his own course but Lyne gets him back and off they go.  I knew he would like the back part of that Steeplechase, his two favourite obstacles the A-frame and the tunnel nearly back to back. We'll have to work on coming to the hand.

Keltic at the K9 Kup

Next up was the Standard, not bad if you don't count the teeter fly-off.  Last weekend, it was his first full height teeter now his first fly-off, I think he's gaining confidence on the teeter. Tonight in our weaves class, I did put him on a low teeter and at first he didn't want to do it but one time with a few extra hot dogs and he was doing the teeter just fine again. Almost time to put my teeter in the backyard up to full height.

Last event was Snooker, Lyne was going to do red jump, tunnel, red jump, tunnel and red jump, tunnel before doing the close. I thought Keltic might have run the A-frame after the second red jump but he didn't and he also ran right by one of his favourite obstacles to go back over the first red jump....tweet... goes the whistle and the run is over. What you're seeing on the video is Lyne calling Keltic from the tunnel and doing the second red jump then Keltic running right by the tunnel to do the first red jump again. When Keltic started the course, he picked up his leash that Lyne left beside him and carried it with him over the jump but decided to drop it before doing the tunnel. At a real trial, that would have been an elimination but at K9 Kup since he didn't knock the bar, the run didn't stop there.

I think Keltic had a good time. I hope Lyne did too.

Agility Dog?

Keltic had his agility debut at a local fun league called K9 Kup.  The K9 Kup is a team event. This year there are 8 teams of up to 10 dogs. Four times over the summer and early fall on a Sunday, there is a K9 Kup event. Three courses are set up, a Standard and two games. Every dog runs all of the courses but only the best four runs of the team counts for points towards placements.  If your team places, all the dogs on the team get a ribbon not just the top four.

The team Keltic is on is called Sibe's Tribe. It is made up of Keltic, a Keeshund, two Australian Shepherds and  6 Siberian Huskies.

Out in the rain!

It poured rain on Sunday so we were soaked by the time the event was over. Nearly had to swim the last course; at least now I know Keltic will run in the rain.

YouTube link to Keltic's Agility Debut

Proud boy!

Keltic's team got first place in Division 2 in the Gambler's event probably not due to Keltic's performance but he sure had a good time.  We don't know how we did in the other events as it was raining so hard, they decided they would wait until the next K9 Kup to make the presentations.

So we're not sure if Keltic is really an agility dog yet but he sure did have fun. Haven't quite made up my mind yet but I'm pretty sure now that he will run as a 10" Special so he'd better be 16" or under.

The next K9 Kup is in July, sure hope the weather is a little better.