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. 

First Q

Yesterday we went to our first trial of 2013. I thought Beckett might be absolutely wild since we hadn't trialled since Nov 2012 but he actually ran quite well. Our first event was a Master Standard. It walked nicely so I hoped that Beckett would do all right; he did more than all right, he Q'd. He did a bit more spinning than I would have liked but we didn't incur any refusals for them. It's something we'll have to work on though as a spin like that did cost us a Snooker Q later in the day, where we got a refusal on the second part of obstacle 5 of the close and we needed to get through obstacle 6 to Q.

Beckett ran this standard in 46.72 seconds and the standard course time was 65 seconds. He was running at 4.05 yards per second which is pretty good for Beckett.

Beckett Master Standard - YouTube Link

Next up was a Masters Gamblers run. I didn't think Beckett would get it as we are still working on a good get-out so when I saw the main gamble with the line from 2 to 3, I was sure we would have our work cut out for us. Beckett dropped a bar on the double jump in the mini so we couldn't get those points. When the buzzer went to end the opening I was sure we didn't have enough points. Beckett did the teeter no problem as we have worked  a lot on a teeter going away and he came nicely over jump 2, then he barked and spun as I tried to get him out over 3. Well, he eventually did get over 3 and when I told him to get out over 4, he did get out but went too far down the line and actually went over 4 in the wrong direction. It turned out we had 29 points in the opening but we were way over time for the Main Gamble and in any case, Beckett didn't do 4 in the right direction.

The next run was the Master Snooker. We had a really nice opening and the close was going great until Beckett decided to spin between the two jumps of obstacle 5.  They weren't that far apart and I wasn't trying to rear cross so I don't know what happened there.

Our next Standard ran pretty well. At one point you had to send your dog into a tunnel that went under the dog walk and they had to stay out to a jump. Beckett came between the jump and the dog walk and started to get on the dog walk, so an off course and elimination. We had another off course later in the run when I did a front cross and Beckett rather than taking a jump went around it. My cross was probably too wide again.  The Standard course time was 57 seconds and even with the two off courses, Beckett ran the course in 46.93 seconds.

Our last event was another Master Gambler.  It had a flip or a get-out to the weaves in the Main Gamble so again I didn't think it was one that Beckett would do. We went in with the view of doing a good opening so I sat Beckett on the start line lined up with obstacle "a" of the mini and led out to the tire, obstacle "c" of the mini, called Beckett to me and then did a front cross to get him over obstacle "b" of the mini. A pretty easy 14 points. We did the 4 point obstacle and the tire and headed to the weaves, then to the jump followed by the teeter and the jump on the other side of the teeter.  My plan was to do the teeter and jump twice but as I turned Beckett back to the teeter, I saw that the teeter hadn't dropped. I post turned Beckett around and waited for the teeter to drop and carried on with our plan which was the tunnel, jump and dog walk. Beckett just touched the contact zone on the dog walk when the buzzer sounded. Beckett got the tunnel and jump of the main gamble but wouldn't turn away to get the weaves so we didn't get the Q. But we did have the nice opening that I planned getting a total of 35 points.

So all in all I was pretty pleased with our first trial of 2013. To top it off, we won a volunteer prize, a fleece and fur tug toy which will be a birthday present for Keltic. The tug toy is green with red fox fur, perfect for Keltic.  Our next trial is at Dream Fields on St Patrick's Day, Keltic's birthday.

Last Trial

We went to our last trial for 2012 this past weekend.  I only went on Sunday as the trial location is about an hour away and I didn't want to have two drives home in the dark and because there was no Snooker event on Saturday. Beckett only needs (still) two Snooker and three Gamblers for his title of Agility Trial Champion.

We did six events on Sunday, two Standards, two Gamblers, one Snooker and one Jumpers. The only Q we got was in the last event the Jumpers. This course ran really nice, even the parts I thought would be tough. We very nearly had an off course when Beckett almost took the wrong entrance to obstacle 9. I hadn't even seen that as a trap as I was so far away from that tunnel mouth as I had gone up the left side of jump 8.  The allowable course time was 48 seconds and Beckett did the course in 39.81.  It wasn't extremely fast for him and so we finished in third place.

The first run of the day was a five-fault Masters Standard. I can't say it's Beckett's fault as I felt like I was behind him for most of the course, well at least from after the tunnel under the frame.  When I say I was behind, I mean my commands and body cues were late. I could tell as he was barking at me. What is nice to see is how far down the frame and dog walk he is coming with the running contact now.

Beckett's Masters Standard 3

The other Standard run was a train wreck and we got eliminated for an off-course.  Beckett did have two nice openings in his Gamblers but again wouldn't do the main Gambles. In Snooker, we had a very nice opening. Then as we started the close, Beckett missed his weave entry, since it was only obstacle 3 we didn't have enough points to Q.

It was a nice day overall. Keltic got to play with a Sheltie buddy from this summer. Beckett got to play Frisbee between events. And we won a volunteer prize, a rawhide star filled with rawhide treats that Beckett and Keltic will get as part of their Christmas gifts.

So Beckett still needs 5 Q's for his ATChC but now he only needs four more Jumpers Q's for his Expert Jumpers Bronze. So all in all 2012 was quite a good year, he added Master Jumpers, Steeplechase and Master Standard titles to his list of accomplishments.

Go Beckett Go!!